GYRE · Read the filing

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following section includes the most significant factors that may adversely affect our business and operations. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and all information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before deciding to invest in our common stock. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Summary of Risk Factors

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Below please find a summary of the principal risks we face. These risks are discussed more fully below.

• Our product candidates are years away from regulatory approval.

Risks related to our financial condition and capital requirements

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, could adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials.

The global coronavirus pandemic has resulted in widespread requirements for individuals to work from their homes, strained medical facilities worldwide and is causing disruptions to certain pharmaceutical manufacturing and product supply chains. We are experiencing operational and other challenges as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which have delayed our enrollment in MAA-304 and MAA-202, and which may delay or halt our development in these or other programs. In particular, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may experience disruptions that could severely impact our business, preclinical studies, drug manufacturing and clinical trials including:

In addition, the trading prices for our common stock and other biopharmaceutical companies have been highly volatile as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our operations and the value of our common stock.

CB 4332, one of our complement product candidates, is in the early stages of development and its commercial viability remains subject to current and future preclinical studies, clinical trials, regulatory approvals and the risks generally inherent in the development of a pharmaceutical product candidate. If we are unable to successfully advance or develop our complement product candidates, our business may be materially harmed.

Failure to successfully advance the development of our complement product candidates, including CB 4332, may have a material adverse effect on us. To date, we have not successfully commercially marketed, distributed or sold any product candidate. The success of our business depends primarily upon our ability to successfully advance the development of our product candidates through preclinical studies and clinical trials, have the product candidates approved for sale by the FDA or regulatory authorities in other countries, and ultimately have the product candidates successfully commercialized by us or a strategic partner. We cannot assure you that the results of our ongoing preclinical studies or future clinical trials will support or justify the continued development of CB 4332, or that we will receive approval from the FDA, or similar regulatory authorities in other countries, to advance the development of CB 4332.

All of our product candidates will require additional clinical testing before they can be sold.

Our product candidates, including MarzAA, CB 4332 and DalcA, must satisfy rigorous regulatory standards of safety and efficacy before we can advance or complete their clinical development or they can be approved for sale. To satisfy these standards, we must engage in expensive and lengthy preclinical studies and clinical trials, develop acceptable manufacturing processes, and obtain regulatory approval of our complement product candidates. Despite these efforts, our complement product candidates, including MarzAA, CB 4332 and DalcA, may not:

• have the desired effects;

• be free from undesirable or unexpected effects;

• meet applicable regulatory standards;

• be successfully commercialized by us or by collaborators.

Even if we demonstrate favorable results in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials, we cannot assure you that the results of late-stage clinical trials will be favorable enough to support the continued development of our product candidates. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries have experienced significant delays, setbacks and failures in all stages of development, including late-stage clinical trials, even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing or early-stage clinical trials. Accordingly, results from completed preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials of our complement product candidates, including MarzAA, CB 4332 and DalcA, may not be predictive of the results we may obtain in later-stage trials. Furthermore, even if the data collected from preclinical studies and clinical trials involving our complement product candidates, demonstrate a favorable safety and efficacy profile, such results may not be sufficient to support the submission of a new drug application or biologics license application (“BLA”) to obtain regulatory approval from the FDA in the United States or other similar regulatory agencies in other jurisdictions, which is required to market and sell the products.

MarzAA, CB 4332 and DalcA will require significant additional research and development efforts, the commitment of substantial financial resources, and regulatory approvals prior to advancing into clinical development or being commercialized by us or collaborators. We cannot assure you that CB 4332 will successfully progress into clinical development or that CB 4332, MarzAA or DalcA will progress through the drug development process or will result in a commercially viable product. We do not expect CB 4332 or any of our other complement product candidates to be commercialized by us or collaborators for at least several years.

If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.

We or our collaborators may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate, enroll and maintain enrollment of a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. In particular, there is a relatively small number of individuals with hemophilia, which may cause delays in enrollment of clinical trials of MarzAA in individuals with hemophilia A and B with an inhibitor, and there are a limited number of individuals with CFI deficiency for whom CB 4332 can be used in clinical trials. Competitive products or products that reduce the frequency of bleeding among patients treated with our drugs have reduced the likelihood that patients will enroll in our clinical trials. Some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that treat the same indications as our product candidates and thus compete with us to enroll patients in their clinical trials. The availability of other approved products and other products in clinical trials may limit the number of patients willing to participate in our clinical trials.

Patient enrollment is affected by other factors including:

• the severity of the disease under investigation;

• the eligibility criteria for the study in question;

• the perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;

• the efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;

• the patient referral practices of physicians;

• the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment; and

Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials will result in significant delays and could require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in clinical trials conducted by us may also result in increased development costs for our product candidates, which would cause the value of the Company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.

The operations of our third-party manufacturers may be requisitioned, diverted or allocated by U.S. or foreign government orders such as under emergency, disaster and civil defense declarations in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise.

Our third-party manufacturers of MarzAA have advised us that they could be required under orders of the U.S. government to allocate manufacturing capacity to the manufacture or distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. If any of our third-party manufacturers become subject to acts or orders of U.S. or foreign government entities to allocate manufacturing capacity to the manufacture or distribution of COVID-19 vaccines or medical supplies needed to treat COVID-19 patients, this could delay or interrupt, perhaps substantially, our supply of clinical trial material for MarzAA which could materially and adversely affect our business. Refer to the risk factor entitled “The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, could adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials.”

The coronavirus disease, COVID-19, may impact our third-party supply of the raw materials and components needed for our product candidates, which increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of such product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development efforts.

If supplies of the raw materials for our product candidates are significantly delayed, or if the third parties that we engage to supply any materials or to manufacture any products for our preclinical tests and clinical trials should cease to continue to do so for any reason, including due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions undertaken by governments and private enterprises to contain COVID-19, we likely would experience delays in advancing these tests and trials while we identify and qualify replacement suppliers or manufacturers and we may be unable to obtain replacement supplies on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, if we are not able to obtain adequate supplies of our product candidates or the substances used to manufacture them, it will be more difficult for us to develop our product candidates and compete effectively.

Our current and anticipated dependence upon third-party suppliers may adversely affect our ability to develop product candidates and could delay our clinical trials and development programs, and otherwise harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

We have incurred significant losses since our inception and are expected to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.

We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company, and we have not yet generated significant revenues. We have incurred net losses in each year since our inception in August 2002, including net losses of $56.2 million and $55.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $314.8 million.

We are still in the early stages of development of our product candidates, and have no products approved for commercial sale. To date, we have financed our operations primarily through issuances of shares of common stock, from private placements of convertible preferred stock, and from payments under collaboration agreements.

We have devoted most of our financial resources to research and development, including our preclinical and clinical development activities. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses over the next several years as we continue clinical development of MarzAA, our complement product candidates and DalcA. Our operating losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. We are expected to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for at least the next several years, and our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:

• continue clinical development of MarzAA and DalcA;

• further develop the manufacturing process for our product candidates;

• attract and retain skilled personnel;

• acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

• maintain, protect and expand our intellectual property portfolio;

• experience any delays or other issues with any of the above.

In connection with the license granted to us by Pfizer, we agreed to make contingent cash payments to Pfizer in an aggregate amount equal to up to $17.5 million, payable upon the achievement of clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, the timing of which is uncertain. Following commercialization of any Factor VIIa products, Pfizer would also receive a single-digit royalty on net product sales on a country-by-country basis for a predefined royalty term. See the section entitled “Collaborations” in this prospectus supplement.

In connection with the license agreement with ISU, the Company will also make up to an aggregate of $19.5 million in milestone payments to ISU, inclusive of $2.5 million in regulatory and development milestone payment and up to $17.0 million in commercial milestone payment, if the applicable milestones are met. See the section entitled “Collaborations” in this prospectus supplement.

Further, in connection with the development and manufacturing agreement that we have with AGC, we have firm work orders with AGC to manufacture MarzAA and DalcA to support our clinical trials totaling $11.2 million and the payment obligations remaining for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $2.3 million. Furthermore, in connection with the clinical supply services agreement we have with Catalent, we have firm work orders with Catalent to manufacture DalcA to support clinical trials totaling $0.5 million and all outstanding amounts were paid the year ended December 31, 2020.

To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing and eventually commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical testing and clinical trials of product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval for these product candidates and manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which regulatory approval is obtained. We are only in the preliminary stages of most of these activities. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, we may never generate revenues that are significant enough to achieve profitability.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Failure to become and remain profitable would depress the value of our common stock and

could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain research and development efforts, diversify product offerings or even continue operations. A decline in the value of our common stock could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

We will need additional capital. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital, we will be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate product development programs.

Developing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is expensive. We expect our research and development expenses to increase with our ongoing activities, particularly activities related to the continued clinical development of MarzAA, the preclinical and clinical development of our complement product candidates, and the clinical development of DalcA. We believe that our available cash, cash equivalents and investments will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next 12 months. However, we may need to raise substantial additional capital to complete the development and commercialization of MarzAA, DalcA, or other product candidates, and depending on the availability of capital, may need to delay or cease development of some of our product candidates. Even if we raise additional capital, we may elect to focus our efforts on one or more development programs and delay or cease other development programs.

Until we can generate sufficient revenue from our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance future cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, corporate collaborations and/or licensing arrangements. Additional funds may not be available when we need them on terms that are acceptable, or at all. If adequate funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of our research or development programs.

Because successful development of our product candidates is uncertain, we are unable to estimate the actual funds required to complete research and development and commercialize our products under development. Our future funding requirements, both near and long-term, will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

• the number and characteristics of product candidates that we pursue;

• the outcome, timing and cost of regulatory approvals;

• the effect of competing technological and market developments;

• the cost and timing of completing outsourced manufacturing activities;

Raising additional funds by issuing securities or through licensing arrangements may cause dilution to stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish proprietary rights.

To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, stockholders will be diluted, and the terms of these new securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of common stockholders.

Debt financing, if available at all, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, product candidates or future revenue streams or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. We may also seek to access the public or private capital markets whenever conditions are favorable, even if we do not have an immediate need for additional capital at that time. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain additional funding if, and when necessary. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis, we could be required to delay, curtail or eliminate one or more, or all, of our development programs or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

We currently have effective registration statements on Form S-3 that allows us to offer up to $170.0 million of securities in one or more offerings. Any additional sales in the public market of our common stock or other securities under these shelf registration statements could adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock.

We have no history of commercialization of pharmaceutical products, which may make it difficult to evaluate the Company’s prospects.

We began operations in August 2002. Our operations to date have been limited to financing and staffing the Company, developing our technology and product candidates, establishing collaborations and conducting Phase 2 clinical trials on small numbers of patients. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully conduct a Phase 3 clinical trial, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a product at commercial scale repeatedly, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, predictions about the Company’s future product development timelines, clinical trial plans, expenses, success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products.

Risks related to the discovery, development and commercialization of our product candidates

We are focused on the clinical development of MarzAA and our complement product candidates. Any adverse events, trial failures or material delays in these programs could materially harm our business.

The failure of MarzAA to achieve successful clinical trial endpoints, delays in clinical development, unanticipated adverse side effects, the cessation of clinical development or any other adverse developments or information related to MarzAA, CB 4332 or our other product candidates would significantly harm our business, its prospects and the value of the Company’s common stock. There is no guarantee that the results of further clinical trials of MarzAA will be positive or will not generate unanticipated safety concerns. If neutralizing antibodies or other adverse events in patients receiving either MarzAA lead to concerns about patient safety, the long-term efficacy, or commercial viability of MarzAA could be halted. Depending on the availability of additional capital, we may also delay or terminate clinical development of MarzAA.

MarzAA is not expected to be commercially available in the near term, if at all. Further, its commercial success will depend upon its acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and other key decision-makers as a therapeutic and cost-effective alternative to currently available products. If we are unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize MarzAA, our ability to generate revenue from product sales will be significantly delayed and our business will be materially and adversely affected, and we may not be able to earn sufficient revenues to continue as a going concern.

Even if the FDA or other regulatory agency approves MarzAA or our other product candidates, the approval may impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses, conditions for use, labeling, advertising, promotion, marketing and/or production of such product and may impose ongoing commitments or requirements for post-approval studies, including additional research and development and clinical trials. The FDA and other agencies also may impose various civil or criminal sanctions for failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including withdrawal of product approval. Regulatory approval from authorities in foreign countries will be needed to market MarzAA or our other product candidates in those countries. Approval by one regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. If we fail to obtain approvals from foreign jurisdictions, the geographic market for MarzAA or our other product candidates would be limited.

DalcA has caused and MarzAA or our complement product candidates may cause the generation of neutralizing antibodies, which could prevent their further development.

MarzAA, CB 4332 and DalcA are protein molecules which may cause the generation of antibodies in individuals who receive them. Two patients who received DalcA subcutaneously following intravenous dosing developed neutralizing antibodies that inhibit the activity of DalcA. There can be no assurance that such antibodies will not be observed in the future, either in the patients who have already received DalcA or MarzAA, or in new patients with those products or CB 4332 or our other complement product candidates. If clinical trials demonstrate a treatment-related neutralizing immunological response in individuals that causes safety concerns or would limit the efficacy of either product candidate, development of the product candidate could be halted.

MarzAA and DalcA are in late-stage clinical trials, and all of our other product candidates are still in preclinical development. The regulatory path for MarzAA and DalcA is uncertain. If we are unable to obtain regulatory clearance and commercialize our product candidates or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

MarzAA and DalcA have completed Phase 2 clinical trials. All our other product candidates are still in preclinical development. Engineered protease biopharmaceuticals are a relatively new class of therapeutics. There can be no assurance as to the length of the trial period, the number of individuals the FDA or EMA will require to be enrolled in the trials to establish the safety, efficacy, purity and potency of the engineered protease products, or that the data generated in these trials will be acceptable to the FDA, EMA or other foreign regulatory agencies to support marketing approval. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of our product candidates. The success of our product candidates will depend on several factors, including the following:

• successful completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials;

• receipt of marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;

• effectively competing with other therapies;

• obtaining and maintaining healthcare coverage and adequate reimbursement;

• protecting our rights in our intellectual property portfolio; and

If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would materially harm our business.

Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome. Results from our successful Phase 1 or Phase 2 trials may not be confirmed in later trials, and if serious adverse or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our product candidates, we may need to abandon or limit our development of some of our product candidates.

Clinical testing is expensive, time consuming and uncertain as to outcome. We cannot guarantee that any preclinical studies and clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. The clinical development of our product candidates is susceptible to the risk of failure at any stage of drug development, including failure to demonstrate efficacy in a clinical trial or across a suitable population of patients, the occurrence of severe or medically or commercially unacceptable adverse events, failure to comply with protocols or applicable regulatory requirements and determination by the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority that a drug product is not approvable. It is possible that even if one or more of our product candidates has a beneficial effect, that effect will not be detected during clinical evaluation as a result of one or more of a variety of factors, including the size, duration, design, measurements, conduct or analysis of our clinical trials. Conversely, as a result of the same factors, our clinical trials may indicate an apparent positive effect of a product candidate that is greater than the actual positive effect, if any. Similarly, in our clinical trials we may fail to detect toxicity of or intolerability caused by our product candidates, or mistakenly believe that our product candidates are toxic or not well tolerated when that is not in fact the case.

In addition, the outcome of preclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials. Our Phase 2 trial of MarzAA was conducted in eleven patients, and DalcA has been dosed repeatedly in a subcutaneous prophylaxis trial in only six patients. Trials of these product candidates in larger numbers of patients may not have similar efficacy results and could result in adverse effects that were not observed in the earlier trials with smaller numbers of patients.

Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in earlier development, and we may face similar setbacks. The design of a clinical trial can determine whether our results will support approval of a product and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. We have limited experience in designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support marketing approval. In addition, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. Many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval for the product candidates. Even if we believe that the results of clinical trials for our product candidates warrant marketing approval, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree and may not grant marketing approval of our product candidates.

In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. Any Phase 2, Phase 3 or other clinical trials that we may conduct may not demonstrate the efficacy and safety necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates.

If our product candidates are associated with undesirable side effects in clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon development or limit development of the product candidate to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. Any such limitations could adversely affect the value of our product candidates or common stock.

Fast Track designation by the FDA may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.

The FDA grants Fast Track designation to therapies that are considered capable of addressing unmet medical needs and possess the potential to treat serious or life-threatening disease conditions in order to facilitate its development and expedite the review procedure. The FDA has broad discretion in granting Fast Track designation, so even if we believe that a particular product candidate is eligible for such designation, the FDA could decide not to grant it.

Even though Marzeptacog alfa (activated)—or MarzAA has received Fast Track designation in certain indications, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval, or receive FDA approval at all, in any of those indications compared to conventional FDA procedures. A Fast Track designation does not change the standards for approval. The FDA may also withdraw Fast Track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.

Risks related to our reliance on third parties

Our collaboration with Biogen may not result in successful product development or payments to us.

We have entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Biogen to develop and commercialize CB 2782-PEG and our other anti-C3 proteases for potential treatment of dry AMD and other disorders. We will perform preclinical and manufacturing activities, and Biogen will be solely responsible for funding the preclinical and manufacturing activities and performing IND-enabling activities, worldwide clinical development, and commercialization. Future revenues from this collaboration depend upon the achievement of milestones and payment of royalties based on product sales after successful product development and regulatory approval. Biogen can terminate this agreement on 60 days’ prior written notice. If Biogen terminates the agreement, our reputation in the business and scientific community may suffer and we will not receive payments from them after termination. If milestones are not achieved or Biogen is unable to successfully develop and commercialize products from which milestones and royalties are payable, we will not earn the revenues contemplated by the collaboration.

We have limited or no control over the resources that Biogen may devote to the development and commercialization of products under our agreement. Biogen may not perform its obligations as expected or may breach or terminate the agreement with us or otherwise fail to conduct research, development or commercialization activities successfully or in a timely manner. Further, Biogen may elect not to develop pharmaceutical products arising out of our collaborative arrangement or may not devote sufficient resources to the development, regulatory approval, manufacture, marketing or sale of these products. If any of these events occurs, we may not receive collaboration revenue or otherwise realize anticipated benefits from such collaborations, our product development efforts may be delayed and our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We expect to seek to establish additional collaborations, and, if we are not able to establish them on commercially reasonable terms, we may have to alter our development and commercialization plans.

Our drug development programs and the potential commercialization of our product candidates will require substantial additional cash to fund expenses. We have previously relied on collaborators, such as Pfizer and ISU, to contribute to the development of our product candidates, and we are currently working with Biogen and Mosaic to support the development of our dry AMD product candidates. We may seek one or more additional collaborators for the development and commercialization of one or more of our product candidates. For example, we may seek a new collaborator to develop MarzAA and might also seek collaborators for DalcA or our earlier stage programs. In addition, full development efforts on the use of our novel proteases for the treatment of other complement mediated diseases will likely involve significant cost, and we do not expect to conduct any such efforts except in collaboration with one or more partners who are willing to pay for such costs.

We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Whether we can reach a definitive agreement with a collaborator will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of preclinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities and the regulatory pathway for any such approval, the potential market for the product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering the product to patients and the potential of competing products. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available for collaboration and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us. There can also be no assurance that any collaboration agreements will be on favorable terms.

Collaborations are complex and time consuming to negotiate and document. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators. We may not be able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of the product candidate for which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay our development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay our potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, and increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.

We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical testing and expect to continue to do so for clinical testing and commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

We currently have no internal capabilities to manufacture our product candidates for clinical use or for preclinical trials following good manufacturing practices (“GMP”), or good laboratory practices (“GLP”). We expect to rely on one or more third-party contractors to manufacture, package, label and distribute clinical supplies and commercial quantities of any product candidate that we commercialize following approval for marketing by applicable regulatory authorities. We also expect to rely on one or more third-party contractors to manufacture our product candidates for use in our clinical trials. Reliance on such third-party contractors entails risks, including:

We may incur delays in product development resulting from the need to identify or qualify manufacturers for our product candidates. Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.

We are subject to many manufacturing risks, any of which could substantially increase our costs and limit supply of our product candidates and any future products.

To date, our product candidates have been manufactured by third-party manufacturers solely for preclinical studies and relatively small clinical trials. The process of manufacturing MarzAA, DalcA, CB 4332 and our other Complement associated therapeutic product candidates is complex, highly regulated and subject to several risks, including:

Specifically, we have entered into various development, manufacturing and clinical supply services agreements with third-party manufacturers for drug substance and drug product manufacturing of MarzAA, DalcA and CB 4332. If any of our third-party manufacturers is not able to provide us with sufficient quantities of (i) MarzAA or DalcA for our clinical trials or (ii) CB 4332 for our preclinical trials on a timely basis, or at all, whether due to production shortages or other supply delays or interruptions resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, our preclinical trials, clinical trials or regulatory approval, as applicable, may be delayed. Significant portions of our research and development resources are focused on manufacturing. If any of our third-party manufacturers experiences difficulties in scaling production or experiences product loss due to contamination, equipment failure, improper installation or operation of equipment, vendor or operator error or improper storage conditions, the potential trials of the affected product candidate would be delayed, perhaps substantially, which could materially and adversely affect our business.

We have minimal process development capabilities and have access only to external manufacturing capabilities. We do not have, and we do not currently plan to acquire or develop, the facilities or capabilities to manufacture bulk drug substance or filled drug product for use in clinical trials or commercialization. Any delay or interruption in the supply of clinical trial material or preclinical trial material could delay the completion of clinical trials or preclinical trials, increase the costs associated with maintaining such trial programs and, depending upon the period of delay, require us to commence new clinical trials or preclinical trials at additional expense or terminate the trials completely.

We and our contract manufacturers will be subject to significant regulation with respect to manufacturing our products. The manufacturing facilities on which we will rely may not continue to meet regulatory requirements and have limited capacity.

All entities involved in the preparation of therapeutics for clinical studies or commercial sale, including any contract manufacturers for our product candidates, are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in late-stage clinical studies must be manufactured in accordance with GMP. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures (including record keeping) and the implementation and operation of quality systems to control and assure the quality of investigational products and

products approved for sale. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of adventitious agents or other contaminants, or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. We or our contract manufacturers must supply all necessary documentation in support of a BLA on a timely basis and must adhere to the FDA’s GLP and GMP regulations enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program. Our facilities and quality systems and the facilities and quality systems of some or all our third-party contractors must pass a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable regulations as a condition of regulatory approval of our product candidates. In addition, the regulatory authorities may, at any time, audit or inspect a manufacturing facility involved with the preparation of our product candidates or the associated quality systems for compliance with the regulations applicable to the activities being conducted. If these facilities do not pass a pre-approval plant inspection or do not have a GMP compliance status acceptable for the FDA, FDA approval of the products will not be granted.

The regulatory authorities also may, at any time following approval of a product for sale, audit our manufacturing facilities or those of our third-party contractors. If any such inspection or audit identifies a failure to comply with applicable regulations or if a violation of our product specifications or applicable regulations occurs independent of such an inspection or audit, we or the relevant regulatory authority may require remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for us or a third-party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical study or commercial sales or the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon us or third parties with whom we contract could materially harm our business.

If we or any of our third-party manufacturers fail to maintain regulatory compliance, the FDA can impose regulatory sanctions including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending application for a new drug product or biologic product, or revocation of a pre-existing approval. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially harmed.

Additionally, if supply from one approved manufacturer is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply. An alternative manufacturer would need to be qualified through a BLA supplement which could result in further delay. The regulatory agencies may also require additional studies if a new manufacturer is relied upon for commercial production. Switching manufacturers may involve substantial costs and is likely to result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines.

These factors could cause the delay of clinical studies, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of our product candidates, cause us to incur higher costs and prevent us from commercializing our products successfully. Furthermore, if our suppliers fail to meet contractual requirements, and we are unable to secure one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, our clinical studies may be delayed, or we could lose potential revenue.

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials.

We rely on third parties such as contract research organizations (“CROs”), medical institutions and clinical investigators to enroll qualified patients and conduct, supervise and monitor clinical trials. Our reliance on these third parties for clinical development activities will reduce our control over these activities. Our reliance on these third parties, however, will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities, including ensuring that our clinical studies are conducted in accordance with good clinical practices, and the investigational plan and protocols contained in the relevant regulatory application, such as an investigational new drug application, or IND. In addition, the CROs with whom we contract may not complete activities on schedule or may not conduct our preclinical studies or clinical studies in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical study design. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, our efforts to obtain regulatory approvals for, and to commercialize, our product candidates may be delayed or prevented.

Risks related to employee matters, managing growth and our business operations

Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.

Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified managerial, scientific and medical personnel. We are highly dependent

on our executive management and scientific personnel. We do not maintain “key man” insurance policies on the lives of these individuals or the lives of any of our other employees. In addition, we will need to add personnel to achieve our business objectives. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers, other key employees, and our inability to find suitable replacements, or our inability to hire new clinical development and manufacturing personnel, could result in delays in product development and harm our business.

We conduct operations at our facility in the San Francisco Bay Area. This region is headquarters to many other biopharmaceutical companies and many academic and research institutions. Competition for skilled personnel in our market is intense and may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms or at all.

To induce valuable employees to remain at Catalyst, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided stock options that vest over time. The value to employees of stock options that vest over time may be significantly affected by movements in the Company’s stock price that are beyond our control and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of management and scientific and development teams may terminate their employment with the Company on short notice. Our employees are under at-will employment arrangements, which means that any of our employees can leave employment with Catalyst at any time, with or without notice. Failure to retain, replace or recruit personnel could harm our business.

Our employees, principal investigators, consultants and commercial partners may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading.

We are exposed to the risk of fraud or other misconduct by our employees, principal investigators, consultants and collaborators. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional failures to comply with the regulations of the FDA and non-US regulators, to provide accurate information to the FDA and non-US regulators, to comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations in the United States and abroad, to report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, 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. Such misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained during clinical studies that could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these 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 impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

We will continue to incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to compliance initiatives.

As a public company, we have and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting and corporate governance requirements, in order to comply with the rules and regulations imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), as well as rules implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq. Stockholder activism, the political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact the manner in which we operate our business in ways that are not currently anticipated. Our management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. In addition, these rules and regulations make it difficult and expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to incur substantial costs to maintain our current levels of such coverage. We expect that we will annually incur significant expenses to comply with the requirements imposed on us as a public company.

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

Our offices are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is prone to earthquakes. Earthquakes or other natural disasters could severely disrupt our operations, and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. If a natural disaster, power outage or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our headquarters, that damaged critical infrastructure, such as the manufacturing facilities of our third-party contract manufacturers, or that otherwise disrupted operations, 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 currently are limited and are unlikely to prove adequate 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 that, particularly when taken together with our lack of earthquake insurance, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks related to our intellectual property

If we are unable to obtain, protect or enforce intellectual property rights related to our product candidates, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets.

We rely upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our product candidates. The strength of patents in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical field involves complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. Third parties may challenge the validity, enforceability or scope of our patents, which may result in those patents being narrowed or invalidated. The patent applications that we own may fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover our product candidates in the United States or in other foreign countries. Furthermore, even if they are unchallenged, our patents and patent applications may not adequately protect our intellectual property, provide exclusivity for our product candidates or prevent others from designing around our claims. Certain of our patents also cover processes, for which enforcement can be difficult. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties that may have an adverse impact on our business.

If the patents or patent applications we hold or have in-licensed for our programs or product candidates are invalidated or fail to issue, if their breadth or strength of protection is threatened, or if they fail to provide meaningful exclusivity for our product candidates, it could threaten our ability to commercialize future products. Further, if we encounter delays in regulatory approvals, the period of time during which we could market a product candidate under patent protection could be reduced. In addition, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years after it is filed. Various extensions may be available; however the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Once the patent life has expired for a product, we may be open to competition from generic medications.

In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable or that we elect not to patent and other elements of our product candidate discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered by patents. However, trade secrets can be difficult to protect. We seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors and contractors. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and trade secrets by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors.

Although we expect all of our employees and consultants to assign their inventions to us, and all of our employees, consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information or technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, we cannot provide any assurances that all such agreements have been duly executed or that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. Misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of our trade secrets could impair our

competitive position and may have a material adverse effect on our business. Additionally, if the steps taken to maintain our trade secrets are deemed inadequate, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating the trade secret. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information.

Further, filing, prosecuting and defending patents on product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the United States. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property both in the United States and abroad. If we are unable to prevent material disclosure of the non-patented intellectual property related to our technologies to third parties, and there is no guarantee that we will have any such enforceable trade secret protection, we may not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement or challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts.

Our commercial success depends in part on avoiding infringement of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including patent infringement lawsuits, interferences, oppositions and inter partes reexamination proceedings before the USPTO, and corresponding foreign patent offices. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are pursuing development candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties.

Third parties may assert that the manufacture, use or sale of our product candidates infringes patents held by such third parties, or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to compositions of matter, materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. There is a patent family pending in the U.S. and Europe in which claims that may read on MarzAA have been filed. We, however, do not believe such claims are patentable. If they were to issue, we would take appropriate action to challenge their enforceability and/or validity. We are also aware of additional patents that have been issued in the United States and Europe that have claims related to Factor VII. We do not believe that MarzAA does or will infringe any valid claims in such patents.

We are aware of a patent family that includes issued patents in the United States, Australia, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand and Japan, and pending applications in Europe and Canada. The patents and pending applications may include claims that may read on a contemplated FXa clinical candidate. There is prior art that we believe discloses subject matter on which a challenge to the patentability of such claims can be based. In the event that development of the FXa candidate is pursued we would, if necessary, consider appropriate action to challenge such claims.

In addition, we have received confidential and proprietary information from third parties, and we employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information of these third parties or our employees’ former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims.

Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief that could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates unless we redesigned infringing products (which may be impossible) or obtained a license under the applicable patents (which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all), or until such patents expire.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents.

Competitors may infringe our patents. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we or our collaborators may be required to file infringement claims that can be expensive and time-consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that one of our patents is not valid, is unenforceable and/or is not infringed, 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 or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing.

Interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications or those of our licensors. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the United States.

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. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

Intellectual property litigation could cause us to spend substantial resources and distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims, regardless of their merit, would cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, in addition to paying royalties, redesign infringing products or obtain one or more licenses from third parties, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could compromise our ability to compete in the marketplace.

We may need to license certain 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 is important or necessary to the development of our products. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties on commercially reasonable terms, or our business could be harmed, possibly materially.

Risks related to regulatory approval of our product candidates and other legal compliance matters

If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

While we have multiple drug candidates in clinical and advanced preclinical development for a range of diseases, we have not yet submitted BLAs for our engineered human proteases to the FDA, or similar approval filings to comparable foreign authorities. Submission of a BLA requires extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information that demonstrates the product candidate’s safety, purity, and potency, also known as safety and effectiveness, for each desired indication. A BLA must also include significant information regarding the chemistry, manufacturing and controls for the product. MarzAA has completed a Phase 2 clinical trial, and DalcA is completing a Phase 2 clinical trial. However, failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage in the clinical trial process. Accordingly, the regulatory pathway for our product candidates is still uncertain, complex, and lengthy, and ultimately, approval may not be obtained.

We may experience delays in completing planned clinical trials for a variety of reasons, including delays related to:

• recruiting suitable patients to participate in trials;

• having patients complete a trial or return for post-treatment follow-up;

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

• adding new clinical trial sites; and

We could also experience delays in obtaining approval if physicians encounter unresolved ethical issues associated with enrolling patients in clinical trials of our product candidates in lieu of prescribing existing treatments that have established safety and efficacy profiles given the serious nature of the diseases for the core indications for our product candidates. Additionally, a clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, the IRBs for the institutions in which the trials are being conducted, the Data Monitoring Committee for the trial, or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities for a number of reasons, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues, or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product candidate, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. In addition, the FDA review and approval process could be delayed by any future shutdown of the U.S. government, and our development activities could be harmed or delayed as a result. If we experience termination of, or delays in the completion of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, our ability to commercialize our product candidates will be harmed and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired. Additionally, delays in completing trials will increase costs, slow down our product development and approval process, and impair our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue. Many of the factors that could create or lead to a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may lead to the denial of regulatory approval for our product candidates.

The FDA may disagree with our regulatory plan and we may fail to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates.

The results of clinical trials we conduct may not support regulatory approval of our product candidates. Our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

Our relationships with customers and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we would market, sell and distribute our products. As a pharmaceutical company, even though we do not and may not control referrals of healthcare services or bill directly to Medicare, Medicaid or other third-party payors, federal and state healthcare laws and regulations pertaining to fraud and abuse and patients’ rights are and will be applicable to our business. These regulations include:

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to not be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

Our results of operations may be adversely affected by current and potential future healthcare legislative and regulatory actions.

Legislative and regulatory actions affecting government prescription drug procurement and reimbursement programs occur relatively frequently. In the United States, the ACA was enacted in 2010 to expand healthcare coverage. Since then, numerous efforts have been made to repeal, amend or administratively limit the ACA in whole or in part. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Trump in 2017, repealed the individual health insurance mandate, which is considered a key component of the ACA. In December 2018, a Texas federal district court struck down the ACA on the grounds that the individual health insurance mandate is unconstitutional, although this ruling has been stayed pending appeal. The ongoing challenges to the ACA and new legislative proposals have

resulted in uncertainty regarding the ACA’s future viability and destabilization of the health insurance market. The resulting impact on our business is uncertain and could be material.

Efforts to control prescription drug prices could also have a material adverse effect on our business. For example, in 2018, President Trump and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released the “American Patients First Blueprint” and have begun implementing certain portions. The initiative includes proposals to increase generic drug and biosimilar competition, enable the Medicare program to negotiate drug prices more directly and improve transparency regarding drug prices and ways to lower consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. The Trump administration also proposed to establish an “international pricing index” that would be used as a benchmark to determine the costs and potentially limit the reimbursement of drugs under Medicare Part B. Among other pharmaceutical manufacturer industry-related proposals, Congress has proposed bills to change the Medicare Part D benefit to impose an inflation-based rebate in Medicare Part D and to alter the benefit structure to increase manufacturer contributions in the catastrophic phase. The volume of drug pricing-related bills has dramatically increased under the current Congress, and the resulting impact on our business is uncertain and could be material.

In addition, many states have proposed or enacted legislation that seeks to indirectly or directly regulate pharmaceutical drug pricing, such as by requiring biopharmaceutical manufacturers to publicly report proprietary pricing information or to place a maximum price ceiling on pharmaceutical products purchased by state agencies. For example, in 2017, California’s governor signed a prescription drug price transparency state bill into law, requiring prescription drug manufacturers to provide advance notice and explanation for price increases of certain drugs that exceed a specified threshold. Both Congress and state legislatures are considering various bills that would reform drug purchasing and price negotiations, allow greater use of utilization management tools to limit Medicare Part D coverage, facilitate the import of lower-priced drugs from outside the United States and encourage the use of generic drugs. Such initiatives and legislation may cause added pricing pressures on our products.

Changes to the Medicaid program at the federal or state level could also have a material adverse effect on our business. Proposals that could impact coverage and reimbursement of our products, including giving states more flexibility to manage drugs covered under the Medicaid program and permitting the re-importation of prescription medications from Canada or other countries, could have a material adverse effect by limiting our products’ use and coverage. Furthermore, state Medicaid programs could request additional supplemental rebates on our products as a result of an increase in the federal base Medicaid rebate. To the extent that private insurers or managed care programs follow Medicaid coverage and payment developments, they could use the enactment of these increased rebates to exert pricing pressure on our products, and the adverse effects may be magnified by their adoption of lower payment schedules.

Other proposed regulatory actions affecting manufacturers could have a material adverse effect on our business. It is difficult to predict the impact, if any, of any such proposed legislative and regulatory actions or resulting state actions on the use and reimbursement of our products in the United States, but our results of operations may be adversely affected.

We are subject to evolving privacy and data protection laws, including HIPAA and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). If we fail to protect personal information or comply with existing or future data protection regulations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially adversely affected.

Numerous state and federal laws and regulations govern the collection, dissemination, use, privacy, confidentiality, security, availability, integrity, and other processing of personal information. HIPAA establishes a set of national privacy and security standards for the protection of protected health information (as defined in HIPAA) (“PHI”) by health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and certain healthcare providers, referred to as covered entities, and the business associates with whom such covered entities contract for services. HIPAA requires covered entities and business associates, such as us, to develop and maintain policies with respect to the protection of, use and disclosure of electronic PHI, including the adoption of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect such information, and certain notification requirements in the event of a data breach.

By virtue of our clinical trial activities in Europe, we are also subject to European data protection laws, including the GDPR (as implemented in the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) and the United Kingdom). The GDPR which came into effect on May 25, 2018, establishes stringent requirements applicable to the processing of personal data (i.e., data which identifies an individual or from which an individual is identifiable), affords various data protection rights to individuals (e.g., the right to erasure of personal data) and imposes potential penalties for serious breaches of up to 4.0% annual worldwide turnover or €20 million, whichever is greater. Individuals (e.g., study subjects) also have a right to compensation for financial or non-financial losses (e.g., distress). There may be circumstances under which a failure to comply with the GDPR, or the exercise of individual rights under the GDPR, would limit our ability to utilize clinical trial data collected on study subjects. The GDPR imposes additional responsibility and liability in relation to our processing of personal data. This may be onerous and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The GDPR also prohibits the international transfer of personal data from the EEA/UK to countries outside of the EEA/United Kingdom unless made to a country deemed to have adequate data privacy laws by the European Commission or a data transfer mechanism has been put in place.

In addition, the interpretation and application of consumer, health-related and data protection laws in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are often uncertain, contradictory and in flux. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. If so, this could result in government-imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business.

In addition, we are subject to various U.S. state laws which may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply.

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

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. From time to time and in the future, our operations may involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials, and may also produce hazardous waste products. Even if we contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and waste products, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of contamination or injury resulting from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from the use or disposal of our hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties for failure to comply with such laws and regulations.

We maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, but this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. However, we do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us.

In addition, we may incur substantial costs to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. In addition, failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

We face potential product liability, and, if successful claims are brought against us, we may incur substantial liability and costs. If the use of our product candidates harms patients or is perceived to harm patients even when such harm is unrelated to our product candidates, regulatory approvals could be revoked or otherwise negatively impacted, and we could be subject to costly and damaging product liability claims.

The use of our product candidates in clinical trials and the sale of any products for which we obtain marketing approval exposes us to the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims might be brought against us by consumers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products. There is a risk that our product candidates may induce adverse events. If we cannot successfully defend against product liability claims, we could incur substantial liability and costs. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:

• impairment of our business reputation;

• withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

• costs due to related litigation;

• distraction of management’s attention from our primary business;

• substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants;

• the inability to commercialize our product candidates; and

• decreased demand for our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale.

We carry product liability insurance of $10,000,000 per occurrence and $10,000,000 aggregate limit. We believe our product liability insurance coverage is sufficient for our current clinical programs; however, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. If we obtain marketing approval for product candidates, we intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products; however, we may be unable to obtain product liability insurance on commercially reasonable terms or in adequate amounts. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs or medical treatments that had unanticipated adverse effects. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed insurance coverage, could adversely affect our results of operations and business.

Patients with the diseases targeted by our product candidates are often already in severe and advanced stages of disease and have both known and unknown significant pre-existing and potentially life-threatening health risks. During treatment, patients may suffer adverse events, including death, for reasons that may be related to our product candidates. Such events could subject us to costly litigation, require us to pay substantial amounts of money to injured patients, delay, negatively impact or end our opportunity to receive or maintain regulatory approval to market our products, or require us to suspend or abandon our commercialization efforts. Even in a circumstance in which we do not believe that an adverse event is related to our products, the investigation into the circumstance may be time-consuming or inconclusive. These investigations may interrupt our sales efforts, delay our regulatory approval process in other countries, or impact and limit the type of regulatory approvals our product candidates receive or maintain. As a result of these factors, a product liability claim, even if successfully defended, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

Risks related to commercialization of our product candidates

Even if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. For example, current hemophilia treatments like intravenous NovoSeven RT are well established in the medical community, and doctors may continue to rely on these treatments. If our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on several factors, including:

• our ability to offer our products for sale at competitive prices;

• the strength of marketing and distribution support;

• the availability of third-party coverage and adequate reimbursement;

• the prevalence and severity of any side effects; and

• any restrictions on the use of our products together with other medications.

Our product candidates are years away from regulatory approval.

MarzAA and DalcA are not expected to be commercially available for several years, if at all. Further, the commercial success of either product candidate will depend upon its acceptance by physicians, individuals, third-party payors and other key decision-makers as a therapeutic and cost-effective alternative to products available at the time, which may include competing products currently under development by others. See “We face substantial competition that may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.” If we are unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval in a timely manner (including due to reasons that are beyond our control, such as changes in regulations or a shutdown of the federal government, including the FDA) for and commercialize MarzAA or DalcA, our ability to generate revenue from product sales will be significantly delayed and our business will be materially and adversely affected, and we may not be able to earn sufficient revenues to continue as a going concern.

Even if the FDA or other regulatory agency approves MarzAA or DalcA, the approval may impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses, conditions for use, labeling, advertising, promotion, marketing and/or production of such product and may impose ongoing commitments or requirements for post-approval studies, including additional research and development and clinical trials. The FDA and other agencies also may impose various civil or criminal sanctions for failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including withdrawal of product approval. Regulatory approval from authorities in foreign countries will be needed to market MarzAA or DalcA in those countries. Approval by one regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. If we fail to obtain approvals from foreign jurisdictions, the geographic market for MarzAA or DalcA would be limited.

If we are unable to establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, we may not be successful in commercializing our product candidates if they are approved.

We have not yet established a sales, marketing or product distribution infrastructure for our other product candidates, which are still in preclinical or early clinical development. Except for ISU Abxis’ rights to commercialize DalcA in South Korea, we generally expect to retain commercial rights for the Company’s hemophilia product candidates. We believe that it will be possible to access the United States hemophilia market through a focused, specialized sales force. However, we have not yet developed a commercial strategy for hemophilia products outside of the United States, or for any other of our product candidates. To achieve commercial success for any product for which we obtain marketing approval, we will need to establish a sales and marketing organization within the United States and to develop a strategy for sales outside of the United States.

There are risks involved with establishing internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities. For example, recruiting and training a sales force is expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our sales and marketing personnel. If we are unable to establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and enter into additional arrangements with third parties to perform these services, then our product revenues and profitability, if any, are likely to be lower than if we were to market, sell and distribute any products that we develop ourselves.

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

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition, and a strong emphasis on proprietary products. We face potential competition from many different sources, including major pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions and governmental agencies, and public and private research institutions. Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with existing therapies and new therapies that may become available in the future.

Specifically, there are a large number of companies developing or marketing treatments for hemophilia, including many major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Novo Nordisk, which has developed

NovoSeven RT, an intravenous recombinant Factor VIIa indicated for treatment of bleeding episodes that has been approved for use in treatment of (i) hemophilia A or B individuals with inhibitors to Factor VIII or Factor IX and in individuals with Factor VII deficiency and Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia but not for prophylaxis and (ii) peri-operative management in adults with Acquired Hemophilia; HEMA Biologics, which has developed SEVENFACT, an intravenous recombinant Factor VIIa indicated for treatment of bleeding episodes in individuals with Hemophilia A or B with an inhibitor to Factor VIII or Factor IX; Takeda’s FEIBA, a plasma-based composition of coagulation factors indicated for intravenous on-demand and prophylactic use in the treatment of individuals with Hemophilia A or B inhibitors; Roche, which is marketing Hemlibra (emicizumab-kxwh), a recombinant humanized bispecific antibody that binds to activated Factor IX and Factor X mimicking the cofactor function of Factor VIIIa, that has been approved by the FDA to treat hemophilia A with inhibitors and is administered subcutaneously; several companies including Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and Genzyme are developing SQ agents for the treatment of Hemophilia A or B with or without inhibitors or Hemophilia with inhibitors using a variety of technologies. There are numerous marketed factor IX-based products that are used to replace Factor IX intravenously. BeneFIX, a recombinant Factor IX indicated for treatment of individuals with Hemophilia B, was approved in 1997 and is marketed by Pfizer. In addition, Alprolix, a Factor IX-Fc fusion product was approved in 2014 and is marketed by Sanofi Aventis and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (SOBI—in Europe, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East). Idelvion, a Factor IX-albumin fusion product marketed byCSL Behring was approved by the FDA in 2016. Idelvion is approved for weekly dosing for adolescents and adults and bi-weekly at a higher dose for those same patients if well controlled on the original regimen. It is approved for weekly in patients <12 years of age. Novo Nordisk’s glycopegylated-Factor IX product Rebinyn was approved by the FDA in 2017 but is not indicated for routine prophylaxis in the U.S. Rebinyn is approved for on-demand treatment and control of bleeding episodes as well as Perioperative management of bleeding. CSL Behring is developing its marketed product Idelvion an albumin-linked Factor IX for subcutaneous administration. We are also aware of many companies focused on developing gene therapies that may compete with our planned hemophilia B indication, as well as several companies addressing other methods for modifying genes and regulating gene expression. Although there are no currently approved treatments for dry AMD, several companies are developing cyclic peptide, aptamer, antibody or gene therapy based anti-complement product candidates in clinical studies. Apellis is conducting two Phase 3 studies to compare the efficacy and safety of intravitreal APL-2 therapy with sham injections in patients aged 60 years and older with GA secondary to AMD; Iveric Bio (formerly Ophthotech) is developing two therapies to treat GA secondary to dry AMD, iveric Bio completed its Phase 2b clinical of Zimura® (avacincaptad pegol) with positive data in patients with dry AMD; Gemini Therapeutics is developing “GEM103” a recombinant human complement factor H (“FH”) for patients with genetically well-defined dry AMD and “GEM104,” a recombinant human complement factor I as well as additional molecules in preclinical development for other genetically defined subpopulations of patients with dry AMD and Gyroscope Therapeutics is developing “GT005” a gene therapeutic approach to expressing additional CFI in the patient’s eye after subretinal delivery. In addition, there are currently no approved agents specifically targeting systemic factor I deficiency patients irrespective of the resultant disease phenotype being aHUS, C3G, IC-MPGN, invasive infections or any other or any approved therapies for C3G and IC-MPGN. However, there are less specific treatment options on the market or in clinical development which may be applicable to some disease manifestations of systemic CFI deficiency, for instance aHUS and C3G. These treatment options include: eculizumab and ravulizumab marketed by Alexion Pharmaceuticals (to be acquired by AstraZeneca) for use in aHUS irrespective of the patients’ CFI status; APL-2 (pegcetacoplan), a pegylated peptide based C3 inhibitor, in IgA Nephropathy (“IgAN”), LN, Membranous Nephropathy (“MN”), C3G, and Dense Deposit Disease which is in clinical development by Apellis; CCX168 (avacopan), a twice daily oral small molecule inhibitor of the complement 5a receptor (“C5aR”) in C3G—currently in phase 2 being developed by ChemoCentryx; iptacopan (“LNP023”), a small peptide complement factor B inhibitor which is currently in development by Novartis for PNH, C3G and several other rare renal diseases including IgAN, aHUS, and membranous nephropathy; and Omeros has initiated clinical activities in igAN, LN, MN, & C3G and a phase 3 clinical program in aHUS with OMS721 (“narsoplimab”), a human monoclonal antibody targeting mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 (“MASP-2”), the effector enzyme of the lectin pathway of the complement system.

Our commercial opportunity in different indications could be reduced or eliminated if competitors develop and market products or therapies that are more convenient to use, more effective, less expensive, and safer to use than our products. Furthermore, if competitors gain FDA approval earlier than we do, we may be unable to establish a strong market presence or to gain market share. The key competitive factors affecting the success of all our product candidates, if approved, are likely to be their efficacy, safety, convenience, price, the level of generic competition, and the availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payors.

Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do.

Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and individual registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

Although we believe that MarzAA could be a SQ rescue therapy for hemophilia A (congenital factor VIII deficiency) patients with inhibitors experiencing breakthrough bleeds while on prophylaxis with other agents such as Hemlibra, nevertheless, branded products such as Hemlibra, present a potentially significant competitive risk to the wide-spread use of MarzAA, due to bleeding prophylaxis with Hemlibra requiring less frequent administration while decreasing the risk of breakthrough bleeds. Consequently, MarzAA, if approved, may compete with existing drugs such as Hemlibra, NovoSeven RT, and other therapies, and to the extent it is ultimately used in combination with or as an adjunct to these therapies, MarzAA may not be competitive. The FDA first approved Hemlibra in 2017 for patients with hemophilia A with factor VIII (“FVIII”) inhibitors and in 2018, the FDA approved Hemlibra for prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes in adult and pediatric patients with hemophilia A with or without FVIII inhibitors. As a result, obtaining market acceptance of, and gaining significant market share for MarzAA may pose challenges.

Even if we commercialize any product candidates, the products may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives that would harm our business.

The regulations that govern marketing approvals, pricing, coverage and reimbursement for new drug products vary widely from country to country. Current and future legislation may significantly change the approval requirements in ways that could involve additional costs and cause delays in obtaining approvals. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing approval is granted. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we may obtain marketing approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product, possibly for lengthy time periods, and negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if our product candidates obtain marketing approval.

Our ability to commercialize any product candidates successfully also will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for certain medications. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. Coverage and reimbursement may not be available for any product that we or our collaborators commercialize and, even if these are available, the level of reimbursement may not be satisfactory. Reimbursement may affect the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate that receives marketing approval. Obtaining and maintaining adequate reimbursement for our products may be difficult. We may be required to conduct expensive pharmaco-economic studies to justify coverage and reimbursement or the level of reimbursement relative to other therapies. If coverage and adequate reimbursement are not available or reimbursement is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval.

There may be significant delays in obtaining reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Moreover, eligibility for reimbursement does not imply that a drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover our costs and may not be made permanent.

Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs and may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement policies. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement rates from both government-funded and private payors for any approved products that we develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, ability to raise capital needed to commercialize products and overall financial condition.

The insurance coverage and reimbursement status of newly approved products is uncertain. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for new or current products could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

The availability and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford expensive treatments. Sales of our product candidates will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of our product candidates will be paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors. If reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment.

There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors, in the United States and abroad, to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and level of reimbursement for new products approved and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our product candidates. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any of our product candidates, due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products.

If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than expected, our revenues may be adversely affected and our business may suffer.

We focus our research and product development on hemostasis and inflammation treatment. Our projections of both the number of people who suffer from related conditions, as well as the subset of people with these conditions who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on estimates. These estimates may prove to be incorrect and new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. The number of patients in the United States, Europe and elsewhere may turn out to be lower than expected or may not be otherwise amenable to treatment with our products, or new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, all of which would adversely affect our results of operations and our business.

Risks related to our common stock

The market price of our common stock has historically been highly volatile.

The trading price of our common stock has historically been highly volatile and there have been significant periods of time in which the trading volume of our common stock has been low, which can contribute to volatility in price. Additionally, the stock market in general has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. The market prices of securities of pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular have been extremely volatile and have experienced fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to operating performance. Factors giving rise to this volatility may include:

• disclosure of clinical trial results;

• regulatory or political developments in both the United States and abroad;

• disclosure of new collaborations or other strategic transactions;

• general market conditions and comments by securities analysts and investors.

Fluctuations in operating results could adversely affect the price of our common stock.

Our operating results are likely to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. These fluctuations could cause our stock price to decline. Some of the factors that may cause operating results to fluctuate on a period-to-period basis include the scope, progress, duration results and costs of preclinical and clinical development programs, as well as non-clinical studies and assessments of product candidates and programs, restructuring costs, implementation or termination of collaboration, licensing, manufacturing or other material agreements with third parties, non-recurring revenue or expenses under any such agreement, the cost, timing and outcomes of regulatory compliance, approvals or other regulatory actions and general and industry-specific economic conditions, particularly as affects the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical or biotechnology industries in the United States. Period-to-period comparisons of our historical and future financial results may not be meaningful, and investors should not rely on them as an indication of future performance. Fluctuating losses may fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors. Failure to meet these expectations may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales could occur, could depress the market price of our common stock.

Our current trading volumes are modest, and sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price to decline. We have effective registration statements on Form S-3 that enables us to sell up to $170.0 million in securities. Any additional sales in the public market of our common stock or other securities under these shelf registration statements could adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock. In addition, we have outstanding options to purchase 2,355,615 shares of common stock at a weighted average exercise price of $8.59 for the year ended December 31, 2020. If such options are exercised and the shares are sold into the open market, such sales also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. Conversion or exercise of these securities into shares of our common stock will cause dilution to the other holders of our common stock, and all such stock may be sold in the public market after conversion or exercise, subject to restrictions under the securities laws, which may lead to a decline in the market price of our common stock.\

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and provisions of Delaware law may make an acquisition more difficult and could result in the entrenchment of management.

We are incorporated in Delaware. Anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law and our charter documents may make a change in control or efforts to remove management more difficult. Also, under Delaware law, our board of directors may adopt additional anti-takeover measures. The existence of the following provisions of Delaware law and our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

Our restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock and to determine the terms of those shares of stock without any further action by our stockholders. If the board of directors exercises this power to issue preferred stock, it could be more difficult for a third-party to acquire a majority of our outstanding voting stock and vote the stock they acquire to remove management or directors.

Our restated certificate also provides staggered terms for the members of our board of directors, and that directors may be removed by stockholders only by vote of the holders of 66 2/3% of voting shares then outstanding. In addition, our amended and restated bylaws do not permit stockholders to call special or annual meetings of stockholders, or to act by written consent without a meeting. These provisions may prevent stockholders from

replacing the entire board in a single proxy contest, making it more difficult for a third party to acquire control without the consent of our board of directors. These provisions could also delay the removal of management by the board of directors with or without cause.

As a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to certain Delaware anti-takeover provisions. Under Delaware law, a publicly-held corporation may not engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of our voting stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or, among other things, the board of directors has approved the transaction. Our board of directors could rely on Delaware law to prevent or delay an acquisition.

Our business could be negatively affected as a result of actions of activist stockholders, and such activism could impact the trading value of our securities.

Two of our stockholders have requested that we add one or more individuals to our board of directors. Although we have entered into a cooperation agreement with one such stockholder and appointed two new members to our board of directors, one or more other stockholders could engage in proxy solicitations or advance stockholder proposals, or otherwise attempt to effect changes and assert influence on our board of directors and management. Such an activist campaign could conflict with our strategic direction or seek changes in the composition of our board of directors and could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. A proxy contest would require us to incur significant legal and advisory fees, proxy solicitation expenses and administrative and associated costs, and require significant time and attention by our board of directors and management, diverting their attention from the pursuit of our business strategy. Any perceived uncertainties as to our future direction and control, our ability to execute on our strategy, or changes to the composition of our board of directors or senior management team arising from a proxy contest could lead to the perception of a change in the direction of our business or instability which may result in the loss of potential business opportunities, make it more difficult to pursue our strategy, or limit our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results. If individuals are ultimately elected to our board of directors with a specific agenda, it may adversely affect our ability to effectively implement our business strategy and create additional value for our stockholders. We may choose to initiate, or may become subject to, litigation as a result of the proxy contest or matters arising from the proxy contest, which would serve as a further distraction to our board of directors and management and would require us to incur significant additional costs. In addition, actions such as those described above could cause significant fluctuations in our stock price based upon temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the underlying fundamentals and prospects of our business.

We are a smaller reporting company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to smaller reporting companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We have been a “smaller reporting company” as defined in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and thus have been allowed to provide simplified executive compensation disclosures in our filings. We have also had certain other decreased disclosure obligations in our SEC filings. We cannot predict whether investors find our common stock less attractive because of our reliance on any of these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

Item 2. PROPERTIES

Our corporate headquarters is in South San Francisco, California, where we lease approximately 16,208 rentable square feet of space. The term of the leases will expire on April 30, 2023.

We believe that our existing facilities are adequate for our current needs.

Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings or be subject to claims arising in the ordinary course of our business. We are not presently a party to any legal proceedings that in the opinion of our management, if determined adversely to us, would individually or taken together have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition or cash flows.

Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “CBIO.”

Holders of Common Stock

As of February 25, 2021, there were approximately 65 holders of record of our common stock. In addition, a substantially greater number of stockholders may be “street name” or beneficial holders, whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial institutions.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

The response to this item is incorporated by reference from the discussion responsive thereto under the caption “Equity Compensation Plan Information” in Item 12. Security Ownership Of Certain Beneficial Owners And Management.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings, if any, to fund the development and expansion of our business and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors.

Unregistered Sales of Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities; Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers.

None.

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

Information requested by this Item is not applicable as we are electing to adopt recently implemented regulations regarding this Item.

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion may contain forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, including those set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our actual results and the timing of selected events discussed below could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements.

Overview

We are a research and clinical development biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing unmet medical needs in disorders of the complement and coagulation systems. Proteases are the natural regulators of these biological systems. We engineer proteases to create both improved or novel molecules to treat diseases that result from dysregulation of the complement and coagulation cascades. Our protease engineering platform has generated two late-stage clinical programs including marzeptacog alfa (activated) (“MarzAA”), a subcutaneously (“SQ”) administered next-generation engineered coagulation Factor VIIa (“FVIIa”) for the treatment of episodic bleeding in subjects with rare bleeding disorders. Our complement pipeline includes a preclinical program partnered with Biogen International GmbH (“Biogen”) for dry age-related macular degeneration (“AMD”), an improved complement factor I protease for SQ prophylaxis in patients with complement factor I (“CFI”) deficiency and C4b-degraders designed to target disorders of the classical complement pathway as well as other complement programs in development.

The product candidates generated by our protease engineering platform have improved functional properties such as longer half-life, improved specificity, higher potency and increased bioavailability. These characteristics potentially allow for improved efficacy, SQ administration of recombinant coagulation factors and complement inhibitors, or less frequently dosed intravitreal therapeutics.

Our most advanced product candidate is MarzAA, a next-generation SQ FVIIa that is entering a registrational Phase 3 trial (MAA-304) in patients with Hemophilia A or B with inhibitors. We also plan to initiate a Phase 1/2 trial of MarzAA in Factor VII Deficiency, Glanzmann Thrombasthenia, and Hemophilia A with inhibitor patients on prophylaxis Hemlibra for treatment of episodic bleeding (MAA-202).

Our complement portfolio is led by the development candidates CB 4332 and CB 2782-PEG. CB 4332 is a wholly owned first-in-class improved CFI intended for lifelong prophylactic SQ administration in individuals with CFI deficiency. CB 2782-PEG is a potential best-in-class C3 degrader product candidate in preclinical development for the treatment of dry AMD that we have licensed to Biogen. We have several engineered protease programs in discovery or early non-clinical development. These programs all target diseases caused by deficient regulation of the complement system.

Our next most advanced hemophilia product candidate is dalcinonacog alfa (“DalcA”), a next-generation SQ FIX, which has shown efficacy and safety in a Phase 2b clinical trial in individuals with Hemophilia B. We have a discovery stage Factor IX gene therapy construct, CB 2679d-GT for Hemophilia B, that has demonstrated superiority compared with the Padua FIX variant in preclinical models.

The following table summarizes our current development programs.

We are experiencing operational and other challenges as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which could delay or halt our development programs. See Recent Other Developments and Item 1A - Risk Factors for further discussion of the current and expected impact on our business and development programs.

Recent Development Program Updates

MarzAA

We are initiating a registrational Phase 3 trial (MAA-304) for our most advanced product candidate, MarzAA, a potent, subcutaneously administered, next-generation Factor VIIa variant.

The Phase 3 registration trial – MAA-304 – is an open-label, global, multi-center, randomized, cross-over study, designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MarzAA for on-demand treatment of spontaneous or traumatic bleeding episodes, in adolescents and adults with congenital Hemophilia A or B with inhibitors, compared with Standard of Care, either IV rFVIIa or IV FEIBA. The study will enroll approximately 60 subjects to treat 244 eligible bleeding episodes with each treatment. The primary endpoint is hemostatic efficacy using a standard 4-point assessment scale at the 24-hour timepoint. The study will assess the effectiveness of SQ MarzAA, using up to three doses to treat a bleeding episode, compared with the Standard of Care. We plan to submit our first report to the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (“DSMB”) in 2021 and our final DSMB report in the middle of 2022.

We also plan to initiate a Phase 1/2 trial (MAA-202) of MarzAA for treatment of bleeding in Factor VII Deficiency, Glanzmann Thrombasthenia, and in individuals with Hemophilia A with inhibitors treated with Hemlibra in 2021 and to report interim PK data mid-year.

Complement

We currently have several protease programs in preclinical discovery or early non-clinical development. Common to the programs is that they target diseases caused by deficient regulation of the complement system. One ocular program for dry AMD is partnered with Biogen; the remaining complement programs are focused on systemic complement disorders and are wholly owned by Catalyst.

deficiency. CB 2782-PEG is a potential best-in-class C3 degrader product candidate in preclinical development for the treatment of dry AMD that we have licensed to Biogen. We have several engineered protease programs in discovery or early non-clinical development. These programs all target diseases caused by deficient regulation of the complement system.

CB 2782-PEG is an engineered pegylated C3 degrader that we designed with a best-in-class anti-C3 profile for dry AMD. Dry AMD is an ocular disease leading to vision loss and blindness for which there is currently no approved therapies. Complement hyperreactivity plays an important role in dry AMD. Using the protease CB 2782-PEG to degrade C3 allows for the neutralization of C3 activity. It is expected that maintaining low C3 in the eye can significantly slow disease progression in dry AMD in patients who would otherwise lose their vision over time.

Currently, there are no therapeutic options approved to specifically replace the deficient CFI protein with a well-functioning CFI to treat these disorders. While not specifically targeting CFI deficiency, eculizumab and ravulizumab are indicated for use in aHUS. Neither eculizumab nor ravulizumab address the root cause of the CFI deficiency; instead, they are designed to prevent the downstream effects of uncontrolled complement activity. Patients with aberrant CFI may therefore still have uncontrolled complement activation downstream of CFI. This may cause deposition of complement proteins, for example, on red blood cells, and some CFI patients may have a worse prognosis than others even when on non-replacement therapy. CB 4332 is designed to address this unmet need by providing a therapeutic option that corrects the root problem of these diseases by simple, fast and easy SQ administration.

We have additional early stage complement targeted discovery programs that have not yet been disclosed. The programs target different proteins from C3b and C4b.

DalcA

DalcA is a next-generation SQ Factor IX product candidate for the prophylactic treatment of individuals with Hemophilia B.

In 2020, we completed an open-label Phase 2b study to evaluate the ability of DalcA to maintain steady state protective Factor IX levels above 12% in six individuals with severe hemophilia B. Each subject received a single intravenous dose, followed by daily SQ doses of DalcA for 28 days during which FIX activity levels, clotting parameters, half-life, safety, tolerability and anti-drug antibody formation were monitored.

At the World Federation of Hemophilia Virtual Summit in June 2020, we reported that 28 days of daily SQ dosing of DalcA at 100 IU/kg achieved protective target FIX levels of >12% in all participants, with FIX levels of up to 27% and a half-life of 2.5 to 5.1 days. No bleeds were reported during the 28 days of dosing and the 5 day wash-out, demonstrating effective prophylaxis and the potential for lower or less frequent dosing. Injection volumes were less than 1 mL. One subject withdrew on day 7 after reporting injection site reactions (“ISR”) from the first 3 SQ doses. No neutralizing anti-drug antibodies were detected, and no serious adverse events were reported. A single non-neutralizing anti-drug antibody to DalcA was observed at the end of study time point and had no clinical effect. Some subjects reported mild ISR of pain and/or redness, primarily with the initial injections. No thrombotic events occurred, and blood coagulation markers did not show any prothrombotic signals.

Factor IX Gene Therapy

Our Factor IX gene therapy construct CB 2679d-GT has demonstrated a 2-fold to 3-fold higher activity resulting in improved clotting time and blood loss in a preclinical Hemophilia B mouse model compared with the Padua variant of Factor IX. Fidanacogene elaparvovec (Pfizer/Spark), AMT-061 (uniQure),TAK-748 (Takeda) and FLT180A (Freeline) use the Padua FIX variant as the transgene in their AAV-based gene therapy clinical programs. Fidanacogene elaparvovec, AMT-061 and FLT180A have demonstrated encouraging Factor IX levels in their respective Phase 1/2 and Phase 2/3 studies with median Factor IX activity levels in the upper end of the mild to normal ranges. By its increased activity, CB 2679d-GT has the potential to reach higher Factor IX activity levels at lower vector doses which could improve tolerability of the vector as well as efficacy of the transgene, and ultimately lower manufacturing costs.

We have licensed AAV technology from The Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”) and are currently optimizing the vector under a sponsored research agreement with Stanford. Data presented at European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders (“EAHAD”) show that the combination ofour proprietary potency enhanced CB 2679d-GT Factor IX construct with a novel chimeric AAV capsid may reduce the vector dose required in gene therapy while maintaining high Factor IX levels.

We reported at the World Federation of Hemophilia Virtual Summit in June 2020 that studies of CB 2679d-GT in Hemophilia B mice have demonstrated a 4-fold reduction in blood loss and an 8-fold reduction in bleeding time when compared with the same dose of the Padua variant of FIX.

We also reported that in a non-human primate study evaluating expression and tolerability, CB 2679d-GT in the novel chimeric capsid KP1 was well tolerated with high FIX expression that stabilized to approximately 25% to 50% FIX above baseline levels at the 6-week interim data cutoff. The novel chimeric capsid had differentiated and superior response to anti-capsid neutralizing antibodies compared to that observed for the LK03 comparator during the screening of non-human primates for the study.

Recent Collaborations

In December 2019, we entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Biogen to develop and commercialize CB 2782-PEG and our other anti-C3 proteases for the potential treatment of dry AMD and other disorders. Under the collaboration agreement, we will perform pre-clinical and manufacturing activities, and Biogen is solely responsible for funding the pre-clinical and manufacturing activities and performing IND-enabling activities, worldwide clinical development, and commercialization. We received a $15.0 million upfront payment from Biogen in January 2020 for the grant of an exclusive license and the related know-how, and we are eligible to receive up to $340.0 million in milestone payments, along with tiered royalties for worldwide net sales of this product candidate up to low double-digits. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded $5.8 million in collaboration revenue. Unless earlier terminated, the agreement will remain in effect until the expiry of all royalty obligations. Biogen has the right to terminate the agreement at will, on a product-by-product basis or in its entirety at any time upon 60 days prior written notice. In addition, either party has the right to terminate the agreement following a material breach that remains uncured for 90 days, or in connection with an insolvency event involving the other party.

We also collaborated with Mosaic Biosciences (“Mosaic”) in the development of our Complement product candidates including CB 2782-PEG. Under the collaboration agreement, as amended in December 2019, Mosaic will perform all future services for a fee, and pursuant to a subsequent amendment in May 2020, Mosaic received a one-time cash payment of $0.8 million and is eligible to receive up to $4.0 million in potential future milestone payments related to regulatory and clinical development events for CB 2782-PEG and an additional anti-complement product candidate in cash, or in common stock if the Company elects, in lieu of our obligations to pay Mosaic a double-digit percentage of funds we receive from Biogen or any other amounts we receive related to sublicense fees, research and development payments, or any other research, regulatory, clinical or commercial milestones and royalties on any other development candidates. We now own one hundred percent of all future payment streams related to these product candidates.

Recent Manufacturing Updates

Drug Substance manufacturing

We have a long-term development and manufacturing services agreement with AGC Biologics, Inc. (“AGC”). AGC has global manufacturing sites and we use their facilities in the U.S. and Europe for drug substance manufacturing of MarzAA, DalcA, and CB 2782-PEG. We have successfully manufactured MarzAA to support our global Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MarzAA for on-demand treatment and control of bleeding episodes in subjects with Hemophilia A or Hemophilia B with inhibitors. As of December 2020, we have successfully completed two large-scale GMP batches of MarzAA that will be sufficient to support the Phase 3 clinical trial through its completion. Additionally, we have entered into a firm purchase commitment, with AGC, to validate the MarzAA manufacturing process including production of three Process Performance Qualification batches.

In January 2020, we completed a successful CMC Scientific Advice meeting with the Paul Ehrlich Institute in the EU which endorsed our current CMC strategy and manufacturing activities required for registration filing for the MarzAA program.

Drug Product manufacturing

We have a long-term clinical supply services agreement with Catalent Indiana, LLC (“Catalent”). Catalent has facilities in the U.S. and Europe and conducts drug product development and manufacturing for MarzAA and DalcA. We successfully completed development work for a variety of vial sizes which supports flexible dosing.

We also work with Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services Limited on drug product manufacturing for MarzAA on a fee-for-services basis. Symbiosis has a facility in the United Kingdom. In 2020, two drug product manufacturing batches were successfully completed at Symbiosis to support MarzAA pivotal trials.

The two MarzAA drug product batches manufactured at Symbiosis in 2020, were also successfully packaged and labeled at Catalent to support MarzAA pivotal trials.

Other Recent Developments

COVID-19 business impact

Recent Financing

In the first quarter of 2021, we sold an aggregate of 9,185,000 shares of common stock (including 485,000 shares sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option) at a price of $5.75 per share. The net proceeds, after deducting $3.5 million in underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses, were approximately $49.3 million.

In June 2020, we completed an underwritten public offering of 4,615,384 shares of common stock at a price of $6.50 per share. The net proceeds, after deducting $2.0 million in underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us, were approximately $28.0 million.

In February 2020,we completed an underwritten public offering of 5,307,692 shares of common stock (including 692,307 shares sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option) at a price of $6.50 per share. The net proceeds, after deducting $2.5 million in underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us, were $32.0 million.

We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales. From inception to December 31, 2020, we have raised net proceeds of approximately $452.9 million, primarily from private placements of convertible preferred stock, proceeds from our merger with Targacept, issuances of shares of common stock and warrants, including $76.4 million in total revenue received from our license and collaboration agreements.

We have never been profitable and have incurred significant operating losses in each year since inception. Our net losses were $56.2 million and $55.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $314.8 million. As of December 31, 2020, our cash, cash equivalents and investments balance were $81.9 million. Substantially all our operating losses were incurred in our research and development programs and in our general and administrative operations.

We expect to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for at least the next several years as we continue the preclinical, manufacturing and clinical development, and seek regulatory approval for our drug candidates. Our operating losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to timing of preclinical, manufacturing, clinical development programs and regulatory guidance spending.

Financial Overview

License and Collaboration Revenue

License and collaboration revenue consist of revenue earned for performance obligations satisfied pursuant to our Biogen Agreement. In December 2019, we entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Biogen. In consideration for the grant of an exclusive license and related know-how, we received an up-front license payment of $15.0 million in January 2020, which was recorded in license revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020. We also recognized collaboration revenue for reimbursable third-party vendor, out-of-pocket and personnel costs pertaining to the Biogen Agreement of $5.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2020. There can be no assurance when any future milestone or royalty payments under the Biogen agreement may occur, if at all.

We have not generated any revenue from the sale of any drugs, and we do not expect to generate any revenue from the sale of drugs until we obtain regulatory approval of and commercialize our product candidates.

Cost of License and Collaboration Revenue

Cost of license and collaboration revenue consists of sublicense fees and fees for research and development services payable to Mosaic, fees for research and development services payable to third-party vendors, and personnel costs, corresponding to the recognition of license and collaboration revenue from Biogen. Cost of license and collaboration revenue does not include any allocated overhead costs. In connection with the license revenue recognized from Biogen as discussed above, we paid Mosaic a $3.0 million sublicense fee and recorded such payment as cost of license. We recognized third-party vendor, out-of-pocket and personnel costs, most of which were reimbursable, pertaining to the Biogen Agreement of $6.1 million and recorded such costs as cost of collaboration revenue during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses represent costs incurred to conduct research, such as the discovery and development of our product candidates. We recognize all research and development costs as they are incurred.

Research and development expenses consist primarily of the following:

• performing toxicity and other preclinical studies; and

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the periods presented (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31,

Total research and development expenses $ 52,975 $ 43,859

The largest component of our total operating expenses has historically been our investment in research and development activities, including the clinical and manufacturing development of our product candidates. We are currently focusing substantially all our resources and development efforts on MarzAA, our complement program and DalcA. Our internal resources, employees and infrastructure are not directly tied to individual product candidates or development programs. As such, we do not maintain information regarding these costs incurred for these research and development programs on a project-specific basis.

We expect our aggregate research and development expenses will increase during the next year as we advance the clinical and manufacturing development of our programs. The global coronavirus pandemic may also delay and increase costs of our current development plans.

On May 20, 2016, we signed a development and manufacturing services agreement with AGC, formerly known as CMC ICOS Biologics, Inc., pursuant to which AGC will conduct manufacturing development of agreed upon product candidates. We will own all intellectual property developed in such manufacturing development activities that are specifically related to our product candidates and will have a royalty-free and perpetual license to use AGC’s intellectual property to the extent reasonably necessary to make these product candidates, including commercial manufacturing. In 2016 we commenced manufacturing activities for MarzAA and as of December 31, 2020, six GMP batches have been manufactured at AGC in addition to an engineering batch to support the planned clinical trials.

The initial term of the agreement is ten years or, if later, until all stages under outstanding statements of work have been completed. Either party may terminate the agreement in its entirety upon written notice of a material uncured breach or upon the other party’s bankruptcy, and we may terminate the agreement upon prior notice for any reason. In addition, each party may terminate the agreement in the event that the manufacturing development activities cannot be completed for technical or scientific reasons. We have firm work orders with AGC to manufacture MarzAA and DalcA to support clinical trials totaling $11.2 million. The payment obligations remaining for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $2.3 million.

On October 9, 2019, we signed a clinical supply services agreement with Catalent, effective Oct 4, 2019, pursuant to which Catalent will conduct drug product development of agreed upon product candidates. We will own, and Catalent assigns to us, the intellectual property that is specifically related to our products including the products’ composition and use, and Catalent will own, and we assign to Catalent, the intellectual property that result from Catalent’s performance of its services under the clinical supply agreement.

The initial term of the clinical supply agreement is three years, although the term may be extended for successive twelve-month periods, unless either party gives the other party written notice of its intent not to extend the term at least ninety (90) days prior to the expiration of the initial term or the then-current extension. Either party may terminate the clinical supply agreement in its entirety upon written notice of a material uncured breach or upon the other party’s bankruptcy, and we may terminate the clinical supply agreement for its convenience upon thirty (30) days prior written notice. In addition, each party may terminate the clinical supply agreement in the event that the other party fails to perform its obligations under the agreement for reasons beyond the reasonable control of such party, such as technical or scientific reasons. If we cancel or reschedule a project plan or purchase order outside the parameters set in the clinical supply agreement, we would be obligated to pay for a portion of Catalent’s costs less certain fees that Catalent is able to mitigate. We have committed to a total of $0.5 million in payments to Catalent pursuant to the statements of work for DalcA and zero of those payments are outstanding as of December 31, 2020.

The process of conducting clinical trials necessary to obtain regulatory approval is costly and time consuming. We may never succeed in achieving marketing approval for our product candidates. The probability of success of each product candidate may be affected by numerous factors, including clinical data, competition, manufacturing capability and commercial viability. As a result, we are unable to determine the duration of and costs to complete our research and development projects or when and to what extent we will generate revenue from the commercialization and sale of any of our product candidates.

Successful development of current and future product candidates is highly uncertain. Completion dates and costs for our research programs can vary significantly for each current and future product candidate and are difficult to predict. Thus, we cannot estimate with any degree of certainty the costs we will incur in the development of our product candidates. We anticipate we will make determinations as to which programs and product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each program and product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the scientific success of early research programs, results of ongoing and future clinical trials, our ability to enter into collaborative agreements with respect to programs or potential product candidates, as well as ongoing assessments as to each current or future product candidate’s commercial potential.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist of personnel costs, allocated expenses and other expenses for outside professional services, including legal, human resources, audit and accounting services. Personnel costs consist of salaries, bonus, benefits and stock-based compensation. We incur expenses associated with operating as a public company, including expenses related to compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”), insurance expenses, audit expenses, investor relations activities, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance expenses and other administrative expenses and professional services. We expect such expenses to increase as we advance our programs.

Interest and Other Income, Net

Interest and other income consist primarily of interest income on our investment portfolio and a payment received in the first quarter of 2020 under an agreement associated with neuronal nicotinic receptor assets sold in 2016.

Results of Operations

The following tables set forth our results of operations data for the periods presented (in thousands, except percentages):

Year Ended December 31,

License and collaboration revenue 20,948 — 20,948 *

Operating expenses:

*Not meaningful

License and Collaboration Revenue

License and collaboration revenue of $20.9 million generated in the year ended December 31, 2020 consisted primarily of a license payment of $15.0 million and reimbursable collaboration expenses of $5.8 million from our Biogen Agreement, which was entered into on December 18, 2019.

Cost of License and Collaboration Revenue

Cost of license and collaboration revenue were $9.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2020. Cost of license revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily include the $3.0 million sublicense fee we paid to Mosaic in connection with the recognition of the license revenue from Biogen. Cost of collaboration revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily reimbursable third-party vendor, out-of-pocket and personnel related costs we incurred pertaining to the Biogen Agreement.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $53.0 million and $43.9 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, an increase of approximately $9.1 million, or 21%. The increase was due primarily to an increase of $2.3 million in personnel-related costs, an increase of $7.0 million in preclinical research and an increase of $0.5 million in facilities costs, partially offset by a decrease of $0.7 million in clinical manufacturing costs.

General and Administrative Expenses

Gyre Therapeutics, Inc. GYRE US Equity

GYRE · 10-K · period ended 2020-12-31

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Item 2. PROPERTIES

Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

Gyre Therapeutics, Inc. GYRE US Equity☆

GYRE · 10-K · period ended 2020-12-31

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Item 2. PROPERTIES

Item 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

Gyre Therapeutics, Inc. GYRE US Equity