Item 1A. Risk Factors

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this Annual Report, before making your decision to invest in shares of our common stock. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed in the risk factors below will not occur. These risks could have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or prospects. If that were to happen, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

This Annual Report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report. See "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" for information relating to these forward-looking statements.

Risks Related to our Financial Position and Capital Needs

We have a history of net losses, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability.

We have incurred net losses since our inception, including net losses attributable to Precigen of $170.5 million, $322.3 million and $509.3 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.8 billion. We may incur losses and negative cash flow from operating activities for the foreseeable future. Historically, we have derived a significant portion of our revenues from collaborations and license agreements, but revenues of these types for existing collaborations will continue to decrease as we complete our transition to a discovery and clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. We no longer expect to receive reimbursement of costs incurred by us for new research and

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development services other than through existing collaborations or future strategic transactions, nor will we recognize deferred revenues associated with previously terminated collaborations. In addition, certain of our collaborations and license agreements provide for milestone payments, future royalties, and other forms of contingent consideration, the payment of which are uncertain as they are dependent on our collaborators' abilities and willingness to successfully develop and commercialize product candidates.

We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially as we continue to advance the preclinical and clinical development of our existing product candidates and our research programs, and there is a significant risk that our product candidates will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, obtain regulatory approval, or become commercially viable. We expect a significant period of time could pass before commercialization of our various product candidates or before the achievement of contractual milestones and the realization of royalties on product candidates commercialized under our collaborations and revenues sufficient to achieve profitability. As a result, our expenses may exceed revenues for the foreseeable future, and we may not achieve profitability. If we fail to achieve profitability, or if the time required to achieve profitability is longer than we anticipate, we may not be able to continue our business. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

We will need substantial additional capital in the future in order to fund our business.

•progress in our research and development programs, as well as the magnitude of these programs;

•the timing of potential regulatory approval of products of our collaborations and operations;

•the timing, receipt, and amount of any payments received in connection with strategic transactions;

•the timing, receipt, and amount of sales and royalties, if any, from our product candidates;

•the timing and capital requirements to scale up our various product candidates and service offerings and customer acceptance thereof;

•our ability to maintain and establish additional collaborative arrangements and/or new strategic initiatives;

•the resources, time, and cost required for the preparation, filing, prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement of our intellectual property portfolio;

•strategic mergers and acquisitions, if any, including both the upfront acquisition cost as well as the cost to integrate, maintain, and expand the strategic target; and

•the costs associated with legal activities, including litigation, arising in the course of our business activities and our ability to prevail in any such legal disputes.

If future financings involve the issuance of equity securities, our existing shareholders would suffer further dilution. If we raise additional debt financing, we may be subject to restrictive covenants that limit our ability to conduct our business. We may not be able to raise sufficient additional funds on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise sufficient funds and continue to incur losses, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of strategic opportunities, develop product candidates or technologies, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures could be significantly limited. If this happens, we may be forced to delay or terminate research or development programs or the commercialization of product candidates resulting from our technologies, curtail or cease operations or obtain funds through strategic transactions or other collaborative and licensing arrangements that may require us to relinquish commercial rights, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If adequate funds are not available, we will not be able to successfully execute our business plan or continue our business.

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Servicing our debt may require a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flows from our business, or otherwise have available cash, to pay our substantial debt when due.

Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on, or to refinance our indebtedness, including the 3.50 percent convertible senior notes due 2023, or Convertible Notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate cash flows from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flows, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations.

The Convertible Notes are our exclusive obligations and are not guaranteed by any of our operating subsidiaries. We believe that a substantial portion of our intrinsic value is represented by assets that are held by our subsidiaries. Accordingly, our ability to service our debt, including the Convertible Notes, depends on the results of operations of our subsidiaries and upon the ability of such subsidiaries to provide us with cash, whether in the form of dividends, loans, or otherwise, to pay amounts due on our obligations, including the Convertible Notes. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to make payments on the Convertible Notes or to make any funds available for that purpose. In addition, dividends, loans or other distributions to us from such subsidiaries may be subject to contractual and other restrictions and are subject to other business considerations.

Despite our current debt levels, we may still incur substantially more debt or take other actions that would intensify the risks discussed above.

Despite our current consolidated debt levels, we and our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional debt in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our debt instruments, some of which may be secured debt. We are not restricted under the terms of the indenture governing the Convertible Notes from incurring additional debt, securing existing or future debt, recapitalizing our debt or taking a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the indenture governing the Convertible Notes that could have the effect of diminishing our ability to make payments on the Convertible Notes when due.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant volatility, uncertainty, and economic disruption that could have an adverse effect on the Company's access to capital on favorable terms.

Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since our inception. We expect to continue to spend substantial amounts to continue the preclinical and clinical development of our current and future programs. We are and will continue to be dependent on public or private financings, new collaborations or licensing arrangements with strategic partners, or additional debt financing sources to fund continuing operations. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively impact the economy, our future access to capital on favorable terms may be materially impacted. We may not be able to raise sufficient additional funds on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. Given the rapid evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding it, its impact to our financial condition, including but not limited to, possible impairment, restructuring, and other changes, cannot be reliably quantified or estimated.

Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of our Product Candidates

Our business is dependent on our ability to advance our current and future product candidates through clinical trials, obtain marketing approval, and ultimately commercialize them.

We are early in our development efforts. We initiated our first clinical trial for our lead programs, PRGN-3005 in April 2019, PRGN-3006 in May 2019, PRGN-2009 in August 2020, AG019 in October 2018, and INXN-4001 in May 2018, and currently have a pipeline of preclinical programs. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for several years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of some or all of these product candidates, and any future product candidates we develop, which may never occur. Our current and future product candidates will require additional preclinical or clinical development, management of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, marketing approval in the United States and other jurisdictions, coverage from pricing and reimbursement authorities, sufficient cGMP manufacturing supply for both preclinical and clinical development and commercial production, building of a commercial organization and substantial investment, and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales.

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The clinical and commercial success of our current and future product candidates will depend on several factors, including the following:

•sufficiency of our financial and other resources to complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials;

•timely and successful completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials;

•acceptance of INDs for future product candidates;

•successful enrollment in and completion of clinical trials;

•data from our clinical program that supports an acceptable risk-benefit profile of our product candidates in the intended patient populations;

•our ability to consistently manufacture our product candidates on a timely basis or to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers that can do so;

•whether we are required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to conduct additional clinical trials or other studies beyond those planned or anticipated to support approval of our product candidates;

•acceptance of our proposed indications and the primary endpoint assessments evaluated in the clinical trials of our product candidates by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities;

•receipt and maintenance of timely marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;

•the successful launch of commercial sales of our product candidates, if approved;

•the prevalence, duration and severity of potential side effects or other safety issues experienced with our product candidates, if approved;

•entry into collaborations to further the development of our product candidates;

•our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection or regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates;

•acceptance of the benefits and uses of our product candidates, if approved, by patients, the medical community, and third-party payers;

•maintenance of a continued acceptable safety, tolerability and efficacy profile of the product candidates following approval;

•our compliance with any post-approval requirements imposed on our products, such as postmarketing studies, a REMS, or additional requirements that might limit the promotion, advertising, distribution or sales of our products or make the products cost prohibitive;

•our ability to compete effectively with other therapies; and

•our ability to obtain and maintain healthcare coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payers.

These factors, many of which are beyond our control, could cause us to experience significant delays or an inability to obtain regulatory approvals or commercialize our current or future product candidates, and could otherwise materially harm our business. Successful completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials does not mean that any of our current or future product candidates will receive regulatory approval. Even if regulatory approvals are obtained, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our current and any future product candidates, which would materially harm our business. If we are not able to generate sufficient revenue through the sale of any current or future product candidate, we may not be able to continue our business operations or achieve profitability.

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The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time-consuming, and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be materially harmed.

The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. There can be no assurance that we will not experience problems or delays in developing new product candidates and that such problems or delays will not cause unanticipated costs, or that any such development problems can be solved. We also may experience unanticipated problems or delays in expanding our manufacturing capacity, which may delay or prevent the completion of clinical trials and the commercializing of product candidates on a timely or profitable basis, if at all. For example, we, a collaborator, or another group may uncover a previously unknown risk with any of our product candidates, which may prolong the period of observation required for obtaining regulatory approval, may necessitate additional clinical testing, or may otherwise result in a change in the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates.

In addition, the clinical trial requirements of the FDA, European Medicines Agency, or EMA, and other regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use when evaluating product candidates vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty, and intended use and market of such product candidates. The regulatory approval process for novel product candidates such as ours can be more expensive and take longer than for other, better known, or more extensively studied product candidates. Even if we are successful in developing product candidates, it is difficult to determine how long it will take or how much it will cost to obtain regulatory approvals in either the United States or jurisdictions outside the United States or how long it will take to commercialize these product candidates.

Regulatory requirements governing gene and cell therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. For example, the FDA has established the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies and the Division of Cellular and Gene Therapies within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products and has established the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee to advise CBER in its marketing application review process.

We may be unable to obtain FDA approval of our product candidates under applicable regulatory requirements. The denial or delay of any such approval would prevent or delay commercialization of our product candidates and adversely impact our potential to generate revenue, our business, and our results of operations.

To gain approval to market our product candidates in the United States, we must provide the FDA with clinical data that adequately demonstrate the safety, purity, and potency, including efficacy, of the product candidate for the proposed indication or indications in a BLA submission. Product development is a long, expensive, and uncertain process, and delay or failure can occur at any stage of any of our clinical development programs.

The field of gene therapy is still early in development. The FDA first approved a gene therapy for use in humans in 2017, and to date has only approved a limited number. Clinical trials with gene therapies have encountered a multitude of significant technical problems in the past, including unintended integration with host DNA leading to serious adverse events, poor levels of protein expression, transient protein expression, viral overload, immune reactions to either viral capsids utilized to deliver DNA, DNA itself, proteins expressed or cells transfected with DNA. There can be no assurance that our development efforts will be timely or successful, that we or our collaborators will receive the regulatory approvals necessary to initiate clinical trials, where applicable, or that we will ever be able to successfully commercialize a product candidate enabled by our technologies. To the extent that we utilize viral constructs or other systems to deliver gene therapies and the same or similar delivery systems demonstrate unanticipated and/or unacceptable side effects in preclinical or clinical trials conducted by ourselves or others, we may be forced to, or elect to, discontinue development of such product candidates.

Additionally, we are pursuing the development and commercialization of adoptive cell therapies based on CAR T-cell therapies targeting a variety of cancer malignancies. Because this is a newer approach to cancer immunotherapy and cancer treatment generally, developing and commercializing such product candidates subjects us to a number of challenges, including:

•developing and deploying consistent and reliable processes for engineering a patient's T-cells ex vivo and infusing the engineered T-cells back into the patient;

•possibly conditioning patients with chemotherapy in conjunction with delivering each of the potential product candidates, which may increase the risk of adverse side effects of the potential products;

•educating medical personnel regarding the potential side effect profile of each of the potential products, such as the

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potential adverse side effects related to cytokine release;

•developing processes for the safe administration of these potential products, including long-term follow-up for all patients who receive the potential products;

•sourcing additional clinical and, if approved, commercial supplies for the materials used to manufacture and process the potential products;

•developing a manufacturing process and distribution network with a cost of goods that allows for an attractive return on investment;

•establishing sales and marketing capabilities after obtaining any regulatory approval required to gain market access and acceptance;

•developing therapies for types of cancers beyond those addressed by the current potential products;

•not infringing the intellectual property rights, in particular, the patent rights, of third parties, including competitors developing alternative CAR T-cell therapies; and

•avoiding any applicable regulatory barriers to market, such as data and marketing exclusivities held by third parties, including competitors with approved CAR T-cell therapies.

We cannot be sure that T-cell immunotherapy technologies that we may develop will yield satisfactory products that are safe and effective, scalable, or profitable.

Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes. We may incur additional costs and experience delays in developing and commercializing or be unable to develop or commercialize our current and future product candidates.

Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes. Results from preclinical studies or previous clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of future clinical trial results, and interim results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired results in clinical development despite demonstrating positive results in preclinical studies or having successfully advanced through initial clinical trials.

There is a high failure rate for drugs and biologics proceeding through clinical trials and failure may occur at any stage due to a multitude of factors both within and outside our control. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing and earlier-stage clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit, or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, we may experience regulatory delays or rejections as a result of many factors, including changes in regulatory policy during the period of product candidate development. Any such delays could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If clinical trials result in negative or inconclusive results, we may decide, or regulators may require us, to discontinue trials of the product candidates or conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies.

As an organization, we have limited experience designing and implementing clinical trials and we have never conducted pivotal clinical trials. Failure to adequately design a trial, or incorrect assumptions about the design of the trial, could adversely affect our ability to initiate the trial, enroll patients, complete the trial, or obtain regulatory approval on the basis of the trial results, as well as lead to increased or unexpected costs and delayed timelines.

The design and implementation of clinical trials is a complex process. We have limited experience designing and implementing clinical trials, and we may not successfully or cost-effectively design and implement clinical trials that achieve our desired clinical endpoints efficiently, or at all. A clinical trial that is not well designed may delay or even prevent initiation of the trial, can lead to increased difficulty in enrolling patients, may make it more difficult to obtain regulatory approval for the product candidate on the basis of the study results, or, even if a product candidate is approved, could make it more difficult to commercialize the product successfully or obtain reimbursement from third-party payers. Additionally, a trial that is not well-designed could be inefficient or more expensive than it otherwise would have been, or we may incorrectly estimate the costs to implement the clinical trial, which could lead to a shortfall in funding.

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We may find it difficult to enroll patients in clinical trials, which could delay or prevent us from proceeding with clinical trials.

Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to success. The timing of clinical trials depends on the ability to recruit patients to participate as well as completion of required follow-up periods. If patients are unwilling to participate in our clinical studies for any number of reasons, such as because of negative publicity from adverse events related to the biotechnology or gene therapy fields, the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval may be delayed. Additionally, any shelter-in-place orders from local, state, or federal governments or clinical trial site policies resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our ability to enroll patients in clinical trials. These delays could result in increased costs, delays in advancing product candidates, or termination of the clinical trials altogether.

We may be required to suspend, repeat, or terminate our clinical trials if they are not conducted in accordance with regulatory requirements, or the trials are not well designed.

Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the FDA's current good clinical practices requirements or analogous requirements of applicable foreign regulatory authorities. Clinical trials are subject to oversight by the FDA, other foreign governmental agencies and IRBs, or ethical committees at the study sites where the clinical trials are conducted. In addition, clinical trials must be conducted with product candidates manufactured in accordance with applicable cGMP. Clinical trials may be suspended by the FDA, other foreign regulatory authorities, us, or by an IRB or ethics committee with respect to a particular clinical trial site, for various reasons, including:

•deficiencies in the conduct of the clinical trials, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or study protocols;

•deficiencies in the clinical trial operations or trial sites;

•unforeseen adverse side effects or the emergence of undue risks to study subjects;

•deficiencies in the trial design necessary to demonstrate efficacy;

•the product candidate may not appear to offer benefits over current therapies; or

•the quality or stability of the product candidate may fall below acceptable standards.

If we experience delays in the completion of, or the termination of, any clinical trial of any of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of such product candidate will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from such product candidate will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process, and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and prospects significantly. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.

Cell and gene therapies are novel, complex, and difficult to manufacture.

The manufacturing processes that we use to produce our product candidates for human therapeutics are complex, novel and have not been validated for commercial use. Several factors could cause production interruptions, including equipment malfunctions, facility contamination, raw material shortages or contamination, natural disasters, disruption in utility services, human error, or disruptions in the operations of our suppliers. Our synthetic biology product candidates require processing steps that are more complex than those required for most chemical pharmaceuticals. Moreover, unlike chemical pharmaceuticals, the physical and chemical properties of a biologic often cannot be fully characterized. As a result, assays of the finished product may not be sufficient to ensure that the product will perform in the intended manner. Accordingly, it is necessary to employ multiple steps to control our manufacturing process to assure that the product candidate is made strictly and consistently in compliance with the process. Problems with the manufacturing process, even minor deviations from the normal process, could result in product defects or manufacturing failures that result in lot failures, product recalls, product liability claims, or insufficient inventory. We have developed our proprietary electroporation device, UltraPorator, to permit the rapid and cost-effective manufacturing of our UltraCAR-T therapies, but we may face challenges in the production and implementation of this device, which may, in turn, adversely impact the therapeutic candidates. We may encounter problems achieving adequate quantities and quality of clinical-grade materials that meet FDA, EMA, or other applicable standards or specifications with

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consistent and acceptable production yields and costs.

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

From time to time, we may publish interim data, including interim top-line results or preliminary results from our clinical trials. Interim data and results from our clinical trials are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Preliminary or top-line results also remain subject to audit, validation, and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the interim and preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data may not be predictive of final results and should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects and may cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.

Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other propertiesthat could halt their clinical development, delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential, or result in significant negative consequences.

There have been several significant adverse side effects in gene therapy treatments in the past, including reported cases of leukemia and death seen in other trials. While new approaches have been developed to reduce these side effects, gene therapy and synthetic biology therapy in general is still a relatively new approach to disease treatment and additional adverse side effects could develop. There also is the potential risk of delayed adverse events following exposure to these product candidates due to persistent biological activity of the genetic material or other components of products used to carry the genetic material.

Other possible adverse side effects that could occur with treatment using cell and gene therapy products include an immunologic reaction early after administration that, while not necessarily adverse to the patient's health, could substantially limit the effectiveness of the treatment. In previous clinical trials involving adeno-associated virus, vectors for gene therapy, some subjects experienced the development of a T-cell response, whereby after the vector is within the target cell, the cellular immune response system triggers the removal of transduced cells by activated T-cells. If a similar effect occurs with our product candidates, we may decide or be required to halt or delay further clinical development of our product candidates.

Additionally, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, the FDA could require us to adopt a REMS to ensure that the benefits outweigh its risks, which may include, among other things, a medication guide outlining the risks of the product for distribution to patients, a communication plan to healthcare practitioners, and provider certification. Such requirements could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of our product candidates and could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.

Even if we complete the necessary clinical trials, we cannot predict when, or if, we will obtain regulatory approval to commercialize a product candidate and the approval may be for a narrower indication than we seek.

We cannot commercialize a product candidate until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the product candidate. Even where product candidates meet their endpoints in clinical trials, the clinical trial results may not support approval of our product candidates if they fail to demonstrate that our product candidates are both safe and effective for their intended uses. Similarly, the regulatory authorities may approve a product candidate for more limited indications than requested or they may impose significant limitations in the form of narrow indications, warnings or a REMS. These regulatory authorities may require precautions or contraindications with respect to conditions of use or they may grant approval subject to the performance of costly postmarketing clinical trials. In addition, regulatory authorities may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

We have chosen to prioritize development of certain of our product candidates, including PRGN-3005 and PRGN-3006. We may expend our limited resources on product candidates or indications that do not yield a successful product and fail to capitalize on other opportunities for which there may be a greater likelihood of success or may be more profitable.

Because we have limited resources, we are required to strategically prioritize our application of resources to particular development efforts. Any resources we expend on one or more of these efforts could be at the expense of other potentially profitable opportunities. If we focus our efforts and resources on one or more of these opportunities or markets and they do not

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lead to commercially viable products, our revenues, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could cause a disruption of the development of our product candidates, which could adversely impact our healthcare business.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ActoBio took the initiative to temporarily suspend the last remaining cohort of the Phase1b/2a trial for AG019 as a proactive measure to protect the welfare and safety of patients, caregivers, clinical site staff, and our employees and contractors. This voluntary suspension was lifted in June 2020, and the study is recruiting patients again. Further, from April to May 2020, enrollment of new patients in our PRGN-3005 Phase 1 trial was temporarily suspended due to a mandated hold on certain early and late-stage clinical trials at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle that was instituted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we may experience delays in the development of our product candidates, including as a result of declines in new patient enrollment for new and existing trials, ability to recruit and retain principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to COVID-19 if an outbreak occurs in their geography, site closures, reduced availability of other key personnel, availability of supplies, or for other reasons that may be difficult to anticipate. For example, we received IND clearance earlier this year to initiate, and initiated, a Phase 1/2 trial to study PRGN-2009 in participants with HPV+ cancers, but our ability to complete such a trial may be delayed or impeded by any of the foregoing factors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may have their resources diverted to responding to, or otherwise may be disrupted by, the COVID-19 pandemic, which could result in delays of reviews, approvals, and communications with regulatory authorities related to our clinical trials and product candidates. As the focus of our business is on healthcare, disruptions to our clinical trials could result in increased costs, delays in advancing product candidates, or ultimately, termination of clinical trials altogether resulting in a material adverse impact to our overall business. Furthermore, a failure to achieve meaningful clinical trial results, or even progress toward those results, could have a material adverse effect on the value of our securities and our ability to secure needed additional capital.

Risks Related to the Commercialization of Product Candidates and Other Legal Compliance Matters

Even if a current or future product candidate receives marketing approval, it may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers, and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

Ethical, social, and legal concerns about gene and cell therapies could result in additional regulations restricting or prohibiting our product candidates. Even with the requisite approvals from the FDA in the United States, the EMA in the European Union, and other regulatory authorities internationally, the commercial success of our product candidates will depend, in part, on their acceptance by physicians, patients, and healthcare payers as medically necessary, cost-effective, and safe. Public perception may be influenced by claims that gene and cell therapies are unsafe, and any product candidate that we commercialize may not gain acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payers, and others in the medical community. In particular, our success will depend upon appropriate physicians prescribing treatments that involve the use of our product candidates in lieu of, or in addition to, existing treatments they are already familiar with and for which greater clinical data may be available. If these products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue to make the products profitable.

Delays in obtaining regulatory approval of manufacturing processes and facilities or disruptions in manufacturing processes may delay or disrupt our commercialization efforts.

Before we can begin to commercially manufacture our product candidates for human therapeutics, we must obtain regulatory approval from the FDA for the applicable manufacturing process and facility. This likely will require the manufacturing facility to pass a pre-approval inspection by the FDA. A manufacturing authorization must also be obtained from the appropriate European Union regulatory authorities.

In order to obtain FDA approval, we will need to ensure that all of the processes, methods, and equipment are compliant with cGMP and perform extensive audits of vendors, contract laboratories, and suppliers. If any of our vendors, contract laboratories or suppliers is found to be out of compliance with cGMP, we may experience delays or disruptions in manufacturing while we work with these third parties to remedy the violation(s) or while we work to identify suitable replacement vendors. The cGMP requirements govern, among other things, quality control of the manufacturing process, raw materials, containers/closures, buildings and facilities, equipment, storage and shipment, labeling, laboratory activities, data integrity, documentation policies and procedures, and returns. In complying with cGMP, we will be obligated to expend time, money, and effort in production, record keeping, and quality control to assure that the product meets applicable specifications and other requirements. If we fail to comply with these requirements, we would be subject to possible regulatory action that could adversely affect our business,

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results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows, including the inability to sell any products that we may develop.

Even if we receive marketing approval of a product candidate, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. If we fail to comply or experience unanticipated problems with our products, we may be subject to administrative and judicial enforcement, including monetary penalties, for non-compliance and our approved products, if any, could be deemed misbranded or adulterated and prohibited from continued distribution.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, these candidates will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, and submission of safety and other postmarket information. Regulatory approvals also may be subject to a REMS, limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly postmarketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the quality, safety and efficacy of the product. For example, the holder of an approved BLA is obligated to monitor and report adverse events and any failure of a product to meet the specifications in the BLA. The FDA guidance advises that patients treated with some types of gene therapy undergo follow-up observations for potential adverse events for as long as 15 years. The holder of an approved BLA also must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. Advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules and are subject to FDA review, in addition to other potentially applicable federal and state laws. Drug manufacturers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and other government agencies to ensure compliance with cGMP and other government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over third-party manufacturers' compliance with these regulations and standards, but we may ultimately be responsible for any of their failures.

If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements following approval of any of our product candidates, a regulatory authority may take a range of adverse actions, including, among other things, issuing a warning letter, imposing monetary penalties, restricting or suspending manufacturing, or causing us to withdraw the product from the market.

In addition, the FDA's policies, and those of equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature, or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in other jurisdictions.

Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain marketing approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining marketing approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the marketing approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing, and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.

We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign marketing approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets or fail to receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.

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The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which third-party payers, including governmental authorities and private health insurers, provide coverage and adequate reimbursement levels, as well as implement pricing policies favorable for our product candidates. Failure to obtain or maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates, if approved, could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

The availability of coverage and adequacy of reimbursement by third-party payers, including managed care plans, governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid and private health insurers is essential for most patients to be able to afford medical services and pharmaceutical products such as our product candidates that receive FDA approval. Our ability to achieve acceptable levels of coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates or procedures using our product candidates by third-party payers will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates may be particularly difficult because of the higher prices often associated with drugs administered under the supervision of a physician. Separate reimbursement for the product itself or the treatment or procedure in which our product candidate is used may not be available. A decision by a third-party payer not to cover or not to separately reimburse for our product candidates or procedures using our product candidates could reduce physician utilization of our products once approved. Assuming there is coverage for our product candidates, or procedures using our product candidates by a third-party payer, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may not be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement in the United States, the European Union, or elsewhere will be available for our current or future product candidates, or for any procedures using such product candidates, and any reimbursement that may become available may not be adequate or may be decreased or eliminated in the future.

There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly-approved products. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are increasingly used as models in the United States for how private third-party payers and other governmental payers develop their coverage and reimbursement policies for drugs and biologics. Some third-party payers may require pre-approval of coverage for new or innovative devices or drug therapies before they will reimburse healthcare providers who use such therapies. We cannot predict at this time what third-party payers will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates.

No uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement for products exist among third-party payers in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payer to payer. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that may require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our product candidates to each payer separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. Furthermore, rules and regulations regarding reimbursement change frequently, in some cases on short notice, and we believe that changes in these rules and regulations are likely.

Moreover, increasing efforts by third-party payers in the United States and abroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for newly approved products 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 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, particularly prescription drugs and biologics and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products.

Our business may be adversely affected by current and potential future healthcare reforms.

In the United States, federal and state legislatures, health agencies and third-party payers continue to focus on containing the cost of health care. Legislative and regulatory proposals and enactments to reform health care insurance programs could significantly influence the manner in which our product candidates, if approved, are prescribed and purchased. For example, the Affordable Care Act has changed the way health care is paid for by both governmental and private insurers, including increased rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs, the requirement that manufacturers participate in a discount program for certain outpatient drugs under Medicare Part D and the expansion of the number of hospitals eligible for discounts under Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act. In addition, the Tax Act eliminated the tax-based shared responsibility payment for individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage under section 5000A of the Code, commonly referred to as the "individual mandate," effective January 1, 2019. Further, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, among other things, amended the Medicare statute to reduce the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly known as the "donut hole," by raising the required manufacturer point-of-sale discount from 50% to 70% off the negotiated price effective as of January 1, 2019. Further legislative changes, regulatory changes, and judicial challenges related to the Affordable Care Act remain possible.

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There is also significant economic pressure on state budgets that may result in states increasingly seeking to achieve budget savings through mechanisms that limit coverage or payment for certain drugs. In recent years, some states have considered legislation and ballot initiatives that would control the prices of drugs, including laws to allow importation of pharmaceutical products from lower cost jurisdictions outside the United States and laws intended to impose price controls on state drug purchases. State Medicaid programs are increasingly requesting manufacturers to pay supplemental rebates and requiring prior authorization by the state program for use of any drug for which supplemental rebates are not being paid. Government efforts to reduce Medicaid expenses may lead to increased use of managed care organizations by Medicaid programs. This may result in managed care organizations influencing prescription decisions for a larger segment of the population and a corresponding constraint on prices and reimbursement for our product candidates, if approved. In addition, under the Affordable Care Act, as states implement their health care marketplaces or operate under the federal exchange, the impact on drug manufacturers will depend in part on the formulary and benefit design decisions made by insurance sponsors or plans participating in these programs.

We cannot predict the likelihood, nature, or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States. It is possible that we may need to provide discounts or rebates to such plans in order to maintain favorable formulary access for our future product candidates, if approved, which could have an adverse impact on our sales and results of operations. In addition, if we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our product candidates may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained.

Our relationships with customers, third-party payers, and others may 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, administrative burdens and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers, physicians, and third-party payers will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our arrangements with third-party payers 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 market, sell and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include, but are not limited to, the following:

•the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits persons from, among other things, knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, the referral of an individual for the furnishing or arranging for the furnishing, or the purchase, lease or order, or arranging for or recommending the purchase, lease or order, of any good or service for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid;

•the federal civil False Claims Act, which imposes liability, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment of governmental funds that are false or fraudulent, making a false statement material to an obligation to pay money to the federal government, or knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding, decreasing, or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal government;

•HIPAA's fraud provisions, which impose criminal liability for knowingly and willfully executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a health care offense, or knowingly and willfully making false statements relating to healthcare matters;

•the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act, being implemented as the Open Payments Program, which requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to CMS information related to direct or indirect payments and other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held in the company by physicians and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report information regarding payments and transfers of value provided to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives; and

•analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payers, including private insurers; state and foreign

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laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry's voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers in those jurisdictions; state and foreign laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures; some states also prohibit certain marketing-related activities including the provision of gifts, meals, or other items to certain health care providers, and others restrict the ability of manufacturers to offer co-pay support to patients for certain prescription drugs; other states and cities require identification or licensing of sales representatives; and state and foreign laws that govern the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Although compliance programs can help mitigate the risk of investigations and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be eliminated entirely. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, or case law interpreting 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.

Defending against actions or investigations for violations of these laws and regulations, even if ultimately successful, will incur significant legal expenses and divert management's attention from the operation of our business.

If we fail to comply with applicable United States privacy and data protection laws and regulation, we may be subject to liabilities that adversely affect our business, operations and financial performance.

In the United States, we may be subject to data privacy and security laws and regulations by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing focus on privacy and data protection issues which may affect our business. Numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including state data breach notification laws, state health information and/or genetic privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the FTC Act and the CCPA), govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of health-related and other personal information. Many of these laws differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts. Compliance with these laws is difficult, constantly evolving, and time consuming. Federal regulators, state attorneys general, and plaintiffs’ attorneys, including class action attorneys, have been and will likely continue to be active in this space.

HIPAA imposes requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. We may obtain health information from third parties, such as research institutions, that are subject to privacy and security requirements under HIPAA. Although we are not directly subject to HIPAA other than with respect to providing certain employee benefits, we could potentially be subject to criminal penalties if we, our affiliates, or our agents knowingly obtain, use, or disclose individually identifiable health information maintained by a HIPAA-covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA.

In addition, the CCPA became effective on January 1, 2020 and establishes certain requirements for data use and sharing transparency, and provides California residents certain rights concerning the use, disclosure, and retention of their personal data. The CCPA and its implementing regulations have already been amended multiple times since their enactment. Similarly, there are a number of legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that could impose new obligations or limitations in areas affecting our business. These laws and regulations are evolving and subject to interpretation, and may impose limitations on our activities or otherwise adversely affect our business. The CCPA and evolving legislation may require us, among other things, to update our notices and develop new processes internally and with our partners.

If we, our agents, or our third party partners fail to comply or are alleged to have failed to comply with these or other applicable data protection and privacy laws and regulations, or if we were to experience a data breach involving personal information, we could be subject to government enforcement actions or private lawsuits. Any associated claims, inquiries, or investigations or other government actions could lead to unfavorable outcomes that have a material impact on our business including through significant penalties or fines, monetary judgments or settlements including criminal and civil liability for us and our officers and directors, increased compliance costs, delays or impediments in the development of new products, negative publicity, increased operating costs, diversion of management time and attention, or other remedies that harm our business, including orders that we modify or cease existing business practices.

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We may incur significant costs complying with environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations, and failure to comply with these laws and regulations could expose us to significant liabilities.

We use hazardous chemicals and radioactive and biological materials in our business, including in Trans Ova, and are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations governing, among other matters, the use, generation, manufacture, transportation, storage, handling, disposal of, and human exposure to these materials both in the United States and overseas, including regulation by governmental regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the EPA. We have incurred, and will continue to incur, capital and operating expenditures and other costs in the ordinary course of our business in complying with these laws and regulations. Although 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, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biological or hazardous materials.

We are subject to certain United States and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations. We can face serious consequences for violations.

Among other matters, United States and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations prohibit companies and their employees, agents, clinical research organizations, legal counsel, accountants, consultants, contractors and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting, or receiving directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector.

Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We also expect our non-United States activities to increase in time. Additionally, in many other countries, the healthcare providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, our dealings with these prescribers and purchasers are subject to regulation under the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or FCPA. We plan to engage third parties for clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations, and other regulatory approvals and we can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our personnel, agents, or partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have prior knowledge of such activities. In particular, our operations will be subject to FCPA, which prohibits, among other things, United States companies and their employees and agents from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to foreign government officials, employees of public international organizations and foreign government-owned or affiliated entities, candidates for foreign political office, and foreign political parties or officials thereof. Recently, the SEC and Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents, suppliers, manufacturers, contractors, or collaborators, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws.

Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions, including imprisonment, against us, our officers, or our employees, the closing down of facilities, including those of our suppliers and manufacturers, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs, debarment, reputational harm, prohibitions on the conduct of our business, and other consequences. Any such violations could also result in prohibitions on our ability to offer our product candidates in one or more countries as well as difficulties in manufacturing or continuing to develop our product candidates, and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our ability to attract and retain employees and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.

Risks Related to our Business Operations and Strategy

Our efforts to realign our business and divest assets may not be successful and could increase our capital requirements, increase our costs, or otherwise harm our operating results and financial condition.

Our business strategy has evolved, and continues to evolve, toward relationships and structures that provide us with more control and ownership over the development process and commercialization path. This approach entails risks in implementation and operations and there is no guarantee that it will be successful. Furthermore, our focus on a healthcare-oriented business strategy will require additional capital beyond what we have available, and we may incur costs associated with the implementation and execution of our changing business strategy. In addition, as we perform our annual impairment tests, we will evaluate the impact of changes in our business strategy and, as a result, may incur impairment charges and write-offs and other related expenses, any of which, if material, could harm our operating results and financial condition. Market changes and

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changes in judgments, assumptions, and estimates that we have made in assessing the fair value of goodwill could cause us to consider some portion or all of certain assets to become impaired, which could adversely impact our financial condition.

In January 2020, we announced and completed a sale of the majority of our non-healthcare assets to TS Biotechnology. We simultaneously announced that Intrexon EF Holdings, Inc., our wholly owned subsidiary, sold its 50 percent membership interest in EnviroFlight. As a result of market uncertainty driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of the energy sector raising significant challenges for the strategic alternatives pursued by MBP Titan, beginning in the second quarter of 2020 and throughout the remainder of 2020, we suspended MBP Titan's operations, preserved MBP Titan's intellectual property, terminated all of its personnel, and undertook steps to dispose of its assets and obligations. We cannot provide any assurances that these recent, or any future, divestitures will achieve the business goals we expect. In addition, any future divestiture activities may present financial and operational risks, including the (1) diversion of management attention from existing core businesses, (2) the challenges associated with separating personnel and financial and other systems, including impaired employee relations, and (3) inefficiencies or increased costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Finally, as we continue our efforts to focus our business and generate additional capital, we may be willing to enter into transactions involving one or more of our remaining operating segments and reporting units for which we record impairment charges related to the write off of goodwill and intangible assets.

We rely on third parties, including through collaborations, to develop and commercialize some of our product candidates. Markets in which our collaborators are developing product candidates using our technologies are subject to extensive regulation, and we rely on our collaborators to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

We have entered, and may in the future enter into collaboration arrangements to develop product candidates enabled by our technologies. There can be no guarantee that we can successfully manage these relationships. If our collaborators are not able to successfully develop the product candidates enabled by our technologies, none of these enabled product candidates will become commercially available, and we will receive no back-end payments under these arrangements. Some of our existing collaborators do not themselves have the resources necessary to commercialize product candidates, and they in turn will need to rely on additional sources of financing or third-party collaborations. We may be asked to, or choose to, invest additional funds in these collaborators so that they can execute on their business plans. If we fail to invest such additional funds, the collaborator may not have sufficient capital to continue operations. In addition, we typically have limited or no control over the amount or timing of resources that any collaborator is able or willing to devote to developing product candidates or collaborative efforts. Any of our collaborators may fail to perform its obligations. Our collaborators may breach or terminate their agreements with us or otherwise fail to conduct their collaborative activities successfully and in a timely manner.

Our technologies are used in product candidates that are subject to extensive regulation by governmental authorities. We depend on our collaborators to comply with these laws and regulations with respect to product candidates they produce using our technologies, and we do not independently monitor whether our collaborators comply with applicable laws and regulations. If our collaborators fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we are subject to substantial financial and operating risks because, in addition to our own compliance, we also depend on our collaborators to produce the end products enabled by our technologies for sale.

We have previously entered into strategic collaborations, which we may fail to successfully manage, or from which disputes may arise.

We have previously entered into strategic collaborations to develop products enabled by our technologies. There can be no guarantee that we can successfully manage these relationships, as they involve complex interests and our interests and our collaborators' interests may diverge, including as we transition away from, or terminate, strategic collaborations. In some cases, our strategic collaborations have resulted in disagreements and disputes with our current and former collaborators, including the Harvest Intrexon Enterprise Fund I, LP, or Harvest, the investors of Intrexon Energy Partners, and the investors of Intrexon Energy Partners II, regarding the relative rights, obligations, and revenues of us and our collaboration partners. In addition, we remain susceptible to future additional disagreements and disputes with any of our current or future collaborators. Disagreements and disputes may result in litigation, unfavorable settlements or concessions by us, or management distraction, that could harm our business operations.

We rely on our subsidiaries, our collaborators, and other third parties to deliver timely and accurate information in order to accurately report our financial results in the time frame and manner required by law.

We need to receive timely, accurate, and complete information from a number of third parties in order to accurately report our financial results on a timely basis. We rely on our subsidiaries and certain collaborators to provide us with complete and accurate information regarding revenues, expenses, and payments owed to or by us on a timely basis. In addition, we intend to

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rely on current and future collaborators under our collaboration agreements and JVs to provide us with product sales and cost saving information in connection with royalties, if any, owed to us. If the information that we receive is not accurate, our consolidated financial statements may be materially incorrect and may require restatement, and we may not receive the full amount of consideration to which we are entitled under our collaboration agreements or JVs. Although we have audit rights with these parties, performing such an audit could be expensive and time consuming and may not be adequate to reveal any discrepancies in a timeframe consistent with our reporting requirements. In the future, we may need to consolidate the financial statements of one or more other collaborators into our consolidated financial statements. Although we have contractual rights to receive information and certifications allowing us to do this, such provisions may not ensure that we receive information that is accurate or timely. As a result, we may have difficulty completing accurate and timely financial disclosures, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

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

Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.

A portion of our business is conducted by JVs that we cannot operate solely for our benefit.

In JVs, we share ownership and management of a company with one or more parties who may not have the same goals, strategies, priorities, or resources as we do and may compete with us outside the JV. JVs are intended to be operated for the benefit of all JV partners, rather than for our exclusive benefit. Operating a business as a JV often requires additional organizational formalities as well as time-consuming procedures for sharing information and making decisions. In JVs we are required to foster our relationships with our JV partners as well as promote the overall success of the JV, and if a JV partner changes or relationships deteriorate, our success in the JV may be materially adversely affected. The benefits from a successful JV are shared among the JV partners, so we do not receive all the benefits from our successful JVs. Moreover, as a partial owner of a JV, we are exposed to potential risks and liabilities that we do not face when we enter into collaboration with an independent third party.

We may be sued for product liability.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human trials and may face greater risk if we commercialize any products that we develop. Product liability claims may be brought against us by subjects enrolled in our trials, patients, healthcare providers or others using, administering, or selling our products.

Additionally, each of our collaborations requires the collaborator to indemnify us for liability related to products produced pursuant to the collaboration and to obtain insurance coverage related to product liability in amounts considered standard for the industry. We believe that these industry-standard coverage amounts range from $10 million to $40 million in the aggregate. Even so, we may be named in product liability suits relating to products that are produced by our collaborators using our technologies. These claims could be brought by various parties, including other companies who purchase products from us or our collaborators or by the end users of the products.

We cannot guarantee that our collaborators will not breach the indemnity and insurance coverage provisions of the collaboration. Further, insurance coverage is expensive and may be difficult to obtain, and may not be available to us or to our collaborators in the future on acceptable terms, or at all. We cannot assure you that we or our collaborators will have adequate insurance coverage against potential claims. In addition, although we currently maintain product liability insurance for our technologies in amounts we believe to be commercially reasonable. If the coverage limits of these insurance policies are not adequate, a claim brought against us, whether covered by insurance or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows or even cause us to go out of business.

Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

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•reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy;

•decreased demand for products enabled by our technologies;

•injury to our or our collaborators' reputations and significant negative media attention;

•withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

•initiation of investigations by regulators;

•product recalls, withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional restrictions;

•significant costs to defend resulting litigation;

•substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;

•loss of revenue; and

•the inability to commercialize any products using our technologies.

The livestock products of our operating subsidiaries are subject to disease outbreaks that can increase the cost of production and/or reduce production harvests, and the loss of existing livestock would result in the loss of commercial technology.

Several of the products of our operating subsidiaries, including Trans Ova and Exemplar, are subject to periodic outbreaks of a variety of diseases. Although these companies take measures to protect their stock, there can be no assurance that a disease will not damage or destroy existing livestock. The economic impact of disease to our subsidiaries' production systems can be significant, as farmers must incur the cost of preventive measures, such as vaccines and antibiotics, and then if infected, the cost of lost or reduced production.

The markets in which we are developing candidate products using our technologies are highly competitive. Competitors and potential competitors may develop products and technologies that make ours obsolete or garner greater market share than ours.

While we believe that our novel approach to developing the next generation of gene and cell therapies to target the most urgent and intractable challenges in immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases provides us with competitive advantages, our industry is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, and human resource capabilities than we do, and certain of our competitors may also benefit from local government subsidies and other incentives that are not available to us. In addition, mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. As a result of the resources available to our competitors, our competitors may be able to develop competing and/or superior technologies and processes, and compete more aggressively and sustain that competition over a longer period of time than we can. The availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payers will also significantly affect the pricing and competitiveness of our products. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.

Our lead product candidates include PRGN-3005 for the treatment of ovarian cancer and PRGN-3006 for the treatment of AML, which are built on our UltraCAR-T platform, and PRGN-2009, which is based on our AdenoVerse platform. While we are employing a novel approach, there are a number of competitors pursuing CAR-T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. We believe that, among others, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Tmunity Therapeutics, and MaxCyte are developing CAR-T based treatments for ovarian cancer and TCR2 Therapeutics is developing TCR-T based treatment for ovarian cancer. We believe that Celyad, Mustang Bio, Amgen, Cellectis S.A., and Allogene Therapeutics are also using CAR-T technology to develop product candidates for the treatment of AML. The CAR-T technology space also has significant other competition including from multiple companies and their collaborators, such as Novartis and University of Pennsylvania, Kite and Gilead, Adaptimmune and GSK, Autolus Therapeutics, Poseida Therapeutics, and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. We also face competition from non-cell based cancer treatments offered by other companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Incyte, Merck, Abbvie, and Roche.

In the area of infectious diseases, our lead product candidate is PRGN-2012, which is based on our AdenoVerse immunotherapy platform, for the treatment of RRP. We believe there are competitors in this area, including INOVIO

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Pharmaceuticals with their investigational DNA vaccine INO-3107 targeting HPV6 and HPV11 antigens.

We are also using our suite of proprietary and complementary technologies for the preclinical and clinical development of product candidates for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, including T1D. We believe that our primary competitors with respect to the development of immunotherapies for T1D are Provention Bio, Midatech Pharma, and MerciaPharma.

There are a number of companies that compete with our subsidiary Trans Ova, including traditional breeding companies and other companies that use advanced reproductive technologies. These competitors may be larger and have better funding than Trans Ova. Trans Ova's competitors may also be companies that have a predominant focus on developing the newest technologies in animal breeding whereas Trans Ova is one part to our overall strategy. Trans Ova's competitors that operate using more traditional breeding techniques may enjoy greater market acceptance over Trans Ova, and other companies, that utilize genetic manipulation, semen sorting and cloning techniques.

Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary technologies that can be used to produce products that reach the market in a timely manner and are technologically superior to and/or are less expensive than other products on the market. As more companies develop new intellectual property in our markets, a competitor could acquire patent or other rights that may limit products using our technologies, which could lead to litigation. To the extent that any of our competitors are more successful with respect to any key competitive factor or we are forced to reduce, or are unable to raise, the price of any products enabled by our technologies in order to remain competitive, our operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

If we lose key personnel, including key management personnel, or are unable to attract and retain additional personnel, it could delay our product development programs, harm our research and development efforts, and we may be unable to continue to commercialize our product candidates.

Our business involves complex operations and requires a management team and employee workforce that is knowledgeable in the many areas in which we operate. The loss of any key members of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer, Helen Sabzevari Ph.D., or the failure to attract or retain other key employees who possess the requisite expertise for the conduct of our business, could prevent us from developing and commercializing our product candidates for our target markets and entering into collaborations or licensing arrangements to execute on our business strategy.

In addition, the loss of any key scientific staff, or the failure to attract or retain other key scientific employees, could prevent us from developing our technologies for our target markets or from further developing and commercializing our products and services offerings to execute on our business strategy. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified employees in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, synthetic biology and other technology-based businesses, or due to the unavailability of personnel with the qualifications or experience necessary for our business. If we are not able to attract and retain the necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience staffing constraints that will adversely affect our ability to support our internal research and development programs or meet other demands.

We have had a number of executive officers depart from our Company over the last several years and we continually evaluate our leadership structure. For instance, effective January 1, 2020, our Board appointed Dr. Sabzevari, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kirk, our previous Chief Executive Officer, now serves as our Executive Chairman and continues to serve as Chairman of the Board. As with any leadership changes, our past or future changes could lead to strategic and operational challenges and uncertainties, distractions of management from other key initiatives, inefficiencies or increased costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

We depend on sophisticated information technology and infrastructure.

We rely on various information systems to manage our operations. These systems are complex and include software that is internally developed, software licensed from third parties, and hardware purchased from third parties. These products may contain internal errors or defects, particularly when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. Failure of these systems could have an adverse effect on our business, which in turn may materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

If we experience a significant breach of data security or disruption in our information systems, our business could be adversely affected.

We rely on various information systems to manage our operations and to store information, including sensitive data such as

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confidential business information and personally identifiable information. These systems have been and continue to be vulnerable to interruption or malfunction, including due to events beyond our control, and to unauthorized access, computer hackers, ransomware, viruses, and other security problems. Failure of these systems or any significant breach of our data security could have an adverse effect on our business and may materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

Data security breaches could result in loss or misuse of information, which could, in turn, result in potential regulatory actions or litigation, including material claims for damages, compelled compliance with breach notification laws, interruption to our operations, damage to our reputation or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Companies throughout our industry have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to networks or sensitive information. While we have implemented and continue to implement cybersecurity safeguards and procedures, these safeguards have been vulnerable to attack. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to enhance our cybersecurity measures or to investigate or remediate any vulnerabilities or breaches.

Although we maintain insurance to protect ourselves in the event of a breach or disruption of certain of our information systems, we cannot ensure that the coverage is adequate to compensate for any damages that may be incurred.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted, and will likely continue to disrupt, our business operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows, and financial position.

We are closely monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 on all aspects of our business. The operations of our businesses may continue to be adversely impacted by COVID-19, including, for example, if we are unable to secure necessary supplies, including personal protection equipment for our employees. We also rely on third parties for various aspects of our business, including developing some of our product candidates. These third parties may experience similar disruptions or negative impacts to their businesses due to COVID-19, which may result in additional delays or otherwise adversely impact our operations.

Trans Ova, our established bovine genetics company, has not been significantly impacted by disruptions from COVID-19 to date. However, ongoing disruptions from COVID-19 and its cascading effects could mean that the business may be materially adversely affected in the future, including by a decrease in sales or overall demand for our products, the inability of our customers to pay for our services and products, similar negative effects on our suppliers, and disruptions to the global supply chain generally. There have already been a number of initial reports regarding such disruptions to the beef and dairy industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which impact both Trans Ova's potential customers and its sources of certain resources, such as embryos. While Exemplar, our subsidiary that develops MiniSwine models to enable the study of life-threatening diseases, has not been significantly impacted by disruptions from COVID-19 to date, it could face similar types of challenges, including its customers delaying or refusing shipments because of delays in their research and development operations similar to, or more severe than, the challenges and risks we face with our operations.

In addition to the potential impacts to our operations, we have initiated several precautions to mitigate the spread of the illness across our businesses, which may impact our ability to carry out our business as usual, including additional sanitation and cleaning procedures in our laboratories and other facilities, instituting remote working when possible, and implementing social distancing and staggered worktime requirements for our employees that must work on-site. The increase in remote working may also result in elevated susceptibility to cyber security risks. We have incurred additional costs as a result of these measures and will likely continue to do so as a result of these and any future measures necessary to ensure the safety of our employees and the continuity of our operations. These measures could also lead to reduced efficiency in our operations.

Several of our subsidiaries are leanly staffed and rely on key personnel to manage operations. The loss of our key scientific staff, personnel, or other key employees, as a result of illness or otherwise, could negatively impact our business and operations, particularly if we are unable to adequately find or train replacements. Certain of our subsidiaries, such as Trans Ova and Exemplar, that operate in industries in which remote working is not possible may be particularly at risk.

Given the dynamic nature of these circumstances, the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our ongoing business, results of operations, and overall financial performance cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, and it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows, and financial position, including resulting in impairments to goodwill and long-lived assets and additional credit losses.

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We have international operations and assets and may have additional international operations and assets in the future. Our international operations and assets may be subject to various economic, social, and governmental risks.

Our international operations and any future international operations may expose us to risks that could negatively impact our future results. Our operations may not develop in the same way or at the same rate as might be expected in a country with an economy similar to the United States. The additional risks that we may be exposed to in these cases include, but are not limited to:

•tariffs and trade barriers;

•currency fluctuations, which could decrease our revenues or increase our costs in United States dollars;

•regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

•tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws;

•limited access to qualified staff;

•inadequate infrastructure;

•cultural and language differences;

•inadequate banking systems;

•different and/or more stringent environmental laws and regulations;

•restrictions on the repatriation of profits or payment of dividends;

•disease outbreaks, environmental catastrophes, crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks or wars;

•nationalization or expropriation of property;

•law enforcement authorities and courts that are weak or inexperienced in commercial matters; and

•deterioration of political relations among countries.

Additionally,we are exposed to risks associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We present our consolidated financial statements in United States dollars. Our international subsidiaries have assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the United States dollar. Future expenses and revenues of our international subsidiaries are expected to be denominated in currencies other than in United States dollars. Therefore, movements in exchange rates to translate from foreign currencies may have an impact on our reported results of operations, financial position, and cash flows.

We may pursue strategic acquisitions and investments that could have an adverse impact on our business if they are unsuccessful.

We have made acquisitions in the past and, if appropriate opportunities become available, we may acquire additional businesses, assets, technologies, or products to enhance our business in the future. In connection with any future acquisitions, we could:

•issue additional equity securities, which would dilute our current shareholders;

•incur substantial debt to fund the acquisitions; or

•assume significant liabilities.

Although we conduct due diligence reviews of our acquisition targets, such processes may fail to reveal significant liabilities. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:

•problems integrating the purchased operations, facilities, technologies, or products;

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•unanticipated costs and other liabilities;

•the potential disruption of our ongoing business and diversion of management resources;

•adverse effects on existing business relationships with current and/or prospective collaborators, customers and/or suppliers;

•unanticipated expenses related to the acquired operations;

•risks associated with entering markets in which we have no or limited prior experience;

•potential unknown liabilities associated with the acquired business and technology;

•potential liabilities related to litigation involving the acquired companies;

•potential periodic impairment of goodwill and intangible assets acquired; and

•potential loss of key employees or potential inability to retain, integrate, and motivate key personnel.

We cannot be certain that any acquisition will be successful or that we will realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition. In particular, we may not be able to realize the strategic and operational benefits and objectives we had anticipated.

Acquisitions also may require us to record goodwill and non-amortizable intangible assets that will be subject to impairment testing on a regular basis and potential periodic impairment charges, incur amortization expenses related to certain intangible assets, and incur large and immediate write-offs and restructuring and other related expenses, all of which could harm our operating results and financial condition. In addition, we may acquire companies that have insufficient internal financial controls, which could impair our ability to integrate the acquired company and adversely impact our financial reporting. If we fail in our integration efforts with respect to any of our acquisitions and are unable to efficiently operate as a combined organization, our business, and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Trans Ova operates in an industry that is not a part of our core business, and may require additional resources and capital.

We anticipate advancing opportunities through Trans Ova. Trans Ova may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve or maintain profitability and may require us to divert the necessary capital and resources away from our core healthcare business. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Alternatively, we may choose to divert the necessary capital and resources from further developing Trans Ova in order to focus on our core healthcare business. The failure of our subsidiaries, including Trans Ova, to become and remain profitable may decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our research and development efforts, expand our business, or continue our operations.

We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversions of the Convertible Notes in cash or to repurchase the Convertible Notes upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion or repurchase of the Convertible Notes.

Holders of Convertible Notes have the right to require us to repurchase their Convertible Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any. In addition, upon conversion of the Convertible Notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the Convertible Notes being converted. However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of Convertible Notes surrendered therefor or Convertible Notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Convertible Notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the Convertible Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Convertible Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the Convertible Notes as required by the indenture would constitute a default under the indenture. A default under the indenture or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Convertible Notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.

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The conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Convertible Notes is triggered, holders of Convertible Notes will be entitled to convert the Convertible Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Convertible Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Convertible Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Convertible Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.

The accounting for convertible debt securities that may be settled in cash, such as the Convertible Notes, could have a material effect on our reported financial results.

In May 2008, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued FASB Staff Position No. APB 14-1, Accounting for Convertible Debt Instruments That May Be Settled in Cash Upon Conversion (Including Partial Cash Settlement), which has subsequently been codified as Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, Subtopic 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options, or ASC 470-20. Under ASC 470-20, an entity must separately account for the liability and equity components of the convertible debt instruments (such as the Convertible Notes) that may be settled entirely or partially in cash upon conversion in a manner that reflects the issuer's economic interest cost. The effect of ASC 470-20 on the accounting for the Convertible Notes is that the equity component is required to be included in the additional paid-in capital section of shareholders' equity on our consolidated balance sheet, and the value of the equity component would be treated as original issue discount for purposes of accounting for the debt component of the Convertible Notes. As a result, we record a greater amount of noncash interest expense in current periods presented as a result of the amortization of the discounted carrying value of the Convertible Notes to their face amount over the term of the Convertible Notes. We report lower net income in our financial results because ASC 470-20 requires interest to include both the current period's amortization of the debt discount and the instrument's coupon interest, which could adversely affect our reported or future financial results, the trading price of our common stock and the trading price of the Convertible Notes.

In addition, under certain circumstances, convertible debt instruments (such as the Convertible Notes) that may be settled entirely or partly in cash are currently accounted for utilizing the treasury stock method, the effect of which is that the shares issuable upon conversion of the Convertible Notes are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share except to the extent that the conversion value of the Convertible Notes exceeds their principal amount. Under the treasury stock method, for diluted earnings per share purposes, the transaction is accounted for as if the number of shares of common stock that would be necessary to settle such excess, if we elected to settle such excess in shares, are issued.

In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity's Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40)—Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity's Own Equity, which will require us to use the "if-converted" method when calculating diluted earnings per share for convertible instruments. As the treasury stock method will no longer be permitted beginning in our fiscal year 2022, our diluted earnings per share could be adversely affected. Additionally, we cannot be sure whether other changes may be made to the current accounting standards related to the Convertible Notes, or otherwise, that could have an adverse impact on our financial statements.

We use estimates in determining the fair value of certain assets and liabilities. If new information or changes in circumstances negatively impact our estimates, we may be required to write down the value of these assets or write up the value of these liabilities, which could adversely affect our financial position.

Our ability to measure and report our financial position and operating results is influenced by the need to estimate the impact or outcome of future events on the basis of information available at the time of the financial statements. An accounting estimate is considered critical if it requires that management make assumptions about matters that were highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate was made. If actual results differ from management's judgments and assumptions, then they may have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows.

Fair value is estimated based on a hierarchy that maximizes the use of observable inputs and minimizes the use of unobservable inputs. Observable inputs are inputs that reflect the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity. Unobservable inputs are inputs that reflect the reporting entity's own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the

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asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances. The fair value hierarchy prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques into three broad levels whereby the highest priority is given to Level 1 inputs and the lowest to Level 3 inputs.

Valuations are highly dependent upon the reasonableness of management's assumptions and the predictability of the relationships that drive the results of our valuation methodologies.

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

As of December 31, 2020, we had net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $756.2 million for United States federal income tax purposes available to offset future taxable income, including $503.5 million generated after 2017, United States capital loss carryforwards of $211.5 million, and United States federal and state research and development tax credits of $10.2 million, prior to consideration of annual limitations that may be imposed under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or Section 382. Net operating loss carryforwards generated prior to 2018 begin to expire in 2022, and capital loss carryforwards will expire if unutilized beginning in 2024. As a result of our past issuances of stock, as well as due to prior mergers and acquisitions, certain of our net operating losses have been subject to limitations pursuant to Section 382. As of December 31, 2020, we had utilized all net operating losses subject to Section 382 limitations, other than those losses inherited via acquisitions. As of December 31, 2020, approximately $42.1 million of domestic net operating losses were acquired via acquisition and are limited based on the value of the target at the time of the transaction. Future changes in stock ownership may also trigger an ownership change and, consequently, a Section 382 limitation. As of December 31, 2020, our direct foreign subsidiaries included in continuing operations had foreign loss carryforwards of approximately $82.3 million, most of which do not expire.

The Tax Act introduced certain limitations on utilization of losses that are generated after 2017, generally limiting utilization of those losses to 80 percent of future annual taxable income. However, net operating losses generated after 2017 will generally have an indefinite carryforward period.

Risks Related to our Intellectual Property

Our ability to compete may decline if we do not adequately protect our proprietary technologies or if we lose some of our intellectual property rights through costly litigation or administrative proceedings.

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain patents and maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property in the United States and abroad for our suite of technologies and product candidates. We have adopted a strategy of seeking patent protection in the United States and abroad with respect to certain of the technologies used in or relating to our technologies and product pipeline. We have also in-licensed rights to additional patents and pending patent applications in the United States and abroad. We intend to continue to apply for patents relating to our technologies, methods, and products as we deem appropriate.

For instance, we pursue protection to switch technologies, gene delivery technologies, and genetic componentry related to our pipeline products. In addition, we seek patents covering specific collaborator's products. We have also filed patents and patent applications in other jurisdictions, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan. In the future we may file in these or additional jurisdictions as deemed appropriate for the protection of our technologies.

The enforceability of patents, as well as the actual patent term and expiration thereof, involves complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, the extent of enforceability cannot be guaranteed. Issued patents and patents issuing from pending applications may be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented. Moreover, the United States Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, enacted in September 2011, brought significant changes to the United States patent system, which include a change to a "first to file" system from a "first to invent" system and changes to the procedures for challenging issued patents and disputing patent applications during the examination process, among other things. These changes could increase the costs and uncertainties surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our patent rights. Additional uncertainty may result from legal precedent handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and United States Supreme Court as they determine legal issues concerning the scope and construction of patent claims and inconsistent interpretation of patent laws by the lower courts. Accordingly, we cannot ensure that any of our pending patent applications will result in issued patents, or even if issued, predict the breadth of the claims upheld in our and other companies' patents. Given that the degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, we cannot ensure that we were the first to invent the inventions covered by our pending patent applications; we were the first to file patent applications for these inventions; the patents we have obtained, particularly certain patents claiming nucleic acids, proteins, or methods, are valid and enforceable; and the proprietary technologies we develop will be patentable.

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In addition, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our products or technology. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use of our technologies, particularly in certain foreign countries where the local laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. Moreover, third parties could practice our inventions in territories where we do not have patent protection. Such third parties may then try to import into the United States or other territories products, or information leading to potentially competing products, made using our inventions in countries where we do not have patent protection for those inventions. If competitors are able to use our technologies, our ability to compete effectively could be harmed. Moreover, others may independently develop and obtain patents for technologies that are similar to or superior to our technologies. If that happens, we may need to license these technologies, and we may not be able to obtain licenses on reasonable terms, if at all, which could harm our business.

We also rely on trade secrets to protect our technologies, especially in cases when we believe patent protection is not appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. While we require our employees, academic collaborators, collaborators, consultants and other contractors to enter into confidentiality agreements, we may not be able to adequately protect our trade secrets or other proprietary or licensed information. If we cannot maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary and licensed technologies and other confidential information, our ability and that of our licensor to receive patent protection and our ability to protect valuable information owned or licensed by us may be imperiled. Enforcing a claim that a third-party entity illegally obtained and is using any of our trade secrets is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods, and know-how.

Litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement could require us to spend significant time and money and could prevent us from commercializing our technologies or impact our stock price.

Our commercial success also depends in part on not infringing patents and proprietary rights of third parties and not breaching any licenses or other agreements that we have entered into with regard to our technologies, products, and business. We cannot ensure that patents have not been issued to third parties that could block our or our collaborators' ability to obtain patents or to operate as we would like. There may be patents in some countries that, if valid, may block our ability to make, use or sell our products in those countries, or import our products into those countries, if we are unsuccessful in circumventing or acquiring the rights to these patents. There also may be claims in patent applications filed in some countries that, if granted and valid, also may block our ability to commercialize products or processes in these countries if we are unable to circumvent or license them.

The biotechnology industry is characterized by frequent and extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Many companies have employed intellectual property litigation as a way to gain a competitive advantage. Our involvement in litigation, interferences, opposition proceedings or other intellectual property proceedings inside and outside of the United States, to defend our intellectual property rights or as a result of alleged infringement of the rights of others, may divert management's time from focusing on business operations and could cause us to spend significant amounts of money. Some of our competitors may have significantly greater resources and, therefore, they are likely to be better able to sustain the cost of complex patent or intellectual property litigation than we could. The uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our business or to enter into additional collaborations with others. Furthermore, any potential intellectual property litigation also could force us or our collaborators to do one or more of the following:

•stop selling, incorporating or using products that use the intellectual property at issue;

•obtain from the third party asserting its intellectual property rights a license to sell or use the relevant technology, which license may not be available on reasonable terms, if at all; or

•redesign those products or processes that use any allegedly infringing technology, or relocate the operations relating to the allegedly infringing technology to another jurisdiction, which may result in significant cost or delay to us, or that could be technically infeasible.

The patent landscape in the field of biotechnology is particularly complex. We are aware of United States and foreign patents and pending patent applications of third parties that cover various aspects of cell and gene biology including patents that some may view as covering aspects of our technologies. In addition, there may be patents and patent applications in the field of which we are not aware. In many cases, the technologies we develop are early-stage technologies, and we are just beginning the process of designing and developing products using these technologies. Although we will seek to avoid pursuing the development of products that may infringe any patent claims that we believe to be valid and enforceable, we and our collaborators may fail to do so. Moreover, given the breadth and number of claims in patents and pending patent applications in the field of synthetic biology and the complexities and uncertainties associated with them, third parties may allege that we are

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infringing upon patent claims even if we do not believe such claims to be valid and enforceable.

Except for claims we believe will not be material to our financial results, no third party has asserted a claim of infringement against us. Others may hold proprietary rights that could prevent products using our technologies from being marketed. Any patent-related legal action against persons who license our technologies or us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin commercial activities relating to products using our technologies or our processes could subject us to potential liability for damages and require our licensee or us to obtain a license to continue to manufacture or market such products or any future product candidates that use our technologies. We cannot predict whether we or our licensor would prevail in any such actions or that any license required under any of these patents would be made available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, we cannot be sure that any such products or any future product candidates or processes could be redesigned to avoid infringement, if necessary. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or the failure to obtain necessary licenses, could prevent us or our licensees from developing and commercializing products using our technologies, which could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results.

If any of our competitors have filed patent applications or obtained patents that claim inventions also claimed by us, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention and, thus, the right to the patents for these inventions in the United States. These proceedings could result in substantial cost to us even if the outcome is favorable. Even if successful, an interference may result in loss of certain of our important claims.

Any litigation or proceedings could divert our management's time and efforts. Even unsuccessful claims could result in significant legal fees and other expenses, diversion of management's time, and disruption in our business. Uncertainties resulting from initiation and continuation of any patent or related litigation could harm our ability to compete.

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

The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment, and other provisions during the patent process. Given the size of our intellectual property portfolio, compliance with these provisions involves significant time and expense. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

If we do not obtain additional protection under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, other United States legislation, and similar foreign legislation by extending the patent terms and obtaining regulatory exclusivity for our technologies, our business may be materially harmed.

Depending upon the timing, duration, and specifics of FDA marketing approval of products using our technologies, one or more of the United States patents we own or license may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or restoration or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our ability to generate revenues could be materially adversely affected.

Some of our products may not have patent protection and, as a result, potential competitors face fewer barriers in introducing competing products. We may rely on trade secrets and other unpatented proprietary information to protect our commercial position with respect to such products, which we may be unable to do. In some instances, we may also rely on regulatory exclusivity, including orphan drug exclusivity, to protect our products from competition. Some of our or our collaborators' products may be subject to the BPCIA, which may provide those products exclusivity that prevents approval of a biosimilar product that references the data in one of our BLAs in the United States for 12 years after approval. However, the BPCIA and other regulatory exclusivity frameworks may evolve over time based on statutory changes, FDA issuance of new regulations, and judicial decisions. In addition, the BPCIA exclusivity period does not prevent another company from independently developing a product that is highly similar to an approved product, generating all the data necessary for a full BLA and seeking approval.

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Enforcing our intellectual property rights may be difficult and unpredictable.

If we were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent claiming one of our technologies, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable or assert that the patent does not cover its manufacturing processes, manufacturing components or products. Proving patent infringement may be difficult, especially where it is possible to manufacture a product by multiple processes. Furthermore, in patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging both invalidity and unenforceability are commonplace. Although we believe that we have conducted our patent prosecution in accordance with the duty of candor and in good faith, the outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability during patent litigation is unpredictable. With respect to the validity of our patent rights, we cannot be certain, for example, that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would not be able to exclude others from practicing the inventions claimed therein. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business. Even if our patent rights are found to be valid and enforceable, patent claims that survive litigation may not cover commercially valuable products or prevent competitors from importing or marketing products similar to our own, or using manufacturing processes or manufacturing components similar to those used to produce the products using our technologies.

Although we believe we have obtained assignments of patent rights from all inventors, if an inventor did not adequately assign their patent rights to us, a third party could obtain a license to the patent from such inventor. This could preclude us from enforcing the patent against such third party.

We may not be able to enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to synthetic biology. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.

If our technologies or products using our technologies are stolen, misappropriated, or reverse engineered, others could use the technologies to produce competing technologies or products.

Third parties, including our collaborators, contract manufacturers, contractors and others involved in our business, often have access to our technologies. If our technologies, or products using our technologies, were stolen, misappropriated, or reverse engineered, they could be used by other parties that may be able to reproduce our technologies or products using our technologies, for their own commercial gain. If this were to occur, it would be difficult for us to challenge this type of use, especially in countries with limited intellectual property protection.

Confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosures of trade secrets and other proprietary information.

We have taken measures to protect our trade secrets and proprietary information, but these measures may not be effective. We require our new employees and consultants to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of an employment or consulting arrangement with us. These agreements generally require that all confidential information developed by the individual or made known to the individual by us during the course of the individual's relationship with us be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties. These agreements also generally provide that inventions conceived by the individual in the course of rendering services to us shall be our exclusive property. Nevertheless, our proprietary information may be disclosed, third parties could reverse engineer our technologies or products using our technologies, and others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate in the future. As a result, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of research analysts or investors, which could cause our stock price to decline.

Our financial condition and operating results have varied significantly in the past and may continue to fluctuate from quarter to

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quarter and year to year in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Factors relating to our business that may contribute to these fluctuations include the following factors, as well as other factors described elsewhere in this Annual Report:

•our ability to achieve or maintain profitability;

•the outcomes of our research programs, clinical trials, or other product development and approval processes;

•our ability to develop and successfully commercialize our products;

•the timing, receipt, and amount of any payments received in connection with upfront, milestone, and sale and royalty payments, if any;

•our ability to successfully scale up production of our commercial products and customer acceptance thereof;

•our ability to enter into strategic transactions;

•our ability to develop and maintain our technologies;

•our ability to manage our growth;

•risks associated with the international aspects of our business;

•our ability to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner;

•our dependence on, and the need to attract and retain, key management, and other personnel;

•our ability to obtain, protect and enforce our intellectual property rights;

•our ability to prevent the theft or misappropriation of our intellectual property, know-how or technologies;

•the costs associated with legal activities, including litigation, arising in the course of our business activities and our ability to prevail in any such legal disputes;

•potential advantages that our competitors and potential competitors may have in securing funding or developing competing technologies or products;

•our ability to obtain additional capital that may be necessary to expand our business;

•business interruptions such as power outages and other natural disasters;

•our ability to integrate any businesses or technologies we may acquire with our business;

•negative public opinion and increased regulatory scrutiny of gene and cell therapies;

•the impact of new accounting pronouncements on our current and future operating results;

•our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income; and

•the results of our consolidated subsidiaries.

Due to the various factors mentioned above, and others, the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future operating performance.

Our stock price is volatile, and purchasers of our common stock could incur substantial losses.

Our stock price has been, and is likely to continue to be, volatile. The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly for many reasons, including in response to the risks described in this "Risk Factors" section, or for reasons unrelated to our operations, such as reports by media or industry analysts, investor perceptions or negative announcements by

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our collaborators regarding their own performance, as well as industry conditions and general financial, economic and political instability. From January 1, 2019 through February 15, 2021, our common stock has traded as high as $11.10 per share and as low as $1.26 per share. The stock market in general, as well as the market for biopharmaceutical companies in particular, has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price of our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including, among others:

•announcements of acquisitions, collaborations, financings, divestitures, or other transactions by us;

•public concern as to the safety of our products;

•termination or delay of a development program;

•the recruitment or departure of key personnel; and

•the other factors described in this "Risk Factors" section.

In addition, we believe there has been and may continue to be substantial off-market transactions in derivatives of our stock, including short selling activity or related similar activities, which are beyond our control and which may be beyond the full control of the SEC and Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. While SEC and FINRA rules prohibit some forms of short selling and other activities that may result in stock price manipulation, such activity may nonetheless occur without detection or enforcement. Significant short selling or other types of market manipulation could cause our stock trading price to decline, to become more volatile, or both.

Additionally, we have historically, and may from time to time in the future, own equity interests in our collaborators. Owning equity in our collaborators increases our exposure to the risks of our collaborators' businesses beyond the products of those collaborations. Any equity ownership in our collaborators exposes us to volatility and the potential for negative returns. We may have restrictions on resale and/or limited markets to sell our equity ownership. If our equity position is a minority position, we are exposed to further risk as we will not be able to exert control over the companies in which we hold securities.

We do not anticipate paying cash dividends, and accordingly, shareholders will have to rely on any stock appreciation for return on their investment.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the future and intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the operations, development, and growth of our business. As a result, appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur, will provide a return to shareholders. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock. We have twice distributed equity securities of affiliated entities to our shareholders as a special stock dividend, most recently in 2017, but it is possible that we may never declare a special dividend again, and shareholders should not rely upon potential future special dividends as a source of return on their investment.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research or reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our shares of common stock depends, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If securities or industry analysts do not continue to cover us, the trading price for our shares of common stock may be negatively impacted. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our shares of common stock, changes their opinion of our shares or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our shares of common stock could decrease and we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price and trading volume to decline.

The issuance of our common stock pursuant to a share lending agreement, including sales of the shares that we lend, and other market activity related to the share lending agreement may lower the market price of our common stock.

In connection with our offering of the Convertible Notes in July 2018, we entered into a share lending agreement with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (that we refer to when acting in this capacity as the "share borrower"), the underwriter for our offering, pursuant to which we agreed to lend up to 7,479,431 shares of our common stock to the share borrower.

We were informed by the share borrower that it or one of its affiliates intended to use the short position created by the share

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loan and the concurrent short sales of the borrowed shares to facilitate transactions by which investors in the Convertible Notes, or the Convertible Notes Investors, hedge their investments through short sales or privately negotiated derivatives transactions.

The existence of the share lending agreement in connection with the offering of the borrowed shares, the short sales of our common stock effected in connection with the sale of the Convertible Notes and the related derivatives transactions, or any unwind of such short sales or derivatives transactions, could cause the market price of our common stock to be lower over the term of the share lending agreement than it would have been had we not entered into that agreement, due to the effect of the increase in the number of outstanding shares of our common stock or otherwise. For example, in connection with any cash settlement of any such derivative transaction, the share borrower or its affiliates may purchase shares of our common stock and the Convertible Notes Investors may sell shares of our common stock, which could temporarily increase, temporarily delay a decline in, or temporarily decrease, the market price of our common stock. The market price of our common stock could be further negatively affected by these or other short sales of our common stock, including other sales by the Convertible Notes Investors hedging their investment therein.

Adjustments by the Convertible Notes Investors of their hedging positions in our common stock and the expectation thereof may have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.

The borrowed shares are used by the Convertible Notes Investors to establish hedged positions with respect to our common stock through short sale transactions or privately negotiated derivative transactions. The number of borrowed shares may be more or less than the number of shares that will be needed in such hedging transactions. Any buying or selling of shares of our common stock by those Convertible Notes Investors to adjust their hedging positions may affect the market price of our common stock.

In addition, the existence of the Convertible Notes may also encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the Convertible Notes could depress our common stock price. The price of our common stock could be affected by possible sales of our common stock by the Convertible Notes Investors who view the Convertible Notes as a more attractive means of equity participation in us and by hedging or arbitrage trading activity that we expect to occur involving our common stock. This hedging or arbitrage trading activity could, in turn, affect the market price of the Convertible Notes.

Changes in the accounting guidelines relating to the borrowed shares or our inability to classify the borrowed shares as equity could decrease our reported earnings per share and potentially our common stock price.

Because the borrowed shares (or identical shares) must be returned to us when the share lending agreement terminates pursuant to its terms (or earlier in certain circumstances), we believe that under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, as presently in effect, assuming the borrowed shares issued pursuant to the share lending agreement are classified as equity under U.S. GAAP, the borrowed shares will not be considered outstanding for the purpose of computing and reporting our earnings per share. If accounting guidelines were to change in the future or we are unable to classify the borrowed shares issued pursuant to the share lending agreement as equity, we may be required to treat the borrowed shares as outstanding for purposes of computing earnings per share, our reported earnings per share would be reduced and our common stock price could decrease, possibly significantly.

As of December 31, 2020, Randal J. Kirk controlled approximately 44 percent of our common stock. If our executive officers and directors choose to act together, they may be able to significantly influence our management and operations, acting in their own best interests and not necessarily those of other shareholders.

We have historically been controlled, managed, and principally funded by Randal J. Kirk, our former Chief Executive Officer and current Executive Chairman, and affiliates of Mr. Kirk, including Third Security. As of December 31, 2020, Mr. Kirk and shareholders affiliated with him beneficially owned approximately 44 percent of our voting stock, and our executive officers and directors, as a group, owned approximately 46 percent of our voting common stock. Mr. Kirk may be able to control or significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions, and he may be able to exert significant influence on other corporate actions as a result of his role as our Executive Chairman and status as a significant shareholder. Further, our executive officers and directors, acting together as shareholders, would be able to significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions, as well as our management and affairs. The interests of this group of shareholders may not always coincide with the interests of other shareholders, and they may act in a manner that advances their best interests and not necessarily those of other shareholders. This concentration of ownership control may:

•delay, defer, or prevent a change in control;

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•entrench our management and/or the board of directors; or

•impede a merger, consolidation, takeover, or other business combination involving us that other shareholders may desire.

We have engaged in transactions with companies in which Randal J. Kirk, our Executive Chairman, and his affiliates have an interest.

We have engaged in a variety of transactions, including collaborations and our sale of our non-healthcare assets to TS Biotechnology, with companies in which Mr. Kirk and affiliates of Mr. Kirk have a direct or indirect interest. See "Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements - Notes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 17, and 18" appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report for a discussion of such transactions. Mr. Kirk serves as the Senior Managing Director and Chairman of Third Security and owns 100 percent of the equity interests of Third Security. We believe that each of these transactions was on terms no less favorable to us than terms we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties, and each of these transactions was approved by at least a majority of the disinterested members of the audit committee of our board of directors. Furthermore, as we execute on these transactions going forward, a conflict may arise between our interests and those of Mr. Kirk and his affiliates.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. This could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

PGEN US Equity

PGEN · 10-K · period ended 2020-12-31

Item 1A. Risk Factors

PGEN US Equity☆

PGEN · 10-K · period ended 2020-12-31

Item 1A. Risk Factors

PGEN US Equity