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TARS US Equity

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Health Care · Biological Products, (No Diagnostic Substances) · CIK 1819790 · FY ends Dec 31
$73.44
+2.41 (+3.39%)
USD · as of 2026-08-19 · marketstack

TARS · 10-K · period ended 2020-12-31

← all TARS documents
filed 2021-03-31 · EDGAR original ↗

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

Investing in our common stock is speculative and involves a high degree of risk. Before investing in our common stock, you should consider carefully the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In these circumstances, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including the risks described below. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

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Risks Related to our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital

We have incurred significant losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant expenses and losses for the foreseeable future.

We do not have any products approved for sale, we have not generated any revenue and have incurred net losses in each reporting period since our company’s formation in 2016. We have funded our operations primarily from the sale and issuance of redeemable convertible preferred stock, convertible promissory notes and the sale of our common stock in our IPO. For the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, our net losses were $4.7 million and $1.3 million, respectively. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, our net losses were $26.8 million. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $32.8 million and $6.0 million, respectively. Additionally, the net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter such that a period-to-period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indicator of our future performance. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue. We expect that it will be a few years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization. We expect to incur increasing levels of operating losses over the next several years and for the foreseeable future as we advance and commercialize, if approved, our product candidates. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our accumulated deficit and working capital.

We expect to continue incurring significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. We expect that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:

•prepare for and initiate additional preclinical, clinical and other studies for our product candidates;

•change or add additional manufacturers or suppliers, some of which may require additional permits or other governmental approvals;

•create additional infrastructure to support our operations as a public company, including adding operational, financial and management information systems and personnel;

•enhance our product development and planned future commercialization efforts, including through hiring additional clinical, regulatory, quality control and scientific personnel;

•seek marketing approvals and reimbursement for our product candidates;

•establish a sales, marketing, and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any products for which we may obtain marketing approval;

•seek to identify, assess, acquire or develop additional product candidates;

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

•make milestone or other payments in connection with the development or approval of our product candidates;

•maintain, protect, enforce and expand our intellectual property portfolio; and

•experience any delays or encounter issues with any of the above.Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with biopharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. Our expenses could increase beyond our expectations if, among other things:

•we are required by regulatory authorities to perform trials or studies in addition to, or different than, those that we currently expect;

•there are any delays in establishing appropriate manufacturing arrangements for or completing the development of any of our product candidates; or

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•there are any third-party challenges to our intellectual property or we need to defend against any intellectual property-related claim.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for and are successful in commercializing one or more of our product candidates, we expect to incur substantial additional research and development and other expenditures to develop and market additional product candidates or to expand the approved indications of any marketed product. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business.

Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We commenced activities in 2016. Our limited operating history may make it difficult to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability. Our operations to date have been limited to organizing our company, raising capital, identifying and developing product candidates, establishing licensing arrangements and/or acquiring necessary technology, undertaking research, preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates, establishing arrangements for the manufacture of product candidates and longer-term planning for potential commercialization. Our prospects must be considered in light of the uncertainties, risks, expenses and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in their early stages of operations. We have limited experience in and have not yet demonstrated our ability to obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales, marketing and distribution activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing, obtaining marketing approval for and commercializing products. In addition, as our business grows, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown obstacles. We will need to transition at some point from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.

We are heavily dependent on the success of our lead product candidate, TP-03, for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis. If we are unable to successfully complete the clinical development program, obtain regulatory approval for, or commercialize, TP-03, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We currently have no products that are approved for commercial sale and we have never had any products approved for sale or commercialized. To date, we have invested a substantial majority of our business efforts and financial resources to the preclinical and clinical development of TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis. Our future success is dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and commercialize TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis, and we cannot accurately predict when or if TP-03 will be proven to be effective or safe in humans or whether it will receive regulatory approval. Before we can generate any revenue from sales of TP-03, we will be required to conduct additional clinical development, seek and obtain regulatory approval, secure adequate manufacturing supply to support commercial sales and build a commercial organization. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to complete pivotal clinical trials. Further, the commercial success of TP-03 will also depend on patent protection, successfully educating “ECPs” about Demodex blepharitis and related diagnosis, acceptance of TP-03 by patients, the medical community and third-party payors, TP-03’s ability to compete with other therapies, secure adequate healthcare coverage and reimbursement, and maintenance of an acceptable safety profile following approval, among other factors. If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize TP-03, which would materially harm our business. If we were required to discontinue development of TP-03, or if TP-03 does not receive regulatory approval, fails to achieve significant market acceptance, or fails to receive adequate reimbursement, we would be delayed by many years in our ability to achieve profitability, if ever, and may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to continue our business.

We may need to obtain additional funding to complete the development and any commercialization of our product candidates, if approved. If we are unable to raise this necessary capital when needed, we would be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs, commercialization efforts or other operations.

Since our inception, we have funded our operations through private placements of preferred stock, convertible promissory notes and the sale of our common stock in our IPO. Over the next few years, we expect our expenses to increase substantially and we will require a larger amount of capital to fund the development of our product candidates. As our product candidates enter and advance through preclinical studies and clinical trials, we will need substantial additional funds to expand our clinical, regulatory, quality and manufacturing capabilities. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to marketing, sales, manufacturing and distribution. Furthermore, as a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other costs associated with operating as a public company.

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As of December 31, 2020, we had $168.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. Based on our current business plans, in addition to the completed IPO in October 2020, we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our anticipated level of operations through at least the next 12 months. We believe that our cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the fourth quarter of 2022. Accordingly, our existing cash and cash equivalents will be insufficient for us to concurrently fund our product candidates through regulatory approval and commercialization. We will need to raise substantial additional capital to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates through equity offerings, debt financings, marketing and distribution arrangements and other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements or other sources. We may also need to raise additional funds earlier than currently anticipated if we choose to pursue additional indications for our product candidates, acquire new product candidates or otherwise expand our business more rapidly than we presently planned.

We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect or require adjustment because of our ongoing business decisions, and we could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

•the scope, rate of progress, costs and results of our drug discovery, preclinical development activities, laboratory testing and clinical trials for our product candidates;

•the number and scope of clinical programs we decide to pursue;

•the scope and costs of manufacturing development and commercial manufacturing activities and our ability to scale them up;

•the extent to which we acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

•the cost, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates, including the potential for regulatory authorities to require that we conduct more studies and trials than those that we currently expect to conduct and the costs of post-marketing studies or risk evaluation and mitigation strategies that could be required by regulatory authorities;

•potential changes in the regulatory environment and enforcement rules;

•the cost and timing of establishing sales and marketing capabilities, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval;

•the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims;

•our ability to establish and maintain collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;

•our efforts to enhance operational systems and our ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel, including personnel to support the development of our product candidates;

•potential changes in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement infrastructure;

•the costs associated with being a public company; and

•the cost associated with commercializing our product candidates, if they receive marketing approval.

Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials is a time consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain marketing approval. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve adequate product sales or commercial success. We do not expect to have any products commercially available for sale for many years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, and may be impacted by the economic climate and market conditions. For example, market volatility resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or any other future infectious diseases, epidemics or pandemics could also adversely impact our ability to access capital as and when needed. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we would be forced to delay, limit, reduce or eliminate our research and

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development programs or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves. In addition, attempting to secure additional financing may divert the time and attention of management from day-to-day activities and distract from our research and development efforts. Alternatively, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.

We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products and may never generate revenue or be profitable.

We have no products approved for commercial sale and do not anticipate generating any product revenue, unless and until either TP-03 or another product candidate receives the regulatory approvals necessary for commercialization in one or more jurisdictions. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends significantly on our ability, or any future collaborator’s ability, to achieve a number of challenging objectives, including:

•successful and timely completion of preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates, including the clinical development of TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis or other indications and any other future product candidates;

•establishing and maintaining relationships with contract research organizations, or "CROs", and clinical sites for the clinical development, both in the United States and internationally, of our product candidates;

•timely receipt of regulatory approvals from applicable regulatory authorities for TP-03 or any other product candidates for which we successfully complete clinical development;

•making any required post-marketing approval commitments to applicable regulatory authorities;

•establishing and maintaining commercially viable supply and manufacturing relationships with third parties that can provide adequate, in both amount and quality, products and services to support clinical development and meet the market demand for product candidates that we develop, if approved;

•obtaining an investigational new drug application, or "IND", prior to commencing clinical trials in the United States for a particular indication, such as TP-04 for the potential treatment of rosacea (although for TP-04 we first intend to conduct a Phase 1/2 trial outside the United States and thus do not plan to submit an "IND" prior to this trial) and TP-05 for potential Lyme prophylaxis and community malaria reduction;

•successful commercial launch following any regulatory approval, including the development of a commercial infrastructure, whether in-house or with one or more collaborators;

•a continued acceptable safety and efficacy profile both prior to and following any marketing approval of our product candidates;

•successfully educating ECPs about Demodex blepharitis and related diagnosis;

•commercial acceptance of TP-03 and any of our other product candidates by patients, the medical community and third-party payors;

•identifying, assessing and developing new product candidates;

•obtaining, maintaining and expanding patent protection, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;

•protecting our rights in our intellectual property portfolio;

•defending against third-party interference or infringement claims, if any;

•obtaining favorable terms in any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary or desirable to develop, manufacture or commercialize our existing or acquired product candidates;

•obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement for customers and patients from government and third-party payors for product candidates that we develop;

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•addressing any competing therapies and technological and market developments; and

•attracting, hiring and retaining qualified personnel.

We may never be successful in achieving our objectives and, even if we do, may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis and we will continue to incur substantial research and development and other expenditures to develop and market additional product candidates. In addition, as a young business, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown challenges. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to maintain or further our research and development efforts, raise additional necessary capital, grow our business, retain key employees and continue our operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019 and has spread worldwide, may affect our ability to initiate and complete preclinical studies and clinical trials, disrupt regulatory activities, disrupt our manufacturing and supply chain or have other adverse effects on our business and operations. In addition, this pandemic has caused substantial disruption in the financial markets and may adversely impact economies worldwide, both of which could result in adverse effects on our business and operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in December 2019 and has spread worldwide, caused many governments to implement measures to slow the spread of the outbreak through quarantines, travel restrictions, heightened border scrutiny and other measures. The outbreak and government measures taken in response have also had a significant impact, both directly and indirectly, on businesses and commerce, as worker shortages have occurred, supply chains have been disrupted, facilities and production have been suspended, and demand for certain goods and services, such as medical services and supplies, has spiked, while demand for other goods and services, such as travel, has fallen. The future progression of the outbreak and its effects on our business and operations are uncertain.

Our business, operations and clinical development timelines and plans have been and could continue to be adversely affected by COVID-19, and could be adversely impacted by other health epidemics in regions where we have concentrations of clinical trial sites or other business operations, and could cause significant disruption in the operations of CROs upon whom we rely. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected multiple countries worldwide, including those where we have planned and ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials. In addition, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many state, local and foreign governments have put in place quarantines, executive orders, shelter-in-place orders and similar government orders and restrictions in order to control the spread of the disease. Such orders or restrictions, and the perception that such orders or restrictions could continue or, after being lifted, be reinstated for a period of time, have resulted in business closures, work stoppages, slowdowns and delays, work-from-home policies, travel restrictions and cancellation of events, among other effects that could negatively impact productivity and disrupt our business and operations. We have implemented a work-from-home policy for our employees and have also implemented enhanced travel-safe policies for our employees’ travel to our clinical sites. We may take further actions that alter our operations as may be required by federal, state or local authorities, or which we determine are in the best interests of our employees.

Moreover, our clinical development timelines and plans could be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as we and the third-party manufacturers and clinical research organizations that we engage may face disruptions. Site initiation and patient enrollment could be delayed or suspended due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 pandemic or patients not having a desire to enroll in clinical trials due to concerns regarding COVID-19. While we have not experienced any material delays in enrollment, we cannot be certain that we will not experience future delays in enrollment. In addition, some patients may not be able to comply with clinical trial protocols and the ability to conduct follow up visits with treated patients may be limited if patients do not want to participate in follow up visits due to concerns regarding COVID-19 or if quarantines impede patient movement or interrupt healthcare services. There may be shortages in the raw materials used in the manufacturing of our product candidates or laboratory supplies for our preclinical studies and clinical trials, in each case, because of ongoing efforts to address the outbreak.

We cannot assure that the inability to collect such clinical data would not have an adverse impact on our clinical trial results. Similarly, our ability to recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to COVID-19 could be adversely impacted.

We may experience disruptions that could severely impact our business, preclinical studies, and clinical trials, including:

•delays in receiving approval from local regulatory authorities to initiate our planned clinical trials, including receiving any required "IND";

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•delays or difficulties in enrolling and retaining patients in our clinical trials;

•delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including difficulties in recruiting clinical site investigators and clinical site staff;

•manufacturing disruptions;

•delays in clinical sites receiving the supplies and materials needed to conduct our clinical trials;

•delays in the transport of clinical trial materials;

•changes in local regulations as part of a response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic which may require us to change the ways in which our clinical trials are conducted, which may result in unexpected costs, or to discontinue the clinical trials altogether;

•diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials;

•difficulties recruiting or retaining patients for our planned clinical trials if patients are affected by the virus or are fearful of visiting or traveling to clinical trial sites because of the outbreak;

•interruption of or changes in key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, implementation of virtual monitoring, use of local testing labs, or home delivery of study drugs, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others, use of new digital technologies for subject visits or interruption of clinical trial subject visits and study procedures, the occurrence of which could affect the integrity of clinical trial data;

•risk that participants enrolled in our clinical trials will acquire COVID-19 while the clinical trial is ongoing, which could impact the results of the clinical trial, including by increasing the number of observed adverse events;

•delays in necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or forced furlough of government employees;

•limitations in employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our clinical trials, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people;

•interruption or delays in the operations of the FDA which may impact review and approval timelines;

•delays in regulatory approvals for our product candidates due to the FDA focusing on clinical trials related to therapies and vaccines targeting COVID-19;

•refusal of the FDA to accept data, including from clinical trials in affected geographies or failure to comply with updated FDA guidance and expectations related to the conduct of clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic; and

•interruption or delays to our sourced discovery and clinical activities.

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic may redirect resources with respect to regulatory matters in a way that would adversely impact our ability to pursue marketing approvals. In addition, we may face impediments to regulatory meetings and potential approvals due to measures intended to limit in-person interactions. Furthermore, third parties, including manufacturers, medical institutions, clinical investigators, CROs and consultants with whom we conduct business, are similarly adjusting their operations and assessing their capacity in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. If these third parties continue to experience shutdowns or business disruptions, our ability to conduct our business in the manner and on the timelines presently planned could be materially and negatively impacted.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, clinical trials, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not

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limited to, the duration of the pandemic, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or address its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating activities can resume. Further, while the potential economic impact brought by and the duration of COVID-19 may be difficult to assess or predict, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant disruptions of global financial markets, which could reduce our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, clinical trials, results of operations and financial condition, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.

The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our cash needs through possible combinations of equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt or liens, making acquisitions, selling or licensing our assets, redeeming our stock, making certain investments, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends.

If we raise funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we raise funds through research grants, we may be subject to certain requirements, which may limit our ability to use the funds or require us to share information from our research and development. Raising additional capital through any of these or other means could adversely affect our business and the holdings or rights of our stockholders, and may cause the market price of our shares to decline. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

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

We are highly dependent on the expertise of our executive officers, as well as the other members of our scientific and clinical teams and certain advisors to develop and soundly execute our business strategy. Although we have employment offer letters with each of our executive officers, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or employees.

Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and clinical personnel and, if we are successful in obtaining marketing approval for TP-03 or other product candidates, sales and marketing personnel, are critical to our success. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval for and commercialize our product candidates. Competition to hire qualified personnel in our industry is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel.

Furthermore, to the extent we hire personnel from competitors, we may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited or that they have divulged proprietary or other confidential information, or that their former employers own their research output. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by employers other than us and may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited, and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

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Many of our employees have become or will soon become vested in a substantial amount of our common stock or a number of common stock options. Our employees may be more likely to leave us if the shares they own have significantly appreciated in value relative to the original purchase prices of the shares, or if the exercise prices of the options that they hold are significantly below the market price of our common stock, particularly after the expiration of the lock-up agreements described herein. Our future success also depends on our ability to continue to attract and retain additional executive officers and other key employees.

We will need to develop and expand our company, and we may encounter difficulties in managing this development and expansion, which could disrupt our operations.

In connection with becoming a public company, we expect to increase our number of employees and the scope of our operations. To manage our anticipated development and expansion, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from its day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these development activities. This may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. If our management is unable to effectively manage our expected development and expansion, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved, and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage the future development and expansion of our company.

We may not realize the benefits of any acquisitions, in-license or other collaborations or strategic alliances that we enter into.

We may form or seek strategic alliances, create joint ventures or collaborations or enter into additional licensing arrangements with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our development and commercialization efforts with respect to our product candidates and any future product candidates that we may develop. Any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders or disrupt our management and business. In addition, we face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Moreover, we may not be successful in our efforts to establish a strategic partnership or other alternative arrangements for our product candidates because we are unable to agree on commercial terms, or because third parties may not view our product candidates as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy. If we license products or businesses, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture. We cannot be certain that, following a strategic transaction or license, we will achieve the revenue or specific net income that justifies such transaction. Any delays in entering into new strategic partnership agreements related to our product candidates could delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates in certain geographies for certain indications, which would harm our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We expect to expand our development, regulatory and operational capabilities and potentially implement sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and, as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

As of December 31, 2020, we had 20 full-time employees. As we advance our research and development programs, we expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of clinical development, quality, regulatory affairs, manufacturing and quality control and, if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, sales, marketing and distribution. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must:

•identify, recruit, integrate, maintain and motivate additional qualified personnel;

•manage our development efforts effectively, including the initiation and conduct of clinical trials for our product candidates; and

•improve our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures.

Our future financial performance and our ability to develop, manufacture and commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth, and our management may also have to

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divert financial and other resources, and a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time, to managing these growth activities. If we do not effectively manage the expansion of our operations, we could experience weaknesses in our infrastructure, operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. The expansion of our operations also could lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.

We currently rely, and for the foreseeable future will continue to rely, in substantial part on certain third-party contract organizations, advisors and consultants to provide certain services, including assuming substantial responsibilities for the conduct of our clinical trials and the manufacture of our product candidates. We cannot assure you that the services of such third-party contract organizations, advisors and consultants will continue to be available to us on a timely basis when needed, or that we can find qualified replacements. In addition, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of the services provided by our vendors or consultants is compromised for any reason, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain marketing approval of our product candidates or otherwise advance our business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to properly manage our existing vendors or consultants or find other competent outside vendors and consultants on economically reasonable terms, or at all.

Many of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that we compete against for qualified personnel and consultants have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than we do. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel and consultants, the rate and success at which we can discover and develop product candidates and operate our business will be limited. If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

We may engage in acquisitions or strategic partnerships that could disrupt our business, cause dilution to our stockholders, reduce our financial resources, cause or to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities, and subject us to other risks.

In the future, we may enter into transactions to acquire other businesses, products or technologies or enter into strategic partnerships, including licensing. If we do identify suitable acquisition or partnership candidates, we may not be able to make such acquisitions or partnerships on favorable terms, or at all. Any acquisitions or partnerships we make may not strengthen our competitive position, and these transactions may be viewed negatively by customers or investors. We may decide to incur debt in connection with an acquisition or issue our common stock or other equity securities to the stockholders of the acquired company, which would reduce the percentage ownership of our existing stockholders. For example, pursuant to the terms of the license agreement with Elanco Tiergesundheit AG (“Elanco”), granting us a worldwide, sublicensable license for the development and marketing of lotilaner for all applications in humans outside the treatment or cure of any eye or skin condition in humans (the “All Human Uses Elanco Agreement”), if it is not terminated, or if we have not provided notice to terminate the All Human Uses Elanco Agreement, within 18 months of its effective date, we will be required to issue Elanco additional shares of our common stock equating to $3.0 million of aggregate value.

We could incur losses resulting from undiscovered liabilities of the acquired business or partnership that are not covered by the indemnification we may obtain from the seller or our partner. In addition, we may not be able to successfully integrate any acquired personnel, technologies and operations into our existing business in an effective, timely and non-disruptive manner. Acquisitions or partnerships may also divert management attention from day-to-day responsibilities, lead to a loss of key personnel, increase our expenses and reduce our cash available for operations and other uses. We cannot predict the number, timing or size of future acquisitions or partnerships or the effect that any such transactions might have on our operating results.

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

Earthquakes or other natural disasters could severely disrupt our operations, and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. If a natural disaster, power outage or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our headquarters, that damaged critical infrastructure, such as the manufacturing facilities of our third-party contract manufacturers, or that otherwise disrupted operations, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. The disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place currently are limited and are unlikely to prove adequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which, particularly when taken together with our lack of earthquake insurance, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

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Unfavorable global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. The recent global financial crisis caused extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the U.S., regional and global economies and has contributed to significant volatility and negative pressure in financial markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn, or any prolonged economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, could result in a variety of risks to our business, including reduced ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could also strain our suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.

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

We have incurred substantial losses during our history which we expect to continue, do not expect to become profitable in the near future, and we may never achieve profitability. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership by certain stockholders over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”), and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. We have not yet completed an ownership change analysis. If a requisite ownership change occurs, the amount of remaining tax attribute carryforwards available to offset taxable income and reduce income tax expense in future years may be restricted or eliminated. Similar provisions of state tax law may also apply to limit our use of accumulated state tax attributes. In addition, at the state level, there may be periods during which the use of NOLs is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed. As a result, even if we attain profitability, we may be unable to use a material portion of our NOLs and other tax attributes, which could adversely affect our future cash flows.

U.S. federal income tax reform and the implementation of such reforms could adversely affect us.

On December 22, 2017, the United States enacted the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (the “ TCJA”) that significantly reformed the Code. The TCJA, among other things, includes contained significant changes to corporate taxation, including a reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, the limitation of the tax deduction for net interest expense to 30% of adjusted earnings (except for certain small businesses), the limitation of the deduction for NOLs arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 to 80% of current year taxable income and elimination of NOL carrybacks for losses arising in taxable years ending after December 31, 2017 (though any such NOLs may be carried forward indefinitely), the imposition of a one-time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, the elimination of U.S. tax on foreign earnings (subject to certain important exceptions), the allowance of immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and the modification or repeal of many business deductions and credits. The financial statements contained herein reflect the effects of the TCJA based on current guidance. However, there remain uncertainties and ambiguities in the application of certain provisions of the TCJA, and, as a result, we made certain judgments and assumptions in the interpretation thereof.

As part of Congress’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCR Act”) was enacted on March 18, 2020, and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was enacted on March 27, 2020. Both contain numerous tax provisions. In particular, the CARES Act retroactively and temporarily (for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2021) suspends application of the 80%-of-income limitation on the use of NOLs, which was enacted as part of the TCJA. It also provides that NOLs arising in any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2021 are generally eligible to be carried back up to five years. The CARES Act also temporarily (for taxable years beginning in 2019 or 2020) relaxes the limitation of the tax deductibility for net interest expense by increasing the limitation from 30% to 50% of adjusted taxable income.

Regulatory guidance under the TCJA, the FFCR Act and the CARES Act is and continues to be forthcoming, and such guidance could ultimately increase or lessen impact of these laws on our business and financial condition. It is also likely that Congress will enact additional tax legislation in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which could have an impact on our company. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the TCJA, the FFCR Act or the CARES Act.

Risks Related to Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

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Clinical drug development is a lengthy, expensive and risky process with uncertain timelines and uncertain outcomes, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future results. If clinical trials of our product candidates, particularly TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis, do not meet safety or efficacy endpoints or are prolonged or delayed, we may be unable to obtain required regulatory approvals, and therefore be unable to commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis or at all.

Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans. The research and development of drugs is an extremely risky industry. Only a small percentage of product candidates that enter the development process ever receive marketing approval. Failure or delay can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. To date, we have focused substantially all of our efforts and financial resources on identifying, acquiring, and developing our product candidates, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and we cannot be certain that any clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. Furthermore, product candidates are subject to continued preclinical safety studies, which may be conducted concurrently with our clinical testing. The outcomes of these safety studies may delay the launch of or enrollment in future clinical trials and could impact our ability to continue to conduct our clinical trials. Our inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to us and negatively impact our ability to generate revenue. Our future success is dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize product candidates. We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product.

We have not yet completed any Phase 2b/3 or Phase 3 trials for any product candidate. The results of preclinical and early clinical trials of our product candidates and other products with the same mechanism of action may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. For example, we may not be able to replicate the safety and efficacy results of our Phase 2 clinical trials for Demodex blepharitis in our Phase 2b/3 trial, Saturn-1, or our Phase 3 trial, Saturn-2. Clinical trial failure may result from a multitude of factors including flaws in trial design, dose selection, placebo effect, patient enrollment criteria, relatively smaller sample size in earlier trials, and failure to demonstrate favorable safety or efficacy traits. As such, failure in clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered setbacks in the advancement of clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. Based upon negative or inconclusive results, we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies. In addition, data obtained from clinical trials are susceptible to varying interpretations, and regulators may not interpret our data as favorably as we do, which may further delay, limit or prevent marketing approval. Furthermore, as more product candidates within a particular class of drugs proceed through clinical development to regulatory review and approval, the amount and type of clinical data that may be required by regulatory authorities may increase or change. The outcome of preclinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and preliminary or interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. For example, our product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in preclinical studies or having successfully advanced through initial clinical trials. The failure of any of our product candidates to demonstrate safety and efficacy in any clinical trial could negatively impact the perception of our other product candidates or cause regulatory authorities to require additional testing before approving any of our product candidates.

We currently have one product candidate, TP-03, in clinical development and its risk of failure is high. For example, use of TP-03 requires the patient to follow a prescribed technique to administer the eye drops. Failure to properly administer the eye drops by the patient or inappropriate technique demonstration by the eye care practitioners, may adversely affect the outcome of TP-03 in demonstrating efficacy in one or more clinical trials. We are unable to predict if this product candidate or any of our future product candidates that advance into clinical trials will prove safe or effective in humans or will obtain marketing approval. If we are unable to complete preclinical or clinical trials of current or future product candidates, due to safety concerns, or if the results of these trials are not satisfactory to convince regulatory authorities of their safety or efficacy, we will not be able to obtain marketing approval for commercialization. Even if we are able to obtain marketing approvals for any of our product candidates, those approvals may be for indications that are not as broad as desired or may contain other limitations that would adversely affect our ability to generate revenue from sales of those products. Moreover, if we are not able to differentiate our product against other approved products within the same class of drugs, or if any of the other circumstances described above occur, our business would be materially harmed and our ability to generate revenue from that class of drugs would be severely impaired.

Each of our product candidates will require additional clinical development, management of clinical, preclinical (for some of our product candidates) and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, achieving and maintaining commercial-scale supply, building of a commercial organization, substantial investment and significant marketing

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efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. We may experience delays in our ongoing clinical trials, and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. For example, the FDA has recommended that for TP-03 we conduct carcinogenicity testing as well as embryofetal development studies in a second species. Any further recommendations by the FDA could cause delay of any regulatory approval by the FDA and cause our expenses to increase. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize TP-03, our other product candidates, or any other product candidates that we may develop, including:

•we may experience delays in or failure to reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs, vendors and clinical sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs, vendors and trial sites;

•we may fail to obtain sufficient enrollment in our clinical trials, our enrollment needs may grow larger than we anticipate, or participants may fail to complete our clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate;

•clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs;

•we may decide, or regulators or institutional review boards or ethics committees may require us, to suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

•regulators or institutional review boards or ethics committees may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial at a prospective clinical trial site or at all or may require us to perform additional or unanticipated clinical trials to obtain approval or we may be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements to maintain regulatory approval;

•regulators may revise the requirements for approving our product candidates, or such requirements may not be as we anticipate;

•the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate, and we may need to delay or suspend one or more trials until we complete additional financing transactions or otherwise receive adequate funding;

•the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate or may be delayed;

•our product candidates may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, causing us or our investigators, regulators or institutional review boards or ethics committees to suspend or terminate trials;

•regulatory authorities may determine that the planned design of our clinical trials is flawed or inadequate;

•regulatory authorities may suspend or withdraw their approval of a product or impose restrictions on its distribution;

•we may not be able to timely or at all obtain INDs for a product candidate;

•we may modify a preclinical study or clinical trial protocol;

•third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;

•we may be unable to establish clinical endpoints that applicable regulatory authorities consider clinically meaningful, or, if we seek accelerated approval, biomarker efficacy endpoints that applicable regulatory authorities consider likely to predict clinical benefit;

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•we may experience delays due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including with respect to the conduct of ongoing clinical trials, receipt of product candidates or other materials, submission of New Drug Applications ("NDAs"), filing of INDs, and starting any clinical trials for other indications or programs; and

•we may experience manufacturing delays due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic in our supply chain caused by a shortage of raw materials, a lack of employees on site at our suppliers due to illness, or a lack of productivity at our suppliers due to local or national government quarantine restrictions on coming to the workplace.

If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive, if there are safety concerns or if we determine that the observed safety or efficacy profile would not be competitive in the marketplace, we may:

•incur unplanned costs;

•be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates;

•not obtain marketing approval at all;

•obtain marketing approval in some countries and not in others;

•obtain approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;

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

•be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements; or

•have the product removed from the market after obtaining marketing approval.

We cannot be certain whether any of our planned clinical trials will begin on schedule or any preclinical studies we plan to initiate will begin on our intended schedule, or whether any such studies or clinical trials will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, or are unable to achieve clinical endpoints due to unforeseen events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates 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. Significant clinical trial delays could also allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do or shorten any periods during which we have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations.

Even if TP-03 or any other product candidate that we develop receives marketing approval, we may not be successful in educating ECPs and the market about the need for treatments specifically for Demodex blepharitis and other diseases or conditions targeted by our product candidates, and TP-03 or other product candidates that we may develop may fail to achieve market acceptance by ECPs, other healthcare providers and patients, or adequate formulary coverage, pricing or reimbursement by third-party payors and others in the medical community, and the market opportunity for these products may be smaller than we estimate.

If TP-03 or any other product candidate that we are developing or develop receives marketing approval, it may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by ECPs or other healthcare providers, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community. There is no approved prescription therapeutic for Demodex blepharitis and current treatments include over-the-counter and off-label remedies such as tea tree oil, lid wipes and artificial tears, as well as off-label prescription products. Efforts to educate the medical community, patients and third-party payors on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may not be successful.

Further, even if TP-03 demonstrates promising or superior clinical results and receives FDA or other regulatory marketing approval, including the treatment of both signs and symptoms of Demodex blepharitis, ECPs and potential patients may not have sufficient information about, or recognize the need for a treatment specifically targeting Demodex blepharitis, it is possible that ECPs may continue to rely on other treatments for treating symptoms consistent with Demodex blepharitis. A key tenant of our commercialization strategy is to educate ECPs on Demodex blepharitis and how to diagnose it with a simple slit

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lamp examination as well as raise patient awareness of Demodex blepharitis. However, our efforts may prove to be unsuccessful, and we may not be able to develop this new market for which there is no approved treatment. If TP-03 receives FDA or other regulatory marketing approval, we may still not achieve success in promotional efforts for TP-03, and ECPs may continue to use existing treatments rather than TP-03 or any other product candidate and potential patients may not inquire as to TP-03. It is also possible that ECPs and patients may not be willing to adopt TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis because of the likelihood that the disease will recur despite mite eradication and the necessity for periodic use of TP-03.

In addition, if generic versions of any products that compete with any of our product candidates are approved for marketing by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, they would likely be offered at a substantially lower price than we expect to offer for our product candidates, if approved. As a result, ECPs, patients and third-party payors may choose to rely on such products rather than our product candidates.

If TP-03 or any other product candidate that we develop does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, formulary coverage, pricing or reimbursement we may not generate significant product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of TP-03 or any other product candidate that we develop, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:

•the efficacy, safety and potential advantages of our product candidates compared to alternative treatments, including the existing standard of care, and the perceptions by members of the healthcare community of the same;

•our ability to offer our products for sale at competitive prices, particularly in light of the lower cost of alternative treatments;

•the clinical indications for which the product is approved;

•the convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments;

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

•the strength and effectiveness of our marketing and distribution support, which may be adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic;

•publicity concerning our products or competing products and treatments;

•the timing of market introduction of competitive products;

•the perception by patients or physicians that the diseases we are targeting, including Demodex blepharitis, are not burdensome;

•the potential for our competitors to limit our access to the market through anti-competitive contracts or other arrangements;

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

•product labeling or product insert requirements of the FDA or other regulatory authorities;

•the prevalence and severity of any side effects; and

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

Our product candidates still require significant testing. We only recently began clinical trials to test TP-03 in humans and, as a company, we have limited experience in this area.

Most of our operations to date have been limited to preclinical studies and clinical trials. We have completed Phase 2 clinical trials for TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis and commenced our Phase 2b/3 clinical trial for the same indication, Saturn-1, for TP-03 in September 2020 and expect to initiate our Phase 3 clinical trial, Saturn-2, for TP-03 in 2021 and initiate clinical trials for our other product candidate in the future. As a result, we will need to expand our clinical operations, quality and regulatory capabilities to support these activities.

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Additionally, we are early in our development efforts for certain of our product candidates and indications, including TP-03 for the treatment of MGD, TP-04 for the treatment of rosacea and TP-05 for potential Lyme prophylaxis and community malaria reduction. The risk of failure for product candidates in early development is high. Extensive clinical trials are necessary to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of such product candidates in humans. Clinical trials may fail to demonstrate that such product candidates are safe for humans and effective for indicated uses. Further, we intend to leverage data from the TP-03 preclinical studies and clinical safety assessments for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis to satisfy the preclinical study requirements for TP-04 and TP-05 and other indications. For MGD, we intend to rely on preclinical studies and clinical safety assessments from the Demodex blepharitis program. We have not conducted and do not intend to conduct any preclinical studies with TP-03 for the treatment of MGD in order to advance to Phase 2a. For our preservative-free formulation of Demodex blepharitis, we intend to leverage all preclinical, Phase 2 and Phase 3 data from TP-03 Demodex blepharitis program. We intend to conduct in vitro or in vivo bioequivalence studies with our preservative-free formulation to compare it to the current preserved formulation of TP-03 in Demodex blepharitis after NDA submission and file a supplement. For rosacea, we intend to leverage data from TP-03 preclinical studies and augment with additional preclinical studies to select formulation in order to advance to Phase 1/2. We have not conducted any preclinical studies in rosacea with TP-04 to date. In relation to Lyme disease and malaria, we intend to leverage data from our TP-03 preclinical studies for Demodex blepharitis as well as third-party preclinical studies for Lyme disease or malaria, respectively (and will not conduct our own preclinical studies for Lyme disease and malaria). Subject to FDA feedback, we intend to conduct Phase 1/2 trials in rosacea, Lyme disease and malaria based on these preclinical studies. In relation to malaria, we may conduct our Phase 1/2 trial outside the United States. The FDA may reject our use of data from TP-03 preclinical studies for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis for other indications or require additional studies to augment the data to advance for clinical development. The FDA may also reject our use of data from preclinical studies conducted by third parties for Lyme disease and malaria and require us to conduct additional preclinical studies before advancing to clinical trials. In addition, data from preclinical studies conducted by third parties may not be as reliable as data from studies conducted by us and since we did not conduct the studies, there may be weaknesses in the studies design or results that we may not be aware of.

In part because of our limited infrastructure, experience conducting clinical trials as a company and regulatory interactions, we cannot be certain that our clinical trials will be completed on time, that our planned clinical trials will be initiated on time, if at all, that our planned development programs would be acceptable to

the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, or that, if approval is obtained, such product candidates can be successfully commercialized.

Our clinical trials to date have been small, and we may not be able to replicate our results from completed trials in Phase 3 trials.

Our clinical trials conducted to date, including for TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis, have been small, each with fewer than 60 persons, and have advanced through Phase 1 and Phase 2. For example, the clinical trial which had the highest patient population to date was our Phase 2b Europa clinical trial, which enrolled 54 patients. Our Phase 2b/3 and Phase 3 clinical trials, Saturn-1 and Saturn-2, will be conducted with larger patient populations to evaluate TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis, in which we expect to enroll at least 350 patients each. In these later trials, additional risks, including previously unidentified low incidence safety risks or lack of efficacy may materialize. Adverse or inconclusive results in these later clinical trials may, despite initially promising results, result in such product candidate not receiving requisite approvals for marketing and sale, and there is a risk that additional clinical trials will be required to obtain such approvals or that our clinical development program will be required to be altered, which would result in increased costs, significant delays to filing with regulatory authorities, filing for a narrower indication than previously anticipated or the abandonment of efforts to commercialization such product candidate.

If we encounter difficulties or delays enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the study until its conclusion. We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:

•the patient eligibility criteria defined in the protocol;

•size of the patient population required for analysis of the trial’s primary endpoints;

•the proximity of patients to study sites;

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•the design of the trial;

•our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;

•clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating;

•our ability to obtain and maintain patient consents;

•costs to, or lack of adequate compensation for, prospective patients;

•difficulties of enrolling patients or patients continuing to participate in follow-up visits due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; and

•the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the trials before completion.

In addition, our clinical trials may compete with other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our product candidates, and this competition would reduce the number and types of

patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we expect to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which will reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in such clinical trial site. Moreover, potential patients and their doctors may be inclined to use existing therapies rather than enroll patients in any future clinical trial.

Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our product candidates.

Our current or future product candidates may cause significant adverse events, toxicities or other undesirable side effects which may delay or prevent marketing approval or cause us to abandon or limit further clinical development of those product candidates. In addition, if we obtain approval for any of our product candidates, significant adverse events, toxicities or other undesirable side effects may be identified during post-marketing surveillance, which could result in regulatory action or negatively affect our ability to market the product.

Adverse events or other undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA, the European Commission or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities.

During the conduct of clinical trials, subjects report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries, and discomforts, to their study doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the product candidate being studied caused these conditions. It is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as use of these product candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were not observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by subjects. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational products are tested in large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to subjects on a commercial scale after approval.

The most commonly reported adverse events in TP-03 to date were mild transient ocular burning after administration for less than 10 seconds. One patient in the Europa clinical trial also reported mild burning and blurriness after administration that lasted the entire treatment period. Our understanding of the relationship between our product candidates and these adverse events may change as we gather more information, and additional unexpected adverse events or an increase in adverse event rates may occur. If additional clinical experience indicates that TP-03 or any other product candidate has side effects or causes serious or life-threatening side effects, participant recruitment for trials and the ability of enrolled subjects to complete trials could be negatively impacted, and the development of the product candidate may fail or be delayed, which would severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

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Additionally, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects or adverse events caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including, but not limited to:

•regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product or require additional warnings on the label such as a “black box” warning or a contraindication, or issue safety alerts, Dear Healthcare Provider letters, press releases or other communications containing warnings or other safety information about the product;

•the product may be seized by regulatory authorities;

•there may be a recall of the product;

•we may be required to change the way the product is administered or conduct additional clinical trials or post-approval studies;

•we may be required to create and implement a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy ("REMS") plan, which could include a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients, a communication plan for healthcare providers, including ECPs, and/or other elements to assure safe use;

•the product may become less competitive;

•we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and

•our reputation may suffer and there may be resulting harm to physician or patient acceptance of our product.

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations, and prospects.

Any termination or suspension of, or delays in the commencement or completion of, our planned clinical trials could result in increased costs to us, delay or limit our ability to generate revenue and adversely affect our commercial prospects.

Before we can initiate clinical trials in the United States for our product candidates, we must submit the results of preclinical testing and any previous clinical studies to the FDA along with other information, including information about product candidate chemistry, manufacturing and controls (“CMC”) and our proposed clinical trial protocol, as part of an IND. The initiation of clinical trials in the European Union (“EU”) Member States will be subject to similar requirements concerning approval by competent national authorities and the receipt of a positive opinion from the relevant ethics committees. We do not know whether our planned trials will begin on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement and completion of clinical trials can be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays related to:

•the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities placing the clinical trial on hold;

•subjects failing to enroll or remain in our trial at the rate we expect;

•subjects choosing an alternative treatment or other product candidates, or participating in competing clinical trials;

•lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial;

•subjects experiencing severe or unexpected drug-related adverse effects;

•failure to demonstrate efficacy of the product;

•any interruptions or delays in the supply of our product candidates for our clinical trials;

•a facility manufacturing any of our product candidates or any of their components being ordered by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to temporarily or permanently shut down due to violations of good manufacturing practice ("cGMP") regulations or other applicable requirements, or infections or cross-contaminations of product candidates in the manufacturing process;

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•any changes to our manufacturing process that may be necessary or desired;

•any failure or delay in reaching an agreement with CROs, vendors and clinical trial sites;

•third-party clinical investigators losing the licenses or permits necessary to perform our clinical trials, not performing our clinical trials on our anticipated schedule or consistent with the clinical trial protocol, good clinical practices ("GCP") or regulatory requirements or other third parties not performing data collection or analysis in a timely or accurate manner;

•third-party contractors becoming debarred, disqualified or suspended or otherwise penalized by the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities for violations of applicable regulatory requirements, in which case we may need to find a substitute contractor, and we may not be able to use some or all of the data produced by such contractors in support of our marketing applications;

•one or more Institutional Review Boards ("IRBs"), other ethics committees refusing to approve, suspending or terminating the trial at an investigational site, precluding enrollment of additional subjects, or withdrawing its approval of the trial; or

•changes in regulatory requirements and policies, which may require us to amend clinical trial protocols to comply with these changes and resubmit our clinical trial protocols to IRBs or ethics committees for reexamination.

For example, while we have received, in connection with our IND application, a “no-objection” letter from the FDA regarding the trial design for Saturn-1, the FDA may still require additional studies be conducted prior to submitting an NDA for TP-03. For instance, we will also need to perform a pharmacokinetic study for TP-03 to support our NDA submission for Demodex blepharitis and the FDA is recommending carcinogenicity testing for TP-03 as well as embryofetal development studies in a second species, any result of which, or any additional requests by the FDA, could cause delays in regulatory approval by the FDA. Any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize the commercial prospects of our product candidates and our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue.

In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, termination or suspension of, or a delay in the commencement or completion of, clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of a product candidate. For example, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates, we may need to conduct additional studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions. Further, if one or more clinical trials are delayed, our competitors may be able to bring products to market before we do, and the commercial viability of our product candidates could be significantly reduced. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. Any termination of any clinical trial of our product candidates will harm our commercial prospects and our ability to generate revenue.

If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully commercialize our product candidates that obtain regulatory approval.

We currently have a very limited marketing team and no sales team. In order to commercialize any product candidates, if approved, we must build marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services for each of the territories in which we may have approval to sell and market our product candidates. We may not be successful in accomplishing these required tasks.

Establishing an internal sales and marketing team with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize our product candidates will be expensive and time-consuming, and will require significant attention of our executive officers to manage. Any failure or delay in the development of our internalsales, marketing and distribution capabilities could adversely impact the commercialization of any of our product candidates that we obtain approval to market, if we do not have arrangements in place with third parties to provide such services on our behalf. Alternatively, if we choose to collaborate, either globally or on a territory-by-territory basis, with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems, we will be required to negotiate and enter into arrangements with such third parties relating to the proposed collaboration. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements when needed, on acceptable terms, or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our product candidates that receive regulatory approval or any such commercialization may experience delays or limitations. If we are unable to successfully commercialize our approved product

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candidates, either on our own or through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future product revenue will suffer and we may incur significant additional losses.

The sizes of the market opportunities for our product candidates, particularly TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis and for the treatment of MGD, have not been established with precision and may be smaller than we estimate, possibly materially. If our estimates of the sizes overestimate these markets, our sales growth may be adversely affected. We may also not be able to grow the markets for our product candidates as intended or at all.

Our assessment of the potential market opportunity for TP-03 and other product candidates that we develop is based on industry and market data that we obtained from industry publications and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties and our own internal epidemiology and market research studies. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. While we believe these industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies are reliable, we have not independently verified such data. Similarly, although the studies we have conducted are based on information that we believe to be complete and reliable, we cannot guarantee that such information is accurate or complete. The potential market opportunities for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis and for the treatment of MGD is difficult to precisely estimate, because patients often have multiple ocular surface diseases and the symptoms have significant overlap, leading to frequent misdiagnosis of the various conditions. Therefore, our estimates of the potential market opportunities for our product candidates include several key assumptions based on our industry knowledge, industry publications, third-party research and our own epidemiology studies and market research, which may be based on a small sample size and fail to accurately reflect market opportunities. While we believe that our internal assumptions and the bases of the studies and research we have conducted are reasonable, no independent source has verified such assumptions or bases. If any of our assumptions or estimates, or these publications, research, surveys or studies prove to be inaccurate, then the actual market for TP-03 or any of our other product candidates may be smaller than we expect, and as a result our product revenue may be limited and it may be more difficult for us to achieve or maintain profitability.

Due to the patients presenting at ECP clinics with multiple ocular surface diseases, there is overlap in market size estimates for blepharitis and MGD. Therefore, if TP-03 receives regulatory approval for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis and MGD, our opportunity could be less than our forecasts because the actual market for TP-03 might be significantly smaller than our estimates.

The market for blepharitis and Demodex blepharitis may be not be similar to the market for dry eye.

The markets for blepharitis and Demodex blepharitis may prove to be materially different from the dry eye market that grew significantly once there was an approved product. Even if we obtain approval for TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis and commercialize TP-03 in this indication, we may not be able to expand the market for Demodex blepharitis materially or at all or increase awareness of Demodex blepharitis to an extent similar to the dry eye market expansion induced by the commercial dry eye product or at all. Our inability to grow the market in a similar way to the dry eye market may occur due to differences in the underlying diseases, different ECP or patient attitudes towards the diseases, symptoms or treatment, changes over time in attitudes towards direct to patient marketing, different reimbursement and coverage, differences in company strategy, marketing or operations and differences in key assumptions which we have not taken into account in our analysis. Additionally, there may be differences in symptoms, regulatory approval and market dynamics. Dry eye had numerous over-the-counter options that reinforced the disease and promoted disease management. Further, patient awareness for dry eye may have been higher due to the various over-the-counter options for dry eye, which do not exist to such a degree for Demodex blepharitis.

We may not be able to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of TP-03, TP-04 and TP-05 in the indications we are pursuing even though the API underlying such product candidates is safe and effective in animals.

TP-03, TP-04 and TP-05 are presentations of lotilaner, the API, formulated into an eye drop, topical cream and oral formulation, respectively. Lotilaner, which is designed to paralyze and eradicate mites and other parasites through the inhibition of parasite-specific GABA-Cl channels, has been found to be safe and effective in animals. However, despite being safe and effective in animals, we may not be able to demonstrate that TP-03, TP-04 and TP-05 are safe and effective for human use in the indications we are pursuing for these product candidates. This may be in part because the requirements and regulations applicable to approval of a product candidate for human use are significantly more stringent than for animals and that there may be other ocular or other relevant differences between animals and humans.

We face significant competition, and if our competitors develop and market technologies or products more rapidly than we do or that are more effective, safer or less expensive than the product candidates we develop, our commercial opportunities

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will be negatively impacted. Our product candidates will, if approved, also compete with existing branded, generic and off-label products.

The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to our product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from many different sources, including major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide and existing treatments. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.

Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than our products. Our competitors also may obtain FDA approval or other regulatory authority 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.

In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third-party payors, particularly Medicare and the competent authorities of the individual EU Member States, seeking to encourage the use of generic products. Generic products are currently being used for certain of the indications that we are pursuing, and additional products are expected to become available on a generic basis over the coming years.

Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

Additionally, while there are no currently available on-label prescription pharmaceutical treatments available for the treatment of blepharitis or Demodex blepharitis specifically, a number of other treatments are currently available for the treatment of blepharitis in the United States. Current treatments for blepharitis in the United States include over the counter remedies such as tea tree oil, lid wipes and artificial tears, as well as off-label prescription products. If ECPs were to continue to prescribe these other existing treatments instead of TP-03, our business would be adversely affected.

Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities, could divert our resources and could limit or delay our commercialization of any product candidates that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products that we may develop. While we currently have no products that have been approved for commercial sale, the use of product candidates by us in clinical trials, and the sale of any approved products in the future, may expose us to liability claims. These claims might be made by patients that use the product, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling such products. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on products that had unanticipated adverse effects. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates or products caused injuries, we could incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:

•delay, variation or termination of clinical trials;

•decreased demand for any product candidates or products that we may develop;

•withdrawal of regulatory approval, recall, restriction on the approval or a “black box” warning or contraindication for an approved drug;

•injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention;

•withdrawal of clinical trial subjects;

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•initiation of investigations by regulators;

•significant costs to defend the related litigation and diversion of management’s time and our resources;

•substantial monetary awards to study subjects or patients;

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

•loss of revenue; and

•the inability or delay of our efforts to commercialize any products that we may develop.

Although we maintain product liability insurance coverage, it may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We anticipate that we will need to increase our insurance coverage as our product candidates advance through clinical trials and if we successfully commercialize any products. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive, thus we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise. If a successful clinical trial or product liability claim or series of claims is brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.

Even if we obtain FDA approval of any of our product candidates, we may never obtain approval or authorization or commercialize such products outside of the United States, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.

In order to market any products outside of the United States, we will need to comply with additional onerous but varying regulatory requirements of other countries regarding safety and efficacy. Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. Approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking foreign regulatory approvals could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and may require additional preclinical studies or clinical trials which would be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in those countries. Satisfying these and other regulatory requirements is costly, time consuming, uncertain and subject to unanticipated delays. In addition, our failure to obtain regulatory approval in any country may delay or have negative effects on the process for regulatory approval in other countries. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including international markets, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we, or our collaboration partners, fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, our ability to realize the full market potential of our products will be harmed.

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

Our future profitability may depend, in part, on our ability to commercialize our product candidates in foreign markets for which we may rely on collaboration with third parties. We are evaluating the opportunities for the development and commercialization of our product candidates in foreign markets. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the applicable regulatory authority in that foreign market, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. To obtain separate regulatory approvals in other countries we may be required to comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such countries regarding the safety and efficacy of our product candidates and governing, among other things, clinical trials and commercial sales, pricing and distribution of our product candidates, and we cannot predict success in these jurisdictions. If we obtain approval of our product candidates and ultimately commercialize our product candidates in foreign markets, we would be subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including:

•our customers’ ability to obtain reimbursement for our product candidates in foreign markets;

•our inability to directly control commercial activities if we are relying on third parties;

•the burden of complying with complex and changing foreign regulatory, tax, accounting and legal requirements;

•different medical practices and customs in foreign countries affecting acceptance in the marketplace;

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•import or export licensing requirements;

•longer accounts receivable collection times;

•longer lead times for shipping;

•language barriers for technical training and the need for language translations;

•reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some foreign countries;

•the existence of additional potentially relevant third-party intellectual property rights;

•foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; and

•the interpretation of contractual provisions governed by foreign laws in the event of a contract dispute.

Foreign sales of our product candidates could also be adversely affected by the imposition of governmental controls, political and economic instability, trade restrictions and changes in tariffs. In some countries, particularly the countries in Europe, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a drug. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product candidate to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be harmed, possibly materially.

We have conducted all of our completed clinical trials for our product candidates at sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in such locations.

We have conducted all of our clinical trials outside the United States, including our Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis which were conducted in Mexico City, Mexico, at a well-established site for ocular therapy trials. We may in the future choose to conduct other clinical trials outside the United States. Since we have yet to complete any clinical trials in the United States, it is possible that we may not be able to replicate the efficacy and safety results of our completed Phase 2 trials in the United States. We expect that the FDA will primarily consider the efficacy results of our Saturn-1 and Saturn-2 trials in addition to safety data from all human trials, our preclinical studies data as well as preclinical data for lotilaner in support of our potential NDA submission for TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis.

Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of this data is subject to conditions imposed by the FDA. For example, the clinical trial must be well designed and conducted and be performed by qualified investigators in accordance with ethical principles. The trial population must also adequately represent the U.S. population, and the data must be applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice in ways that the FDA deems clinically meaningful. In addition, while these clinical trials are subject to the applicable local laws, FDA acceptance of the data will depend on its determination that the trials also complied with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations. There can be no assurance the FDA will accept data from clinical trials conducted outside of the United States. There can also be no assurance that the comparable foreign regulatory authority in any jurisdiction in which we seek regulatory approval for our product candidates will accept data from clinical trials conducted outside such jurisdiction. If the FDA or any such foreign regulatory authority does not accept the data from any trial that we have conducted outside the United States, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and could delay or permanently halt our development of the applicable product candidates.

In addition, there are risks inherent in conducting clinical trials in multiple jurisdictions, inside and outside of the United States and if return to conduct trials outside of the United States, we may face risks, such as:

•regulatory and administrative requirements of the jurisdiction where the trial is conducted that could burden or limit our ability to conduct our clinical trials;

•foreign exchange rate fluctuations;

•manufacturing, customs, shipment and storage requirements;

•cultural differences in medical practice and clinical research;

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•diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries;

•different cultural attitudes to self-reported adverse events (such as burning, stinging, blurry vision) leading to a different safety profile; and

•the risk that the patient populations in such trials are not considered representative as compared to the patient population in the target markets where approval is being sought.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval with respect to TP-03 for Demodex blepharitis, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for additional indications, such as MGD, or we may be required to conduct additional trials, which would limit our ability to realize the full market potential of TP-03 or increase the costs of developing TP-03 for MGD.

If we obtain regulatory approval with respect to TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis, we intend explore the therapeutic potential for TP-03 in MGD as an additional indication. If we are successful, the indication for use of TP-03 could potentially be broadened beyond the treatment of Demodex blepharitis to include MGD as an additional indication. However, there can be no assurance that, even if we obtain approval for Demodex blepharitis, we will obtain approval for any other indication, including MGD or for any broadened indication beyond the treatment of Demodex blepharitis. If we fail to obtain and maintain required approvals for these additional or broadened indications, or if regulatory approvals are delayed, we will not realize the full market potential of TP-03. Additionally, the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authority may require us to conduct additional clinical trials before seeking regulatory approval. For example, we intend to rely on preclinical studies we have conducted with TP-03 for Demodex blepharitis instead of conducting preclinical studies for MGD. The FDA may not approve of this approach and may require us to conduct preclinical studies with TP-03 in MGD, which may delay our expected timelines for approval and increase costs. If we were required to conduct additional clinical trials, our costs for developing TP-03 for treating MGD would be substantially higher and the timing of any regulatory approval, if any, would be substantially extended, which could adverse effect our results of operations.

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

As product candidates proceed through pre-clinical studies to late-stage clinical trials towards potential approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods and formulation, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials conducted with the altered materials. Such changes may also require additional testing, FDA notification or FDA approval. This could delay completion of clinical trials, require the conduct of bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence sales and generate revenue. For example, we intend to develop a preservative-free formulation for TP-03, which we expect to be completed after the submission of the NDA for Demodex blepharitis and used for commercialization. We intend to initiate preclinical equivalence studies with this preservative-free formulation after the NDA submission of the current formulation of TP-03 for Demodex blepharitis. However, there can be no assurance that the FDA will not require us to conduct studies or trials in addition to these preclinical equivalence studies, which would mean additional costs and potentially delays in our approval of TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis.

Managing our obligations under our in-license and out-license agreements and other strategic agreements may divert management time and attention, causing delays or disruptions to our business.

We have entered into two license agreements with Elanco: (i) an agreement granting us a worldwide, sublicensable license for the development and marketing of lotilaner for the treatment or cure of any eye or skin condition in humans,as amended(“Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement”) and (ii) the All Human Uses Elanco Agreement, and have also entered into the LianBio Agreement as discussed elsewhere herein. We also may in the future enter into in-license or out-license agreements with multiple licensors and strategic agreements, which, subject us to various obligations, including diligence obligations, reporting and notification obligations, payment obligations for achievement of certain milestone as well as other material obligations. We may need to devote substantial time and attention to ensuring that we successfully integrate these transactions into our existing operations and are compliant with our obligations under these agreements, which may divert management’s time and attention away from our research and development programs or other day-to-day activities.

Our in-license, out-license, and strategic agreements are also complex and certain provisions in those agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. In the event of any disagreement about the interpretation of these provisions, our management may need to devote a disproportionate amount of its attention to resolving these disagreements. Such disruptions may cause delays in our research and development programs and other business objectives.

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Our operating activities may be restricted by certain covenants in our license and other strategic agreements, which could limit our development and commercial opportunities.

In connection with our in-license, out-license, or other collaborations or strategic alliances, we may agree to and be bound by negative covenants which may limit our development and commercial opportunities. For example, pursuant to the Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement and the All Human Uses Elanco Agreement, we made certain covenants to only engage with third party suppliers previously approved by Elanco, and only under certain circumstances. These provisions may inhibit our development efforts, prevent us from forming strategic collaborations to develop and potentially commercialize any other product candidates and may materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may expend our limited resources to pursue TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.

Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we must prioritize our research programs and will need to focus our product candidates on the potential treatment of certain indications. We are currently focused on the development and commercialization, if approved, of TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on the most viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs for TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for TP-03, we may also relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.

Even if we obtain regulatory approvals for any product candidates we develop, the terms of approvals and ongoing regulation of our products could require substantial expenditure of resources and may limit how we manufacture and market our products, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.

Any product candidate for which we obtain regulatory approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, advertising, and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual requirements of and review by the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing requirements, cGMP requirements relating to quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, and requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. Even if regulatory approval of a product candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product.

Accordingly, assuming we receive regulatory approval for one or more product candidates we develop, we and our contract manufacturers will continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance, and quality control. If we are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, we could have the regulatory approvals for our products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our ability to market any future products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability. Further, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and prospects.

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

From time to time, we may publish interim top-line or preliminary results from our clinical trials. Interim results from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as participant enrollment continues and more participant data become available. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations, and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully evaluate all data. Preliminary or top-line results also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Adverse differences between preliminary or interim data

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and final data could be material and could significantly harm our reputation and business prospects and may cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.

Risks Related to Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and perform some of our research and preclinical studies. If these third parties do not satisfactorily carry out their contractual duties or fail to meet expected deadlines, our development programs may be delayed or subject to increased costs, each of which may have an adverse effect on our business and prospects.

We do not have the ability to independently conduct our clinical trials. We currently rely on third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct our current and planned clinical trials of TP-03, TP-04 and TP-05 and other product candidates, and we expect to continue to rely upon third parties to conduct additional clinical trials of potential future product candidates. Third parties have a significant role in the conduct of our clinical trials and the subsequent collection and analysis of data. These third parties are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such third party, we have limited ability to control the amount or timing of resources that any such third party will devote to our clinical trials. Some of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements with a third party, it would delay our development activities.

Our reliance on these third parties for such development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For example, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with GCP standards, regulations for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. The EC also requires us to comply with similar standards. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCP requirements, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA, EC or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP or other applicable regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under current applicable cGMP regulations. Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the marketing approval process. We also are required to register certain ongoing clinical trials and post the results of certain completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.

The third parties we rely on for these services may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors. In addition, the operations of our CROs and other third-party service providers may be constrained or disrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for our product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our product candidates.

If any of our relationships with these third parties terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative third parties or do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional CROs, investigators and other third parties involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays can occur, which could materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. The COVID-19 pandemic and government measures taken in response have also had a significant impact on many CROs. Although we plan to carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, investigators and other third parties, we may nonetheless encounter challenges or delays in the future, which could have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

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

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We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical studies, clinical trials and for eventual commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or compounds or that such supply will not be available to us at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

We do not have any, and have no plans to acquire any, manufacturing facilities. We produce in our laboratory relatively small quantities of compounds for evaluation in our research programs. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical and clinical testing, as well as for commercial manufacture if any of our product candidates are approved. We currently have limited manufacturing arrangements and expect that each of our product candidates will only be covered by single source suppliers for the foreseeable future. This reliance increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products, if approved, or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

Furthermore, all entities involved in the preparation of therapeutics for clinical trials or commercial sale, including our existing contract manufacturers for our product candidates, are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP requirements. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures, including record keeping, and the implementation and operation of quality systems to control and assure the quality of investigational products and products approved for sale. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of contaminants, or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. We or our contract manufacturers must supply all necessary documentation in support of an NDA on a timely basis and must adhere to the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice regulations and cGMP regulations enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program. Foreign regulatory authorities, including the European Commission and the competent authorities of the EU Member States, may require compliance with similar requirements. The facilities and quality systems of our third-party contractor manufacturers must pass a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable regulations as a condition of marketing approval of our product candidates. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with cGMP regulations.

In the event that any of our manufacturers fails to comply with such requirements or to perform its obligations to us in relation to quality, timing or otherwise, or if our supply of components or other materials becomes limited or interrupted for other reasons, we may be forced to manufacture the materials ourselves, for which we currently do not have the capabilities or resources, or enter into an agreement with another third party, which we may not be able to do on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. In particular, any replacement of our manufacturers could require significant effort and expertise because there may be a limited number of qualified replacements. In some cases, the technical skills or technology required to manufacture our product candidates may be unique or proprietary to the original manufacturer and we may have difficulty transferring such skills or technology to another third party and a feasible alternative may not exist. These factors would increase our reliance on such manufacturer or require us to obtain a license from such manufacturer in order to have another third party manufacture our product candidates. If we elect to or are required to change manufacturers for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new manufacturer maintains facilities and procedures that comply with quality standards and with all applicable regulations and guidelines. If any of our current contract manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace such manufacturers. Although we believe that there are several potential alternative manufacturers who could manufacture our product candidates, we may incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement or be unable to reach agreement with an alternative manufacturer. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our ability to procure sufficient supplies for the development of our product candidates. The extent of this impact will depend on the severity and duration of the spread of the virus, and the actions undertaken to contain COVID-19 or treat its effects. The delays associated with the verification of a new manufacturer could negatively affect our ability to develop product candidates in a timely manner or within budget.

Our or a third party’s failure to execute on our manufacturing requirements, to do so on commercially reasonable terms and comply with cGMP could adversely affect our business in a number of ways, including:

•an inability to initiate or continue clinical trials of our product candidates under development;

•delay in submitting regulatory applications, or receiving marketing approvals, for our product candidates;

•loss of the cooperation of an existing or future collaborator, including by Elanco under the license agreements with Elanco;

•subjecting third-party manufacturing facilities or our manufacturing facilities to additional inspections by regulatory authorities;

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•requirements to cease development or to recall batches of our product candidates; and

•in the event of approval to market and commercialize our product candidates, an inability to meet commercial demands for our product or any other future product candidates.

Our product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. As a result, we may not obtain access to these facilities on a priority basis or at all. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us. Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or marketing approval.

We or our third-party manufacturers may encounter shortages in the raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to produce our product candidates in the quantities needed for our clinical trials or, if our product candidates are approved, in sufficient quantities for commercialization or to meet an increase in demand, as a result of capacity constraints or delays or disruptions in the market for the raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients, including shortages caused by the purchase of such raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients by our competitors or others. The failure of us or our third-party manufacturers to obtain the raw materials or active pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to manufacture sufficient quantities of our product candidates, may have a material adverse effect on our business.

If any of our product candidates are approved for marketing and commercialization and we are unable to establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell, market and distribute our product candidates, we will be unable to successfully commercialize our product candidates if and when they are approved.

We have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities or experience. To achieve commercial success for any approved product for which we retain sales and marketing responsibilities, we must either develop a sales and marketing organization, which would be expensive and time consuming, or outsource these functions to other third parties, or use a hybrid model incorporating both of these approaches.

There are risks involved with both establishing our own sales and marketing capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, recruiting and training a sales force is expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our sales and marketing personnel.

Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize our medicines on our own include:

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

•our inability to equip sales personnel with effective materials, including medical and sales literature to help them educate ECPs regarding the indications we are targeting and our products, if approved;

•the inability of sales personnel to obtain access to ECPs or persuade adequate numbers of ECPs to prescribe any future medicines;

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

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

•the inability to price our products at a sufficient price point to ensure an adequate and attractive level of profitability; and

•unforeseen costs and expenses associated with creating an independent sales and marketing organization.

If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing and distribution services, our product revenue or the profitability of these product revenue to us are likely to be lower than if we were to market and sell any medicines that we develop ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to

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sell and market our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. In entering into third-party marketing or distribution arrangements, any revenue we receive will depend upon the efforts of the third parties and we cannot assure you that such third parties will establish adequate sales and distribution capabilities or devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our medicines effectively. If we do not establish sales and marketing capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates.

We, or our third-party manufacturers, may be unable to successfully scale-up manufacturing of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, which would delay or prevent us from conducting clinical trials and developing our product candidates.

In order to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates, we will need to manufacture them in large quantities. We, or our manufacturing partners, may be unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any of our product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. In addition, quality issues may arise during scale-up activities. If we, or our manufacturing partners, are unable to successfully scale up the manufacture of our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity, the development, testing and clinical trials of that product candidate may be delayed or become infeasible, and marketing approval or commercial launch of any resulting product may be delayed or not obtained, which could significantly harm our business.

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

As product candidates progress through preclinical to late stage clinical trials to marketing approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods and formulation, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize yield, manufacturing batch size, minimize costs and achieve consistent quality and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials conducted with the altered materials. This could delay completion of clinical trials, require the conduct of bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate revenue.

Risks Related to Intellectual Property

The development and commercialization of our products, including our lead product candidate, TP-03 for the potential treatment of Demodex blepharitis and MGD, TP-04 for the potential treatment of rosacea and TP-05 for potential Lyme prophylaxis and community malaria reduction, is dependent on intellectual property we license from Elanco. If we breach our agreements with Elanco or the agreements are terminated, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

Pursuant to the Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement and the All Human Uses Elanco Agreement, each, an Elanco Agreement, we acquired exclusive, worldwide, sublicensable licenses to certain intellectual property of Elanco for the development, marketing and commercialization of lotilaner for (i) the treatment, prevention, palliation or cure of any eye or skin disease or condition in humans and (b) all other applications in humans, respectively. The Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement and the All Human Uses Elanco Agreement impose various development, regulatory, commercial diligence, financial and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under the Elanco Agreements, or otherwise materially breach either Elanco Agreement, and fail to remedy such failure or cure such breach within 60 days, Elanco will have the right to terminate the applicable Elanco Agreement. If we fail to meet any milestones by the achievement deadlines set forth in either Elanco Agreement for any reason other than those outside of our reasonable control, and such milestones remain unmet for 120 days after Elanco notifies us thereof, Elanco may terminate the applicable Elanco Agreement.

If we fail to meet certain dermatological milestones by the achievement deadlines set forth in the Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement for any reasons other than those outside of our reasonable control, and such milestones remain unmet for 120 days after Elanco notifies us thereof, Elanco may limit our field of use under the Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement to the treatment, palliation, prevention or cure of eye diseases or conditions in humans only. If either Elanco Agreement is terminated or if our field of use in the Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement is reduced to eye and skin conditions only by Elanco, we would lose our applicable license in the country where such license was terminated and all rights therein to the licensed intellectual property would revert to Elanco. The loss of the license from Elanco would prevent us from developing and commercializing TP-03, TP-04 and TP-05 in any country where the license is terminated and could subject us to claims of breach of contract and patent infringement by Elanco if any continued research, development, manufacture or commercialization of TP-03, TP-04 or TP-05 is covered by the affected patents. If Elanco terminates the Eye and Derm Elanco Agreement for our failure to achieve a development milestone by the specified achievement deadline, then we must grant Elanco a non-exclusive, sublicensable, royalty free license to our patents and know-how relating to lotilaner to develop, manufacture and commercialize lotilaner and

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any licensed products for the treatment, palliation, prevention or cure of any eye or skin disease or condition in humans. If Elanco terminates the All Human Uses Elanco Agreement for our failure to achieve a development milestone by the specified achievement deadline, then we must grant Elanco a non-exclusive, sublicensable, royalty free license to our patents and know-how relating to lotilaner to develop, manufacture and commercialize lotilaner and any licensed products for all applications in humans other than the treatment, palliation, prevention or cure of any eye or skin disease or condition. Accordingly, the loss of our license or the termination of our license for skin diseases and conditions or of our license for other use in humans with Elanco would materially harm our business.

If we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for our product candidates, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products may be adversely affected.

We rely upon a combination of patents, trademarks, trade secret protection, and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our development programs and product candidates. Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our product candidates and research programs. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our novel discoveries and technologies that are important to our business. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our product candidates or their intended uses or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies, products or product candidates.

Obtaining and enforcing patents is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications, or maintain and/or enforce patents that may issue based on our patent applications, at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain, enforce and defend the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development results before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract research organizations, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties, any of these parties may breach these agreements and disclose such results before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek patent protection.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation, resulting in court decisions, including Supreme Court decisions, which have increased uncertainties as to the ability to enforce patent rights in the future. In addition, the scope of patent protection outside of the United States is uncertain and laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, or vice versa. For example, European patent law restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than United States law does. With respect to both owned and in-licensed patent rights, we cannot predict whether the patent applications we and our licensors are currently pursuing or will pursue will issue as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any issued patents will provide sufficient protection from competitors.

Further, we may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our product candidates or their intended uses, and as a result the impact of such third-party intellectual property rights upon the patentability of our own patents and patent applications, as well as the impact of such third-party intellectual property upon our ability to commercialize our products, is highly uncertain. Because we have not yet conducted a formal freedom to operate analysis for patents related to our product candidates, we may not be aware of issued patents that a third party might assert are infringed by one of our current or future product candidates, which could materially impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates. Even if we diligently search third-party patents for potential infringement by our products or product candidates, including TP-03, TP-04 or TP-05, we may not successfully find patents that our products or product candidates, including TP-03, TP-04 or TP-05, may infringe. If we are unable to secure and maintain freedom to operate, others could preclude us from commercializing our product candidates. In addition, publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not published at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our patents or pending patent applications may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. For example, we may be subject to a third party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or become involved in post-grant review or interference procedures, oppositions, derivations, revocations, reexaminations, or inter partes review proceedings, in the United States or elsewhere, challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or

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Source: SEC EDGAR (public domain) · 10-K for the period ended 2020-12-31, filed 2021-03-31 · accession 0001819790-21-000010

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