Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and all information contained in this report in weighing a decision to purchase our common stock. If any of the possible adverse events described below actually occurs, we may be unable to conduct our business as currently planned and our financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also significantly impair our business operations. In addition, the trading price of our common stock could decline due to the occurrence of any of these risks, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Please see “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Risks Related to Our Business

We need to raise substantial additional funding to complete the development and potential commercialization of vosaroxin.

We believe that with $53.4 million in cash and investments as of December 31, 2010, we currently have the resources available and accessible to fund our operations until the planned unblinding of the VALOR trial in 2013. To the extent that the costs of the VALOR trial exceed our current estimates, unblinding does not occur within the currently anticipated timeframe or we are unable to raise sufficient additional capital through our controlled equity offering facility or otherwise, we will need to reduce operating expenses, enter into a collaboration or other similar arrangement with respect to development and/or commercialization rights to vosaroxin, outlicense intellectual property rights to vosaroxin, sell assets, or a combination of the above. We will need to raise substantial additional capital if we expand the number of patients included in the trial based on the pre-specified interim analysis of data from the trial by the DSMB.

In addition, we will need to raise substantial additional capital to:

Our future funding requirements and sources will depend on many factors, including but not limited to:

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Until we can generate a sufficient amount of licensing or collaboration or product revenue to finance our cash requirements, which we may never do, we expect to finance future cash needs primarily through equity issuances, debt arrangements, a possible license, collaboration or other similar arrangement with respect to development and/or commercialization rights to vosaroxin, or a combination of the above. Any issuance of convertible debt securities, preferred stock or common stock may be at a discount from the then-current trading price of our common stock. If we issue additional common or preferred stock or securities convertible into common stock, our stockholders will experience additional dilution, which may be significant. Further, we do not know whether additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise substantial additional funding on acceptable terms or at all, we will be forced to delay or reduce the scope of our vosaroxin development program, potentially including the VALOR trial, and/or limit or cease our operations.

We may not be able to raise necessary additional funding pursuant to our controlled equity offering facility with Cantor and, as a result, may need to try to obtain additional capital through alternative financing options then available to us, if any, to fully finance the VALOR trial through to its unblinding and otherwise continue our operations.

On April 28, 2010, we entered into a controlled equity offering sales agreement with Cantor, pursuant to which we may issue and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $20.0 million from time to time through Cantor acting as agent and/or principal. As of March 15, 2011, we had sold an aggregate of 3.7 million shares of common stock at an average price of $4.32 per share for gross proceeds of $16.0 million. As of March 15, 2011, approximately $4.0 million of common stock was available to be sold under this facility, subject to certain conditions as specified in the agreement. Notwithstanding, we may be limited under the terms of the facility in the number of shares of common stock we may issue and the resulting amount of capital that we could raise pursuant thereto. Any such limitation may be due to a number of factors, including as a result of the termination of the facility due to a material breach of its terms by us or Cantor’s election to terminate the facility in its discretion. In addition, we may be subject to limitations on the number of shares of common stock we may sell pursuant to the facility due to the eligibility requirements for use of a Form S-3 Registration Statement and other applicable legal restrictions. As a result, there is no assurance that the controlled equity offering facility will be available when required or that we will be able to raise the necessary funding pursuant thereto in order to fully finance the VALOR trial until its planned unblinding and otherwise continue our operations. In such event, we will need to raise additional capital through alternative financing options then available to us, if any.

We have incurred losses since inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We may not ever achieve or sustain profitability.

We are not profitable and have incurred losses in each year since our inception in 1998. Our net losses for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008 were $24.6 million, $40.2 million and $37.2 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2010, we had an accumulated deficit of $381.0 million. We do not currently have any products that have been approved for marketing, and we continue to incur substantial development and general and administrative expenses related to our operations. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase significantly as the VALOR trial progresses, as we seek

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regulatory approvals for vosaroxin, and as we commercialize vosaroxin, if approved. Our losses, among other things, have caused and will continue to cause our stockholders’ equity and working capital to decrease.

To date, we have derived substantially all of our revenue from research collaboration agreements with Biogen Idec, Merck and J&J PRD. As of December 31, 2010, our only remaining ongoing collaboration is with Biogen Idec; however, the research phase for this collaboration is completed. On November 3, 2010, Biogen Idec announced that it will seek to spin out or outlicense certain oncology assets, including the collaboration agreement with us. We cannot predict the outcome of this strategic decision by Biogen Idec or its impact on future development activity under our collaboration agreement or on our prospects for the receipt of milestone or royalty payments under the collaboration agreement. We do not expect to enter into any new collaboration agreement that will result in research revenue for us. We also do not anticipate that we will generate revenue from the sale of products for the foreseeable future. In the absence of additional sources of capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, the development of vosaroxin or future product candidates, if any, may be reduced in scope, delayed or terminated. If our product candidates or those of our collaborators fail in clinical trials or do not gain regulatory approval, or if our future products do not achieve market acceptance, we may never become profitable. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods.

The development of vosaroxin could be halted or significantly delayed for various reasons; our clinical trials for vosaroxin may not demonstrate safety or efficacy or lead to regulatory approval.

Vosaroxin is vulnerable to the risks of failure inherent in the drug development process. We need to conduct significant additional preclinical studies and clinical trials before we can attempt to demonstrate that vosaroxin is safe and effective to the satisfaction of the FDA and other regulatory authorities. Failure can occur at any stage of the development process, and successful preclinical studies and early clinical trials do not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after obtaining promising results in earlier trials.

For example, we terminated two Phase 2 clinical trials of vosaroxin in small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. If our clinical trials result in unacceptable toxicity or lack of efficacy, we may have to terminate them. If clinical trials are halted, or if they do not show that vosaroxin is safe and effective in the indications for which we are seeking regulatory approval, our future growth will be limited and we may not have any other product candidates to develop.

We do not know whether our ongoing clinical trials or any other future clinical trials with vosaroxin or any of our product candidates, including the VALOR trial in particular, will be completed on schedule, or at all, or whether our ongoing or planned clinical trials will begin or progress on the time schedule we anticipate. The commencement of our planned or future clinical trials could be substantially delayed or prevented by several factors, including:

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The completion of our clinical trials could also be substantially delayed or prevented by several factors, including:

Additionally, our clinical trials may be suspended or terminated at any time by the FDA, other regulatory authorities, or ourselves. Any failure to complete or significant delay in completing clinical trials for our product candidates could harm our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates.

We rely on a limited number of third-party manufacturers that are capable of manufacturing vosaroxin API and FDP to supply us with our vosaroxin API and FDP and the placebo used in the VALOR trial. If we fail to obtain sufficient quantities of these materials, the VALOR trial and the development of vosaroxin could be halted or significantly delayed. In addition, we have previously identified product impurities in the vosaroxin API, and there is no assurance they will not occur in the future.

We do not currently own or operate manufacturing facilities and lack the capability to manufacture vosaroxin on a clinical or commercial scale. As a result, we rely on third parties to manufacture vosaroxin API and FDP and the placebo product used in the VALOR trial. The vosaroxin API is classified as a cytotoxic substance, limiting the number of available manufacturers.

We currently rely on two contract manufacturers for the vosaroxin API, which is manufactured through a multi-step convergent synthesis in which two intermediates are manufactured in a parallel process and then combined and de-protected in the final two steps. We recently started working with the second vosaroxin API manufacturer, and to date no vosaroxin FDP has been formulated from the vosaroxin API supplied by this second manufacturer. We also currently rely on a single contract manufacturer to formulate the vosaroxin API and fill and finish vials of the vosaroxin FDP.

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If our third-party vosaroxin API or FDP manufacturers are unable or unwilling to produce the vosaroxin API or FDP or placebo we require, we would need to establish arrangements with one or more alternative suppliers. However, establishing a relationship with an alternative supplier would likely delay our ability to produce vosaroxin API or FDP for six to nine months. Our ability to replace an existing manufacturer would also be difficult and time consuming because the number of potential manufacturers is limited and the FDA must approve any replacement manufacturer before it can be an approved commercial supplier. Such approval would require new testing and compliance inspections. It may be difficult or impossible for us to identify and engage a replacement manufacturer on acceptable terms in a timely manner, or at all. We expect to continue to depend on third-party contract manufacturers for all our vosaroxin API, FDP and placebo needs for the foreseeable future.

Vosaroxin requires precise, high quality manufacturing. We have observed visible particles during stability studies of two vosaroxin FDP lots. We have since identified a process impurity in the vosaroxin API that, when formulated into the packaged vial of the vosaroxin FDP, can result in the formation of particles over time. As a response to these findings, we implemented, and continue to monitor and adjust, a revised manufacturing process to seek to control the impurity and thereby prevent particle formation. Two lots of vosaroxin API manufactured using a revised manufacturing process were formulated into FDP lots that have both completed up to 24 months of stability testing at room temperature without formation of particles. It will take time to evaluate whether or not our revised manufacturing process for vosaroxin API will be successful in stopping the formation of particles in FDP lots over the longer term, and to evaluate whether or not such control of particle formation can also be reliably and consistently achieved in subsequent lots over the shorter or longer term. If our changes in manufacturing process do not adequately control the formation of visible particles, we will need to discuss other possibilities with the FDA and/or other regulatory bodies, which could include a temporary clinical hold of the VALOR trial until the issue has been resolved to their satisfaction.

In addition to process impurities, our contract manufacturers’ failure to achieve and maintain high manufacturing standards in compliance with cGMP regulations could result in other manufacturing errors leading to patient injury or death, product recalls or withdrawals, delays or interruptions of production or failures in product testing or delivery. Although contract manufacturers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state agencies to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards, any such performance failures on the part of a contract manufacturer could result in the delay or prevention of filing or approval of marketing applications for vosaroxin, cost overruns or other problems that could seriously harm our business. This would deprive us of potential product revenue and result in additional losses.

To date, vosaroxin has been manufactured in quantities appropriate for preclinical studies and clinical trials. New lots of API and FDP will need to be manufactured and released to support our VALOR trial and stability assessments required for regulatory approval. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain a sufficient supply of vosaroxin API and FDP to supply our VALOR trial at the anticipated rate of enrollment or to continue the trial without interruption. Prior to being approved for commercial sale, we will need to manufacture API and FDP in larger quantities. Any significant scale-up of manufacturing will be accompanied by process validation studies, which are required to be reviewed by the FDA prior to approval. If we are unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for vosaroxin, the regulatory approval or commercial launch may be delayed or there may be a shortage in commercial supply.

We rely on third-party distributors for the supply of cytarabine for our VALOR trial. Cytarabine is in short supply throughout the world, and there is no guarantee we can procure sufficient quantities to supply our VALOR trial.

The cytarabine used in our VALOR trial is procured from third-party distributors. Cytarabine is currently in short supply throughout the world. Additional procurement of cytarabine will be necessary to complete the VALOR trial. If we are unable to procure the necessary supplies to support our VALOR trial, the trial will be delayed. Any significant delay could seriously harm our business.

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The failure to enroll patients for clinical trials may cause delays in developing vosaroxin.

We may encounter delays if we are unable to enroll enough patients to complete clinical trials of vosaroxin, including the VALOR trial. Patient enrollment depends on many factors, including the size of the patient population, the nature of the protocol, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the number and nature of competing treatments and ongoing clinical trials of competing drugs for the same indication, and the eligibility criteria for the trial. Patients participating in our trials may elect to leave our trials and switch to alternative treatments that are available to them, either commercially or on an expanded access basis, or in other clinical trials. Competing treatments include nucleoside analogs, anthracyclines and hypomethylating agents. Moreover, when one product candidate is evaluated in multiple clinical trials simultaneously, patient enrollment in ongoing trials can be adversely affected by negative results from completed trials. In the VALOR trial, vosaroxin is being tested in patients with AML, which can be a difficult patient population to recruit.

The results of preclinical studies and clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the FDA or other regulatory agencies.

Prior to receiving approval to commercialize vosaroxin or future product candidates, if any, in the United States or abroad, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, to the satisfaction of the FDA and other regulatory authorities, that such product candidates are safe and effective for their intended uses. The results from preclinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways, and the favorable results from previous trials of vosaroxin may not be experienced in the VALOR trial. Even if we believe the preclinical or clinical data are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. In addition, although we believe that our discussions with the FDA support the potential approval of vosaroxin for the treatment of AML based on positive results from the VALOR trial without the need to conduct additional clinical trials, the FDA has substantial discretion in the approval process and may not grant approval based on data from this trial.

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize vosaroxin.

We rely on third parties, such as contract research organizations, medical institutions, clinical investigators and contract laboratories, to conduct our planned and existing clinical trials for vosaroxin. If the third parties conducting our clinical trials do not perform their contractual duties or obligations, do not meet expected deadlines or need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical trial protocols or for any other reason, we may need to enter into new arrangements with alternative third parties and our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated or may need to be repeated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize the product candidate being tested in such trials.

We expect to expand our development capabilities, and any difficulties hiring or retaining key personnel or managing this growth could disrupt our operations.

We are highly dependent on the principal members of our development staff. We expect to expand our development capabilities by increasing expenditures in these areas, hiring additional employees and potentially expanding the scope of our current operations. Future growth will require us to continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems and continue to retain, recruit and train additional qualified personnel, which may impose a strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure. The competition for qualified personnel in the biopharmaceutical field is intense. We are highly dependent on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management and specialized personnel required for clinical development. Due to our limited resources, we may not be able to effectively manage any expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. If we are unable to retain key personnel or manage our growth effectively, we may not be able to implement our business plan.

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If we are sued for infringing intellectual property rights of third parties, litigation will be costly and time consuming and could prevent us from developing or commercializing vosaroxin.

Our commercial success depends on not infringing the patents and other proprietary rights of third parties and not breaching any collaboration or other agreements we have entered into with regard to our technologies and product candidates. If a third party asserts that we are using technology or compounds claimed in issued and unexpired patents owned or controlled by the third party, we may need to obtain a license, enter into litigation to challenge the validity of the patents or incur the risk of litigation in the event that a third party asserts that we infringe its patents.

If a third party asserts that we infringe its patents or other proprietary rights, we could face a number of challenges that could seriously harm our competitive position, including:

If our competitors develop and market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than vosaroxin, our commercial opportunities will be negatively impacted.

The life sciences industry is highly competitive, and we face significant competition from many pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are researching, developing and marketing products designed to address the treatment of cancer, including AML and ovarian cancer. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, manufacturing, marketing and drug development resources than we do. Large pharmaceutical companies in particular have extensive experience in the clinical testing of, obtaining regulatory approvals for, and marketing drugs.

We believe that our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace with vosaroxin and any future product candidates, if any, will depend on, among other things:

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Vosaroxin is a small molecule therapeutic that will compete with other drugs and therapies that currently exist or are being developed. There are a number of compounds in development for the treatment of AML, including Genzyme Corporation’s clofarabine and Celgene Corporation’s azacitidine. Each of these or other compounds could become potential competitors for vosaroxin, if approved.

We expect competition for vosaroxin for the treatment of AML to increase as additional products are developed and approved in various patient populations. If our competitors market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than vosaroxin or our other future products, if any, or that reach the market sooner we may not achieve commercial success or substantial market penetration. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid change. Products developed by our competitors may render vosaroxin or any future product candidates obsolete.

Our proprietary rights may not adequately protect vosaroxin or future product candidates, if any.

Our commercial success will depend on our ability to obtain patents and maintain adequate protection for vosaroxin and any future product candidates in the United States and other countries. We own, co-own or have rights to a significant number of issued U.S. and foreign patents and pending U.S. and foreign patent applications. We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our proprietary technologies and future products are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets.

We apply for patents covering both our technologies and product candidates, as we deem appropriate. However, we may fail to apply for patents on important technologies or product candidates in a timely fashion, or at all. Our existing patents and any future patents we obtain may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from practicing our technologies or from developing competing products and technologies. In addition, we generally do not exclusively control the patent prosecution of subject matter that we license to or from others. Accordingly, in such cases we are unable to exercise the same degree of control over this intellectual property as we would over our own. Moreover, the patent positions of biopharmaceutical companies are highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. As a result, the validity and enforceability of patents cannot be predicted with certainty. In addition, we do not know whether:

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We also rely on trade secrets to protect some of our technology, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to maintain. While we use reasonable efforts to protect our trade secrets, our or our collaboration partners’ employees, consultants, contractors or scientific and other advisors, or those of our licensors, may unintentionally or willfully disclose our proprietary information to competitors. Enforcement of claims that a third party has illegally obtained and is using trade secrets is expensive, time consuming and uncertain. In addition, foreign courts are sometimes less willing than U.S. courts to protect trade secrets. If our competitors independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how, we would not be able to assert our trade secrets against them and our business could be harmed.

The composition of matter patents covering vosaroxin are due to expire in 2015. Even if vosaroxin is approved by the FDA and foreign equivalents thereof, we may not be able to recover our development costs prior to the expiration of these patents.

The vosaroxin composition of matter is covered by U.S. patent 5,817,669 and its counterpart patents in 43 foreign jurisdictions. U.S. patent 5,817,669 is due to expire in October 2015, and most of its foreign counterparts are due to expire in June 2015. In July 2010, we announced that the European Patent Office, or EPO, had granted us a patent covering combinations of vosaroxin with cytarabine. The patent was validated and provides coverage for such combination products in 30 member states of the European Patent Convention and is due to expire in 2025. In November 2010, we announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had granted us a patent covering certain pharmaceutical compositions of vosaroxin, and in March 2011, we announced that the EPO had granted us a similar patent, which we are proceeding to validate in multiple EPO member states. These patents cover the formulation used in our VALOR trial and are due to expire in 2025. We do not know whether patent term extensions and data exclusivity periods will be available in the future. Vosaroxin must undergo extensive clinical trials before it can be approved by the FDA. We do not know when, if ever, vosaroxin will be approved by the FDA. Even if vosaroxin is approved by the FDA in the future, we may not have sufficient time to commercialize our vosaroxin product to enable us to recover our development costs prior to the expiration of the U.S. and foreign patents covering vosaroxin. Our obligation to pay royalties to Dainippon, the company from which we licensed vosaroxin, may extend beyond the patent expiration, which would further erode the profitability of this product.

Any future workforce and expense reductions may have an adverse impact on our internal programs, our ability to hire and retain key personnel and may be distracting to management.

We have, in the past, implemented a number of workforce reductions. Depending on our need for additional funding and expense control, we may be required to implement further workforce and expense reductions in the future. Further workforce and expense reductions could result in reduced progress on our internal programs. In addition, employees, whether or not directly affected by a reduction, may seek future employment with our business partners or competitors. Although our employees are required to sign a confidentiality agreement at the time of hire, the confidential nature of certain proprietary information may not be maintained in the course of any such future employment. Further, we believe that our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel. We may have difficulty retaining and attracting such personnel as a result of a perceived risk of future workforce and expense reductions. In addition, the implementation of expense reduction programs may result in the diversion of efforts of our executive management team and other key employees, which could adversely affect our business.

We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that we or our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of our employees’ former employers.

Many of our employees were previously employed at biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. We may be subject to claims that we or our employees have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in

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addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. A loss of key personnel or the work product of current or former personnel could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize vosaroxin, which could severely harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

We currently have limited marketing staff and no sales or distribution organization. If we are unable to develop a sales and marketing and distribution capability on our own or through collaborations with marketing partners, we will not be successful in commercializing vosaroxin.

We currently have no sales or distribution capabilities and limited marketing staff. We intend to establish our own sales and marketing organization with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize vosaroxin in North America, which will be expensive and time consuming. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of these products. We plan to collaborate with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems to commercialize vosaroxin. To the extent that we enter into co-promotion or other licensing arrangements, our product revenue is likely to be lower than if we marketed or sold vosaroxin directly. In addition, any revenue we receive will depend upon the efforts of third parties, which may not be successful and are only partially within our control. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements on acceptable terms or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize vosaroxin. If we are not successful in commercializing vosaroxin or our future product candidates, if any, 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.

We depend on various consultants and advisors for the success and continuation of our development efforts.

We work extensively with various consultants and advisors, who provide advice and or services in various business and development functions, including clinical development, operations and strategy, regulatory matters, accounting and finance. The potential success of our drug development programs depends, in part, on continued collaborations with certain of these consultants and advisors. Our consultants and advisors are not our employees and may have commitments and obligations to other entities that may limit their availability to us. We do not know if we will be able to maintain such relationships or that such consultants and advisors will not enter into other arrangements with competitors, any of which could have a detrimental impact on our development objectives and our business.

If conflicts of interest arise between our current or future collaboration partners, if any, and us, any of them may act in their self interest, which may be adverse to our interests.

If a conflict of interest arises between us and one or more of our current or potential future collaboration partners, if any, they may act in their own self interest or otherwise in a way that is not in the interest of our company or our stockholders. Biogen Idec or potential future collaboration partners, if any, are conducting or may conduct product development efforts within the disease area that is the subject of collaboration with our company. In current or potential future collaborations, if any, we have agreed or may agree not to conduct, independently or with any third party, any research that is competitive with the research conducted under our collaborations. Our collaboration partners, however, may develop, either alone or with others, products in related fields that are competitive with the product candidates that are the subject of these collaborations. Competing products, either developed by our collaboration partners or to which our collaboration partners have rights, may result in their withdrawal of support for a product candidate covered by the collaboration agreement.

If one or more of our current or potential future collaboration partners, if any, were to breach or terminate their collaboration agreements with us or otherwise fail to perform their obligations thereunder in a timely manner, the preclinical or clinical development or commercialization of the affected product candidates could be

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delayed or terminated. We do not know whether our collaboration partners will pursue alternative technologies or develop alternative product candidates, either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors, as a means for developing treatments for the diseases targeted by collaboration agreements with our company.

Compliance with changing regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure may result in additional expenses.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure may create uncertainty regarding compliance matters. New or changed laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations in many cases. As a result, their application in practice may evolve over time. We are committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and public disclosure. Complying with evolving interpretations of new or changed legal requirements may cause us to incur higher costs as we revise current practices, policies and procedures, and may divert management time and attention from potential revenue-generating activities to compliance matters. If our efforts to comply with new or changed laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, our reputation may also be harmed. Further, our board members, chief executive officer and chief financial officer could face an increased risk of personal liability in connection with the performance of their duties. As a result, we may have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified board members and executive officers, which could harm our business.

We are exposed to risks related to foreign currency exchange rates.

Some of our costs and expenses are denominated in foreign currencies. Most of our foreign expenses are associated with activities related to the VALOR trial that are occurring outside of the United States, and in particular in Western Europe. When the U.S. dollar weakens against the Euro or British pound, the U.S. dollar value of the foreign currency denominated expense increases, and when the U.S. dollar strengthens against the Euro or British pound, the U.S. dollar value of the foreign currency denominated expense decreases. Consequently, changes in exchange rates, and in particular a weakening of the U.S. dollar, may adversely affect our results of operations. We may purchase certain European currencies or highly-rated investments denominated in such currencies to manage the risk of future movements in foreign exchange rates that would affect such payables in accordance with our investment policy. However, there is no guarantee that the related gains and losses will substantially offset each other, and we may be subject to significant exchange gains or losses as currencies fluctuate from quarter to quarter.

Our facilities are located near known earthquake fault zones, and the occurrence of an earthquake or other catastrophic disaster could cause damage to our facilities and equipment, which could require us to cease or curtail operations.

Our facilities are located in the San Francisco Bay Area near known earthquake fault zones and are vulnerable to significant damage from earthquakes. We are also vulnerable to damage from other types of disasters, including fires, floods, power loss, communications failures and similar events. If any disaster were to occur, our ability to operate our business at our facilities may be seriously or completely impaired and our data could be lost or destroyed.

Risks Related to Our Industry

The regulatory approval process is expensive, time consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from obtaining approval for the commercialization of vosaroxin.

The research, testing, manufacturing, selling and marketing of product candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and other countries, which regulations differ from country to country. Neither we nor our collaboration partners are permitted to market our product

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candidates in the United States until we receive approval of an NDA from the FDA, or in any other country without the equivalent marketing approval from such country. We have not received marketing approval for vosaroxin in any jurisdiction. None of our collaboration partners have had a product resulting from our collaboration enter clinical trials. In addition, failure to comply with FDA and other applicable U.S. and foreign regulatory requirements may subject us to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions, including warning letters, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, product seizure or detention, product recalls, total or partial suspension of production, and refusal to approve pending NDAs, supplements to approved NDAs or their foreign equivalents.

Regulatory approval of an NDA or NDA supplement or a foreign equivalent is not guaranteed, and the approval process is expensive, uncertain and may take several years. Furthermore, the development process for oncology products may take longer than in other therapeutic areas. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the drug approval process. Despite the time and expense exerted, failure can occur at any stage, and we could encounter problems that cause us to abandon clinical trials or to repeat or perform additional preclinical studies and clinical trials. The number of preclinical studies and clinical trials that will be required for marketing approval varies depending on the drug candidate, the disease or condition that the drug candidate is designed to address, and the regulations applicable to any particular drug candidate. In particular, although we believe that our discussions with the FDA support the potential approval of vosaroxin for the treatment of AML based on positive results from the VALOR trial without the need to conduct additional clinical trials, the FDA has substantial discretion in the approval process and may not grant approval based on data from this trial.

The FDA or a foreign regulatory authority can delay, limit or deny approval of a drug candidate for many reasons, including:

We may be subject to costly claims related to our clinical trials and may not be able to obtain adequate insurance.

Because we conduct clinical trials in humans, we face the risk that the use of vosaroxin or future product candidates, if any, will result in adverse side effects. We cannot predict the possible harms or side effects that may result from our clinical trials. Although we have clinical trial liability insurance for up to $10.0 million in aggregate, our insurance may be insufficient to cover any such events. We do not know whether we will be able to continue to obtain clinical trial coverage on acceptable terms, or at all. We may not have sufficient resources to pay for any liabilities resulting from a claim excluded from, or beyond the limit of, our insurance coverage. There is also a risk that third parties that we have agreed to indemnify could incur liability. Any litigation arising from our clinical trials, even if we were ultimately successful, would consume substantial amounts of our financial and managerial resources and may create adverse publicity.

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Even if we receive regulatory approval to sell vosaroxin, the market may not be receptive to vosaroxin.

Even if vosaroxin obtains regulatory approval, it may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and/or the medical community. We believe that the degree of market acceptance will depend on a number of factors, including:

For example, the potential toxicity of single and repeated doses of vosaroxin has been explored in a number of animal studies that suggest the dose-limiting toxicities in humans receiving vosaroxin may be similar to some of those observed with approved cytotoxic agents, including reversible toxicity to bone marrow cells, the gastrointestinal system and other systems with rapidly dividing cells. In our Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials of vosaroxin, we have witnessed the following side effects, irrespective of causality, ranging from mild to more severe: lowered white blood cell count that may lead to a serious or possibly life-threatening infection, hair loss, mouth sores, fatigue, nausea with or without vomiting, lowered platelet count, which may lead to an increase in bruising or bleeding, lowered red blood cell count (anemia), weakness, tiredness, shortness of breath, diarrhea and intestinal blockage.

If vosaroxin fails to achieve market acceptance, due to unacceptable side effects or any other reasons, we may not be able to generate significant revenue or to achieve or sustain profitability.

Even if we receive regulatory approval for vosaroxin, we will be subject to ongoing FDA and other regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and limit our ability to commercialize vosaroxin.

Any regulatory approvals that we or our potential future collaboration partners receive for vosaroxin or our future product candidates, if any, may also be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing trials. In addition, even if approved, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for any product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. The subsequent discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, may result in restrictions on the marketing of the product, and could include withdrawal of the product from the market.

Regulatory policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we might not be permitted to market vosaroxin or our future products and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

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The coverage and reimbursement status of newly approved drugs is uncertain, and failure to obtain adequate coverage and reimbursement could limit our ability to market vosaroxin and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

There is significant uncertainty related to the third party coverage and reimbursement of newly approved drugs both nationally and internationally. The commercial success of vosaroxin and our future products, if any, in both domestic and international markets depends on whether third-party coverage and reimbursement is available for the ordering of our future products by the medical profession for use by their patients. Medicare, Medicaid, health maintenance organizations and other third-party payors are increasingly attempting to manage healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement of new drugs and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our future products. These payors may not view our future products as cost-effective, and reimbursement may not be available to consumers or may not be sufficient to allow our future products to be marketed on a competitive basis. Likewise, legislative or regulatory efforts to control or reduce healthcare costs or reform government healthcare programs could result in lower prices or rejection of our future products. Changes in coverage and reimbursement policies or healthcare cost containment initiatives that limit or restrict reimbursement for our future products may reduce any future product revenue.

Failure to obtain regulatory approval in foreign jurisdictions will prevent us from marketing vosaroxin abroad.

We intend to market vosaroxin in international markets. In order to market vosaroxin in the European Union, Canada and many other foreign jurisdictions, we must obtain separate regulatory approvals. We have had limited interactions with foreign regulatory authorities, and the approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional testing at significant cost. The time required to obtain approval may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. The foreign regulatory approval processes may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. We may not be able to file for regulatory approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize vosaroxin or any other future products in any market.

Foreign governments often impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our future profitability.

We intend to seek approval to market vosaroxin in both the United States and foreign jurisdictions. If we obtain approval in one or more foreign jurisdictions, we will be subject to rules and regulations in those jurisdictions relating to vosaroxin. In some foreign countries, particularly in the European Union, prescription drug pricing 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 candidate. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of vosaroxin to other available therapies. If reimbursement of vosaroxin is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability.

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

We, through third-party contractors, use hazardous chemicals and radioactive and biological materials in our business and are subject to a variety of federal, state, regional and local laws and regulations governing the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials. Although we believe our safety procedures for handling and disposing of these materials and waste products comply with these laws and regulations, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from the use, storage, handling or

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disposal of hazardous materials. In the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could significantly exceed our insurance coverage, which is limited for pollution cleanup and contamination.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may continue to be volatile, and the value of an investment in our common stock may decline.

In 2010, our common stock traded as low as $1.75 and as high as $9.72. Factors that could cause continued volatility in the market price of our common stock include, but are not limited to:

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If we fail to maintain compliance with the continued listing requirements of The NASDAQ Capital Market, our common stock may be delisted and the price of our common stock and our ability to access the capital markets could be negatively impacted.

Our common stock currently trades on The NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “SNSS.” This market has continued listing standards that we must comply with in order to maintain the listing of our common stock. The continued listing standards include, among others, a minimum bid price requirement of $1.00 per share and any of: (i) a minimum stockholders’ equity of $2.5 million; (ii) a market value of listed securities of at least $35.0 million; or (iii) net income from continuing operations of $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year or in the two of the last three fiscal years. Our results of operations and fluctuating stock price directly impact our ability to satisfy these continued listing standards. In the event we are unable to maintain these continued listing standards, our common stock may be subject to delisting from The NASDAQ Capital Market.

From March 31, 2010 until the close of trading on March 1, 2011, we were not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement of $1.00 per share pursuant to NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). On February 14, 2011, we effected a one-for-six reverse split of our capital stock, or the Reverse Split, as previously authorized and approved at our annual meeting of stockholders on June 2, 2010. As a result of the Reverse Split, every six shares of our capital stock were combined into one share of capital stock. On February 15, 2011, our common stock began trading on The NASDAQ Capital Market on a post-Reverse Split basis, following which the bid price of our common stock closed at or above $1.00 for the 10 consecutive business days ended March 1, 2011. As a result, on March 2, 2011, we received a letter from NASDAQ indicating that we had regained compliance with the rule as the closing bid price of our common stock had been at $1.00 per share or greater for 10 consecutive trading days. As a result, we are currently in full compliance with the NASDAQ continued listing requirements.

As mentioned above, the price of our common stock can be volatile, and there can be no assurance that we will continue to meet the minimum $1.00 bid price requirement or the other NASDAQ continued listing requirements in the future, and we may be subject to delisting as a result. If we are delisted, we would expect our common stock to be traded in the over-the-counter market, which could adversely affect the liquidity of our common stock. Additionally, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

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Provisions of our charter documents or Delaware law could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders, and could make it more difficult to change management.

Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders might otherwise consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. In addition, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempt by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult to replace or remove our board of directors. These provisions include:

In addition, Delaware law prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person who, together with its affiliates, owns or within the last three years has owned 15% of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Accordingly, Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company.

Provisions in our charter documents and provisions of Delaware law could limit the price that investors are willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

The ownership of our capital stock is highly concentrated, and your interests may conflict with the interests of our existing stockholders.

Our executive officers and directors and their affiliates beneficially owned approximately 34.7% of our outstanding capital stock as of December 31, 2010, assuming the exercise in full of the outstanding warrants to purchase common stock held by these stockholders as of such date. Accordingly, these stockholders, acting as a group, could have significant influence over the outcome of corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets or any other significant corporate transaction. The significant concentration of stock ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock due to investors’ perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise.

We have never paid dividends on our capital stock and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be our stockholders’ sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

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We are at risk of securities class action litigation.

In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of its securities. This risk is especially relevant for us because biotechnology companies have experienced greater than average stock price volatility in recent years. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price or liquidity of our common stock. In the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the issuer. If any of our stockholders were to bring such a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit and the attention of our management would be diverted from the operation of our business.