ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking information based on our current expectations. Because our actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of us, this section includes a discussion of important factors that could affect our actual future results, including our revenues, expenses, operating results, cash flows, net loss and loss per share. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. You should carefully consider these risk factors, together with all of the other information included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as well as our other publicly available filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.

We have marked with an asterisk (*) those risks described below that reflect substantive changes from, or additions to, the risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Risks Related to our Recently Undertaken Royalty Aggregator Strategy

Our planned acquisition of royalties may not produce anticipated revenues, and if such transactions are secured by collateral, we may be, or may become, under-secured by the collateral or such collateral may lose value and we will not be able recuperate our capital expenditures in the acquisition.

We are engaged in a continual review of opportunities to acquire royalties and other intellectual property assets as part of our royalty aggregator strategy or to acquire companies that hold royalty assets. We currently, and generally at any time, have acquisition opportunities in various stages of active review, including, for example, our engagement of consultants and advisors to analyze particular opportunities, technical, financial and other confidential information, submission of indications of interest and involvement as a bidder in competitive auctions. Many potential acquisition targets do not meet our criteria, and for those that do, we may face significant competition for these acquisitions from other royalty buyers and enterprises. Competition for future asset acquisition opportunities in our markets could increase the price we pay for such assets and could reduce the number of potential acquisition targets. The success of our acquisitions is based on our ability to make accurate assumptions regarding the valuation, timing and amount of future royalty and milestone payments as well as the viability of the underlying technology. The failure of any of these acquisitions to produce anticipated revenues may materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Some of these acquisitions may expose us to credit risk in the event of default by the counterparty. To mitigate this risk, on occasion, we may obtain a security interest as collateral in the assets of such counterparty. Our credit risk in respect of such counterparty may be exacerbated when the collateral held by us cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount we are due pursuant to the terms of the particular assets. This could occur in circumstances where the original collateral was not sufficient to cover a complete loss (e.g., our interests were only partially secured) or may result from the deterioration in value of the collateral, so that, in either such case, we are unable to recuperate our full capital outlay. Any such losses resulting therefrom could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Many of our potential royalty acquisitions are in companies or assets that have no approved or commercialized products or are dependent on the actions of unrelated third parties, which may negatively impact our investment returns.

As part of our recently launched royalty aggregator strategy, we will likely make investments in royalty assets, such as an upfront payment for a profit share or royalty stream in the healthcare industry, many of which investments are in companies that, at the time of investment, have limited or no approved or commercialized products. If the assets are not successfully developed and subsequently commercialized, the value of our investments will be negatively affected. The ultimate success of our royalty aggregator strategy will depend on the ability of the counterparty to innovate, develop and commercialize their products, in increasingly competitive and highly regulated markets. Their inability to do so would negatively affect our investment. In addition, we are dependent, to a large extent, on third parties to enforce certain rights for our benefit, such as protection of a patent estate, and their failure to do so would negatively impact our investment returns.

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We depend on our licensees and royalty-agreemen t counterparties for the determination of royalty and milestone payments. While we typically have rights to audit our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties, the independent auditors may have difficulty determining the correct royalty calculation, we may not be able to detect errors and payment calculations may call for retroactive adjustments. We may have to exercise legal remedies to resolve any disputes resulting from the audit.

The royalty and milestone payments we receive are determined by our licensees based on their reported development and product sales. Each licensee's calculation of the royalty payments is subject to and dependent upon the adequacy and accuracy of its sales and accounting functions, and errors may occur from time to time in the calculations made by a licensee. Our license and royalty agreements typically provide us the right to audit the calculations and sales data for the associated royalty payments; however, such audits may occur many months following our recognition of the royalty revenue, may require us to adjust our royalty revenues in later periods and may require expense on the part of the Company. Further, our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties may be uncooperative or have insufficient records, which may complicate and delay the audit process.

Although we intend to regularly exercise our royalty audit rights, we rely in the first instance on our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties to accurately report sales and calculate and pay applicable royalties and, upon exercise of such royalty audit rights, we rely on licensees' and royalty-agreement counterparties' cooperation in performing such audits. In the absence of such cooperation, we may be forced to exercise legal remedies to enforce our agreements.

The lack of liquidity in our acquisitions may adversely affect our business and, if we need to sell any of our acquired assets, we may not be able to do so at a favorable price. As a result, we may suffer losses.

We generally acquire patents, license agreements and royalty rights that have limited secondary resale markets. The illiquidity of most of our assets may make it difficult for us to dispose of them at a favorable price and, as a result, we may suffer losses if we are required to dispose of any or all such assets in a liquidation or otherwise. In addition, if we liquidate all or a portion of our assets quickly or relating to a liquidation, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we had previously recorded these assets.

As we continue to develop our business, our mix of assets and our sources of income may require that we register with the SEC as an “investment company” in accordance with the Investment Company Act of 1940.

We have not been and have no current intention to register as an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or the ‘40 Act, because we believe the nature of our assets and the sources of our income currently exclude us from the definition of an investment company pursuant to Sections (3)(a)(1)(A) and (3)(a)(1)(C) under the ‘40 Act and Rule 3a-1 thereunder. Accordingly, we are not currently subject to the provisions of the ‘40 Act, such as compliance with the ‘40 Act’s registration and reporting requirements, capital structure requirements, affiliate transaction restrictions, conflict of interest rules, requirements for disinterested directors, and other substantive provisions. Generally, to avoid being a company that is an "investment company" under the ‘40 Act, it must both: (a) not be or hold itself out as being engaged primarily in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities, and (b) either (i) not be engaged or propose to engage in the business of investing in securities or own or propose to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis or (ii) not have more than 45% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of government securities and cash items) consist of or more than 45% of its net income after taxes (for the last four fiscal quarters combined) be derived from certain types of securities. In addition, we would not be an “investment company” if an exception, exemption, or safe harbor under the ‘40 Act applies.

We monitor our assets and income for compliance with the tests under the ‘40 Act and seek to conduct our business activities to ensure that we do not fall within its definitions of “investment company.” If we were to become an “investment company” and be subject to the restrictions of the ‘40 Act, those restrictions would likely require changes in the way we do business and add significant administrative burdens to our operations. To ensure that we do not fall within the ‘40 Act, we may need to take various actions which we might otherwise not pursue. These actions may include restructuring the Company and/or modifying our mixture of assets and income.

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Specifically, our mixture of securities vs. royalty assets will be important to our classification as an “investment company”. While we currently believe that none of the definitions of “investment company” apply to us, we may in the future rely on an exception under the ‘40 Act provided by Section 3(c)(5)(A). To qualify under Sectio n 3(c)(5)(A), as interpreted by the staff of the SEC, we would be required to have at least 55% of our total assets in "notes, drafts, acceptances, open accounts receivable, and other obligations representing part or all of the sales price of merchandise, insurance, and services" (or Qualifying Assets). The SEC staff has stated in a no action letter that royalty interests are Qualifying Assets under this exception. If the SEC or its staff in the future adopts a contrary interpretation or otherwise restricts the conclusions in the staff's no-action letter such that our royalty interests are no longer Qualifying Assets for purposes of Section 3(c)(5)(A), or if we fail to have 55% of our total assets in Qualifying Assets, we could be required to register under the ‘40 Act.

The rules and interpretations of the SEC and the courts, relating to the definition of "investment company" are very complex. While we currently intend to conduct our operations so that we will not be an investment company under applicable SEC interpretations, we can provide no assurance that the SEC would not take the position that the Company would be required to register under the ‘40 Act.

Risks Related to our Financial Results and Capital Requirements

We have sustained losses in the past, and we expect to sustain losses in the foreseeable future.

With the exception of the year ended December 31, 2017, we have incurred significant operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since its inception. We had net losses of $3.8 million and $10.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. As of March 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.2 billion.

We do not know whether we will ever achieve sustained profitability or whether cash flow from future operations will be sufficient to meet our needs.

To date, we have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity securities and debt, and collaboration and licensing arrangements. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of our future expenditures and our and our partner’s ability to generate revenues. If our partner’s product candidates are not successfully developed or commercialized by our licensees, or if revenues are insufficient following marketing approval, we will not achieve profitability and our business may fail. Our ability to achieve profitability is dependent in large part on the success of our ability to license our product candidates, and the success of our licensees’ development programs, both of which are uncertain. Our success is also dependent on our licensees obtaining regulatory approval to market our product candidates which may not materialize or prove to be successful.

Our new strategy may require us to raise additional funds to acquire royalty assets; we cannot be certain that funds will be available, and if they are not available, we may be unsuccessful in acquiring assets to sustain the business in the future.

We may need to commit substantial funds to continue our business, and we may not be able to obtain sufficient funds on acceptable terms, or at all. Any additional debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to our stockholders or us. If we raise additional funds through licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our product candidates, grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us or enter into a license arrangement for a product candidate at an earlier stage of development or for a lesser amount than we might otherwise choose.

Additional funds may not be available when we need them on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available on a timely basis, we may:

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We have significantly restructured our business and revised our business plan and there are no assurances that we will be able to successfully implement our business plan or successfully operate as a royalty aggregator.

We have historically been focused on discovering and developing innovative therapeutics derived from our unique platform of antibody technologies. Prospectively, we will become a royalty aggregator where we focus on expanding our portfolio of fully-funded programs by out-licensing our internally developed product candidates and acquiring potential milestone and royalty revenue streams on additional product candidates. Our strategy is based on a number of factors and assumptions, some of which are not within our control, such as the actions of third parties. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully execute all or any elements of our strategy, or that our ability to successfully execute our strategy will be unaffected by external factors. If we are unsuccessful in acquiring potential milestone and royalty revenue streams on additional product candidates, or those acquisitions do not perform to our expectations, our financial performance could be adversely affected.

We may not realize the expected benefits of our cost-saving initiatives.

Reducing costs is a key element of our current business strategy. On August 21, 2015, in connection with our efforts to lower operating expenses and preserve capital while continuing to focus on our product pipeline, we implemented a workforce reduction, which led to the termination of 52 employees during the second half of 2015. On December 19, 2016, we approved a restructuring of our business based on our decision to focus our efforts on clinical development, with an initial focus on the X358 clinical program. The restructuring included a reduction-in-force in which we terminated 57 employees. In early 2017, we implemented a royalty aggregator business model, which resulted in the termination of five additional employees effective June 30, 2017.

If we experience excessive unanticipated inefficiencies or incremental costs in connection with restructuring activities, such as unanticipated inefficiencies caused by reducing headcount, we may be unable to meaningfully realize cost savings and we may incur expenses in excess of what we anticipate. Either of these outcomes could prevent us from meeting our strategic objectives and could adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely heavily on licensee relationships, and any disputes or litigation with our partners or termination or breach of any of the related agreements could reduce the financial resources available to us, including milestone payments and future royalty revenues.

Our existing collaborations may not continue or be successful, and we may be unable to enter into future collaborative arrangements to develop and commercialize our unpartnered assets. Generally, our current collaborative partners also have the right to terminate their collaborations at will or under specified circumstances. If any of our collaborative partners breach or terminate their agreements with us or otherwise fail to conduct their collaborative activities successfully (for example, by not making required payments when due, or at all), our product development under these agreements will be delayed or terminated. Disputes or litigation may also arise with our collaborators (with us and/or with one or more third parties), including those over ownership rights to intellectual property, know-how or technologies developed with our collaborators. For example, we are asserting our rights to receive payment against one of our collaborative partners which could harm our relationship with such partner. Such disputes or litigation could adversely affect our rights to one or more of our product candidates and could delay, interrupt or terminate the collaborative research, development and commercialization of certain potential products, create uncertainty as to ownership rights of intellectual property, or could result in litigation or arbitration. In addition, a significant downturn or deterioration in the business or financial condition of our collaborators or partners could result in a loss of expected revenue and our expected returns on investment. The occurrence of any of these problems could be time-consuming and expensive and could adversely affect our business.

Our licensees rely on third parties to provide services in connection with our product candidate development and manufacturing programs. The inadequate performance by or loss of any of these service providers could affect our licensees’ product candidate development.

Third parties provide services in connection with preclinical and clinical development programs, including in vitro and in vivo studies, assay and reagent development, immunohistochemistry, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, clinical trial support, manufacturing and other outsourced activities. If these service providers do not adequately perform the services for which we or our licensees have contracted, or cease to continue operations, and we are not able to find a replacement provider quickly or we lose information or items associated with our product candidates, our development programs may be delayed.

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Agreements with other third parties, many of which are significant to our business, expose us to numerous risks.

Because our licensees, suppliers and contractors are independent third parties, they may be subject to different risks than we are and have significant discretion in, and different criteria for, determining the efforts and resources they will apply related to their agreements with us. If these licensees, suppliers and contractors do not successfully perform the functions for which they are responsible, we may not have the capabilities, resources or rights to do so on our own.

We do not know whether we or our licensees will successfully develop and market any of the products that are or may become the subject of any of our licensing arrangements. In addition, third-party arrangements such as ours also increase uncertainties in the related decision-making processes and resulting progress under the arrangements, as we and our licensees may reach different conclusions, or support different paths forward, based on the same information, particularly when large amounts of technical data are involved.

Under our contract with NIAID, a part of the National Institute of Health (“NIH”), we invoiced using NIH provisional rates, and these are subject to future audits at the discretion of NIAID’s contracting office. These audits can result in an adjustment to revenue previously reported, which potentially could be significant.

Failure of our licensees’ product candidates to meet current Good Manufacturing Practices standards may subject us to delays in regulatory approval and penalties for noncompliance.

Our licensees may rely on third party manufacturers and such contract manufacturers are required to produce clinical product candidates under current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”) to meet acceptable standards for use in clinical trials and for commercial sale, as applicable. If such standards change, the ability of contract manufacturers to produce our product candidates on the schedule required for our clinical trials or to meet commercial requirements may be affected. In addition, contract manufacturers may not perform their obligations under their agreements with our licensees, may discontinue their business before the time required by us to successfully produce clinical and commercial supplies of our product candidates.

Contract manufacturers are subject to pre-approval inspections and periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over a third-party manufacturer’s compliance with these regulations and standards. Any difficulties or delays in contractors’ manufacturing and supply of our product candidates or any failure of our licensees’ contractors to maintain compliance with the applicable regulations and standards could increase costs, cause us to reduce revenue, make us or our licensees postpone or cancel clinical trials, prevent or delay regulatory approval by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities, prevent the import and/or export of our product candidates, or cause any of our product candidates that may be approved for commercial sale to be recalled or withdrawn.

Certain of our technologies are in-licensed from third parties, so our and our licensees’ capabilities using them are restricted and subject to additional risks.

We have licensed technologies from third parties. These technologies include phage display technologies licensed to us in connection with our bacterial cell expression technology licensing program and antibody products. However, our and our licensees’ use of these technologies is limited by certain contractual provisions in the licenses relating to them, and although we have obtained numerous licenses, intellectual property rights in the area of phage display are particularly complex. If we are unable to maintain our licenses, patents or other intellectual property, we could lose important protections that are material to continuing our operations and for future prospects. Our licensors also may seek to terminate our license, which could cause us and our licensees to lose the right to use the licensed intellectual property and adversely affect our ability to commercialize our technologies, products or services.

Because many of the companies with which we do business also are in the biotechnology sector, the volatility of that sector can affect us indirectly as well as directly.

The same factors that affect us directly also can adversely affect us indirectly by affecting the ability of our partners and others with whom we do business to meet their obligations to us and reduce our ability to realize the value of the consideration provided to us by these other companies.

For example, in connection with our dispositions or license arrangements, we have in the past and may in the future agree to accept equity securities of the licensee in payment of fees. The future value of these or any other shares we receive is subject both to market risks affecting our ability to realize the value of these shares and more generally to the business and other risks to which the issuer of these shares may be subject.

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Risks Related to an Investment in Our Common Stock

Our share price may be volatile, and there may not be an active trading market for our common stock.

There can be no assurance the market price of our common stock will not decline below its present market price or there will be an active trading market for our common stock. The market prices of biotechnology companies have been and are likely to continue to be highly volatile. Fluctuations in our operating results and general market conditions for biotechnology stocks could have a significant impact on the volatility of our common stock price. We have experienced significant volatility in the price of our common stock. From January 1, 2018, through May 7, 2018, the share price of our common stock has ranged from a high of $36.86 to a low of $19.09. Additionally, we have two significant holders of our stock that could affect the liquidity of our stock and have a significant negative impact on our stock price if one or both of the holders were to quickly sell their ownership positions.

If we fail to meet continued listing standards of NASDAQ, our common stock may be delisted, which could have a material adverse effect on the liquidity of our common stock.

Our common stock is currently traded on the Nasdaq Global Market. The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”) has requirements that a company must meet in order to remain listed on NASDAQ.

We have in the past temporarily fallen out of compliance with NASDAQ listing standards and there can be no assurance that we will continue to meet NASDAQ listing requirements in the future.

We received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Staff of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (the “Staff”) on March 22, 2017, providing notification that we no longer complied with the $50 million in total assets and total revenue standard for continued listing on The Nasdaq Global Market under NASDAQ’s Listing Rule 5450(b)(3)(A) and that we also did not comply with either of the two alternative standards of Listing Rule 5450(b), the equity standard and the market value standard.

On May 2, 2017, following ten consecutive business days where the market value of our listed securities was $50 million or greater, we regained compliance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(A).

If future events cause our common stock to be delisted, the liquidity of our common stock would be adversely affected and the market price of our common stock could decrease.

Our results of operations and liquidity needs could be materially negatively affected by market fluctuations or an economic downturn.*

Our results of operations could be materially negatively affected by economic conditions generally, both in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Concerns over inflation, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the availability and cost of credit, and the U.S. financial markets have in the past contributed to, and may continue in the future contributed to, increased volatility and diminished expectations for the economy and the markets. Domestic and international equity markets periodically experience heightened volatility and turmoil. These events may have an adverse effect on us. In the event of a market downturn, our results of operations could be adversely affected by those factors in many ways, including making it more difficult for us to raise funds if necessary, and our stock price may decline.

We may issue additional equity securities and thereby materially and adversely affect the price of our common stock.

We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. These sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing stockholders.

We are authorized to issue, without stockholder approval, 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, of which 5,003 shares of Series X preferred stock were issued and outstanding as of May 7, 2018. Each share of Series X is convertible into 1,000 shares of registered common stock based on a conversion price of $4.03 per share of common stock. The total number of shares of common stock issued upon conversion of all issued Series X convertible preferred stock will be 5,003,000 shares. Each share is convertible at the option of the holder at any time, provided that the holder will be prohibited from converting into common stock if, as a result of such conversion, the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own a number of shares above a conversion blocker, which is initially set at 19.99% of our total common stock then issued and outstanding immediately following the conversion of such shares. In addition, we are authorized to issue, generally without stockholder approval, up to 277,333,332 shares of common stock, of which 8,367,118 were issued and outstanding as of May 7, 2018. If we issue additional equity securities, the price of our common stock may be materially and adversely affected.

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In addition, funding from collaboration partners and others has in the past and may in the future involve issuance by us of our common stock. We cannot be certain how the purchase price of such shares, the relevant market price or premium, if any, will be determined or when such determinations will be ma de.

Any issuance by us of equity securities, whether through an underwritten public offering, an at the market offering, a private placement, in connection with a collaboration or otherwise could result in dilution in the value of our issued and outstanding shares, and a decrease in the trading price of our common stock.

We may sell additional equity or debt securities to fund our operations, which may result in dilution to our stockholders and impose restrictions on our business.

In order to raise additional funds to support our operations, we may sell additional equity or debt securities, which would result in dilution to our stockholders and may impose restrictive covenants that would adversely impact our business. The sale of additional equity or convertible debt securities could result in the issuance of additional shares of our capital stock and dilution to all of our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we are unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected and we may not be able to meet our debt service obligations.

Our organizational documents contain provisions that may prevent transactions that could be beneficial to our stockholders and may insulate our management from removal.

Our charter and by-laws:

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), that may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding common stock, from merging or combining with us.

These provisions of our organizational documents and the DGCL, alone or in combination with each other, may discourage transactions involving actual or potential changes of control, including transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices to holders of common stock, could limit the ability of stockholders to approve transactions that they may deem to be in their best interests, and could make it considerably more difficult for a potential acquirer to replace management.

As a public company in the United States, we are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We have determined our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting are effective. We can provide no assurance that we will, at all times, in the future be able to report that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective.

Companies that file reports with the SEC, including us, are subject to the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”). Section 404 requires management to establish and maintain a system of internal control over financial reporting, and annual reports on Form 10-K filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), must contain a report from management assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Ensuring we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Failure on our part to have effective internal financial and accounting controls would cause our financial reporting to be unreliable, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition, and could cause the trading price of our common stock to fall.

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We incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company, which may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

As a public company, we incur significant accounting, legal and other expenses, including costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. We also anticipate that we will continue to incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements and rules under SOX and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank") among other rules and regulations implemented by the SEC, as well as listing requirements of NASDAQ. Furthermore, these laws and regulations could make it difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these requirements could also make it difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors, our Board Committees or as executive officers.

New laws and regulations as well as changes to existing laws and regulations affecting public companies, including the provisions of SOX and Dodd-Frank and rules adopted by the SEC and NASDAQ, will likely result in increased costs to us as we respond to their requirements. We continue to invest resources to comply with evolving laws and regulations, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expense.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carry-forwards and other tax attributes will be substantially limited by Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

Under the newly enacted federal income tax law, federal net operating losses incurred in 2018 and in future years may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such federal net operating losses is limited. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the newly enacted federal tax law. In addition, Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and corresponding provisions of state law, generally limit the ability of a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” to utilize its net operating loss carry-forwards (“NOLs”) and certain other tax attributes against any taxable income in taxable periods after the ownership change. The amount of taxable income in each taxable year after the ownership change that may be offset by pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes is generally equal to the product of (a) the fair market value of the corporation’s outstanding shares (or, in the case of a foreign corporation, the fair market value of items treated as connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States) immediately prior to the ownership change and (b) the long-term tax exempt rate (i.e., a rate of interest established by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that fluctuates from month to month). In general, an “ownership change” occurs whenever the percentage of the shares of a corporation owned, directly or indirectly, by “5-percent shareholders” (within the meaning of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code) increases by more than 50 percentage points over the lowest percentage of the shares of such corporation owned, directly or indirectly, by such “5-percent shareholders” at any time over the preceding three years.

Based on an analysis under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (which subjects the amount of pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes that can be utilized to an annual limitation), we experienced ownership changes in 2009 and 2012, which substantially limit the future use of our pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes per year. In February 16, 2017, we completed an equity financing for net proceeds of $24.8 million which triggered an additional ownership change under Section 382 that significantly impacted the availability of our tax attributes against future income. Further, due to the existence of a net unrealized built-in loss at the ownership change date, Section 382 further limits our ability to fully utilize the tax deductions associated with certain of our assets, including depreciation and amortization deductions recognized during the 60-month period following the ownership change ending in 2022. Although these deductions will occur in the post-change period, Section 382 treats the deductions as pre-change losses subject to the annual 382 limitation. As of December 31, 2017, we have excluded the NOLs and research and development credits that will expire as a result of the annual limitations. To the extent that we do not utilize our carry-forwards within the applicable statutory carry-forward periods, either because of Section 382 limitations or the lack of sufficient taxable income, the carry-forwards will also expire unused.

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The recently passed comprehensive tax reform bill could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was signed into law that significantly revises the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The newly enacted federal income tax law, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, limitation of the tax deduction for interest expense to 30% of adjusted earnings (except for certain small businesses), limitation of the deduction for net operating losses to 80% of current year taxable income and elimination of net operating loss carrybacks, one time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits (including reducing the business tax credit for certain clinical testing expenses incurred in the testing of certain drugs for rare diseases or conditions). Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the new federal tax law is uncertain and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the newly enacted federal tax law. The impact of this tax reform on holders of our common stock is also uncertain and could be adverse. We urge our stockholders to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to this legislation and the potential tax consequences of investing in or holding our common stock.

Risks Related to the Development and Commercialization of our Current and Future Product Candidates

We may not be able to successfully identify and acquire and/or in-license other products, product candidates, programs or companies to grow and diversify our business, and, even if we are able to do so, we may not be able to successfully manage the risks associated with integrating any such products, product candidates, programs or companies into our business or we may otherwise fail to realize the anticipated benefits of these licenses or acquisitions.

To grow and diversify our business, we plan to continue our business development efforts to identify and seek to acquire and/or in-license other products, product candidates, programs or companies. Future growth through acquisition or in-licensing will depend upon the availability of suitable products, product candidates, programs or companies for acquisition or in-licensing on acceptable prices, terms and conditions. Even if appropriate opportunities are available, we may not be able to acquire rights to them on acceptable terms, or at all. The competition to acquire or in-license rights to promising products, product candidates, programs and companies is fierce, and many of our competitors are large, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with considerably more financial, development and commercialization resources, personnel, and experience than we have. In order to compete successfully in the current business climate, we may have to pay higher prices for assets than may have been paid historically, which may make it more difficult for us to realize an adequate return on any acquisition.

Even if we are able to successfully identify and acquire or in-license new products, product candidates, programs or companies, we may not be able to successfully manage the risks associated with integrating any products, product candidates, programs or companies into our business or the risks arising from anticipated and unanticipated problems in connection with an acquisition or in-licensing. Further, while we seek to mitigate risks and liabilities of potential acquisitions through, among other things, due diligence, there may be risks and liabilities that such due diligence efforts fail to discover, that are not disclosed to us, or that we inadequately assess. Any failure in identifying and managing these risks and uncertainties effectively would have a material adverse effect on our business. In any event, we may not be able to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition or in-licensing for a variety of reasons, including the possibility that a product candidate fails to advance to clinical development, proves not to be safe or effective in clinical trials, or that a product fails to reach its forecasted commercial potential or that the integration of a product, product candidate, program or company gives rise to unforeseen difficulties and expenditures. Any failure in identifying and managing these risks and uncertainties would have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may not be successful in entering into out-license agreements for our product candidates, which may adversely affect our liquidity and business.

We intend to pursue a strategy to out-license all of our product candidates in order to provide for potential payments, funding and/or royalties on future product sales. The out-license agreements may be structured to share in the proceeds received by a licensee as a result of further development or commercialization of the product candidates. We may not be successful in entering into out-licensing agreements with favorable terms as a result of factors, many of which are outside of our control. These factors include:

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If we are unable to enter into out-licensing agreements for our product candidates and realize license , milestone and royalty fees when anticipated, it may adversely affect our liquidity, which in turn may harm our business.

If our licensees’ therapeutic product candidates do not receive regulatory approval, our licensees will be unable to market them.

Our licensees’ product candidates cannot be manufactured and marketed in the United States or any other countries without required regulatory approvals. The U.S. government and governments of other countries extensively regulate many aspects of our product candidates, including:

In the United States, the FDA regulates pharmaceutical products under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other laws, including, in the case of biologics, the Public Health Service Act. At the present time, we believe all of our product candidates will be regulated by the FDA as biologics.

Initiation of clinical trials requires approval by health authorities. Clinical trials involve the administration of the investigational new drug to healthy volunteers or to patients under the supervision of a qualified principal investigator. Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with FDA and International Conference on Harmonization Good Clinical Practices and the European Clinical Trials Directive, as applicable, under protocols that detail the objectives of the study, the parameters to be used to monitor safety and the efficacy criteria to be evaluated. Other national, foreign and local regulations also may apply. The developer of the drug must provide information relating to the characterization and controls of the product before administration to the patients participating in the clinical trials. This requires developing approved assays of the product to test before administration to the patient and during the conduct of the trial. In addition, developers of pharmaceutical products must provide periodic data regarding clinical trials to the FDA and other health authorities, and these health authorities may issue a clinical hold upon a trial if they do not believe, or cannot confirm, that the trial can be conducted without unreasonable risk to the trial participants.

The results of the preclinical studies and clinical testing, together with chemistry, manufacturing and controls information, are submitted to the FDA and other health authorities in the form of a New Drug Application (“NDA”) for a drug, and in the form of a Biologic License Application (“BLA”) for a biological product, requesting approval to commence commercial sales. In responding to an NDA or BLA, the FDA or foreign health authorities may grant marketing approvals, request additional information or further research, or deny the application if they determine the application does not satisfy regulatory approval criteria. Regulatory approval of an NDA, BLA, or supplement is never guaranteed. The approval process can take several years, is extremely expensive and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity, and novelty of the products involved, as well as the target indications. Our licensees ultimately may not be able to obtain approval in a timely fashion or at all.

The FDA and foreign health authorities have substantial discretion in the drug and biologics approval processes. Despite the time and expense incurred, failure can occur at any stage, and our potential development partners could encounter problems that cause abandonment of clinical trials or to repeat or perform additional preclinical, clinical or manufacturing-related studies.

Changes in the regulatory approval policy during the development period, changes in, or the enactment of additional regulations or statutes, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application.

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The FDA and other regulatory agencies have substantial discretion in both the product approval process and manufacturing facility approval process, and as a result of this discretion and uncertainties about outcomes of testing, we cannot predict at what point, or whether, the FDA or other regulatory agencies will be satisfied with our licensees’ submissions or whether the FDA or other regulatory agencies will raise questions that may be material and delay or preclude product approval or manufacturing facility approval. In light of this discretion and the complexities of the scientific, medical and regulatory environment, our or our licensees’ interpretati on or understanding of the FDA’s or other regulatory agencies’ requirements, guidelines or expectations may prove incorrect, which also could delay further or increase the cost of the approval process.

Our licensees face uncertain results of clinical trials of product candidates.

Drug development has inherent risk, and our licensees are required to demonstrate through adequate and well-controlled clinical trials that product candidates are effective, with a favorable benefit-risk profile for use in their target profiles before they can seek regulatory approvals for commercial use. It is possible we or our licensees may never receive regulatory approval for any licensed product candidates. Even if a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the resulting product may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and the medical community.

Our licensees’ product candidates require significant additional research and development, extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials and regulatory approval prior to any commercial sales. This process is lengthy and expensive, often taking a number of years. As clinical results frequently are susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals, the length of time necessary to complete clinical trials and to submit an application for marketing approval for a final decision by a regulatory authority varies significantly. As a result, it is uncertain whether:

The timing of the commencement, continuation and completion of clinical trials by our licensees may be subject to significant delays relating to various causes, including failure to complete preclinical testing and earlier-stage clinical trials in a timely manner, engaging contract research organizations and other service providers, scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and clinical institutions, changes in key personnel at clinical institutions, difficulties in identifying and enrolling patients who meet trial eligibility criteria and shortages of available drug supply. In addition, since we license our product candidates to others to fund and conduct clinical trials, we have limited control over how quickly and efficiently such licensees advance those trials. Patient enrollment is a function of many factors, including the size of the patient population, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the concentration of patients in specialist centers, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the existence of competing clinical trials and the availability of alternative or new treatments. Regardless of the initial size or relative complexity of a clinical trial, the costs of such trial may be higher than expected due to increases in duration or size of the trial, changes in the protocol under which the trial is being conducted, additional or special requirements of one or more of the healthcare centers where the trial is being conducted, or changes in the regulatory requirements applicable to the trial or in the standards or guidelines for approval of the product candidate being tested or for other unforeseen reasons.

In addition, our licensees conduct clinical trials in foreign countries, which may subject us to further delays and expenses as a result of increased drug shipment costs, additional regulatory requirements and the engagement of foreign clinical research organizations, and may expose us to risks associated with foreign currency transactions to make contract payments denominated in the foreign currency where the trial is being conducted.

All of our licensees’ product candidates are prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. Preclinical studies may not yield results that satisfactorily support the filing of an Investigational New Drug application (“IND”) (or a foreign equivalent) with respect to our product candidates. Even if these applications would be or have been filed with respect to our product candidates, the results of preclinical studies do not necessarily predict the results of clinical trials. Similarly, early stage clinical trials may not predict the results of later-stage clinical trials, including the safety and efficacy profiles of any particular product candidates.

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In addition, there can be no assurance the design of our licensees’ c linical trials will be focused on appropriate indications, patient populations, dosing regimens or other variables that will result in obtaining the desired efficacy data to support regulatory approval to commercialize the drug. Moreover, FDA officials or foreign regulatory agency officials may question the integrity of our data or otherwise subject our licensees’ clinical trials to additional scrutiny when the clinical trials are conducted by principal investigators who serve, or previously served, as scie ntific advisors or consultants to us and receive cash compensation in connection with such services. Preclinical and clinical data can also be interpreted in different ways. Accordingly, FDA officials or officials from foreign regulatory authorities could interpret the data differently than we or our collaboration or development partners do, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval.

Administering any of our product candidates may produce undesirable side effects, also known as adverse effects. Toxicities and adverse effects that we have observed in preclinical studies for some compounds in a particular research and development program may occur in preclinical studies or clinical trials of other compounds from the same program. Such toxicities or adverse effects could delay or prevent the filing of an IND (or a foreign equivalent) with respect to such product candidates or cause us to cease clinical trials with respect to any drug candidate. In clinical trials, administering any of our product candidates to humans may produce adverse effects. These adverse effects could interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials of our product candidates and could result in the FDA or other regulatory authorities denying approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The FDA, other regulatory authorities, our development partners or we may suspend or terminate clinical trials at any time. Even if one or more of our product candidates were approved for sale, the occurrence of even a limited number of toxicities or adverse effects when used in large populations may cause the FDA or other regulatory authorities to impose restrictions on, or stop, the further marketing of such drugs. Indications of potential adverse effects or toxicities that may occur in clinical trials and that we believe are not significant during the course of such clinical trials may actually turn out later to constitute serious adverse effects or toxicities when a drug has been used in large populations or for extended periods of time. Any failure or significant delay in completing preclinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidates, or in receiving and maintaining regulatory approval for the sale of any drugs resulting from our product candidates, may severely harm our reputation and business.

Products and technologies of other companies may render some or all of our licensees’ product candidates noncompetitive or obsolete.

Developments by others may render our licensees’ product candidates or technologies obsolete or uncompetitive. Technologies developed and utilized by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are changing continuously and substantially. Competition in antibody-based technologies is intense and is expected to increase in the future as a number of established biotechnology firms and large chemical and pharmaceutical companies advance in these fields. Many of these competitors may be able to develop products and processes competitive with or superior to our own for many reasons, including that they may have:

These factors may enable others to develop products and processes competitive with or superior to our own or those of our licensees. In addition, a significant amount of research in biotechnology is being carried out in universities and other non-profit research organizations. These entities are becoming increasingly interested in the commercial value of their work and may become more aggressive in seeking patent protection and licensing arrangements. Furthermore, many companies and universities tend not to announce or disclose important discoveries or development programs until their patent position is secure or, for other reasons, later. As a result, we and our licensees may not be able to track development of competitive products, particularly at the early stages.

Positive developments in connection with a potentially competing product may have an adverse impact on our revenue derived from development milestones. For example, if another product is perceived to have a competitive advantage, or another product’s failure is perceived to increase the likelihood that our licensed product will fail, our licensees may halt development of our licensed product candidates.

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Our licensees may be unable to price our products effectively or obtai n adequate reimbursement for sales of our products, which would prevent our products from becoming profitable.

If our third-party licensees succeed in bringing our product candidates to the market, they may not be considered cost effective, and reimbursement to the patient may not be available or may not be sufficient to allow us to sell our products on a competitive basis. In both the United States and elsewhere, sales of medical products and treatments are dependent, in part, on the availability of reimbursement to the patient from third-party payors, such as government and private insurance plans. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for pharmaceutical products and services. Our business is affected by the efforts of government and third-party payors to contain or reduce the cost of healthcare through various means. In the United States, there have been and will continue to be a number of federal and state proposals to implement government controls on pricing.

In addition, the emphasis on managed care in the United States has increased and will continue to increase the pressure on the pricing of pharmaceutical products. We cannot predict whether any legislative or regulatory proposals will be adopted or the effect these proposals or managed care efforts may have on our business.

We do not know whether there will be, or will continue to be, a viable market for the product candidates in which we have an ownership or royalty interest.

Even if product candidates in which we have an interest receive approval in the future, they may not be accepted in the marketplace. In addition, we or our licensees may experience difficulties in launching new products, many of which are novel and based on technologies that are unfamiliar to the healthcare community. We have no assurance healthcare providers and patients will accept such products, if developed. Similarly, physicians may not accept a product if they believe other products to be more effective or more cost effective or are more comfortable prescribing other products.

Furthermore, government agencies, as well as private organizations involved in healthcare, from time to time publish guidelines or recommendations to healthcare providers and patients. Such guidelines or recommendations can be very influential and may adversely affect product usage directly (for example, by recommending a decreased dosage of a product in conjunction with a concomitant therapy) or indirectly (for example, by recommending a competitive product over our product). Consequently, we do not know if physicians or patients will adopt or use our products for their approved indications.

Even approved and marketed products are subject to risks relating to changes in the market for such products. Introduction or increased availability of generic or biosimilar versions of products can alter the market acceptance of branded products. In addition, unforeseen safety issues may arise at any time, regardless of the length of time a product has been on the market.

We are exposed to an increased risk of product liability claims.

The testing, marketing and sales of medical products entails an inherent risk of allegations of product liability. In the past, we were party to product liability claims filed against Genentech Inc. and, even though Genentech agreed to indemnify us in connection with these matters and these matters have been settled, there can be no assurance other product liability lawsuits will not result in liability to us or that our insurance or contractual arrangements will provide us with adequate protection against such liabilities. In the event of one or more large, unforeseen awards of damages against us, our product liability insurance may not provide adequate coverage. A significant product liability claim for which we were not covered by insurance or indemnified by a third party would have to be paid from cash or other assets, which could have an adverse effect on our business and the value of our common stock. To the extent we have sufficient insurance coverage, such a claim would result in higher subsequent insurance rates. In addition, product liability claims can have various other ramifications, including loss of future sales opportunities, increased costs associated with replacing products, a negative impact on our goodwill and reputation, and divert our management’s attention from our business, each of which could also adversely affect our business and operating results.

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If we and our partners are unable to protect our intellectual property, in particular ou r patent protection for our principal products, product candidates and processes, and prevent the use of the covered subject matter by third parties, our licensees’ ability to compete in the market will be harmed, and we may not realize our profit potentia l.

We rely on patent protection, as well as a combination of copyright, trade secret, and trademark laws to protect our proprietary technology and prevent others from duplicating our products or product candidates. However, these means may afford only limited protection and may not:

Because of the length of time and the expense associated with bringing new products to the marketplace, we and our collaboration and development partners hold and are in the process of applying for a number of patents in the United States and abroad to protect our product candidates and important processes and also have obtained or have the right to obtain exclusive licenses to certain patents and applications filed by others. However, the mere issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its validity or its enforceability.

The U.S. Federal Courts, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office or equivalent national courts or patent offices elsewhere may invalidate our patents or find them unenforceable. The America Invents Act introduced post-grant review procedures subjecting U.S. patents to post-grant review procedures similar to European oppositions. U.S. patents owned or licensed by us may therefore be subject to post-grant review procedures, as well as other forms of review and re-examination. A decision in such proceedings adverse to our interests could result in the loss of valuable patent rights, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights effectively or to the same extent as the laws of the United States.

If our intellectual property rights are not protected adequately, our licensees may not be able to commercialize our technologies or products, and our competitors could commercialize our technologies or products, which could result in a decrease in our licensees’ sales and market share that would harm our business and operating results. Specifically, the patent position of biotechnology companies generally is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. The legal standards governing the validity of biotechnology patents are in transition, and current defenses as to issued biotechnology patents may not be adequate in the future. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to:

If certain patents issued to others are upheld or if certain patent applications filed by others issue and are upheld, our licensees may require licenses from others to develop and commercialize certain potential products incorporating our technology or we may become involved in litigation to determine the proprietary rights of others. These licenses, if required, may not be available on acceptable terms, and any such litigation may be costly and may have other adverse effects on our business, such as inhibiting our licensees’ ability to compete in the marketplace and absorbing significant management time.

Due to the uncertainties regarding biotechnology patents, we also have relied and will continue to rely upon trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological advancement to develop and maintain our competitive position. Our employees and contractors are typically required to sign confidentiality agreements under which they agree not to use or disclose any of our proprietary information. Research and development contracts and relationships between us and our scientific consultants and potential licensees provide access to aspects of our know-how that are protected generally under confidentiality agreements. These confidentiality agreements may be breached or may not be enforced by a court. To the extent proprietary information is divulged to competitors or to the public generally, such disclosure may affect our licensees’ ability to develop or commercialize our products adversely by giving others a competitive advantage or by undermining our patent position.

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Litigation regarding intellectual property can be costly and expose us to risks of counterclaims against us.

We may be required to engage in litigation or other proceedings to protect our intellectual property. The cost to us of this litigation, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Such litigation also could divert management’s attention and resources. If this litigation is resolved against us, our patents may be declared invalid, and we could be held liable for significant damages.

In addition, we may be subject to claims that we, or our licensees, are infringing other parties’ patents. If such claims are resolved against us, we or our licensees may be enjoined from developing, manufacturing, selling or importing products, processes or services unless we obtain a license from the other party. Such license may not be available on reasonable terms, thus preventing us, or our licensees, from using these products, processes or services and adversely affecting our revenue.

Risks Related to Employees, Location, Data Integrity, and Litigation

The loss of key personnel, including our Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer, could delay or prevent achieving our objectives.

Our business efforts could be affected adversely by the loss of one or more key members of our staff, particularly our executive officers: James R. Neal, our Chief Executive Officer and Thomas Burns, our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. We currently do not have key person insurance on any of our employees.

Because we are a small biopharmaceutical company with limited resources, we may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel.

After a series of restructuring activities during 2016 and 2017, we had 12 employees as of May 7, 2018. We may require additional experienced executive, accounting, legal, administrative and other personnel from time to time in the future. There is intense competition for the services of these personnel, especially in California. Moreover, we expect that the high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters are located, may impair our ability to attract and retain employees in the future. If we do not succeed in attracting new personnel and retaining and motivating existing personnel, our business may suffer and we may be unable to implement our current initiatives or grow effectively.

Calamities, power shortages or power interruptions at our Emeryville headquarters could disrupt our business and adversely affect our operations.

Our principal operations are located in Northern California, including our corporate headquarters in Emeryville, California. This location is in an area of seismic activity near active earthquake faults. Any earthquake, terrorist attack, fire, power shortage or other calamity affecting our facilities may disrupt our business and could have material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system failures.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our current and any future licensees, suppliers, contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from cyber−attacks, computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. We could experience failures in our information systems and computer servers, which could be the result of a cyber−attack and could result in an interruption of our normal business operations and require substantial expenditure of financial and administrative resources to remedy. System failures, accidents or security breaches can cause interruptions in our operations and can result in a material disruption of our development programs and other business operations. The loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Similarly, we rely on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, and conduct clinical trials of our product candidates, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the development of any of our product candidates could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

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Data breaches and cyber-attacks could compromise our intellectu al property or other sensitive information and cause significant damage to our business and reputation.

In the ordinary course of our business, we maintain sensitive data on our networks, including our intellectual property and proprietary or confidential business information relating to our business and that of our customers and business partners. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our business and reputation. We believe companies have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. These threats can come from a variety of sources, all ranging in sophistication from an individual hacker to a state-sponsored attack. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. Our network and storage applications may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers or breached due to operator error, malfeasance or other system disruptions. It is often difficult to anticipate or immediately detect such incidents and the damage caused by such incidents. These data breaches and any unauthorized access or disclosure of our information or intellectual property could compromise our intellectual property and expose sensitive business information. A data security breach could also lead to public exposure of personal information of our clinical trial patients, customers and others which could expose us to liability under federal or state privacy laws. Cyber-attacks result in the theft of proprietary information which could be used to compete against us and could cause us to incur significant remediation costs, result in product development delays, disrupt key business operations and divert attention of management and key information technology resources. These incidents could also subject us to liability, expose us to significant expense and cause significant harm to our reputation and business.

Significant disruptions of information technology systems, including cloud-based systems, or breaches of data security could adversely affect our business.*

Our business is increasingly dependent on critical, complex and interdependent information technology systems, including cloud-based systems, to support business processes as well as internal and external communications. Our computer systems, and those of our partners and contractors, are potentially vulnerable to breakdown, malicious intrusion and computer viruses that may result in the impairment of key business processes. Such disruptions and breaches of security could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our data security and information technology systems, as well as those of our partners and contractors, are potentially vulnerable to data security breaches, whether by employees or others, that may expose sensitive data or personal information to unauthorized persons. Effective May 25, 2018, the European Union (“EU”) will implement the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) a broad data protection framework that expands the scope of current EU data protection law to non-European Union entities that process, or control the processing of, the personal information of EU subjects, including clinical trial data. The GDPR allows for the imposition of fines and/or corrective action on entities that improperly use or disclose the personal information of EU subjects, including through a data security breach. Accordingly, data security breaches experienced by us, our partners or contractors could lead to significant fines, required corrective action, the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, public disclosure of sensitive clinical or commercial data, and the exposure of personally identifiable information (including sensitive personal information) of our employees, partners, and others. A data security breach or privacy violation that leads to disclosure or modification of or prevents access to patient information, including personally identifiable information or protected health information, could result in fines, increased costs or loss of revenue as a result of:

• harm to our reputation;

• fines imposed on us by regulatory authoriti es;

• additional compliance obligations under federal, state or foreign laws;

• requirements for mandatory corrective action to be taken by us; and

• requirements to verify the correctness of database contents and otherwise subject us to liability under laws and regulations that protect personal data.

If we are unable to prevent such data security breaches or privacy violations or implement satisfactory remedial measures, our operations could be disrupted, and we may suffer loss of reputation, financial loss and other regulatory penalties because of lost or misappropriated information, including sensitive patient data. In addition, these breaches and other inappropriate access can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm of the type described above. Moreover, the prevalent use of mobile devices that access confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches, which could lead to the loss of confidential information, trade secrets or other intellectual property. While we have implemented security measures to protect our data security and information technology systems, such measures may not prevent such events.

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Shareholder lawsuits, and potential similar or related lawsuits, could result in substant ial damages, divert management’s time and attention from our business, and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Securities-related class action and shareholder derivative litigation has often been brought against companies, including many biotechnology companies, which experience volatility in the market price of their securities. This risk is especially relevant for us because biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies often experience significant stock price volatility in connection with their product development programs.

It is possible that suits will be filed, or allegations received from stockholders, naming us and/or our officers and directors as defendants. These potential lawsuits are subject to inherent uncertainties, and the actual defense and disposition costs will depend upon many unknown factors. The outcome of these lawsuits are uncertain. We could be forced to expend significant resources in the defense of these suits and we may not prevail. In addition, we may incur substantial legal fees and costs in connection with these lawsuits. It is possible that we could, in the future, incur judgments or enter into settlements of claims for monetary damages. A decision adverse to our interests on these actions could result in the payment of substantial damages, or possibly fines, and could have a material adverse effect on our cash flow, results of operations and financial position.

Monitoring, initiating and defending against legal actions, including any currently pending litigation, are time-consuming for our management, are likely to be expensive and may detract from our ability to fully focus our internal resources on our business activities. The outcome of litigation is always uncertain, and in some cases could include judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin us from certain activities, or otherwise affect our legal or contractual rights, which could have a significant adverse effect on our business. In addition, the inherent uncertainty of any future litigation could lead to increased volatility in our stock price and a decrease in the value of an investment in our common stock.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

Even after FDA approval, a product may be subject to additional testing or significant marketing restrictions, its approval may be withdrawn or it may be removed voluntarily from the market.

Even if we or our licensees receive regulatory approval for our product candidates, we or our licensees will be subject to ongoing regulatory oversight and review by the FDA and other regulatory entities. The FDA, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”), or another regulatory agency may impose, as a condition of the approval, ongoing requirements for post-approval studies or post-approval obligations, including additional research and development and clinical trials, and the FDA, EMA or other regulatory agency subsequently may withdraw approval based on these additional trials.

Even for approved products, the FDA, EMA or other regulatory agency may impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses, conditions for use, labeling, advertising, promotion, marketing and production of such product. In addition, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and record-keeping for our products are subject to extensive regulatory requirements.

Furthermore, marketing approval of a product may be withdrawn by the FDA, the EMA or another regulatory agency or such a product may be withdrawn voluntarily by us based, for example, on subsequently arising safety concerns. The FDA, EMA and other agencies also may impose various civil or criminal sanctions for failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including withdrawal of product approval.

Healthcare reform measures and other statutory or regulatory changes could adversely affect our business.

The United States and some foreign jurisdictions have enacted or are considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our or our licensees’ ability to sell our products, if approved, profitably. Among policy makers and payers in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives.

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An expansion in the government’s role in the U.S. healthcare industry may cause general downward pressure on the prices of prescription drug products, lower reimbursements for providers, reduced product utilization and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Moreover, certain politicians have announced plans to regulate the prices of pharmaceutical products. We cannot know what form any such legislation may take or the market’s perception of how such legislation would affect us. Any reduction in reimbursement from government pr ograms may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our current pro duct candidates and those for which we may receive regulatory approval in the future. In addition, given the uncertainties related to the Trump Administration’s stated goal of letting the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) fail, we cannot be certain that curr ent provisions of the ACA will continue to cover prescription drug products.

We and our licensees are subject to various state and federal healthcare-related laws and regulations that may impact the commercialization of our product candidates or could subject us to significant fines and penalties.

Our operations may be directly or indirectly subject to various state and federal healthcare laws, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal False Claims Act and state and federal privacy and security laws. These laws may impact, among other things, the commercial operations for any of our product candidates that may be approved for commercial sale.

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in exchange for or to induce either the referral of an individual, or the furnishing or arranging for a good or service for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Several courts have interpreted the statute’s intent requirement to mean that if any one purpose of an arrangement involving remuneration is to induce referrals of federal healthcare covered business, the statute has been violated. The Anti-Kickback Statute is broad and prohibits many arrangements and practices that are lawful in businesses outside of the healthcare industry. Penalties for violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute include criminal penalties and civil sanctions such as fines, penalties, imprisonment and possible exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs.

The federal False Claims Act prohibits persons from knowingly filing, or causing to be filed, a false claim to, or the knowing use of false statements to obtain payment from the federal government. Suits filed under the False Claims Act, known as “qui tam” actions, can be brought by any individual on behalf of the government and such individuals, commonly known as “whistleblowers,” may share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. The filing of qui tam actions has caused a number of pharmaceutical, medical device and other healthcare companies to have to defend a False Claims Act action. When an entity is determined to have violated the False Claims Act, it may be required to pay up to three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus civil penalties for each separate false claim. Various states also have enacted laws modeled after the federal False Claims Act.

The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), created new federal criminal statutes that prohibit executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program and making false statements relating to healthcare matters. The health care fraud statute prohibits knowingly and willfully executing a scheme to defraud any health care benefit program, including private payors. The statute prohibits knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for health care benefits, items or services. HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act, and its implementing regulations, also impose certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information. We take our obligation to maintain our compliance with these various laws and regulations seriously.

Many states also have adopted laws similar to each of the federal laws described above, some of which apply to healthcare items or services reimbursed by any source, not only the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, some states have laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources, and to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers; and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts.

Because of the breadth of these laws, it is possible that some of our or our licensees’ business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws.

If we or our licensees are found to be in violation of any of the laws and regulations described above or other applicable state and federal healthcare laws, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from government healthcare reimbursement programs and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

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As we or our licensees do more business internationally, we will be subject to additional political, economic and regulatory uncertainties.

We or our licensees may not be able to operate successfully in any foreign market. We believe that because the pharmaceutical industry is global in nature, international activities will be a significant part of future business activities and when and if we or our licensees are able to generate income, a substantial portion of that income will be derived from product sales and other activities outside the United States. Foreign regulatory agencies often establish standards different from those in the United States, and an inability to obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis could put us at a competitive disadvantage or make it uneconomical to proceed with a product or product candidate’s development. International sales may be limited or disrupted by: