Table of Contents

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington,WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2019

or

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission File Number 000-50549

 

(Mark One)

xQUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIESEXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2017

OR

oTRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIESEXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                     to

Commission file number: 000-50549

GTx,Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

 

62-171580746-4137807

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S.IRS Employer

Identification No.)

175 Toyota Plaza
7th Floor
Memphis, Tennessee

 

38103

12230 El Camino Real, Suite 300,

San Diego CA

92130

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

(Zip Code)

(901) 523-9700(858) 434-1113

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 


Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class

Trading

Symbol(s)

Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, $0.001 par value

ONCT

The Nasdaq Capital Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x    No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filero

Accelerated filero

Non-accelerated filero (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

Smaller reporting companyx

 

Emerging growth companyo

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).      Yes o    No x

As of November 09, 2017, 21,541,909August 6, 2019, the registrant had 15,384,764 shares of the registrant’s Common Stock werecommon stock outstanding.

 

 


Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

FORM 10-Q

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 



Table of Contents

GTx, INC.

FORM 10-Q FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2017

INDEX

PAGE

PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1.

Financial Statements (unaudited)

 

 

 

 

Item 1.

Condensed Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)

3

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

3

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

4

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

5

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

7

Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

8

Item 2.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

22

Item 3.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

31

Item 4.

Controls and Procedures

32

 

 

 

PART II - OTHER INFORMATION

Condensed Statements of Operations for the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017 and 2016

4

 

 

 

Item 1.

Condensed Statements of Cash Flows for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017 and 2016Legal Proceedings

533

Item 1A.

Risk Factors

33

Item 2.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

80

Item 3.

Defaults Upon Senior Securities

80

Item 4.

Mine Safety Disclosures

80

Item 5.

Other Information

80

Item 6.

Exhibits

81

 

 

 

Signatures

Notes to Condensed Financial Statements

6

Item 2.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

13

Item 3.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

22

Item 4.

Controls and Procedures

22

PART II — OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1A.

Risk Factors

23

Item 6.

Exhibits

4285


PART I:  FINANCIALI - FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1.  Financial Statements

Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

ITEM 1.FINANCIAL STATEMENTSCondensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

GTx, Inc.

CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share data)par value)

 

 

 

September 30,

 

December 31,

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

 

 

(unaudited)

 

 

 

ASSETS

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

53,431

 

$

8,910

 

Short-term investments

 

200

 

12,959

 

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

 

2,049

 

2,429

 

Total current assets

 

55,680

 

24,298

 

Property and equipment, net

 

57

 

81

 

Intangible assets, net

 

112

 

123

 

Total assets

 

$

55,849

 

$

24,502

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

$

2,451

 

$

1,220

 

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

 

6,828

 

3,391

 

Total current liabilities

 

9,279

 

4,611

 

Commitments and contingencies

 

 

 

 

 

Stockholders’ equity:

 

 

 

 

 

Common stock, $0.001 par value: 60,000,000 shares authorized at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016; 21,541,909 and 15,919,572 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively

 

22

 

16

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

598,908

 

551,073

 

Accumulated deficit

 

(552,360

)

(531,198

)

Total stockholders’ equity

 

46,570

 

19,891

 

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

 

$

55,849

 

$

24,502

 

 

 

June 30,

2019

 

 

December 31,

2018

 

 

 

(Unaudited)

 

 

 

 

 

Assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

28,516

 

 

$

20,645

 

Prepaid and other assets

 

 

1,355

 

 

 

565

 

Total current assets

 

 

29,871

 

 

 

21,210

 

Right-of-use asset

 

 

265

 

 

 

 

Other assets

 

 

767

 

 

 

752

 

Total assets

 

$

30,903

 

 

$

21,962

 

Liabilities, Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

$

2,765

 

 

$

3,440

 

Accrued liabilities

 

 

2,550

 

 

 

891

 

Deferred grant revenue

 

 

2,387

 

 

 

 

Current portion of lease liability

 

 

139

 

 

 

 

Total current liabilities

 

 

7,841

 

 

 

4,331

 

Preferred stock warrant liability

 

 

 

 

 

674

 

Lease liability

 

 

126

 

 

 

 

Commitments and contingencies (Notes 3 and 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Convertible preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; authorized shares - none and 130,100

   at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively; issued and outstanding – none

   and 8,148 at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively; liquidation

   preference of $0 and $48,954 at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively

 

 

 

 

 

46,588

 

Stockholders’ equity (deficit):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, authorized shares – 5,000 shares and none

   at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively; issued and

   outstanding shares – none

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common stock, $0.001 par value; authorized shares – 60,000 and 200,000

   shares at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively; issued and

   outstanding shares – 15,370 and 3,762 at June 30, 2019 and

   December 31, 2018, respectively

 

 

15

 

 

 

5

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

 

79,445

 

 

 

1,748

 

Accumulated deficit

 

 

(56,524

)

 

 

(31,384

)

Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)

 

 

22,936

 

 

 

(29,631

)

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity (deficit)

 

$

30,903

 

 

$

21,962

 

 

TheSee accompanying notes are an integral partnotes.


Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of these condensed financial statements.

GTx, Inc.Operations

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited; in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

 

Nine Months Ended

 

 

 

September 30,

 

September 30,

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

2017

 

2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development expenses

 

$

5,914

 

$

4,614

 

$

14,555

 

$

12,643

 

General and administrative expenses

 

2,617

 

2,313

 

6,701

 

6,426

 

Total expenses

 

8,531

 

6,927

 

21,256

 

19,069

 

Loss from operations

 

(8,531

)

(6,927

)

(21,256

)

(19,069

)

Other income, net

 

27

 

13

 

94

 

46

 

Gain on change in fair value of warrant liability

 

 

 

 

8,163

 

Net loss

 

$

(8,504

)

$

(6,914

)

$

(21,162

)

$

(10,860

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss per share — basic and diluted

 

$

(0.53

)

$

(0.49

)

$

(1.32

)

$

(0.77

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic and diluted

 

16,115,835

 

14,189,226

 

16,059,383

 

14,172,177

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

June 30,

 

 

Six Months Ended

June 30,

 

 

 

 

2019

 

 

 

2018

 

 

 

2019

 

 

 

2018

 

Grant revenue

 

$

 

674

 

 

$

 

1,527

 

 

$

 

1,144

 

 

$

 

1,715

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

 

 

2,587

 

 

 

 

3,513

 

 

 

 

4,483

 

 

 

 

4,802

 

In-process research and development

 

 

 

18,088

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18,088

 

 

 

 

 

General and administrative

 

 

 

1,619

 

 

 

 

555

 

 

 

 

2,551

 

 

 

 

1,136

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

 

22,294

 

 

 

 

4,068

 

 

 

 

25,122

 

 

 

 

5,938

 

Loss from operations

 

 

 

(21,620

)

 

 

 

(2,541

)

 

 

 

(23,978

)

 

 

 

(4,223

)

Other income (expense):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Change in fair value of warrant liability

 

 

 

(1,285

)

 

 

 

114

 

 

 

 

(1,268

)

 

 

 

77

 

     Other income

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

216

 

     Interest expense

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1

)

     Interest income

 

 

 

59

 

 

 

 

15

 

 

 

 

106

 

 

 

 

28

 

Total other income (expense)

 

 

 

(1,226

)

 

 

 

129

 

 

 

 

(1,162

)

 

 

 

320

 

Net loss

 

$

 

(22,846

)

 

$

 

(2,412

)

 

$

 

(25,140

)

 

$

 

(3,903

)

Net loss per share, basic and diluted

 

$

 

(3.38

)

 

$

 

(0.68

)

 

$

 

(4.81

)

 

$

 

(1.10

)

Weighted-average shares outstanding, basic and diluted

 

 

 

6,765

 

 

 

 

3,573

 

 

 

5,229

 

 

 

 

3,555

 

 

TheSee accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed financial statements.

GTx, Inc.

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(in thousands)

(unaudited)

 

 

Nine Months Ended

 

 

 

September 30,

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

Cash flows from operating activities:

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(21,162

)

$

(10,860

)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:

 

 

 

 

 

Gain on change in fair value of warrant liability

 

 

(8,163

)

Depreciation and amortization

 

35

 

17

 

Share-based compensation

 

2,225

 

2,318

 

Directors’ deferred compensation

 

124

 

92

 

Changes in assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

Prepaid expenses and other assets

 

380

 

537

 

Accounts payable

 

1,231

 

841

 

Accrued expenses and other liabilities

 

3,437

 

(300

)

Net cash used in operating activities

 

(13,730

)

(15,518

)

Cash flows from investing activities:

 

 

 

 

 

Purchase of property and equipment

 

 

(90

)

Purchase of short-term investments, held to maturity

 

(11,400

)

(22,400

)

Proceeds from maturities of short-term investments, held to maturity

 

24,159

 

32,400

 

Net cash provided by investing activities

 

12,759

 

9,910

 

Cash flows from financing activities:

 

 

 

 

 

Net proceeds from the issuance of common stock and warrants

 

45,648

 

 

Tax payments related to shares withheld for vested restricted stock units

 

(156

)

(210

)

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

 

45,492

 

(210

)

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

 

44,521

 

(5,818

)

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period

 

8,910

 

14,056

 

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

 

$

53,431

 

$

8,238

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed financial statements.

GTx, Inc.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)notes.

 


1.  BusinessOncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Convertible Preferred Stock and BasisStockholders' Equity (Deficit)

(Unaudited; in thousands)

 

 

Convertible Preferred

Stock

 

 

Common Stock

 

 

Additional

Paid-In

 

 

Accumulated

 

 

Total

Stockholders’

 

 

 

Shares

 

 

Amount

 

 

Shares

 

 

Amount

 

 

Capital

 

 

Deficit

 

 

Equity

(Deficit)

 

Balance at December 31, 2018

 

 

8,148

 

 

$

46,588

 

 

 

3,762

 

 

$

5

 

 

$

1,748

 

 

$

(31,384

)

 

$

(29,631

)

Exercise of stock options for cash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

Vesting related to repurchase liability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

 

Stock-based compensation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

39

 

 

 

 

 

 

39

 

Net loss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2,294

)

 

 

(2,294

)

Balance at March 31, 2019

 

 

8,148

 

 

 

46,588

 

 

 

3,764

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

1,793

 

 

 

(33,678

)

 

 

(31,880

)

Issuance of common stock to former stockholders of GTx upon

   Merger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,458

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

29,047

 

 

 

 

 

 

29,049

 

Conversion of convertible preferred stock into common stock

   upon Merger

 

 

(8,148

)

 

 

(46,588

)

 

 

8,148

 

 

 

8

 

 

 

46,580

 

 

 

 

 

 

46,588

 

Reclassification of convertible preferred stock warrant liability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,942

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,942

 

Vesting related to repurchase liability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20

 

 

 

 

 

 

20

 

Stock-based compensation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

63

 

 

 

 

 

 

63

 

Net loss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(22,846

)

 

 

(22,846

)

Balance at June 30, 2019

 

 

 

 

$

 

 

 

15,370

 

 

$

15

 

 

$

79,445

 

 

$

(56,524

)

 

$

22,936

 

See accompanying notes.


Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of PresentationConvertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders' Equity (Deficit)

(Unaudited; in thousands)

 

 

Convertible Preferred

Stock

 

 

Common Stock

 

 

Additional

Paid-In

 

 

Accumulated

 

 

Total

Stockholders’

 

 

 

Shares

 

 

Amount

 

 

Shares

 

 

Amount

 

 

Capital

 

 

Deficit

 

 

Equity

(Deficit)

 

Balance at December 31, 2017

 

 

5,653

 

 

$

28,715

 

 

 

3,745

 

 

$

5

 

 

$

1,522

 

 

$

(24,805

)

 

$

(23,278

)

Collection of stock subscription receivable

 

 

 

 

 

1,100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stock-based compensation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

43

 

 

 

 

 

 

43

 

Net loss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1,491

)

 

 

(1,491

)

Balance at March 31, 2018

 

 

5,653

 

 

 

29,815

 

 

 

3,745

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

1,565

 

 

 

(26,296

)

 

 

(24,726

)

Issuance of restricted common shares

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stock-based compensation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

41

 

 

 

 

 

 

41

 

Net loss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2,412

)

 

 

(2,412

)

Balance at June 30, 2018

 

 

5,653

 

 

$

29,815

 

 

 

3,760

 

 

$

5

 

 

$

1,606

 

 

$

(28,708

)

 

$

(27,097

)

See accompanying notes.


Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(Unaudited; in thousands)

 

 

Six Months Ended

June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

Cash flows from operating activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(25,140

)

 

$

(3,903

)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In-process research and development

 

 

18,088

 

 

 

 

Noncash lease expense

 

 

13

 

 

 

 

Noncash other income

 

 

 

 

 

(216

)

Stock-based compensation

 

 

102

 

 

 

84

 

Noncash compensation expense

 

 

24

 

 

 

 

Noncash interest expense

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Change in fair value of preferred stock warrants liability

 

 

1,268

 

 

 

(77

)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepaid expenses and other assets

 

 

(663

)

 

 

(2,599

)

Accounts payable

 

 

(4,435

)

 

 

2,543

 

Change in operating lease liability

 

 

(13)

 

 

 

 

Accrued liabilities

 

 

(1,503

)

 

 

130

 

Deferred grant revenue

 

 

2,387

 

 

 

(1,246

)

Net cash used in operating activities

 

 

(9,872

)

 

 

(5,283

)

Cash flows from investing activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash acquired in connection with the Merger

 

 

18,292

 

 

 

 

Acquisition related costs paid

 

 

(551

)

 

 

 

Net cash provided by investing activities

 

 

17,741

 

 

 

 

Cash flows from financing activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proceeds from exercise of stock options

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

Proceeds from convertible preferred stock subscription

 

 

 

 

 

1,100

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

 

 

2

 

 

 

1,100

 

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

 

 

7,871

 

 

 

(4,183

)

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

 

 

20,645

 

 

 

10,188

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

 

$

28,516

 

 

$

6,005

 

Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conversion of convertible preferred stock into common stock

 

$

46,588

 

 

$

 

Issuance of common stock to GTx stockholders

 

$

29,049

 

 

$

 

Reclassification of preferred stock warrants liability to additional paid-in capital

 

$

1,942

 

 

$

 

Net liabilities assumed in Merger

 

$

5,177

 

 

$

 

Acquisition related costs included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities

 

$

1,604

 

 

$

 

See accompanying notes.

 


BusinessOncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

(Unaudited)

1.

Description of Business, Basisof Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business

Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company,” “Oncternal,” or the “combined company”), formerly known as GTx, Inc., was incorporated in Tennessee in September 1997 and reincorporated in Delaware in 2003 and is based in San Diego, California. The Company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class product candidates for cancers with critical unmet medical need. The Company’s clinical pipeline consists of its lead program, cirmtuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to ROR1 (Receptor-tyrosine kinase-like Orphan Receptor 1), and TK216, a small molecule inhibiting the biological activity of ETS-family transcription factor oncoproteins targeting patients with Ewing sarcoma. The Company is also developing a CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cells) product candidate that targets ROR1.

Merger

On March 6, 2019, the Company, then operating as GTx, Inc. (“GTx” or the “Company”), a Delaware corporation incorporated on September 24, 1997 and headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines to treat serious medical conditions, including stress urinary incontinence and prostate cancer.

The Company is developing selective androgen receptor modulators (“SARMs”), including its lead product candidate, enobosarm (GTx-024).  SARMs are a class of drugs that the Company believes has the potential to treat serious medical conditions where unmet medical needs in muscle-related diseases may benefit from increasing muscle mass, such as stress urinary incontinence (“SUI”) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (“DMD”).

In 2016, the Company initiated a Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial of enobosarm to treat postmenopausal women with SUI.  Based on the emerging data from this ongoing proof-of-concept clinical trial, the Company initiated a placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm to treat postmenopausal women with SUI in the third quarter of 2017.

The Company commenced enrollment in 2015 in a Phase 2 clinical trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 9 mg and 18 mg dose of enobosarm in patients whose advanced breast cancer is both estrogen receptor (“ER”) positive and androgen receptor (“AR”) positive.  The Company announced in November 2016 that enobosarm achieved the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint in the 9 mg dose cohort and announced in November 2017 that the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint was also achieved in the 18 mg dose cohort.   After evaluating the breast cancer environment where the treatment paradigms are shifting to immunotherapies and/or combination therapies, along with the time and cost of conducting the necessary clinical trials for approval, the Company has decided not to pursue additional clinical development of enobosarm for this indication.

The Company has also evaluated several SARM compounds, including enobosarm, in preclinical models of DMD where a SARM’s ability to increase muscle mass may prove beneficial to patients suffering from DMD.  The Company is actively seeking potential collaboration partners to further develop a SARM for the treatment of DMD.

In 2015, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreementAgreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization, as amended (the “Merger Agreement”), with the Universityprivately-held Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (“Private Oncternal”) and Grizzly Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tennessee Research Foundation (“UTRF”) to develop UTRF’s proprietary selective androgen receptor degrader (“SARD”) technology which may have the potential to provide compounds that can degrade multiple forms of AR to treat those patients who do not respond or are resistant to current therapies by inhibiting tumor growth in patients with progressive castration-resistant prostate cancer (“CRPC”).  The Company has ongoing mechanistic preclinical studies to select the most appropriate compound to potentially move into a first-in-human clinical trial.

On September 29, 2017, the Company completed(“Merger Sub”). Under the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Private Oncternal, with Private Oncternal surviving as a private placementwholly-owned subsidiary of units consistingthe Company (the “Merger”). On June 7, 2019, the Merger was completed.  GTx changed its name to Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., and Private Oncternal, which remains as a wholly-owned subsidiary of an aggregatethe Company, changed its name to Oncternal Oncology, Inc. On June 10, 2019, the combined company’s common stock began trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “ONCT.”

Except as otherwise indicated, references herein to “Oncternal,” “the Company,” the “combined company,” “we,” “us,” and “our,” refer to Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. on a post-Merger basis, and the term “Private Oncternal” refers to the business of 5,483,320privately-held Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., prior to completion of the Merger.  References to GTx refer to GTx, Inc. prior to completion of the Merger.  

Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, each outstanding share of Private Oncternal common stock outstanding immediately prior to the closing of the Merger was converted into approximately 0.073386 shares of Company common stock (the “Exchange Ratio”), after taking into account the Reverse Stock Split, as defined below. Immediately prior to the closing of the Merger, all shares of Private Oncternal preferred stock then outstanding were exchanged into shares of common stock of Private Oncternal. In addition, all outstanding options exercisable for common stock of Private Oncternal and warrants to purchase an aggregateexercisable for convertible preferred stock of 3,289,988Private Oncternal became options and warrants exercisable for the same number of shares of its common stock for net proceeds of $45,648, after deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses.

Basisthe Company multiplied by the Exchange Ratio. Immediately following the Merger, stockholders of Presentation

Private Oncternal owned approximately 77.5% of the outstanding common stock of the combined company.

The accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements reflect, in the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessarytransaction was accounted for as a fair presentation of GTx’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows for each period presentedreverse asset acquisition in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Under this method of accounting, Private Oncternal was deemed to be the accounting acquirer for interim financial informationreporting purposes. This determination was primarily based on the facts that, immediately following the Merger: (i) Private Oncternal’s stockholders owned a substantial majority of the voting rights in the combined company, (ii) Private Oncternal designated a majority of the members of the initial board of directors of the combined company, and with(iii) Private Oncternal’s senior management holds all key positions in the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10senior management of Regulation S-X.  Accordingly, information and footnote disclosures normally includedthe combined company. As a result, as of the closing date of the Merger, the net assets of the Company were recorded at their acquisition-date relative fair values in the condensed consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States have been condensed or omitted from the accompanying condensed financial statements.  These interim condensed financial

GTx, Inc.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and related notes thereto, which are included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.  Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of the Company and the reported operating results that mayprior to the Merger will be expected for the entire fiscal year ending December 31, 2017.those of Private Oncternal.  

Reverse Stock Split and Exchange Ratio

On December 5, 2016,June 7, 2019, in connection with, and prior to the completion of, the Merger, the Company effected a one-for-tenone-for-seven reverse stock split of its then outstanding common stock through an amendment to its restated certification of incorporation.  As(the “Reverse Stock Split”). The par value and the authorized shares of the effective timecommon stock were not adjusted as a result of the reverse stock split, every ten sharesReverse Stock Split. All of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock were automatically combined and reclassified into onehave been retroactively adjusted to reflect this Reverse Stock Split for all periods presented. All issued and outstanding share ofPrivate Oncternal common stock, without any change in par value per share.  The amendment to the Company’s restated certification of incorporation also reduced the number of authorized shares of commonpreferred stock, from 400,000,000 to 60,000,000 shares.  The reverse stock split affected all shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding immediatelyoptions and warrants prior to the effective timedate of the reverse stock split.  Additionally, as a resultMerger have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the Exchange Ratio for all periods presented.


Principles of Consolidation

The condensed consolidated financial statements include the reverse stock split, proportionate adjustments were made to the per share exercise price and/or the numberaccounts of shares issuable upon the exercise or vesting of all stock options, restricted stock units and warrants issued by the Company and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time, which resulted in a proportionate decreaseits wholly-owned subsidiaries, Oncternal Oncology, Inc. and Oncternal, Inc. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in the numberpreparation of sharesthe condensed consolidated financial statements.

Liquidity and Going Concern

From its inception through June 30, 2019, the Company has devoted substantially all of its efforts to organizational activities including raising capital, building infrastructure, acquiring assets, developing intellectual property, and conducting preclinical studies, clinical trials and product development activities. The Company has a limited operating history and the sales and income potential of the Company’s common stock reserved for issuance upon exercise or vestingbusiness and market are unproven. Since inception, the Company has experienced recurring net losses and negative cash flows from operating activities and expects to continue to incur losses into the foreseeable future. At June 30, 2019, the Company had an accumulated deficit of such stock options, restricted stock units$56.5 million and warrants,had cash and incash equivalents of $28.5 million. The Company believes that its existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund its operations into the casesecond quarter of stock options2020. The Company will need to continue to raise a substantial amount of funds until it is able to generate revenues to fund its development activities and warrants, a proportionate increase in the exercise price of all such stock options and warrants.  In addition, the number of shares reserved for issuance under the Company’s equity compensation plans immediately prior to the effective time was reduced proportionately.  No fractional shares were issued as a result of the reverse stock split.  Stockholders who have otherwise been entitled to receive a fractional share received a cash payment in lieu thereof.  All references to shares of common stock, all per share data, and all warrant, stock option and restricted stock unit (“RSU”) activity for all periods presented in theseoperations. The accompanying condensed financial statements and notes to the condensedconsolidated financial statements have been adjustedprepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and settlement of liabilities in the normal course of business. However, based on the Company’s current working capital, anticipated operating expenses and net losses and the uncertainties surrounding its ability to reflectraise additional capital as needed, as discussed below, the reverse stock splitCompany believes that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern for one year after the date these condensed consolidated financial statements are issued.

The Company plans to continue to fund its losses from operations and capital funding needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, government funding, or other sources, including, potentially, collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to obtain any sources of financing on a retroactive basis.acceptable terms, or at all. To the extent that the Company can raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, the Company’s stockholders may experience significant dilution. Any debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants that impact the Company’s ability to conduct its business.

 

UseUnaudited Interim Financial Information

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements at June 30, 2019, and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of Estimates

the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and with GAAP. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements and include all adjustments, consisting of only normal recurring accruals, which in the opinion of management are necessary to present fairly the Company’s financial position as of the interim date and results of operations for the interim periods presented. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for a full year or future periods. The preparation of condensed financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities the disclosureand disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual amounts and results could differ materially from those estimates. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the SEC on Form S-4/A on May 6, 2019.

Use of Estimates

The Warrant LiabilityCompany’s

In November 2014, condensed consolidatedfinancialstatements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation oftheCompany’s condensed consolidatedfinancialstatementsandaccompanyingnotes requires it to make estimates and assumptions that impact the Company issued warrantsreported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. Significant estimates consist of those used to purchase 6,430,948 shares of its common stock. The Company classified these warrants as a liability on its balance sheet since determine the warrants contained certain terms that could have required the Company (or its successor) to purchase the warrants for cash in an amount equal to the fair value (as calculated utilizing a contractually-agreed Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing valuation model (“Black-Scholes Model”)) of the unexercised portion of the warrants in connection with certain change of control transactions occurring on or priorCompany’s preferred stock, preferred stock warrant liability and stock-based awards, and those used to December 31, 2016, with such cash payment capped at an amount equal to $1.25 per unexercised share underlying each warrant.  As a result of the provision of the warrants requiring cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions, the Company was required to accountdetermine grant revenue and accruals for research and development costs. Although these warrants as a liability at fair value and the estimated warrant liability was required to be revalued at each balance sheet date until the earlier of the exercise of the warrants, the modification to remove the provision that could require cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions or the expiration of such provision on December 31, 2016.  Effective March 25, 2016, each of the warrants was amended by agreement of the warrant holders to remove the provision that could require cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions. These warrants were no longer accounted for as a liability subsequent to March 25, 2016.  The Company recorded a non-cash reclassification of the warrant fair value to stockholders’ equityestimates are based on the warrants’ fair value as Company’sknowledgeof current eventsandactions it may undertake in the March 25, 2016 modification date, with no further adjustments to the fair value of future, actual results may ultimately materially differ from these warrants being required.

estimates GTx, Inc.andassumptions.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTSCash and Cash Equivalents

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The carrying amounts of the Company’s financial instruments (which include cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments, and accounts payable) approximate their fair values.  The Company’s financial assets and liabilities are classified within a three-level fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value, which is defined as follows:

Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access at the measurement date

Level 2 – Inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly

Level 3 – Inputs that are unobservable for the asset or liability

As the Company has the positive intent and ability to hold its certificates of deposit classified as short-term investments until maturity, these investments have been classified as held to maturity investments and are stated at cost, which approximates fair value. The Company considers theseall highly liquid investments with maturities of three months or less when purchased to be Level 2cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents include cash in readily available checking accounts and money market accounts.


Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents. The Company maintains deposits in federally insured financial institutions in excess of federally insured limits. The Company has not experienced any losses in such accounts and believes it is not exposed to significant risk on its cash balances due to the financial position of the depository institution in which those deposits are held. Additionally, the Company established guidelines regarding approved investments as the fair values of these investments are determined using third-party pricing sources, which generally utilize observable inputs, such as interest rates and maturities of similar assets.investments, which are designed to maintain safety and liquidity.

Patent Costs

Costs related to filing and pursuing patent applications are recorded as general and administrative expense and expensed as incurred since recoverability of such expenditures is uncertain.

Research and Development Expenses

and Accruals

Research and development expenses include, but are not limited to,consist of costs incurred for the Company’s expensesown and for personnel, supplies,sponsored and facilitiescollaborative research and development activities. Research and development costs are expensed as incurred and include manufacturing process development costs, manufacturing costs, costs associated with research activities, screening and identification of product candidates, formulation and synthesis activities, manufacturing, preclinical studies toxicology studies,and clinical trials, regulatory and medical affairs activities, quality assurance activities, salaries and benefits, including stock-based compensation, fees paid to third-party consultants, license fees.  fees and overhead.

The Company expenses these costs in the period in which they are incurred. The Company estimates its liabilities forhas entered into various research and development contracts with research institutions, clinical research organizations, clinical manufacturing organizations and other companies. Payments for these activities are based on the terms of the individual agreements, which may differ from the pattern of costs incurred, and payments made in advance of performance are reflected in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets as prepaid expenses and other or accrued liabilities. The Company records accruals for estimated costs incurred for ongoing research and development activities. When evaluating the adequacy of the accrued liabilities, the Company analyzes progress of the services, including the phase or completion of events, invoices received and contracted costs. Significant judgments and estimates may be made in order to matchdetermining the recognitionprepaid or accrued balances at the end of expensesany reporting period. Actual results could differ from the Company’s estimates.

Preferred Stock Warrant Liability

Prior to the periodMerger, Private Oncternal had outstanding freestanding warrants to purchase shares of its Series B-2 convertible preferred stock (the “Series B-2 warrants”). Because the underlying Series B-2 convertible preferred stock was classified as temporary equity, the Series B-2 warrants were classified as a liability in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. Private Oncternal adjusted the carrying value of such Series B-2 warrants to their estimated fair value at each reporting date, with any related increases or decreases in the fair value recorded as an increase or decrease to other income (expense) in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. Upon the completion of the Merger, the Series B-2 warrants were amended such that they were converted into warrants to purchase the Company’s common stock. As amended, warrant liability accounting is no longer required and the fair value of the warrant liability has been reclassified into stockholders’ equity.

Fair Value Measurements

The accounting guidance defines fair value, establishes a consistent framework for measuring fair value and expands disclosure for each major asset and liability category measured at fair value on either a recurring or non-recurring basis. Fair value is defined as an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. As a basis for considering such assumptions, the accounting guidance establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value as follows:

Level 1: Observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets.

Level 2: Inputs, other than the quoted prices in active markets that are observable either directly or indirectly.

Level 3: Unobservable inputs in which there is little or no market data, which require the actual servicesreporting entity to develop its own assumptions.

The carrying amounts of the Company’s current financial assets and liabilities are received. considered to be representative of their respective fair values because of the short-term nature of those instruments. The Company has no financial assets or liabilities, other than the preferred stock warrant liability described below, measured at fair value on a recurring basis. No transfers between levels have occurred during the periods presented.


Liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis are as follows (in thousands):

 

 

Fair Value Measurements at

Reporting Date Using

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quoted Prices in

Active Markets

for Identical

Assets

 

 

Significant

Other

Observable

Inputs

 

 

Significant

Unobservable

Inputs

 

 

 

Total

 

 

(Level 1)

 

 

(Level 2)

 

 

(Level 3)

 

At December 31, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preferred stock warrant liability

 

$

674

 

 

$

 

 

$

 

 

$

674

 

As such, accrued liabilities relatedof December 31, 2018, the preferred stock warrant liability was recorded at fair value utilizing the Black-Scholes option pricing model using significant unobservable inputs consistent with the inputs used for the Company’s stock-based compensation expense adjusted for the preferred stock warrants’ expected term and the fair value of the underlying preferred stock.

The Company calculated the final remeasurement of the preferred stock warrant liability on June 7, 2019, the Merger closing date, using the closing price of GTx’s common stock on that date to third partydetermine the fair value of the warrants, and recorded a $1.3 million change in the fair value of the preferred stock warrant liability for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019.

The assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the fair value of the preferred stock warrant liability as of December 31, 2018 were as follows:

December 31,

2018

Fair value of underlying preferred stock

$ 0.29

Risk-free interest rate

2.4% — 2.7%

Expected volatility

75.3% — 76.4%

Expected term (in years)

3.7 — 4.0

Expected dividend yield

—%

The following table provides a reconciliation of the preferred stock warrant liability measured at fair value using Level 3 significant unobservable inputs (in thousands):

 

 

Preferred Stock

Warrant

Liability

 

Balance at December 31, 2018

 

$

674

 

Change in fair value

 

 

1,268

 

Reclassification of preferred stock warrant liability to equity

 

 

(1,942

)

Balance at June 30, 2019

 

$

 

Revenue Recognition

The Company currently generates revenue from a research subaward agreement from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (see Note 4), which provides the Company with payments in return for certain research and development activities over a contractually defined period. Revenue from such subaward is recognized in the period during which the related qualifying services are recognized based uponrendered and costs are incurred, provided that the applicable conditions under the subaward agreement have been met.

The subaward agreement is on a best-effort basis and does not require scientific achievement as a performance obligation. All fees received under the agreement are non-refundable. The costs associated with the agreement are expensed as incurred and reflected as a component of research and development expense in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations.


Funds received from the subaward agreement are recorded as revenue as the Company is the principal participant in the arrangement because the activities under the subaward are part of the Company’s estimatedevelopment programs. In those instances where the Company first receives consideration in advance of providing underlying services, receivedthe Company classifies such consideration as deferred revenue until (or as) the Company provides the underlying services. In those instances where the Company first provides the underlying services prior to its receipt of consideration, the consideration is recorded as a grant receivable. At June 30, 2019, the Company had deferred grant revenue of $2.4 million and degreeat December 31, 2018, the Company had a grant receivable of completion of the services in accordance with the specific third party contract.

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments

$0.1 million. The Company considers highly liquid investments with initial maturities of three months or lessthe grant receivable to be cash equivalents.fully collectible; accordingly, no allowance for doubtful amounts has been established.

Stock-Based Compensation

At September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, short-term investments consistedStock-based compensation expense represents the fair value of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured certificatesequity awards, on the grant date, recognized in the period using the Black- Scholes option pricing model. The Company recognizes expense for awards with graded vested schedules over the requisite service period of deposit with original maturitiesthe awards (usually the vesting period) on a straight-line basis. For equity awards for which vesting is subject to performance-based milestones, the expense is recorded over the remaining service period after the point when the achievement of greater than three months and less than one year.the milestone is probable or the performance condition has been achieved.

Income Taxes

The Company accounts for deferredincome taxes byunder the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements or tax returns.statements. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the differencebasis of the differences between the financial statementstatements and tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. A valuation allowanceThe effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is provided when it isrecognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

The Company recognizes net deferred tax assets to the extent that the Company believes these assets are more likely than not to be realized. In making such a determination, management considers all available positive and negative evidence, including future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, tax-planning strategies, and results of recent operations. If management determines that some portion or allthe Company would be able to realize its deferred tax assets in the future in excess of their net recorded amount, management would make an adjustment to the deferred tax assets will not be realized.  Accordingly, at Septemberasset valuation allowance, which would reduce the provision for income taxes.

Segment Reporting

Operating segments are identified as components of an enterprise about which separate discrete financial information is available for evaluation by the chief operating decision-maker in making decisions regarding resource allocation and assessing performance. The Company views its operations and manages its business in one operating segment in the United States.

Comprehensive Loss

Comprehensive loss is defined as a change in equity during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from non-owner sources. Net loss and comprehensive loss were the same for all periods presented.

Net Loss Per Share

Basic net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the period, without consideration for potentially dilutive securities and adjusted for the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding that are subject to repurchase. The Company has excluded weighted-average shares subject to repurchase of 59,114 shares and 72,997 shares from the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the three and six months ended June 30, 20172019, respectively, and December 31, 2016,has excluded weighted-average shares subject to repurchase of 180,724 shares and 194,545 shares from the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, respectively. Diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock and dilutive common stock equivalents outstanding for the period determined using the treasury-stock and if-converted methods. For all periods presented, there is no difference in the number of shares used to calculate basic and diluted shares outstanding as inclusion of the valuation allowance, the net deferred tax assets were reduced to zero.  Income taxes are described more fully in Notepotentially dilutive securities would be antidilutive.


GTx, Inc.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

8 to the Company’s financial statementsPotentially dilutive securities not included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017.calculation of diluted net loss per share, because to do so would be anti-dilutive, are as follows (in common stock equivalent shares; in thousands):

 

Other Income, net

 

 

June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

Redeemable convertible preferred stock

 

 

 

 

 

5,653

 

Warrants to purchase convertible preferred stock

 

 

 

 

372

 

Warrants to purchase common stock

 

 

842

 

 

 

Common stock options

 

 

810

 

 

 

152

 

Common stock subject to repurchase

 

 

45

 

 

 

165

 

 

 

 

1,697

 

 

 

6,342

 

 

Other income, net consistsRecently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) or other standard setting bodies that are adopted by the Company as of foreign currency transactionthe specified effective date. Unless otherwise discussed, the Company believes that the impact of recently issued standards that are not yet effective will not have a material impact on its consolidated financial position or results of operations upon adoption.

In August 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement: Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement, which modifies the disclosure requirements for fair value measurements. The amendments relate to disclosures regarding unrealized gains and losses, interest earnedthe range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements, and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty and are to be applied prospectively for only the most recent interim or annual period presented in the initial fiscal year of adoption. All other amendments should be applied retrospectively to all periods presented upon their effective date. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years, and early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the timing and impact of the adoption of this guidance on the Company’s cash, cash equivalentscondensed consolidated financial statements.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which, for operating leases, requires a lessee to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of the lease payments, in its balance sheet. The standard also requires a lessee to recognize a single lease cost, calculated so that the cost of the lease is allocated over the lease term, generally on a straight-line basis. The Company adopted this standard on January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective approach. As the Company has elected the practical expedient for short-term investments,leases, the adoption of this standard had no impact on the condensed consolidated financial statements on the date of adoption as the Company’s only lease was on a month-to-month basis for a contract period of less than one year and other non-operating income or expense.expired in May 2019.  Subsequent to its adoption, the Company entered into a new office lease agreement and has applied the provisions of this guidance (See Note 3).

2.

Balance Sheet Details

Accrued liabilities consist of the following (in thousands):

 

 

June 30,

 

 

December 31,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

Research and development

 

$

1,488

 

 

$

720

 

Legal fees

 

 

400

 

 

 

20

 

Unvested share liability

 

 

30

 

 

 

54

 

Compensation

 

 

472

 

 

 

85

 

Other

 

 

160

 

 

 

12

 

 

 

$

2,550

 

 

$

891

 


3.

Commitments, Contingencies and Related Party Transactions

Rent expense was $24,000 and $1,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Rent expense was $33,000 and $4,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Until May 31, 2019, the Company subleased its office space in San Diego, California on a month-to-month basis.

On May 22, 2019, the Company entered into a sublease agreement for office space of 4,677 square feet in San Diego, California (“San Diego Lease”) which expires on March 31, 2021. Base rent is approximately $166,000 annually and the monthly rent expense is being recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.

The San Diego Lease is included in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet at the present value of the lease payments. As the San Diego Lease does not have an implicit interest rate, the present value reflects a 10.0% discount rate which is the estimated rate of interest that the Company would have to pay in order to borrow an amount equal to the lease payments on a collateralized basis over a similar term and in a similar economic environment. The Company recognized an operating lease right-of-use asset and an aggregate lease liability of $0.3 million as of June 30, 2019, in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet. The weighted average remaining lease term was 1.75 years.  

 

Loan AgreementMaturities of lease liabilities due under this lease agreement as of June 30, 2019 are as follows (in thousands):

 

Maturity of lease liabilities

 

Operating

Leases

 

2019 (6 months)

 

$

83

 

2020

 

 

166

 

2021

 

 

41

 

Total lease payments

 

 

290

 

Less imputed interest

 

 

(25

)

Total operating lease liabilities as of June 30, 2019

 

 

265

 

Less current portion of lease liability

 

 

(139

)

Lease liability

 

$

126

 

In June 2019, the Company engaged Newfront Insurance as its broker to obtain director and officer liability insurance for the Company effective as of the Merger. The son of Richard Vincent, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, acted as the Company’s agent at Newfront Insurance. The Company paid a premium of approximately $1.0 million in June 2019, for which the son will derive a commission of approximately $87,000. See Notes 4 and 6.

Between April 10 and May 1, 2019, three putative class action lawsuits and one individual lawsuit were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware: Wheby  v. GTx, Inc. et al., Miller v. GTx, Inc. et al., Tabb v. GTx, Inc. et al., and Living Seas LLC v. GTx, Inc. et al. (collectively, the “Delaware Actions”) On August 10,April 11 and 23, 2019, two putative class actions were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York: Kopanic v. GTx, Inc. et al. and Cooper  v. GTx, Inc. et al. (collectively, the “New York Actions” and, together with the Delaware Actions, the “Actions”).  The Actions name as defendants us and our former board of directors, and, in the case of the Wheby and Miller actions, Private Oncternal and Merger Sub.  The Actions allege that defendants violated Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, as well as Rule 14a-9 promulgated thereunder, in connection with our filing of the Registration Statement in connection with the Merger.  Three of the Delaware Actions have now been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice: the Wheby action on June 12, 2019; the Miller action on July 15, 2019; and the Living Seas action on June 26, 2019. At June 30, 2019, the Company cannot predict the outcome of or estimate the possible loss or range of loss from any of these matters.

4.

License, Collaboration and Research Subaward Agreements

Georgetown University (“Georgetown”)

In March 2014, the Company entered into an Exclusive License Agreement (the “Georgetown License Agreement”) with Georgetown, pursuant to which the Company: (i) licensed the exclusive worldwide right to patents and technologies for the development and commercialization of certain product candidates targeting EWS-FLI1 as an anti-tumor therapy for therapeutic, diagnostics, or research tool purposes, (ii) is solely responsible for all development and commercialization activities and costs, and (iii) is responsible for all costs related to the filing, prosecution and maintenance of the licensed patent rights.


Under the terms of the Georgetown License Agreement, commencing in 2015, the Company: (i) shall pay and has paid an annual license maintenance fee of $10,000 until the first commercial sale occurs, (ii) is required to make up to $0.2 million in aggregate milestone payments upon the achievement of certain regulatory milestones, and (iii) will be required to pay low single digit royalties based on annual net product sales. The Company accounted for the licensed technology as an asset acquisition because it did not meet the definition of a business. All milestone payments under the Georgetown License Agreement will be recognized as research and development expense upon completion of the required events, as the triggering events are not considered to be probable until they are achieved. As of June 30, 2019, the Company had not triggered or made any milestone payments under the Georgetown License Agreement.

The Georgetown License Agreement may be terminated by either party upon material breach or may be terminated by the Company as to one or more countries with 90 days written notice of termination. The term of the Georgetown License Agreement will continue until the expiration of the last valid claim within the patent rights covering the product. Georgetown may terminate the agreement in the event: (i) the Company fails to pay any amount and fails to cure such failure within 30 days after receipt of notice, (ii) the Company defaults in its obligation to obtain and maintain insurance and fails to remedy such breach within 60 days after receipt of notice, or (iii) the Company declares insolvency or bankruptcy. The Company may terminate the Georgetown License Agreement at any time upon at least 60 days’ written notice.

In 2017, the Company entered into a loanresearch agreement with J.R. Hyde, III and The Pyramid Peak Foundation (the “Loan Agreement”) to borrowGeorgetown for up to a total of $15,000 (the “Loans”).  Each of Mr. Hyde and The Pyramid Peak Foundation (the “Lenders”) are significant stockholders, and Mr. Hyde serves on the Company’s board of directors.$150,000. The Company did not borrow any amounts under the Loan Agreementrecorded research and the Loan Agreement terminated in accordance with its terms on September 29, 2017 as on that date, the Company completed a private placementdevelopment expenses of its equity securities resulting in gross proceeds of $48,500 (described more fully in Note 4, Stockholders’ Equity). Under the terms of the Loan Agreement, the Loan Agreement terminated on the date that the Company consummated an equity financing resulting in gross proceeds of at least $15,000.

Subsequent Events

The Company has evaluated all events or transactions that occurred after September 30, 2017 up through the date the condensed financial statements were issued.  There were no material recognizable or nonrecognizable subsequent events during the period evaluated.

2.  Share-Based Compensation

Share-based payments include stock option grants$13,000 and RSUs under the Company’s stock option and equity incentive plans and deferred compensation arrangements for the Company’s non-employee directors.  The Company recognizes compensation expense for its share-based payments based on the fair value of the awards over the period during which an employee or non-employee director is required to provide service in exchange for the award.  The Company’s share-based compensation plans are described more fully in Note 3 to the Company’s financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017.

During the first quarter of 2017, the Company adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Update 2016-09, Improvements to Employee Share Based Payment Accounting. This guidance addresses the income tax effects of stock-based payments and eliminates the windfall pool concept, as all of the tax effects related to stock-based payments will now be recorded at settlement (or expiration) through the income statement. The new guidance also permits entities to make an accounting policy election for the impact of forfeitures on the recognition of expense for stock-based payment awards, allowing for forfeitures to be estimated or recognized when they occur. The Company elected to prospectively adopt the policy that forfeitures be recorded when they occur.  The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.

GTx, Inc.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

The following table summarizes share-based compensation expense included within the condensed statements of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016:

 

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

2017

 

2016

 

Research and development expenses

 

$

368

 

$

391

 

$

782

 

$

1,054

 

General and administrative expenses

 

576

 

461

 

1,567

 

1,356

 

Total share-based compensation

 

$

944

 

$

852

 

$

2,349

 

$

2,410

 

Share-based compensation expense recorded as general and administrative expense$19,000 for the three months ended SeptemberJune 30, 20172019 and 2016 included share-based compensation expense related to deferred compensation arrangements2018, and $32,000 for each of the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018.  

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (“MD Anderson”)

In December 2014, the Company entered into a collaboration agreement (as amended, the “Collaboration”) with MD Anderson, which provides for the Company’s non-employee directorsconduct of $41preclinical and $33, respectively.  Share-based compensation expenseclinical research for TK216 in exchange for certain program payments. If MD Anderson successfully completes all the requirements of the Collaboration in full and the program is successfully commercialized, the Company will be required to pay aggregate milestone payments of $1.0 million based on net product sales. The Company recorded as generalno research and administrativedevelopment expense for the ninethree and six months ended SeptemberJune 30, 20172019 and 2018.

Agreements with the Regents of the University of California (the “Regents”)

In March 2016, included share-based compensation expenseand as amended and restated in August 2018 in connection with the spin-off transactions described below, the Company entered into a license agreement (as amended, the “Regents License Agreement”) for the development, manufacturing and distribution rights related to deferred compensation arrangementsthe development and commercialization of ROR1 related naked antibodies, antibody fragments or synthetic antibodies, and genetically engineered cellular therapy. The Regents License Agreement was amended on March 25, 2019 and May 15, 2019, to update the patents covered under the agreement.  The Regents License Agreement provides for the Company’s non-employee directorsfollowing: (i) in May 2016, an upfront license fee of $124$0.5 million was paid and $92, respectively.

The Company uses the Black-Scholes Model to value stock options.  The expected life of options is determined by calculating the average of the vesting term and the contractual term of the options.  The expected price volatility is based on the Company’s historical stock price volatility.  The risk-free interest rate is determined using U.S. Treasury rates where the term is consistent with the expected life of the stock options.  Expected dividend yield is not considered as the Company has not made any dividend payments and has no plans of doing so in the foreseeable future.

The fair value of options granted was estimated using the following assumptions for the periods presented:

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

Expected price volatility

 

88.5

%

91.3

%

Risk-free interest rate

 

2.2

%

2.0

%

Weighted average expected life in years

 

6.9 years

 

6.9 years

 

There were no options granted during the three months ended September 30, 2017.  Options granted during the three months ended September 30, 2016 were valued using the following assumptions: expected volatility of 89.4%, risk free interest rate of 1.2%, and an expected life of six years.

The following is a summary of stock option transactions for all of the Company’s stock option and equity incentive plans since the Company’s most recent fiscal year end:

 

 

Number of Shares

 

Weighted Average
Exercise Price Per
Share

 

Options outstanding at December 31, 2016

 

1,089,980

 

$

27.13

 

Options granted

 

942,350

 

4.69

 

Options forfeited or expired

 

(141,434

)

31.68

 

Options outstanding at September 30, 2017

 

1,890,896

 

15.60

 

GTx, Inc.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

The Company estimates the fair value of RSUs using the closing price of its stock on the grant date.  The fair value of RSUs is amortized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the awards.

The following is a summary of the RSU transactions for all of the Company’s equity incentive plans since the Company’s most recent fiscal year end:

Number of Shares

Nonvested RSUs at December 31, 2016

584,999

RSUs granted

RSUs vested

(168,499

)

RSUs forfeited

(36,000

)

Nonvested RSUs at September 30, 2017

380,500

3.Basic and Diluted Net Loss Per Share

Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders is calculated based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period.  Diluted net income (loss) per share gives effect to the dilutive potential of common stock consisting of stock options, unvested RSUs and common stock warrants.

Weighted average potential107,108 shares of common stock were issued, (ii) $25,000 in annual license maintenance fees commencing in 2017, (iii) reimbursement of 8,741,251up to $30,000 in annual patent costs, (iv) certain development and 8,151,501 regulatory milestones aggregating from $10.0 million to $12.5 million, on a per product basis, (v) certain worldwide sales milestones based on achievement of tiered revenue levels aggregating $75.0 million, (vi) low single-digit royalties, including potential future minimum annual royalties, on net sales of each target, and (vii) minimum diligence to advance licensed assets consisting of at least $1.0 million in development spend annually through 2021. Under the Regents License Agreement, the Company recorded: (i) no licensemaintenance fees as research anddevelopmentexpense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, and (ii) $0.1 millionand $23,000 in patentcosts as general and administrative expense for the three months ended SeptemberJune 30, 20172019 and 2016,2018, respectively, and 8,574,822$0.2 million and 8,169,793$44,000 for the ninesix months ended SeptemberJune 30, 20172019 and 2018, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, the Company believes it has met its obligations under the Regents License Agreement.

In July 2016, respectively, were excluded fromand as modified by the calculationsamended and restated Regents License Agreement in August 2018, the Company entered into a Research Agreement (the “Research Agreement”) with the Regents for further research on a ROR1 therapeutic development program. Under this five-year agreement, the Regents will have an aggregate budget of diluted net loss per share as inclusion$3.6 million, with $125,000 payable quarterly. The Company recorded research and development expense under this Agreement of $0.1 million for each of the potential shares would have had an anti-dilutive effect onthree months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, and $0.3 million for each of the net loss per share for the periods.

4.Stockholders’ Equity

Common Stock

On September 29, 2017, the Company completed a private placement of units consisting of an aggregate of 5,483,320 shares of common stocksix months ended June 30, 2019 and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 3,289,988 shares of its common stock for net proceeds of $45,648, after deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses. The purchasers in the registered direct offering consisted solely of accredited investors that included certain institutional and existing stockholders, including a member2018. Such costs are includable as part of the Company’s boardannual diligence obligations under the Regents License Agreement.

The Regents License Agreement will expire upon the later of directors.the expiration date of the longest-lived patent rights or the 15th anniversary of the first commercial sale of a licensed product. The warrants, which have five year terms expiring on September 29, 2022,Regents may terminate the Regents License Agreement if: (i) a material breach by the Company is not cured within a reasonable time, (ii) the Company files a claim asserting the Regents licensed patent rights are immediately exercisableinvalid or unenforceable and have a per share exercise price of $9.02.(iii) the Company files for bankruptcy. The Company assessed whethermay terminate the warrants require accounting as derivatives. The Company determined that the warrants were indexed to the Company’s own stock.  As such, the Company has concluded the warrants meet the scope exception for determining whether the instruments require accounting as derivatives and are classified in stockholders’ equity.  The fair value of the warrants was estimatedagreement at $21,069 using the Black-Scholes Model with the following assumptions: expected volatility of 97%, risk free interest rate of 1.92%, expected life of five years and no dividends.  The net proceeds from the private placement were allocated to the common stock and warrants basedany time upon their relative fair values.at least 60 days’ written notice.


On October 14, 2016, the Company completed a registered direct offering of its common stock, in which it sold 1,728,395 shares of its common stock for net proceeds of $13,692.  The purchasers in the registered direct offering consisted of certain existing GTx stockholders and certain members of the GTx management team and board of directors.

GTx, Inc.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

On November 14, 2014, the Company completed a private placement of units consisting of an aggregate of 6,431,111 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 6,430,948 shares of its common stock for net proceeds of $42,814, after deducting offering expenses.  The purchasers in the private placement included certain existing GTx stockholders and certain members of the GTx management team and board of directors. The net proceeds from the private placement were allocated to the common stock and warrants based upon the fair value method.  Similarly, the offering expenses were allocated between the common stock and warrants with the portion allocated to common stock offset against the proceeds allocated to stockholders’ equity, whereas the portion allocated to the warrants was expensed immediately. The warrants have a per share exercise price of $8.50, became exercisable on May 6, 2015 and will continue to be exercisable for four years thereafter.  Prior to May 6, 2015, each warrant was subject to net cash settlement if, at the time of any exercise, there was then an insufficient number of authorized and reserved shares of common stock to effect a share settlement of the warrant.  Under the terms of the warrants, as of May 6, 2015, the net cash settlement feature of the warrants automatically became inoperative; accordingly, the warrants are exercisable only for shares of the Company’s common stock.  The warrants, however, also contained certain terms that could have required the Company (or its successor) to purchase the warrants for cash in an amount equal to the value (as calculated utilizing a contractually-agreed Black-Scholes Model) of the unexercised portion of the warrants in connection with certain change of control transactions occurring on or prior to December 31, 2016, with the cash payment capped at an amount equal to $1.25 per unexercised share underlying each warrant.  Due to the provision of the warrants that could have required cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions, the Company was required to account for these warrants as a liability at fair value using the Black-Scholes Model and the estimated warrant liability was required to be revalued at each balance sheet date until the earlier of the exercise of the warrants, the modification to remove the provision that could require cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions or the expiration of such provision on December 31, 2016.  Effective March 25, 2016, each of the warrants was amended by agreement of the warrant holders to remove the provision that could require cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions.  These warrants were no longer accounted for as a liability at March 31, 2016.  The Company recorded a non-cash reclassification of the warrant fair value to stockholders’ equity based on the warrants’ fair value as of the March 25, 2016 modification date, with no further adjustments to the fair value of these warrants being required.  The fair value of the warrants on the March 25, 2016 modification date of $19,186 was estimated using the Black-Scholes Model with the following assumptions: expected volatility of 101%, risk-free interest rate of 1.1%, expected life of approximately 3.1 years and no dividends.

5.University of Tennessee Research Foundation License Agreements

The Company and the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (“UTRF”) are parties to

In July 2007, the Company and UTRF entered into a consolidated, amended and restated license agreement (the “SARM License Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company was granted exclusive worldwide rights in all existing SARMselective androgen receptor modulator (“SARM”) technologies owned or controlled by UTRF, including all improvements thereto, and exclusive rights to future SARM technology that may be developed by certain scientists at the University of Tennessee or subsequently licensed to UTRF under certain existing inter-institutional agreements with The Ohio State University.  Under the SARM License Agreement, the Company is obligated to pay UTRF annual license maintenance fees, low single-digit royalties on net sales of products and mid-single-digit royalties on sublicense revenues.

The Company and UTRF also entered into a license agreement (the “SARD License Agreement”) in March 2015 pursuant to which the Company was granted exclusive worldwide rights in all existing SARDselective androgen receptor degrader (“SARD”) technologies owned or controlled by UTRF, including all improvements thereto.  Under the SARD License Agreement, the Company is obligated to employ active, diligent efforts to conduct preclinical research and development activities for the SARD program to advance one or more lead compounds into clinical development.  The Company is also obligated to pay UTRF annual license maintenance fees, low single-digit royalties on net sales of products and additional royalties on sublicense revenues, depending on the state of development of a clinical product candidate at the time it is sublicensed.

ITEM 2.MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONSVelos Biopharma Holdings, LLC (“VBH”) and VelosBio, Inc. (“VelosBio”) Spin-off Transactions

In November 2017, the Company formed VBH and in December 2017, made an in-kind tax-free distribution of 100% of its interest in VBH to the Company’s stockholders, option holders and warrant holders of record. On February 6, 2018, the Company licensed and assigned its rights to two preclinical product candidates, previously under the Regents License Agreement, to VBH. In consideration for the license, the Company: (i) received a promissory note receivable from VBH of $0.1 million, with an annual interest rate of 2.64% and a due date of 10 years, and (ii) made a partial assignment of its March 2016 Regents License Agreement. Pursuant to the partial assignment, VBH assumed certain obligations related to the licensed Products under the Regents License Agreement as follows: (i) reimbursement of certain historical and future patent costs related to the Products, (ii) certain development and sales milestones for advancing licensed Products targets, (iii) low single-digit royalties, including potential future minimum annual royalties, on net sales of each licensed Product target are to be allocated between the Company and VBH, (iv) certain third party agreements and related obligations specifically related to the licensed Products, (v) minimum diligence requirements to advance licensed assets consistingof a minimumof $0.5 million in developmentspendannuallythrough2021,and (vi) Research Agreement obligationsequal to $0.5 million annually commencing January 1, 2018. Due to the high uncertainty of the success of VBH ever repaying the note receivable and associated interest, theCompanyhasprovided a full valuationallowance for theseamounts as of June 30, 2019.

TheIn December 2017, VelosBio was incorporated with VBH being its sole stockholder. On February 6, 2018, VBH sublicensed and assigned its intellectual property rights to its two preclinical product candidates to VelosBio. In consideration for the license, VelosBio agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop the licensed products as well as the following discussion should be read in conjunctionpayment obligations: (i) the assumption of each of the VBH assumed obligations under the partial assignment between the Company and VBH as outlined above, and (ii) certain tiered development milestone and royalty payments to VBH. In August 2018, the Company entered into the amended and restated Regents License Agreement and VelosBio entered into their own license agreement directly with the Regents. There is no common control overlap between the companies.

Also on February 6, 2018, the Company and VelosBio entered into: (i) an asset purchase agreement whereby VelosBio purchased the Company’s right, title and interest in the Company’s nominal assets related to the two preclinical product candidates and assumed the Company’s $0.2 million convertible note payable and related $16,000 of accrued interest which has been recorded as other income, and (ii) a transition services agreement whereby the Company agreed to provide VelosBio with certain transition services, as follows: (a) access to certain common laboratory equipment at the Company’s lab facility, (b) certain named employees were to devote up to 80% of their time supporting VelosBio related activities, (c) cirmtuzumab manufacturing, process optimization and ancillary activities until VelosBio was able to establish their own, and (d) agreement to cost share the purchase of certain antibody materials with VelosBio. Such services were to be provided at cost or cost plus. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, the Company incurred $2.6 million and $2.7 million, respectively, of costs on behalf of VelosBio that were substantially reimbursed and recorded on a net basis within operating expenses in the accompanying condensed financialconsolidated statements and the notes thereto included in Part 1, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedoperations. As of December 31, 2016.2018, there were no ongoing rights or commitments under the asset purchase or transition services agreements.


The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (“CIRM”) Award

Forward-Looking Information

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements.  The forward-looking statements are contained principally inIn August 2017, CIRM awarded an $18.3 million grant to researchers at the sections entitled “Management’s Discussion and AnalysisUniversity of Financial Condition and ResultsCalifornia San Diego School of Operations” and “Risk Factors.”  These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements include statements about, among other things:

·                  the implementation of our business strategies, including our ability to preserve or realize any significant value from our selective androgen receptor modulator, or SARM, and selective androgen receptor degrader, or SARD, programs;

·                  the therapeutic and commercial potential of, and our abilityMedicine (“UC San Diego”) to advance the development of, SARMs and our SARD program;

·               ��  the timing, scope and anticipated initiation, enrollment and completion of our ongoing clinical trials and any other future clinical trials that we may conduct;

·                  our ability to establish and maintain potential new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements for the development and commercialization of our preclinical and clinical product candidates;

·                  the anticipated progress of our preclinical and clinical programs, including whether our ongoing clinical trials will achieve clinically relevant results;

·                  the timing of regulatory discussions and submissions, and the anticipated timing, scope and outcome of related regulatory actions or guidance;

·                  our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals of our product candidates and any related restrictions, limitations, and/or warnings in the label of an approved product candidate;

·                  our ability to market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for our product candidates;

·                  our ability to protect our intellectual property and operate our business without infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others; and

·                  our estimates regarding the sufficiency of our cash resources, expenses, capital requirements and needs for additional financing, and our ability to obtain additional financing.

Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical facts and often address future events and our future performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “envisions,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events, are based on assumptions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other important factors.  We discuss many of these risks in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q in greater detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” under Part II, Item 1A below.  Given these risks, uncertainties and other important factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.  Also, forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.  You should read this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the documents that we incorporate by reference in and have filed as exhibits to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect.  Except as required

by law, we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Overview

Business Overview

We are a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines to treat serious medical conditions, including stress urinary incontinence and prostate cancer. Our current strategy is focused on the further development of selective androgen receptor modulators, or SARMs, a class of drugs that we believe has the potential to treat serious medical conditions where unmet medical needs in muscle-related diseases may benefit from increasing muscle mass, such as stress urinary incontinence, or SUI, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD.  In 2015, we entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Tennessee Research Foundation, or UTRF, to develop its proprietary selective androgen receptor degrader, or SARD, technology, which we believe has the potential to provide compounds that can degrade multiple forms of androgen receptor, or AR, by inhibiting tumor growth in patients with progressive castration-resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC, including those patients who do not respond to or are resistant to current therapies.

Business Highlights

Our lead SARM candidate, enobosarm (GTx-024), has to date been evaluated in 25 completed or ongoing clinical trials, including in sevenCompany’s Phase 1/2 and two Phase 3 clinical trials, enrolling over 1,700 subjects, of which approximately 1,200 subjects were treated with enobosarm. Enobosarm is the generic name given to the compound by the USAN Council and the World Health Organization and is the first compound to receive the SARM stem in its name, recognizing enobosarm as the first in this class of compounds.

In 2016, we initiated a Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial of enobosarm to treat postmenopausal womenevaluating cirmtuzumab in combination with SUI.  This is the first clinical trial to evaluate a SARMibrutinib for the treatment of SUI.  Inpatients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma. The Company: (i) is conducting this ongoing Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial, enobosarm 3 mgstudy in collaboration with UC San Diego, (ii) estimates it will receive $16.1 million in development milestones under research subaward agreements throughout the award project period, estimated to be from October 1, 2017 to March 31, 2022, (iii) is being assessed as a potential treatmentcommitted to certain co-funding requirements, (iv) received subaward payments of $2.4 million and $0 in three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and $3.7 million and $0.5 million the for post-menopausal women who have demonstrated SUI symptoms for more than six months with an averageended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and (v) is required to provide UC San Diego progress and financial update reports throughout the award period. The subaward does not bear a royalty payment commitment, nor is the subaward otherwise refundable. For the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, the Company recorded revenue of 3 to 15 reported SUI episodes per day over a three-day period,$0.7 million and a positive bladder stress test. The primary endpoint$1.5 million, respectively, and recorded revenue of $1.1 million and $1.7 million for the clinical trial issix months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Related qualifying subaward costs for the average numberthree months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 was $1.2 million and $2.8 million, respectively, and $2.1 million and $3.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. As of SUI episodes per day onJune 30, 2019, the 3-day voiding diary at 12 weeks, comparedCompany believes it has met its obligations under the CIRM award and UC San Diego subawards.

Clinical Trial and Supply Agreement

In April 2018, the Company entered into a Clinical Trial and Supply Agreement with Pharmacyclics, LLC, an AbbVie Company (“Pharmacyclics”) to baseline. Insupply ibrutinib for the third quarter of 2017, we announced top-line clinical trial results from this trial demonstrating that a daily dose of enobosarm 3 mg substantially improved SUI in women, as well as related quality of life measurements. In this open-label clinical trial, a total of 19 post-menopausal women were enrolled by three clinical sites to receive enobosarm treatment.  Of the 18 evaluable patients completing the required 12 weeks of daily treatment, all saw a clinically meaningful reduction (50 percent or greater) in stress leaks per day, compared to baseline.  Additionally, data from the 18 evaluable patients completing treatment showed a mean decrease in stress leaks per day of 81 percent overall (5.17 mean leaks/day at baseline to 1.0 mean leaks/day at 12 weeks).  Patients are being followed for an additional 28 weeks post-treatment to assess the durability of treatment effect.  Durability of response for patients who completed the 28-week observation phase has resulted in a 41 to 100 percent reduction in stress leaks/day from baseline (N=6).  For those patients who have not completed the 28-week observation phase, the durability of response, measured beginning 4 weeks post dosing, continues to be sustained.  There were no serious adverse events reported and reported adverse events were minimal and included headaches, nausea, fatigue, hot flashes, insomnia, muscle weakness and acne. Mild transient elevations in liver enzymes were observed, as well as reductions in total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides.

Based on the results from our enobosarmCompany’s Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial, in the third quarter of 2017 we initiated a randomized, placebo-controlled enobosarm Phase 1/2 clinical trial to evaluateevaluating cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib.  The Company and Pharmacyclics amended the changeClinical Trial and Supply Agreement in frequency of daily SUI episodes following 12 weeks of treatment. The trial will evaluate the safetyAugust 2019.  Such agreement does not bear any upfront costs, inventory purchase costs, milestone or royalty payment commitments or other financial obligations.

License and efficacy of enobosarm (1 mg and 3 mg) comparedDevelopment Agreement with placebo in approximately 400 postmenopausal women who have demonstrated SUI symptoms for more than six months, with an average of 3 to 15 reported SUI episodes per day overShanghai Pharmaceutical (USA) Inc. (“SPH USA”), a three-day period, and a positive bladder stress test. The primary endpoint for the clinical trial is the percentage of patients with at least a 50 percent reduction in mean leaks/day, compared to baseline. We anticipate top-line data from this trial to be available by the end of 2018.

Related Party

In 2015, we commenced enrollment inNovember 2018, the Company entered into a Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial designed to evaluateLicense and Development Agreement (“LDA”) with SPH USA for: (i) the efficacy and safety of an 18 mg dose of enobosarm in patients with advanced AR positive triple-negative breast cancer, or TNBC.  This clinical trial was conducted utilizing a Simon’s two-stage trial design whereby if at least 2territory of the first

21 patients achieved clinical benefit, the trial was designedPeople’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan (“Greater China”), and (ii) rights to enroll the second stage, which would result in enrolling 41 evaluable patients in the clinical trial.  During the third quarter of 2017, we completed our reviewmanufacture, develop, market, distribute and sell all of the data fromCompany’s product candidates under the first stage ofGeorgetown License Agreement and the clinical trial.  While our review ofRegents License Agreement (exclusive to Greater China only). Under the data did not raise any safety concerns, it did confirm that there were insufficient patients achieving clinical benefit from enobosarm treatment to continue this clinical trial and we are in the process of closing down the clinical trial.

We also commenced enrollment in 2015 in a Phase 2 clinical trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 9 mg and 18 mg dose of enobosarm in patients whose advanced breast cancerLDA, SPH USA is both estrogen receptor, or ER, positive and AR positive.  We announced in November 2016 that enobosarm achieved the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint in the 9 mg dose cohort with 9 patients achieving a clinical benefit response (CBR), defined as a complete response, partial response, or stable disease, among the first 22 evaluable patients in that cohort.  In November 2017, we announced that in the 9 mg cohort, a total of 14 patients achieved a CBR following 24 weeks of treatment and 4 remain on study.  We also announced in November of 2017 that the 18 mg cohort achieved the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint as 12 patients achieved a CBR at 24 weeks, with 3 patients remaining on study.  Both enobosarm 9 mg and 18 mg appear to be safe and generally well tolerated.  Although both the 9 mg and 18 mg cohorts met the primary efficacy endpoint in the Phase 2 clinical trial, after evaluating the breast cancer environment where the treatment paradigms are shifting to immunotherapies and/or combination therapies, we have decided that the time and cost of conducting the necessary clinical trials for approval in this indication do not warrant further development of enobosarm in this indication at this time.

We have also evaluated several SARM compounds in preclinical models of DMD where a SARM’s ability to increase muscle mass may prove beneficial to patients suffering from DMD, which is a rare disease characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness.  We are actively seeking potential collaboration partners to further develop a SARM for the treatment of DMD.

With respect to SARDs, we believe this class of assets has the potential to treat prostate cancer, as well as other diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and Kennedy’s disease.  We envision initially developing SARDs as a potentially novel treatment for men with CRPC, including those who do not respond or are resistant to currently approved therapies.  Our evaluation of the SARD program is at an early stage.  We have ongoing mechanistic preclinical studies to select the most appropriate compound to potentially move into a first-in-human clinical trial.

Our ability to pursue the continued development of SARMs and our SARD program is contingent upon our ability to obtain additional funding.  Accordingly, we are actively seeking additional funds through potential collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements to provide us with the necessary resources for the development ofsolely responsible for: (a) all of our preclinical and clinical product candidates. We may not be successful in entering into new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties on acceptable terms, or at all.  If we are unsuccessful in establishing such arrangements and we are otherwise unable to raise substantial additional capital, we will likely need to alter, delay or abandon our product candidate development plans.

Financial Highlights

Our net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $21.2 million.  We expect to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future as we continue our preclinical and clinical development activities.  Weactivities required in order to obtain regulatory approval in Greater China for such product candidates, (b) any third-party license milestone or royalty payments owed under the Georgetown License Agreement and the Regents License Agreement, and (c) paying the Company a low single digit royalty on net sales in the territory.

The LDA will expire upon the expiration of the last royalty term for the last licensed product. The LDA may be terminated by: (i) SPH USA on a country by country or product by product basis with 180 days written notice, (ii) either party upon material breach that is not cured within 90 days, and (iii) either party in theevent theother party declares insolvencyorbankruptcy.

5.

Merger

The Merger, which closed on June 7, 2019, was accounted for as a reverse asset acquisition pursuant to Topic 805, Business Combinations, as substantially all of the fair value of the assets acquired were concentrated in a group of similar non-financial assets, and the acquired assets did not have funded ouroutputs or employees. Because the assets had not yet received regulatory approval, the fair value attributable to these assets was recorded as in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) expenses in the Company’s condensed consolidated statement of operations primarily throughfor the three and six months ended June 30, 2019.

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, on June 7, 2019, the Company, a representative of holders of the contingent value rights (“CVRs”), and Computershare, Inc. as rights agent entered into a Contingent Value Rights Agreement (the “CVR Agreement”). Pursuant to the CVR Agreement, the Company’s stockholders of record as of immediately prior to the Merger received one CVR for each share of the Company’s common stock held immediately prior to the Merger. CVR holders are entitled to receive 75% of the aggregate amount of any net proceeds received by the combined company during the 15-year period after the closing of the Merger from the grant, sale or transfer of rights to the Company’s SARD or SARM technology that occurs during the 10-year period after the closing (or in the 11th year if based on a term sheet approved during the initial 10-year period) and, if applicable, to receive royalties on the sale of equity securities, collaborationany SARD or SARM products by the combined company during the 15-year period after the closing. The CVR Agreement will continue in effect until the payment of all amounts payable thereunder.  As of the June 7, 2019 closing date and license agreements, and prior to September 2012, product revenue from sales of FARESTONJune 30, 2019, no milestones had been accrued as there were no potential milestones yet considered probable.


®, the rights to which we sold to a third partyThe total purchase price paid in the third quarterMerger has been allocated to the net assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their fair values as of 2012.  We dothe completion of the Merger. The following summarizes the purchase price paid in the Merger (in thousands, except share and per share amounts):

Number of shares of the combined organization owned by the

Company’s pre-Merger stockholders

 

 

3,458,170

 

Multiplied by the fair value per share of GTx common stock (1)

 

$

8.40

 

Fair value of consideration issued to effect the Merger

 

$

29,049

 

Transaction costs

 

 

2,154

 

Purchase price

 

$

31,203

 

(1)

Based on the last reported sale price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 7, 2019, the closing date of the Merger, and gives effect to the Reverse Stock Split.

The allocation of the purchase price is as follows:

Cash acquired

 

$

18,292

 

Net liabilities assumed

 

 

(5,177

)

IPR&D (2)

 

 

18,088

 

Purchase price

 

$

31,203

 

(2)      Represents the research and development projects of GTx which were in-process, but not expectyet completed, and which the Company plans to advance. This consists primarily of GTx’s preclinical SARD technology. Current accounting standards require that anythe fair value of our product candidates, including enobosarm, will receive any regulatory approvals forIPR&D projects acquired in an asset acquisition with no alternative future use be allocated a portion of the foreseeable future,consideration transferred and it is possible that none of our product candidates will ever receive any regulatory approvals.charged to expense on the acquisition date. The acquired assets did not have outputs or employees.

 

At September 30, 2017, we had cash, cash equivalents6.     Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

Amended and short-term investmentsRestated Articles of $53.6 million comparedIncorporation

On June 7, 2019, the Company’s certificate of incorporation was amended and restated to $21.9 million at December 31, 2016.  On September 29, 2017, we completed a private placement of units consisting of an aggregate of 5,483,320authorize 60,000,000 shares of common stock and 5,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, each with a par value of $0.001 per share.

Convertible Preferred Stock

        In connection with the Merger, all of the outstanding shares of Private Oncternal’s convertible preferred stock were converted into 8,148,268 shares of the Company’s common stock. As of December 31, 2018, Private Oncternal’s convertible preferred stock is classified as temporary equity on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets in accordance with authoritative guidance for the classification and measurement of potentially redeemable securities whose redemption is based upon certain change in control events outside of Private Oncternal’s control, including liquidation, sale or transfer of control of Private Oncternal. Private Oncternal did not adjust the carrying values of the convertible preferred stock to the liquidation preferences of such shares because the occurrence of any such change of control event was not deemed probable.

Sales of Convertible Preferred Stock

In September, November and December 2017, Private Oncternal issued an aggregate of 1,662,494 shares of Series B-2 preferred stock at a per share purchase price of $6.13, raising net cash proceeds of $8.9 million, of which $1.1 million was collected in February 2018 and, as such, was recorded as a stock subscription receivable within mezzanine equity at December 31, 2017.

In November 2018, contemporaneous with entering into the LDA, Private Oncternal issued 2,495,114 shares of Series C preferred stock to SPH USA, at a per share purchase price of $6.81, raising net cash proceeds of $16.8 million. Private Oncternal concluded that the shares were issued at fair value and therefore no value was ascribed to the LDA.

Common Stock Warrants

In September, November and December 2017, as adjusted for the Exchange Ratio, Private Oncternal issued 371,624 Series B-2 warrants, which converted into rights to purchase common stock of the Company at the Merger closing, at an exercise price of $6.13 per share. The warrants expire on various dates in September, November and December 2022.


On September 29, 2017, the Company completed a private placement transaction that included warrants to purchase an aggregate of 3,289,988469,996 shares of ourthe Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $63.14 per share. The five-year warrants expire on September 29, 2022.

The Company assessed whether the above warrants require accounting as derivatives after the Merger closing. The Company determined that the warrants were indexed to the Company's own stock. As such, the Company has concluded the warrants meet the scope exception for determining whether the instruments require accounting as warrant liabilities. As of June 30, 2019, none of the warrants have been exercised.

Common Stock and Unvested Share Liability

The Company has issued restricted common stock subject to vesting and repurchase by the Company. For employee and non-employee awards, the issuance date fair value is recognized over the requisite service period of the award (usually the vesting period) on a straight-line basis. In addition, the Company has outstanding unvested shares related to the early exercise of stock options. The Company has the right, but not the obligation, to repurchase any unvested shares at the original purchase price upon any voluntary or involuntary termination. The consideration received in exchange for unvested shares is recorded as an unvested share liability on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and is reclassified into common stock and additional paid-in capital as the shares vest. At June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the unvested share liability was $30,000 and $54,000, respectively.

A summary of the Company’s unvested shares is as follows (in thousands):

Number of

Shares

Balance at December 31, 2018

100

Vested shares

(55

)

Balance at June 30, 2019

45

Equity Incentive Plans

Contemporaneous with the Merger  closing: (i) Private Oncternal’s 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2015 Plan”) was assumed by the Company, and (ii) the Company adopted the 2019 Incentive Award Plan (“2019 Plan”) under which the sum of: (a) 1,678,571 shares of common stock, (b) any shares of common stock which were subject to awards under the GTx 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2013 Plan”) as of  June 7, 2019 which became available for issuance under the 2019 Plan in a number not to exceed 278,343 shares, and (c) an annual increase on the first day of each calendar year beginning January 1, 2020 and ending on and including January 1, 2029, equal to the lesser of (A) 5% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock outstanding on the final day of the immediately preceding calendar year and (B) such smaller number of shares of common stock as is determined by the Board, are reserved for issuance.

As of June 30, 2019, there were 322,775 outstanding and fully vested options under the 2013 Plan with a weighted average exercise price of $76.58 per share.

In July 2015, Private Oncternal adopted the 2015 Plan which provided for the issuance of up to 631,120 shares of common stock for net proceedsincentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards and other stock awards to usits employees, members of approximately $45.6 million.  On October 14, 2016, we completedits board of directors and consultants.  In general, the options issued under the 2015 Plan expire ten years from the date of grant and vest over a registered direct offeringfour-year period. Certain grants vest based on the achievement of ourdevelopment or regulatory milestones. No further awards will be made under the 2015 Plan, which was terminated in June 2019.

The 2015 Plan allows for the early exercise of all stock option grants if authorized by the board of directors at the time of grant. The Company has the option to repurchase any unvested shares at the original purchase price upon any voluntary or involuntary termination.


A summary of the Company’s stock option activity under the 2019 Plan and 2015 Plan is as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted-

 

 

 

Number of

 

 

Average

 

 

 

Options

 

 

Exercise Price

 

Balance at December 31, 2018

 

 

504,019

 

 

$

0.81

 

Granted

 

 

10,000

 

 

$

7.92

 

Cancelled

 

 

(25,226

)

 

$

0.81

 

Exercised

 

 

(1,834

)

 

$

0.81

 

Balance at June 30, 2019

 

 

486,959

 

 

$

0.81

 

The aggregate intrinsic value of stock options exercised during the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 and year ended December 31, 2018 was not material. The intrinsic value is calculated as the difference between the fair value of the Company’s common stock at the time of the option exercise and the exercise price of that stock option.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

The weighted-average assumptions used in which we sold 1.7 million sharesthe Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the fair value of our common stock for net proceeds to us of approximately $13.7 million.option grants were as follows:

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

 

 

Six Months Ended

 

 

 

June 30,

 

 

June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

Risk-free interest rate

 

 

2.1

%

 

 

%

 

 

2.1

%

 

 

%

Expected volatility

 

 

82

%

 

 

%

 

 

82

%

 

 

%

Expected term (in years)

 

 

10

 

 

 

%

 

 

10

 

 

 

%

Expected dividend yield

 

 

%

 

 

%

 

 

%

 

 

%

Expected volatility. BasedPrior to the Merger, Private Oncternal did not have a trading history for its common stock.  Accordingly, the expected volatility assumption is based on our current business plan and assumptions, we estimate that our current cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, together with interest thereon,volatilities of a peer group of similar companies whose share prices are publicly available. The peer group was developed based on companies in the life sciences industry. The Company will be sufficient to meet our projected operating requirements for at least the next twelve months.  We have based this estimate on our current business plan and assumptions that may prove to be wrong.  We could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we currently

expect, and we could need additional funding sooner than currently anticipated. Also, our clinical trials may continue to encounter technical, enrollment or other difficulties that could increase our development costs beyond our current estimates or delay our development timelines, and we could otherwise exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we expect.  In any event, if we decide to undertake any further development of our SARMs or SARD technology beyond our ongoing clinical trials of enobosarm and preclinical development, we would need to obtain additional funding for such development, either through financing or by entering into collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for such further development.

While we have been able to fund our operations to date, we have no ongoing collaborations for the development and commercialization of our product candidates and no source of revenue, nor do we expect to generate product revenue for the foreseeable future.  We do not have any commitments for future external funding.   Until we can generateapply this process until a sufficient amount of product revenue,historical information regarding the volatility of its own stock price becomes available.

Expected term. The expected term represents the period of time that options are expected to be outstanding. Because Private Oncternal did not have historical exercise behavior, it determined the expected life assumption using the simplified method for employees, which we may never do, we expect to finance future cash needs through potential collaboration, partnering or other strategic arrangements, as well as through public or private equity offerings or debt financings, or a combinationis an average of the foregoing. If we are unablecontractual term of the option and its vesting period. The expected term for nonemployee options is generally the remaining contractual term.

Risk-free interest rate. The risk-free interest rate is based on the implied yield on the U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity date similar to raise additional funds when needed, we may needthe expected term of the associated stock option award.

Expected dividend yield. The Company bases the expected dividend yield assumption on the fact that it has never paid cash dividends and has no present intention to reduce our expenditures, perhaps significantly, to preserve our cash. Cost-cutting measures that we may takepay cash dividends and, therefore, used an expected dividend yield of zero.

Stock-based compensation expense recognized for all equity awards has been reported in the future may not be sufficient to enable us to meet our cash requirements, and they may negatively affect our business and growth prospects.statements of operations as follows (in thousands):

 

 

 

Three Months Ended

 

 

Six Months Ended

 

 

 

June 30,

 

 

June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

Research and development

 

$

41

 

 

$

15

 

 

$

67

 

 

$

31

 

General and administrative

 

 

22

 

 

 

26

 

 

 

35

 

 

 

53

 

 

 

$

63

 

 

$

41

 

 

$

102

 

 

$

84

 

Research

As of the latest balance sheet presented, the total compensation cost related to nonvested awards not yet recognized and Developmentthe weighted-average period over which it is expected to be recognized was $90,000 and 2.9 years, respectively.

 


Since our inception in 1997, we have been focused on drug discovery and development programs.  Research and development expenses include, but are not limited to, our expensesCommon Stock Reserved for personnel and supplies associated with our research activities, screening and identification of product candidates, formulation and synthesis activities, manufacturing, preclinical studies, toxicology studies, clinical trials, regulatory and medical affairs activities, quality assurance activities and license fees.Future Issuance

Common stock reserved for future issuance is as follows (in thousands):

 

We expect that our research and development expenses for fiscal year 2017 will increase as compared to fiscal year 2016 primarily due to our ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI.

There is a risk that any drug discovery and development program may not produce revenue.  Moreover, because of the uncertainties inherent in drug discovery and development, including those factors described in Part II, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize any of our product candidates.

Product Development Programs

The following table identifies the development phase and status for each of our clinical and preclinical product development programs:

Product
Candidate/
Proposed Indication

ProgramJune 30, 2019

Common stock warrants

Development
Phase

Status842

Common stock options issued and outstanding

810

Common stock available for issuance under the 2019 Plan

1,671

 

 

 

3,323

 


EnobosarmITEM 2.

Treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI

(1 mg and 3 mg)

SARM

Phase 2

Currently enrolling a placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm (1 mg and 3 mg) to treat postmenopausal women with SUI.

Conducting an ongoing Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating enobosarm (3 mg) in postmenopausal women with SUI.

EnobosarmMANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS O

Treatment of women with ER positive/AR positive advanced breast cancer (9 mg and 18 mg)

SARM

Phase 2

Conducting an ongoing Phase 2 open-label clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in patients whose advanced breast cancer is both ER positive and AR positive. Achieved primary efficacy endpoint in both the 9 mg and 18 mg cohorts.

EnobosarmF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Treatment of women with advanced AR positive TNBC (18 mg)

SARM

Phase 2

Currently closing down the Phase 2 open-label proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in patients with advanced AR positive TNBC as there were insufficient patients achieving clinical benefit from enobosarm treatment to continue the trial.

SARMs

Treatment of DMD

SARM

Preclinical

Preclinical research being evaluated by potential collaboration partners for the treatment of DMD.

SARDs

Treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer

SARD

Preclinical

Preclinical studies are ongoing to select the most appropriate compound to potentially move into a first-in-human clinical trial.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with (i) our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2019 (this “Quarterly Report”), (ii) the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto for the period ended March 31, 2019 of privately-held Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (“Private Oncternal”) prior to the merger described herein (“Merger”), included in our Current Report on Form 8-K/A, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on August [8], 2019, and (iii) Private Oncternal’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018, included in our Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement on Form S-4, filed with the SEC on May 6, 2019 (Registration No. 333-230758) (the “Registration Statement”). As further described in Note 1 – Description of Business and Note 5 – Merger of our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report, Private Oncternal was determined to be the accounting acquirer in the Merger. Accordingly, the pre-Merger historical financial information presented in this Quarterly Report reflects the standalone financial statements of Private Oncternal and, therefore, period-over-period comparisons may not be meaningful. In addition, references to the Company’s operating results prior to the Merger will refer to the operating results of Private Oncternal. Except as otherwise indicated herein or as the context otherwise requires, references in this Quarterly Report to “Oncternal” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware corporation, on a post-Merger basis, and the term “Private Oncternal” refers to the business of privately-held Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. prior to completion of the Merger.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

 

This Quarterly Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Quarterly Report, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategies and plans, prospective products, product approvals, research and development costs, timing and likelihood of success, plans and objectives of management for future operations and future results of anticipated products, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Quarterly Report and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in Part II, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.


Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class product candidates for cancers with critical unmet medical need. Our development efforts are focused on promising, yet untreated biological pathways implicated in cancer generation or progression.

Our lead product candidate is cirmtuzumab, a monoclonal antibody that is designed to inhibit the ROR1 receptor, which is being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (“CLL”) and mantle cell lymphoma (“MCL”), and in a Phase 1b clinical trial in combination with paclitaxel for women with unresectable or metastatic breast cancer. ROR1 is a growth factor receptor that is widely expressed on many tumors and whose overexpression has been correlated with poor prognosis, which activates pathways that lead to increased tumor proliferation, invasiveness and drug resistance. In June 2019, we presented data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (“ASCO”) annual meeting from our CIRRL  (Cirmtuzumab and Ibrutinib targeting ROR1 for Leukemia and Lymphoma) clinical trial clinical trial, reporting that results from the first 12 patients with CLL treated in the Part 1 dose finding cohort of the Phase 1 portion of the study our clinical trial demonstrated an observed interim overall objective response rate (“ORR”) of 91.7% for the combination of cirmtuzumab plus ibrutinib, including three patients with clinical or confirmed complete responses, and a well-tolerated safety profile consistent with that seen for ibrutinib treatment alone.

In August 2019, we announced that we have opened for enrollment the randomized, Phase 2, randomized portion of the study triggered based on favorable outcomes from the Part 1 dose-finding and Part 2 dose-conforming cohorts of the clinical trial, including an observed interim ORR of 100% for the first nine CLL patients with evaluable data receiving the recommended dosing regimen who have completed 12 weeks of cirmtuzumab plus ibrutinib treatment in Part 2 of the study, and a well-tolerated safety profile consistent with that seen with ibrutinib treatment alone. We anticipate reporting additional data from this study in patients with CLL and MCL at a scientific conference in the fourth quarter of 2019. In addition, at another conference we expect to report data from our Phase 1b study of cirmtuzumab in combination with paclitaxel from patients with breast cancer.

We are also developing TK216, a small molecule that is designed to inhibit E26 Transformation Specific (“ETS”) family oncoproteins, which alter gene transcription and RNA processing and lead to increased cell proliferation and invasion. TK216 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial, alone and in combination with vincristine, in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma, a rare pediatric cancer. We anticipate completing the dose finding portion of our Phase 1 study of TK216 for patients with Ewing sarcoma and opening the expansion cohort in the third quarter of 2019. We anticipate reporting data from this study at a scientific conference in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In addition, we are developing a CAR-T product candidate that targets ROR1, which is currently in preclinical development as a potential treatment for solid tumors and hematologic cancers.  We anticipate selecting a candidate CAR-T construct for studies to support an investigational new drug application in hematologic cancers in the second half of 2019, initiating a Phase 1 clinical trial for hematological cancers in 2020.

On March 6, 2019, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization, as amended (the “Merger Agreement”), with privately-held Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (“Private Oncternal”) and Grizzly Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (“Merger Sub”). Under the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Private Oncternal, with Private Oncternal surviving as our wholly-owned subsidiary (the “Merger”). On June 7, 2019, the Merger was completed.  We then changed our corporate name from GTx, Inc., to Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., and Private Oncternal, which remains our wholly-owned subsidiary, changed its name to Oncternal Oncology, Inc. On June 10, 2019, our common stock began trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “ONCT.”

Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, each outstanding share of Private Oncternal common stock outstanding immediately prior to the closing of the Merger was converted into 0.073386 shares of our common stock (the “Exchange Ratio”), after taking into account a one-for-seven reverse stock split. Immediately prior to the closing of the Merger, all shares of Private Oncternal preferred stock then outstanding were exchanged into shares of common stock of Private Oncternal. In addition, all outstanding options exercisable for common stock of Private Oncternal and warrants exercisable for convertible preferred stock of Private Oncternal became options and warrants exercisable for the same number of shares of our common stock multiplied by the Exchange Ratio. Immediately following the Merger, stockholders of Private Oncternal owned approximately 77.5% of our outstanding common stock.

Prior to the Merger, we had been evaluating enobosarm, a selective androgen receptor modulator (“SARM”), for the treatment of post-menopausal women with stress urinary incontinence (“SUI”).  However, based on the results of the ASTRID trial, we determined that there was not a sufficient path forward to warrant additional clinical development of enobosarm to treat SUI, and discontinued further development of enobosarm to treat SUI, as well as our SARM technology generally.


Prior to the Merger and since its inception in 2013, Private Oncternal had devoted most of its resources to organizing and staffing, business planning, raising capital, acquiring product candidates and securing related intellectual property rights and advancing its preclinical and clinical development programs. Under our research subaward agreements with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine (“UC San Diego”), we are eligible to receive up to $16.1 million in development milestones throughout the award project period, estimated to be from October 1, 2017 to March 31, 2022. Prior to the Merger, Private Oncternal funded its operations primarily through: (i) gross proceeds of $49.0 million from the issuance and sale of convertible preferred stock, and (ii) receipt of $7.7 million in subaward grant payments received from UC San Diego. As of June 30, 2019, we had cash and cash equivalents of $28.5 million, including cash proceeds of $18.3 million received in connection with the closing of the Merger.

We have incurred net losses in each year since inception. Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more of our current or future product candidates. Our net losses were $25.1 million ($18.1 million related to nonrecurring Merger costs) and $3.9 million for six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $56.5 million. Substantially all of our net losses have resulted from costs incurred in connection with: (i) advancing our research and development programs, (ii) general and administrative costs associated with our operations, and (iii) in-process research and development costs associated with the Merger. We expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses for at least the next several years. We expect that our expenses and capital funding requirements will increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly if and as we:

conduct our ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of cirmtuzumab and any additional clinical trials for our product candidates;

continue to develop additional product candidates;

advance preclinical studies for our CAR-T program;

acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio;

establish a commercial manufacturing source and secure supply chain capacity sufficient to provide commercial quantities of any product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval;

seek regulatory approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;

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

add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our planned product development and future commercialization efforts, as well as to support our operating costs as a public reporting company.

We will not generate product sales revenue unless and until we successfully complete clinical development and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates and do not enter into a commercialization partnership, we expect to incur significant expenses related to developing our internal commercialization capability to support product sales, marketing and distribution. In addition, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.

As a result, we believe we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our business strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, government funding, or other sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. We may not be able to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as and when needed, we may have to significantly delay, reduce or eliminate the development and commercialization of one or more of our product candidates or delay our pursuit of potential in-licenses or acquisitions.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Even if we are able to generate product sales, we may not become profitable. If we fail to become profitable or are unable to sustain profitability on a continuing basis, then we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second quarter of 2020. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See “Liquidity and Going Concern.” Beyond that point, we will need to


raise additional capital to finance our operations, which cannot be assured. Management has concluded that this circumstance raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the issuance date of our condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the six months ended June 30, 2019. See Note 1 of our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report.

Components of Results of Operations

Grant Revenue

We have not and do not expect to generate any product sales revenue in the foreseeable future. If our development efforts for our product candidates are successful and result in regulatory approval, we may generate product sales revenue in the future. We cannot predict if, when, or to what extent we will generate revenue from the commercialization and sale of our product candidates. We may never succeed in obtaining regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. Our total revenue to date has been derived from a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (“CIRM”) grant subaward with UC San Diego.

In August 2017, CIRM awarded an $18.3 million grant to researchers at UC San Diego to advance our Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies, including MCL and CLL. Oncternal is conducting this study in collaboration with UC San Diego and estimates it will receive $16.1 million in development milestones under research subaward agreements throughout the award project period, estimated to be from October 1, 2017 to March 31, 2022. In addition, we are committed to certain co-funding requirements and are required to provide UC San Diego progress and financial update reports throughout the award project period. We received subaward payments of $3.7 million and $0.5 million in the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, we have met our obligations under the CIRM award and UC San Diego subawards.

Operating Expenses

Research and Development

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for the preclinical and clinical development of our lead product candidate, cirmtuzumab, as well as TK216, which include:

expenses under agreements with third-party contract organizations, investigative clinical trial sites that conduct research and development activities on our behalf, and consultants;

costs related to develop and manufacture preclinical study and clinical trial material;

salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation;

costs incurred under our collaboration and third-party licensing agreements; and

laboratory and vendor expenses related to the execution of preclinical and clinical trials.

We accrue all research and development costs in the period for which they are incurred. Costs for certain development activities are recognized based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using information and data provided to us by our vendors, collaborators and third-party service providers. Advance payments for goods or services to be received in future periods for use in research and development activities are deferred and then expensed as the related goods are delivered and as services are performed.

We expect our research and development expenses to increase substantially for the foreseeable future as we: (i) invest in additional operational personnel to support our planned product development efforts, and (ii) continue to invest in developing our product candidates as our product candidates advance into later stages of development, and as we begin to conduct larger clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials.

Our direct research and development expenses are tracked by product candidate and consist primarily of external costs, such as fees paid under third-party license agreements and to outside consultants, contract research organizations (“CROs”), contract manufacturing organizations and research laboratories in connection with our preclinical development, process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities. We do not allocate employee costs and costs associated with our discovery efforts, laboratory supplies and facilities, including other indirect costs, to specific product candidates because these costs are deployed across multiple programs and, as such, are not separately classified. We use internal resources primarily to conduct our research as well as for managing our preclinical development, process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities. These employees work across multiple programs and, therefore, we do not track our costs by product candidate unless such costs are includable as subaward costs.


We cannot determine with certainty the timing of initiation, the duration or the completion costs of current or future preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates due to the inherently unpredictable nature of preclinical and clinical development, including any potential expanded dosing beyond the original protocols based in part on ongoing clinical success. Clinical and preclinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from expectations. We anticipate that we will make determinations as to which product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory developments and our ongoing assessments of each product candidate’s commercial potential. We will need to raise substantial additional capital in the future. In addition, we cannot forecast which product candidates may be subject to future collaborations, when such arrangements will be secured, if at all, and to what degree such arrangements would affect our development plans and capital requirements.

General and Administrative Expenses

Our generalGeneral and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and other relatedpersonnel-related costs, for personnel serving executive, finance, legal, human resources, information technology, and investor relations functions.  General and administrative expenses also includeinsurance costs, facility costs, insurance costs and professional fees for legal, patent, consulting, investor and public relations, accounting and audit services. Personnel-related costs consist of salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation. We expect our general and administrative expenses will increase substantially as we: (i) incur additional costs associated with being a public relation services.company, including audit, legal, regulatory, and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums, and investor relations costs, (ii) hire additional personnel, and (iii) protect our intellectual property.

Other Income (Expense)

Change in Fair Value of Preferred Stock Warrant Liability

In connection with Private Oncternal’s Series B-2 preferred stock financing in 2017, Private Oncternal issued warrants to purchase shares of its Series B-2 preferred stock. We classify these warrants as a liability on our condensed consolidated balance sheets and remeasure them to fair value at each reporting date, and we recognize changes in the fair value of the warrant liability as a component of other income (expense), net in our condensed consolidated statements of operations.

Upon the closing of the Merger, all outstanding warrants to purchase Private Oncternal Series B-2 preferred stock were converted into warrants to purchase our common stock. As a result, such warrants will no longer require liability accounting and the fair value of the warrant liability has been reclassified to stockholders’ equity.

Interest Income

Interest income consists of interest earned on our cash equivalents, which consist of money market funds. Our interest income has not been significant due to low interest earned on invested balances.

Results of Operations

Comparison of Three Months Ended June 30, 2019 and 2018

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018:

 

 

Three Months Ended June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

Change

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

Grant revenue

 

$

674

 

 

$

1,527

 

 

$

(853

)

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

 

2,587

 

 

 

3,513

 

 

 

(926

)

In-process research and development

 

 

18,088

 

 

 

 

 

 

18,088

 

General and administrative

 

 

1,619

 

 

 

555

 

 

 

1,064

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

22,294

 

 

 

4,068

 

 

 

18,226

 

Loss from operations

 

 

(21,620

)

 

 

(2,541

)

 

 

(19,079

)

Other income (expense):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change in fair value of warrant liability

 

 

(1,285

)

 

 

114

 

 

 

(1,399

)

Interest income

 

 

59

 

 

 

15

 

 

 

44

 

Total other income (expense)

 

 

(1,226

)

 

 

129

 

 

 

(1,355

)

Net loss

 

$

(22,846

)

 

$

(2,412

)

 

$

(20,434

)


Grant Revenue

Grant revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2019 was $0.7 million, compared to $1.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018. The decrease was driven by lower research and development subaward related costs in 2019 as compared to 2018.

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the periods indicated:

 

 

Three Months Ended June 30,

 

 

Increase/

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

(Decrease)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

Cirmtuzumab

 

$

1,521

 

 

$

2,846

 

 

$

(1,325

)

TK216

 

 

517

 

 

 

220

 

 

 

297

 

Unallocated research and development expenses

 

 

549

 

 

 

447

 

 

 

102

 

Total research and development expenses

 

$

2,587

 

 

$

3,513

 

 

$

(926

)

Research and development expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 were $2.6 million and $3.5 million, respectively, a decrease of $0.9 million. The decrease was due to a $1.0 million decrease in direct product candidate costs, which was partially offset by a $0.1 million increase in unallocated research and development expenses.

Direct expenses for cirmtuzumab decreased $1.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2018, due primarily to the following partially offsetting factors: (i) a $1.9 million decrease due primarily to the timing of manufacturing clinical trial materials in the second quarter of 2018, and (ii) a $0.5 million increase in clinical trial activities related to our ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies, including MCL and CLL, that commenced in the latter part of 2017.

Direct expenses for TK216 increased $0.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2018, due primarily to the following: (i) a $0.2 million increase in manufacturing clinical trial material costs, and (ii) a $0.1 million increase in clinical trial activities related to our ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of TK216 in refractory Ewing sarcoma.

In-Process Research and Development Expenses

In-process research and development expenses increased $18.1 million for three months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2018, due to the issuance of common stock and transaction costs incurred related to the Merger.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 were $1.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively, an increase of $1.0 million. The increase is primarily due to higher corporate legal fees of $0.5 million incurred to significantly expand our intellectual property portfolio with respect to the cirmtuzumab product candidate and for additional legal support incurred to become a public company, an increase in personnel related costs of $0.4 million, as well as expenses to operate as a publicly-traded company.

Other Income (Expense)

Other expense was $1.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, compared to $0.1 million of income for the three months ended June 30, 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a $1.4 million change in the fair value of the preferred stock warrant liability.


Comparison of Six Months Ended June 30, 2019 and 2018

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018:

 

 

Six Months Ended June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

Change

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

Grant revenue

 

$

1,144

 

 

$

1,715

 

 

$

(571

)

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

 

4,483

 

 

 

4,802

 

 

 

(319

)

In-process research and development

 

 

18,088

 

 

 

 

 

 

18,088

 

General and administrative

 

 

2,551

 

 

 

1,136

 

 

 

1,415

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

25,122

 

 

 

5,938

 

 

 

19,184

 

Loss from operations

 

 

(23,978

)

 

 

(4,223

)

 

 

(19,755

)

Other income (expense):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change in fair value of warrant liability

 

 

(1,268

)

 

 

77

 

 

 

(1,345

)

Other income

 

 

 

 

 

216

 

 

 

(216

)

Interest income

 

 

106

 

 

 

28

 

 

 

78

 

Interest expense

 

 

 

 

 

(1

)

 

 

1

 

Total other income (expense)

 

 

(1,162

)

 

 

320

 

 

 

(1,482

)

Net loss

 

$

(25,140

)

 

$

(3,903

)

 

$

(21,237

)

Grant Revenue

Grant revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2019 was $1.1 million, compared to $1.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018. The decrease was due to lower research and development subaward related costs incurred in 2019 as compared to 2018.

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the periods indicated:

 

 

Six Months Ended June 30,

 

 

Increase/

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

(Decrease)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

 

 

 

 

Cirmtuzumab

 

$

2,887

 

 

$

3,417

 

 

$

(530

)

TK216

 

 

790

 

 

 

462

 

 

 

328

 

Unallocated research and development expenses

 

 

806

 

 

 

923

 

 

 

(117

)

Total research and development expenses

 

$

4,483

 

 

$

4,802

 

 

$

(319

)

Research and development expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 were $4.5 million and $4.8 million, respectively, a decrease of $0.3 million. The decrease was due to a $0.2 million decrease in direct product candidate costs and a $0.1 million decrease in unallocated research and development expenses.

Direct expenses for cirmtuzumab decreased $0.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, due primarily to the following partially offsetting factors: (i) a $1.5 million increase in clinical trial activities related to our ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies, including MCL and CLL, that commenced in the latter part of 2017, and (ii) a $2.0 million decrease in manufacturing costs, due primarily to the timing of manufacturing clinical trial materials in the second quarter of 2018.

Direct expenses for TK216 increased $0.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, due primarily to the following partially offsetting factors: (i) a $0.1 million increase in clinical trial activities related to our continuing Phase 1 clinical trial of TK216 in refractory Ewing sarcoma, and (ii) development expenses as we generally reduced our preclinical program activities, and (ii) a $0.2 million increase in manufacturing costs for clinical trial materials.

Unallocated research and development expenses decreased $0.1 million for six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 primarily due to lower personnel costs resulting from entering into the VelosBio transition services agreement.


In-Process Research and Development Expenses

In-process research and development expenses increased $18.1 million for six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, due solely to the Merger.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 were $2.5 million and $1.1 million, respectively, an increase of $1.4 million. The increase is primarily due to an increase in personnel related costs of $0.6 million, higher corporate legal fees of $0.4 million incurred to expand our intellectual property portfolio on the cirmtuzumab platform and product candidates in 2019 and additional legal support incurred to become a public company, as well as expenses to operate as a publicly-traded company.

Other Income (Expense)

Other expense was $1.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to other income of $0.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018, a change of $1.5 million in additional expense. The decrease was primarily due to a: (i) $1.3 million decrease in the fair value of the preferred stock warrant liability, and (ii) gain of $0.2 million related to an asset purchase agreement with VelosBio as further described in Note 4 to our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report.

Liquidity and Going Concern

From our inception through June 30, 2019, we have devoted substantially all of our efforts to organizational activities including raising capital, building infrastructure, acquiring assets, developing intellectual property, and conducting preclinical studies, clinical trials and product development activities. We have a limited operating history and the sales and income potential of our business and market are unproven. We have experienced recurring net losses and negative cash flows from operating activities. At June 30, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $56.5 million and had cash and cash equivalents of $28.5 million. We will need to continue to raise a substantial amount of funds until we are able to generate revenues to fund our development and operating activities.

We expect to continue to incur net losses into the foreseeable future. Successful transition to attaining profitable operations is dependent upon achieving a level of revenues adequate to support our cost structure. We have incurred net losses since inception and have relied on our ability to fund our operations through debt and equity financings and grant funding. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that we will continue as a going concern and do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. This basis of accounting contemplates the recovery of our assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business.

We plan to continue to fund our losses from operations and capital funding needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, government funding, or other sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain any sources of financing on acceptable terms, or at all. To the extent that we can raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience significant dilution. Any debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants that impact our ability to conduct our business.

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for each of the periods presented:

 

 

Six Months Ended June 30,

 

 

 

2019

 

 

2018

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

Net cash provided by (used in):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating activities

 

$

(9,872

)

 

$

(5,283

)

Investing activities

 

 

17,741

 

 

 

-

 

Financing activities

 

 

2

 

 

 

1,100

 

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

 

$

7,871

 

 

$

(4,183

)

Operating activities

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, net cash used in operating activities was $9.9 million, resulting from our net loss of $25.1 million, which included non-cash charges of $18.1 million related to the acquisition of in-process research and development, a change in the fair value of the warrant liability of $1.3 million, offset by a $4.2 million change in our operating assets and liabilities.


The $4.2 million change in operating assets and liabilities primarily consisted of a $0.7 million increase in prepaid expenses and other assets, a $2.4 million increase in deferred revenue, and a $5.9 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses.

During the six months ended June 30, 2018, net cash used in operating activities was $5.3 million, resulting from our net loss of $3.9 million, which included non-cash charges of other income of $0.2 million, a change in the fair value of warrant liability of $0.1 million, stock-based compensation charges of $0.1 million, and a $1.1 million change in operating assets and liabilities. The $1.1 million change in operating assets and liabilities consisted of a $2.6 million increase in prepaid expenses and other assets, a $1.2 million decrease in deferred revenue, and a $2.7 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses.

Investing activities

Net cash provided by investing activities was $17.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, primarily resulting from cash received in connection with the Merger. Net cash provided by investing activities was $0 for the six months ended June 30, 2018.

Financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was nominal for the six months ended June 30, 2019. Net cash provided by financing activities was $1.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018, which resulted from the collection of $1.1 million of Series B-2 convertible preferred stock subscriptions receivable issued in December 2017.

We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements into the second quarter of 2020. However, our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we expect. Additionally, the process of testing product candidates in clinical trials is costly, and the timing of progress, potential dose expansions beyond our planned study protocols based in part on our clinical progress, and expenses in these trials is uncertain.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results, costs and timing of, our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;

the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;

the costs of obtaining ibrutinib, for which we currently obtain supply at no cost under our clinical supply agreement with Pharmacyclics LLC, and vincristine to conduct our clinical trials of cirmtuzumab and TK216, respectively;

the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;

the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;

our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;

the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical and clinical activities increase;

the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any product candidate is approved;

our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;

the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements; and

costs associated with any products or technologies that it may in-license or acquire.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues to support our cost structure, we expect to finance our losses from operations and capital funding needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, government funding and other sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. To the extent we raise additional capital through the sale of debt or equity securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through debt or equity financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or


grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates by ourselves. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain any sources of financing on acceptable terms, or at all.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

We are party to a number of license agreements, pursuant to which we have payment obligations that are contingent upon future events such as our achievement of specified development, regulatory and commercial milestones and are required to make royalty payments in connection with the sale of products developed under those agreements. As of June 30, 2019, we were unable to estimate the timing or likelihood of achieving the milestones or making future product sales and, therefore, any related payments are not included in the table above.  See Note 4 to our condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report for a description of these agreements.

We enter into contracts in the normal course of business with clinical trial sites and clinical supply manufacturers and with vendors for preclinical studies, research supplies and other services and products for operating purposes. These contracts generally provide for termination after a notice period, and, therefore, are cancelable contracts and not included in the table above.

Government Contracts, Grant Agreements and Incentive Programs

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (“CIRM”) Award

In August 2017, CIRM awarded an $18.3 million grant to researchers at UC San Diego, to advance our Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancies, including MCL and CLL. We: (i) are conducting this study in collaboration with UC San Diego, (ii) estimate we will receive $16.1 million in development milestones under research subaward agreements throughout the award project period, estimated to be from October 1, 2017 to March 31, 2022, (iii) are committed to certain co-funding requirements, (iv) received subaward payments of $0.5 million and $3.6 million in June 2019 and 2018, respectively, and (v) are required to provide UC San Diego progress and financial update reports throughout the award project period. The subaward does not bear a royalty payment commitment, nor is the subaward otherwise refundable. For the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, we recorded revenue of $1.2 million and $1.7 million, respectively. Related qualifying subaward costs during the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018 were $2.6 million and $3.4 million, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, we have met our obligations under the CIRM award and UC San Diego subawards to date.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our condensed consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.States. The preparation of these condensedthe financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptionsjudgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, as well as the reported revenues and expenses incurred during the reporting periods.  On an ongoing basis, we evaluate

Our estimates are based on our estimates and judgments related to revenue recognition, valuation of warrants, income taxes, intangible assets, long-term service contracts, share-based compensation, and other contingencies.  We base our estimates on historical experience, trends and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

WhileWe consider our significantcritical accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2and estimates to our financial statements appearing in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017, we believe that the following accounting policies are most criticalbe related to aid you in fully understanding and evaluating our reported financial results.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses include, but are not limited to, our expenses for personnel, supplies, and facilities associated with research activities, screening and identification of product candidates, formulation and synthesis activities, manufacturing, preclinical studies, toxicology studies, clinical trials, regulatory and medical affairs activities, quality assurance activities and license fees.  We expense these costs in the period in which they are incurred.  We estimate our liabilities for research and development expenses in orderand accruals, the valuation of warrants to matchpurchase convertible preferred stock (which did convert at the recognition of expenses to the period in which the actual services are received. As such, accrued liabilities related to third party researchMerger closing), and development activities are recognized based upon our estimate of services received and degree of completion of the services in accordance with the specific third party contract.

Share-Based Compensation

Werevenue recognition. There have stock option and equity incentive plans that provide for the purchase or acquisition of our common stock by certain of our employees and non-employees.  We measure compensation expense for our share-based payments based on the fair value of the awards on the grant date and recognize the expense over the period during which an employee or non-employee director is required to provide service in exchange for the award.

The determination of the fair value of stock options on the date of grant is based upon the expected life of the award, the expected stock price volatility over the expected life of the awards, and risk-free interest rate.  We estimate the expected life of options by calculating the average of the vesting term and contractual term of the options.  We estimate the expected stock price volatility based on the historical volatility of our common stock.  The risk-free interest rate is determined using U.S. Treasury rates where the term is consistent with the expected life of the stock options.  Expected dividend yield is not considered as we have not made any dividend payments and have no plans of doing so in the foreseeable future.

Share-based compensation also includes restricted stock units, or RSUs, granted to employees.  We estimate the fair value of RSUs using the closing price of our stock on the grant date.  The fair value of RSUs is amortized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the awards.

The following table summarizes share-based compensation expense included within the condensed statements of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016:

 

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

 

2017

 

2016

 

2017

 

2016

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

(in thousands)

 

Research and development expenses

 

$

368

 

$

391

 

$

782

 

$

1,054

 

General and administrative expenses

 

576

 

461

 

1,567

 

1,356

 

Total share-based compensation

 

$

944

 

$

852

 

$

2,349

 

$

2,410

 

Share-based compensation expense recorded in the condensed statement of operations as general and administrative expense for the three months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 included share-based compensation expense related to deferred compensation arrangements for our non-employee directors of $41,000 and $33,000, respectively.  Share-based compensation expense recorded in the condensed statement of operations as general and administrative expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 included share-based compensation expense related to deferred compensation arrangements for our non-employee directors of $124,000 and $92,000, respectively.  At September 30, 2017, the total compensation cost related to non-vested stock options not yet recognized was approximately $5.8 million with a weighted average expense recognition period of 3.68 years. At September 30, 2017, the total compensation cost related to non-vested RSUs not yet recognized was approximately $612,000 with a weighted average expense recognition period of less than one year.

Results of Operations

Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017 and 2016

Research and Development Expenses

The following table identifies the research and development expenses for each of our clinical product candidates, as well as research and development expenses pertaining to our other research and development efforts, for each of the periods presented.  Research and development spending for past periods is not indicative of spending in future periods.

 

 

 

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

Proposed Candidate / Proposed Indication

 

Program

 

2017

 

2016

 

2017

 

2016

 

 

 

 

 

(in thousands)

 

Enobosarm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI (1 mg and 3 mg)

 

SARM

 

$

3,594

 

$

296

 

$

5,877

 

$

834

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enobosarm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treatment of women with ER positive and AR positive advanced breast cancer (9 mg and 18 mg)

 

SARM

 

1,129

 

2,063

 

4,486

 

5,404

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enobosarm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treatment of women with advanced AR positive TNBC (18 mg)

 

SARM

 

545

 

1,352

 

2,172

 

4,024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other research and development

 

 

 

646

 

903

 

2,020

 

2,381

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total research and development expenses

 

 

 

$

5,914

 

$

4,614

 

$

14,555

 

$

12,643

 

Research and development expenses increased to $5.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 from $4.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016.  Research and development expenses increased to $14.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 from $12.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

Research and development expenses for enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI increased for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 from the prior year comparable periods due to the initiation of a placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm to treat postmenopausal women with SUI, which opened for enrollment in the third quarter of 2017, and expenses related to the Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial of enobosarm to treat postmenopausal women with SUI that initiated enrollment in the first quarter of 2016.

Research and development expenses for enobosarm for the treatment of women with ER positive and AR positive advanced breast cancer decreased for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 from the prior year comparable periods due primarily to the timing and nature of activities related to conducting the Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating enobosarm 9 mg and enobosarm 18 mg in this indication.  The clinical trial commenced enrollment during the third quarter of 2015 and completed enrollment in the first quarter of 2017.

Research and development expenses for enobosarm for the treatment of women with AR positive TNBC decreased for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 from the prior year comparable periods due to the timing and nature of activities related to conducting the first stage of the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial, which commenced enrollment during the fourth quarter of 2015.  During the third quarter of 2017, we determined that there were insufficient patients achieving clinical benefit from enobosarm treatment to continue this clinical trial and we are in the process of closing down the clinical trial.

“Other research and development” expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 decreased from the prior year period primarily due to a decrease in expenses related to our completed Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate GTx-758 as secondary hormonal therapy in men with metastatic CRPC that was completed in 2016.  During 2016, we determined to discontinue further development of GTx-758.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses increased to $2.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 from $2.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016.  General and administrative expenses increased to $6.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 from $6.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. The increase in both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 from the prior periods was primarily due to increased personnel related costs and increased investor relations expenses.

Gain on Change in Fair Value of Warrant Liability

Prior to March 25, 2016, we recognized a warrant liability due to certain provisions of the warrants issued as part of our November 2014 private placement of common stock and warrants.  The warrants were required to be accounted for as a liability at fair value and the fair value was required to be revalued at each balance sheet date until the earlier of the exercise of the warrants, the modification to remove the provision that could require cash settlement of the warrants upon certain change of control transactions or the expiration of such provision on December 31, 2016.  The resulting non-cash gain or loss on the fair value revaluation at each balance sheet date was recorded as non-operating income in our condensed statement of operations.  Effective March 25, 2016, each of the warrants was amended by agreement of the warrant holders to remove the provision that could require cash settlement upon certain change of control transactions.  These warrants were no longer accounted for as a liability at March 31, 2016.  We recorded a non-cash reclassification of the warrant fair value to stockholders’ equity based on the warrants’ fair value as of the March 25, 2016 modification date, with no further adjustments to the fair value of these warrants being required.  The final revaluation of the warrants’ fair value as of March 25, 2016 resulted in a non-cash gain of $8.2 million that was recorded as the change in fair value of warrant liability in our condensed statement of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

At September 30, 2017, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $53.6 million compared to $21.9 million at December 31, 2016.  Net cash used in operating activities was $13.7 million and $15.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and resulted primarily from funding our operations.

Net cash provided by investing activities was $12.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and resulted primarily from the maturities of short-term investments of $24.2 million offset by the purchase of short-term investments of $11.4 million.  Net cash provided by investing activities was $9.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and resulted primarily from the maturities of short-term investments of $32.4 million offset by the purchase of short-term investments of $22.4 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $45.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 reflects proceeds from the issuance of common stock and warrants in our September 2017 private placement, partially offset by $156,000 of tax payments related to shares withheld for vested restricted stock units.  Net cash used in financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was $210,000 for tax payments related to shares withheld for vested restricted stock units.

Based on our current business plan and assumptions, we estimate that our current cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, together with interest thereon, will be sufficient to meet our projected operating requirements for at least the next twelve months.  We have based this estimate on our current business plan and assumptions that may prove to be wrong.  We could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect, and we could need additional funding sooner than currently anticipated. Also, our clinical trials may continue to encounter technical, enrollment or other difficulties that could increase our development costs beyond our current estimates or delay our development timelines, and we could otherwise exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we expect.  In any event, if we decide to undertake any further development of our SARMs or SARD technology beyond our ongoing clinical trials of enobosarm and preclinical development, we would need to obtain additional funding for such development, either through financing or by entering into collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for such further development.

Our estimate of the period of time or events through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our projected operating requirements is a forward-looking statement and involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary as a result of a number of factors, including the factors discussed under Part II, Item 1A “Risk Factors” section of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.  Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with the development and potential commercialization of our product candidates and other research and development activities, including risks and uncertainties that could impact the rate of progress of our development activities, we are unable to estimate with certainty the amounts of increased capital outlays and operating expenditures associated with the future development of our product candidates, if any.  Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

·                  the scope, rate of progress and cost of our preclinical and clinical development programs, including our ongoing and any future clinical trials of enobosarm;

·                  the terms and timing of any potential collaborative, licensing and other strategic arrangements that we may establish;

·                  the amount and timing of any licensing fees, milestone payments and royalty payments from potential collaborators, if any;

·                  future clinical trial results;

·                  the cost and timing of regulatory filings and/or approvals to commercialize our product candidates and any related restrictions, limitations, and/or warnings in the label of an approved product candidate;

·                  the effect of competing technological and market developments; and

·                  the cost of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights, and the cost of defending any other litigation claims.

While we have been able to fund our operations to date, we have no ongoing collaborations for the development and commercialization of our product candidates and no source of revenue, nor do we expect to generate product revenue for the foreseeable future.  We do not have any commitments for future external funding.   Until we can generate a sufficient amount of product revenue, which we may never do, we expect to finance future cash needs through potential collaboration, partnering or other strategic arrangements, as well as through public or private equity offerings or debt financings, or a combination of the foregoing. If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may need to reduce our expenditures, perhaps significantly, to preserve our cash. Cost-cutting measures that we may take in the future may not be sufficient to enable us to meet our cash requirements, and they may negatively affect our business and growth prospects.

To the extent that we raise additional funds through potential collaborations, partnering or other strategic arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us, any of which could result in the stockholders of GTx having little or no continuing interest in our SARMs and/or SARDs programs as stockholders or otherwise.  To the extent we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience significant dilution, particularly given our currently depressed stock price, and debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants. For example, we completed substantially dilutive private placements of our common stock and warrants in March 2014, November 2014 and September 2017, in addition to a registered direct offering of our common stock that we completed in October 2016. Our stockholders may experience additional, perhaps substantial, dilution should we again raise additional funds by issuing equity securities. Any additional debt or equity financing that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. Our ability to raise additional funds and the terms upon which we are able to raise such funds may be adversely impacted by the uncertainty regarding the prospects of our development of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI and our ability to advance the development of enobosarm or SARDs through potential future collaborative, partnering or other strategic relationships, if at all. Our ability to raise additional funds and the terms upon which we are able to raise such funds may also be adversely affected by the uncertainties regarding our financial condition, the sufficiency of our capital resources, recent and potential future management turnover, and continued volatility and instability in the global financial markets. As a result of these and other factors, we cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all.

Contractual Obligations

Our future minimum contractual obligations were reported in our Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017. There were no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates during the ninesix months ended SeptemberJune 30, 20172019 from the contractual obligations previouslythose disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with“Oncternal’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Critical Accounting Policies,” included in the SecuritiesRegistration Statement.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have during the periods presented, and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017.we do not currently have, any off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined under SEC rules.

 

ITEM 3.QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISKRISKS

We are a smaller reporting company, as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, and are not required to provide the information required under this item.


During the nine months ended September 30, 2017, there were no material changes to our market risk disclosures as set forth in Part II, Item 7A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017.

ITEM 4.CONTROLS AND PROCEDURESPROCEDURES.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure“disclosure controls and procedures (asprocedures” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) ofunder the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file orand submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and formsforms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that such information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Principal Executive Officerprincipal executive officer and Principal Financial Officer,principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosures.disclosure. In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs.

We have carried out an evaluation, under the supervision andOur management, with the participation of our management, including our PrincipalChief Executive Officer and PrincipalChief Financial Officer, ofwho serve as our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, respectively, has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this report.June 30, 2019. Based on thesuch evaluation, of these disclosure

controls and procedures, our PrincipalChief Executive Officer and PrincipalChief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.effective at the reasonable assurance level as of such date.

Changes in Disclosure Controls and Procedures

ThereOn June 7, 2019, we completed the Merger as described in above. Otherwise, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the third quarter of 2017six months ended June 30, 2019 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 


PART II:  II — OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

 

ITEM 1A.RISK FACTORSLitigation Related to the Merger  

 

  Between April 10 and May 1, 2019, three putative class action lawsuits and one individual lawsuit were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware: Wheby  v. GTx, Inc. et al., Miller v. GTx, Inc. et al., Tabb v. GTx, Inc. et al., and Living Seas LLC v. GTx, Inc. et al. (collectively, the “Delaware Actions”) On April 11 and 23, 2019, two putative class actions were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York: Kopanic v. GTx, Inc. et al. and Cooper v. GTx, Inc. et al. (collectively, the “New York Actions” and, together with the Delaware Actions, the “Actions”).  The Actions name as defendants us and our former board of directors, and, in the case of the Wheby and Miller actions, Private Oncternal and Merger Sub.  The Actions allege that defendants violated Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, as well as Rule 14a-9 promulgated thereunder, in connection with our filing of the Registration Statement in connection with the Merger.  Three of the Delaware Actions have now been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice: the Wheby action on June 12, 2019; the Miller action on July 15, 2019; and the Living Seas action on June 26, 2019. We and our board of directors believe that the remaining lawsuits are without merit and intend to vigorously defend these actions. We cannot predict the outcome of or estimate the possible loss or range of loss from any of these matters. It is possible that additional, similar complaints may be filed or the complaints described above will be amended. If this occurs, we do not intend to announce the filing of each additional, similar complaint or any amended complaint unless it contains allegations that are substantially distinct from those made in the pending actions described above.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with the other information contained in this Quarterly Report, including our condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before making a decision to purchase or sell shares of our common stock. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed in the risk factors below will not occur. These risks could have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects. If that were to happen, the trading price of our common stock could decline. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations or financial condition. As a result of the Merger, the following the risks represent material changes from those set forth in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Position and Capital Requirements

We have identifieda limited operating history, have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the followingforeseeable future. We may never generate any revenue or become profitable or, if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain it.

Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. To date, we have focused primarily on organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, identifying, acquiring and in-licensing our product candidates and conducting preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials. Cirmtuzumab and TK216 are in clinical development, while our ROR1 CAR-T program is in the preclinical stage. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial scale product, or arrange for a third-party to do so on our behalf, or embark on sales and marketing activities necessary for successful post regulatory approval product commercialization, and have not developed any companion diagnostic test for our product candidates. Consequently, any predictions made about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a history of successfully developing and commercializing biopharmaceutical products.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception. If our product candidates are not successfully developed and approved, we may never generate any revenue. Our net losses were $25.1 million and $3.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $56.5 million. Substantially all of our losses have resulted from expenses incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. All of our product candidates will require substantial additional development time and resources before we would be able to apply for or receive regulatory approvals and begin generating revenue from product sales. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and anticipate these losses will increase substantially as we continue to develop, seek regulatory approval for and potentially commercialize any of our product candidates, and seek to identify, assess, acquire, in-license or develop additional product candidates.


To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing and eventually commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing clinical trials and preclinical studies of our product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval for these product candidates and manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval. We are only in the preliminary stages of most of these activities. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant enough to achieve profitability. In addition, we have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the biopharmaceutical industry. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with biopharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would depress our value and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our product candidates or even continue our operations. A decline in our company’s value could also cause stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.

We will require substantial additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed and on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development programs, commercialization efforts or other operations.

The development of biopharmaceutical product candidates is capital-intensive. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we conduct our ongoing and planned clinical trials of cirmtuzumab and TK216, continue research and development and initiate clinical trials of our other development programs and seek regulatory approval for our current product candidates and any future product candidates we may develop. In addition, as our product candidates progress through development and toward commercialization, we will need to make milestone payments to the licensors and other third parties from whom we have in-licensed or acquired our product candidates, including cirmtuzumab, TK216 and CAR-T. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we also expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution. Because the outcome of any clinical trial or preclinical study is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates. Furthermore, following the completion of the merger, we have incurred additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs or any future commercialization efforts.

We have based our estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Our operating plans and other demands on our cash resources may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through a combination of equity financings, debt financings, government funding or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. Attempting to secure additional financing may divert our management from our day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop our product candidates.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results, costs and timing of, our clinical trials of cirmtuzumab and TK216, and preclinical studies or clinical trials of other product candidates that we may choose to pursue in the future;

the costs and timing of manufacturing for our product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;

the costs of obtaining ibrutinib, for which we currently obtain supply at no cost under our clinical supply agreement with Pharmacyclics LLC, and vincristine to conduct our clinical trials of cirmtuzumab and TK216, respectively;

the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;

the costs of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing our patents and other intellectual property rights;

our efforts to evaluate, develop or partner the SARD and/or SARM assets; our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel to satisfy our obligations as a public company, including enhanced internal controls over financial reporting;


the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our clinical and other development activities increase;

the timing and amount of the milestone or other payments we must make to the licensors and other third parties from whom we have in-licensed or acquired our product candidates or technology;

the costs and timing of establishing or securing sales and marketing capabilities if any of our product candidates are approved;

our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share and revenue for any approved products;

the terms and timing of establishing and maintaining collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements; and

costs associated with any products or technologies that we may in-license or acquire.

Conducting clinical trials and preclinical studies is a time consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of products that we do not expect to be commercially available for many years, if at all.

Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.

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

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings, government funding or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, existing stockholders’ ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect stockholders’ rights as a common stockholder. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends.

If we raise funds through future collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or that may reduce the value of our common stock.


Risks Related to the Discovery, Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates

We depend heavily on the success of cirmtuzumab and TK216, which are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 clinical trials, as well as our ROR1 CAR-T program, which is in preclinical development. If we are unable to advance our product candidates in clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

Our two clinical-stage product candidates are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 clinical development. In May 2018, we commenced a Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib in patients with MCL and CLL. We announced interim results of the study in June 2019, and in August 2019, we announced that we have opened for enrollment the randomized Phase 2, randomized portion of the study of cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib in, for patients with CLL. The decision to open the Phase 2 portion of the study comes from the Part 1 dose-finding and Part 2 dose-confirming cohorts of the clinical trial, including an observed interim objective response rate (“ORR”) of 100% for the first nine CLL patients with evaluable data receiving the recommended dosing regimen who have completed 12 weeks of cirmtuzumab plus ibrutinib treatment in Part 2, and a well-tolerated safety profile consistent with that seen with ibrutinib treatment alone. In addition, our TK216 product candidate is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma. We plan to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial of TK216 in AML, and to commence IND-enabling preclinical studies for TK216 for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer. Additionally, our ROR1 CAR-T program will need further preclinical development and IND-enabling studies prior to commencing clinical development. None of our product candidates have advanced into a pivotal or registrational study for the indications for which we are studying them. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of our product candidates. The success of our product candidates will depend on various factors, including the following:

successful completion of preclinical and clinical studies with favorable results;

acceptance of investigation new drug applications (“INDs”) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) or similar regulatory filing by comparable foreign regulatory authorities for the conduct of clinical trials of our product candidates and our proposed designs for future clinical trials;

demonstrating safety and efficacy of our product candidates to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory authorities;

receiving marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities, including Biologics License Applications (“BLAs”) or new drug applications (“NDAs”), from the FDA and maintaining such approvals;

making arrangements with our third-party manufacturers for commercial manufacturing capabilities for our product candidates;

establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and launching commercial sales of our product candidates, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others;

establishing and maintaining patent and trade secret protection or regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates;

the demonstration of an acceptable safety profile of our products following approval, if any;

developing, in-licensing or acquiring companion diagnostics to our product candidates; and

maintaining and growing an organization for people who can develop our product candidates and technology.

The success of our business, including our ability to finance the company and generate any revenue in the future, will primarily depend on the successful development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our product candidates, which may never occur. We have not yet succeeded and may not succeed in demonstrating efficacy and safety for any of our product candidates in clinical trials or in obtaining marketing approval thereafter. Given our early stage of development, it may be several years, if at all, before we have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of a product candidate sufficient to warrant approval for commercialization. If we are unable to develop, or obtain regulatory approval for, or, if approved, successfully commercialize our product candidates, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to continue our business.


Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and the results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of future results. Our product candidates may not have favorable results in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval on a timely basis, if at all.

Clinical drug development is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. We cannot guarantee that any clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all, and failure can occur at any time during the preclinical study or clinical trial process. Despite promising preclinical or clinical results, any product candidate can unexpectedly fail at any stage of preclinical or clinical development. The historical failure rate for product candidates in our industry is high.

The results from preclinical studies or clinical trials of a product candidate may not predict the results of later clinical trials of the product candidate, and interim results of a clinical trial are not necessarily indicative of final results. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy characteristics despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. In particular, while cirmtuzumab was well tolerated and showed favorable results in the Phase 1 portion of our ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial as well as the inhibition of ROR1 signaling in patients with CLL in early clinical trials, we do not know how cirmtuzumab will perform in the Phase 2 portion of the clinical trial and one or more of the reported clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues in such trial, and such results may not be replicated in any other future clinical trials, including as a result of any differences in the target population, drug interactions or other differences in our trial design.  It is not uncommon to observe results in clinical trials that are unexpected based on preclinical studies and early clinical trials, and many product candidates fail in clinical trials despite very promising early results. Moreover, this and any future preclinical and clinical data may be susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical development even after achieving promising results in earlier studies. Furthermore, we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully progress our preclinical programs from candidate identification to Phase 1 clinical development.

For the foregoing reasons, we cannot be certain that our ongoing and planned clinical trials and preclinical studies will be successful. Any safety concerns observed in any one of our clinical trials in our targeted indications could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our product candidates in those and other indications, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition orand results of operations.  Investors should carefully consider

Any difficulties or delays in the risks described below before makingcommencement or completion, or termination or suspension, of our current or planned clinical trials could result in increased costs to us, delay or limit our ability to generate revenue, and adversely affect our commercial prospects.

Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must conduct extensive clinical studies to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans. In August 2019, we opened enrollment for the Phase 2 portion of our ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib in patients with CLL and MCL and are also conducting a dose-escalation Phase 1 trial of TK216 in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma.  We will have to follow the same procedure for our other preclinical product candidates that we plan to advance to clinical development, and would also be required to submit regulatory filings to foreign regulatory authorities if we decide to initiate clinical trials outside of the United States.

We do not know whether our planned trials will begin on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement and completion of clinical trials can be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays related to:

subjects failing to enroll or remain in our trial at the rate we expect, or failing to return for post-treatment follow-up;

subjects choosing an investment decision.  Our business faces significant risks,alternative treatment for the indication for which we are developing our product candidates, or participating in competing clinical trials;

the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities disagreeing as to the design or implementation of our clinical studies;

difficulties in obtaining regulatory authorizations to commence a trial or reaching a consensus with regulatory authorities on trial design;


difficulties in recruiting clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;

failure or delay in reaching an agreement with CROs and clinical trial sites, the risks described belowterms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;

delays in obtaining approval from one or more institutional review boards (“IRBs”);

IRBs refusing to approve, suspending or terminating the trial at an investigational site, precluding enrollment of additional subjects, or withdrawing their approval of the trial;

changes to clinical trial protocols;

clinical sites deviating from trial protocols or dropping out of a trial;

challenges in manufacturing sufficient quantities of product candidates or obtaining sufficient quantities of combination therapies for use in clinical trials;

lack of adequate funding to continue clinical trials;

subjects experiencing severe or unexpected drug-related adverse effects;

occurrence of serious adverse events in clinical trials of the same class of agents conducted by other companies;

selection of clinical endpoints that require prolonged periods of clinical observation or analysis of the resulting data;

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

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

third-party clinical investigators losing the licenses or permits necessary to perform our clinical trials, not performing our clinical trials in a timely manner or consistent with applicable clinical trial protocols, good clinical practices (“GCP”), or other regulatory requirements; third-party contractors not performing data collection or analysis in a timely or accurate manner; or

third-party contractors becoming debarred or suspended or otherwise penalized by the FDA or other government or regulatory authorities for violations of regulatory requirements, in which case we may need to find a substitute contractor, and we may not be able to use some or all of the only risks we face.  Additional risks not presently knowndata produced by such contractors in support of our marketing applications.

We could also encounter delays if our clinical trials are suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by a Data Safety Monitoring Board for such trial, or by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Regulatory authorities may suspend or terminate clinical trials due to usa number of factors, including failure to conduct clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or that we currently believe are immaterial may also significantly impair our business operations.  If anythe applicable clinical protocols, inspection of these risks occur, our business, results ofthe clinical trial operations or financial condition could suffer,trial site by the market priceFDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. In addition, changes in regulatory requirements and policies may occur, and we may need to amend clinical trial protocols to comply with these changes. Amendments may require us to resubmit our clinical trial protocols to IRBs for reexamination, which may impact the costs, timing or successful completion of a clinical trial.


Further, if we decide to conduct clinical trials of our common stock could decline and you could lose allproduct candidates in foreign countries additional risks may arise that may delay completion of those clinical trials. These risks include the failure of enrolled patients in other countries to adhere to clinical protocol as a result of differences in healthcare practices or part of your investment in our common stock.

We have marked with an asterisk (*) those risks described below that reflect substantive changes from the risks described under Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filedcultural customs, managing additional administrative burdens associated with the Securitiesregulatory schemes of other countries, as well as political and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2017.

Risks Relatedeconomic risks relevant to Our Financial Conditionother countries.  Under our license and Need for Additional Financing

We have incurred losses since inception,development agreement with SPH USA, SPH USA has the right to manufacture, develop, market, distribute and we anticipate that we will incur continued losses forsell our cirmtuzumab, ROR1 CAR-T, and TK216 product candidates in the foreseeable future.*

AsPeople’s Republic of September 30, 2017, we had an accumulated deficit of $552.4 million. Our net loss forChina, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, or Greater China, and the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $21.2 million and we expectobligation to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future as we continue ourperform all preclinical and clinical development activities and, ifrequired to obtain regulatory approvals for such product candidates in Greater China. In the event that SPH USA’s preclinical studies or clinical trials of our development activities are successful, potentially seekproduct candidates raise new safety or efficacy concerns, the prospects for obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates. These losses, amongcandidates in the United States and other things, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.

Our current product candidate, enobosarm (GTx-024), will require significant additional clinical development, financial resources and personnel in order to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for this product candidate and to develop itcountries, and our other SARMs into commercially viable products.  Whilebusiness, could be adversely impacted.

Moreover, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we recently announced our Phase 2may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the study. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of enobosarmthe clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to treat women with ER positive, AR positive advanced breast cancer achieved its primary efficacy endpointthe denial of marketing approval of one or more of our product candidates.

If we experience delays in both the 9 mg and 18 mg cohorts, after evaluating the breast cancer environment where the treatment paradigms are shifting to immunotherapies and/completion of, or combination therapies, we decided that the time and costtermination of, conducting the necessary clinical trials for approval in this indication do not warrant further development of enobosarm in this indication at this time.  Accordingly, our current strategy is focused on, and our prospects are substantially dependent on, the further development of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence, or SUI.  However, the development of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI is at an early stage, is subject to the substantial risk of failure inherent in the development of early-stage product candidates, and will require significant additional financial resources and personnel in order for such development to continue.  With regard to our remaining programs, our preclinical evaluation of our selective androgen receptor degrader, or SARD, technology, and our preclinical evaluation of SARMs as a potential treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, will in each case require significant additional financial resources and personnel to continue our development of these programs. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing and commercializing small molecule drugs, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if at all. In addition, we do not expect to obtain any regulatory approvals to market any of our preclinical or clinical product candidates, including enobosarm, for the foreseeable future, and it is possible that none of our product candidates, will ever receive any regulatory approvals.the commercial prospects of such product candidates may be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from such product candidates may be delayed. Moreover, delays in completing our clinical trials may increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues.

We have funded our operations primarily through public offerings and private placementsIn addition, many of our securities, as well as payments from our former collaborators.  We also previously recognized product revenue from the sale of

FARESTON®,factors that cause, or lead to, the rights to which we sold to a third partytermination, suspension or delay in the third quartercommencement or completion of, 2012.  Currently,clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of a product candidate. If we have no ongoing collaborations formake formulation or manufacturing changes to our product candidates, we may be required to conduct additional preclinical or clinical studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions. The need to conduct additional preclinical or clinical studies could result in delays in the development andapproval or commercialization of our product candidates, and as a result of the sale of our rights and certain assets related to FARESTON®, we also currently have no sources of revenue.

If we and/orwhich could shorten any potential collaborators are unable to develop and commercialize our SARMs or SARD technology, if development is further delayed or is eliminated, or if sales revenue from any SARM or SARD products upon receiving marketing approval, if ever, is insufficient,period during which we may never become profitable and we will not be successful.

We will need to raise substantial additional capital and may be unable to raise capital when needed, which would force us to delay, reduce or eliminate our development programs and could cause us to discontinue our operations.*

We will need to raise substantial additional capital to:

·                  fund our operations and conduct clinical trials;

·                  continue our research and development;

·                  seek regulatory approval for our product candidates; and

·                  commercialize our product candidates, if any such product candidates receive regulatory approval for commercial sale.

Based on our current business plan and assumptions, we estimate that our current cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, together with interest thereon, will be sufficient to meet our projected operating requirements for at leasthave the next twelve months.  We have based this estimate on our current business plan and assumptions that may prove to be wrong.  We could utilize our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect, and we could need additional funding sooner than currently anticipated. Also, our clinical trials may continue to encounter technical, enrollment or other difficulties that could increase our development costs beyond our current estimates or delay our development timelines, and we could otherwise exhaust our available financial resources sooner than we expect.  In any event, if we decide to undertake any further development of our SARMs or SARD technology beyond our ongoing clinical trials of enobosarm and preclinical development, we would need to obtain additional funding for such development, either through financing or by entering into collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for such further development.

Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

·                  the scope, rate of progress and cost of our preclinical and clinical development programs, including our ongoing and any future clinical trials of enobosarm;

·                  the terms and timing of any potential collaborative, licensing and other strategic arrangements that we may establish;

·                  the amount and timing of any licensing fees, milestone payments and royalty payments from potential collaborators, if any;

·                  future clinical trial results;

·                  the cost and timing of regulatory filings and/or approvalsexclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and any related restrictions, limitations, and/or warnings inenable our competitors to bring products to market before we do. In such an event, the label of an approved product candidate;

·                  the effect of competing technological and market developments; and

·                  the cost of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights, and the cost of defending any other litigation claims.

While we have been able to fund our operations to date, we have no ongoing collaborations for the development and commercializationcommercial viability of our product candidates could be significantly reduced. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and no source of revenue, nor doprospects significantly.

We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials. If we expectencounter difficulties enrolling subjects in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

We may not be able to generateinitiate or continue clinical trials for our product revenue for the foreseeable future.  We do not have any commitments for future external funding.   Until we can generate a sufficient amount of product revenue, which we may never do, we expect to finance future cash needs

through potential collaboration, partnering or other strategic arrangements, as well as through public or private equity offerings or debt financings, or a combination of the foregoing. Ifcandidates if we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may needidentify and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to reduce our expenditures, perhaps significantly, to preserve our cash. Cost-cutting measures that we may takeparticipate in these trials as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Subject enrollment, a significant factor in the futuretiming of clinical trials, is affected by many factors including the size and nature of the patient population, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility and exclusion criteria for the trial, the design of the clinical trial, the availability of competing clinical trials and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages and risks of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating as well as any drugs under development. We will be required to identify and enroll a sufficient number of subjects for each of our clinical trials. Potential subjects for any planned clinical trials may not be adequately diagnosed or identified with the diseases which we are targeting or may not meet the entry criteria for such trials. For example, a limited number of patients are affected by CLL, MCL and particularly Ewing sarcoma, which are our initial target indications for cirmtuzumab and TK216. We also may encounter difficulties in identifying and enrolling subjects with a stage of disease appropriate for our planned clinical trials. We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials if we are unable to locate a sufficient number of eligible subjects to enableparticipate in the clinical trials required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In addition, the process of finding and diagnosing subjects may prove costly.

The timing of our clinical trials depends, in part, on the speed at which we can recruit patients to participate in our trials, as well as completion of required follow-up periods. For certain of our product candidates, including cirmtuzumab and TK216, the conditions which we currently plan to evaluate are orphan or rare diseases with limited patient pools from which to draw for clinical trials. The eligibility criteria of our clinical trials will further limit the pool of available trial participants. If patients are unwilling to participate in our clinical trials for any reason, including the existence of concurrent clinical trials for similar patient populations or the availability of approved therapies, or if we otherwise have difficulty enrolling a sufficient number of patients, the timeline for recruiting subjects, conducting studies and obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates may be delayed. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of subjects for any of our clinical trials would result in significant delays or may require us to meetabandon one or more clinical trials altogether. In addition, we expect to rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure proper and timely conduct of our cash requirements,future clinical trials and, while we intend to enter into agreements governing their services, we will have limited influence over their actual performance.


We cannot assure stockholders that our assumptions used in determining expected clinical trial timelines are correct or that we will not experience delays in enrollment, which would result in the delay of completion of such trials beyond our expected timelines.

Use of our product candidates could be associated with side effects, adverse events or other properties or safety risks, which could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon a product candidate, limit the commercial profile of the label for an approved product candidate, or result in other significant negative consequences that could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

As is the case with oncology drugs generally, it is likely that there may be side effects and adverse events associated with the use of our product candidates. Results of our clinical trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence, or unexpected characteristics of side effects. Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials, result in a more restrictive label for the product candidate, or delay or cause the denial of regulatory approval of the product candidate by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The drug-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment for our clinical trials, or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trials, or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

Moreover, if our product candidates are associated with undesirable side effects in clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may elect to abandon their development or limit their development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective, which may limit the commercial prospects for the product candidate if approved. We may also be required to modify our plans for future studies based on findings in our ongoing clinical trials.  Many compounds that initially showed promise in early-stage testing have later been found to cause side effects that prevented further development of the compound. In addition, regulatory authorities may draw different conclusions or require additional testing to confirm these determinations.

It is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as the use of our product candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by subjects. If such side effects become known later in development or upon approval, if any, such findings may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. In addition, our ongoing clinical trials of cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib and TK216 in combination with vincristine, and the ongoing investigator-initiated clinical trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with paclitaxel, may reveal adverse events based on the combination therapy that may negatively affectimpact the reported safety profile in such clinical trial.

In addition, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

regulatory authorities may withdraw, suspend or limit approvals of such product;

we may be required to recall a product or change the way such product is administered to patients;

regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label, such as a “black box” warning or a contraindication;

we may be required to implement a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”) or create a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients;

we may be required to change the way a product is distributed or administered, conduct additional clinical trials or change the labeling of a product or be required to conduct additional post-marketing studies or surveillance;

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

sales of the product may decrease significantly or the product could become less competitive; and

our reputation could suffer.

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


To the extentThe regulatory landscape that we raise additional funds through potential collaborations, partneringwill apply to development of gene therapy or other strategic arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish rights to some of our technologies orcell-based therapeutic product candidates by us or grant licenses on terms that are not favorableby our collaborators is rigorous, complex, uncertain and subject to us, any ofchange, which could result in delays or termination of development of such product candidates or unexpected costs in obtaining regulatory approvals.

Regulatory requirements governing products involving gene therapy treatment have changed frequently and will likely continue to change in the stockholdersfuture. Approvals by one regulatory agency may not be indicative of GTx having little or no continuing interestwhat any other regulatory agency may require for approval, and there is substantial, and sometimes uncoordinated, overlap in our SARMs and/or SARDs programs as stockholders or otherwise.  To the extent we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience significant dilution, particularly given our currently depressed stock price,those responsible for regulation of gene therapy products, cell therapy products and debt financing, if available, may involve restrictive covenants.other products created with genome editing technology. For example, we completed substantially dilutive private placements of our common stock and warrants in March 2014, November 2014 and September 2017, in addition to the submission of an IND to the FDA, before initiation of a registered direct offeringclinical trial in the United States, certain human clinical trials for cell therapy products and gene therapy had historically been subject to review by the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (the “RAC”), of our common stockthe National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), Office of Biotechnology Activities (“OBA”), pursuant to the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules (“NIH Guidelines”). Following an initial review, RAC members would make a recommendation as to whether the protocol raises important scientific, safety, medical, ethical or social issues that we completed in October 2016. Our stockholderswarrant in-depth discussion at the RAC’s quarterly meetings. Even though the FDA decides whether individual cell therapy or gene therapy protocols may experience additional, perhaps substantial, dilution should we again raise additional funds by issuing equity securities. Any additional debt or equity financing that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders. Our ability to raise additional fundsproceed under an IND, the RAC’s recommendations were shared with the FDA and the terms upon which we are ableRAC public review process, if undertaken, could delay the initiation of a clinical trial, even if the FDA had reviewed the trial design and details and has not objected to raise such fundsits initiation or has notified the sponsor that the study may be adversely impacted bybegin. Conversely, the uncertainty regardingFDA could have put an IND on clinical hold even if the prospects of our development of enobosarm forRAC provided a favorable review or had recommended against an in-depth, public review. On August 17, 2018, the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI and our ability to advance the development of enobosarm or SARDs through potential future collaborative, partnering or other strategic relationships, if at all. Our ability to raise additional funds and the terms upon which we are able to raise such funds may also be adversely affected by the uncertainties regarding our financial condition, the sufficiency of our capital resources, recent and potential future management turnover, and continued volatility and instabilityNIH issued a notice in the global financial markets. AsFederal Register and issued a resultpublic statement proposing changes to the oversight framework for gene therapy trials, including changes to the applicable NIH Guidelines to modify the roles and responsibilities of these and other factors, we cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all.

Risks Relatedthe RAC with respect to Development of Product Candidates

We are substantially dependent on the success of enobosarm and our failure to advance the development of enobosarm or to obtain regulatory approval of enobosarm would significantly harm our prospects.*

Our current strategy is focused on, and our prospects are substantially dependent on, the further development of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI.  We are evaluating enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI in two ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials.  Even if our ongoing clinical trials are successful, we will still need to conduct costly and time-consuming additional clinical trials of enobosarm to determine whether enobosarm is an effective treatment for postmenopausal women with SUI.

Preclinical studies, including studies of SARMs in animal models of disease, may not accurately predict the results of subsequent human clinical trials of enobosarm, includinggene therapy products, and requesting public comment on its proposed modifications. The NIH announced that during the resultspublic comment period, which closed October 16, 2018, it would no longer accept new human gene transfer protocols for review as part of the protocol registration process under the existing NIH Guidelines or convene the RAC to review individual clinical protocols. These trials remain subject to the FDA’s oversight and other clinical trial regulations, and oversight at the local level will continue as otherwise set forth in the NIH Guidelines. Specifically, under the NIH Guidelines, supervision of human gene transfer trials includes evaluation and assessment by an institutional biosafety committee, or IBC, a local institutional committee that reviews and oversees research utilizing recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules at that institution. The IBC assesses the safety of the research and identifies any potential risk to public health or the environment, and such review may result in some delay before initiation of a clinical trial. While the NIH Guidelines are not mandatory unless the research in question is being conducted at or sponsored by institutions receiving NIH funding of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecule research, many companies and other institutions not otherwise subject to the NIH Guidelines voluntarily follow them. Even though we may not be required to submit a protocol for our gene therapy product candidates such as a ROR1 targeted CAR-T through the NIH for RAC review, we will still be subject to significant regulatory oversight by the FDA, and in addition to the government regulators, the applicable IBC and IRB of each institution at which we or our collaborators conduct clinical trials of our randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2product candidates, or a central IRB if appropriate, would need to review and approve the proposed clinical trial.

The same applies in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency (the “EMA”), has a Committee for Advanced Therapies (“CAT”) that is responsible for assessing the quality, safety and efficacy of advanced therapy medicinal products. Advanced-therapy medical products include gene therapy medicine, somatic-cell therapy medicines and tissue-engineered medicines. The role of the CAT is to prepare a draft opinion on an application for marketing authorization for a gene therapy medicinal candidate that is submitted to the EMA. In the European Union, the development and evaluation of a gene therapy medicinal product must be considered in the context of the relevant European Union guidelines. The EMA may issue new guidelines concerning the development and marketing authorization for gene therapy medicinal products and require that we comply with these new guidelines. Similarly complex regulatory environments exist in other jurisdictions in which we might consider seeking regulatory approvals for our product candidates, further complicating the regulatory landscape. As a result, the procedures and standards applied to gene therapy products and cell therapy products may be applied to any of our gene therapy product candidates such as CAR-T, but that remains uncertain at this point.


The clinical trial requirements of enobosarmthe FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use to evaluate the changesafety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use and market of the potential products. The regulatory approval process for product candidates involving gene therapy can be more lengthy, rigorous and expensive than the process for other better known or more extensively studied product candidates and technologies. Since we are developing novel treatments for diseases in frequency of daily SUI episodes following 12 weeks of treatment. Similarly,which there is little clinical experience with new endpoints and methodologies, there is heightened risk that the fact that we reported positive top-line data from our Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-conceptFDA, the EMA or comparable regulatory bodies may not consider the clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in postmenopausal womenendpoints to provide clinically meaningful results, and the resulting clinical data and results may be more difficult to analyze. This may be a particularly significant risk for many of the genetically defined diseases for which we may develop product candidates alone or with SUI does not ensure that our randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2collaborators due to small patient populations for those diseases, and designing and executing a rigorous clinical trial with appropriate statistical power is more difficult than with diseases that have larger patient populations. Regulatory agencies administering existing or future regulations or legislation may not allow production and marketing of enobosarmproducts utilizing gene therapy in a timely manner or under technically or commercially feasible conditions. Even if our product candidates obtain required regulatory approvals, such approvals may later be withdrawn as a result of changes in regulations or the interpretation of regulations by applicable regulatory agencies.

Changes in applicable regulatory guidelines may lengthen the regulatory review process for our product candidates, require additional studies or trials, increase development costs, lead to evaluatechanges in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of such product candidates, or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. Additionally, adverse developments in clinical trials of gene therapy products conducted by others may cause the changeFDA, the EMA and other regulatory bodies to revise the requirements for approval of any product candidates we may develop or limit the use of products utilizing gene therapy, either of which could materially harm our business. Furthermore, regulatory action or private litigation could result in frequencyincreased expenses, delays or other impediments to our research programs or the development or commercialization of daily SUI episodes following 12 weeks of treatmentcurrent or future product candidates.

As we advance our product candidates alone or with collaborators, we will be successful. For example, even thoughrequired to consult with these regulatory and advisory groups and comply with all applicable guidelines, rules and regulations. If we reported positive results fromfail to do so, we or our Phase 2 proof-of-conceptcollaborators may be required to delay or terminate development of such product candidates. Delay or failure to obtain, or unexpected costs in obtaining, the regulatory approval necessary to bring a product candidate to market could decrease our ability to generate sufficient product revenue to maintain our business.

As an organization, we have limited experience in the process of enrolling patients in our clinical trial evaluating enobosarm 9 mgtrials, have never conducted later-stage clinical trials or submitted a BLA or an NDA, and may be unable to do so for any of our product candidates.

We are early in women whose advanced breast cancerour development efforts for our product candidates, and will need to successfully complete later-stage and pivotal clinical trials in order to obtain FDA or comparable foreign regulatory approval to market cirmtuzumab, TK216, ROR1 CAR-T, or any future product candidates. Carrying out later-stage clinical trials and submitting a successful BLA or NDA is both ER positive and AR positive, we determined during the third quarter of 2017 that there were insufficient patients achieving clinical benefit from enobosarm treatment to continue our Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in patients with advanced AR positive triple-negative breast cancer, or TNBC. Accordingly,a complicated process. As an organization, we are in the process of closing down thisconducting a Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept clinical trial. Additionally,trial for cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib and a Phase 1 clinical trial for TK216, alone and in combination with vincristine. We have not yet conducted any clinical trials for our other product candidates. We have not previously conducted any later stage or pivotal clinical trials, have limited experience as a company in preparing, submitting and prosecuting regulatory filings and have not previously submitted a BLA, an NDA or other comparable foreign regulatory submission for any product candidate. In addition, we have since decidedhad limited interactions with the FDA and cannot be certain how many additional clinical trials of cirmtuzumab, TK216 or any other product candidates will be required or how such trials should be designed. We may be unable to successfully and efficiently execute and complete necessary clinical trials in a way that leads to regulatory submission and approval of any of our product candidates. We may require more time and incur greater costs than our competitors and may not succeed in obtaining regulatory approvals of product candidates that we develop. Failure to pursue additionalcommence or complete, or delays in our planned clinical trials could delay or prevent us from submitting BLAs or NDAs for, and commercializing, our product candidates.

Our product candidates are subject to extensive regulation and compliance, which is costly and time consuming, and such regulation may cause unanticipated delays or prevent the receipt of the required approvals to commercialize our product candidates.

The clinical development, manufacturing, labeling, storage, record-keeping, advertising, promotion, import, export, marketing and distribution of our product candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA in the United States and by comparable foreign regulatory authorities in foreign markets. In the United States, we are not permitted to market our product candidates until we receive regulatory approval from the FDA. The process of obtaining regulatory approval is expensive, often takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved, as well as the target indications and patient population. Approval policies or regulations may change, and the FDA has substantial discretion in the drug approval process, including the ability to delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidate for many reasons. Despite the time and expense invested in clinical development of enobosarm to treat women with ER positive, AR positive advanced breast cancer after evaluating the breast cancer environment where the treatment paradigms are shifting to immunotherapies and/or combination therapies, along with the time and cost of conducting the necessary clinical trials for approval, even though we recently announced our Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm in this indication achieved its primary efficacy endpoint in both the 9 mg and 18 mg cohorts of the clinical trial.  A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry, including us and those with greater resources and experience than we have, have suffered significant setbacks in Phase 3 and later-stage clinical trials, even after receiving encouraging results in earlier clinical trials.  Due to the uncertain and time-consuming clinical development andproduct candidates, regulatory approval process, we mayis never guaranteed. We are not be successful in developing enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women

with SUI, or in developing or partneringpermitted to market any of our product candidates in the United States until we receive approval of a BLA or an NDA from the FDA.


Prior to obtaining approval to commercialize a product candidate in the United States or abroad, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence from adequate and it is possiblewell-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, that nonesuch product candidates are safe and effective for their intended uses, and in the case of biological products, that such product candidates are safe, pure and potent. Results from nonclinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways. Even if we believe the nonclinical or clinical data for our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, as the case may be, may also require us to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidates either prior to or post-approval, or may object to elements of our currentclinical development program.

The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities can delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidates will ever become commercial products.candidate for many reasons, including:

A substantial portionsuch authorities may disagree with the design or execution of our efforts and expenditures have been devoted to enobosarm 3 mg, which was the subject ofclinical trials;

negative or ambiguous results from our POWER 1 and POWER 2 Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating enobosarm 3 mg for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in patients with advanced NSCLC.  We announced in August 2013 that these two Phase 3 clinical trials failed toor results may not meet the co-primary endpointslevel of lean body mass and physical function that were assessed statistically using responder analyses asstatistical significance required by the FDA.  The failureFDA or comparable foreign regulatory agencies for approval;

serious and unexpected drug-related side effects may be experienced by participants in our clinical trials or by individuals using drugs similar to our product candidates;

the population studied in the clinical trial may not be sufficiently broad or representative to assure safety in the full population for which we seek approval;

such authorities may not accept clinical data from trials that are conducted at clinical facilities or in countries where the standard of care is potentially different from that of their own country;

we may be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks;

such authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;

such authorities may not agree that the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates are acceptable or sufficient to support the submission of a BLA, NDA or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere, and such authorities may impose requirements for additional preclinical studies or clinical trials;

such authorities may disagree with us regarding the formulation, labeling and/or the product specifications of our product candidates;

approval may be granted only for indications that are significantly more limited than those sought by us, and/or may include significant restrictions on distribution and use;

such authorities may find deficiencies in the manufacturing processes or facilities of the POWERthird-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; or

such authorities may not accept a submission due to, among other reasons, the content or formatting of the submission.

With respect to foreign markets, approval procedures vary among countries and, in addition to the foregoing risks, may involve additional product testing, administrative review periods and agreements with pricing authorities. In addition, events raising questions about the safety of certain marketed pharmaceuticals may result in increased cautiousness by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in reviewing new drugs based on safety, efficacy or other regulatory considerations and may result in significant delays in obtaining regulatory approvals. Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approvals would prevent us or any of our potential future collaborators from commercializing our product candidates.

Of the large number of drugs in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or foreign regulatory approval processes and are commercialized. The lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failure to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.


Even if we eventually complete clinical trials and receive approval of a BLA, NDA or comparable foreign marketing application for our product candidates, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly additional clinical trials, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and/or the implementation of a REMS, which may be required because the FDA believes it is necessary to meetensure safe use of the primary statistical criteriondrug after approval. The FDA or the comparable foreign regulatory authority also may approve a product candidate for a more limited indication or patient population than we originally requested, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may not approve the labeling that we believe is necessary or desirable for the co-primary endpoints agreed uponsuccessful commercialization of a product. Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approval would delay or prevent commercialization of that product candidate and would materially adversely impact our business and prospects.  

We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there are a greater likelihood of success.

Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we are focused on specific product candidates, indications and development programs. As a result, we may forgo or delay the pursuit of opportunities with other indications or other product candidates that could have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential for a particular product candidate, we could relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements, when it might be more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.

Fast Track designation by the FDA significantly depressedfor TK216 or our stock price and has harmed our future prospects.other product candidates may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.

 

Our evaluation of our SARD program is at an early stage and to initiate and complete initial human clinical trials, we will require additional funding.  In addition, our evaluation of SARMs asWe have been granted a potential treatmentFast Track designation for DMD is at a very early stage, and our ability to meaningfully advance development of SARMs as a potential treatment for DMD is subject to our ability to enter into new collaborative arrangements or other strategic transactions with third parties for any such further development or to otherwise obtain additional substantial additional funding for such development.

Accordingly, our current strategy and prospects are substantially dependent onTK216 in the successful development of enobosarmUnited States for the treatment of postmenopausal womenEwing sarcoma and may seek Fast Track designation for cirmtuzumab or our other product candidates. The Fast Track program is intended to expedite or facilitate the process for reviewing new product candidates that meet certain criteria. Specifically, new drugs are eligible for Fast Track designation if they are intended, alone or in combination with SUI.one or more drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the disease or condition. Fast Track designation applies to the combination of the product candidate and the specific indication for which it is being studied. With a Fast Track product candidate, the FDA may consider for review sections of the NDA or BLA on a rolling basis before the complete application is submitted, if the sponsor provides a schedule for the submission of the sections of the NDA or BLA, the FDA agrees to accept sections of the NDA or BLA and determines that the schedule is acceptable, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the NDA or BLA.

Obtaining a Fast Track designation does not change the standards for product approval, but may expedite the development or approval process. Even though the FDA has granted such designation for TK216, it may not actually result in faster clinical development or regulatory review or approval. Furthermore, such a designation does not increase the likelihood that TK216 or any other product candidate that may be granted Fast Track designation will receive marketing approval in the United States.

We and any potential collaborators willmay not be able to commercializeobtain or maintain orphan drug designations for certain of our product candidates, and may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.

Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan product if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or a patient population of greater than 200,000 individuals in the United States, but for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the European Union, the EMA’s, Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products grants orphan drug designation to promote the development of products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the European Union. We have received orphan drug designation in the United States for TK216 for patients with Ewing sarcoma and we may seek orphan drug designation in the European Union for TK216 for patients with Ewing sarcoma, as well as seek orphan drug designation for certain of our preclinical studies doother product candidates. There can be no assurance that the FDA or the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products will grant orphan designation for any indication for which we apply, or that we will be able to maintain such designation.


In the United States, orphan designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding for clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. In addition, if a product candidate that has orphan designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not produce successful resultsapprove any other applications, including an NDA or BLA, to market the same drug for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or where the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity. The applicable exclusivity period is ten years in Europe, but such exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if a product no longer meets the criteria for orphan designation or if the product is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified.

Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority can subsequently approve the same drug for the same condition if such regulatory authority concludes that the later drug is clinically superior if it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process.

We may conduct certain of or portions of our clinical trials do not adequately demonstrate safety and efficacy in humans.*

Significant additional clinical development and financial resources will be required to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for our product candidates outside of the United States and to develop them into commercially viable products.  Preclinical and clinical testing is expensive, can take many years to complete and has an uncertain outcome. Successthe FDA may not accept data from such trials, in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trialswhich case our development plans will be successful, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results.  In this regard, from time to time, we have anddelayed, which could materially harm our business.

We may in the future publishchoose to conduct one or report interimmore of our clinical trials or a portion of our clinical trials for our product candidates outside the United States. Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of this data is subject to certain conditions imposed by the FDA. For example, the clinical trial must be well designed and conducted and performed by qualified investigators in accordance with GCP requirements, and, and FDA must be able to validate the data from the study through an onsite inspection, if required. In general, the patient population for any clinical studies conducted outside of the United States must be representative of the population for whom we intend to label the product in the United States. In addition, while these clinical trials are subject to the applicable local laws, FDA acceptance of the data will be dependent upon its determination that the studies also complied with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations. There can be no assurance the FDA will accept data from trial conducted outside of the United States. If the FDA does not accept the data from our clinical trials of our product candidates, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time consuming and delay or permanently halt our development of our product candidates.

Interim, topline and preliminary data from our clinical trials. Interim or preliminary data from clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may conduct may not be indicative of the final results of the trialchange as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the risk that onefinal data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary or topline data from our clinical studies, which are based on preliminary analyses of then-available data. Such preliminary results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following more comprehensive reviews of the clinical outcomesdata related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may materially change as patient enrollment continuesnot have received or had the opportunity to fully and more patientcarefully evaluate all data. As a result, the topline results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results once additional data become available. Interim or preliminaryhave been received and fully evaluated. Topline data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the interim or preliminary data.data we previously published. As a result, interim or preliminarytopline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available.

Typically, From time to time, we may also disclose interim data from our clinical studies, such as the failure rate for development candidates is high.  If a product candidate fails at any stage of development,positive interim data we will not have the anticipated revenuesannounced from that product candidate to fund our operations, and we will not receive any return on our investment in that product candidate.  For example, during the third quarter of 2017, we determined that there were insufficient patients achieving clinical benefit from enobosarm treatment to continue our Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in patients with advanced AR positive TNBC. Accordingly, we are in the process of closing down this clinical trial. Additionally, we have since decided not to pursue additional clinical development of enobosarm to treat women with ER positive, AR positive advanced breast cancer after evaluating the breast cancer environment where the treatment paradigms are shifting to immunotherapies and/or combination therapies, along with the time and cost of conducting the necessary clinical trials for approval, even though we recently announced our Phase 1/2 clinical trial of enobosarmcirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib. Interim data from this indication achieved its primary efficacy endpoint in bothclinical trial and future clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the 9 mg and 18 mg cohortsrisk that one or more of the clinical trial.outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues, following more comprehensive reviews of the data, and as more patient data become available. Adverse differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects.

Further, others, including regulatory agencies, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials of its product candidates, or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular product candidate, the approvability or prospects for commercialization of the product candidate, or our company in general. In addition, the information we announcedchoose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and stockholders and others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in August 2013our disclosure. Information that we decide not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product, product candidate or our POWER 1 and POWER 2 Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating enobosarm forbusiness. If the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in patients with advanced NSCLC failed to meet the co-primary endpoints of lean body mass and physical functioninterim, topline or preliminary data that were assessed statistically using responder analyses as agreed uponwe disclose differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the FDA.

In the first quarterconclusions we reach based on our analyses of 2015, we entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Tennessee Research Foundation, or UTRF, to develop its proprietary SARD technology.  However,such data, our evaluation of the SARD program is at an early stage and it is possible that we may determine not to move forward with any meaningful preclinical development of our SARD program.  Even if we do determine to move forward with any meaningful preclinical development of our SARD program, to initiate and complete initial human clinical trials, we will require additional funding.  Accordingly, as a result of our unsuccessful research and preclinical development

and/or our inabilityability to obtain sufficient funding to meaningfully advance preclinical development of our SARD program, we may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of our licensing of this program.

Significant delays in clinical testing could materially impact our product development costs.  We do not know whether our ongoing clinical trials will need to be modified or will be completed on schedule, if at all.  We or any potential collaborators may experience numerous unforeseen and/or adverse events during, or as a result of, preclinical testingapproval for, and the clinical trial process that could delay or prevent our or our potential collaborators’ ability to commercialize our product candidates including:

·                  regulatorsmay be harmed, which could harm our business, operating results, prospects or institutional review boards may not authorize us or any potential collaborators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site, orfinancial condition.


Any breakthrough therapy designation that we may experience substantial delays in obtaining these authorizations;

·                  preclinical or clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, which may require us or any potential collaborators to conduct additional preclinical or clinical testing or to abandon projects that we expect to be promising;

·                  even if preclinical or clinical trial results are positive,receive from the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities could nonetheless require us to conduct unanticipated additional clinical trials;

·                  registration or enrollment in clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate resulting in significant delays, additional costs and/or study terminations;

·                  we or any potential collaborators may suspend or terminate clinical trials if the participating patients are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

·                  regulators or institutional review boards may suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements; and

· our product candidates may not havelead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and it does not increase the desired effects or may include undesirable side effects.

If any of these events were to occur and, as a result, we or any potential collaborators have significant delays in or termination of clinical trials, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be impaired, which would materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and growth prospects.

If we or any potential collaborators observe serious or other adverse events during the timelikelihood that our product candidates are in development or after our products are approved and on the market, we or any potential collaborators may be required to perform lengthy additional clinical trials, may be required to cease further development of such product candidates, may be denied regulatory approval of such products, may be forced to change the labeling of such products or may be required to withdraw any such products from the market, any of which would hinder or preclude our ability to generate revenues.*will receive marketing approval.

 

In our Phase 2 clinical trialsWe may seek breakthrough therapy designation for enobosarm for the treatment of muscle wasting in patients with cancer and healthy older males and postmenopausal females, we observed mild elevations of hepatic enzymes, which in certain circumstances may lead to liver failure, in a few patients in both the placebo and enobosarm treated groups.  Reductions in high-density lipoproteins, or HDL, have also been observed in subjects treated with enobosarm.  Lower levels of HDL could lead to increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Mild transient elevations in liver enzymes were observed, as well as reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins, or LDL, HDL and triglycerides, in our Phase 2 open-label, non-placebo controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial of enobosarm to treat postmenopausal women with SUI.   In addition, in our Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in a 9 mg daily dose for the treatment of patients with ER positive and AR positive metastatic breast cancer, bone pain of the chest cage, a serious adverse event, or SAE, was assessed as possibly related to enobosarm.  Although doses up to 30 mg have been evaluated in short duration studies, doses of 1 mg, 3 mg, 9 mg and 18 mg currently being tested in our ongoing longer duration Phase 2 clinical trials may increase the risk or incidence of known potential side effects of SARMs, including elevations in hepatic enzymes and further reductions in HDL, in addition to the emergence of side effects that have not been seen to date.

In three Phase 2 clinical trials of GTx-758, we observed venous thromboembolic events (VTEs), or blood clots, in subjects treated with GTx-758 at the doses then being studied in these clinical trials (1000 mg and higher per day) and reported those events to the FDA. There were two deaths in subjects treated with GTx-758 and two deaths in subjects treated with Lupron Depot®.  In February 2012, the FDA placed all of our then ongoing clinical studies of GTx-758 on full clinical hold, and we suspended further enrollment into these studies and notified clinical sites to

discontinue treatment of subjects with GTx-758.  In May 2012, the FDA notified us that it had removed the full clinical hold on GTx-758.  In the third quarter of 2012, we initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate GTx-758, at doses lower than those which were previously being tested in our discontinued Phase 2 clinical trials, as secondary hormonal therapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC, and in this trial, there was one reported incidence of a VTE and one reported incidence of a myocardial infarction, or MI, in patients enrolled in the 250 mg arm of the trial, resulting in the discontinuation of both patients from active treatment.  We have determined to discontinue further development of GTx-758 and we do not expect to receive any return on our investment from this product candidate.

If the incidence of serious or other adverse events related to our product candidates increases in number or severity, if a regulatory authority believes that these or other events constitute an adverse effect caused by the drug, or if other effects are identified during clinical trials that we or any potential collaborators may conduct in the future or after anysome of our product candidates, are approvedincluding cirmtuzumab and marketed:

·                  weTK216. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or any potential collaboratorsin combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may be required to conduct additional preclinicaldemonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or clinical trials, make changes inmore clinically significant endpoints. For drugs that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the labeling of any such approved products, reformulate any such products, or implement changes to or obtain new approvals of our contractors’ manufacturing facilities;

·                  regulatory authorities may be unwilling to approve our product candidates or may withdraw approval of our products;

·                  we may experience a significant drop inFDA and the salessponsor of the affected products;

·                  our reputationtrial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the marketplace may suffer; and

·                  we may becomeFDA are also eligible for accelerated approval. Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the target of lawsuits, including class action suits.

Any of these events could prevent approval or harm salesdiscretion of the affected product candidates or products, or could substantially increase the costs and expenses of commercializing and marketing any such products.

Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

IfFDA. Accordingly, even if we do not establish collaborations for our product candidates or otherwise raise substantial additional capital, we will likely need to alter, delay or abandon our development and any commercialization plans.*

Our strategy includes selectively partnering or collaborating with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to assist us in furthering development and potential commercializationbelieve one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to provide funding formake such activities.designation. The availability of breakthrough therapy designation was established with the passage of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators, and collaborations are complex and time consuming to negotiate and document. Wecannot be sure that any evaluation we may not be successful in entering into new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for the further developmentmake of our product candidates on acceptable terms,as qualifying for breakthrough therapy designation will meet the FDA’s expectations. In any event, the receipt of a breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or at all.approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, we are unable to predict when,even if ever, we will enter into any additional collaborative, partnering or other such strategic arrangements because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with establishing such arrangements, and we have otherwise been unsuccessful, for many years, in our efforts to establish such arrangements. If we are unable to negotiate new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for the further development of our product candidates, we may have to curtail the development of a particular product candidate, reduce, delay, or terminate its development or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercializationproduct candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that such product candidates no longer meet the conditions for qualification or reducedecide that the scopetime period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on third parties to conduct many of our salespreclinical studies and clinical trials. Any failure by a third-party to conduct the clinical trials according to good laboratory practices, GCPs and other requirements and in a timely manner may delay or marketing activitiesprevent our ability to seek or increaseobtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. For example, we may have to cease further development of our enobosarm program if weproduct candidates.

We are unable to raise sufficient funding for any additional clinical development of enobosarm through new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements withdependent on third parties or other financing alternatives.  In this regard, if we decide to undertake any further development ofconduct our SARMs beyondclinical trials and preclinical studies, including our ongoing clinical trials for cirmtuzumab and TK216 and preclinical development, we would need to obtain additional fundingstudies for such development, either through financing or by entering into new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for any such further development.  Likewise, to initiate and complete initial human clinical trials for our SARD program, we will require additional funding.  In addition, our evaluation of SARMs as a potential treatment for DMD is at an early stage,ROR1 CAR-T and our ability to meaningfully advanceother development of SARMs as a potential treatment for DMD is subject to our ability to obtain additional funding, either through financing or by entering into new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for any such further

development.  There can be no assurances thatprograms. Specifically, we will be successful in obtaining additional funding in any event.  If we are not able to raise substantial additional capital, either through financing or by entering into new collaborative, partnering or other strategic arrangements with third parties for the further development of our product candidates, we will not be able to advance the development of our product candidates or otherwise bring our product candidates to markethave used and generate product revenues.

Any collaborative arrangements that we establish in the future may not be successful or we may otherwise not realize the anticipated benefits from these collaborations.  In addition, any future collaborative arrangements may place the development and commercialization of our product candidates outside our control, may require us to relinquish important rights or may otherwise berelied on, terms unfavorable to us.

We have in the past established and intend to continue to establish collaborationsuse and rely on, medical institutions, clinical investigators, CROs and consultants to conduct our clinical trials in accordance with our clinical protocols and applicable regulatory requirements. These CROs, investigators and other third parties to developplay a significant role in the conduct and commercialize sometiming of these trials and subsequent collection and analysis of data. While we have agreements governing the activities of our currentthird-party contractors, we have limited influence over their actual performance. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of its clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol and future product candidates,legal, regulatory and these collaborations mayscientific standards, and our reliance on the CROs and other third parties does not be successful or we may otherwise not realize the anticipated benefits from these collaborations. For example, in March 2011, we and Ipsen Biopharm Limited, or Ipsen, mutually agreed to terminate our collaboration for the development and commercializationrelieve us of our toremifene-based product candidate. As ofregulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with GCP requirements, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the date of this report, we have no ongoing collaborationsFDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for the development and commercializationall of our product candidates.  Wecandidates in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs or trial sites fail to comply with applicable GCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may not be abledeemed unreliable, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to locate third-party collaboratorsperform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under cGMP regulations. Our failure to developcomply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

There is no guarantee that any such CROs, investigators or other third parties will devote adequate time and marketresources to such trials or perform as contractually required. If any of these third parties fail to meet expected deadlines, adhere to our clinical protocols or meet regulatory requirements, or otherwise performs in a substandard manner, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated. In addition, many of the third parties with whom we contract may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other drug development activities that could harm our competitive position. In addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and may receive cash or equity compensation in connection with such services. If these relationships and any related compensation result in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, or the FDA concludes that the financial relationship may have affected the interpretation of the study, the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site may be questioned and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized, which could result in the delay or rejection of any BLA or NDA we submit to the FDA. Any such delay or rejection could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates, and we lack the capital and resources necessary to developcandidates.


If any of our product candidates alone.

Dependence on collaborative arrangements subjects us to a number of risks, including:

·relationships with these third parties terminate, we may not be able to control the amountenter into arrangements with alternative third parties or do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional CROs, investigators and timing of resourcesother third parties involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays may occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, investigators and other third parties, there can be no assurance that our potential collaborators may devote to our product candidates;

·                  potential collaborations may experience financial difficulties or changes in business focus;

·we may be required to relinquish important rights such as marketing and distribution rights;

·                  should a collaborator fail to develop or commercialize one of our compounds or product candidates, we may not receive any future milestone payments and will not receive any royaltiesencounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

We rely on third parties for the compound or product candidate;

·                  business combinations or significant changes in a collaborator’s business strategy may also adversely affect a collaborator’s willingness or ability to complete its obligations under any arrangement;

·                  under certain circumstances, a collaborator could move forward with a competing product candidate developed either independently or in collaboration with others, including our competitors; and

·                  collaborative arrangements are often terminated or allowed to expire, which could delay the development and may increase the costmanufacture of developing our product candidates.

If third parties do not manufacture our product candidates infor clinical and preclinical development and expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities in the required timeframe,of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, and with appropriate quality control, clinicalwhich could delay, prevent or impair our development andor commercialization of our product candidates would be delayed.efforts.

 

We do not currently own or operate manufacturing facilities and wehave no plans to build our own clinical or commercial scale manufacturing capabilities. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical and commercial quantitiesmanufacture of our product candidates. Our currentcandidates and anticipated future dependence uponrelated raw materials for clinical and preclinical development, as well as for commercial manufacture if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval. The facilities used by third-party manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates must be approved by the FDA or other regulatory agencies pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit a BLA or an NDA to the FDA or their equivalent to other regulatory agencies. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, third-party manufacturers for compliance with cGMP requirements for manufacture of our drug products. If these third-party manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, including requirements related to the manufacturing of high potency and pure compounds or other products, they will not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approval for their manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of third-party manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates, or if regulatory authorities withdraw any such approval in the future, we may adversely affect our future profit margins, if any, andneed to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, product candidates and commercialize any product candidates on a timely and competitive basis.

We rely on third-party vendorsobtain regulatory approval for the manufacture of SARM and SARD drug substance. If the contract manufacturers that we are currently utilizing to meet our supply needs for enobosarm or any future SARM or SARD product candidates prove incapable or unwilling to continue to meet our supply needs, we could experience a delay in conducting any additional clinical trials of enobosarm or any future SARM or SARD product candidates. We may not be able to maintain or renew our existing or any other third-party manufacturing arrangements on acceptable terms, if at all. If our suppliers fail to meet our requirements for enobosarm or any future product candidates for any reason, we would be required to obtain alternate suppliers. Any inability to obtain alternate suppliers, including an inability to obtain approval from the FDA of an alternate supplier, would delay or prevent the clinical development and commercialization of our product candidates.

Use of third-party manufacturers may increase the risk that we will not have adequate supplies of our product candidates.

Reliance on third-party manufacturers entails risks, to which we would not be subject if we manufacturedmarket our product candidates, ourselves, including:

·                  reliance onif approved. Our failure, or the third party for regulatory compliance and quality assurance;

·                  the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party because of factors beyond our control;

·                  the possible termination or non-renewal of the agreement by the third party, based on its own business priorities, at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us; and

·                  drug product supplies not meeting the requisite requirements for clinical trial use.

If we are not able to obtain adequate supplies of our product candidates, it will be more difficult for us to develop our product candidates and compete effectively. Our product candidates and any products that we and/or our potential collaborators may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities.

Our present or future manufacturing partners may not be able to comply with FDA-mandated current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations, other FDA regulatory requirements or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Failurefailure of our third-party manufacturers, or us to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, failure of regulatory authorities to grant marketing approval of our product candidates, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products.

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

an inability to initiate or continue clinical trials of cirmtuzumab, TK216 or any future product candidates.candidates under development;

If third parties on whom we rely do not perform as contractually requireddelay in submitting regulatory applications, or expected, we may not be ablereceiving marketing approvals, for our product candidates;

subjecting third-party manufacturing facilities to obtainadditional inspections by regulatory authorities;

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

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

In addition, we may be unable to establish any agreements with third-party manufacturers or to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including:

failure of third-party manufacturers to comply with regulatory requirements and maintain quality assurance;

breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third-party;

failure to manufacture our product according to our specifications;

failure to manufacture our product according to our schedule, or at all;


misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how; and

termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by the third-party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us.

Our product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.

Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or marketing approval, and any related remedial measures may be costly or time consuming to implement. We do not currently have arrangements in place for redundant supply or a second source for all required raw materials used in the abilitymanufacture of our product candidates. If our current third-party manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to independently conduct clinical trialsreplace such manufacturers and we may be unable to replace them on a timely basis or at all.

Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates or products may adversely affect our future profit margins and we must relyour ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.

Our reliance on third parties such as contract research organizations,requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or CROs, medical institutions, clinical investigators and contract laboratories to conduct our clinical trials. In addition,disclosed.

Because we currently rely on third parties to assistmanufacture our product candidates and to perform quality testing, we must, at times, share our proprietary technology and confidential information, including trade secrets, with them. We seek to protect our proprietary technology, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our preclinical developmentadvisors, employees, consultants and contractors prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or regulatory obligations or meet expected deadlines, if the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with third parties, the need to share trade secrets and other confidential information increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are intentionally or inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. Given that our proprietary position is based, in part, on our know-how and trade secrets and despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, a competitor’s discovery of our proprietary technology and confidential information or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have entered into and may seek to enter into additional collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements, and we may not be replaced,successful in doing so, and we may not realize the benefits of such relationships.

We may seek to enter into collaborations, joint ventures, licenses and other similar arrangements for the development or if the quality or accuracycommercialization of the data they obtain is compromisedour product candidates, due to capital costs required to develop or commercialize the failure to adhereproduct candidate or manufacturing constraints, in addition to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements orcollaboration with SPH and SPH USA. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish such collaborations for other reasons, our preclinicalproduct candidates because our research and development activities or clinical trialspipeline may be extended, delayed, suspendedinsufficient, our product candidates may be deemed to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort or terminated,third parties may not view our product candidates as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy or significant commercial opportunity. In addition, we face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners, and the negotiation process can be time consuming and complex. Further, any future collaboration agreements may restrict us from entering into additional agreements with potential collaborators. We cannot be certain that, following a strategic transaction or license, we will achieve an economic benefit that justifies such transaction.

Even if we are successful in our efforts to establish such collaborations, the terms that we agree upon may not be favorable to us, and we may not be able to maintain such collaborations if, for example, development or approval of a product candidate is delayed, the safety of a product candidate is questioned or sales of an approved product candidate are unsatisfactory.


In April 2018, we entered into a clinical trial and supply agreement with Pharmacyclics, LLC, an AbbVie Company, in support of our clinical trial to evaluate the combination of cirmtuzumab with ibrutinib. Ibrutinib is an inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a key component of cell signaling in B-cells, and is marketed by Pharmacyclics for treatment in patients with CLL and MCL. We initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in May 2018 to assess cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib in patients with CLL and MCL. Pursuant to the agreement, Pharmacyclics has supplied ibrutinib up to a maximum aggregate amount at no cost to us for part 1 (a dose-finding arm) and part 2 (dose expansion arm) of the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating cirmtuzumab in combination with ibrutinib. Under the clinical trial and supply agreement with Pharmacyclics, we are required to provide periodic reports to Pharmacyclics, including safety data reports, and to collaborate with Pharmacyclics in relation to any interactions with regulatory authorities regarding ibrutinib. The agreement includes no upfront costs, milestone or royalty payment commitments. In August 2019, Pharmacyclics agreed to provide additional quantities of ibrutinib at no cost to us for part 3 of the clinical trial, and so that patients who participated in parts 1 and 2 of the study may continue to receive ibrutinib in combination with cirmtuzumab for as long as their disease is responding. In the event the clinical supply agreement is terminated, we would likely incur substantial additional costs in order to obtain and purchase ibrutinib from a source other than Pharmacyclics and the Phase 2 part 3 of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial may be delayed.

In addition, any potential future collaborations may be terminable by our strategic partners, and we may not be able to adequately protect our rights under these agreements. Furthermore, strategic partners may negotiate for certain rights to control decisions regarding the development and commercialization of our product candidates, if approved, and may not conduct those activities in the same manner as we would. Any termination of collaborations we enter into in the future, or any delay in entering into collaborations related to our product candidates, could delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates and reduce their competitiveness if they reach the market, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

Even if we receive regulatory approval for or successfully commercializeany product candidate, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates.

Risks Relatedcandidates, if approved, could be subject to Our Intellectual Property

If we lose our licenseslabeling and other restrictions on marketing or withdrawal from UTRF, we may be unable to continue our business.

We have licensed intellectual property rightsthe market, and technology from UTRF used in substantially all of our business. Our license agreements with UTRF, under which we were granted rights to SARM compounds and technologies, including enobosarm, and more recently, to SARD compounds and technology, may be terminated by UTRF if we are in breach of our obligations under, or fail to perform any terms of, the relevant agreement and fail to cure that breach. If one or both of these agreements are terminated, then we may lose our rights to utilize the SARM and/or SARD technology and intellectual property covered by those agreements to market, distribute and sell licensed products, which may prevent us from continuing our business and may cause us to cease operations altogether.

If some or all of our or our licensor’s patents expire or are invalidated or are found to be unenforceable, or if some or all of our patent applications do not result in issued patents or result in patents with narrow, overbroad, or unenforceable claims, or claims that are not supported in regard to written description or enablement by the specification, or if we are prevented from asserting that the claims of an issued patent cover a product of a third party, we may be subject to competition from third partiespenalties if we fail to comply with products in the same class of products asregulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates, or products with the same active pharmaceutical ingredients as our product candidates, including in those jurisdictions in which we have no patent protection.when and if any of them are approved.

 

Our commercial success will depend in part on obtaining and maintaining patent and trade secret protection for our product candidates, as well as the methods for treating patients in the product indications using these product candidates. We will be able to protect our product candidates and the methods for treating patients in the product

indications using these product candidates from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that we or our exclusive licensor owns or controls such valid and enforceable patents or trade secrets.

Even if our product candidates and the methods for treating patients for prescribed indications using these product candidates are covered by valid and enforceable patents and have claims with sufficient scope, disclosure and support in the specification, the patents will provide protection only for a limited amount of time. Our and our licensor’s ability to obtain patents can be highly uncertain and involve complex and in some cases unsettled legal issues and factual questions. Furthermore, different countries have different procedures for obtaining patents, and patents issued in different countries provide different degrees of protection against the use of a patented invention by others. Therefore, if the issuance to us or our licensor, in a given country, of a patent covering an invention is not followed by the issuance, in other countries, of patents covering the same invention, or if any judicial interpretation of the validity, enforceability, or scope of the claims in, or the written description or enablement in, a patent issued in one country is not similar to the interpretation given to the corresponding patent issued in another country, our ability to protect our intellectual property in those countries may be limited. Changes in either patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may materially diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection.

We may be subject to competition from third parties with products in the same class of products as our product candidates or products with the same active pharmaceutical ingredients as our product candidates in those jurisdictions in which we have no patent protection.  Even if patents are issued to us or our licensor regarding our product candidates or methods of using them, those patents can be challenged by our competitors who can argue such patents are invalid or unenforceable, lack of utility, lack sufficient written description or enablement, or that the claims of the issued patents should be limited or narrowly construed. Patents also will not protect our product candidates if competitors devise ways of making or using these product candidates without legally infringing our patents. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and FDA regulations and policies create a regulatory environment that encourages companies to challenge branded drug patents or to create non-infringing versions of a patented product in order to facilitate theFollowing potential approval of abbreviated new drug applications for generic substitutes. These same types of incentives encourage competitors to submit new drug applications that rely on literature and clinical data not prepared for or by the drug sponsor, providing another less burdensome pathway to approval.

We also rely on trade secrets to protect our technology, especially where we do not believe that patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. Our employees, consultants, contractors, outside scientific collaborators and other advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our confidential information to competitors, and confidentiality agreements may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets is expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how. Failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

If we infringe intellectual property rights of third parties, it may increase our costs or prevent us from being able to commercialize our product candidates.

There is a risk that we are infringing the proprietary rights of third parties because numerous United States and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields that are the focus of our development and manufacturing efforts. Others might have been the first to make the inventions covered by each of our or our licensor’s pending patent applications and issued patents and/or might have been the first to file patent applications for these inventions. In addition, because patent applications take many months to publish and patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending applications, unknown to us or our licensor, which may later result in issued patents that cover the production, manufacture, synthesis, commercialization, formulation or use of our product candidates. In addition, the production, manufacture, synthesis, commercialization, formulation or useany of our product candidates, the FDA may infringe existing patents of which we are not aware. Defending ourselves against third-party claims, including litigation in particular, would beimpose significant restrictions on a product’s indicated uses or marketing or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly and time consumingtime-consuming post-approval studies, post-market surveillance or clinical trials to monitor the safety and would divert management’s attention fromefficacy of the product. The FDA may also require a REMS as a condition of approval of our business,product candidates, which could leadinclude requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to delays inensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. In addition, if the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves our development or commercialization efforts. If third parties are successful in their claims, we might haveproduct candidates, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, import, export and recordkeeping for our products will be subject to pay substantial damages or takeextensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other actions that are adverse to our business.

As a result of intellectual property infringement claims, or to avoid potential claims, we might:

·                  be prohibited from selling or licensingpost-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance with cGMPs and GCP requirements for any productclinical trials that we and/conduct post-approval. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products, including adverse events of unanticipated type, severity or any potential collaboratorsfrequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may develop unlessresult in, among other things:

restrictions on the patent holder licensesmarketing or manufacturing of our products, withdrawal of the patentproduct from the market or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;

restrictions on product distribution or use, or requirements to us, whichconduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;

fines, restitutions, disgorgement of profits or revenues, warning letters, untitled letters or holds on clinical trials;

refusal by the patent holder is not requiredFDA to do;approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications we filed or suspension or revocation of approvals;

product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of our products; and

injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

 


·                  be required to pay substantial royaltiesThe occurrence of any event or other amounts, or grant a cross license topenalty described above may inhibit our patents to

another patent holder; or

·                  be required to redesign the formulation of a product candidate so that it does not infringe, which may not be possible or could require substantial funds and time.

Risks Related to Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates

If we or any potential collaborators are not able to obtain required regulatory approvals, we or such collaborators will not be ableability to commercialize our product candidates and generate revenue and could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity.

In addition, if any of our product candidates are approved, our product labeling, advertising and promotion will be subject to regulatory requirements and continuing regulatory review. The FDA strictly regulates the promotional claims that may be made about drug products. In particular, a product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. If we receive marketing approval for a product candidate, physicians may nevertheless prescribe it to their patients in a manner that is inconsistent with the approved label. If we are found to have promoted such off-label uses, we may become subject to significant liability. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant sanctions. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. The FDA has also requested that companies enter into consent decrees or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct is changed or curtailed.

The FDA and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the current U.S. administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the current U.S. administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to generate revenueengage in routine regulatory and oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. It is difficult to predict how these executive actions, including any Executive Orders, will be materially impaired.*implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.

If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in funding for the FDA and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA and other regulatory agencies to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.

Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs and biologics to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business.  For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.


The commercial success of our product candidates will depend upon the degree of market acceptance of such product candidates by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community.

 

Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA, other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries, including the EMA. Failure to obtain regulatory approval for a product candidate will prevent us or any potential collaborator from commercializing the product candidate. We havemay not received regulatory approval to marketbe commercially successful. Even if any of our product candidates in any jurisdiction, and we do not expect to obtain FDA, EMA or any other regulatory approvals to market any of our product candidates for the foreseeable future, if at all.  The process of obtaining regulatory approvals is expensive, often takes many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved.

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. Even if the FDA or the EMA approves a product candidate, the approval may impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses, conditions for use, labeling, advertising, promotion, marketing and/or production of such product, and may impose ongoing requirements for post-approval studies, including additional research and development and clinical trials. Any FDA approval may also impose risk evaluation mitigation strategies, or REMS, on a product if the FDA believes there is a reason to monitor the safety of the drug in the market place. REMS may include requirements for additional training for health care professionals, safety communication efforts and limits on channels of distribution, among other things. The sponsor would be required to evaluate and monitor the various REMS activities and adjust them if need be. The FDA and EMA also may impose various civil or criminal sanctions for failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including withdrawal of product approval.

Furthermore, the approval procedure and the time required to obtain approval varies among countries and can involve additional testing beyond that required by the FDA. Approval by one regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions.

The FDA, the EMA and other foreign regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. For example, in October 2009, we received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA regarding our NDA for toremifene 80 mg to reduce fractures in men with prostate cancer on ADT notifying us that the FDA would not approve our NDA as a result of certain clinical deficiencies identified in the Complete Response Letter. We have since discontinued our toremifene 80 mg development program, as well as other toremifene-based products. Although we evaluated the potential submission of a MAA to the EMA seeking marketing approval of enobosarm 3 mg in the EU for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in patients with advanced NSCLC, based on input from the MHRA, we determined that the data from the POWER trials was not sufficient to support the filing and approval of a MAA without confirmatory data from another Phase 3 clinical trial of enobosarm 3 mg. As a result of this input, we elected not to submit a MAA in the absence of such confirmatory data. In addition, since data from the two POWER trials failed to meet the primary statistical criterion pre-specified for the co-primary endpoints of lean body mass and physical function, the FDA would not accept a NDA for enobosarm 3 mg for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in patients with advanced NSCLC.

Additionally, there can be no assurance that the FDA will determine that the data from our ongoing or potential future clinical trials of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI will be sufficient for approval of enobosarm in any indications.  For example, we may observe an unacceptable incidence of adverse events in our ongoing or potential future clinical trials of enobosarm, which could require us to abandon the development of enobosarm.

In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit,

or prevent regulatory approval of a product candidate.  Even if we submit an application to the FDA, the EMA and other foreign regulatory authorities for marketing approval of a product candidate, it may not result in any marketing approvals.

We do not expect to receive regulatory approval, forthey may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors or the commercial sale of any of our product candidates for the foreseeable future, if at all. The inability to obtain approval from the FDA, the EMA and other foreign regulatory authorities for our product candidates would prevent us or any potential collaborators from commercializing these product candidates in the United States, the EU, or other countries. See the section entitled “Business — Government Regulation”  under Part 1, Item 1 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 24, 2017, for additional information regarding risks associated with marketing approval, as well as risks related to potential post-approval requirements.

Risks Related to Commercialization

medical community. The commercial success of any products that we and/of our current or any potential collaborators may developfuture product candidates will depend uponsignificantly on the marketbroad adoption and use of the degree of market acceptance amongresulting product by physicians and patients health care payors and the medical community.

Any products that we and/or any potential collaborators may develop, including enobosarm, may not gain market acceptance for its stated indication among physicians, patients, health care payors and the medical community. If these products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate material product revenues or receive royalties to the extent we currently anticipate, and we may not become profitable.approved indications. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale,products will depend on a number of factors, including:

·demonstration of clinical efficacy and safety resultscompared to other more-established products;

the indications for which our product candidates are approved;

the limitation of our targeted patient population and other limitations or warnings contained in clinical trials;any FDA-approved labeling;

acceptance of a new drug for the relevant indication by healthcare providers and their patients;

·the pricing and cost-effectiveness of our products, as well as the cost of treatment with our products in relation to alternative treatments and therapies;

our ability to obtain and maintain sufficient third-party coverage and adequate reimbursement from government healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, private health insurers and other third-party payors;

the willingness of patients to pay all, or a portion of, out-of-pocket costs associated with our products in the absence of sufficient third-party coverage and adequate reimbursement;

any restrictions on the use of our products, and the prevalence and severity of any sideadverse effects;

potential product liability claims;

the timing of market introduction of our products as well as competitive drugs;

the effectiveness of our or any of our potential future collaborators’ sales and marketing strategies; and

unfavorable publicity relating to the product.

If any product candidate is approved but does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, hospitals, healthcare payors or patients, we may not generate sufficient revenue from that product and may not become or remain profitable. our efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payors regarding the benefits of our products may require significant resources and may never be successful.

·                  potential advantages over alternative treatments;

·                  whether the products we commercialize remain a preferred course of treatment;

·                  the ability to offerThe market opportunities for our product candidates may be limited to patients who are ineligible for sale at competitive prices;or have failed prior treatments and may be small or different from our estimates.

 

·                  relative convenienceCancer therapies are sometimes characterized as first line, second line or third line, and easethe FDA often approves new therapies initially only for third line use. When cancer is detected early enough, first line therapy is sometimes adequate to cure the cancer or prolong life without a cure. Whenever first line therapy, including targeted therapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, surgery or a combination of administration;these, proves unsuccessful, second line therapy may be administered. Second line therapies often consist of more chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumor targeted small molecules or a combination of these. Third line therapies can include bone marrow transplantation, antibody and small molecule targeted therapies, more invasive forms of surgery and new technologies. In markets with approved therapies, there is no guarantee that our product candidates, even if approved, would be approved for second line or first line therapy. This could limit our potential market opportunity. In addition, we may have to conduct additional clinical trials prior to gaining approval for second line or first line therapy.


·Our projections of both the strengthnumber of marketing and distribution support; and

·                  sufficient third-party coverage or reimbursement.

Ifpeople who have the cancers we are unabletargeting, as well as the subset of people with these cancers in a position to establish salesreceive later stage therapy and marketing capabilitieswho have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations or establishmarket research and maintain agreementsmay prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these cancers. The number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected. In addition, the potentially addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with third parties toour product candidates. Even if we obtain significant market and sellshare for our product candidates, we may be unablenever achieve profitability without obtaining regulatory approval for additional indications, including use as a first or second line therapy.

Any product candidates for which we intend to generate product revenue from such candidates.seek approval as biologic products may face competition sooner than anticipated.

 

We have limited experience as a company in the sales, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical products.  In the event one of our product candidates is approved, we will need to establish sales and marketing capabilities or establish and maintain agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates. We may be unable to build our own sales and marketing capabilities, and there are risks involved with entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services, which could delay the commercialization of any of our product candidates if approved for commercial sale. In addition, to the extent that we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing and distribution services, our product revenues are likely to be lower than if we market and sell any products that we develop ourselves.

If we and/or any potential collaborators are unable to obtain reimbursement or experience a reduction in reimbursement from third-party payors for products we sell, our revenues and prospects for profitability will suffer.*

Sales of products developed by us and/or any potential collaborators are dependent on the availability and extent of reimbursement from third-party payors, both governmental and private. Changes in the reimbursement policies of these third-party payors that reduce reimbursements for any products that we and/or any potential collaborators may develop and sell could negatively impact our future operating and financial results.

Medicare coverage and reimbursement of prescription drugs exists under Medicare Part D for oral drug

products capable of self-administration by patients.  Our oral drug product candidates would likely be covered by Medicare Part D (if covered by Medicare at all).  In March 2010, the United States Congress enacted the Patient Protection andThe Affordable Care Act includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biological product. Under the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or Healthcare Reform Act. The Healthcare Reform Act, among other initiatives, implemented cost containment and other measuresBPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that could adversely affect revenuesthe reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from salesthe date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of product candidates, including an increase in drug rebates manufacturers must pay under Medicaid for brand name prescription drugs and extension of these rebates to Medicaid managed care.

Someexclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the provisionsreference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of its product. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the Healthcare Reform Act have yet to be fully implemented, while certain provisions have beenFDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation and meaning are subject to judicialuncertainty, and Congressional challenges, as well as effortsany processes adopted by the Trump administrationFDA to repeal or replace certain aspects ofimplement the Healthcare Reform Act. For example, on January 20, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies with authorities and responsibilities under the Healthcare Reform Act to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision of the Healthcare Reform Act that would impose a fiscal or regulatory burden on states, individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices. In Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Healthcare Reform Act replacement legislation known as the American Health Care Act of 2017 in May 2017, which was not introduced in the Senate. More recently, the Senate Republicans have proposed multiple bills to repeal or repeal and replace portions of the Healthcare Reform Act.  Although none of these measures have been enacted, Congress may consider other legislation to repeal or replace certain elements of the Healthcare Reform Act. On October 12, 2017, President Trump signed another Executive Order directing certain federal agencies to propose regulations or guidelines to permit small businesses to form association health plans, expand the availability of short-term, limited duration insurance, and expand the use of health reimbursement arrangements, which may circumvent some of the requirements for health insurance mandated by the Healthcare Reform Act. In addition, citing legal guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has concluded that cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, payments to insurance companies required under the Healthcare Reform Act have not received necessary appropriations from Congress and announced that it will discontinue these payments immediately until such appropriations are made.  The loss of the CSR payments is expected to increase premiums on certain policies issued by qualified health plans under the Healthcare Reform Act. While Congress is considering legislation to appropriate funds for CSR payments the future of that legislation is uncertain.  We continue to evaluate the effect that the Healthcare Reform Act and its possible repeal and replacement has on our business.  This legislation and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the futureBPCIA could have a material adverse effect on the future commercial prospects for our industry generallybiological products.

We believe that any of our future product candidates approved as a biological product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to Congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our product candidates to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, could be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biological products will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses. If we are found or alleged to have improperly promoted off-label uses, we may become subject to significant liability.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products, as our product candidates would be, if approved. In particular, a product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. If we are found to have promoted such off-label uses, we may become subject to significant liability. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. The FDA has also requested that companies enter into consent decrees or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct is changed or curtailed. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion and avoid off-label promotion of our product candidates, if approved, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.

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

The availability of coverage and the adequacy of reimbursement by governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, private health insurers and other third-party payors are essential for most patients to be able to afford prescription medications such as our product candidates, if approved. Our ability to achieve coverage and acceptable levels of reimbursement for our products by third-party payors will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize ourthose products. Even if we obtain coverage for a given product candidates, if approved.

Economic pressure on state budgetsby a third-party payor, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may resultnot be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement in statesthe United States, the European Union or elsewhere will be available for any product that we may develop, and any reimbursement that may become available may be decreased or eliminated in the future.


Third-party payors increasingly seeking to achieve budget savings through mechanisms that limit coverage or payment for drugs.  State Medicaid programs are increasingly requesting manufacturers to pay supplemental rebates and requiring prior authorization for use of drugs where supplemental rebates are not provided.  Private health insurers and managed care plans are likely to continue challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, and many of these third-party payors may limit reimbursement for newly-approved health care products. In particular, third-party payors may limit the indications for which they will reimburse patients who use any products that we and/or any potential collaborators may develop or sell. These cost-control initiatives could decrease the price we might establish for products that we or any potential collaborators may develop or sell, which would result in lower product revenues or royalties payable to us.

Similar cost containment initiatives exist in countries outside of the United States, particularly in the countries of the EU, where the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can extend well beyond the receipt of regulatory marketing approval for a product and may require us or any potential collaborators to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our product candidates or products to other available therapies. The conduct of such a clinical trial could be expensive and result in delays in our or a potential collaborators’ commercialization efforts. Third-party payors are challenging the prices charged for medicalpharmaceutical products and services, and many third-party payors limitmay refuse to provide coverage and reimbursement for newly-approved health careparticular drugs when an equivalent generic drug or a less expensive therapy is available. It is possible that a third-party payor may consider our products as substitutable and only offer to reimburse patients for the less expensive product. Even if we are successful in demonstrating improved efficacy or improved convenience of administration with our products, pricing of existing drugs may limit the amount we will be able to charge for our products. Recently budgetary pressuresThese payors may deny or revoke the reimbursement status of a given product or establish prices for new or existing marketed products at levels that are too low to enable us to realize an appropriate return on our investment in many EU countries are also causing governmentsproduct development. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to consider or implement various cost-containment measures, such as price freezes, increased price cutssuccessfully commercialize our products and rebates.  If budget pressures continue, governments may implement additional cost containment measures.  Cost-control initiatives could decrease the price we might establish fornot be able to obtain a satisfactory financial return on products that we or any potential collaborators may develop or sell, which would result in lower product revenues or royalties payabledevelop.

There is significant uncertainty related to us.

Another development that could affect the pricingthird-party payor coverage and reimbursement of drugs would be if the Secretary of Health and Human Services allowed drug reimportation into the United States. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 gives discretion to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to allow drug

reimportation intonewly approved products. In the United States, under some circumstances from foreign countries,third-party payors, including from countries whereprivate and governmental payors, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, play an important role in determining the extent to which new drugs will be covered. Some third-party payors may require pre-approval of coverage for new or innovative devices or drug therapies before they will reimburse healthcare providers who use such therapies. It is difficult to predict at this time what third-party payors will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for our products.

Obtaining and maintaining reimbursement status is time consuming, costly and uncertain. The Medicare and Medicaid programs increasingly are sold at a lower price thanused as models for how private payors and other governmental payors develop their coverage and reimbursement policies for drugs. However, no uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors in the United States. IfTherefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the circumstances were metcoverage determination process is often a time consuming and the Secretary exercised the discretioncostly process that will require us to allowprovide scientific and clinical support for the direct reimportationuse of drugs, it could decreaseour products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the pricefirst instance. Furthermore, rules and regulations regarding reimbursement change frequently, in some cases at short notice, and we believe that changes in these rules and regulations are likely.

Additionally, we or any potential collaborators receive for any products that we and/or any potentialour collaborators may develop negatively affecting our revenues and prospectscompanion diagnostic tests for profitability.

Health care reform measures could hinder or preventuse with our product candidates’ commercial success.*candidates as we are targeting certain defined populations for our treatments. We, or our collaborators, will be required to obtain coverage and reimbursement for these tests separate and apart from the coverage and reimbursement sought for our product candidates, once approved. While we, or our collaborators, have not yet developed any companion diagnostic test for our product candidates, if we do, there is significant uncertainty regarding our ability to obtain approval, coverage and adequate reimbursement for the same reasons applicable to our product candidates.

Outside the United States, international operations are generally subject to extensive governmental price controls and other market regulations, and we believe the increasing emphasis on cost-containment initiatives in Europe and other countries has and will continue to put pressure on the pricing and usage of our products. In many countries, the prices of medical products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for medical products but monitor and control company profits. Additional foreign price controls or other changes in pricing regulation could restrict the amount that we are able to charge for our products. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for our products may be reduced compared with the United States and may be insufficient to generate commercially reasonable revenue and profits.

Among policy makersMoreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interestabroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for newly approved products and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our products. We expect to experience pricing pressures in health care reform, as evidenced byconnection with the initial enactmentsale of as well asany of our products due to the efforts to repeal and replacetrend toward managed healthcare, the Healthcare Reform Act in the United States.  Aside from the possible repeal and replacement of the Healthcare Reform Act, federal and state legislatures within the United States and foreign governments will likely continue to consider changes to existing health care legislation. These changes adopted by governments may adversely impact our business by lowering the priceincreasing influence of health care products in the United Statesmaintenance organizations and elsewhere.  For example, there has been increasingadditional legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices.  Specifically, there have been several U.S. Congressional inquiries and legislative and administrative initiatives at the federal and state levels intended to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing and modify government program reimbursement for drugs. We cannot predict what health care reform initiatives may be adopted in the future.  Further federal, state and foreign legislative and regulatory developments are likely, and we expect ongoing initiatives to increasechanges. The downward pressure on drug pricing, which could decreasehealthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the price we might establish for products that we or any potential collaborators may develop or sell, which would result in lower product revenues or royalties payable to us.

We operate in a highly regulated industry andentry of new laws, regulations or judicial decisions, or new interpretations of existing laws, regulations or decisions, related to health care availability, method of delivery or payment for health care products and services, or sales, marketing and pricing practices could negatively impact our business, operations and financial condition.products.


If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to our prior commercial sales of FARESTON®significant competition, and the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials, and we will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any product that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates or products caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

·                  decreased demand for any product candidates or products;

·                  injury to our reputation;

·                  withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

·                  costs to defend the related litigation;

·                  substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;

·                  loss of revenue; and

·                  the inability to commercialize any products for which we obtain or hold marketing approvals.

We have product liability insurance that covers our clinical trials and any commercial products up to a $25 million annual aggregate limit. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost, and we may not be able to obtain insurance coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.

If our competitors are better able to develop and market products than any products that we and/or any potential collaborators may develop, our commercial opportunity will be reduced or eliminated.*

We face competition from commercial pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprises, as well as from academic institutions, government agencies and private and public research institutions. Our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer side effectstechnologies or are less expensive than any products that we and/or any potential collaborators may develop. Competition could result in reduced sales and pricing pressure on our product candidates if approved, which in turn

would reducemore rapidly than we do, or their technologies are more effective, our ability to generate meaningful revenuedevelop and successfully commercialize products may be adversely affected.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on proprietary and novel products and product candidates. Our competitors have a negative impact ondeveloped, are developing or may develop products, product candidates and processes competitive with our results of operations. In addition, significant delaysproduct candidates. Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with existing therapies and new therapies that may become available in the developmentfuture. We believe that a significant number of our product candidates could allow our competitors to bring products to market before us and impair any ability to commercialize our product candidates.

Various products are currently marketed or used off-label for some ofunder development, and may become commercially available in the diseases and conditions that we are targeting in our pipeline, and a number of companies are or may be developing new treatments. These product uses, as well as promotional efforts by competitors and/or clinical trial results of competitive products, could significantly diminish any ability to market and sell any products that we and/or any potential collaborators may develop.

With respect to our SARM program, there are other SARM product candidates in development that may compete with enobosarm and any future, SARM product candidates, if approved for commercial sale.  We are currently focused on the development of enobosarm for the treatment of postmenopausal womenconditions for which we may attempt to develop product candidates. In particular, there is intense competition in the fields of immunology, inflammation and oncology. Our competitors include larger and better funded pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, biotechnological and therapeutics companies. Moreover, we may also compete with SUI. There are a variety of treatments thatuniversities and other research institutions who may be used for SUI in women; however, currently, there are no available oral agents approved for the treatment of SUI.  Behavioral modification and pelvic floor physical therapy are common initial treatment approaches.  Bulking agents, including carbon coated beads (Durasphere® marketed by Coloplast Corp), calcium hydroxlapatite (Coaptite® marketed by BioForm Medical, Inc.) and silicon (Macroplastique® marketed by Cogentix Medical), can be injected into or around the urethra for treating intrinsic sphincter deficiency, a cause of SUI symptoms. Biologic bulking agents including patient-derived adipose stem cells and autologous muscle-derived stem cells (Cook Myosite) are being developed.  Recently, an over-the-counter vaginal pessary (Impressa® marketed by Kimberly-Clark) has been approved for the temporary management of urine leakage in women with SUI.  Finally, surgical procedures (e.g. sling; bladder neck suspension) have been demonstrated to be effective in some women.

We are also exploring the potential of SARMs to treat DMD.  DMD is a rare genetic disorder which currently has no cure and leads to a progressive weakening of all the musclesactive in the body.  A numberindications we are targeting and could be in direct competition with us. We also compete with these organizations to recruit management, scientists and clinical development personnel, which could negatively affect our level of drugs areexpertise and our ability to execute our business plan. We will also face competition in various stages of development by pharmaceutical companies to meet the unmet medical need in DMD.  These drugs may compete for patient enrollment during theestablishing clinical trial phase, should we be able to advance the development of SARMs as a potential treatment of DMD, or commercially if approved.  The most advanced development is by those companies who are targeting the genetic mutation with exon skipping or codon blocking therapies including eteplirsen by Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (which recently received FDA approval) and DS-1541b, by Daiichi Sankyo Co in a Phase 2 clinical trial.  Deflazacort, a glucocorticoid, recently received FDA approval, which was recently acquired from Marathon by PTC Therapeutics.  Santhera Pharmaceuticals has completed a Phase 3 trial with a synthetic analog of coenzyme Q10, idebenone.  Eli Lilly and Company completed a Phase 3 trial with tadalafil, a PDE5 inhibitor, although the study did not meet its primary endpoint.  Pfizer Inc. is developing its anti-myostatin monoclonal antibody, PF-06252616, and is currently in a Phase 2 trial.  Bristol Myers Squibb Company is developing BMS 986089, an anti-myostatin adnectin, and currently has a Phase 2 trial ongoing.  Italfarmco S.p.A. has a Phase 3 trial ongoing with givinostat, an HDAC inhibitor.  Summit Therapeutics PLC has initiated a Phase 2 trial with ezutromid, an utrophin upregulator.  Cardero Therapeutics Inc. is planning a Phase 2 trial with epicatechin, a flavanol.  In addition, Akashi Therapeutics is developing two compoundssites, enrolling subjects for DMD, one of which is a SARM.  Tarix Orphan is developing TXA127, an angiotensin 1-7 peptide.  Fibrogen is developing FG-3019, a monoclonal antibody which inhibits connective tissue growth factor.  Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc. is developing CAT-1004, an NF-KB inhibitor.  ReveraGen Biopharma Inc. has initiated a Phase 2 trial in DMD with VPB 15, a novel glucocorticoid.  Capricor Therapeutics has an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial with CAP 1002, cardiosphere derived cells.

We have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with UTRF to develop its proprietary SARD technology which we believe has the potential to provide compounds that can degrade multiple forms of the AR by inhibiting tumor growth in patients with CRPC, including those patients who do not respond or are resistant to current therapies.  Drugs in commercial development having potentially similar approaches to removing the AR by degradation include Arvinas Inc.’s ARV-330, which is a chimera with an AR binding moiety on one end and an E3 ligase recruiting element on the other that is in preclinical development for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer and Androscience Corporation’s androgen receptor degrader enhancer, or ARD, which is currently in development for acne and alopecia with the potential for development as a treatment for prostate cancer. Additionally, Essa Pharma Inc. recently completed a Phase 1 study with EPI-506, an AR antagonist that targets the N-terminal domain of the AR, and has plans to develop a second generation agent.  C4 Therapeutics, Inc. is developing degronimids as means to degrade the AR through the ligand binding domain associated degradation.  CellCentric is developing therapies that target the histone methyltransferase enzyme to lower AR levels and Oric Pharmaceuticals is targeting the glucocorticoid receptor as a means to impact men that have CRPC.  In addition to this specific potential mechanistic competition, there are various products approved or under clinical development in the broader space of treating men with advanced prostate cancer who have metastatic CRPC which may compete with our proposed

initial clinical objective for our SARD compounds.  Pfizer and Astellas Pharma market XTANDI® (enzalutamide), an oral androgen receptor antagonist, for the treatment of metastatic CRPC in men previously treated with docetaxel as well as those that have not yet received chemotherapy.  Zytiga®, sold by Johnson & Johnson, has been approved for the treatment of metastatic CRPC.  Similarly, Johnson & Johnson acquired Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which developed a second generation anti-androgen apalutamide (ARN-509) which has recently had an NDA submitted to the FDA for the treatment of men with non-metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.  Bayer HealthCare and Orion Corporation are currently performing a Phase 3 study of darolutamide (ODM-201) in men with CRPC without metastases and with a rising PSA examining safety and efficacy by measuring metastatic free survival.  Another target in prostate cancer that is being pursued by several companies is bromodomain inhibition.  Zenith Epigenetics, Gilead Sciences Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline are evaluating BET inhibitors in Phase 1-2 trials.

Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do.in identifying and in-licensing new product candidates. Smaller or early-stageearly stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties

If any of our product candidates are approved in oncology indications such as CLL or MCL, they will compete with ussmall molecule therapies, biologics, cell-based therapies and vaccines, either approved or under development, that are intended to treat the same cancers that we are targeting, including through approaches that may prove to be more effective, have fewer side effects, be less costly to manufacture, be more convenient to administer or have other advantages over any product candidates we develop. In addition to competing with other therapies targeting similar indications, there are numerous other companies and academic institutions focused on similar targets as our product candidates and/or different scientific approaches to treating the same indications. We face competition from such companies in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials,seeking any future potential collaborations to partner our product candidates, as well as potentially competing commercially for any approved products.

CLL has traditionally been treated with standard cytotoxic agents such as fludarabine, chlorambucil, cyclophosphamide, and bendamustine. Rituximab, marketed as Rituxan by Genentech, which is a monoclonal antibody that specifically recognizes CD20, an antigen on B-cells from which the tumor cells in acquiring technologiesCLL arise, was approved for use in CLL in 2010, but was previously widely prescribed off-label. Rituximab, which is typically used to treat patients with CLL in combination with cytotoxic agents, remains a treatment option for younger patients who can tolerate the side effects of the associated chemotherapy. Regulatory authorities have also approved other monoclonal antibody products that target CD20, as well as antibodies targeting another surface protein found on CLL tumor cells known as CD52, and technology licenses complementarythree classes of small molecules: ibrutinib, venetoclax, an inhibitor of the protein B-cell lymphoma-2 (“Bcl-2”), which is marketed as Venclexta and Venclyxto by AbbVie and Roche/Genentech, and Zydelig (idelalisib, marketed by Gilead Sciences) and Copiktra (duvelisib, marketed by Verastem), inhibitors of Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (“PI3K”). These agents are approved for use as single agents, but are being investigated in combination with each other and with various monoclonal antibody products. Additionally, clinicians are investigating their potential in earlier stage disease in multiple clinical trials.  

There are several therapeutic options available to treat MCL. Newly diagnosed patients are typically treated with rituximab combined with a chemotherapy regimen known as CHOP, comprised of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone. Alternative chemotherapy regimens include bortezomib or bendamustine. Patients with clinical responses to chemotherapy may become candidates for another therapeutic approach, autologous stem cell transplantation, a procedure in which radiation and/or chemotherapy is used to eliminate the patient’s immune cells, including residual MCL cells. Recently, ibrutinib was granted accelerated approval by the FDA for the treatment of relapsed MCL.

The current standard therapy for patients with localized Ewing sarcoma in the U.S. is surgery plus local radiation therapy, plus a combination of chemotherapy agents, including vincristine, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide, with alternating cycles of ifosfamide and etoposide, which is a therapy known as VDC/IE.

Many of our programscompetitors have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and supply resources or advantageousexperience than we do. If we successfully obtain approval for any product candidate, we will face competition based on many different factors, including the safety and effectiveness of our products, the ease with which our products can be administered and the extent to which patients accept relatively new routes of administration, the timing and scope of regulatory approvals for these products, the availability and cost of manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities, price, reimbursement coverage and patent position. Competing products could present superior treatment alternatives, including by being more effective, safer, more convenient, less expensive or marketed and sold more effectively than any products we may develop. Competitive products may make any products we develop obsolete or noncompetitive before we recover the expense of developing and commercializing our business.product candidates. If we are unable to compete effectively, our opportunity to generate revenue from the sale of products we may develop, if approved, could be adversely affected.


If the market opportunities for our products are smaller than we believe they are, our revenue may be adversely affected, and our business may suffer.

 

Risks RelatedThe precise incidence and prevalence for all the conditions we aim to Employees, Growthaddress with our product candidates are unknown. Our projections of both the number of people who have these diseases, the number who have the specific indicated stage or treatment history we believe will be the approved indication, as well as the subset of people with these diseases who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and Other Aspectsestimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of Operations

Management transition creates uncertainties and could harm our business.

Oversources, including the past few years, we have experienced significant changes in executive leadership, and more could occur.  For example, on April 3, 2014, Marc S. Hanover was appointed as our interim Chief Executive Officer and on February 12, 2015, Mr. Hanover was appointed as our permanent Chief Executive Officer. Also, on March 2, 2015, Robert J. Wills was appointed as our Executive Chairman and effective July 13, 2015, Diane C. Young joined us as our Vice President, Chief Medical Officer.

Changes to company strategy, which can often times occur with the appointmentscientific literature, surveys of new executives, can create uncertainty, may negatively impact our ability to execute quickly and effectively,clinics, patient foundations or market research, and may ultimatelyprove to be unsuccessful. In addition, executive leadership transition periods are often difficult asincorrect. Further, new trials may change the new executives gain detailed knowledgeestimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. The total addressable market across all of our operations,product candidates will ultimately depend upon, among other things, the indication approved by regulatory agencies and friction can result from changesthe diagnostic criteria included in strategythe final label for each of our product candidates approved for sale for these indications, the availability of alternative treatments and management style. Management transition inherently causes some lossthe safety, convenience, cost and efficacy of institutional knowledge,our product candidates relative to such alternative treatments, acceptance by the medical community and patient access, drug pricing and reimbursement. The number of patients in the United States and other major markets and elsewhere may turn out to be lower than expected, patients may not be otherwise amenable to treatment with our products or new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, all of which can negativelywould adversely affect strategy and execution. Until we integrate new personnel, and unless they are able to succeed in their positions, we may be unable to successfully manage and grow our business, and our results of operations and financial condition could sufferour business. Further, even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because some of our potential target populations are very small, we may never achieve profitability despite obtaining such significant market share.

We currently have no marketing and sales organization and have no experience as a result.  Incompany in commercializing products, and we may have to invest significant resources to develop these capabilities. If we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our products, we may not be able to generate product revenue.

We have no internal sales, marketing or distribution capabilities, nor have we commercialized a product. If any event, changesof our product candidates ultimately receives regulatory approval, we must build a marketing and sales organization with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize each such product in major markets, which will be expensive and time consuming, or collaborate with third parties that have sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our organizationown sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems. We have no prior experience as a resultcompany in the marketing, sale and distribution of executive management transitionbiopharmaceutical products and there are significant risks involved in building and managing a sales organization, including our ability to hire, retain and incentivize qualified individuals, generate sufficient sales leads, provide adequate training to sales and marketing personnel and effectively manage a geographically dispersed sales and marketing team. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of these products. We may not be able to enter into collaborations or hire consultants or external service providers to assist us in sales, marketing and distribution functions on acceptable financial terms, or at all. In addition, our product revenues and our profitability, if any, may be lower if we rely on third parties for these functions than if we were to market, sell and distribute any products that we develop. We likely will have a disruptive impactlittle control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively. If we are not successful in commercializing our products, either on our own or through arrangements with one or more third parties, we may not be able to generate any future product revenue and we would incur significant additional losses.

Our future growth may depend, in part, on our ability to implement our strategyoperate in foreign markets, where we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and could have a material adverse effectother risks and uncertainties.

Our future growth may depend, in part, on our business, financial conditionability to develop and results of operations.

Our internal computer and information technology systems,commercialize our product candidates in foreign markets. We are not permitted to market or thosepromote any of our CROs orproduct candidates before we receive regulatory approval from applicable regulatory authorities in foreign markets, and we may never receive such regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates. To obtain separate regulatory approval in most other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, or could otherwise face serious disruptions,countries, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements regarding safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, clinical trials, commercial sales, manufacturing, pricing and distribution of our product candidates. If we receive regulatory approval of our product candidates and ultimately commercialize our products in foreign markets, we would be subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including:

different regulatory requirements for approval of drugs in foreign countries;

reduced protection for intellectual property rights;

the existence of additional third-party patent rights of potential relevance to our business;

unexpected changes in tariffs, trade barriers and regulatory requirements;


economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in particular foreign economies and markets; compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labor laws for employees living or traveling abroad;

foreign currency fluctuations, which could result in increased operating expenses and reduced revenues, and other obligations incident to doing business in another country;

foreign reimbursement, pricing and insurance regimes;

workforce uncertainty in countries where labor unrest is common;

production shortages resulting from any events affecting raw material supply or manufacturing capabilities abroad; and

business interruptions resulting from geopolitical actions, including war and terrorism, or natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods and fires.

Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or any guidance we may provide.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a material disruptionvariety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to:

the timing and cost of, and level of investment in, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization activities relating to our product development efforts.candidates, which may change from time to time;

Despite the implementation of security measures,coverage and reimbursement policies with respect to our internal computer systems and those of our CROs and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, and telecommunication and electrical failures. Such events could cause interruptions of our operations. For instance, the loss of preclinical data or data from our ongoingproduct candidates, if approved, and potential future clinical trials involvingdrugs that compete with our products;

the cost of manufacturing our product candidates, which may vary depending on the quantity of production and any manufacturing issues or challenges requiring additional manufacturing activities, and the terms of our agreements with third-party manufacturers;

the timing and amount of any milestone or other payments we must make to the licensors and other third parties from whom we have in-licensed or acquired our product candidates;

expenditures that we may incur to acquire, develop or commercialize additional product candidates and technologies;

the level of demand for any approved products, which may vary significantly;

future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies; and

the timing and success or failure of preclinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidates or competing product candidates, or any other change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including consolidation among our competitors or partners.

The cumulative effects of these factors could result in delayslarge fluctuations and unpredictability in our developmentquarterly and regulatory filing effortsannual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance.

This variability and significantly increase our costs. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were tounpredictability could also result in a lossour failing to meet the expectations of industry or damagefinancial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to our data,the market, or inappropriate disclosureif the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of confidential, proprietaryanalysts or protected health information, we could incur liability andinvestors, the developmentprice of our product candidatescommon stock could be delayed.  In addition, our information technology and other internal infrastructure systems, including corporate firewalls, servers, leased lines and connection todecline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met any previously publicly stated revenue or earnings guidance we may provide.


We are dependent on the Internet, face the risk of systemic failure that could disrupt our operations. A significant disruption in the availabilityservices of our information technology and other internal infrastructure systems could cause delays in our research and development work and could otherwise adversely affect our business.

If we fail to attract and keep senior management and if we are not able to retain these individuals or recruit additional management or other key scientific personnel, we may be unable to successfully develop or commercialize our product candidates.business will suffer.

 

Our success depends in part on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management, clinical and scientific personnel. We are highly dependent upon our senior management, particularly our Chief Executive Officer, as well as other members of our senior management team. The loss of services of any of these individuals could delay or prevent the successful development of our product pipeline, initiation or completion of our planned operations, planned clinical trials or the commercialization of our product candidates. Although we have executed employment agreements or offer letters with each member of our senior management team, these agreements are terminable at will with or without notice and, therefore, we may not be able to retain their services as expected. We do not currently maintain “key person” life insurance on the lives of any of our employees. This lack of insurance means that we may not have adequate compensation for the loss of the services of these individuals.

We will need to expand and effectively manage our managerial, operational, financial and other resources in order to successfully pursue our clinical development and commercialization efforts. We may not be successful in maintaining our unique company culture and continuing to attract or retain qualified management and scientific and clinical personnel in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among pharmaceutical, biotechnology and on our ability to develop and maintain important relationships with leading academic institutions, clinicians and scientists.other businesses, particularly in the San Diego area. Our industry has experienced a high rate of turnover of management personnel in recent years. If we are not able to attract, integrate, retain and keep senior management and key scientificmotivate necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may not be able to successfully develop or commercialize our product candidates. Allexperience constraints that will significantly impede the achievement of our employees are at-will employees and can terminate their employment at any time.

In October 2013, we announced a reduction of approximately 60% of our workforce following our announcement that our POWER trials failed to achieve the results required by the FDA to file a NDA for enobosarm 3 mg for the prevention and treatment of muscle wasting in patients with advanced NSCLC. In addition, since our October 2013 workforce reduction, our former Chief Executive Officer, former Chief Financial Officer and former Chief Scientific Officer have resigned. Primarily as a result of our October 2013 workforce reduction, only 26 employees remained as employees of GTx as of September 30, 2017.  Accordingly, we have been and are operating with a shortage of resources and may not be able to effectively conduct our operations with this limited number of employees.  In addition, we announced past workforce reductions in each of December 2009 and June 2011, and our history of implementing workforce reductions, along with the potential for future workforce reductions, may negatively affect our ability to retain or attract talented employees.  Further, to the extent we experience additional management transition, competition for top management is high and it may take many months to find a candidate that meets our requirements. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified management personnel, our business could suffer.

We will need to hire additional employees in order to grow our business. Any inability to manage future growth could harmdevelopment objectives, our ability to developraise additional capital and commercialize our product candidates, increase our costs and adversely impact our ability to compete effectively.*implement our business strategy.

We may encounter difficulties in managing our growth and expanding our operations successfully.

 

As of SeptemberJune 30, 2017,2019, we had only 26six full-time employees and three part-time employees. As we will need to hire experienced personnel to developcontinue research and commercializedevelopment activities and pursue the potential commercialization of our product candidates, and to otherwise grow our business, andas well as function as a public company, we will need to expand our financial, research, development, regulatory, manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities or contract with third parties to provide these capabilities for the number ofcompany. As our managerial, operational, financialoperations expand, we expect that we will need to manage additional relationships with various strategic partners, suppliers and other employees to support that growth. Competition exists for qualified personnel in the biotechnology field.

Future growth, if any, will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain and integrate additional employees.third parties. Our future financial performance and our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates and to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to manage any future growth effectively.

We are subject to various foreign, federal, and state healthcare and privacy laws and regulations, and our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could harm our results of operations and financial condition.

Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors and customers expose us to broadly applicable foreign, federal and state fraud and abuse and other healthcare and privacy laws and regulations. These laws may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we conduct our operations, including how we research, market, sell and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Such laws include:

the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons or entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing any remuneration (including any kickback, bribe or certain rebates), directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, in return for, either the referral of an individual or the purchase, lease, or order, or arranging for or recommending the purchase, lease, or order of any good, facility, item or service, for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the federal Anti- Kickback Statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the civil False Claims Act;

the federal false claims and civil monetary penalties laws, including the civil False Claims Act, which prohibits, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, claims for payment or approval that are false or fraudulent, knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim, or from knowingly making or causing to be made a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government;


the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), which imposes criminal and civil liability for, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, or knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false statement, in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation;

HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, and their implementing regulations, also impose obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information without appropriate authorization by covered entities subject to the rule, such as health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and certain healthcare providers as well as their business associates that perform certain services for or on their behalf involving the use or disclosure of individually identifiable health information;

the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which requires certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), information related to payments and other “transfers of value” made to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by the physicians described above and their immediate family members;

federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers; and

analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to our business practices, including but not limited to, research, distribution, sales and marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non- governmental third-party payors, including private insurers, or by the patients themselves; state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources; state laws and regulations that require drug manufacturers to file reports relating to pricing and marketing information or which require tracking gifts and other remuneration and items of value provided to physicians, other healthcare providers and entities; state and local laws that require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives; state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA; state and foreign governments that have enacted or proposed requirements regarding the collection, distribution, use, security, and storage of personally identifiable information and other data relating to individuals (including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”), and the California Consumer Protection Act), and federal and state consumer protection laws are being applied to enforce regulations related to the online collection, use, and dissemination of data, thus complicating compliance efforts.

As of May 25, 2018, the GDPR replaced the Data Protection Directive with respect to the processing of personal data in the European Union. The GDPR imposes many requirements for controllers and processors of personal data, including, for example, higher standards for obtaining consent from individuals to process their personal data, more robust disclosures to individuals and a strengthened individual data rights regime, shortened timelines for data breach notifications, limitations on retention and secondary use of information, increased requirements pertaining to health data and pseudonymised (i.e., key-coded) data and additional obligations when we contract third-party processors in connection with the processing of the personal data. The GDPR allows European Union member states to make additional laws and regulations further limiting the processing of genetic, biometric or health data. Failure to comply with the requirements of GDPR and the applicable national data protection laws of the European Union member states may result in fines of up to €20 million or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, and other administrative penalties.


Ensuring that our internal operations and business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations could involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices, including our consulting arrangements with physicians and other healthcare providers, some of whom received stock options as compensation for services provided, do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental laws and regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from U.S. government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, or similar programs in other countries or jurisdictions, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, diminished profits and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time consuming and may require significant financial and personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to not be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusion from government funded healthcare programs and imprisonment. If any of the above occur, it could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

Recently enacted legislation, future legislation and healthcare reform measures may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval for and commercialize our product candidates and may affect the prices we may set.

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system, including cost-containment measures that may reduce or limit coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. In particular, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the U.S. federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of healthcare.

For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (collectively, the “Affordable Care Act”) was enacted in the United States. Among the provisions of the Affordable Care Act of importance to our potential product candidates, the Affordable Care Act: establishes an annual, nondeductible fee on any entity that manufactures or imports specified branded prescription drugs and biologic agents; extends manufacturers’ Medicaid rebate liability to covered drugs dispensed to individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations; expands eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs; expands the entities eligible for discounts under the Public Health program; increases the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; creates a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program; establishes a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; and establishes a Center for Medicare Innovation at CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending.

At this time, we are unsure of the full impact that the Affordable Care Act will have on our business. There have been judicial and political challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. For example, since January 2017, President Trump has signed two executive orders and other directives designed to delay, circumvent, or loosen certain requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Concurrently, Congress has considered legislation that would repeal or repeal and replace all or part of the Affordable Care Act. While Congress has not passed comprehensive repeal legislation, two bills affecting the implementation of certain taxes under the Affordable Care Act have been signed into law. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the Affordable Care Act on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” On January 22, 2018, President Trump signed a continuing resolution on appropriations for fiscal year 2018 that delayed the implementation of certain Affordable Care Act-mandated fees, including the so-called “Cadillac” tax on certain high cost employer-sponsored insurance plans, the annual fee imposed on certain health insurance providers based on market share. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (the “BBA”), among other things, amends the Affordable Care Act, effective January 1, 2019, to close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole,” by increasing from 50 percent to 70 percent the point-of-sale discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D. In July 2018, CMS published a final rule permitting further collections and payments to and from certain Affordable Care Act qualified health plans and health insurance issuers under the Affordable Care Act risk adjustment program in response to the outcome of federal district court litigation regarding the method CMS uses to determine this risk adjustment. On December 14, 2018, a U.S. District Court Judge in the Northern District of Texas, or Texas District Court Judge, ruled that the individual mandate is a critical and inseverable feature of the ACA, and therefore, because it was repealed as part of the Tax Act, the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. While the Texas District Court Judge, as well as the Trump Administration and CMS, have stated that the ruling will have no immediate effect, it is unclear how this decision, subsequent appeals, and other efforts to repeal and replace the ACA will impact the ACA and our business.


In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. On August 2, 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011 was signed into law, which, among other things, resulted in reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, including the BBA, will remain in effect through 2027 unless additional Congressional action is taken. On January 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

Further, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny in the United States of pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs. Such scrutiny has resulted in several recent congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products.

At the federal level, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 contains further drug price control measures that could be enacted during the 2019 budget process or in other future legislation, including, for example, measures to permit Medicare Part D plans to negotiate the price of certain drugs under Medicare Part B, to allow some states to negotiate drug prices under Medicaid and to eliminate cost sharing for generic drugs for low-income patients. Additionally, the Trump administration released a “Blueprint” to lower drug prices through proposals to increase manufacturer competition, increase the negotiating power of certain federal healthcare programs, incentivize manufacturers to lower the list price of their products and reduce the out of pocket costs of drug products paid by consumers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has begun the process of soliciting feedback on some of these measures and, at the same time, is implementing others under our existing authority. Although some of these, and other, proposals will require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, Congress and the Trump administration have each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs.

At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. This could reduce the ultimate demand for our product candidates, if approved, or put pressure on our product pricing, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Additionally, on May 30, 2018, the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017 (“Right to Try Act”), was signed into law. The law, among other things, provides a federal framework for certain patients with life-threatening diseases or conditions to access certain investigational new drug products that have completed a Phase 1 clinical trial. Under certain circumstances, eligible patients can seek treatment without enrolling in clinical trials and without obtaining FDA approval under the FDA expanded access program. There is no obligation for a drug manufacturer to make our drug products available to eligible patients as a result of the Right to Try Act.

We expect that the Affordable Care Act, these new laws and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs 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 product candidates, if approved.


We and any of our third-party manufacturers or suppliers may use potent chemical agents and hazardous materials, and any claims relating to improper handling, storage or disposal of these materials could be time consuming or costly.

We and any of our third-party manufacturers or suppliers will use biological materials, potent chemical agents and may use hazardous materials, including chemicals and biological agents and compounds that could be dangerous to human health and safety of the environment. Our historical operations and the operations of our third-party manufacturers and suppliers also produce hazardous waste products. Federal, state and local laws and regulations govern the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and wastes. Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our product development efforts. In addition, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials or wastes. We do not carry specific biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage, and our property, casualty and general liability insurance policies specifically exclude coverage for damages and fines arising from biological or hazardous waste exposure or contamination. In the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for damages or be penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory approvals could be suspended.

Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance for certain costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials or other work-related injuries, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biologic, hazardous or radioactive materials.

In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, which have tended to become more stringent over time. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions or liabilities, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our products.

We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of the clinical trials of our product candidates and will face an even greater risk if we commercialize our product candidates. For example, we may be sued if our product candidates allegedly cause injury or are found to be otherwise unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product candidate, negligence, strict liability and a breach of warranties. Claims may be brought against us by clinical trial participants, patients or others using, administering or selling products that may be approved in the future. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts.

If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit or cease the commercialization of our products. Even a successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

decreased demand for our products;

injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention;

withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

costs to defend the related litigation;

a diversion of management’s time and our resources;

substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;

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

significant negative financial impact;

the inability to commercialize our product candidates; and

a decline in our stock price.


We currently hold approximately $10.0 million in product liability insurance coverage in the aggregate. We may need to increase our insurance coverage as we expand our clinical trials or if we commence commercialization of our product candidates. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. Our inability to obtain and retain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of our product candidates. Although we maintain such insurance, any claim that may be brought against us could result in a court judgment or settlement in an amount that is not covered, in whole or in part, by our insurance or that is in excess of the limits of our insurance coverage. Our insurance policies will also have various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage. We may have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts.

We and any of our potential future collaborators will be required to report to regulatory authorities if any of our approved products cause or contribute to adverse medical events, and any failure to do so would result in sanctions that would materially harm our business.

If we and any of our potential future collaborators are successful in commercializing our products, the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities would require that we and any of our potential future collaborators report certain information about adverse medical events if those products may have caused or contributed to those adverse events. The timing of our obligation to report would be triggered by the date we become aware of the adverse event as well as the nature of the event. We and any of our potential future collaborators or CROs may fail to report adverse events within the prescribed timeframe. If we or any of our potential future collaborators or CROs fail to comply with such reporting obligations, the FDA or a foreign regulatory authority could take action, including criminal prosecution, the imposition of civil monetary penalties, seizure of our products or delay in approval or clearance of future products.

Our internal computer systems, or those of any of our CROs, manufacturers, other contractors or consultants or potential future collaborators, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of our product development programs.

The United States federal and various state and foreign governments have adopted or proposed requirements regarding the collection, distribution, use, security, and storage of personally identifiable information and other data relating to individuals, and federal and state consumer protection laws are being applied to enforce regulations related to the online collection, use, and dissemination of data. Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our current and any future CROs and other contractors, consultants and collaborators are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, cybersecurity threats, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations or result in the unauthorized disclosure of or access to personally identifiable information or individually identifiable health information (violating certain privacy laws such as GDPR), it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations, whether due to a loss of our trade secrets or other similar disruptions. Some of the federal, state and foreign government requirements include obligations of companies to notify individuals of security breaches involving particular personally identifiable information, which could result from breaches experienced by us or by our vendors, contractors, or organizations with which we have formed strategic relationships. Even though we may have contractual protections with such vendors, contractors, or other organizations, notifications and follow-up actions related to a security breach could impact our reputation, cause us to incur significant costs, including legal expenses, harm customer confidence, hurt our expansion into new markets, cause us to incur remediation costs, or cause us to lose existing customers. For example, 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. We also rely on third parties to manufacture 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, the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed, and we could be subject to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for any noncompliance to certain privacy and security laws.


Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

Our operations could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics and other natural or manmade disasters or business interruptions, for which we are predominantly self-insured. We rely on third- party manufacturers to produce our product candidates. Our ability to obtain clinical supplies of our product candidates could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers were affected by a man-made or natural disaster or other business interruption. In addition, our corporate headquarters is located in San Diego, California near major earthquake faults and fire zones, and the ultimate impact on us of being located near major earthquake faults and fire zones and being consolidated in a certain geographical area is unknown. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

Our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, CROs, consultants and vendors, may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, CROs, consultants and vendors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or disclosure of unauthorized activities to us that violate: (1) the laws and regulations of the FDA and other similar regulatory requirements, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such authorities, (2) manufacturing standards, including cGMP requirements, (3) federal and state data privacy, security, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations in the United States and abroad or (4) laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use or misrepresentation of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, the creation of fraudulent data in our preclinical studies or clinical trials, or illegal misappropriation of drug product, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and financial results, including, without limitation, the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgements, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

We are subject to U.S. and certain foreign export and import controls, sanctions, embargoes, anti-corruption laws and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. Compliance with these legal standards could impair our ability to compete in domestic and international markets. We could face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which could harm our business.

We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, and anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and other state and national anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, agents, clinical research organizations, contractors and other collaborators and partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting or receiving, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. We may engage third parties for clinical trials outside of the United States, to sell our products abroad once we enter a commercialization phase, and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other regulatory approvals. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, clinical research organizations, contractors and other collaborators and partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences.


We may engage in strategic transactions that could impact our liquidity, increase our expenses and present significant distractions to our management.

From time to time, we may consider strategic transactions, such as acquisitions of companies, asset purchases and out-licensing or in-licensing of intellectual property, products or technologies, similar to our approach in in-licensing and acquiring our current product candidates. Any future transactions could increase our near and long-term expenditures, result in potentially dilutive issuances of our equity securities, including our common stock, or the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, amortization expenses or acquired in-process research and development expenses, any of which could affect our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. Additional potential transactions that we may consider in the future include a variety of business arrangements, including spin-offs, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, restructurings, divestitures, business combinations and investments. Future acquisitions may also require us to obtain additional financing, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all. These transactions may never be successful and may require significant time and attention of management. In addition, the integration of any business that we may acquire in the future may disrupt our existing business and may be a complex, risky and costly endeavor for which we may never realize the full benefits of the acquisition. Accordingly, although there can be no assurance that we will undertake or successfully complete any additional transactions of the nature described above, any additional transactions that we do complete could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

Our success depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies.

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection and trade secret protection for our product candidates, proprietary technologies and their uses as well as our ability to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights or if our intellectual property rights are inadequate for our technology or our product candidates, our competitive position could be harmed. We generally seek to protect our proprietary position by licensing or filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our product candidates, proprietary technologies and their uses that are important to our business. Our or our licensor’s patent applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless, and until, patents issue from such applications, and then only to the extent the issued claims cover the technology. There can be no assurance that our or our licensor’s patent applications will result in patents being issued or that issued patents will afford sufficient protection against competitors with similar technology, nor can there be any assurance that the patents if issued will not be infringed, designed around or invalidated by third parties. Even issued patents may later be found invalid or unenforceable or may be modified or revoked in proceedings instituted by third parties before various patent offices or in courts. The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain. Only limited protection may be available and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. These uncertainties and/or limitations in our ability to properly protect the intellectual property rights relating to our product candidates could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Although we own and license issued patents in the United States and foreign countries, we cannot be certain that the claims in our or our licensor’s other U.S. pending patent applications, corresponding international patent applications and patent applications in certain foreign countries will be considered patentable by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), courts in the United States or by the patent offices and courts in foreign countries, nor can we be certain that the claims in our or our licensor’s issued patents will not be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged.

The patent application process is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we, our licensors or any of our potential future collaborators will be successful in protecting our product candidates by obtaining and defending patents. These risks and uncertainties include the following:

the USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process, the noncompliance with which can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, and partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction;

patent applications may not result in any patents being issued;

patents may be challenged, invalidated, modified, revoked, circumvented, found to be unenforceable or otherwise may not provide any competitive advantage;


our competitors, many of whom have substantially greater resources than we do and many of whom have made significant investments in competing technologies, may seek or may have already obtained patents that will limit, interfere with or block our ability to make, use and sell our product candidates;

there may be significant pressure on the U.S. government and international governmental bodies to limit the scope of patent protection both inside and outside the United States for disease treatments that prove successful, as a matter of public policy regarding worldwide health concerns; and

countries other than the United States may have patent laws less favorable to patentees than those upheld by U.S. courts, allowing foreign competitors a better opportunity to create, develop and market competing products.

The patent prosecution process is also expensive and time consuming, and we and our licensors may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions where protection may be commercially advantageous. It is also possible that we or our licensors will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, directed to technology that we license from third parties. We may also require the cooperation of our licensor in order to enforce the licensed patent rights, and such cooperation may not be provided. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. We cannot be certain that patent prosecution and maintenance activities by our licensors have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, which may affect the validity and enforceability of such patents or any patents that may issue from such applications. If they fail to do so, this could cause us to lose rights in any applicable intellectual property that we in-license, and as a result our ability to develop and commercialize products or product candidates may be adversely affected and we may be unable to prevent competitors from making, using and selling competing products.

In addition, although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, outside scientific collaborators, CROs, third-party manufacturers, consultants, advisors, licensees, collaboration partners, and other third parties, any of these parties may breach such agreements and disclose such output before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek patent protection.

If we fail to comply with our obligations in the agreements under which we license intellectual property rights from third parties, including with respect to cirmtuzumab and TK216, or otherwise experiences disruptions in our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

We are a party to several license agreements under which we are granted rights to intellectual property that are important to our business and we may enter into additional license agreements in the future. For example, in March 2014, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with Georgetown University, or Georgetown, to obtain an exclusive license to certain intellectual property rights to develop and commercialize compounds targeting EWS-FLI1.  In March 2016, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with the Regents of the University of California to obtain an exclusive license to certain intellectual property rights to develop and commercialize cirmtuzumab and other ROR1 related naked antibodies.  

These license agreements impose, and we expect that any future license agreements where we in-license intellectual property, will impose on us, various development, regulatory and/or commercial diligence obligations, payment of milestones and/or royalties and other obligations. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, or we are subject to bankruptcy-related proceedings, the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to market products covered by the license.

We may need to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our product candidates, and we cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist which might be enforced against our product candidates in the absence of such a license. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. In that event, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to develop or license replacement technology. If we are  unable to do so, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected product candidates, which could materially harm our business and the third parties owning such intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation. Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. Disputes may arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:

the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;


whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;

our right to sublicense patents and other rights to third parties;

our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development and commercialization of our product candidates, and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;

our right to transfer or assign the license; and

the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our licensors and us and our partners.

If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

If the scope of any patent protection we obtain is not sufficiently broad, or if we lose any of our patent protection, our ability to prevent our competitors from commercializing similar or identical product candidates would be adversely affected.

The patent position of biopharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has been the subject of much litigation in recent years. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our and our licensor’s patent rights are highly uncertain. Our and our licensor’s pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our product candidates or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive product candidates.

Moreover, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and its scope can be reinterpreted after issuance. Even if patent applications we own or license currently or in the future issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors or other third parties from competing with us, or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Any patents that we own or license may be challenged or circumvented by third parties or may be narrowed or invalidated as a result of challenges by third parties. Consequently, we do not know whether our product candidates will be protectable or remain protected by valid and enforceable patents. Our competitors or other third parties may be able to circumvent our or our licensor’s patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our and our licensor’s patents may not cover our product candidates or may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Our and our licensor’s patents may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the USPTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation, revocation, reexamination, post-grant review (“PGR”), and inter partes review (“IPR”), or other similar proceedings in the USPTO or foreign patent offices challenging our or our licensor’s patent rights. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we or our predecessors or our licensor and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. There is no assurance that all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications or those of our licensors has been found. There is also no assurance that there is not prior art of which we, our predecessors or licensors are aware, but which we do not believe affects the validity or enforceability of a claim in our patents and patent applications or those of our licensors, which may, nonetheless, ultimately be found to affect the validity or enforceability of a claim. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate or render unenforceable, our or our licensor’s patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our product candidates and compete directly with us, without payment to us. Such loss of patent rights, loss of exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our product candidates. Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our scientists and management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our or our licensor’s patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.


The patent protection and patent prosecution for some of our product candidates may be dependent on third parties.

We or our licensors may fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of development and commercialization activities before it is too late to obtain patent protection on them. Therefore, we or our licensors may miss potential opportunities to strengthen our patent position. It is possible that defects of form in the preparation or filing of our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications may exist, or may arise in the future, for example with respect to proper priority claims, inventorship, claim scope, or requests for patent term adjustments. If there are material defects in the form, preparation, prosecution, or enforcement of our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications, such patents may be invalid and/or unenforceable, and such applications may never result in valid, enforceable patents. If we or our licensors, whether current or future, fail to establish, maintain or protect our patents and other intellectual property rights, such rights may be reduced or eliminated. If our licensors are not fully cooperative or disagree with us as to the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of any patent rights, such patent rights could be compromised. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties, which may have an adverse impact on our business.

As a licensee of third parties, we rely on third parties to file and prosecute patent applications and maintain patents and otherwise protect the licensed intellectual property under some of our license agreements. We have not had and do not have primary control over these activities for certain of our patents or patent applications and other intellectual property rights. We cannot be certain that such activities by third parties have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or will result in valid and enforceable patents or other intellectual property rights. Pursuant to the terms of the license agreements with some of our licensors, the licensors may have the right to control enforcement of our licensed patents or defense of any claims asserting the invalidity of these patents and even if we are permitted to pursue such enforcement or defense, we will require the cooperation of our licensors. We cannot be certain that our licensors will allocate sufficient resources or prioritize their or our enforcement of such patents or defense of such claims to protect our interests in the licensed patents. Even if we are not a party to these legal actions, an adverse outcome could harm our business because it might prevent us from continuing to license intellectual property that we may need to operate our business. If any of our licensors or any of our future licensors or future collaborators fail to appropriately prosecute and maintain patent protection for patents covering any of our product candidates, our ability to develop and commercialize those product candidates may be adversely affected and we may not be able to prevent competitors from making, using and selling competing products.

In addition, even where we have the right to control patent prosecution of patents and patent applications we have acquired or licensed from third parties, we may still be adversely affected or prejudiced by actions or inactions of our predecessors or licensors and their counsel that took place prior to our assuming control over patent prosecution.

Our technology acquired or licensed from various third parties may be subject to retained rights. Our predecessors or licensors often retain certain rights under their agreements with us, including the right to use the underlying technology for noncommercial academic and research use, to publish general scientific findings from research related to the technology, and to make customary scientific and scholarly disclosures of information relating to the technology. It is difficult to monitor whether our predecessors or licensors limit their use of the technology to these uses, and we could incur substantial expenses to enforce our rights to our licensed technology in the event of misuse.

If we are limited in our ability to utilize acquired or licensed technologies, or if we lose our rights to critical in-licensed technology, we may be unable to successfully develop, out-license, market and sell our products, which could prevent or delay new product introductions. Our business strategy depends on the successful development of licensed and acquired technologies into commercial products. Therefore, any limitations on our ability to utilize these technologies may impair our ability to develop, out-license or market and sell our product candidates.

Some of our intellectual property has been discovered through government funded programs and thus may be subject to federal regulations such as “march-in” rights, certain reporting requirements and a preference for U.S.-based companies. Compliance with such regulations may limit our exclusive rights, and limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. manufacturers.

Some of the intellectual property rights we have acquired or licensed or may acquire or license in the future may have been generated through the use of U.S. government funding and may therefore be subject to certain federal regulations. For example, some of the research and development work on cirmtuzumab and TK216 was funded by government research grants. As a result, the U.S. government may have certain rights to intellectual property embodied in our product candidates pursuant to the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, or Bayh-Dole Act. These U.S. government rights include a non-exclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable worldwide license to use inventions for any governmental purpose. In addition, the U.S. government has the right, under certain limited circumstances, to require us to grant exclusive, partially exclusive, or non-exclusive licenses to any of these inventions to a third-party if it determines that: (i) adequate steps have not been taken to commercialize the invention; (ii) government action is necessary to meet public health or safety needs; or (iii) government action is necessary to meet requirements for public use under federal regulations (also referred to


as “march-in rights”). The U.S. government also has the right to take title to these inventions if the grant recipient fails to disclose the invention to the government or fails to file an application to register the intellectual property within specified time limits. Intellectual property generated under a government funded program is also subject to certain reporting requirements, compliance with which may require us to expend substantial resources. In addition, the U.S. government requires that any products embodying any of these inventions or produced through the use of any of these inventions be manufactured substantially in the United States. This preference for U.S. industry may be waived by the federal agency that provided the funding if the owner or assignee of the intellectual property can show that reasonable but unsuccessful efforts have been made to grant licenses on similar terms to potential licensees that would be likely to manufacture substantially in the United States or that under the circumstances domestic manufacture is not commercially feasible. This preference for U.S. industry may limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. product manufacturers for products covered by such intellectual property. To the extent any of our future intellectual property is also generated through the use of U.S. government funding, the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act may similarly apply.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. For example:

others may be able to develop products that are similar to our product candidates but that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we own or license;

we or our licensors or predecessors might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patents or patent applications that we own or license;

we or our licensors or predecessors might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our inventions;

others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing our intellectual property rights;

it is possible that our or our licensor’s pending patent applications will not lead to issued patents;

issued patents that we own or license may be held invalid or unenforceable, as a result of legal challenges by our competitors;

our competitors might conduct research and development activities in countries where we do not have patent rights and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;

we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable; and

the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.

Should any of these events occur, it could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

We rely 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. If any of our collaborative partners breach or terminate their agreements with us or otherwise fail to conduct their collaborative activities successfully, 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. 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 commercial success depends significantly on our ability to operate without infringing the patents and other proprietary rights of third parties. Claims by third parties that we infringe their proprietary rights may result in liability for damages or prevent or delay our developmental and commercialization efforts.

Our commercial success depends in part on avoiding infringement of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. However, our or our licensee’s research, development and commercialization activities may be subject to claims that we or our licensee infringes or otherwise violates patents or other intellectual property rights owned or controlled by third parties. Other entities may have or obtain patents or proprietary rights that could limit our or our licensee’s ability to make, use, sell, offer for sale or import our product candidates and products that may be approved in the future, or impair our competitive position. There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biopharmaceutical industry, including patent infringement lawsuits, oppositions, reexaminations, IPR proceedings and PGR proceedings before the USPTO and/or foreign patent offices. Numerous third-party U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications exist in the fields in which we are developing product candidates. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates.

As the biopharmaceutical industry expands and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties. Because patent applications are maintained as confidential for a certain period of time, until the relevant application is published we may be unaware of third-party patents that may be infringed by commercialization of any of our product candidates, and we cannot be certain that we were the first to file a patent application related to a product candidate or technology. Moreover, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently-pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. In addition, identification of third-party patent rights that may be relevant to our technology is difficult because patent searching is imperfect due to differences in terminology among patents, incomplete databases and the difficulty in assessing the meaning of patent claims. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. Any claims of patent infringement asserted by third parties would be time consuming and could:

result in costly litigation that may cause negative publicity;

divert the time and attention of our technical personnel and management;

cause development delays;

subject us to an injunction preventing us from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing our products;

prevent us from commercializing any of our product candidates until the asserted patent expires or is held finally invalid or not infringed in a court of law;

require us to develop non-infringing technology, which may not be possible on a cost-effective basis;

subject us to significant liability to third parties; or

require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or which might be non-exclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same technology.

Although no third-party has asserted a claim of patent infringement against us as of the date of this prospectus, others may hold proprietary rights that could prevent our product candidates from being marketed. Any patent-related legal action against us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin activities relating to our product candidates or processes could subject us to potential liability for damages, including treble damages if we were determined to willfully infringe, and require us to obtain a license to manufacture or develop our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. We cannot predict whether we would prevail in any such actions or that any license required under any of these patents would be made available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Moreover, even if we or our future strategic partners were able to obtain a license, the rights may be nonexclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. In addition, we cannot be certain that we could redesign our product candidates or processes to avoid infringement, if necessary. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or the failure to obtain necessary licenses, could prevent us from developing and commercializing our product candidates, which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results.


Parties making claims against us may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or administrative proceedings, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise additional funds or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful. Further, our issued patents could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court.

Competitors may infringe our intellectual property rights or those of our licensors. To prevent infringement or unauthorized use, we and/or our licensors may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent we own or license is not valid, is unenforceable and/or is not infringed. If we or any of our licensors or potential future collaborators were to initiate legal proceedings against a third-party to enforce a patent directed at one of our product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that our or our licensor’s patent is invalid and/or unenforceable in whole or in part. In patent litigation, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge include an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, lack of written description or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could include an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO or made a misleading statement during prosecution.

If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on such product candidate. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications or those of our licensors is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to our or our licensor’s intellectual property rights may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. We or our licensor may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct or participate in such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we or our licensor can because of their greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could compromise our ability to compete in the marketplace.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or other legal proceedings relating to our intellectual property rights, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation or other proceedings.

Intellectual property litigation may lead to unfavorable publicity that harms our reputation and causes the market price of our common shares to decline.

During the course of any intellectual property litigation, there could be public announcements of the initiation of the litigation as well as results of hearings, rulings on motions, and other interim proceedings in the litigation. If securities analysts or investors regard these announcements as negative, the perceived value of our existing products, programs or intellectual property could be diminished. Accordingly, the market price of shares of our common stock may decline. Such announcements could also harm our reputation or the market for our future products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.


Derivation or interference proceedings may be necessary to determine priority of inventions, and an unfavorable outcome may require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights from the prevailing party.

Derivation or interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us or our licensors or declared by the USPTO or similar proceedings in foreign patent offices may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. Our or our licensor’s defense of such proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. In addition, the uncertainties associated with such proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our clinical trials, continue our research programs, license necessary technology from third parties or enter into development or manufacturing partnerships that would help us bring our product candidates to market.

Recent patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents.

On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“Leahy-Smith Act”) was signed into law. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. In particular, under the Leahy-Smith Act, the United States transitioned in March 2013 to a “first inventor to file” system in which, assuming that other requirements of patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent regardless of whether a third-party was first to invent the claimed invention. A third-party that files a patent application in the USPTO after March 2013 but before we could therefore be awarded a patent covering an invention of our even if we had made the invention before it was made by such third-party. This will require us to be cognizant going forward of the time from invention to filing of a patent application. Furthermore, our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents depends on whether the differences between our technology and the prior art allow our technology to be patentable over the prior art. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing or until issuance, we cannot be certain that we or our licensor was the first to either (1) file any patent application related to our product candidates or (2) invent any of the inventions claimed in our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications.

The Leahy-Smith Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted and also may affect patent litigation. These include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including PGR, IPR, and derivation proceedings. An adverse determination in any such submission or proceeding could reduce the scope or enforceability of, or invalidate, our patent rights, which could adversely affect our competitive position.

Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third-party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Accordingly, a third-party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to invalidate our or our licensor’s patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third-party as a defendant in a district court action. Thus, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our or our licensor’s patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our or our licensor’s issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Changes in U.S. patent law, or laws in other countries, could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our product candidates.

As is the case with other biopharmaceutical companies, our success is heavily dependent on intellectual property, particularly patents. Obtaining and enforcing patents in the biopharmaceutical industry involves a high degree of technological and legal complexity. Therefore, obtaining and enforcing biopharmaceutical patents is costly, time consuming and inherently uncertain. Changes in either the patent laws or in the interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property rights and may increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our or our licensor’s patents or in third-party patents. In addition, Congress or other foreign legislative bodies may pass patent reform legislation that is unfavorable to us.


For example, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our and our licensor’s ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. federal courts, the USPTO, or similar authorities in foreign jurisdictions, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our or our licensor’s ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and patents we might obtain in the future.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property.

We may also be subject to claims that former employees or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents or other intellectual property. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and distraction to management and other employees.

Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product candidates for an adequate amount of time.

Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering our product candidates are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of product candidates, patents protecting our product candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to our product candidates.

If we do not obtain patent term extension for our product candidates, our business may be materially harmed.

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA marketing approval of our product candidates, one or more of our or our licensor’s U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (the “Hatch-Waxman Amendments”). The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. A maximum of one patent may be extended per FDA approved product as compensation for the patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval and only those claims covering such approved drug product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. Patent term extension may also be available in certain foreign countries upon regulatory approval of our product candidates. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or restoration or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our or our licensor’s patent expiration, and our revenue could be reduced, possibly materially. Further, if this occurs, our competitors may take advantage of our investment in development and trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their product earlier than might otherwise be the case.

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

Although we and our licensors have issued patents and pending patent applications in the United States and certain other countries, filing, prosecuting and defending patents in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we or our licensor has not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our product candidates, and our and our licensor’s patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.


Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of many foreign countries do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We or our licensor may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our or our licensor’s efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

Many countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patent. If we or our licensor is forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.

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

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications will be due to the USPTO and various foreign patent offices at various points over the lifetime of our and our licensors’ patents and/or applications. We have systems in place to remind us to pay these fees, and we rely on third parties to pay these fees when due. Additionally, the USPTO and various foreign patent office’s require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply, and in many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with rules applicable to the particular jurisdiction. However, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. If such an event were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

In addition, we rely on the protection of our trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information to maintain our competitive position. Although we have taken steps to protect our trade secrets and unpatented know-how, including entering into confidentiality agreements with third parties, and confidential information and inventions agreements with employees, consultants and advisors, we cannot provide any assurances that all such agreements have been duly executed, and any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets.

Moreover, third parties may still obtain this information or may come upon this or similar information independently, and we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of these events occurs or if we otherwise lose protection for our trade secrets, the value of this information may be greatly reduced and our competitive position would be harmed. If we do not apply for patent protection prior to such publication or if we cannot otherwise maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary technology and other confidential information, then our ability to obtain patent protection or to protect our trade secret information may be jeopardized.

We may be subject to claims that we have wrongfully hired an employee from a competitor or that we or our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged confidential information or trade secrets of their former employers.

As is common in the biopharmaceutical industry, in addition to our employees, we engage the services of consultants to assist us in the development of our product candidates. Many of these consultants, and many of our employees, were previously employed at, or may have previously provided or may be currently providing consulting services to, other biopharmaceutical companies including our competitors or potential competitors. We may become subject to claims that we, our employees or a consultant inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other information proprietary to their former employers or their former or current clients. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel, which could adversely affect our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our management team and other employees.


Risks Related to Our Common Stock

An active, liquid and orderly market for our common stock may not be maintained.

 

Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”), an active trading market for our common stock may never develop or, if it develops, many not be sustained. The lack of an active market may impair your ability to sell your shares at the time you wish to sell them or at a price that you consider reasonable. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other businesses or technologies using our shares as consideration, which, in turn, could materially adversely affect our business.

The trading price of the shares of our common stock has been volatile and may continue to be volatile in the future.  This volatility may cause our stock price and the value of your investment to decline.*

The market prices for securities of biotechnology companies, including ours, have been highly volatile, and may continue to be so in the future.  In this regard, the closing sale price for our common stock has varied between a high of $9.50 on November 18, 2016 and a low of $2.92 on June 7, 2017 in the twelve-month period ended September 30, 2017 (such prices as adjusted to give effect to the one-for-ten reverse stock split of our outstanding common stock effected on December 5, 2016, or the Reverse Stock Split). The market pricepurchasers of our common stock may incur substantial losses.

Our stock price is likely to continue to be volatile and subject to significant price and volume fluctuations.volatile. The following factors, in addition to other risk factors described in this section, may have a significant impact on thestock market price of our common stock:

·                  new or continued delays in the initiation, enrollment and/or completion of our ongoing and any future clinical trials of enobosarm, or negative, inconclusive or mixed results reported in any of our ongoing and any future clinical trials of enobosarm;

·                  our ability to raise additional capital to carry through with our preclinical and clinical development plans, as well as our current and future operations, and the terms of any related financing arrangements;

·                  reports of unacceptable incidences of adverse events observed in any of our ongoing clinical trials of enobosarm;

·                  announcements regarding further cost-cutting initiatives or restructurings;

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·                  uncertainties created by our past and potential future management turnover;

·                  our ability to enter into new collaborative, licensing or other strategic arrangements with respect to our product candidates;

·                  the terms and timing of any future collaborative, licensing or other arrangements that we may establish;

·                  the timing of achievement of, or failure to achieve, our and any potential collaborators’ clinical, regulatory and other milestones, such as the commencement of clinical development, the completion of a clinical trial or the receipt of regulatory approval;

·                  announcement of FDA approval or non-approval of our product candidates or delays in or adverse events during the FDA review process;

·                  actions taken by regulatory agencies with respect to our product candidates or our clinical trials, including regulatory actions requiring or leading to a delay or stoppage of our ongoing clinical trials;

·                  the commercial success of any product approved by the FDA or its foreign counterparts;

·                  introductions or announcements of technological innovations or new products by us, our potential collaborators, or our competitors, and the timing of these introductions or announcements;

·                  market conditions for equity investments in general, or the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industries in particular;

·                  regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries;

·                  changes in the structure or reimbursement policies of health care payment systems;

·                  any intellectual property infringement lawsuit involving us;

·                  actual or anticipated fluctuations in our results of operations;

·                  changes in financial estimates or recommendations by securities analysts;

·                  hedging or arbitrage trading activity that may develop regarding our common stock;

·                  sales of large blocks of our common stock;

·                  sales of our common stock by our executive officers, directors and significant stockholders;

·                  the low trading volume of our common stock;

·                  changes in accounting principles; and

·                  additional losses of any of our key scientific or management personnel.

In addition, the stock markets in general and the marketsmarket for biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocksstock of biopharmaceutical companies in particular have experienced significantextreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. For example, negative publicity regarding drug pricing and price increases by pharmaceutical companies has negatively impacted, and may continue to negatively impact, the markets for biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks. Likewise, asAs a result of significant this volatility, investors may not be able to sell their common stock at or above their purchase price. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by those factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and many others, including:

our ability to enroll subjects in our ongoing and planned clinical trials;

results of our clinical trials and preclinical studies, and the results of the trials of our competitors or those of other companies in our market sector;

regulatory approval of our product candidates, or limitations to specific label indications or patient populations for its use, or changes or delays in the regulatory review process;

regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries;

changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems, especially in light of current reforms to the U.S. social, political, regulatoryhealthcare system;

the success or failure of our efforts to acquire, license or develop additional product candidates;

innovations or new products developed by us or our competitors;

announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

manufacturing, supply or distribution delays or shortages;

any changes to our relationship with any manufacturers, suppliers, licensors, future collaborators or other strategic partners;

achievement of expected product sales and economicprofitability;

variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;

market conditions in the biopharmaceutical sector and issuance of securities analysts’ reports or in laws and policies governing foreign trade and health care spending and delivery, including the possible repeal and/or replacement of all or portions of the Healthcare Reform Act or greater restrictions on free trade stemming from Trump Administration policies, the financial markets could experience significant volatility that could also negatively impact the markets for biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the recommendations;

trading pricevolume of our common stock.stock;

an inability to obtain additional funding;

sales of our stock by insiders and stockholders;

general economic, industry and market conditions or other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control;

additions or departures of key personnel; and

intellectual property, product liability or other litigation against us.


In addition, in the past, stockholders have initiated class action litigation has often been institutedlawsuits against biopharmaceutical companies whose securities have experiencedfollowing periods of volatility in the market price. Any suchprices of these companies’ stock. Such litigation, broughtif instituted against us, could result incause us to incur substantial costs which would hurt our financial condition and results of operations and divert management’s attention and resources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq could result in delaysa delisting of our clinical trials or commercialization efforts.common stock.

 

If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq, such as the corporate governance requirements or the minimum closing bid price requirement, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our common stock. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our common stock when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action we take to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow our common stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our common stock, prevent our common stock from dropping below the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement or prevent future non-compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements.

Our executive officers, directors and largestprincipal stockholders, have the abilityif they choose to act together, will continue to control or significantly influence all matters submitted to stockholders for approval. Furthermore, two of our directors have been appointed by one of our principal stockholders.

 

As of September 30, 2017, ourOur executive officers, directors and holders ofgreater than 5% or more of our outstanding

common stock, including their affiliated or associated entities, heldstockholders, in the aggregate, own approximately 66.2%29.0% of our outstanding common stock and our executive officers and directors alone, including their affiliated or associated entities, held approximately 33.2%(assuming no exercise of outstanding options). Furthermore, two of our outstanding common stock as well as warrants to purchase up to an additional 3.2 million shares of common stock.directors have been appointed by our largest stockholder, SPH USA. As a result, these stockholders,such persons or their appointees to our board of directors, acting together, will have the ability to control or significantly influence all matters requiringsubmitted to our board of directors or stockholders for approval, by our stockholders, including the appointment of our management, the election and removal of directors and the approval of mergersany significant transaction, as well as our management and business affairs. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control, impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination transactions. The interestsinvolving us, or discouraging a potential acquiror from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of this group of stockholders may not always coincide with our interests or the interests ofbusiness, even if such a transaction would benefit other stockholders.

If we failWe do not currently intend to meet continued listing standards of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, our common stock may be delisted. Delisting could adversely affect the liquidity ofpay dividends on our common stock, and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation, if any, in the market price of our common stock could decrease, and our ability to obtain sufficient additional capital to fund our operations would be substantially impaired.stock.

 

Our common stock is currently listedWe have never declared or paid any cash dividend on The NASDAQ Capital Market. The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, or NASDAQ, has minimum requirements that a company must meet in order to remain listed on The NASDAQ Capital Market. These requirements include maintaining a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, or the Bid Price Requirement, and the closing bid price of our common stock has in the past been well below $1.00 per share. In this regard, on December 23, 2015, we received a letter from the staff, or Staff, of NASDAQ providing notification that, for the previous 30 consecutive business days, the closing bid price for our common stock was below the minimum $1.00 per share requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Capital Market, or the Bid Price Requirement. The notification had no immediate effect on the listing of our common stock. In accordance with NASDAQ listing rules, we were afforded 180 calendar days, or until June 20, 2016, to regain compliance with the Bid Price Requirement.  On June 21, 2016, we received a letter from the Staff notifying usWe currently anticipate that we were eligiblewill retain future earnings for an additional 180 calendar day period, or until December 19, 2016, to regain compliance with the minimum $1.00 Bid Price Requirement. In the letter, the Staff noted that our common stock had not regained compliance with the Bid Price Requirement during the initial 180-day compliance period that ended on June 20, 2016development, operation and that we had submitted written noticeexpansion of our intentionbusiness and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. In addition, the terms of any future debt agreements may preclude us from paying dividends. Any return to curestockholders will therefore be limited to the Bid Price Requirement deficiency by effecting a reverse stock split prior to December 19, 2016, if necessary. On December 5, 2016, we effected the Reverse Stock Split, the primary purposeappreciation of which was to enable us to regain compliance with the Bid Price Requirement, which compliance was regained on December 20, 2016.  However, there can betheir stock. There is no assuranceguarantee that the market priceshares of our common stock will remainappreciate in excessvalue or even maintain the price at which stockholders have purchased their shares.

Sales of the $1.00 minimum bid price for a sustained periodsubstantial number of time. In any event, there can be no assurance that we will continue to meet the Bid Price Requirement, or any other NASDAQ continued listing requirement, in the future. If we fail to meet these requirements, including the Bid Price Requirement and requirements to maintain minimum levels of stockholders’ equity or market valuesshares of our common stock NASDAQ may notify us that we have failed to meet the minimum listing requirements and initiate the delisting process. If our common stock is delisted, the liquidity of our common stock would be adversely affected and the market price of our common stock could decrease, and our ability to obtain sufficient additional capital to fund our operations would be substantially impaired.

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

Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change taxable income or taxes may be limited.  We completed a study through December 31, 2014 to determine whether any Section 382 limitations exist and, as a result of this study and our analysis of subsequent ownership changes, we do not believe that any Section 382 limitations exist through December 31, 2016. Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code is an extremely complex provision with respect to which there are many uncertainties and we have not established whether the IRS agrees with our determination.  In any event, our 2016 and 2017 equity offerings, future equity offerings and/or changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, could in the future result in an ownership change and an accompanying Section 382 limitation.  If a limitation were to apply, utilization of a portion of our domestic net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards could be limited in future periods and a portion of the carryforwards could expire before being available to reduce future income tax liabilities.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders in the public market could cause our stock price to replace or remove our current management.fall.

 

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws may delay or prevent an acquisition of us or a change in our management. In addition, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of

our Board of Directors. Because our Board of Directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions could in turn affect any attempt by our stockholders to replace current members of our management team. These provisions include:

·                  a classified Board of Directors;

·                  a prohibition on actions by our stockholders by written consent;

·                  the ability of our Board of Directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a “poison pill” that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by our Board of Directors; and

·                  limitations on the removal of directors.

Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a person who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Finally, these provisions establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our Board of Directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon at stockholder meetings. These provisions would apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders.

If there are substantial sales of our common stock, the market price of our common stock could drop substantially, even if our business is doing well.*

For the 12-month period ended September 30, 2017, the average daily trading volume of our common stock on The NASDAQ Capital Market was only 73,142 shares (as adjusted to give effect to the Reverse Stock Split). As a result, future salesSales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that suchthese sales maymight occur could adversely affect the then-prevailing market price of our common stock. As of September 30, 2017, we had 21,541,909 shares of common stock outstanding.  In addition, as a result of the low trading volume of our common stock, which was exacerbated by the Reverse Stock Split, the trading of relatively small quantities of shares by our stockholders may disproportionately influencesignificantly reduce the market price of our common stock in either direction. The price forand impair our ability to raise adequate capital through the sale of additional equity securities. As of June 30, 2019, 6,402,834 shares could, for example, decline significantlyof our outstanding common stock are freely tradable, without restriction, in the event that a large numberpublic market, unless they are purchased by one of our commonaffiliates.

Holders of approximately 58.3% of our outstanding securities, including our directors and executive officers, entered into lock-up agreements in connection with the Merger pursuant to which they may not, with limited exceptions, for a period of 180 days from the date of the effective time of the Merger, offer, sell or otherwise transfer or dispose of any of our securities, without our prior written consent, subject to certain exceptions. Sales of these shares, areor perceptions that they will be sold, oncould cause the market without commensurate demand, as compared to an issuer with a higher trading volume that could better absorb those sales without an adverse impact on its stock price.

In September 2017, we completed a private placement of 5.5 million sharesprice of our common stock and warrants to purchase 3.3 milliondecline. After the lock-up agreements expire, up to an additional 8,967,006 shares of our common stock. In November 2014, we completed a private placement of 6.4 million shares of our common stock and warrantswill be eligible for sale in the public market.

In addition, as of June 30, 2019, up to purchase 6.4 million shares of our common stock (as adjusted to give effect to the Reverse Stock Split). Similarly, in March 2014 we completed a private placement of 1.2 million shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase 1.0 million shares of our common stock (as adjusted to give effect to the Reverse Stock Split). Pursuant to the terms of the registration rights or securities purchase agreements we entered into in connection with these private placements, we have filed registration statements under the Securities Act registering the resale of an aggregate of approximately 23.8 million2,505,818 shares of common stock that we issuedare either subject to outstanding warrants, options or are issuable uponreserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans will become eligible for sale in the exercise of warrants that we issuedpublic market to the investors inextent permitted by the provisions of various vesting schedules, the lock-up agreements and Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”). If these private placements, which investors include our largest stockholders.  Moreover, J.R. Hyde, III and certain of his affiliates, have rights under a separate registration rights agreement with us to require us to file resale registration statements covering an additional 790,000 shares of common stock heldare sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the aggregate orpublic market, the trading price of the combined company’s common stock could decline.


We incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management is required to include these shares in registration statementsdevote substantial time to compliance initiatives.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, which will require, among other things, that we file with the SEC annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as rules subsequently adopted by the SEC and Nasdaq to implement provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley, impose significant requirements on public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices. Further, pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the SEC has adopted additional rules and regulations in these areas, such as mandatory “say on pay” voting requirements that apply to us. Stockholder activism, the current political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may file for ourselves or other stockholders.lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact the manner in which we operate our business in ways we cannot currently anticipate.

We expect the rules and regulations applicable to public companies to substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time consuming and costly. If Mr. Hyde or his affiliates or anythese requirements divert the attention of our management and personnel from other significant stockholders, includingbusiness concerns, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The increased costs will increase our net loss and may require us to reduce costs in other areas of our business or increase the other investorsprices of our products or services. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to incur substantial costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. We cannot predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to these requirements. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers.

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

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of our company, the trading price for our common stock would be negatively impacted. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, interest in our private placements, werestock could decrease, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to sell large blocksdecline.

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and the trading price of sharesour common stock may decline.

Pursuant to Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, we are required to report upon the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Additionally, our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. The rules governing the standards that must be met for management to assess our internal control over financial reporting are complex and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation. To comply with the requirements of being a reporting company under the Exchange Act, we have been required to upgrade our information technology systems; implement additional financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures; and hire additional accounting and finance staff. If we or, if required, our auditors are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and the trading price of our common stock may decline.


We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a short periodmaterial weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of time,our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could drop substantially.decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.

ITEM 6.EXHIBITSProvisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable and may lead to entrenchment of management.

 

Exhibit

 

 

 

Incorporation By Reference

Number

 

Exhibit Description

 

Form

 

SEC File No.

 

Exhibit

 

Filing Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.1

 

Asset Purchase Agreement dated as of September 28, 2012 between the Registrant and Strakan International S.à r.l.

 

8-K

 

000-50549

 

2.1

 

10/03/2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.1

 

Restated Certificate of Incorporation of GTx, Inc.

 

S-3

 

333-127175

 

4.1

 

08/04/2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2

 

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of GTx, Inc.

 

8-K

 

000-50549

 

3.2

 

05/06/2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.3

 

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of GTx, Inc.

 

8-K

 

000-50549

 

3.3

 

05/09/2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.4

 

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of GTx, Inc.

 

10-Q

 

000-50549

 

3.4

 

05/11/2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.5

 

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of GTx, Inc.

 

8-K

 

000-50549

 

3.1

 

12/05/2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.6

 

Amended and Restated Bylaws of GTx, Inc.

 

8-K

 

000-50549

 

3.2

 

07/26/2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.1

 

Reference is made to Exhibits 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.2

 

Specimen of Common Stock Certificate

 

S-1

 

333-109700

 

4.2

 

12/22/2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.3

 

Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement between Registrant and J. R. Hyde, III dated August 7, 2003

 

S-1

 

333-109700

 

4.4

 

10/15/2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.4

 

Consent, Waiver and Amendment between Registrant and J. R. Hyde, III and Pittco Associates, L.P. dated December 3, 2007

 

S-3

 

333-148321

 

4.6

 

12/26/2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.5

 

Waiver and Amendment Agreement among Registrant, J.R. Hyde, III and Pittco Associates, L.P. dated March 6, 2014

 

10-K

 

000-50549

 

4.5

 

03/12/2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.6

 

Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement among Registrant, J.R. Hyde, III and The Pyramid Peak Foundation, dated August 4, 2014

 

10-Q

 

000-50549

 

4.6

 

08/05/2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.7

 

Consent, Waiver and Amendment Agreement between Registrant and J.R. Hyde, III and Pittco Associates, L.P., dated August 4, 2014

 

10-Q

 

000-50549

 

4.8

 

08/05/2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.8

 

Form of Common Stock Warrant, issued on November 14, 2014 by Registrant pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, dated November 9, 2014, between Registrant and the purchasers identified in Exhibit A therein

 

10-K

 

000-50549

 

4.9

 

03/16/2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.9

 

Form of Warrant Amendment Agreement entered into effective as of March 25, 2016 between Registrant and each holder of a Common Stock Warrant originally issued on November 14, 2014

 

10-Q

 

000-50549

 

4.9

 

5/10/2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.10

 

Form of Warrant issued on September 29, 2017 by Registrant pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, dated September 25, 2017, between Registrant and the purchases identified in Exhibit A therein

 

S-3

 

333-221040

 

4.9

 

10/20/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.1

 

Loan Agreement, dated as of August 10, 2017, by and among Registrant, J.R. Hyde, III and The Pyramid Peak Foundation and form of Promissory Note

 

10-Q

 

000-50549

 

10.1

 

08/14/2017

10.2

 

Purchase Agreement, dated September 25, 2017, between Registrant and the purchasers identified in Exhibit A therein

 

8-K

 

000-50549

 

10.1

 

09/29/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31.1+

 

Certification of Principal Executive Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a)

 

 

 

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could significantly reduce the value of our shares to a potential acquiror or delay or prevent changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our board of directors. The provisions in our charter documents include the following:

a classified board of directors with three-year staggered terms, which may delay the ability of stockholders to change the membership of a majority of our board of directors;

no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;

the exclusive right of our board of directors, unless the board of directors’ grants such right to the stockholders, to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the board of directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our board of directors;

the prohibition on removal of directors without cause due to the classified board of directors;

the ability of our board of directors to authorize the issuance of shares of preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquiror;

the ability of our board of directors to alter our amended and restated bylaws without obtaining stockholder approval;

the required approval of at least 66-2/3% of the shares entitled to vote to adopt, amend or repeal our amended and restated bylaws or repeal certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation;

a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;

an exclusive forum provision providing that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings;

the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by the chairman of the board of directors, the chief executive officer or the board of directors, which may delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors; and

advance notice procedures that stockholders must comply with in order to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting, which may discourage or deter a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquiror’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

We are also subject to the anti-takeover provisions contained in Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Under Section 203, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or, among other exceptions, the board of directors has approved the transaction.


Our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. By agreeing to this provision, however, stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

If the Merger does not qualify as a "reorganization" for U.S. federal income tax purposes, U.S. Holders of our common stock will be required to recognize gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes upon the exchange of their Private Oncternal common stock for our common stock in the Merger.

The U.S. federal income tax consequences of the Merger to U.S. Holders will depend on whether the merger qualifies as a "reorganization" for U.S. federal income tax purposes.  Our and Private Oncternal’s obligations to effect the Merger were subject to the satisfaction, or waiver, at or prior to the effective time of the Merger, of the condition that each company receive an opinion of counsel, dated as of the closing date of the merger, to the effect that the merger will qualify as a "reorganization" within the meaning of Section 368(a) of the Code.  If, contrary to the opinions from counsel, the Merger fails to qualify as a reorganization within the meaning of Section 368(a) of the Code, a U.S. Holder of Private Oncternal common stock would recognize gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes on each share of Private Oncternal common stock surrendered in the merger for our common stock and any cash received in lieu of a fractional share.  For purposes of this discussion, a U.S. Holder is a beneficial owner of Oncternal common stock that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is or is treated as: an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States; a corporation created or organized under the laws of the United States, any state thereof, or the District of Columbia; an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or a trust that (i) is subject to the primary supervision of a U.S. court and the control of one or more “United States persons” (within the meaning of Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code) over all of its substantial decisions or (ii) has a valid election in effect to be treated as a United States person for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Our ability to use net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards and other tax attributes may be limited.

We have incurred substantial losses during our history and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, and we may never achieve profitability. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire (if at all). At December 31, 2018, we had federal and state NOL carryforwards of approximately $29.7 million. As of June 30, 2019 and as a result of the Merger, for federal income tax purposes, in accordance with Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), we are planning on making an election to forego approximately $430.0 million of NOLs that are estimated to expire unutilized, leaving us with approximately $72.0 million of NOLs. Approximately $22.0 million of NOLs do not expire and the remaining federal and state NOL carryforward will begin to expire in 2033, unless previously utilized. At December 31, 2018, we had federal and state research and development credit carryforwards of approximately $0.9 million and $0.5 million, respectively. The federal research and development credit carryforwards will begin expiring in 2034, unless previously utilized. The state research and development credits do not expire.

Under the Tax Act, federal NOLs generated in taxable years ending after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely but federal NOLs generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 may only be used to offset 80% of our taxable income annually. Our NOL carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and state tax authorities. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, our federal NOL and research and development tax credit carryforwards may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in the ownership interest of significant stockholders over a three-year period in excess of 50 percentage points. Our ability to utilize our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities may be limited as a result of ownership changes, including in connection with the Merger. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. We have not yet determined the amount of the cumulative change in our ownership resulting from the Merger or other transactions, or any resulting limitations on our ability to utilize our NOL carryforwards and other tax attributes. If we earn taxable income, such limitations could result in increased future tax liability to us and our future cash flows could be adversely affected. We have recorded a full valuation allowance related to our NOLs and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.


U.S. tax legislation may materially adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Tax Act has significantly changed the U.S. federal income taxation of U.S. corporations, including by reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate and revising the rules governing NOLs. Many of these changes became effective beginning in 2018, without any transition periods or grandfathering for existing transactions. The legislation is unclear in many respects and could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, as well as interpretations and implementing regulations by the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS, any of which could lessen or increase certain adverse impacts of the legislation. In addition, it is unclear how these U.S. federal income tax changes will affect state and local taxation, which often uses federal taxable income as a starting point for computing state and local tax liabilities. There may be other material adverse effects resulting from the legislation that we have not yet identified. While some of the changes made by the tax legislation may adversely affect us in one or more reporting periods and prospectively, other changes may be beneficial on a going forward basis. We continue to work with our tax advisors to determine the full impact that the recent tax legislation as a whole will have on us. We urge our investors to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to such legislation.

We are currently involved, and may become involved in the future, in securities class action litigation that could divert management’s attention, adversely affect our business and subject us to significant liabilities.

Between April 10, 2019 and May 7, 2019, six purported stockholder class action lawsuits were filed, naming us and our board of directors as defendants.  See Part II, Item 1 “Legal Proceedings” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for more information about the lawsuits related to the Merger that have been filed. In addition, stock markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices for the common stock of pharmaceutical companies. These broad market fluctuations as well a broad range of other factors, including the realization of any of the risks described in these “Risk Factors,” may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. 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 and pharmaceutical companies have experienced significant stock price volatility in recent years. Any current or future litigation we face could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business.

Our stockholders prior to the Merger who hold CVRs may not receive any payment on the CVRs and the CVRs may otherwise expire valueless.

We and certain other parties have entered into the CVR Agreement pursuant to which, for each share of GTx common stock held, stockholders of record as of immediately prior to the Merger received one CVR entitling such holders to receive in the aggregate 75% of any net proceeds received during the 15-year period after the closing of the Merger from the grant, sale or transfer of rights to our SARD or SARM technology that occurs during the 10-year period after the closing of the Merger (or in the 11th year if based on a term sheet approved during the initial 10-year period) and, if applicable, to receive royalties on the sale of any SARD products or SARM products by us during the 15-year period after the closing of the Merger. In light of the results of the ASTRID trial, we have no current intent to develop the SARM program.  The CVRs are not transferable, will not have any voting or dividend rights, and interest will not accrue on any amounts potentially payable on the CVRs. Accordingly, the right of any stockholder of record as of immediately prior to the Merger to receive any future payment on or derive any value from the CVRs will be contingent solely upon the achievement of the foregoing events within the time periods specified in the CVR Agreement and if these events are not achieved for any reason within the time periods specified in the CVR Agreement, no payments will be made under the CVRs, and the CVRs will expire valueless. In addition, we (as successor in interest to GTx) have agreed only to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop SARD products and to divest our SARM technology, subject to certain limitations, which allows for the consideration of a variety of factors in determining the efforts that the combined company is required to use to develop SARD products and to divest the SARM technology, and we are not required to take all possible actions to continue efforts to develop SARD products and to divest the SARM technology. Accordingly, under certain circumstances we may not be required to continue efforts to develop SARD products and to divest the SARM technology, or may allocate resources to other projects, which would have an adverse effect on the value, if any, of the CVRs. Furthermore, the CVRs will be unsecured obligations of our company and all payments under the CVRs, all other obligations under the CVR Agreement and the CVRs and any rights or claims relating thereto will be subordinated in right of payment to the prior payment in full of all of our current or future senior obligations. Finally, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the CVRs is unclear. There is no legal authority directly addressing the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the receipt of, and payments on, the CVRs, and there can be no assurance that the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), would not assert, or that a court would not sustain, a position that could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to holders of the CVRs.


Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

None.

Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.

None.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION.

On August 7, 2019, our Compensation Committee approved the Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. Annual Incentive Plan (the “Annual Incentive Plan”), which is intended to provide an incentive for eligible employees and certain consultants to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our corporate objectives, to further our growth, development and financial success, and to enable us to attract and retain highly qualified employees and consultants.  The Annual Incentive Plan sets forth the annual target bonuses for our executive officers as well as the weighting of the portions of cash bonus payments that are based on corporate performance goals and individual performance objectives.  Annual bonuses under the Annual Incentive Plan will not exceed 150% of target unless otherwise specifically approved by our Compensation Committee.  Our Compensation Committee will establish the performance objectives for each fiscal year under the Annual Incentive Plan, which are expected to generally relate to clinical achievements, corporate transactions and financing objectives and operational achievements.

The initial target bonus percentages under the Bonus Plan for our executive officers are as follows:

31.2+Position

Target Award

Percentage (% of

base salary)

 

Chief Executive Officer

50

%

EVP/C-Level

35

%

Senior Vice President / Vice President

30

%

The initial weightings for purposes of the Bonus Plan between corporate and individual performance for our executive officers will be as follows:

Position

Corporate

Performance

 

Individual

Performance

 

Chief Executive Officer

100

%

0

%

Other C-level

80

%

20

%

Senior Vice President / Vice President

70

%

30

%

The Company expects to adopt an annual incentive program under the Annual Incentive Plan for future fiscal years, which will reward achievement at specified levels of corporate and individual performance and will contain target bonuses consistent with those disclosed above.

The foregoing description of the Bonus Plan does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the Annual Incentive Plan, a copy of which the Company intends to file with its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ending September 30, 2019.  


Item 6. Exhibits.

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

 

Incorporated by Reference

 

Exhibit

Number

Description of Exhibit

Form

File Number

Date of Filing

Exhibit

Number

Filed

Herewith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.1

Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization, dated March 6, 2019, by and among GTx, Inc., Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Grizzly Merger Sub, Inc.

8-K

000-50549

March 7, 2019

2.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.2

Amendment No. 1 to Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization, dated April 30, 2019, by and among GTx, Inc., Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Grizzly Merger Sub, Inc.

8-K

000-50549

April 30, 2019

2.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.3

CVR Agreement, dated as of June 7, 2019, by and between the Registrant, Marc S. Hanover, as the Holders’ Representative, and Computershare Investor Services, as Rights Agent

8-K

000-50549

June 10, 2019

10.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.4

Form of Lock-Up Agreement, dated March 6, 2019, by each of the parties named in each agreement therein

8-K

000-50549

March 7, 2019

2.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.1

Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

S-3

333-127175

August 4, 2005

4.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

8-K

000-50549

May 6, 2011

3.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.3

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

8-K

000-50549

May 9, 2014

3.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.4

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

10-Q

000-50549

May 11, 2015

3.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.5

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

8-K

000-50549

December 5, 2016

3.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.6

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

8-K

000-50549

June 10, 2019

3.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.7

Certificate of Amendment of Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant

8-K

000-50549

June 10, 2019

3.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.8

Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Registrant

8-K

000-50549

June 10, 2019

3.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.1

Form of Amendment to Warrant to Purchase shares of Series B-2 Preferred Stock of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.

 

 

 

 

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.2

Specimen of Common Stock Certificate

 

 

 

 

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.1†

Commercial License Agreement between Selexis SA (predecessor to Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.) and ROAR Therapeutics, LLC, dated May 19, 2014

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.46

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


10.2†

Exclusive License Agreement between Georgetown University and Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., dated March 26, 2014

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.47

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.3

Amendment to Exclusive License Agreement between Georgetown University and Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., dated March 17, 2016

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.48

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.4†

Collaboration Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, dated December 15, 2014

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.49

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.5†

Amendment #1 to Collaboration Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, dated January 24, 2016

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.6†

Amendment #2 to Collaboration Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, dated May 1, 2016

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.51

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.7†

Amendment #3 to Collaboration Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, dated September 17, 2018

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.52

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.8†

Research agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and the Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its San Diego Campus, dated November 3, 2016

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.53

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.9†

License Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Velos Biopharma Holdings, LLC, dated February 6, 2018

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.54

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.10†

Amended and Restated License Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and The Regents of the University of California, dated August 31, 2018

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.55

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.11†

Amendment #1 to Amended and Restated License Agreement between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and the Regents of the University of California, dated March 25, 2019

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.56

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.12#

Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.57

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.13#

Form of Stock Option Agreement under the Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.58

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.14#

Form of Early Exercise Stock Option Agreement under the Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.59

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.15#

Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement dated May 22, 2017, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Richard G. Vincent

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.60

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Certification of Principal Financial Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a)10.16#

Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement dated December 14, 2017, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Richard G. Vincent

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.61

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.17#

Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement dated December 14, 2017, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and William R. LaRue

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.62

 

32.1+

Certification of Principal Executive Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. §1350)(1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.18#

Restricted Stock Purchase Agreement dated May 9, 2018, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Charles Theuer, M.D., Ph.D.

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.63

 

32.2+

Certification of Principal Financial Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. §1350)(1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.19#

Employment Letter dated May 31, 2017, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and James B. Breitmeyer, M.D., Ph.D.

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.64

 

101.INS+

XBRL Instance Document

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.20#

Employment Letter dated January 1, 2019, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Richard G. Vincent

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.65

 

101.SCH+

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.21#

Consulting Agreement dated April 3, 2017, between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Richard G. Vincent

S-4

333-230758

April 8, 2019

10.66

 

101.CAL+

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.22#

Registrant’s 2019 Incentive Award Plan effective June  7, 2019

8-K

000-50549

June 10, 2019

10.2

 

101.DEF+

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.23

Sublease by and between Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and Host Hotels & Resorts, L.P., dated May 22, 2019

 

 

 

 

101.LAB+

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase Document

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31.1

Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

X

 

 

 

 

101.PRE+31.2

Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

 

X

32.1*

Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

X

32.2*

Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

X

101.INS

XBRL Instance Document

X

101.SCH

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document

X

101.CAL

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document

X

101.DEF

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document

X


101.LAB

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document

X

101.PRE

XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

 

 

X

Portions of this exhibit have been omitted for confidentiality purposes.

#

Management compensatory plan or arrangement.

*

These certifications are being furnished solely to accompany this quarterly report pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, and are not being filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are not subject to the liability of that section. These certifications are not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., whether made before or after the date hereof, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing.

 



+                 Filed herewith

(1)      This certification accompanies the Form 10-Q to which it relates, is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Registrant under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (whether made before or after the date of the Form 10-Q), irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

 

 

GTx, Inc.

Company Name

 

 

Date: November 14, 2017August 9, 2019

By:

/s/ Marc S. HanoverJames B. Breitmeyer

 

 

Marc S. Hanover, President,

Name: James B. Breitmeyer

 

 

Title:  President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 

(Principal Executive Officer)

Date: August 9, 2019

By:

/s/ Richard G. Vincent

 

 

Name: Richard G. Vincent

 

 

Date:  November 14, 2017

By:

/s/ Jason T. Shackelford

Jason T. Shackelford, Vice President, Finance and Accounting and PrincipalTitle:   Chief Financial and Accounting Officer

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

 

4385