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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

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

For the Quarterly Period Ended June 30, 2017

OR

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

Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

863 Mitten Road, Suite 102
Burlingame, CA 94010
(Address of principal executive offices, including Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (650) 900-4520

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 website, 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, smaller reporting company, or any 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. (Check one)

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.   x

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 August 3, 2017, 20,934,514 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, were outstanding.

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CORVUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

QUARTERLY REPORT ON FORM 10-Q FOR THE QUARTER ENDED JUNE 30, 2017

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PART I — FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1.  Unaudited Condensed Financial Statements

CORVUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

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

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CORVUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

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

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CORVUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(in thousands)

(unaudited)

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

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CORVUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

1. Organization

Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Corvus” or the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on January 27, 2014 and commenced operations in November 2014. Corvus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel immuno-oncology therapies that are designed to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells. The Company’s primary activities have been establishing its facilities, recruiting personnel, conducting research and development of its product candidates, including conducting a clinical trial, and raising capital. The Company’s operations are located in Burlingame, California. The Company has four insignificant subsidiaries.

Initial Public Offering

On March 22, 2016, the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-208850) relating to its initial public offering (“IPO”) of its common stock was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the shares of its common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on March 23, 2016. The public offering price of the shares sold in the IPO was $15.00 per share. The IPO closed on March 29, 2016, pursuant to which the Company sold 4,700,000 shares of its common stock. On April 26, 2016, the Company sold an additional 502,618 shares of its common stock to the underwriters upon partial exercise of their over-allotment option, at the initial offering price of $15.00 per share. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of approximately $70.6 million, after underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses. Immediately prior to the consummation of the IPO, all outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock were converted into common stock.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). The Company’s functional and reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and discharge of liabilities in the normal course of business. Since its inception, the Company has incurred significant losses and negative cash flows from operations. During the six months ended June 30, 2017, the Company incurred a net loss of $31.0 million and used $24.5 million of cash in operations. As of June 30, 2017, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $98.9 million and cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $110.3 million. The Company has financed its operations primarily with the proceeds from the sale of stock. The Company will need to raise additional capital to meet its business objectives. The Company believes that its current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund its planned expenditures and meet its obligations through at least the next twelve months.

Unaudited Interim Financial Information

The accompanying interim condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures are unaudited, have been prepared on the same basis as the annual financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair statement of the results of operations for the periods presented.

The year-end condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The condensed consolidated results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year or for any other future year or interim period. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the related notes for the year ended December 31, 2016 included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 10, 2017.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from such estimates.

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Concentrations of Credit Risk and Other Risks and Uncertainties

Substantially all of the Company’s cash and cash equivalents are deposited in accounts with two financial institutions that management believes are of high credit quality. Such deposits may, at times, exceed federally insured limits. The Company maintains its cash with an accredited financial institution and accordingly, such funds are subject to minimal credit risk. The Company’s marketable securities consist of investments in U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. government agency securities and corporate debt obligations, which can be subject to certain credit risks. However, the Company mitigates the risks by investing in high-grade instruments, limiting its exposure to any one issuer, and monitoring the ongoing creditworthiness of the financial institutions and issuers. The Company has not experienced any losses on its deposits of cash, cash equivalents or marketable securities.

The Company is subject to a number of risks similar to other early stage biopharmaceutical companies, including, but not limited to, the need to obtain adequate additional funding, possible failure of preclinical testing or clinical trials, its reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials, the need to obtain marketing approval for its product candidates, competitors developing new technological innovations, the need to successfully commercialize and gain market acceptance of the Company’s product candidates, its right to develop and commercialize its product candidates pursuant to the terms and conditions of the licenses granted to the Company, and protection of proprietary technology. If the Company does not successfully commercialize or partner any of its product candidates, it will be unable to generate product revenue or achieve profitability.

Segments

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, that of the development of and commercialization of novel immuno-oncology therapies that are designed to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells.

Critical Accounting Policies

The Company’s critical accounting policies are described in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.  There have been no material changes to the Company’s critical accounting policies during the six months ended June 30, 2017.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which required an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. ASU No. 2014-09 will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. GAAP when it becomes effective. The new standard is effective January 1, 2018 for public companies. Early application is permitted as of January 1, 2017. The standard permits the use of either the retrospective or cumulative effect transition method. In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-08, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net), which clarifies the implementation guidance on principal versus agent considerations in ASU No. 2014-09. In April 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-10, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Identifying Performance Obligations and Licensing, which clarifies certain aspects of identifying performance obligations and licensing implementation guidance. In May 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-12, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Narrow-Scope Improvements and Practical Expedients, which relates to disclosures of remaining performance obligations, as well as other amendments to guidance on collectability, non-cash consideration and the presentation of sales and other similar taxes collected from customers. These standards have the same effective date and transition date of January 1, 2018. The Company does not believe adopting this guidance will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements as the Company is not yet generating revenues.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) that replaces existing lease guidance. The new standard requires lessees to record right of use assets and corresponding lease liabilities on the balance sheet. The new guidance will continue to classify leases as either finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern of expense recognition in the statement of income. The standard is effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2019, with early application permitted. The new standard is required to be applied with a modified retrospective approach to each prior reporting period presented with various optional practical expedients. The Company is currently assessing the impact of this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

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In May 2017, the FASB issued ASU No 2017-09, Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718) — Scope of Modification Accounting, to clarify when to account for a change to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award as a modification. Under the new standard, modification is required only if the fair value, the vesting conditions, or the classification of an award as equity or liability changes as a result of the change in terms or conditions. ASU 2017-09 will be effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2018 and will be applied prospectively. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on its consolidated financial statements.

3. Net Loss per Share

The following table shows the calculation of net loss per share (in thousands, except share and per share data):

The amounts in the table below were excluded from the calculation of diluted net loss per share, due to their anti-dilutive effect:

4. Fair Value Measurements

Financial assets and liabilities are measured and recorded at fair value. The Company is required to disclose information on all assets and liabilities reported at fair value that enables an assessment of the inputs used in determining the reported fair values. The fair value hierarchy prioritizes valuation inputs based on the observable nature of those inputs. The fair value hierarchy applies only to the valuation inputs used in determining the reported fair value of the investments and is not a measure of the investment credit quality. The hierarchy defines three levels of valuation inputs:

Level 1—Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities

Level 2—Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly

Level 3—Unobservable inputs that reflect the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability

There have been no transfers of assets and liabilities between levels of hierarchy.

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The following tables present information as of June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis and indicate the level of the fair value hierarchy the Company utilized to determine such fair values (in thousands):

As of June 30, 2017, marketable securities had a maximum remaining maturity of twelve months.

As of June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the fair value of available for sale marketable securities by type of security were as follows (in thousands):

5. License and Collaboration Agreements

Scripps Licensing Agreement

In December 2014, the Company entered into a license agreement with The Scripps Research Institute (“Scripps”), pursuant to which it was granted a non-exclusive, world-wide license for all fields of use under Scripps’ rights in certain know-how and technology related to a mouse hybridoma clone expressing an anti-human CD73 antibody, and to progeny, mutants or unmodified derivatives of such hybridoma and any antibodies expressed by such hybridoma. Scripps also granted the Company the right to grant sublicenses in conjunction with other proprietary rights the Company holds, or to others collaborating with or performing services for the Company. Under this license agreement, Scripps has agreed not to grant any additional commercial licenses with respect to such materials, other than march-in rights granted to the U.S. government.

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Upon execution of the agreement, the Company made a one-time cash payment to Scripps of $10.0 thousand in 2015 and is also obligated to pay a minimum annual fee to Scripps of $25.0 thousand. The one-time cash payment was recorded as research and development expense as technological feasibility of the asset had not been established and there was no alternative future use. The first minimum annual fee payment is due on the first anniversary of effective date of the agreement and will be due on each subsequent anniversary of the effective date for the term of the agreement. The Company is also required to make performance-based cash payments upon successful completion of clinical and sales milestones. The aggregate potential milestone payments are $2.6 million. The Company is also required to pay royalties on net sales of licensed products sold by it, its affiliates and its sublicensees at a rate in the low-single digits. In addition, should the Company sublicense the rights licensed under the agreement, it has agreed to pay a percentage of sublicense revenue received at specified rates that start at double digit percentages and decrease to single digit percentages based on the elapsed time from the effective date of the agreement and the time of entry into such sublicense. To date, no milestone payments have been made.

The Company’s license agreement with Scripps will terminate upon expiration of its obligation to pay royalties to Scripps under the license agreement. The Company’s license agreement with Scripps is terminable by the consent of the parties, at will by the Company upon providing 90 days written notice to Scripps, or by Scripps for certain material breaches, or if the Company undergoes a bankruptcy event. In addition, Scripps may terminate the license on a product-by-product basis, or the entire agreement, if the Company fails to meet specified diligence obligations related to the development and commercialization of licensed products. Scripps may also terminate the agreement after the third anniversary of the effective date of the agreement if it reasonably believes, based on reports the Company provides to Scripps, that the Company has not used commercially reasonable efforts as required under the agreement, subject to a specified notice and cure period.

Vernalis Licensing Agreement

In February 2015, the Company entered into a license agreement with Vernalis (R&D) Limited (“Vernalis”), which was subsequently amended as of November 5, 2015, and, pursuant to which the Company was granted an exclusive, worldwide license under certain patent rights and know-how, including a limited right to grant sublicenses, for all fields of use to develop, manufacture and commercialize products containing certain adenosine receptor antagonists, including CPI-444. Pursuant to this agreement, the Company made a one-time cash payment to Vernalis in the amount of $1.0 million, which was recorded as research and development expense as technological feasibility of the asset had not been established and there was no alternative future use. The Company is also required to make cash milestone payments to Vernalis upon the successful completion of clinical and regulatory milestones for licensed products depending on the indications for which such licensed products are developed and upon achievement of certain sales milestones. In February 2017, the Company made a milestone payment of $3.0 million to Vernalis following the expansion of a cohort of patients with renal cell cancer treated with single agent CPI-444 in the Company’s Phase 1/1b clinical trial. The aggregate potential milestone payments exceed $200 million for all indications.

The Company has also agreed to pay Vernalis tiered incremental royalties based on the annual net sales of licensed products containing CPI-444 on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis, subject to certain offsets and reductions. The tiered royalty rates for products containing CPI-444 range from the mid-single digits up to the low-double digits on a country-by-country net sales basis. The royalties on other licensed products that do not include CPI-444 also increase with the amount of net sales on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis and range from the low-single digits up to the mid-single digits on a country-by-country net sales basis. The Company is also obligated to pay to Vernalis certain sales milestones as indicated above when worldwide net sales reach specified levels over an agreed upon time period.

The agreement will expire on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis upon the expiration of the Company’s payment obligations to Vernalis in respect of a particular product and country. Both parties have the right to terminate the agreement for an uncured material breach by the other party. The Company may also terminate the agreement at its convenience by providing 90 days written notice, provided that the Company has not received notice of its own default under the agreement at the time the Company exercises such termination right. Vernalis may also terminate the agreement if the Company challenges a licensed patent or undergoes a bankruptcy event.

Genentech Collaboration Agreements

In October 2015, the Company entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Genentech to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of CPI-444 combined with Genentech’s investigational cancer immunotherapy, Tecentriq (atezolizumab), a fully humanized monoclonal antibody targeting protein programmed cell death ligand 1(“PD-L1”), in a variety of solid tumors in a Phase 1/1b clinical trial. Pursuant to this agreement, the Company will be responsible for the conduct and cost of the relevant studies, under the supervision of a joint development committee made up of representatives of the Company and representatives of Genentech. Genentech will supply Tecentriq. As part of the agreement, the Company granted Genentech certain rights of first negotiation to participate in future clinical trials that the Company may conduct evaluating the administration of CPI-444

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in combination with an anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody. If the Company and Genentech do not reach agreement on the terms of any such participation by Genentech within a specified time period, the Company retains the right to collaborate with third parties in such activities. The Company also granted Genentech certain rights of first negotiation should it decide to license development and commercialization rights to CPI-444. Should the Company and Genentech not reach agreement on the terms of such a license within a specified time period, it retains the right to enter into a license with another third party.

The Company and Genentech each have the right to terminate the agreement for material breach by the other party. In addition, the agreement may be terminated by either party due to safety considerations, if directed by a regulatory authority or if development of CPI-444 or Tecentriq is discontinued. Further, the agreement will expire after a set period of time following the provision by the Company of the final clinical study report to Genentech.

In May, 2017, the Company signed a second clinical trial collaboration agreement with Genentech.  Under the new agreement, CPI-444 administered in combination with Tecentriq (atezolizumab) will be evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 randomized, controlled clinical study as second-line therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer who are resistant and/or refractory to prior therapy with an anti PD-(L)1 antibody.  It is anticipated that the study will enroll up to 65 patients in the treatment arm. Genentech will be responsible for the conduct of the study and the parties will share the cost of the Phase 1b/2 trial, which is expected to begin enrolling patients in the fourth quarter of 2017. The Company is responsible for supplying CPI-444 and retains global development and commercialization rights to CPI-444. The Company and Genentech each have the right to terminate the agreement for material breach by the other party. In addition, the agreement may be terminated by either party due to safety considerations, if directed by a regulatory authority or if development of CPI-444 or Tecentriq is discontinued.

6. Balance Sheet Components (in thousands)

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7. Common Stock

As of June 30, 2017, the amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the Company to issue 290 million shares of common stock and 10 million shares of preferred stock.

Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote. Common stockholders are entitled to dividends if and when declared by the board of directors. As of June 30, 2017, no dividends on common stock had been declared.

The Company has reserved shares of common stock, for issuance as follows:

8. Stock Option Plans

In February 2014, the Company adopted the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2014 Plan”), which was subsequently amended in November 2014, July 2015 and September 2015, under which it granted incentive stock options (“ISOs”) or non-qualified stock options (“NSOs”). Terms of stock agreements, including vesting requirements, are determined by the board of directors or a committee authorized by the board of directors, subject to the provisions of the 2014 Plan. In general, awards granted by the Company vest over four years and have a maximum exercise term of 10 years. The 2014 Plan provides that grants must be at an exercise price of 100% of fair market value of the Company’s common stock as determined by the board of directors on the date of the grant.

In connection with the consummation of the IPO in March 2016, the 2016 Equity Incentive Award Plan (the “2016 Plan”), became effective. Under the 2016 Plan, incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, stock purchase rights and other stock-based awards may be granted. Terms of stock agreements, including vesting requirements, are determined by the board of directors or a committee authorized by the board of directors, subject to the provisions of the 2016 Plan. In general, awards granted by the Company vest over four years and have a maximum exercise term of 10 years. The 2016 Plan provides that grants must be at an exercise price of 100% of fair market value of the Company’s common stock as determined by the board of directors on the date of the grant. In conjunction with adopting the 2016 Plan, the 2014 Plan was terminated and no further awards will be granted under the 2014 Plan. Options outstanding under the 2014 Plan as of the effective date of the 2016 Plan that are forfeited or lapse unexercised may be re-issued under the 2016 Plan, up to a maximum of 1,136,229 shares.

Activity under the Company’s stock option plans is set forth below:

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9. Stock-Based Compensation

The Company’s results of operations include expenses relating to employee and non-employee stock-based awards as follows (in thousands):

10. Income Taxes

The Company did not record a provision or benefit for income taxes during the three or six months ended June 30, 2017 or 2016. The Company continues to maintain a full valuation allowance against its net deferred tax assets.

11. Commitments and Contingencies

Facility Lease

In January 2015, the Company signed an initial operating lease, effective February 1, 2015 for 8,138 square feet of office and laboratory space with a one-year term. Between January 2015 and August 2016, the Company entered into a series of lease amendments to increase the amount of leased space to 28,633 square feet and extend the expiration of the lease to February 2021. The lease agreement includes an annual rent escalation clause and a right to extend the term at the then current market rate for three years. Under the lease and subsequent amendments, the landlord provided approximately $1.9 million in free rent and lease incentives. The Company records rent expense on a straight-line basis over the effective term of the lease, including any free rent periods and incentives. The lease requires the Company to pay additional amounts for operating and maintenance expenses. Rent expense related to the facilities lease for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 was approximately $184,000 and $367,000, respectively. Rent expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 was approximately $127,000 and $256,000, respectively. As of June 30, 2017, future minimum lease payments under the facility lease were as follows (in thousands):

*Remainder of the year

In August 2015 the Company entered into an agreement for a line of credit of $0.1 million for the purpose of issuing its landlord a letter of credit of $0.1 million as a security deposit under its facility lease. The Company pledged money market funds and marketable securities as collateral for the line of credit. Pursuant to the Company’s license agreements with each of Vernalis and Scripps, it has obligations to make future milestone and royalty payments to these parties, respectively. However, because these amounts are contingent and not fixed or determinable, they have not been included on the Company’s balance sheet.

Indemnifications

In the ordinary course of business, the Company enters into agreements that may include indemnification provisions. Pursuant to such agreements, the Company may indemnify, hold harmless and defend an indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party. Some of the provisions will limit losses to those arising from third-party actions. In some cases, the indemnification will continue after the termination of the agreement. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company

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could be required to make under these provisions is not determinable. The Company has never incurred material costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims related to these indemnification provisions. The Company has also entered into indemnification agreements with its directors and officers that may require the Company to indemnify its directors and officers against liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware corporate law. There have been no claims to date and the Company has a directors and officers insurance policy that may enable it to recover a portion of any amounts paid for future claims.

Legal Proceedings

The Company is not a party to any material legal proceedings.

Item 2.  Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and with our audited consolidated financial statements and notes for the year ended December 31, 2016, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 10, 2017.

This discussion and other parts of this report contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions.  Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements.  Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section of this report entitled “Risk Factors.” Except as may be required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or the reasons that results could differ from these forward-looking statements.

Overview

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel immuno-oncology therapies that are designed to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells. Since we began operations in November 2014, we have built a pipeline of four immuno-oncology programs, three of which focus on the adenosine-cancer axis to modulate an immune response. Our lead product candidate, CPI-444, is an oral, small molecule antagonist of the A2A receptor for adenosine, an immune checkpoint. In January 2016, we began enrolling patients in a large expansion cohort trial for CPI-444. This Phase 1/1b clinical trial is designed to examine safety, tolerability, biomarkers and preliminary efficacy of CPI-444 in several solid tumor types, both as a single agent and in combination with Genentech, Inc.’s investigational cancer immunotherapy, Tecentriq® (atezolizumab), a fully humanized investigational monoclonal antibody targeting PD-L1. In November 2016, we completed enrollment of 48 patients in the first step of the Phase 1/1b clinical trial, which was designed to determine the optimal dose of CPI-444 as both a single agent therapy and in combination with Tecentriq (atezolizumab) for use in the cohort expansion component of the trial. The expansion cohort portion of the trial is now enrolling patients with different types of solid tumors at 36 leading medical centers in the U.S., Australia and Canada. To date, we have announced the expansion of three cohorts from fourteen subjects to twenty-six subjects and one cohort from twenty-six subjects to forty-eight subjects.

The other product and development candidates in our pipeline also continue to advance. We have chosen a lead development candidate for our second program, an anti-CD73 monoclonal antibody (“CPX-006”) that inhibits the production of adenosine. CPX-006 is currently in IND-enabling studies and we plan to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in the first half of 2018. In addition, in 2016 we selected a development candidate for our ITK program and are currently conducting IND-enabling studies. We also plan to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial for this candidate in 2018. We expect to select a development candidate for our other program, a small molecule antagonist of the A2B receptor for adenosine in 2017. We believe the breadth and status of our pipeline demonstrates our management team’s expertise in understanding and developing immuno-oncology assets as well as in identifying product candidates that can be in-licensed and further developed internally to treat many types of cancer. We hold worldwide rights to all of our product candidates.

To date, the majority of our efforts have been focused on the research, development and advancement of CPI-444, and we have not generated any revenue from product sales and, as a result, we have incurred significant losses. We expect to continue to incur significant research and development and general and administrative expenses related to our operations.  During the six months ended June 30, 2017, we incurred a net loss of $31.0 million and used $24.5 million of cash in operations. As of June 30, 2017, we had an accumulated deficit of $98.9 million. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase as we continue our development of, seek regulatory approval for and begin to commercialize CPI-444, and as we develop other product candidates. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods.

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Since our inception and through June 30, 2017, we have funded our operations primarily through the sale and issuance of stock. In November 2014, January 2015 and June 2015, we received aggregate net proceeds of $33.3 million from the sale of our Series A convertible preferred stock. In September 2015, we received net proceeds of $74.8 million from the sale of our Series B convertible preferred stock. On March 22, 2016, our registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-208850) relating to our initial public offering (“IPO”) of our common stock was declared effective by the SEC. Shares of our common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on March 23, 2016. The IPO closed on March 29, 2016, pursuant to which we sold 4,700,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $15.00 per share. In April 2016, we sold an additional 502,618 shares of our common stock to the underwriters upon partial exercise of their over-allotment option, at the initial offering price of $15.00 per share. We received aggregate net proceeds of approximately $70.6 million, after underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses. Immediately prior to the consummation of the IPO, all of our outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock were converted into 14.3 million shares of our common stock.

As of June 30, 2017, we had capital resources consisting of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of approximately $110.3 million. We do not expect our existing capital resources to be sufficient to enable us to fund the completion of our clinical trials and remaining development program of CPI-444 through commercialization. In addition, our operating plan may change as a result of many factors, including those described in the section of this report entitled “Risk Factors” and others currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity, debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. Such financing would result in dilution to stockholders, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations or other restrictions that may affect our business. If we raise additional capital through strategic collaboration agreements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates, including possible future revenue streams. In addition, additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all and any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from its day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. Furthermore, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations.

Critical Accounting Policies

Our critical accounting policies are described in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. There have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies during the six months ended June 30, 2017.

Financial Overview

Revenue

To date, we have not generated any revenues. We do not expect to receive any revenues from any product candidates that we develop unless and until we obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our products or enter into revenue-generating collaboration agreements with third parties.

Research and Development Expenses

Our research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred to conduct research and development of our product candidates. We record research and development expenses as incurred. Research and development expenses include:

·                  employee-related expenses, including salaries, benefits, travel and non-cash stock-based compensation expense;

·                  external research and development expenses incurred under arrangements with third parties, such as contract research organizations, preclinical testing organizations, contract manufacturing organizations, academic and non-profit institutions and consultants;

·                  costs to acquire technologies to be used in research and development that have not reached technological feasibility and have no alternative future use;

·                  license fees; and

·                  other expenses, which include direct and allocated expenses for laboratory, facilities and other costs.

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We plan to increase our research and development expenses substantially as we continue the development of our product candidates. Our current planned research and development activities include the following:

·                  enrollment and completion of our Phase 1/1b clinical trial of CPI-444;

·                  process development and manufacturing of drug supply for CPI-444;

·                  process development and manufacturing of drug supply for CPX-006 antibody to support IND-enabling studies;

·                  process development and manufacturing of drug supply for our ITK product candidate to support IND-enabling studies; and

·                  preclinical studies under our other programs in order to select development product candidates

In addition to our product candidates that are in clinical development, we believe it is important to continue substantial investment in potential new product candidates to build the value of our product candidate pipeline and our business.

Our expenditures on current and future preclinical and clinical development programs are subject to numerous uncertainties related to timing and cost to completion. The duration, costs and timing of clinical trials and development of product candidates will depend on a variety of factors, including many of which are beyond our control. The process of conducting the necessary clinical research to obtain regulatory approval is costly and time consuming, and the successful development of our product candidates is uncertain. The risks and uncertainties associated with our research and development projects are discussed more fully in “Part II, Item 1A—Risk Factors.” As a result of these risks and uncertainties, we are unable to determine with any degree of certainty the duration and completion costs of our research and development projects or if, when or to what extent we will generate revenues from the commercialization and sale of any of our product candidates that obtain regulatory approval. We may never succeed in achieving regulatory approval for any of our product candidates.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses include personnel costs, expenses for outside professional services and allocated expenses. Personnel costs consist of salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation. Outside professional services consist of legal, accounting and audit services and other consulting fees. Allocated expenses consist of rent expense related to our office and research and development facility.

We expect to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including expenses related to compliance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and those of any national securities exchange on which our securities are traded, additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities and other administrative and professional services. We also expect to increase our administrative headcount significantly to operate as a public company and as we advance our product candidates through clinical development, which will also increase our general and administrative expenses.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the periods below as indicated (in thousands):

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Research and Development Expense

Research and development expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2016 consisted of the following costs by program (specific program costs consist solely of external costs):

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in CPI-444 costs of $3.0 million as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $2.4 million in clinical trial costs related to our Phase 1/1b clinical trial and an increase of $0.6 million in contracted research costs.  For the six months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in CPI-444 costs of $8.3 million as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $4.5 million in clinical trial costs related to our Phase 1/1b clinical trial and an increase of $0.8 million in contracted research costs and a $3.0 million milestone payment to Vernalis.

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in CPX-006 costs of $1.2 million as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $1.2 million in drug manufacturing costs. For the six months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in CPX-006 costs of $3.0 million as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $2.9 million in drug manufacturing costs.

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in ITK program costs of $0.8 million as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $0.7 million in drug manufacturing costs. For the six months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in ITK program costs of $0.9 million as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $0.7 million in drug manufacturing costs.

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in unallocated costs of $0.2 million as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $0.2 million in stock compensation expense. For the six months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in unallocated costs of $1.1 million as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $1.0 million in personnel and related costs (including an increase in stock compensation expense of $0.5 million) associated with an increase in headcount.

General and Administrative Expense

For the three months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in general and administrative expenses of $1.1 million as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $0.4 million in personnel and related costs associated with an increase in headcount (including an increase in stock compensation expense of $0.3 million), an increase of $0.3 million in legal and accounting costs, and an increase of $0.3 million in costs associated with being a public company.  For the six months ended June 30, 2017, the increase in general and administrative expenses of $2.8 million as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2016, primarily consisted of an increase of $1.3 million in personnel and related costs associated with an increase in headcount (including an increase in stock compensation expense of $1.0 million), an increase of $0.7 million in legal and accounting costs, and an increase of $0.6 million in costs associated with being a public company.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of June 30, 2017, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $110.3 million, and an accumulated deficit of $98.9 million, compared to cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $134.9 million and an accumulated deficit of $67.9 million as of December 31, 2016. We have financed our operations primarily through private placements of convertible preferred stock and the sale of common stock in our IPO.

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In March 2016, we consummated our IPO and sold 4,700,000 shares of our common stock at a price of $15.00 per share, and in April 2016, sold 502,618 shares at a price of $15.00 per share pursuant to the partial exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of common stock. We received net proceeds of approximately $70.6 million, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and estimated offering expenses. Immediately prior to the consummation of our IPO, all outstanding shares of the convertible preferred stock were converted into common stock on a one-for-one basis.

We believe our current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund our planned expenditures and meet our obligations through at least the next twelve months from issuance of these financial statements. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures depend on numerous factors, including:

·                  the initiation, progress, timing, costs and results of clinical trials for CPI-444;

·                  the timing, progress, costs and results of preclinical and clinical development activities for our other product candidates;

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

·                  the costs involved in prosecuting, maintaining and enforcing patent and other intellectual property rights;

·                  the cost and timing of regulatory approvals;

·                  our efforts to enhance operational systems and hire additional personnel, including personnel to support development of our product candidates and satisfy our obligations as a public company; and

·                  other factors described in the section of this report entitled “Risk Factors.”

We expect to increase our spending in connection with the development and commercialization of our product candidates. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue from product sales, we expect to fund our operations and capital funding needs through equity and/or debt financings. We may also enter into additional collaboration arrangements or selectively partner for clinical development and commercialization. The sale of additional equity would result in dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of debt financing would result in debt service obligations and the governing documents would likely include operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. In addition, sufficient additional funding may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are not able to secure adequate additional funding, we may be forced to make reductions in spending, extend payment terms with suppliers, liquidate assets where possible and/or suspend or curtail planned programs. Any of these actions could have a material effect on our business financial condition and results of operations.

Summary of Statement of Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated (in thousands):

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

Cash used in operating activities during the six months ended June 30, 2017 was $24.5 million, which consisted of a net loss of $31.0 million, adjusted by non-cash charges of $3.3 million, primarily consisting of $3.0 million of stock compensation expense and $0.4 million of depreciation expenses, and an increase of $3.3 million in accounts payable and accrued and other liabilities, primarily associated with our increased research and development activities.

Cash used in operating activities during the six months ended June 30, 2016 was $11.8 million, which primarily consisted of a net loss of $15.0 million, adjusted by non-cash charges of $2.1 million and a net change of $1.1 million in our net operating assets. The non-cash charges were primarily associated with stock-based compensation expense of $1.5 million. The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily attributable to an increase in other long-term liabilities of $0.6 million, primarily due to an increase in deferred rent.

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Cash Flows from Investing Activities

During the six months ended June 30, 2017, cash provided by investing activities was $53.5 million, which consisted of proceeds from maturities of marketable securities of $100.8 million, partially offset by purchases of marketable securities of $47.1 million and purchases of property and equipment of $0.2 million.

During the six months ended June 30, 2016, cash used in investing activities was $59.4 million, which consisted of purchases of marketable securities of $152.8 million and purchases of property and equipment of $1.5 million, partially offset by proceeds from maturities of marketable securities of $94.9 million.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

During the six months ended June 30, 2017, cash provided by financing activities was $8.0 thousand, which consisted of the proceeds from the exercise of stock options.

During the six months ended June 30, 2016, cash provided by financing activities was $71.4 million, which primarily consisted of the net proceeds from our IPO.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not entered into any off-balance sheet arrangements and do not have any holdings in variable interest entities.

Contractual Obligations

There have been no material changes outside the ordinary course of our business to our contractual obligations during the six months ended June 30, 2017, as compared to those disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

JOBS Act Accounting Election

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards issued subsequent to the enactment of the JOBS Act until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. We also intend to rely on other exemptions provided by the JOBS Act, including, without limitation, providing an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) December 31, 2021, (2) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (3) the last day of the fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeded $700.0 million as of the last business day of the second fiscal quarter of such fiscal year, or (4) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Item 3.  Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates. We had cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities of $110.3 million as of June 30, 2017 and cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $134.9 million as of December 31, 2016, which consisted of bank deposits, money market investments, U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. government agency securities and corporate debt obligations. Such interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk; however, historical fluctuations of interest income have not been significant. Due to the short-term duration of our investment portfolio and the low risk profile of our investments, an immediate 10% increase in interest rates would not have a material effect on the fair market value of our portfolio.

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Item 4.  Controls and Procedures

(a)                                 Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) refers to controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and our management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their control objectives.

As required by Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act, our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of June 30, 2017, the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based upon such evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level as of such date.

(b)                                 Changes in Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II — OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1 — Legal Proceedings

We are not currently a party to any material litigation or legal proceedings.

Item 1A — Risk Factors.

Our business involves a significant risks, some of which are described below. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” If any of the following risks are realized, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations.

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

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

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Pharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. To date, we have focused primarily on developing our lead product candidate, CPI-444, which is currently our only product candidate that has undergone clinical development, and researching additional product candidates. We have incurred significant operating losses since we were founded in January 2014 and have not yet generated any revenue from sales. If our product candidates are not approved, we may never generate any revenue. We incurred a net loss of $36.4 million and $31.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and $31.0 million and $15.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively. We had an accumulated deficit of $98.9 million as of June 30, 2017. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase as we continue our development of, seek regulatory approval for and begin to commercialize CPI-444, and as we develop other product candidates. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain it in subsequent periods. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and results of operations.

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

Since commencing our operations in 2014, substantially all of our efforts have been focused on the research and development of CPI-444. We believe that we will continue to expend substantial resources for the foreseeable future as we continue clinical development of, seek regulatory approval for and prepare for the commercialization of CPI-444, as well as develop other product candidates, including our lead development candidates under our anti-CD73 program, CPX-006, and ITK program. These expenditures will include costs associated with research and development, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, manufacturing and supply, sales and marketing and general operations. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise. Because the outcome of any clinical trial and/or regulatory approval process is highly uncertain, we may not be able to accurately estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development, regulatory approval process and commercialization of CPI-444 or any other product candidates.

In March 2016, we completed our initial public offering (“IPO”), of our common stock pursuant to which we received proceeds of approximately $63.6 million, net of underwriting discounts and commission, and offering expenses. In April 2016, the underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 502,618 shares of our common stock, pursuant to which we received additional proceeds of approximately $7.0 million, net of underwriting discounts and commission, and offering expenses. As of June 30, 2017, we had capital resources consisting of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $110.3 million. We do not expect our existing capital resources to be sufficient to enable us to fund the completion of our clinical trials and remaining development program of CPI-444 through commercialization. In addition, our operating plan may change as a result of many factors, including those described below as well as others currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity, debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. Such financing would result in dilution to stockholders, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations or other restrictions that may affect our business. If we raise additional capital through strategic collaboration agreements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates, including possible future revenue streams. In addition, additional funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, and any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. Furthermore, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations.

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The amount and timing of any expenditures needed to implement our development and commercialization programs will depend on numerous factors, including, but not limited to:

·                  the type, number, scope, progress, expansions, results of and timing of our planned clinical trials of CPI-444 and any of our planned preclinical studies and clinical trials of other product candidates which we are pursuing or may choose to pursue in the future;

·                  the need for, and the progress, costs and results of, any additional clinical trials of CPI-444 or any of our other product candidates we may initiate based on the results of our planned clinical trials or discussions with the FDA, including any additional trials the FDA or other regulatory agencies may require;

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

·                  the costs and timing of obtaining or maintaining manufacturing for CPI-444 and our other product candidates, including commercial manufacturing if any product candidate is approved;

·                  the costs and timing of establishing sales and marketing capabilities;

·                  our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors and adequate market share for our product candidates;

·                  the terms and timing of establishing collaborations, license agreements and other partnerships;

·                  costs associated with any new product candidates that we may develop, in-license or acquire;

·                  the effect of competing technological and market developments;

·                  our ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel;

·                  our ability to establish and maintain partnering arrangements for development; and

·                  the costs associated with being a public company.

Several of these factors are outside of our control and if we are unable to obtain funding on a timely basis, we will be unable to complete the clinical trials for CPI-444 and our other product candidates, and we may be required to significantly curtail some or all of our activities.

Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of Our Product Candidates

Our business currently depends substantially on the success of CPI-444, which will require significant clinical testing before we can seek regulatory approval and potentially launch commercial sales, and which may not be successful in clinical trials, receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized, even if approved. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, CPI-444, our business will be materially harmed.

Our product candidates are in the early stage of development and will require additional preclinical studies (other than CPI-444), substantial clinical development and testing, manufacturing bridging studies and process validation and regulatory approval prior to commercialization. To date, we have only one product candidate that has been the focus of advanced development efforts: CPI-444. We have invested, and will continue to invest, a significant portion of our time and financial resources in the development of CPI-444. However, we need to raise sufficient funds for, and successfully enroll and complete, our planned clinical trials of CPI-444. We cannot be certain that CPI-444 will be successful in clinical trials, and CPI-444 may not receive regulatory approval even if it is successful in clinical trials. Even if we do receive regulatory approval necessary for the commercialization of CPI-444, we do not expect that such commercialization will occur for at least the next several years. In particular, the future regulatory and commercial success of CPI-444 is subject to a number of risks, including the following:

·                  we may not have sufficient financial and other resources to complete the necessary clinical trials for CPI-444;

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·                  we may not be able to demonstrate evidence of efficacy and safety for CPI-444 to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities;

·                  the results of our clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical or clinical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory bodies for marketing approval;

·                  subjects in our clinical trials may die or suffer other adverse effects for reasons that may or may not be related to CPI-444;

·                  we do not know the degree to which CPI-444 will be accepted as a therapy, even if approved; and

·                  we may not be able to obtain, maintain or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights.

Of the large number of drugs in development in the pharmaceutical industry, only a small percentage result in the submission of a New Drug Application (“NDA”) or Biologics License Application (“BLA”) to the FDA or comparable marketing applications to foreign regulatory authorities, and even fewer are approved for commercialization. Furthermore, even if we do receive regulatory approval to market CPI-444, any such approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which we may market the product. Accordingly, even if we are able to obtain the requisite financing to continue to fund our development programs, we cannot assure our stockholders that CPI-444 will be successfully developed or commercialized. If we or any of our potential future collaborators are unable to develop, or obtain regulatory approval for, or, if approved, successfully commercialize CPI-444, 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. Any product candidate we or any of our potential future collaborators advance into clinical trials, including CPI-444, may not have favorable results in later clinical trials, if any, or receive regulatory approval.

Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials.

Furthermore, our future trials will need to demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy for approval by regulatory authorities in larger patient populations. Prior to licensing our lead product candidate, CPI-444, it exhibited encouraging safety data in clinical studies performed by third parties. However, previous studies with CPI-444 had only been conducted in healthy volunteers and patients with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (“ADHD”). Only recently, in our Phase 1/1b clinical trial, which we initiated in January 2016, has CPI-444 been administered to cancer patients and, while CPI-444 has been well tolerated to date, with two cases of possibly drug-related serious adverse events observed during the trial, limited information is available concerning safety and efficacy from clinical results obtained to date. It is possible that patients enrolled in our Phase 1/1b clinical trial for CPI-444 could respond in unexpected ways. For instance, older patients with cancer may behave differently and experience more toxicity with CPI-444 than the subjects in the prior clinical studies. In addition, the dosing regimen and duration of treatment in our current Phase 1/1b clinical trial is different from those utilized in the studies previously performed by third parties. In addition, our Phase 1/1b clinical trial is conducted in patients with advanced cancers who have failed other approved therapies for their disease, and as such, it may be difficult to establish safety and efficacy in this type of patient population. Furthermore, a portion of our Phase 1/1b clinical trial includes the administration of CPI-444 in combination with Genentech’s investigational cancer immunotherapy, Tecentriq (atezolizumab), which could exacerbate immune system related adverse events, cause increased toxicity or otherwise lead to unexpected adverse events. As a result, there can be no assurance that the results of clinical studies of CPI-444 conducted by third parties will be indicative of results of our Phase 1/1b clinical trial.

For the foregoing reasons, we cannot be certain that our planned clinical trial or any other future clinical trials 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 and results of operations.

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

Before we can initiate clinical trials in the United States for our product candidates (other than CPI-444), we must submit the results of preclinical testing to the FDA along with other information, including information about product candidate chemistry, manufacturing and controls and our proposed clinical trial protocol, as part of an investigational new drug (“IND”) application. In addition, we may rely in part on preclinical, clinical and quality data generated by clinical research organizations (“CROs”) and other third parties for regulatory submissions for our product candidates. If these third parties do not make timely regulatory submissions for our product candidates, it will delay our plans for our clinical trials. If those third parties do not make this data available to us, we will likely have to develop all necessary preclinical and clinical data on our own, which will lead to significant delays and increase development costs of the product candidate. In addition, the FDA may require us to conduct additional preclinical testing for any product candidate before it allows us to initiate clinical testing under any IND, which may lead to additional delays and increase the costs of our preclinical development. Delays in the completion of our planned clinical trials for product candidates (other than CPI-444) could significantly affect our product development costs.

While we initiated our Phase 1/1b trial for CPI-444 in January 2016 and completed enrollment in the dose-selection part of the trial in November 2016, we do not know whether any of our other planned trials will begin on time in the future or whether any of our trials will be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement and completion of clinical trials can be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays related to:

·                  the FDA failing to grant permission to proceed or placing the clinical trial on hold;

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

·                  subjects choosing an alternative treatment for the indication for which we are developing CPI-444 or other product candidates, or participating in competing clinical trials;

·                  lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial;

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

·                  a facility manufacturing CPI-444, any of our other product candidates or any of their components being ordered by the FDA or other regulatory authorities to temporarily or permanently shut down due to violations of good manufacturing practice (“cGMP”) regulations or other applicable requirements, or infections or cross-contaminations of product candidates in the manufacturing process;

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

·                  any failure or delay in reaching an agreement with CROs and clinical trial sites;

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

·                  third-party contractors becoming debarred 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 data produced by such contractors in support of our marketing applications;

·                  one or more Institutional Review Boards (“IRBs”) refusing to approve, suspending or terminating the trial at an investigational site, precluding enrollment of additional subjects, or withdrawing its approval of the trial; or

·                  patients failing to complete a trial or return for post-treatment follow-up.

We could also encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board for such trial or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Such authorities may impose such a suspension or termination due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other 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.

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If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. See also the risk factor below titled “If we encounter difficulties enrolling subjects in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.”

In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, termination or suspension of, or a delay in the commencement or completion of, clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of a product candidate. For example, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates, we may need to conduct additional studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions. Further, if one or more clinical trials are delayed, our competitors may be able to bring products to market before we do, and the commercial viability of CPI-444 or other product candidates could be significantly reduced. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

CPI-444 and our other product candidates are subject to extensive regulation, compliance with 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 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 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 product candidates, regulatory approval is never guaranteed.

The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities can delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidate for many reasons, including:

·                  such authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our or any of our potential future collaborators’ clinical trials;

·                  we or any of our potential future collaborators may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or other regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for any indication;

·                  such authorities may not accept clinical data from trials which are conducted at clinical facilities or in countries where the standard of care is potentially different from that of the United States;

·                  we or any of our potential future collaborators 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;

·                  approval may be granted only for indications that are significantly more limited than what we apply for and/or with other significant restrictions on distribution and use;

·                  such authorities may find deficiencies in the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we or any of our potential future collaborators contract for clinical and commercial supplies; or

·                  the approval policies or regulations of such authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our or any of our potential future collaborators’ clinical data insufficient for approval.

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.

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

Subject enrollment, a significant factor in the timing 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 criteria for the trial, the design of the clinical trial, the risk that enrolled patients will not complete a clinical trial, our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience, competing clinical trials and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating. 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 our studies. 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 participate in the clinical trials required by the FDA or other foreign regulatory agencies. In addition, the process of finding and diagnosing subjects may prove costly.

In January 2016, we initiated a Phase 1/1b clinical trial for CPI-444 in which we administer CPI-444 as a single agent and in combination with Tecentriq (atezolizumab). In this ongoing trial, we have enrolled and plan to continue to enroll patients with many different types of cancer, and while we completed enrollment in the dose-selection part of the trial in November 2016, it may be difficult to enroll such a diverse group of patients in subsequent parts of the trial. For instance, there are ten different treatment cohorts in the clinical trial, three of which have been expanded from fourteen patients to twenty-six patients, and one of which has been expanded from twenty-six patients to forty-eight patients, and it may not be possible to fully enroll all the cohorts or any expansions thereof. Furthermore, if patients are unwilling to participate in our studies for any reason, including the existence of competitive clinical trials for similar patient populations or the availability of approved therapies, 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 future clinical trials would result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether.

We believe we have appropriately accounted for the above factors in our trials when determining expected clinical trial timelines, but we cannot assure our stockholders that our assumptions 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.

The occurrence of serious complications or side effects in connection with use of our product candidates, either in clinical trials or post-approval, could lead to discontinuation of our clinical development programs, refusal of regulatory authorities to approve our product candidates or, post-approval, revocation of marketing authorizations or refusal to approve new indications, which could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

During the conduct of clinical trials, patients report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries and discomforts, to their study doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the product candidate being studied caused these conditions. In clinical studies of CPI-444 performed by third parties prior to our licensing it from Vernalis, patients exhibited mild transient hypertension as well as minor gastrointestinal disorders due to gastric irritation. However, the dosing regimen and duration of treatment in our current Phase 1/1b clinical trial is different from those utilized in the studies previously performed by third parties. It is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical programs with different dosing regimens and in combination with other immunotherapies, or as use of these 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. For example, two cases of possibly drug-related serious adverse events have been observed during our Phase 1/1b clinical trial. Both of these patients were treated with the combination of CPI-444 and Tecentriq (atezolizumab) during the dose selection step of the trial. One of these patients developed Grade 3 autoimmune hemolytic anemia and another patient experienced a Grade 4 aseptic meningoencephalitis thought to be an immune related toxicity. These toxicities resolved in both patients upon discontinuing therapy. Other toxicities observed during our Phase 1/1b clinical trial were mild and are commonly seen in patients with advanced cancers, such as nausea, fatigue, rash, diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, constipation and decreased appetite. Other immune-oncology drugs also have been found occasionally to induce immune related toxicities such as colitis, hepatitis, pneumonitis, meningitis and various endocrine diseases. Such side effects could also be exacerbated when CPI-444 is administered in combination with Tecentriq (atezolizumab). In addition, CPI-444 is known to bind to the A1 adenosine receptor. This receptor is expressed in the heart, and although CPI-444 binds to the A1 receptor at a low affinity, it is possible that sufficient binding of the drug to the A1 receptor could occur, leading to adverse effects on the heart such as irregular heart rate or rapid heart rate.

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Many times side effects are only detectable after investigational products are tested in large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to patients on a commercial scale after approval. Results of our current clinical trial and any future clinical trials we undertake could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of these or other side effects. In such an event, our trials could be suspended or terminated, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

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 approvals of such product;

·                  regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label;

·                  we may be required to create a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients;

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

·                  our reputation may 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 prospects.

We may not be successful in our efforts to identify or discover additional product candidates.

The success of our business depends primarily upon our ability to develop and commercialize CPI-444. Although CPI-444 is currently in clinical development, our research programs may fail to identify other potential product candidates or advance them into clinical development for a number of reasons. Our research methodology may be unsuccessful in identifying other potential product candidates or our other potential product candidates may be shown to have harmful side effects or may have other characteristics that may make the products unmarketable or unlikely to receive marketing approval. It may also take greater human and financial resources to identify additional therapeutic opportunities for our product candidates or to develop suitable potential product candidates through our research programs than we will possess, thereby limiting our ability to diversify and expand our product candidate portfolio.

We are conducting a clinical trial for CPI-444, and may also in the future, conduct clinical trials of other product candidates at sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in foreign locations.

We are currently conducting our clinical trial for CPI-444 at 37 leading medical centers in the U.S., Australia and Canada. In the future we may add additional clinical sites outside of 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 ethical principles. The study population must also adequately represent the U.S. population, and the data must be applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice in ways that the FDA deems clinically meaningful. In 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 trials conducted outside of the United States. If the FDA does not accept the data from our clinical trials for CPI-444 or any other 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 CPI-444 or any other product candidates.

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Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely, and expect to continue relying, on third parties to conduct our clinical trials. If these third parties do not meet our deadlines or otherwise conduct the trials as required, our clinical development programs could be delayed or unsuccessful and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates when expected, or at all.

We do not have the ability to conduct all aspects of our preclinical testing or clinical trials ourselves. As a result, we are dependent on third parties to conduct our Phase 1/1b clinical trial for CPI-444 and expect to continue to be dependent on third parties to conduct any future clinical studies of CPI-444 and preclinical and clinical trials for our other and future product candidates. The timing of the initiation and completion of these trials will therefore be controlled by such third parties and may occur at times substantially different from our estimates. Specifically, we use and rely on medical institutions, clinical investigators, CROs and consultants to conduct our trials in accordance with our clinical protocols and regulatory requirements. Such CROs, investigators and other third parties play a significant role in the conduct of these trials and subsequent collection and analysis of data, and we will control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol and legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on the CROs and other third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with GCP requirements, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for all of our product candidates 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 be deemed unreliable, and the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform 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 comply 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 resources 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.

If any of our clinical trial sites terminates for any reason, we may experience the loss of follow-up information on subjects enrolled in such clinical trials unless we are able to transfer those subjects to another qualified clinical trial site, which may be difficult or impossible.

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 NDA or BLA we submit by the FDA. Any such delay or rejection could prevent us from commercializing CPI-444 or our other future product candidates.

We rely on third parties to conduct some or all aspects of our manufacturing, research and preclinical and clinical testing, and these third parties may not perform satisfactorily.

We do not expect to independently conduct all aspects of our manufacturing, research and preclinical and clinical testing. We currently rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties with respect to these items. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our studies in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated study plans and protocols, we may not be able to complete, or may be delayed in completing, the preclinical and clinical studies required to support future IND submissions and approval of our product candidates. Furthermore, any of these third parties may terminate its engagement with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it could delay our product development activities, and we may not be able to negotiate alternative arrangements on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

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We and our contract manufacturers are subject to significant regulation with respect to manufacturing our products and the contract manufacturers on which we rely may not continue to meet regulatory requirements.

We do not currently have nor do we plan to acquire the infrastructure or internal capability to manufacture our clinical drug supplies for use in the conduct of our trials, and we lack the resources and the capability to manufacture any of our product candidates on a clinical or commercial scale. We currently rely on several different manufacturers who supply different parts of the CPI-444 molecule and rely on one manufacturer for CPX-006 drug substance.

All entities involved in the preparation of therapeutics for clinical studies or commercial sale, including our existing contract manufacturers for our product candidates, are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in late-stage clinical studies must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP requirements. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures, including record keeping, and the implementation and operation of quality systems to control and assure the quality of investigational products and products approved for sale. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of adventitious agents or other contaminants, or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. We or our contract manufacturers must supply all necessary documentation in support of an NDA or BLA on a timely basis and must adhere to the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice regulations and cGMP regulations enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program. Our facilities and quality systems and the facilities and quality systems of some or all of our third-party contractors must pass a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable regulations as a condition of regulatory approval of our product candidates or any of our other potential products. In addition, the regulatory authorities may, at any time, audit or inspect our manufacturing facilities or those of our third-party contractors involved with the preparation of our product candidates or the associated quality systems for compliance with the regulations applicable to the activities being conducted. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with cGMPs.

The regulatory authorities also may, at any time following approval of a product for sale, audit the manufacturing facilities of our third-party contractors. If any such inspection or audit identifies a failure to comply with applicable regulations or if a violation of our product specifications or applicable regulations occurs independent of such an inspection or audit, we or the relevant regulatory authority may require remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for us or a third party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical study or commercial sales or the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Such violations could also result in civil and/or criminal penalties, and the FDA may impose regulatory sanctions including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending application for a new drug product or biologic product, revocation of a pre-existing approval or closing one or more manufacturing facilities.

In addition, if supply from an approved manufacturer is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply. An alternative manufacturer would need to be qualified through an NDA supplement which could result in further delay. The regulatory agencies may also require additional studies if a new manufacturer is relied upon for commercial production. Changing manufacturers may involve substantial costs and is likely to result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines.

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

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

Our reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them or that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or disclosed.

Because we rely on third parties to research and develop and to manufacture our product candidates, we must share trade secrets with them. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our advisors, employees, third-party contractors and consultants prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, including our trade secrets. 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 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, a competitor’s independent discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may have a material adverse effect on our business.

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In addition, these agreements typically restrict the ability of our advisors, employees, third-party contractors and consultants to publish data potentially relating to our trade secrets, although our agreements may contain certain limited publication rights. For example, any academic institution that we may collaborate with in the future will likely expect to be granted rights to publish data arising out of such collaboration. In the future we may also conduct joint research and development programs that may require us to share trade secrets under the terms of our research and development or similar agreements. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, our competitors may discover our trade secrets, either through breach of our agreements with third parties, independent development or publication of information by any of our third-party collaborators. A competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets would impair our competitive position and have an adverse impact on our business.

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

All of our product candidates are still in early-stage clinical or preclinical development. If we are unable to commercialize our product candidates or if we experience significant delays in obtaining regulatory approval for, or commercializing, any or all of our product candidates, our business will be materially and adversely affected.

All of our product candidates are still in preclinical or early-stage clinical development. In particular, none of our product candidates, other than CPI-444, has ever been tested in a human subject. Our ability to generate product revenue will depend heavily on our ability to successfully develop and commercialize these product candidates. We do not expect that such commercialization of any of our product candidates will occur for at least the next several years, if ever. Our ability to commercialize our product candidates effectively will depend on several factors, including the following:

·                  successful completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials, including the ability to demonstrate safety and efficacy of our product candidates;

·                  managing the complexity of our clinical trial designs;

·                  receipt of marketing approvals from the FDA and similar foreign regulatory authorities;

·                  establishing commercial manufacturing capabilities by making arrangements with third-party manufacturers;

·                  successfully launching commercial sales of any approved products, whether alone or in collaboration with others;

·                  acceptance of any approved products by patients, the medical community and third-party payors;

·                  establishing market share while competing with other therapies;

·                  a continued acceptable safety profile of any approved products;

·                  maintaining compliance with post-approval regulation and other requirements; and

·                  qualifying for, identifying, registering, maintaining, enforcing and defending intellectual property rights and claims covering our product candidates.

If we experience significant delays or an inability to commercialize our product candidates, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected.

If we do not achieve our projected development goals in the time frames we announce and expect, the commercialization of our products may be delayed and, as a result, our stock price may decline.

We estimate the timing of the accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development goals, which we sometimes refer to as milestones. These milestones may include the commencement or completion of scientific studies and clinical trials and the submission of regulatory filings. From time to time, we may publicly announce the expected timing of some of these milestones. All of these milestones will be based on a variety of assumptions, and the actual timing of these milestones can vary dramatically compared to our estimates, in some cases for reasons beyond our control. If we do not meet these milestones as publicly announced, the commercialization of our products may be delayed and, as a result, our stock price may decline.

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Any approved products could be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from the market, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates, when and if any of them are approved.

Following potential approval of any our product candidates, the FDA may impose significant restrictions on a product’s indicated uses or marketing or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly and time consuming post-approval studies, post-market surveillance or clinical trials. Following approval, if any, of CPI-444 or any other product candidate, such candidate will also be subject to ongoing FDA requirements governing the labeling, packaging, storage, distribution, safety surveillance, advertising, promotion, recordkeeping and reporting of safety and other post-market information. If we or a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, a regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product, the manufacturing facility or us, including requesting recall or withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing.

If we or the manufacturing facilities for CPI-444 or any other product candidate that may receive regulatory approval, if any, fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency may:

·                  issue warning letters or untitled letters;

·                  seek an injunction or impose civil or criminal penalties or monetary fines;

·                  suspend or withdraw regulatory approval;

·                  suspend any ongoing clinical trials;

·                  refuse to approve pending applications or supplements or applications filed by us;

·                  suspend or impose restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing requirements; or

·                  seize or detain products, refuse to permit the import or export of product or request that we initiate a product recall.

The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate revenue.

The FDA has the authority to require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (“REMS”) as part of an NDA or after approval, which may impose further requirements or restrictions on the distribution or use of an approved drug, such as limiting prescribing to certain physicians or medical centers that have undergone specialized training, limiting treatment to patients who meet certain safe-use criteria and requiring treated patients to enroll in a registry.

In addition, if CPI-444 or any of our other product candidates is 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 prescription 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.

Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response, and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates.

Further, the FDA’s policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. For example, in December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act, or Cures Act, was signed into law. The Cures Act, among other things, is intended to modernize the regulation of drugs and biologics and spur innovation, but its ultimate implementation is unclear. 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, which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.

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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 Trump administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump 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, FDA’s ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. Notably, on January 30, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order, applicable to all executive agencies, including the FDA, that requires that for each notice of proposed rulemaking or final regulation to be issued in fiscal year 2017, the agency shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed, unless prohibited by law. These requirements are referred to as the “two-for-one” provisions. This Executive Order includes a budget neutrality provision that requires the total incremental cost of all new regulations in the 2017 fiscal year, including repealed regulations, to be no greater than zero, except in limited circumstances. For fiscal years 2018 and beyond, the Executive Order requires agencies to identify regulations to offset any incremental cost of a new regulation and approximate the total costs or savings associated with each new regulation or repealed regulation. In interim guidance issued by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within OMB on February 2, 2017, the administration indicates that the “two-for-one” provisions may apply not only to agency regulations, but also to significant agency guidance documents. Further, on February 24, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order requiring each agency to designate a regulatory reform officer and create a regulatory reform task force to evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations regarding their repeal, replacement, or modification. It is difficult to predict how these requirements will be 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 FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.

Even if we receive regulatory approval we still may not be able to successfully commercialize CPI-444 or any other product candidate, and the revenue that we generate from sales, if any, could be limited.

Even if CPI-444 or any of our other product candidates receive regulatory approval, they may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors or the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates will depend on a number of factors, including:

·                  demonstration of clinical efficacy and safety compared 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 any FDA-approved labeling;

·                  acceptance of a new formulation by healthcare providers and their patients;

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

·                  the willingness of patients to pay out-of-pocket in the absence of third-party coverage and reimbursement;

·                  the prevalence and severity of any adverse effects;

·                  pricing and cost-effectiveness;

·                  the timing of market introduction of our product candidates 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 candidate.