UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission file number: 000-51476

LIXTE BIOTECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number: (631) 830-7092

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Common Stock, $0.0001 par value.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

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 [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted 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 such files). Yes [X] No [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting, or 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.

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 accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. [  ]

Indicate by check mark whether registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act): Yes [  ] No [X]

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2020 was approximately $13,193,000.

The Company had 13,538,259 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value, issued and outstanding as of March 12, 2021.

Documents incorporated by reference: None.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introductory Comment

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company,” “Lixte,” the “Company” and the “Registrant” refer to Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and Lixte Biotechnology, Inc., a Delaware corporation, our wholly-owned subsidiary.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Report”) contains certain forward-looking statements. For example, statements regarding our financial position, business strategy and other plans and objectives for future operations, and assumptions and predictions about future product demand, supply, manufacturing, costs, marketing and pricing factors are all forward-looking statements. These statements are generally accompanied by words such as “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “potential(ly),” “continue,” “forecast,” “predict,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect” or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. We believe that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, based on information available to us on the date hereof, but we cannot assure you that these assumptions and expectations will prove to have been correct or that we will take any action that we may presently be planning. However, these forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results or experience may differ materially from those expected or anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, regulatory policies, competition from other similar businesses, and market and general policies, competition from other similar businesses, and market and general economic factors. This discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in this Report.

If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from what we project. Any forward-looking statement you read in this Report reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy, and liquidity. All subsequent forward-looking statements attributable to us or individuals acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. You should specifically consider the factors identified in this Report, which would cause actual results to differ before making an investment decision. We are under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this Report or to conform these statements to actual results.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Company Overview

We are a drug discovery company that uses biomarker technology to identify enzyme targets associated with serious common diseases and then designs novel compounds to attack those targets. Our product pipeline is primarily focused on inhibitors of protein phosphatases, used alone and in combination with cytotoxic agents and/or x-ray and immune checkpoint blockers, and encompasses two major categories of compounds at various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development that we believe have broad therapeutic potential not only for cancer but also for other debilitating and life-threatening diseases.

We have developed two series of pharmacologically active drugs, the LB-100 series and the LB-200 series. We believe that the mechanism by which compounds of the LB-100 series affect cancer cell growth is different from cancer agents currently approved for clinical use. Lead compounds from each series have activity against a broad spectrum of common and rarer human cancers in cell culture systems. In addition, compounds from both series have anti-cancer activity in animal models of glioblastoma multiforme, neuroblastoma, and medulloblastoma, all cancers of neural tissue. Lead compounds of the LB-100 series also have activity against melanoma, breast cancer and sarcoma in animal models and enhance the effectiveness of commonly used anti-cancer drugs in these model systems. The enhancement of anti-cancer activity of these anti-cancer drugs occurs at doses of LB-100 that do not significantly increase toxicity in animals. It is therefore hoped that, when combined with standard anti-cancer regimens against many tumor types, our compounds will improve therapeutic benefit without enhancing toxicity in humans.

Our activities are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the need for additional capital, as described below. We have not yet commenced any revenue-generating operations, do not have positive cash flows from operations, and are dependent on periodic infusions of equity capital to fund our operating requirements.

Description of Business; Research; Clinical Trial Activities

Our primary focus is developing new treatments for human cancers for which better therapies are urgently needed.

Our drug discovery process is based on discerning clues to potential new targets for disease treatments reported in the increasingly large body of literature identifying the molecular variants which characterize human cancers and other non-cancer disorders. We design drugs for which there are existing data suggesting that they may affect the altered pathways of the cancer cell and may be given safely to humans. We seek to rapidly arrive at patentable structures through analysis of the literature rather than screening of thousands of structures for activity against a particular biochemical pathway.

This approach has led to the development of two classes of drugs for the treatment of cancer, consisting of protein phosphatase inhibitors (PTase-i), designated by us as the LB-100 series of compounds, and histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), designated by us as the LB-200 series of compounds.

The LB-100 series consists of novel structures which have the potential to be first in their class and may be useful in the treatment of not only several types of cancer but also vascular and metabolic diseases. The LB-200 series contains compounds which have the potential to be the most effective in its class and may be useful for the treatment of chronic hereditary diseases, such as Gaucher’s disease, in addition to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

We have demonstrated that lead compounds of both the LB-100 series and the LB-200 are active against a broad spectrum of human cancers in cell culture and against several types of human cancers in animal models. The research on these compounds was initiated in 2006 under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement or CRADA with the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke or NINDS of the National Institutes of Health or NIH dated March 22, 2006 that was subsequently extended through a series of amendments until it terminated on April 1, 2013.

Effective treatment of brain tumors depends upon the ability of compounds to penetrate a physiological barrier known as the “blood-brain barrier” which protects the brain from exposure to potentially toxic substances in the blood. Because there is no certainty that our compounds will be active against tumors confined to the brain, the LB-100 compounds have been studied against a variety of common and rare cancer types and have been shown to potentiate the activity of standard anti-cancer drugs in animal models of breast and pancreatic cancer, melanoma, pheochromocytomas and sarcomas. Because the LB-100 compounds appear to exert their ability to improve the effectiveness of different forms of chemotherapy and radiation therapy by inhibiting a process upon which most, if not all, cancer cell types depend on to survive treatment, we believe the LB-100 series of compounds may be useful against most, if not all, cancer types.

The LB-200 series consists of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi). Many pharmaceutical companies are also developing drugs of this type, and at least two companies have HDACi approved for clinical use, in both cases for the treatment of a type of lymphoma. Despite this significant competition, we have demonstrated that our HDACi have broad activity against many cancer types, have neuroprotective activity, and have anti-fungal activity. In addition, these compounds have low toxicity. LB-200 has not yet advanced to the clinical stage and would require additional capital to fund further development. Accordingly, because of our focus on the clinical development of LB-100 and analogs for cancer therapy as described below in more detail, we have decided not to actively pursue the pre-clinical development of our LB-200 series of compounds at this time. At this time, we intend to only maintain our composition of matter patents for LB-200.

Collaborations with leading academic research centers in the United States, Europe and Asia have established the breadth of activity of LB-100 in pre-clinical models of several major cancers. There is considerable scientific interest in LB-100 because it exerts its activity by a novel mechanism and is the first of its type to be evaluated so broadly in multiple animal models of cancer and now in human beings. LB-100 is one of a series of serine/threonine phosphatase (s/t ptase) inhibitors designed by us. The s/t ptases are ubiquitous enzymes that regulate many cell signaling networks important to cell growth, division and death. The s/t ptases have long been appreciated as potentially important targets for anti-cancer drugs. However, because of the multi- functionality of these enzymes, it had been widely held that pharmacologic inhibitors of s/t ptases would be too toxic to allow their development as anti-cancer treatments, but we have shown that this is not the case. LB-100 was well-tolerated at doses associated with objective regression (significant tumor shrinkage) and/or the arresting of tumor progression in patients with progressive cancers.

Pre-clinical studies showed that LB-100 itself inhibits a spectrum of human cancers and that combined with standard cytotoxic drugs and/or radiation, LB-100 potentiates their effectiveness against hematologic and solid tumor cancers without enhancing toxicity. Given at very low doses in animal models of cancer, LB-100 markedly increased the effectiveness of a PD-1 blocker, one of the widely used new immunotherapy drugs. This finding raises the possibility that LB-100 may further expand the value of the expanding field of cancer immunotherapy.

We completed a Phase 1 clinical trial of LB-100 to evaluate its safety that showed it is associated with antitumor activity in humans at doses that are readily tolerable. Responses included objective regression (tumor shrinkage) lasting for 11 months of a pancreatic cancer and cessation of growth (stabilization of disease) for 4 months or more of 9 other progressive solid tumors out of 20 patients who had measurable disease. As Phase 1 clinical trials are fundamentally designed to determine safety of a new compound in humans, we were encouraged by these results. The next step is to demonstrate in Phase 2 clinical trials the efficacy of LB-100 in one or more specific tumor types, against which the compound has well documented activity in pre-clinical models.

Clinical Trial Agreements

Moffitt Cancer Center Clinical Trial Research Agreement

Effective August 20, 2018, we entered into a Clinical Trial Research Agreement with the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Hospital Inc., Tampa, Florida, effective for a term of five years, unless terminated earlier by us pursuant to 30 days written notice. Pursuant to the Clinical Trial Research Agreement, Moffitt agreed to conduct and manage a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of our lead anti-cancer clinical compound LB-100 to be administered intravenously in patients with low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

In November 2018, we received approval from the FDA for our Investigational New Drug Application to conduct a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of LB-100 in patients with low and intermediate-1 risk MDS who have failed or are intolerant of standard treatment. Patients with MDS, although usually older, are generally well except for severe anemia requiring frequent blood transfusions. This Phase 1b/2 clinical trial utilizes LB-100 as a single agent in the treatment of patients with low and intermediate-1 risk MDS, including patients with del(5q) myelodysplastic syndrome (del5qMDS) failing first line therapy. The bone marrow cells of patients with del5qMDS are deficient in PP2A by virtue of an acquired mutation and are especially vulnerable to further inhibition of PP2A by LB-100. The clinical trial began at a single site in April 2019 and the first patient was entered into the clinical trial in July 2019. A total enrollment of 41 patients is planned. An interim analysis will be done after the first 21 patients are entered. If there are 3 or more responders but fewer than 7, an additional 20 patients will be entered. If at any point there are 7 or more responders, this will be sufficient evidence to support continued development of LB-100 for the treatment of low and intermediate-1 risk MDS. Recruitment has been slow and the Covid-19 pandemic has further reduced recruitment of patients into the protocol. At the current rate of accrual, the trial would be completed over a period of four years from its initiation, with the final analysis and reporting expected by July 2023. However, with additional funds, our objective would be to add two additional MDS centers to the Phase 2 portion of the study to accelerate patient accrual, with the goal of an earlier reporting date.

Spanish Sarcoma Group Collaboration Agreement

As of July 31, 2019, we entered into a Collaboration Agreement for an Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trial with the Spanish Sarcoma Group (Grupo Español de Investigación en Sarcomas or “GEIS”), Madrid, Spain, to carry out a study entitled “Randomized phase I/II trial of LB-100 plus doxorubicin vs. doxorubicin alone in first line of advanced soft tissue sarcoma”. The purpose of this clinical trial is to obtain information about the efficacy and safety of LB-100 combined with doxorubicin in soft tissue sarcomas. Doxorubicin is the global standard for initial treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas (“ASTS”). Doxorubicin alone has been the mainstay of first line treatment of ASTS for over 40 years, with little therapeutic gain from adding cytotoxic compounds to or substituting other cytotoxic compounds for doxorubicin. In animal models, LB-100 consistently enhances the anti-tumor activity of doxorubicin without apparent increases in toxicity.

GEIS has a network of referral centers in Spain and across Europe that have an impressive track record of efficiently conducting innovative studies in ASTS. We agreed to provide GEIS with a supply of LB-100 to be utilized in the conduct of this clinical trial, as well as to provide funding for the clinical trial. The goal was to enter the first patient during the quarter ending December 31, 2020, with approximately 150 patients to be enrolled over two years. Advanced sarcoma is a very aggressive disease. The design of the study assumes a median progression free survival (PFS, no evidence of disease progression or death from any cause) of 4.5 months in the doxorubicin arm and an alternative median PFS of 7.5 months in the doxorubicin plus LB-100 arm to demonstrate a statistically significant decrease in relative risk of progression or death by adding LB-100. There is a planned interim analysis of the primary endpoint when about half of the 102 events required for final analysis is reached.

In order to manufacture a new inventory supply of LB-100 for the GEIS clinical trial, the Company has engaged a number of vendors to carry out the multiple tasks needed to make and gain approval of a new clinical product for investigational study in Spain. These tasks include the synthesis under good manufacturing practices (GMP) of the active pharmacologic ingredient (API), with documentation of each of the steps involved by an independent auditor. The API is then transferred to a vendor that prepares the clinical drug product (DP), also under GMP conditions documented by an independent auditor. The DP is then sent to a vendor to test for purity and sterility, provide appropriate labels, store the drug, and distribute the drug to the clinical centers for use in the clinical trials. A formal application documenting all steps taken to prepare the DP for clinical use must be submitted to the appropriate regulatory authorities for review and approval before being used in a clinical trial.

The Company estimates that this program to provide new inventory of the DP for the Spanish sarcoma study, and potentially for subsequent multiple trials within the European Union, will cost from $600,000 and $700,000. The Company’s remaining aggregate commitments under this program, less amounts previously paid to date, totaled approximately $300,000 as of December 31, 2020, which are expected to be incurred through June 30, 2021.

We had previously expected that this clinical trial would commence during the quarter ended June 30, 2020. However, during July 2020, the Spanish regulatory authority advised us that although it had approved the scientific and ethical basis of the protocol, it required that we manufacture new inventory of LB-100 under current Spanish pharmaceutical manufacturing standards. These regulations were adopted subsequent to the production of our existing LB-100 inventory. We are in the process of obtaining approval from the European Union regulatory authorities for new inventory of LB-100. Accordingly, the clinical trial is now estimated to begin during the quarter ending September 30, 2021 and to be completed by the quarter ending September 30, 2024. The interim analysis is expected in June 2023 and could indicate either inferiority or superiority of LB-100 plus doxorubicin as compared to doxorubicin alone. A positive study would have the potential to change the standard therapy for this disease after four decades of failure to improve the marginal benefit of doxorubicin alone.

NCI Pharmacologic Study

During the fourth quarter of 2019, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) enrolled the first two patients of a planned eight patient pharmacologic study of the ability of LB-100 to enter the brain and penetrate recurrent brain tumors in patients where surgical removal of the cancers is indicated (clinical trials registry NCT03027388). This study is being conducted and funded by the NCI under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with us; additional information will be reported by us as it is provided by the NCI.

Primary malignant brain tumors (gliomas) are very challenging to treat. Radiation combined with the chemotherapeutic drug temozolomide has been the mainstay of therapy of the most aggressive gliomas (glioblastoma multiforme or GBM) for decades, with some further benefit gained by the addition of one or more anti-cancer drugs, but without major advances in overall survival for the majority of patients. In animal models of GBM, our novel protein phosphatase inhibitor LB-100 enhances the effectiveness of radiation, temozolomide chemotherapy treatments and immunotherapy, raising the possibility that LB-100 may improve outcomes of standard GBM treatment in the clinic. Although LB-100 has proven safe in patients at doses associated with apparent anti-tumor activity against several human cancers arising outside the brain, the ability of LB-100 to penetrate tumor tissue arising in the brain is not known. Unfortunately, many drugs potentially useful for GBM treatment do not enter the brain in amounts necessary for anti-cancer action.

The NCI study is designed to determine the extent to which LB-100 enters recurrent malignant gliomas. Patients having surgery to remove one or more tumors will receive one dose of LB-100 prior to surgery and have blood and tumor tissue analyzed to determine the amount of LB-100 present and to determine whether the cells in the tumors show the biochemical changes expected to be present if LB-100 reaches its molecular target. The goal is to obtain data in up to eight patients. As a result of the innovative design of the NCI study, data from so few patients should be sufficient to provide a sound rationale for conducting a larger clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of adding LB-100 to the standard treatment regimen for GBMs.

Clinical Research Support Agreement with City of Hope National Medical Center

Effective January 18, 2021, we executed a Clinical Research Support Agreement with City of Hope National Medical Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, and City of Hope Medical Foundation (collectively, “City of Hope”), to carry out a Phase 1b clinical trial of our first-in-class protein phosphatase inhibitor, LB-100, combined with a standard regimen for untreated, extensive stage-disease small cell lung cancer (ED-SCLC). LB-100 will be given in combination with carboplatin, etoposide and atezolizumab, an FDA approved but marginally effective regimen, to previously untreated ED-SCLC patients. The dose of LB-100 will be escalated with the standard fixed doses of the 3-drug regimen to reach a recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D). Patient entry will be expanded so that a total of 12 patients will be evaluable at the RP2D to confirm the safety of the LB-100 combination and to look for potential therapeutic activity as assessed by objective response rate, duration of overall response, progression-free-survival and overall survival.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) comprises about 15% of all lung cancers worldwide with about 30,000 new cases annually in the United States. Although this aggressive neuroendocrine tumor is more sensitive to cytotoxic chemotherapy and radiation than the most common type of lung cancer, SCLC patients soon relapse after treatment and have a dismal prognosis. Recently, the addition of an immune blocker, atezolizumab, to carboplatin plus etoposide showed for the first time in 20 years modest improvement in median progression- free survival from 4.3 to 5.2 months and in median overall survival from 10.3 to 12.3 months. In animal models, LB-100 significantly enhances the antitumor activity of cytotoxic chemotherapy in general and in particular the combination of carboplatin and etoposide against SCLC cells without enhancing toxicity.

If the extensive preclinical data showing LB-100 increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy applies to patients, the Company believes evidence of therapeutic benefit of LB-100 added to standard treatment of this very aggressive cancer could be revealed even in this early clinical trial paving the way for a randomized Phase 3 study. Perhaps even more important to the Company’s clinical development of LB-100, evidence in this clinical trial of potentiation of cytotoxic therapy without an increase in toxicity simply by the addition of LB-100 would justify clinical investigation of the added benefit of adding LB-100 to many widely used “standard” cytotoxic regimens for a host of cancers.

The Company estimates that from 24 to 30 patients will be needed to complete this clinical trial, at an estimated cost of $2,500,000 to $2,900,000, respectively. If a significant number of patients fail during the dose-escalation process, an increase of up to 12 patients would likely be necessary, at an estimated additional cost of $800,000.

The clinical trial is planned to commence during the quarter ending June 30, 2021, with patient accrual expected to take approximately 18 to 24 months to conduct. If LB-100 does potentiate the benefit of the standard regimen, some evidence could be noted at 12 months into the clinical trial, but an assessment of potential increased activity is likely to require at least 24 months.

Clinical Trial Monitoring Agreements

On September 12, 2018, we finalized a work order agreement with Theradex Systems, Inc. (“Theradex”), an international contract research organization, to monitor the Phase 1b/2 clinical trial being managed and conducted by Moffitt. The clinical trial began in April 2019 and the first patient was entered into the clinical trial in July 2019. At the current rate of accrual, the trial would be completed over a period of four years from its initiation, with the final analysis and reporting expected by July 2023. Costs under this work order agreement are estimated to be approximately $954,000, with such payments expected to be divided approximately 94% to Theradex for services and approximately 6% for payments for pass-through costs.

On February 5, 2021, we signed a new work order agreement with Theradex to monitor the City of Hope investigator-initiated clinical trial in small cell lung cancer in accordance with FDA requirements for oversight by the sponsoring party. The Company estimates that it will incur approximately $335,000 of costs under this work order agreement through September 30, 2023.

Patent and License Agreements

On March 22, 2018, we entered into a Patent Assignment and Exploitation Agreement with INSERM TRANSFERT SA, acting as delegatee of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, for the assignment to us of INSERM’S interest in United States Patent No. 9,833,450 entitled “Oxabicyloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes for the Treatment of Depressive and Stress Disorders,” which was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the name of INSERM and us as co-owners on February 19, 2016 and granted on December 5, 2017, and related patent applications and filings. INSERM is a French public institution dedicated to research in the field of health and medicine that had previously entered into a Material Transfer Agreement with us to allow INSERM to conduct research on our proprietary compound LB-100 and/or its analogs for the treatment of depressive or stress disorders in humans. Pursuant to the Agreement, we have agreed to make certain milestone payments to INSERM aggregating up to $1,750,000 upon achievement of development milestones and up to $6,500,000 upon achievement of commercial milestones. We also agreed to pay INSERM certain commercial royalties on net sales of products attributed to the Agreement. The exploitation of this patent for the treatment of depressive and stress disorders in humans will require substantial additional capital and/or a joint venture or other type of business arrangement with a pharmaceutical company with substantially greater capital and business resources than those available to us. As there can be no assurances that we will be able to obtain the capital or business resources necessary to focus on the exploitation of this patent, it is uncertain when we may reach any of the development or commercialization milestones under the Agreement, if at all.

Effective April 2, 2018, we entered into a consulting agreement for a term of two years with Liberi Life Sciences Consultancy BV, located in The Netherlands, for consulting and advisory services with respect to sales and licensing, as well as the procurement of investors in China, Japan and South Korea. The Consulting Agreement was extended for an additional period of one year. The Consulting Agreement provided for the payment of a fixed, one-time retainer of EURO 15,000 (US $18,348), which was paid on April 5, 2018, and 2.5% of the net payments received by us from sales of products or licensing activities arising directly and exclusively from leads generated by the advisor during the term of the Consulting Agreement, and any investors introduced to us by the advisor that results in an investment in us during the term of the Consulting Agreement.

Effective August 20, 2018, we entered into an Exclusive License Agreement with Moffitt. Pursuant to the License Agreement, Moffitt granted us an exclusive license under certain patents owned by Moffitt relating to the treatment of MDS and a non-exclusive license under inventions, concepts, processes, information, data, know-how, research results, clinical data, and the like (other than the Licensed Patents) necessary or useful for the practice of any claim under the Licensed Patents or the use, development, manufacture or sale of any product for the treatment of MDS which would otherwise infringe a valid claim under the Licensed Patents. We were obligated to pay Moffitt a non-refundable license issue fee of $25,000 after the first patient is entered into a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to be managed and conducted by Moffitt. The clinical trial began at a single site in April 2019 and the first patient was entered into the clinical trial in July 2019. We are also obligated to pay Moffitt an annual license maintenance fee of $25,000 commencing on the first anniversary of the Effective Date and every anniversary thereafter until we commence payment of minimum royalty payments. We have also agreed to pay non-refundable milestone payments to Moffitt, which cannot be credited against earned royalties payable by us, based on reaching various clinical and commercial milestones aggregating $1,897,000, subject to reduction by 40% under certain circumstances relating to the status of Valid Claims, as such term is defined in the License Agreement. As of December 31, 2020, no milestones had yet been attained.

We will be obligated to pay Moffitt earned royalties of 4% on worldwide cumulative net sales of royalty-bearing products, subject to reduction to 2% under certain circumstances, on a quarterly basis, with a minimum royalty payment of $50,000 in the first four years after sales commence, and $100,000 in year five and each year thereafter, subject to reduction by 40% under certain circumstances relating to the status of Valid Claims, as such term is defined in the License Agreement. Our obligation to pay earned royalties under the License Agreement commences on the date of the first sale of a royalty-bearing product, and shall automatically expire on a country-by-country basis on the date on which the last valid claim of the Licensed Patents expires, lapses or is declared invalid, and the obligation to pay any earned royalties under the License Agreement shall terminate on the date on which the last valid claim of the Licensed Patents expires, lapses, or is declared to be invalid in all countries.

Other Significant Agreements and Contracts

Effective October 18, 2013, we entered into a Materials Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (M-CRADA) with the NINDS of the NIH for a term of four years. The Surgical Neurology Branch of NINDS is conducting research characterizing a variety of compounds proprietary to us and is examining the potential of the compounds for anti-cancer activity, reducing neurological deficit due to ischemia and brain injury, and stabilizing catalytic function of misfolded proteins for inborn brain diseases. Under an M-CRADA, a party provides research material, in this case proprietary compounds from our pipeline, for study by scientists at NIH. The exchange of material was for research only and did not imply any endorsement of the material on the part of either party. Under the M-CRADA, the NIH grants a collaborator an exclusive option to elect an exclusive or non-exclusive commercialization license.

On December 24, 2013, we entered into an agreement with NDA Consulting Corp. for consultation and advice in the field of oncology research and drug development. As part of the agreement, NDA also agreed to cause its president, Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., to become a member of our Scientific Advisory Committee. The term of the agreement was for one year and provided for a quarterly cash fee of $4,000. The agreement has been automatically renewed for additional one-year terms on its anniversary date since 2014. Consulting and advisory fees charged to operations pursuant to this agreement for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were $16,000 and $16,000, respectively.

Effective September 14, 2015, we entered into a Collaboration Agreement with BioPharmaWorks, pursuant to which we engaged BioPharmaWorks to perform certain services for us. Those services include, among other things: (a) assisting us to (i) commercialize our products and strengthen our patent portfolio, (ii) identify large pharmaceutical companies with potential interest in our product pipeline, and (iii) prepare and deliver presentations concerning our products; (b) at the request of the Board of Directors, serving as backup management for up to three months should our Chief Executive Officer and scientific leader be temporarily unable to carry out his duties; (c) being available for consultation in drug discovery and development; and (d) identifying providers and overseeing tasks relating to clinical use and commercialization of new compounds.

BioPharmaWorks was founded in 2015 by former Pfizer scientists with extensive multi-disciplinary research and development and drug development experience. The Collaboration Agreement was for an initial term of two years and automatically renews for subsequent annual periods unless terminated by a party not less than 60 days prior to the expiration of the applicable period. In connection with the Collaboration Agreement, we agreed to pay BioPharmaWorks a monthly fee of $10,000, subject to our right to pay a negotiated hourly rate in lieu of the monthly payment and agreed to issue to BioPharmaWorks certain equity-based compensation. In November 2016, it was mutually agreed to suspend services and payments under the Collaboration Agreement, without extending its term, for the period from November 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017. The Collaboration Agreement resumed as scheduled on April 1, 2017. In April 2018, it was again mutually agreed to suspend services and payments under the Collaboration Agreement, without extending its term, for the period from February 1, 2018 through the September 13, 2019 anniversary date. In February 2019, we subsequently agreed to resume the Collaboration Agreement with BioPharmaWorks effective March 1, 2019, and the Collaboration Agreement is currently in effect.

Effective August 12, 2020, we entered into a Master Service Agreement with the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapy (FAST) to collaborate in supporting preclinical studies of the potential benefit of LB-100 in a mouse model of Angelman Syndrome (AS) as reported in The Proceedings of The National Academy of Science (Wang et al, June 3, 2019). The preclinical studies will take place at The University of California - Davis under the direction of Dr. David Segal, an internationally recognized leader in AS research. If the preclinical studies confirm that LB-100 reduces AS signs in rodent models, we have agreed to enter into discussions with FAST with respect to possible collaborations to most efficiently assess the benefit of LB-100 in patients with AS, which is a rare disease affecting an estimated one out of 12,000 to one out of 20,000 persons in the United States. The genetic cause of AS, reduced function of a specific maternal gene called Ube3, has been understood for some time, but the molecular abnormality resulting from the genetic lesion has now been shown to be increased concentrations of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a molecular target of our investigational compound, LB-100. We agreed to provide FAST with a supply of LB-100 to be utilized in the conduct of this study, which is initially expected to be completed within three years. Conditioned on FAST’s completion of this study, we have agreed to pay FAST five percent (5%) of all proceeds, as defined in the Master Service Agreement, received by us, up to a maximum of $250,000 from the exploitation of the study results.

Future Clinical Trials

Presented below are clinical trials that we would currently consider conducting over the next few years. We expect that these potential clinical trials, and the details thereof, will change over time as we obtain more clinical information on LB-100. Our ability to conduct these clinical trials is subject to the availability of sufficient additional financial resources.

(1) A Phase 1b/2 randomized clinical trial in previously untreated patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) comparing the standard regimen, carboplatin/etoposide/atezolizumab, with and without LB-100. The malignant cells of this uniformly rapidly fatal lung cancer are genetically sensitive to PP2A inhibition (by a process termed “synthetic lethality”).

(2) A Phase 1b/2 randomized clinical trial in patients adding LB-100 to PD-1 inhibitors against one of several cancers in which PD-1 inhibitors alone have definite but modest activity.

The Phase 1b/2 clinical trials in SCLC and in LB-100 plus a PD-1 inhibitor in yet to be specified solid tumors will require additional financing in excess of that currently budgeted to fund a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial in myelodysplastic syndrome that began in April 2019, and/or partnering relationships with other pharmaceutical companies, in order for us to undertake and complete such clinical studies. We are in discussions with various parties with respect to the financing of these clinical studies, although there can be no assurances that we will be able to obtain such financing and/or partnering relationships on acceptable terms or at all. Our longer-term objective is to secure one or more strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies with major programs in cancer research and drug development.

Intellectual Property

Our products will ultimately be based on our intellectual property and are expected to be covered by our patents. These patents now cover sole rights to the composition and synthesis of the LB-100 and LB-200 series of drugs, with coverage of the LB-200 series now limited to those patents issued in the United States. Joint patent applications with the NIH have been filed for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, medulloblastoma, and neuroblastoma. We have also filed patent applications for the use of certain homologs of both series of drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease), stroke, and traumatic brain injury, and patent applications for the use of homologs of the LB-200 series for the treatment of serious systemic fungal infections and for the treatment of common fungal infections of the skin and nails.

Patent applications for the LB-100 series (oxabicycloheptanes and heptenes) and the LB-200 series (histone deacetylase inhibitors; HDACi) have been filed in the United States and internationally under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Patents for composition of matter and for several uses of both the LB-100 series and the LB-200 series have been issued in the United States, Mexico, Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and by the European Patent Office and the Eurasian Patent Office. For the LB-200 series, only patents issued in the United States are being maintained.

Our portfolio of domestic and international patents issued is summarized below. We have additional domestic and international patents pending.

LB-100 Series of Compounds - Phosphatase Inhibitors – Composition and Use in Cancer Treatment

Oxabicycloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes, Their Preparation and Use

LB-100 and LB-200 Series of Compounds – Use in Treatment of Multiple CNS Diseases

Neuroprotective Agents for the Prevention and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Oxabicycloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes for the Treatment of Reperfusion Injury

Oxabicycloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes for the Treatment of Depressive and Stress Disorders

HDAC Inhibitors

Oxabicycloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes for the Treatment of Diabetes

Formulations of Oxabicycloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes

Process of Synthesizing 3-(4-Methylpiperazine-1-Carbonyl)-7-Oxabicyclo [2.2.1] Heptane-2-Carboxylic Acid

Protein Phosphatase 2A Inhibitors for Treating Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Oxabicycloheptane Prodrugs

The Market

Anti-Cancer Drugs

We have developed two series of pharmacologically active drugs, the LB-100 series and the LB-200 series. We believe that the mechanism by which compounds of the LB-100 series affect cancer cell growth is different from cancer agents currently approved for clinical use. Lead compounds from each series have activity against a broad spectrum of common and rarer human cancers in cell culture systems. In addition, compounds from both series have anti-cancer activity in animal models of glioblastoma multiforme, neuroblastoma, and medulloblastoma, all cancers of neural tissue. Lead compounds of the LB-100 series also have activity against melanoma, breast cancer and sarcoma in animal models and enhance the effectiveness of commonly used anti-cancer drugs in these model systems. The enhancement of anti-cancer activity of these anti-cancer drugs occurs at doses of LB-100 that do not significantly increase toxicity in animals. It is therefore hoped that when combined with standard anti-cancer regimens against many tumor types, our compounds will improve therapeutic benefit without enhancing toxicity in humans.

Marketing Plan

Our primary goal to date has been to take our primary compound, LB-100, through Phase 2 clinical trials. Because of the novelty and spectrum of activity of LB-100, we believe it is reasonably likely we may find a partner in the pharmaceutical industry with interest in this compound at some stage of its clinical development. However, we would prefer to delay the partnering/licensing decision until the potential value of our products are augmented by demonstrating there is no impediment to clinical evaluation and a therapeutic dose level is determined in clinical trials. Demonstration of clinical usefulness would be expected to substantially increase the value of our product.

Research and Development

Further development of lead compounds in addition to LB-100 will require pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic characterization (i.e., how long a drug persists in the blood and how long the drug is active at the intended target) and large animal toxicologic evaluation under conditions meeting FDA requirements. Most anti-cancer drugs fail in development because of unacceptable toxicity. However, by analogy with mechanistically related compounds, there is good reason to believe that lead compounds in addition to LB-100 will be able to be given to humans safely by routes and at doses resulting in concentration of drug producing anti-cancer activity in animal model systems.

One of our most valuable resources is our scientific team, a coalition of various experts brought together through contracts and other collaborative arrangements. The team has expertise in cancer biology, proteomics (cancer biomarkers), medicinal and synthetic chemistry, pharmacology, clinical oncology and drug evaluation. In a relatively short period of time and at low cost, this group has developed lead compounds of two different classes of drugs that are positioned for development as new treatments for several types of cancer.

Product Development

We are subject to FDA regulations as it conducts clinical trials. Additionally, any product for which we obtain marketing approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. Even if regulatory approval of a product is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our products, including unanticipated adverse events or adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, manufacturer or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in restrictions on such products or manufacturing processes, withdrawal of the products from the market, voluntary or mandatory recall, fines, suspension of regulatory approvals, product seizures, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

Competition

The life sciences industry is highly competitive and subject to rapid and profound technological change. Our present and potential competitors include major pharmaceutical companies, as well as specialized biotechnology and life sciences firms in the United States and in other countries. Most of these companies have considerably greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do. Additionally, mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. Our existing or prospective competitors may develop processes or products that are more effective than ours or be more effective at implementing their technologies to develop commercial products faster. Our competitors may succeed in obtaining patent protection and/or receiving regulatory approval for commercializing products before we do. Developments by our competitors may render our product candidates obsolete or non-competitive.

We also experience competition from universities and other research institutions, and we are likely to compete with others in acquiring technology from those sources. There can be no assurance that other organizations will not develop technologies with significant advantages over those that we are seeking to develop. Any such development could harm our business.

We compete with universities and other research institutions engaged in research in these areas. Many of our competitors have greater technical and financial resources than we do.

Our ability to compete successfully is based on numerous factors, including:

If we are unable to distinguish our products from competing products, or if competing products reach the market first, we may be unable to compete successfully with current or future competitors.

Employees and Human Capital Resources

As of March 12, 2021, we had three full-time employees and one part-time employee. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good. Our future performance depends significantly upon the continued service of our key personnel and our ability to attract highly skilled employees. We provide our employees with opportunities for equity ownership.

Facilities

As of March 12, 2021, we do not operate any facilities, but contract out research and development activities, drug production, and drug storage to various commercial laboratories, drug manufacturers and storage facilities.

Government Regulation

Studies done under the CRADA were carried out in compliance with applicable Statutes, Executive Capital Orders, HHS regulations and all FDA, CDC, and NIH policies as specified in Article 13, 13.1 and 13.2, of the PHS CRADA.

Our business is subject to the regulations of the FDA as it conducts clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies to answer specific questions about new therapies or new ways of using known treatments. Clinical trials determine whether new drugs or treatments are both safe and effective and the FDA has determined that carefully conducted clinical trials are the fastest and safest way to find treatments that work in people.

The FDA also requires that an independent review body consider the benefits and risks of a clinical trial and grant approval for the proposed study including selecting of initial doses, plans for escalation of dose, plans for modification of dose if toxicity is encountered, plans for monitoring the wellbeing of individuals participating in the study, and for defining and measuring, to the extent possible, any untoward effects related to drug administration. Serious adverse effects, such as life-threatening toxicities and death, are immediately reportable to the review body and to the FDA. To minimize risk when studying a new drug, the initial dose is well below that expected to cause any toxicity. No more than three patients are entered at a given dose. In general, a dose is not escalated within an individual patient. Once safety is established by the absence of toxicity or low toxicity in a group of three patients, a planned higher dose is then evaluated in a subsequent group of three individuals and so on until dose-limiting toxicity is encountered. The dose level producing definite but acceptable toxicity is then selected as the dose level to be evaluated in Phase 2 trials. Thus, the goal of Phase 1 studies is to determine the appropriate dose level for evaluation of drug efficacy in patients with the same type of tumor at comparable stages of progression for which no beneficial treatment is established.

In addition to regulations imposed by the FDA, depending on our future activities, we may become subject to regulation under various federal and state statutes and regulations, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Research Conservation and Recovery Act, national restrictions on technology transfer, and import, export and customs regulations. From time to time, other federal agencies and congressional committees have indicated an interest in implementing further regulation of biotechnology applications. We are not able to predict whether any such regulations will be adopted or whether, if adopted, such regulations will apply to our business, or whether we or our collaborators would be able to comply with any applicable regulations.

In addition, as we intend to market our products in international markets, we may be required to obtain separate regulatory approvals from the European Union and many other foreign jurisdictions. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. We may not be able to file for regulatory approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market.

Legal Proceedings

We may be involved from time to time in ordinary litigation, negotiation, and settlement matters that will not have a material effect on our operations or finances. We are not currently party to any material legal proceedings, and we are not aware of any pending or threatened litigation against us.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following risk factors, together with the other information presented in this document, including the financial statements and the notes thereto, should be considered by investors.

Risks Related to Our Financial Resources and Capital Needs

We are engaged in early-stage research and as such may not be successful in our efforts to develop a portfolio of commercially viable products.

A key element of our strategy is to discover, develop and commercialize a portfolio of new drugs. We are seeking to do so through our internal research programs. A significant portion of the research that we are conducting involves new and unproven technologies. Research programs to identify new disease targets and product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources whether or not any candidates or technologies are ultimately identified. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development for the following reasons:

If we are unable to discover suitable potential product candidates, develop additional delivery technologies through internal research programs or in-license suitable products or delivery technologies on acceptable business terms, our business prospects will suffer.

We have incurred substantial losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur substantial and increasing losses for the foreseeable future.

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that uses biomarker technology to identify enzyme targets associated with serious common diseases and then designs novel compounds to attack those threats. We do not have any products approved by regulatory authorities and have not generated any revenues from collaboration and licensing agreements or product sales to date, and have incurred significant research, development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations and expect to continue to incur such expenses. As a result, we have not been profitable and have incurred significant operating losses since our inception. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we reported a net loss of $3,264,882 and $2,440,343, respectively. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $30,353,768 and $27,088,886, respectively.

We do not expect to generate revenues for many years, if at all. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future. We anticipate these losses to increase as we continue to research, develop and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidate and any additional product candidates we may acquire, and potentially begin to commercialize product candidates that may achieve regulatory approval. We may also encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenues. Our expenses will further increase as we:

We need significant additional financing to fund our operations and complete the development and, if approved, the commercialization of our product candidate. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.

We expect that our existing cash resources as of December 31, 2020, combined with the proceeds from our registered direct equity offering completed in March 2021, will provide sufficient working capital resources to fund our operations, including our clinical trial program with respect to the development of our lead anti-cancer clinical compound LB-100, through mid-2022. However, our existing cash resources will not be sufficient to complete development of and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidate, and we will need to raise significant additional capital to help us do so. The Company estimates that it will need to raise additional capital to fund its operations, including its various clinical trial commitments, by no later than June 30, 2022. In addition, our operating plan may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, including possible additional clinical trials, and we may need additional funds sooner than planned.

We expect to expend substantial resources for the foreseeable future to continue the clinical development and manufacturing of our product candidate and the advancement and expansion of our preclinical research pipeline. These expenditures will include costs associated with research and development, potentially acquiring new product candidates or technologies, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials and potentially obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing products, as well as marketing and selling products approved for sale, if any.

Budgets and future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:

Additional funds may not be available when we need them on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. We have no committed source of additional capital. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may not be able to continue as a going concern or we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate preclinical studies, clinical trials or other development activities for our product candidate or target indications, or delay, limit, reduce or terminate our establishment of sales and marketing capabilities or other activities that may be necessary to commercialize our product candidate.

We currently have no source of revenues. We may never generate revenues or achieve profitability.

Currently, we do not generate any revenues from product sales or otherwise. Even if we are able to successfully achieve regulatory approval for our product candidate, we do not know when we will generate revenues or become profitable, if at all. Our ability to generate revenues from product sales and achieve profitability will depend on our ability to successfully commercialize products, including our primary product candidate, LB-100, and any other product candidates that we may develop, in-license or acquire in the future. Our ability to generate revenues and achieve profitability also depends on a number of additional factors, including our ability to:

Our revenues for any product candidate for which regulatory approval is obtained will be dependent, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which it gains regulatory approval, the accepted price for the product, the ability to get reimbursement at any price, and whether we own the commercial rights for that territory. If the number of our addressable disease patients is not as significant as our estimates, the indication approved by regulatory authorities is narrower than we expect, or the reasonably accepted population for treatment is narrowed by competition, physician choice or treatment guidelines, we may not generate significant revenues from sales of such products, even if approved. In addition, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate. As a result, even if we generate revenues, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations. If we fail to become profitable or are unable to sustain profitability on a continuing basis, then we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and may be forced to reduce our operations.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

H.R. 1, “An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018,” informally entitled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) enacted on December 22, 2017, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a single rate of 21%, limitation of the tax deduction for interest expense to 30% of adjusted taxable income (except for certain small businesses), limitation of the deduction for net operating losses carried forward from taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 to 80% of current year taxable income and elimination of net operating loss carrybacks, one time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, elimination of U.S. tax on foreign earnings (subject to certain important exceptions), providing immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits (including reduction of tax credits under the Orphan Drug Act). Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the Tax Act is uncertain and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act.

Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to limitations.

As of December 31, 2020, we had federal net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards of approximately $5,477,000. Our NOLs generated in tax years ending on or prior to December 31, 2017 are only permitted to be carried forward for 20 years under applicable U.S. tax laws, and will begin to expire, if not utilized, beginning in 2027. These NOL carryforwards could expire unused and be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. Under the Tax Act, federal NOLs incurred in tax years ending after December 31, 2017 may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such federal NOLs is limited. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act, or whether any further regulatory changes may be adopted in the future that could minimize its applicability. In addition, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and certain corresponding provisions of state law, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” which is generally defined as a greater than 50% change, by value, in the ownership of its equity over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOL carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset its post-change income may be limited.

Risks Related to the Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidate

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companies with product candidates in clinical development face a wide range of challenging activities which may entail substantial risk.

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a product candidate in clinical development. The success of our product candidate will depend on several factors, including the following:

If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully develop and commercialize our product candidate, which could materially harm our business.

We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials which could delay or prevent the start of clinical trials for our product candidate.

Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidate is essential to our success. The timing of our clinical trials depends in part on the rate at which we can recruit patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidate, and we may experience delays in our clinical trials if we encounter difficulties in enrollment. If we experience delays in our clinical trials, the timeline for obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidate will most likely be delayed.

Many factors may affect our ability to identify, enroll and maintain qualified patients, including the following:

We may not be able to initiate or continue to support clinical trials of LB-100, our product candidate, for one or more indications, or any future product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible participants in these trials as required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Even if we are able to enroll a sufficient number of patients in our clinical trials, if the pace of enrollment is slower than we expect, the development costs for our product candidate may increase and the completion of our trials may be delayed or our trials could become too expensive to complete.

If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trials of our product candidate, the commercial prospects of our product candidate could be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenue from any of our product candidate could be delayed or prevented. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials would likely increase our overall costs, impair product candidate development and jeopardize our ability to obtain regulatory approval relative to our current plans. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition, and prospects significantly.

The results of preclinical studies or earlier clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of future results. Our existing product candidate in clinical trials, and any other product candidates that may advance into clinical trials, may not have favorable results in later clinical trials or receive regulatory approval.

Success in preclinical studies and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will generate adequate data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of an investigational drug. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, including those with greater resources and experience than us, have suffered significant setbacks in clinical trials, even after seeing promising results in earlier preclinical studies or clinical trials.

Despite the results reported in earlier preclinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidate, we do not know whether the clinical trials we may conduct will demonstrate adequate efficacy and safety to result in regulatory approval to market our product candidate for a particular indication, in any particular jurisdiction. Efficacy data from prospectively designed trials may differ significantly from those obtained from retrospective subgroup analyses. If later-stage clinical trials do not produce favorable results, our ability to achieve regulatory approval for our product candidate may be adversely impacted. Even if we believe that we have adequate data to support an application for regulatory approval to market our current product candidate or any future product candidates, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may not agree and may require that we conduct additional clinical trials.

Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome.

Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, with the outcome inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. Before obtaining approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidate, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidate in humans. Prior to initiating clinical trials, a sponsor must complete extensive preclinical testing of a product candidate, including, in most cases, preclinical efficacy experiments as well as IND-enabling toxicology studies. These experiments and studies may be time-consuming and expensive to complete. The necessary preclinical testing may not be completed successfully for a preclinical product candidate and a potentially promising product candidate may therefore never be tested in humans. Once it commences, clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. The outcome of preclinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during drug development that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidate. In particular, clinical trials of our product candidate may produce inconclusive or negative results. We have limited data regarding the safety, tolerability and efficacy of our product candidate. Clinical trials also require the review and oversight of an institutional review board (“IRB”). An inability or delay in obtaining IRB approval could prevent or delay the initiation and completion of clinical trials, and the FDA may decide not to consider any data or information derived from a clinical investigation not subject to initial and continuing IRB review and approval.

We may experience delays in our ongoing or future clinical trials, and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin or enroll subjects on time, will need to be redesigned or will be completed on schedule, if at all. There can be no assurance that the FDA will not put clinical trials of our product candidate on hold in the future. Clinical trials may be delayed, suspended or prematurely terminated for a variety of reasons, such as:

If we experience delays in the completion or termination of any clinical trial of our product candidate, the approval and commercial prospects of our product candidate will be harmed, delaying our ability to generate product revenues from such product candidate and our costs will most likely increase. The required regulatory approvals may also be delayed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues and the period of commercial exclusivity for our product may be decreased. Regulatory approval of our product candidate may be denied for the same reasons that caused the delay.

Risks associated with operating in foreign countries could materially adversely affect our product development.

We may conduct future studies in countries outside of the U.S. Consequently, we may be subject to risks related to operating in foreign countries. Risks associated with conducting operations in foreign countries include:

Our current and future product candidates, the methods used to deliver them or their dosage levels may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in significant negative consequences following any regulatory approval.

Undesirable side effects caused by our current or future product candidates, their delivery methods or dosage levels could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval or termination of clinical trials by the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities; or an IRB, that approves and, monitors biomedical research to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects. As a result of safety or toxicity issues that we may experience in our clinical trials, or negative or inconclusive results from the clinical trials of others for drug candidates similar to our own, we may not receive approval to market our current product candidate or any product candidates we may pursue, which could prevent us from ever generating revenues or achieving profitability. Results of our trials could reveal an unacceptably high severity and incidence of 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 current or any future product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The drug-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled subjects to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and future prospects.

Additionally, if our product candidate receives regulatory approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such product, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including that:

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of our product candidate, if approved.

Our product development program may not uncover all possible adverse events that patients who take our product candidate may experience. The number of subjects exposed to our product candidate and the average exposure time in the clinical development program may be inadequate to detect rare adverse events or chance findings that may only be detected once the product is administered to more patients and for greater periods of time.

Clinical trials by their nature utilize a sample of the potential patient population. However, with a limited number of subjects and limited duration of exposure, we cannot be fully assured that rare and severe side effects of our product candidate will be uncovered. Such rare and severe side effects may only be uncovered with a significantly larger number of patients exposed to our product candidate. If such safety problems occur or are identified after our product candidate reaches the market, the FDA may require that we amend the labeling of the product or recall the product, or may even withdraw approval for the product.

Our future success is dependent on the regulatory approval of our product candidate.

Our business is dependent on our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidate in a timely manner. We cannot commercialize our product candidate in the U.S. without first obtaining regulatory approval for the product from the FDA. Similarly, we cannot commercialize our product candidate outside of the U.S. without obtaining regulatory approval from comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our product candidate for a target indication, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence gathered in preclinical studies and clinical trials, that the product candidate is safe and effective for use for that target indication and that the manufacturing facilities, processes and controls are adequate with respect to such product candidate.

The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of preclinical studies and clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions.

Even if a product candidate were to successfully obtain approval from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, any approval might contain significant limitations related to use restrictions for specified age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, or may be subject to burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. Also, any regulatory approval of our current product candidate or any future product candidates we may pursue, once obtained, may be withdrawn.

Our current product candidate and future product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval from the FDA.

We have not obtained regulatory approval for our product candidate and it is possible that our existing product candidate or any future product candidates will not obtain regulatory approval, for many reasons, including:

The FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority may require more information, including additional preclinical or clinical data to support approval or additional studies, which may delay or prevent approval and our commercialization plans, or we may decide to abandon the development program. If we were to obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve our current product candidate and any future product candidates we may pursue for fewer or more limited indications than we request (including failing to approve the most commercially promising indications), may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials, or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate.

If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidate in one or more jurisdictions, or any approval contains significant limitations, we may not be able to obtain sufficient funding to continue the development of that product or generate revenues attributable to that product candidate.

Failure to obtain regulatory approval in international jurisdictions would prevent our product candidate from being marketed abroad.

In addition to regulations in the U.S., to market and sell our product candidate in the European Union, United Kingdom, many Asian countries and other jurisdictions, we must obtain separate regulatory approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside the U.S. does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. The regulatory approval process outside the U.S. generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval as well as risks attributable to the satisfaction of local regulations in foreign jurisdictions. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain FDA approval. We may not be able to obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside the U.S. on a timely basis, if at all. Clinical trials accepted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries. In addition, many countries outside the U.S. require that a product be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that country. A product candidate that has been approved for sale in a particular country may not receive reimbursement approval in that country.

We may not be able to file for regulatory approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our product in any market. If we are unable to obtain approval of any of our current product candidate or any future product candidates we may pursue by regulatory authorities in the European Union, United Kingdom, Asia or elsewhere, the commercial prospects of that product candidate may be significantly diminished, our business prospects could decline and this could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Even if our current primary product candidate received regulatory approval, it may still face future development and regulatory difficulties.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our primary product candidate, LB-100, that approval would be subject to ongoing requirements by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities governing the manufacture, quality control, further development, labeling, packaging, storage, distribution, adverse event reporting, safety surveillance, import, export, advertising, promotion, recordkeeping and reporting of safety and other post-marketing information. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance by us and/or our CMOs and CROs for any post-approval clinical trials that we may conduct. The safety profile of any product will continue to be closely monitored by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities after approval. If the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities become aware of new safety information after approval of our product candidate, they may require labeling changes or establishment of a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, impose significant restrictions on such product’s indicated uses or marketing or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly post-approval studies or post-market surveillance.

In addition, manufacturers of drug products and their facilities are subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMP, GCP, and other regulations. If we or a regulatory agency discover 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 requiring recall or withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing. If we, our product candidate or the manufacturing facilities for our product candidate fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency may:

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

Advertising and promotion of any product candidate that obtains approval in the U.S. is heavily scrutinized by the FDA, the Department of Justice, the Office of Inspector General of Health and Human Services, state attorneys general, members of Congress and the public. A company can make only those claims relating to safety and efficacy, purity and potency that are approved by the FDA and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. Additionally, advertising and promotion of any product candidate that obtains approval outside of the U.S. is heavily scrutinized by comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Violations, including actual or alleged promotion of our product for unapproved or off-label uses, are subject to enforcement letters, inquiries and investigations, and civil and criminal sanctions by the FDA, as well as prosecution under the federal False Claims Act. Any actual or alleged failure to comply with labeling and promotion requirements may have a negative impact on our business.

Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

We depend on certain key scientific personnel for our success who do not work full time for us. The loss of any such personnel could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our success depends on the continued availability and contributions of our founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. John S. Kovach. Dr. Kovach is 84 years old and is being treated for recurrent asymptomatic prostate cancer. The loss of services of Dr. Kovach could delay or reduce our product development and commercialization efforts and would require that we hire a qualified replacement to fill the position of the Chief Executive Officer. Furthermore, recruiting and retaining qualified scientific personnel to perform future research and development work will be critical to our success. The loss of members of our scientific personnel, or our inability to attract or retain other qualified personnel or advisors, could significantly weaken our management, harm our ability to compete effectively and harm our business. The competition for qualified personnel in the pharmaceutical field is intense and, as a result, we may be unable to attract and retain qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business.

During September 2015, we entered into a Collaboration Agreement with BioPharmaWorks, pursuant to which we engaged BioPharmaWorks to perform certain services for us. Those services include, among other things: (a) assisting us to (i) commercialize our products and strengthen our patent portfolio, (ii) identify large pharmaceutical companies with potential interest in our product pipeline, and (iii) prepare and deliver presentations concerning our products; (b) at the request of the Board of Directors, serving as backup management for up to three months should our Chief Executive Officer and scientific leader be temporarily unable to carry out his duties; (c) being available for consultation in drug discovery and development; and (d) identifying providers and overseeing tasks relating to clinical use and commercialization of new compounds. BioPharmaWorks was founded in 2015 by former Pfizer scientists with extensive multi-disciplinary research and development and drug development experience. The Collaboration Agreement automatically renews annually unless either party elects to terminate it. Services under this Collaboration Agreement have been periodically suspended and resumed; effective March 1, 2019, we and BioPharmaWorks agreed to resume services under this Collaboration Agreement, and the Collaboration Agreement is currently in effect.

Additionally, we have recently hired Dr. James S. Miser as Chief Medical Officer. For the foreseeable future, Dr. Miser will be working with us on a half-time basis. We believe that this Collaboration Agreement with BioPharmaWorks and the hiring of Dr. Miser mitigate, to a certain extent, our reliance on the services of Dr. Kovach, and would allow us the time to replace Dr. Kovach in the event that such a need arose.

We expect to rely heavily on third parties for the conduct of clinical trials of our product candidates. If these clinical trials are not successful, or if we or our collaborators are not able to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates.

In order to obtain regulatory approval for the commercial sale of our product candidates, we and our collaborators will be required to complete extensive preclinical studies as well as clinical trials in humans to demonstrate to the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities that our product candidates are safe and effective.

Dr. Kovach is experienced in the design and conduct of early clinical cancer trials, having been the lead investigator for a National Cancer Institute Phase 1 clinical trial contract for ten years at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. However, we have no experience in conducting clinical trials and expects to rely heavily on collaborative partners and contract research organizations for their performance and management of clinical trials of our product candidates.

Our products under development may not be effective in treating any of our targeted disorders or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may prevent or limit their commercial use. Institutional review boards or regulators, including the FDA, may hold, suspend or terminate our clinical research or the clinical trials of our product candidates for various reasons, including non-compliance with regulatory requirements or if, in their opinion, the participating subjects are being exposed to unacceptable health risks. Additionally, the failure of third parties conducting or overseeing the operation of the clinical trials to perform their contractual or regulatory obligations in a timely fashion could delay the clinical trials. Failure of clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. Any of these events would adversely affect our ability to market a product candidate.

The development process necessary to obtain regulatory approval is lengthy, complex and costly. If we and our collaborative partners do not obtain necessary regulatory approvals at each stage of development, then our business would not be successful, and the market price of our common stock could decline substantially.

To the extent that we, or our collaborative partners, are able to successfully advance a product candidate through the clinic, we, or such partner, will be required to obtain regulatory approval prior to marketing and selling such product. The process of obtaining FDA and other required regulatory approvals is costly and lengthy. The time required for FDA and other approvals is uncertain and can typically take a number of years, depending on the complexity and novelty of the product.

Any regulatory approval to market a product may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which we, or our collaborative partners, may market the product. These limitations may restrict the size of the market for the product and affect reimbursement by third-party payors. In addition, regulatory agencies may not grant approvals on a timely basis or may revoke or significantly modify previously granted approvals.

We, or our collaborative partners, also are subject to numerous foreign regulatory requirements governing the manufacturing and marketing of our potential future products outside of the United States. The approval procedure varies among countries, additional testing may be required in some jurisdictions, and the time required to obtain foreign approvals often differs from that required to obtain FDA approvals. Moreover, approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and vice versa.

As a result of these factors, we, or our collaborative partners, may not successfully complete clinical trials in the time periods estimated, if at all. Moreover, if we, or our collaborative partners, incur unanticipated costs and/or delays in development programs or if we fail to successfully develop and commercialize products based upon our technologies, we may not be able to generate significant operating revenues and sustainable profitability, as a result of which our stock price could decline substantially.

Business interruptions could adversely affect future operations, revenues, and financial conditions, and may increase our costs and expenses.

Our operations, and those of our directors, advisors, contractors, consultants, CROs, and collaborators, could be adversely affected by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, extreme weather conditions, fires, water shortages, power failures, business systems failures, medical epidemics and other natural and man-made disaster or business interruptions. Our phones, electronic devices and computer systems and those of our directors, advisors, contractors, consultants, CROs, and collaborators are vulnerable to damages, theft and accidental loss, negligence, unauthorized access, terrorism, war, electronic and telecommunications failures, and other natural and man-made disasters. Operating as a virtual company, our employees conduct business outside of our headquarters and leased or owned facilities. These locations may be subject to additional security and other risk factors due to the limited control of our employees. If such an event as described above were to occur in the future, it may cause interruptions in our operations, delay research and development programs, clinical trials, regulatory activities, manufacturing and quality assurance activities, sales and marketing activities, hiring, training of employees and persons within associated third parties, and other business activities. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data.

Likewise, we will rely on third parties to manufacture our product candidates and conduct clinical trials, and similar events as those described in the prior paragraph relating to their business systems, equipment and facilities could also have a material adverse effect on our business. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development and commercialization of our product candidate could be delayed or altogether terminated.

Our failure to find third party collaborators to assist or share in the costs of product development could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our strategy for the development and commercialization of our proprietary product candidates may include the formation of collaborative arrangements with third parties. We have entered into a number of agreements with third parties as described below under “Business,” including a clinical trial research agreement with Moffitt Cancer Center, a collaboration agreement with the Spanish Sarcoma Group, a cooperative research and development agreement with the National Cancer Institute, a clinical trial research agreement with City of Hope National Medical Center, an agreement with Theradex Systems, Inc., a patent assignment and exploitation agreement with Inserm Transfert, SA, a consulting agreement with Liberi Life Sciences Consultancy BV, an exclusive license agreement with Moffitt, a material cooperative research and development agreement with the National Institutes of Health, a collaboration agreement with BioPharmaWorks and a consulting agreement with NDA Consulting Corp. Existing and future collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources they apply and may not perform their obligations as expected. Potential third-party collaborators include biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions and other entities. Third-party collaborators may assist us in:

If we are not able to establish further collaboration agreements, we may be required to undertake product development and commercialization at our own expense. Such an undertaking may limit the number of product candidates that we will be able to develop, significantly increase our capital requirements and place additional strain on our internal resources. Our failure to enter into additional collaborations could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our dependence on licensing, collaboration and other agreements with third parties may subject us to a number of risks. These agreements may not be on terms that prove favorable to us and may require us to relinquish certain rights in our product candidates. To the extent we agree to work exclusively with one collaborator in a given area, our opportunities to collaborate with other entities could be curtailed. Lengthy negotiations with potential new collaborators may lead to delays in the research, development or commercialization of product candidates. The decision by our collaborators to pursue alternative technologies or the failure of our collaborators to develop or commercialize successfully any product candidate to which they have obtained rights from us could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

We cannot be certain we will be able to obtain patent protection to protect our product candidates and technology.

We cannot be certain that all patents applied for will be issued. If a third party has also filed a patent application relating to an invention claimed by us or one or more of our licensors, we may be required to participate in an interference or derivation proceeding declared or instituted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which could result in substantial uncertainties and cost for us, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain. For example:

If we do not obtain patent term extension in the United States under the Hatch-Waxman Act and in foreign countries under similar legislation, thereby potentially extending the term of our marketing exclusivity for any product candidates we may develop, our business may be materially harmed.

In the United States, the patent term of a patent that covers an FDA-approved drug may be eligible for limited patent term extension, which permits patent term restoration as compensation for the patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, also known as the Hatch-Waxman Act, permits a patent term extension of up to five years beyond the expiration of the patent. The length of the patent term extension is related to the length of time the drug is under clinical development and regulatory review. Patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, and only one patent that is applicable to and covers an approved drug may be extended. Similar provisions are available in Europe, such as supplementary protection certificates, and in certain other non-United States jurisdictions to extend the term of a patent that covers an approved drug. While, in the future, if and when our product candidates receive FDA approval, we expect to apply for patent term extensions on patents covering those product candidates, there is no guarantee that the applicable authorities will agree with our assessment of whether such extensions should be granted, and even if granted, the length of such extensions. We may not be granted patent term extension either in the United States or in any foreign country because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the length of a patent term extension, as well as the scope of patent protection during any such extension, afforded by the governmental authority could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain any patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following the expiration of our patent rights, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.

It is possible that we will not obtain patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Act for a U.S. patent covering any of our product candidates that we may identify even where that patent is eligible for patent term extension, or if we obtain such an extension, it may be for a shorter period than we had sought.

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

We have entered and may be required to enter into intellectual property license agreements that are important to our business. These license agreements may impose various diligence, milestone payment, royalty and other obligations on us. For example, we may enter into exclusive license agreements with various third parties (for example, universities and research institutions), we may be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to engage in various development and commercialization activities with respect to licensed products, and may need to satisfy specified milestone and royalty payment obligations. If we fail to comply with any obligations under our agreements with any of these licensors, we may be subject to termination of the license agreement in whole or in part; increased financial obligations to our licensors or loss of exclusivity in a particular field or territory, in which case our ability to develop or commercialize products covered by the license agreement will be impaired.

In addition, disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:

If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.

We may need to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our product candidates. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates, which could harm our business significantly.

We may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, which may prevent or delay our product development efforts and stop us from commercializing or increase the costs of commercializing our product candidates.

Our success will depend in part on our ability to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. We cannot guarantee that our products or product candidates, or manufacture or use of our products or product candidates, will not infringe third-party patents. Furthermore, a third party may claim that we are using inventions covered by the third party’s patent rights and may go to court to stop us from engaging in our normal operations and activities, including making or selling our product candidates. These lawsuits are costly and could affect our results of operations and divert the attention of managerial and scientific personnel. Some of these third parties may be better capitalized and have more resources than us. There is a risk that a court would decide that we are infringing the third party’s patents and would order us to stop the activities covered by the patents. In that event, we may not have a viable way around the patent and may need to halt commercialization of the relevant product candidate. In addition, there is a risk that a court will order us to pay the other party damages for having violated the other party’s patents. In addition, we may be obligated to indemnify our licensors and collaborators against certain intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties, which could require us to expend additional resources. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have produced a proliferation of patents, and it is not always clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of products or methods of use. The coverage of patents is subject to interpretation by the courts, and the interpretation is not always uniform.

If we are sued for patent infringement, we would need to demonstrate that our products or products or methods either do not infringe the patent claims of the relevant patent or that the patent claims are invalid or unenforceable, and we may not be able to do this. Proving invalidity is difficult. For example, in the United States, proving invalidity requires a showing of clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption of validity enjoyed by issued patents. Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and divert management’s time and attention in pursuing these proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on us. If we are unable to avoid infringing the patent rights of others, we may be required to seek a license, which may not be available, and then we will have to defend an infringement action or challenge the validity of the patents in court. Patent litigation is costly and time consuming. We may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion. In addition, if we do not obtain a license, develop or obtain non-infringing technology, fail to defend an infringement action successfully or have infringed patents declared invalid or unenforceable, we may incur substantial monetary damages, encounter significant delays in bringing our product candidates to market and be precluded from manufacturing or selling our product candidates.

We cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications for technology covered by our pending applications, or that we were the first to invent the technology, because:

Our competitors may have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications covering technology similar to ours. Any such patent application may have priority over our patent applications, which could further require us to obtain rights to issued patents covering such technologies. If another party has filed US patent applications on inventions similar to ours that claims priority to any applications filed prior to the priority dates of our applications, we may have to participate in an interference proceeding declared or a derivation proceed instituted by the USPTO to determine priority of invention in the United States. The costs of these proceedings could be substantial, and it is possible that such efforts would be unsuccessful if, unbeknownst to us, the other party had independently arrived at the same or similar inventions prior to our own inventions, resulting in a loss of our U.S. patent position with respect to such inventions. Other countries have similar laws that permit secrecy of patent applications, and thus the third party’s patent or patent application may be entitled to priority over our applications in such jurisdictions.

Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets.

As is common in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, we employ, and may employ in the future, individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants and independent contractors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we could lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel, which could adversely impact our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

Our intellectual property may not be sufficient to protect our products from competition, which may negatively affect our business as well as limit our partnership or acquisition appeal.

We may be subject to competition despite the existence of intellectual property we license or own. We can give no assurances that our intellectual property claims will be sufficient to prevent third parties from designing around patents we own or license and developing and commercializing competitive products. The existence of competitive products that avoid our intellectual property could materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. Furthermore, limitations, or perceived limitations, in our intellectual property may limit the interest of third parties to partner, collaborate or otherwise transact with us, if third parties perceive a higher than acceptable risk to commercialization of our products or future products.

Our approach involves the filing of patent applications covering new methods of use and/or new formulations of previously known, studied and/or marketed drugs. Although the protection afforded by our patent applications may be significant, when looking at our patents’ ability to block competition, the protection offered by our patents may be, to some extent, more limited than the protection provided by patents claiming the composition of matter of entirely new chemical structures previously unknown. If a competitor were able to successfully design around any method of use and formulation patents we may have in the future, our business and competitive advantage could be significantly affected.

We may elect to sue a third party, or otherwise make a claim, alleging infringement or other violation of patents, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights, trade secrets, domain names or other intellectual property rights that we either own or license. If we do not prevail in enforcing our intellectual property rights in this type of litigation, we may be subject to:

A third party may also challenge the validity, enforceability or scope of the intellectual property rights that we license or own; and, the result of these challenges may narrow the scope or claims of or invalidate patents that are integral to our product candidates in the future. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully defend patents we own in an action against third parties due to the unpredictability of litigation and the high costs associated with intellectual property litigation, amongst other factors.

The laws of some jurisdictions do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws or rules and regulations in the United States and Europe, and many companies have encountered significant difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in such jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in other jurisdictions, whether or not successful, could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license. Furthermore, while we intend to protect our intellectual property rights in our expected significant markets, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in which we may wish to market our products or product candidates. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate, which may have an adverse effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates in all of our expected significant foreign markets. If we or our licensors encounter difficulties in protecting, or are otherwise precluded from effectively protecting, the intellectual property rights important for our business in such jurisdictions, the value of these rights may be diminished, and we may face additional competition from others in those jurisdictions.

Changes to patent law, for example the Leahy-Smith America Invests Act, AIA or Leahy-Smith Act, of 2011 and the Patent Reform Act of 2009 and other future article of legislation in the U.S., may substantially change the regulations and procedures surrounding patent applications, issuance of patents, prosecution of patents, challenges to patent validity, and patent enforcement. We can give no assurances that our patents and those of our licensor(s) can be defended or will protect us against future intellectual property challenges, particularly as they pertain to changes in patent law and future patent law interpretations.

In addition, enforcing and maintaining our intellectual property protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and courts, and foreign government patent agencies and courts, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

If we are not able to protect and control our unpatented trade secrets, know-how and other technological innovation, we may suffer competitive harm.

We also rely on proprietary trade secrets and unpatented know-how to protect our research and development activities, particularly when we do not believe that patent protection is appropriate or available. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We will attempt to protect our trade secrets and unpatented know-how by requiring our employees, consultants, collaborators, and advisors to execute a confidentiality and non-use agreement. We cannot guarantee that these agreements will provide meaningful protection, that these agreements will not be breached, that we will have an adequate remedy for any such breach, or that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or independently developed by a third party. Our trade secrets, and those of our present or future collaborators that we utilize by agreement, may become known or may be independently discovered by others, which could adversely affect the competitive position of our product candidates.

We may incur substantial costs enforcing our patents, defending against third-party patents, invalidating third-party patents or licensing third-party intellectual property, as a result of litigation or other proceedings relating to patent and other intellectual property rights.

We may be unaware of or unfamiliar with prior art and/or interpretations of prior art that could potentially impact the validity or scope of our patents or pending patent applications, or patent applications that we will file. We may have elected, or elect now or in the future, not to maintain or pursue intellectual property rights that, at some point in time, may be considered relevant to or enforceable against a competitor.

We take efforts and enter into agreements with employees, consultants, collaborators, and advisors to confirm ownership and chain of title in intellectual property rights. However, an inventorship or ownership dispute could arise that may permit one or more third parties to practice or enforce our intellectual property rights, including possible efforts to enforce rights against us.

We may not have rights under some patents or patent applications that may cover technologies that we use in our research, drug targets that we select, product candidates and particular uses thereof that we seek to develop and commercialize, as well as synthesis of our product candidates. Third parties may own or control these patents and patent applications in the United States and elsewhere. These third parties could bring claims against us or our collaborators that would cause us to incur substantial expenses and, if successful against us, could cause us to pay substantial damages. Further, if a patent infringement suit were brought against us or our collaborators, we or they could be forced to stop or delay research, development, manufacturing or sales of the product or product candidate that is the subject of the suit. We or our collaborators therefore may choose to seek, or be required to seek, a license from the third-party and would most likely be required to pay license fees or royalties or both. These licenses may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Even if we or our collaborators were able to obtain a license, the rights may be nonexclusive, which would give our competitors access to the same intellectual property. Ultimately, we could be prevented from commercializing a product or product candidate, or forced to cease some aspect of our business operations, as a result of patent infringement claims, which could harm our business.

There has been substantial litigation and other legal proceedings regarding patent and other intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Although we are not currently a party to any patent litigation or any other adversarial proceeding, including any interference or derivation proceeding declared or instituted before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products, product candidates and technology, it is possible that we may become so in the future. We are not currently aware of any actual or potential third-party infringement claim involving our product candidates. The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. The outcome of patent litigation is subject to uncertainties that cannot be adequately quantified in advance, including the demeanor and credibility of witnesses and the identity of the adverse party, especially in pharmaceutical and biotechnology related patent cases that may turn on the testimony of experts as to technical facts upon which experts may reasonably disagree. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. If a patent or other proceeding is resolved against us, we may be enjoined from researching, developing, manufacturing or commercializing our products or product candidates without a license from the other party and we may be held liable for significant damages. We may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially acceptable terms or at all.

Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could harm our ability to compete in the marketplace. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time.

If we are unable to protect our intellectual property rights, our competitors may develop and market products with similar features that may reduce demand for our potential products.

The following factors are important to our success:

We will be able to protect our intellectual property rights in patents and trade secrets from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that such intellectual property rights are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets.

Because issues of patentability involve complex legal and factual questions, the issuance, scope and enforceability of patents cannot be predicted with certainty. Patents may be challenged, invalidated, found unenforceable, or circumvented. United States patents and patent applications may be subject to interference and derivation proceedings, United States patents may also be subject to post grant proceedings, including re-examination, derivation, Inter Partes Review and Post Grant Review, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and foreign patents may be subject to opposition or comparable proceedings in corresponding foreign patent offices, which could result in either loss of the patent or denial of the patent application or loss or reduction in the scope of one or more of the claims of the patent or patent application. In addition, such interference, derivation, post grant and opposition proceedings may be costly. Thus, any patents that we own or license from others may not provide any protection against competitors. Furthermore, an adverse decision in an interference or derivation proceeding can result in a third-party receiving the patent rights sought by us, which in turn could affect our ability to market a potential product to which that patent filing was directed. Our pending patent applications, those that we may file in the future, or those that we may license from third parties may not result in patents being issued. If issued, they may not provide us with proprietary protection or competitive advantages against competitors with similar technology. Furthermore, others may independently develop similar technologies or duplicate any technology that we have developed. Many countries, including certain countries in Europe, have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. For example, compulsory licenses may be required in cases where the patent owner has failed to “work” the invention in that country, or the third-party has patented improvements. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of our patents. Moreover, the legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the aggressive enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, which makes it difficult to stop infringement.

In addition, our ability to enforce our patent rights depends on our ability to detect infringement. It is difficult to detect infringers who do not advertise or otherwise promote the compounds that are used in their products. Any litigation to enforce or defend our patent rights, even if we prevail, could be costly and time-consuming and would divert the attention of management and key personnel from business operations.

We will also rely on trade secrets, know-how and technology, which are not protected by patents, to maintain our competitive position. We will seek to protect this information by entering into confidentiality agreements with parties that have access to it, such as strategic partners, collaborators, employees, contractors and consultants. Any of these parties may breach these agreements and disclose our confidential information or our competitors might learn of the information in some other way. If any trade secret, know-how or other technology not protected by a patent were disclosed to, or independently developed by, a competitor, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Current Product Candidate and Future Product Candidates

Our commercial success depends upon attaining significant market acceptance of our current product candidate and future product candidates, if approved, among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and cancer treatment centers.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our current product candidate or any future product candidates, the products may not gain market acceptance among physicians, healthcare payors, patients or the medical community, including cancer treatment centers. Market acceptance of any product candidates for which we receive approval depends on a number of factors, including:

If our current product and any future product candidates are approved but fail to achieve market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors or cancer treatment centers, we will not be able to generate significant revenues, which would compromise our ability to become profitable.

Even if we are able to commercialize our current product candidate or any future product candidates, the products may not receive coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors in the U.S. and in other countries in which we seek to commercialize our products, which could harm our business.

Our ability to commercialize any product successfully will depend, in part, on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for such product and related treatments will be available from third-party payors, including government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations.

Third-party payors determine which medications they will cover and establish reimbursement levels. A primary trend in the healthcare industry is cost containment. Third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. Third-party payors may also seek additional clinical evidence, beyond the data required to obtain regulatory approval, demonstrating clinical benefit and value in specific patient populations before covering our product for those patients. We cannot be sure that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be available for any product that we commercialize and, if coverage is available, what the level of reimbursement will be. Coverage and reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which we obtain regulatory approval. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain regulatory approval.

There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for coverage and reimbursement does not imply that any drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover our costs and may only be temporary. Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs and may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by third-party payors and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the U.S. No uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement exists in the U.S., and coverage and reimbursement can differ significantly from payor to payor. Third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement policies, but also have their own methods and approval process apart from Medicare determinations. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and profitable reimbursement rates from both government-funded and private payors for any approved product that we develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, ability to raise capital needed to commercialize our product and overall financial condition.

Healthcare legislative measures aimed at reducing healthcare costs may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Third-party payors, whether domestic or foreign, or governmental or commercial, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. In both the U.S. and certain international jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could impact our ability to sell our product profitably. In particular, in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) was enacted, which, among other things, subjected biologic products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars, addressed a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, subjected manufacturers to new annual fees and taxes for certain branded prescription drugs, and provided incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research. Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, as well as recent efforts by the current U.S. administration to repeal or repeal and replace certain aspects of the ACA. On December 14, 2018, a U.S. District Court Judge in the Northern District of Texas, or the Texas District Court Judge, ruled that the individual mandate is a critical and inseverable feature of the ACA, and therefore, because it was repealed as a part of the Tax Act, the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. While the Texas District Court Judge, as well as the Trump Administration and CMS, have stated that the ruling will have no immediate effect, it is unclear how this decision, subsequent appeals and other efforts to repeal and replace the ACA will impact the ACA. Until there is more certainty concerning the future of the ACA, it will be difficult to predict its full impact and influence on our business.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the U.S. since the ACA was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in 2013, and will remain in effect through 2027 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the foreign, federal and state levels directed at containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. We cannot predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payors of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare and/or impose price controls may adversely affect:

We expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, lower reimbursement and new payment methodologies. This could lower the price that we receive for any approved product. Any denial in coverage or reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government-funded programs may result in a similar denial or reduction in payments from private payors, which may prevent us from being able to generate sufficient revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our product candidate, if approved.

Price controls may be imposed in foreign markets, which may adversely affect our future profitability.

In some countries, particularly member states of the European Union, the pricing of prescription drugs is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after receipt of regulatory approval for a product. In addition, there can be considerable pressure by governments and other stakeholders on prices and reimbursement levels, including as part of cost containment measures. Political, economic and regulatory developments may further complicate pricing negotiations, and pricing negotiations may continue after reimbursement has been obtained. Reference pricing used by various European Union member states and parallel distribution, or arbitrage between low-priced and high-priced member states, can further reduce prices.

In some countries, we or our collaborators may be required to conduct a clinical trial or other studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of our product candidate to other available therapies in order to obtain or maintain reimbursement or pricing approval. Publication of discounts by third-party payors or authorities may lead to further pressure on the prices or reimbursement levels within the country of publication and other countries. If reimbursement of our product is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be adversely affected.

Risks Related to Healthcare Compliance Regulations

Our relationships with customers and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings. If we or they are unable to comply with these provisions, we may become subject to civil and criminal investigations and proceedings that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare providers, healthcare entities, third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we research, develop and will market, sell and distribute our product. As a pharmaceutical company, even though we do not and will not control referrals of healthcare services or bill directly to Medicare, Medicaid or other third-party payors, federal and state healthcare laws and regulations pertaining to fraud and abuse and patients’ rights are applicable to our business. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include the following:

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, disgorgement, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to not be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could cause significant liability for us and harm our reputation.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct, including intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or similar regulations of comparable foreign regulatory authorities, provide accurate information to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, comply with manufacturing standards we have established, comply with federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations and similar laws and regulations established and enforced by comparable foreign regulatory authorities, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and integrity oversight and reporting obligations.

Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our current product candidate or future product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products that we may develop. Product liability claims may be brought against us by subjects enrolled in our clinical trials, patients, healthcare providers or others using, administering or selling our product. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidate or product caused injuries, we could incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

Prior to engaging in future clinical trials, we intend to obtain product liability insurance coverage at a level that we believe is customary for similarly situated companies and adequate to provide us with insurance coverage for foreseeable risks; however, we may be unable to obtain such coverage at a reasonable cost, if at all. If we are able to obtain product liability insurance, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise and such insurance may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. Furthermore, we intend to expand our insurance coverage for products to include the sale of commercial products if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidate in development, but we may be unable to obtain commercially reasonable product liability insurance for any products that receive regulatory approval. Large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated side effects. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us, particularly if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could decrease our cash and adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to our Business Operations

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.

We will face competition from numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprises, as well as from academic institutions, government agencies and private and public research institutions for our current product candidate. Our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer side effects or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Competition could result in reduced sales and pricing pressure on our current product candidate, if approved, which in turn would reduce our ability to generate meaningful revenues and have a negative impact on our results of operations. In addition, significant delays in the development of our product candidate could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to commercialize our product candidate. The biotechnology industry, including the cancer immunotherapy market, is intensely competitive and involves a high degree of risk. We compete with other companies that have far greater experience and financial, research and technical resources than us. Potential competitors in the U.S. and worldwide are numerous and include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, educational institutions and research foundations, many of which have substantially greater capital resources, marketing experience, research and development staffs and facilities than ours. Some of our competitors may develop and commercialize products that compete directly with those incorporating our technology or may introduce products to market earlier than our product or on a more cost-effective basis. Our competitors compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to our technology. We may face competition with respect to product efficacy and safety, ease of use and adaptability to various modes of administration, acceptance by physicians, the timing and scope of regulatory approvals, availability of resources, reimbursement coverage, price and patent position, including the potentially dominant patent positions of others. An inability to successfully complete our product development or commercializing our product candidate could result in our having limited prospects for establishing market share or generating revenue.

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

As a result of these factors, these competitors may obtain regulatory approval of their products before we are able to obtain patent protection or other intellectual property rights, which will limit our ability to develop or commercialize our current product candidate. Our competitors may also develop drugs that are safer, more effective, more widely used and cheaper than ours, and may also be more successful than us in manufacturing and marketing their products. These appreciable advantages could render our product candidate obsolete or non-competitive before we can recover the expenses of development and commercialization.

Our business may be adversely affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has evolved into a global pandemic. The coronavirus has spread to many regions of the world. The extent to which the coronavirus impacts our business and operating results will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the coronavirus and the actions to contain the coronavirus or treat its impact, among others.

As a result of the continuing spread of the coronavirus, our business operations could be delayed or interrupted. For instance, our clinical trials may be affected by the pandemic. Site initiation, participant recruitment and enrollment, participant dosing, distribution of clinical trial materials, study monitoring and data analysis may be paused or delayed due to changes in hospital or university policies, federal, state or local regulations, prioritization of hospital resources toward pandemic efforts, or other reasons related to the pandemic. If the coronavirus continues to spread, some participants and clinical investigators may not be able to comply with clinical trial protocols. For example, quarantines or other travel limitations (whether voluntary or required) may impede participant movement, affect sponsor access to study sites, or interrupt healthcare services, and we may be unable to conduct our clinical trials. Further, if the spread of the coronavirus pandemic continues and our operations are adversely impacted, we risk a delay, default and/or non-performance under existing agreements which may increase our costs. These cost increases may not be fully recoverable or adequately covered by insurance.

Infections and deaths related to the pandemic may disrupt the United States’ healthcare and healthcare regulatory systems. Such disruptions could divert healthcare resources away from, or materially delay FDA review and/or approval with respect to, our clinical trials. It is unknown how long these disruptions could continue, were they to occur. Any elongation or de-prioritization of our clinical trials or delay in regulatory review resulting from such disruptions could materially affect the development and study of our product candidates.

We currently utilize third parties to, among other things, manufacture raw materials. If either any third-party parties in the supply chain for materials used in the production of our product candidates are adversely impacted by restrictions resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, our supply chain may be disrupted, limiting our ability to manufacture our product candidates for our clinical trials and research and development operations.

As a result of the shelter-in-place order and other mandated local travel restrictions, our employees conducting research and development or manufacturing activities may not be able to access their laboratory or manufacturing space which may result in our core activities being significantly limited or curtailed, possibly for an extended period of time.

The spread of the coronavirus, which has caused a broad impact globally, including restrictions on travel and quarantine policies put into place by businesses and governments, may have a material economic effect on our business. While the potential economic impact brought by and the duration of the pandemic may be difficult to assess or predict, it has already caused, and is likely to result in further, significant disruption of global financial markets, which may reduce our ability to access capital either at all or on favorable terms. In addition, a recession, depression or other sustained adverse market event resulting from the spread of the coronavirus could materially and adversely affect our business and the value of our common stock.

The ultimate impact of the current pandemic, or any other health epidemic, is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of potential delays or impacts on our business, our clinical trials, our research programs, healthcare systems or the global economy as a whole. However, these effects could have a material impact on our operations, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Significant disruptions of information technology systems, computer system failures or breaches of information security could adversely affect our business.

We rely to a large extent upon sophisticated information technology systems to operate our business. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store and transmit large amounts of confidential information (including, but not limited to, personal information and intellectual property). The size and complexity of our information technology and information security systems, and those of our third-party vendors with whom we may contract, make such systems potentially vulnerable to service interruptions or to security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions by our employees or vendors, or from malicious attacks by third parties. Such attacks are of ever-increasing levels of sophistication and are made by groups and individuals with a wide range of motives (including, but not limited to, industrial espionage and market manipulation) and expertise. While we intend to invest in the protection of data and information technology, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent service interruptions or security breaches.

Our internal computer systems, and those of our CROs, our CMOs, and other business vendors on which we may rely, are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, fire, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. We exercise little or no control over these third parties, which increases our vulnerability to problems with their systems. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our drug development programs. Any interruption or breach in our systems could adversely affect our business operations and/or result in the loss of critical or sensitive confidential information or intellectual property, and could result in financial, legal, business and reputational harm to us or allow third parties to gain material, inside information that they use to trade in our securities. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or ongoing clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability, the further development of our current and future product candidates could be delayed and our business could be otherwise adversely affected.

We will need to grow the size of our organization in the future, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.

As of March 12, 2021, we had three full-time employees and one part-time employee. We will need to grow the size of our organization in order to support our continued development and potential commercialization of our product candidate. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies continue to develop, our need for additional managerial, operational, manufacturing, sales, marketing, financial and other resources may increase. Our management, personnel and systems currently in place may not be adequate to support this future growth. Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:

If our operations expand, we will also need to manage additional relationships with various strategic partners, suppliers and other third parties. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidate and to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to manage any future growth effectively, as well as our ability to develop a sales and marketing force when appropriate for our company. To that end, we must be able to manage our development efforts and preclinical studies and clinical trials effectively and hire, train and integrate additional management, research and development, manufacturing, administrative and sales and marketing personnel. The failure to accomplish any of these tasks could prevent us from successfully growing our company.

Inadequate funding for the FDA, the SEC and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.

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

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

Risks Related to Owning our Common Stock

We are a “smaller reporting company” and we have elected to comply with certain reduced reporting and disclosure requirements which could make its common stock less attractive to investors.

We are a “smaller reporting company,” as defined in the Regulation S-K of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which allows us to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not smaller reporting companies, including (1) not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and (2) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. In addition, as an emerging growth company, we are only required to provide two years of audited financial statements in this document. As a result of these reduced reporting and disclosure requirements our financial statements may not be comparable to SEC registrants not classified as emerging growth companies.

We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

Our independent registered public accounting firm is not be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until we are no longer a “smaller reporting company”. We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal controls in the future.

Investors may find our common stock less attractive as a result of our election to utilize these exemptions, which could result in a less active trading market for our common stock and/or the market price of our common stock may be more volatile.

The Warrants are speculative in nature.

The Warrants offered in our November 2020 public offering do not confer any rights of common stock ownership on their holders, such as voting rights or the right to receive dividends, but rather merely represent the right to acquire shares of common stock at a fixed price. Specifically, holders of the Warrants may exercise their right to acquire the common stock and pay an exercise price of $5.70 per share. Furthermore, each Warrant will expire five (5) years from the original issuance date. In the event our common stock price does not exceed the exercise price of the Warrants during the period when the Warrants are exercisable, the Warrants may not have any value.

Holders of the Warrants will have no rights as a common stockholder until they acquire our common stock.

Until the acquisition of shares of our common stock upon exercise of the Warrants, a holder will have no rights with respect to shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrant. Upon exercise of a Warrant, a holder will be entitled to exercise the rights of a common stockholder as to the security exercised only as to matters for which the record date occurs after the exercise.

There is a limited market for the Warrants to purchase shares of our common stock.

Although the Warrants are currently trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market, there can be no assurance that there will be an active trading market for the Warrants. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the Warrants will be limited.

Provisions of the Warrants could discourage an acquisition of us by a third party.

Certain provisions of the Warrants could make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire us. The Warrants prohibit us from engaging in certain transactions constituting “fundamental transactions” unless, among other things, the surviving entity assumes our obligations under the Warrants. These and other provisions of the Warrants could prevent or deter a third party from acquiring us even where the acquisition could be beneficial to you.

The price of our common stock or Warrants may fluctuate substantially.

You should consider an investment in our common stock and Warrants to be risky. Some factors that may cause the market price of our common stock or Warrants to fluctuate, in addition to the other risks mentioned in this “Risk Factors”, are:

In addition, if the market for stocks in our industry or industries related to our industry, or the stock market in general, experiences a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of the foregoing occurs, it could cause our stock price to fall and may expose us to lawsuits that, even if unsuccessful, could be costly to defend and a distraction to management.

A sale or perceived sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

In connection with our recent public offering of shares of our common stock and Warrants, all of our executive officers and directors and certain of our stockholders and warrant holders have agreed not to sell shares of our common stock for a period of 180 days (until May 30, 2021), subject to extension under specified circumstances. Common stock subject to these lock-up agreements will become eligible for sale in the public market upon expiration of these lock-up agreements, subject to limitations imposed by Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. If our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the market price of our common stock could fall. Moreover, the perceived risk of this potential dilution could cause stockholders to attempt to sell their shares and investors to short our common stock. These sales also may make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate.

Market and economic conditions may negatively impact our business, financial condition and share price.

Concerns over medical epidemics, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the U.S. mortgage market and a deteriorating real estate market, unstable global credit markets and financial conditions, and volatile oil prices have led to periods of significant economic instability, diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence and discretionary spending, diminished expectations for the global economy and expectations of slower global economic growth, increased unemployment rates, and increased credit defaults in recent years. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturns (including the current downturn related to the current COVID-19 pandemic), volatile business environments and continued unstable or unpredictable economic and market conditions. If these conditions continue to deteriorate or do not improve, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult to complete, more costly, and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance, and share price and could require us to delay or abandon development or commercialization plans.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish unfavorable research or reports about our business, our stock price and trading volume may decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us, our business, our markets and our competitors. We do not control these analysts. If securities analysts do not cover our common stock, the lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or if those analysts issue other unfavorable commentary about us or our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the market and interest in our stock could decrease, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline and may also impair our ability to expand our business with existing customers and attract new customers.

Because certain of our stockholders control a significant number of shares of our common stock, they may have effective control over actions requiring stockholder approval.

Our directors, executive officers and principal stockholders, and their respective affiliates, currently beneficially own approximately 75% of our outstanding shares of common stock, based on 13,538,259 shares of common stock currently issued and outstanding. This percentage increases to approximately 76% in the event that the shares of our Series A Preferred Stock are converted into shares of common stock. As a result, these stockholders, acting together, would have the ability to control the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. In addition, these stockholders, acting together, would have the ability to control the management and affairs of our company. Accordingly, this concentration of ownership might harm the market price of our common stock by:

Future sales and issuances of our common stock could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our share price to fall.

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

We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our shares of common stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our shares.

We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the increase, if any, of our share price.

We may be at risk of securities class action litigation.

We may be at risk of securities class action litigation. In the past, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have experienced significant stock price volatility, particularly when associated with binary events such as clinical trials and product approvals. If we face such litigation, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business and results in a decline in the market price of our common stock.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws, and Delaware law may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control, which may cause our stock price to decline.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws, and Delaware law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if closing such a transaction would be beneficial to our stockholders. We are authorized to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock. This preferred stock may be issued in one or more series, the terms of which may be determined at the time of issuance by our Board of Directors without further action by stockholders. The terms of any series of preferred stock may include voting rights (including the right to vote as a series on particular matters), preferences as to dividend, liquidation, conversion and redemption rights and sinking fund provisions. As of March 12, 2021, we have designated 350,000 shares of preferred stock as Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, all of which are issued and outstanding. The issuance of any preferred stock could materially adversely affect the rights of the holders of our common stock, and therefore, reduce the value of our common stock. In particular, specific rights granted to future holders of preferred stock could be used to restrict our ability to merge with, or sell our assets to, a third party and thereby preserve control by the present management.

Provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws and Delaware law also could have the effect of discouraging potential acquisition proposals or making a tender offer or delaying or preventing a change in control, including changes a stockholder might consider favorable. Such provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management. In particular, the certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law, as applicable, among other things:

Financial reporting obligations of being a public company in the U.S. are expensive and time-consuming, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance matters.

As a publicly traded company we incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses. The obligations of being a public company in the U.S. require significant expenditures and will place significant demands on our management and other personnel, including costs resulting from public company reporting obligations under the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations regarding corporate governance practices, including those under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the listing requirements of the stock exchange on which our securities are listed. These rules require the establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and procedures, internal control over financial reporting and changes in corporate governance practices, among many other complex rules that are often difficult to implement, monitor and maintain compliance with. Moreover, despite recent reforms made possible by the JOBS Act, the reporting requirements, rules, and regulations will make some activities more time-consuming and costly, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company”. In addition, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements and to keep pace with new regulations, otherwise we may fall out of compliance and risk becoming subject to litigation or being delisted, among other potential problems.

If we fail to comply with the rules under Sarbanes-Oxley related to accounting controls and procedures in the future, or, if we discover material weaknesses and other deficiencies in our internal control and accounting procedures, our stock price could decline significantly and raising capital could be more difficult.

Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to comply with the rules under Sarbanes-Oxley related to disclosure controls and procedures in the future, or, if we discover material weaknesses and other deficiencies in our internal control and accounting procedures, our stock price could decline significantly and raising capital could be more difficult. If material weaknesses or significant deficiencies are discovered or if we otherwise fail to achieve and maintain the adequacy of our internal control, we may not be able to ensure that we can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. Moreover, effective internal controls are necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and are important to helping prevent financial fraud. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our business and operating results could be harmed, investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information, and the trading price of our common stock could drop significantly.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

None.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The Company is not a party to any threatened or pending legal proceedings.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Effective November 25, 2020, the Company’s common stock and Warrants began to trade on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “LIXT” and “LIXTW”, respectively. Prior to November 30, 2020, the Company’s common stock traded on the OTCQB. The stock market in general has experienced extreme stock price fluctuations in the past few years. In some cases, these fluctuations have been unrelated to the operating performance of the affected companies. Many companies have experienced dramatic volatility in the market prices of their common stock. The Company believes that a number of factors, both within and outside its control, could cause the price of the Company’s common stock to fluctuate, perhaps substantially.

The following table sets forth the range of reported closing prices of the Company’s common stock during the periods presented. Such quotations reflect prices between dealers in securities and do not include any retail mark-up, markdown or commissions, and may not necessarily represent actual transactions.

All share and per share amounts and information presented herein have been retroactively adjusted for all periods presented to reflect the 1-for-6 reverse stock split effected November 18, 2020.

Holders

As of March 12, 2021, the Company had 61 stockholders of record holding 13,538,259 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding, including 7,096,582 shares of common stock held by an indeterminate number of beneficial owners of securities whose shares are held in the names of various depository accounts, brokerage firms and clearing agencies.

Dividends

The Company’s dividend policy is determined by its Board of Directors and will depend upon a number of factors, including the Company’s financial condition and performance, its cash needs and expansion plans, income tax consequences, and the restrictions that applicable laws and any credit or other contractual arrangements may then impose. The Company has not paid any cash dividends on its common stock to date and at the current time the Company does not anticipate paying a cash dividend on its common stock in the foreseeable future.

Securities Authorized For Issuance Under Equity Incentive Plans

Set forth in the table below is information regarding awards made through compensation plans or arrangements through December 31, 2020, the most recently completed fiscal year.

(1) The Company’s 2007 Stock Option Plan terminated on June 19, 2017. The 2,133,333 shares that remain available are pursuant to the Company’s 2020 Stock Incentive Plan, which was adopted on July 14, 2020 (see “ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION”).

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

Not applicable.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Overview

The Company is a drug discovery company that uses biomarker technology to identify enzyme targets associated with serious common diseases and then designs novel compounds to attack those targets. The Company’s product pipeline is primarily focused on inhibitors of protein phosphatases, used alone and in combination with cytotoxic agents and/or x-ray and immune checkpoint blockers, and encompasses two major categories of compounds at various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development that the Company believes have broad therapeutic potential not only for cancer but also for other debilitating and life-threatening diseases.

The Company’s activities are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the need for additional capital. The Company has not yet commenced any revenue-generating operations, does not have positive cash flows from operations, and is dependent on periodic infusions of equity capital to fund its operating requirements.

Reverse Stock Split

On November 18, 2020, the Company effected a 1-for-6 reverse split of its outstanding shares of common stock. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the reverse split, with any fractional shares resulting from the reverse split were rounded up to the nearest whole share.

All share and per share amounts and information presented herein have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the reverse stock split for all periods presented.

Sale of Common Stock

Effective March 2, 2021, the Company completed the sale of 1,133,102 shares of common stock at a price of $3.70 per share in a registered direct equity offering, generating gross proceeds of $4,192,477. The total cash costs of this offering were approximately $502,447, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $3,690,030. Pursuant to the placement agents’ agreement, the Company granted to the placement agents warrants to purchase up to 113,310 shares of common stock commencing on March 2, 2021 and expiring on March 2, 2026, at an exercise price of $3.70 per share.

Going Concern

At December 31, 2020, the Company had cash of $5,069,266 available to fund its operations. Because the Company is currently engaged in Phase 2 clinical trials, it is expected that it will take a significant amount of time and resources to develop any product or intellectual property capable of generating sustainable revenues. Accordingly, the Company’s business is unlikely to generate any sustainable operating revenues in the next several years and may never do so. Even if the Company is able to generate revenues through licensing its technologies or through product sales, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to achieve positive earnings and operating cash flows.

The Company’s consolidated financial statements have been presented on the basis that it will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has no recurring source of revenue and has experienced negative operating cash flows since inception. The Company has financed its working capital requirements primarily through the recurring sale of its equity securities.

As a result, management has concluded that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the date that the accompanying consolidated financial statements have been issued. The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, in its report on the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, has also expressed substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Company’s consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards board (the “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (“ASU 2019-12”). ASU 2019-12 simplifies the accounting for income taxes by removing certain exceptions and enhances and simplifies various aspects of the income tax accounting guidance in ASC 740. ASU 2019-12 will be effective January 1, 2021. The adoption of ASU 2019-12 is not expected to have any impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statement presentation or disclosures subsequent to its adoption.

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06). ASU 2020-06 simplifies the accounting for convertible debt by eliminating the beneficial conversion and cash conversion accounting models. Upon adoption of ASU 2020-06, convertible debt proceeds, unless issued with a substantial premium or an embedded conversion feature that is not clearly and closely related to the host contract, will no longer be allocated between debt and equity components. This modification will reduce the issue discount and result in less non-cash interest expense in financial statements. ASU 2020-06 also updates the earnings per share calculation and requires entities to assume share settlement when the convertible debt can be settled in cash or shares. ASU 2020-06 will be effective January 1, 2024, and a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings is required upon adoption. Early adoption is permitted, but no earlier than January 1, 2021, including interim periods within that year. The adoption of ASU 2020-06 is not expected to have any impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statement presentation or disclosures subsequent to its adoption, with any effect being largely dependent on the composition and terms of outstanding financial instruments at the time of adoption.

Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, authoritative guidance, if currently adopted, would have a material impact on the Company’s financial statement presentation or disclosures.

Concentration of Risk

The Company periodically contracts with vendors and consultants to provide services related to the Company’s operations. Charges incurred for these services can be for a specific time period (typically one year) or for a specific project or task. Costs and expenses incurred that represented 10% or more of general and administrative costs or research and development costs for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 are described as follows.

General and administrative costs for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 include charges from a legal firm for general licensing and patent prosecution costs relating to the Company’s intellectual properties representing 27.3% and 44.5%, respectively, of total general and administrative costs. General and administrative costs for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 also include charges for the amortized value of stock options granted to directors and officers representing 23.7% and 18.8%, respectively, of total general and administrative costs.

Research and development costs for the year ended December 31, 2020 include charges from a consultant, and the value associated with extending stock options previously granted to that consultant, representing 65.6% of total research and development costs, and charges from a vendor representing 13.7% of total research and development costs. Research and development costs for the year ended December 31, 2019 include charges for the value associated with fully-vested stock options granted to a consultant representing 52.9% of total research and development costs, and charges from a consultant and from a vendor representing 12.2% and 10.7%, respectively, of total research and development costs.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Some of those judgments can be subjective and complex, and therefore, actual results could differ materially from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various assumptions that are believed to be reasonable in relation to the financial statements taken as a whole under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Management regularly evaluates the key factors and assumptions used to develop the estimates utilizing currently available information, changes in facts and circumstances, historical experience and reasonable assumptions. After such evaluations, if deemed appropriate, those estimates are adjusted accordingly. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Significant estimates include those related to assumptions used in accruals for potential liabilities, valuing equity instruments issued for services, and the realization of deferred tax assets.

The following critical accounting policies affect the more significant judgements and estimates used in the preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Research and Development

Research and development costs consist primarily of fees paid to consultants and contractors, and other expenses relating to the acquisition, design, development and clinical trials with respect to the Company’s compounds and product candidates. Research and development costs also include the costs to produce the compounds used in research and clinical trials.

Research and development costs are charged to operations ratably over the life of the underlying contracts, unless the achievement of milestones, the completion of contracted work, or other information indicates that a different expensing schedule is more appropriate.

Obligations incurred with respect to mandatory scheduled payments under research agreements with milestone provisions are recognized as charges to research and development costs in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations based on the achievement of such milestones, as specified in the agreement. Obligations incurred with respect to mandatory scheduled payments under research agreements without milestone provisions are recognized ratably over the appropriate period, as specified in the agreement, and are recorded as liabilities in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet, with a corresponding charge to research and development costs in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations.

Payments made pursuant to research and development contracts are initially recorded as advances on research and development contract services in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet and are then charged to research and development costs in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations as those contract services are performed. Expenses incurred under research and development contracts in excess of amounts advanced are recorded as research and development contract liabilities in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet, with a corresponding charge to research and development costs in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations. The Company reviews the status of its research and development contracts on a quarterly basis.

Patent and Licensing Related Legal and Filing Costs

Due to the significant uncertainty associated with the successful development of one or more commercially viable products based on the Company’s research efforts and related patent applications, all patent-related legal and filing fees and licensing-related legal fees are charged to operations as incurred. Patent and licensing related legal and filing costs are included in general and administrative costs in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company periodically issues common stock and stock options to officers, directors, employees, Scientific Advisory Committee members, contractors and consultants for services rendered. Options vest and expire according to terms established at the issuance date of each grant. Stock grants, which are generally time vested, are measured at the grant date fair value and charged to operations ratably over the vesting period.

The Company accounts for stock-based payments to officers, directors, employees, Scientific Advisory Committee members contractors and consultants by measuring the cost of services received in exchange for equity awards utilizing the grant date fair value of the awards, with the cost recognized as compensation expense on the straight-line basis in the Company’s financial statements over the vesting period of the awards.

The fair value of stock options granted as stock-based compensation is determined utilizing the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, and is affected by several variables, the most significant of which are the expected life of the stock option, the exercise price of the stock option as compared to the fair market value of the common stock on the grant date, and the estimated volatility of the common stock. Unless sufficient historical exercise data is available, the expected life of the stock option is calculated as the mid-point between the vesting period and the contractual term (the “simplified method”). Estimated volatility is based on the historical volatility of the Company’s common stock, calculated utilizing a look-back period approximately equal to the contractual life of the stock option being granted. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant. The fair market value of the common stock is determined by reference to the quoted market price of the Company’s common stock on the grant date.

The Company recognizes the fair value of stock-based compensation awards in general and administrative costs and in research and development costs, as appropriate, in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations. The Company issues new shares of common stock to satisfy stock option exercises.

Summary of Business Activities and Plans

Company Overview

The Company is a drug discovery company that uses biomarker technology to identify enzyme targets associated with serious common diseases and then designs novel compounds to attack those targets. The Company’s product pipeline is primarily focused on inhibitors of protein phosphatases, used alone and in combination with cytotoxic agents and/or x-ray and immune checkpoint blockers, and encompasses two major categories of compounds at various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development that the Company believes have broad therapeutic potential not only for cancer but also for other debilitating and life-threatening diseases.

The Company has developed two series of pharmacologically active drugs, the LB-100 series and the LB-200 series. The Company believes that the mechanism by which compounds of the LB-100 series affect cancer cell growth is different from cancer agents currently approved for clinical use. Lead compounds from each series have activity against a broad spectrum of common and rarer human cancers in cell culture systems. In addition, compounds from both series have anti-cancer activity in animal models of glioblastoma multiforme, neuroblastoma, and medulloblastoma, all cancers of neural tissue. Lead compounds of the LB-100 series also have activity against melanoma, breast cancer and sarcoma in animal models and enhance the effectiveness of commonly used anti-cancer drugs in these model systems. The enhancement of anti-cancer activity of these anti-cancer drugs occurs at doses of LB-100 that do not significantly increase toxicity in animals. It is therefore hoped that, when combined with standard anti-cancer regimens against many tumor types, the Company’s compounds will improve therapeutic benefit without enhancing toxicity in humans.

Product Candidates

The LB-100 series consists of novel structures which have the potential to be first in their class and may be useful in the treatment of not only several types of cancer but also vascular and metabolic diseases. The LB-200 series contains compounds which have the potential to be the most effective in its class and may be useful for the treatment of chronic hereditary diseases, such as Gaucher’s disease, in addition to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

The Company has demonstrated that lead compounds of both the LB-100 series and the LB-200 are active against a broad spectrum of human cancers in cell culture and against several types of human cancers in animal models. The research on these compounds was initiated in 2006 under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, with the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke, or NINDS, of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, dated March 22, 2006 that was subsequently extended through a series of amendments until it terminated on April 1, 2013. As discussed below, the Company’s primary focus is on the clinical development of LB-100.

The LB-200 series consists of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi). Many pharmaceutical companies are also developing drugs of this type, and at least two companies have HDACi approved for clinical use, in both cases for the treatment of a type of lymphoma. Despite this significant competition, the Company has demonstrated that its HDACi have broad activity against many cancer types, have neuroprotective activity, and have anti-fungal activity. In addition, these compounds have low toxicity. LB-200 has not yet advanced to the clinical stage and would require additional capital to fund further development. Accordingly, because of the Company’s focus on the clinical development of LB-100 and analogs for cancer therapy as described below in more detail, the Company have decided not to actively pursue the pre-clinical development of our LB-200 series of compounds at this time. At this time, the Company intend to only maintain composition of matter patents for LB-200.

Collaborations with leading academic research centers in the United States, Europe and Asia have established the breadth of activity of LB-100 in pre-clinical models of several major cancers. There is considerable scientific interest in LB-100 because it exerts its activity by a novel mechanism and is the first of its type to be evaluated so broadly in multiple animal models of cancer and now in human beings. LB-100 is one of a series of serine/threonine phosphatase (s/t ptase) inhibitors designed by the Company. The s/t ptases are ubiquitous enzymes that regulate many cell signaling networks important to cell growth, division and death. The s/t ptases have long been appreciated as potentially important targets for anti-cancer drugs. However, because of the multi- functionality of these enzymes, it had been widely held that pharmacologic inhibitors of s/t ptases would be too toxic to allow their development as anti-cancer treatments, but the Company has shown that this is not the case. LB-100 was well tolerated at doses associated with objective regression (significant tumor shrinkage) and/or the arresting of tumor progression in patients with progressive cancers.

Pre-clinical studies showed that LB-100 itself inhibits a spectrum of human cancers and that combined with standard cytotoxic drugs and/or radiation, LB-100 potentiates their effectiveness against hematologic and solid tumor cancers without enhancing toxicity. Given at very low doses in animal models of cancer, LB-100 markedly increased the effectiveness of a PD-1 blocker, one of the widely used new immunotherapy drugs. This finding raises the possibility that LB-100 may further expand the value of the expanding field of cancer immunotherapy.

The Company completed a Phase 1 clinical trial of LB-100 to evaluate its safety that showed it is associated with antitumor activity in humans at doses that are readily tolerable. Responses included objective regression (tumor shrinkage) lasting for 11 months of a pancreatic cancer and cessation of growth (stabilization of disease) for 4 months or more of 9 other progressive solid tumors out of 20 patients who had measurable disease. As Phase 1 clinical trials are fundamentally designed to determine safety of a new compound in humans, the Company was encouraged by these results. The next step is to demonstrate in Phase 2 clinical trials the efficacy of LB-100 in one or more specific tumor types, against which the compound has well documented activity in pre-clinical models.

As a compound moves through the FDA-approval process, it becomes an increasingly valuable property, but at a cost of additional investment at each stage. As the potential effectiveness of LB-100 has been documented at the clinical trial level, the Company has allocated resources to expand the breadth and depth of its patent portfolio. The Company’s approach has been to operate with a minimum of overhead, moving compounds forward as efficiently and inexpensively as possible, and to raise funds to support each of these stages as certain milestones are reached. The Company’s longer-term objective is to secure one or more strategic partnerships or licensing agreements with pharmaceutical companies with major programs in cancer.

Impact of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Company’s Business Operations

The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to severe disruptions in general economic activities worldwide, as businesses and governments have taken broad actions to mitigate this public health crisis. In light of the uncertain and continually evolving situation relating to the spread of COVID-19, this pandemic could pose a risk to the Company. The extent to which the coronavirus may impact the Company’s business operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time. The Company intends to continue to monitor the situation and may adjust its current business plans as more information and guidance become available.

The coronavirus pandemic presents a challenge to medical facilities worldwide. As the Company’s clinical trials are conducted on an outpatient basis, it is not currently possible to predict the full impact of this developing health crisis on such clinical trials, which could include delays in and increased costs of such clinical trials. Current indications from the clinical research organizations conducting the clinical trials for the Company are that such clinical trials are being delayed or extended for several months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

There is also significant uncertainty as to the effect that the coronavirus may have on the amount and type of financing available to the Company in the future.

Results of Operations

At December 31, 2020, the Company had not yet commenced any revenue-generating operations, does not have any positive cash flows from operations, and is dependent on its ability to raise equity capital to fund its operating requirements.

The Company’s consolidated statements of operations as discussed herein are presented below.

Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019

Revenues. The Company did not have any revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

General and Administrative Costs. For the year ended December 31, 2020, general and administrative costs were $2,042,764, which consisted of the fair value of vested stock options issued to officers and consultants of $580,634, patent and licensing legal fees and costs of $553,173, other consulting and professional fees of $403,983, insurance expense of $142,575, officer’s salary and related costs of $268,457, licensing fees of $25,001, stock transfer fees of $11,801, listing fees of $12,000, filing fees of $10,616, travel of $718, and other operating costs of $33,806.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, general and administrative costs were $1,669,160, which consisted of the fair value of vested stock options issued to officers and consultants of $314,631, patent and licensing legal fees and costs of $742,918, other consulting and professional fees of $350,534, insurance expense of $55,935, officer’s salary and related costs of $67,684, licensing fees of $80,669, stock transfer fees of $10,202, listing fees of $12,000, filing fees of $10,016, travel of $4,703, and other operating costs of $19,868.

General and administrative costs increased by $373,604 or 22.4% in 2020 as compared to 2019, primarily as a result of an increase in the fair value of vested stock options issued to officers and consultants of $266,003, an increase in officer’s salary and related costs of $200,773, an increase in insurance expense of $86,640, offset by a decrease in patent and licensing legal fees and costs of $189,745.

Research and Development Costs. For the year December 31, 2020, research and development costs were $1,223,676, which consisted of the fair value of vested stock options issued to consultants of $670,715, and contractor costs, primarily in connection with the Company’s pre-clinical research focused on the development of additional novel anti-cancer compounds to add to its clinical pipeline, including $43,411 to GEIS, $41,142 to Moffitt, $31,388 to Theradex, $131,650 to BioPharmaWorks, $167,120 to a contract research and development firm for the synthesis work to develop a new supply of LB-100 for the GEIS clinical trial, and $138,250 to various other contractors.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, research and development costs were $820,906, which consisted of the fair value of vested stock options issued to consultants of $434,024, and contractor costs, primarily in connection with the Company’s pre-clinical research focused on the development of additional novel anti-cancer compounds to add to its clinical pipeline, including $87,471 to GEIS, $45,093 to Moffitt, $64,624 to Theradex, $100,000 to BioPharmaWorks and $89,694 to various other contractors.

Research and development costs increased by $402,770 in 2020 as compared to 2019, primarily as a result of an increase in the fair value of vested stock options issued to consultants of $236,691 and an increase in contractor costs, primarily in connection with the Company’s pre-clinical research focused on the development of additional novel anti-cancer compounds to add to its clinical pipeline.

Interest Income. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company had interest income of $5,232, as compared to interest income of $49,723 for the year ended December 31, 2019, as a result of a reduction in the Company’s cash resources previously invested in short-term federally insured certificates of deposit.

Interest Expense. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company had interest expense of $3,674 related to the financing of its directors and officers liability insurance premium. The Company had no interest expense during the year ended December 31, 2019.

Net Loss. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred a net loss of $3,264,882, as compared to a net loss of $2,440,343 for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Liquidity and Capital Resources – December 31, 2020

At December 31, 2020, the Company had working capital of $5,011,951, as compared to working capital of $2,434,135 at December 31, 2019, reflecting an increase in working capital of $2,577,816 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in working capital during the year ended December 31, 2020 was the result of the net cash proceeds of $4,591,349 from the Company’s November 2020 public offering, which are being utilized to fund the Company’s research and development activities and ongoing operating expenses, including the Company’s clinical trial program and maintaining and developing the patent portfolio. At December 31, 2020, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $5,069,266 available to fund its operations.

The Company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to raise additional equity capital to fund its research and development activities and to ultimately achieve sustainable operating revenues and profitability. The amount and timing of future cash requirements depends on the pace and design of the Company’s clinical trial program, which, in turn, depends on the availability of operating capital to fund such activities.

Effective November 30, 2020, the Company listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market in conjunction with the completion of its public offering of units of common stock and warrants that generated net cash proceeds of $4,591,349. Subsequently, on January 18, 2021, the Company entered into a clinical trial agreement to carry out a Phase 1b clinical trial of LB-100, combined with a standard regimen for untreated, extensive stage-disease small cell lung cancer. This new clinical trial is being conducted through City of Hope, and is estimated to cost from $2,500,000 to $2,900,000 and take approximately 18 to 24 months to conduct from its expected commencement during the quarter ending June 30, 2021. Combined with the Company’s existing clinical trial commitments, this new clinical trial commitment represents an additional demand on the Company’s working capital resources. Although the Company completed a sale of common stock under a registered direct equity offering on March 2, 2021 that generated net proceeds of approximately $3,690,000, the Company estimates that it will need to raise additional capital to fund its operations, including its various clinical trial commitments, by mid-2022. In addition, the Company’s operating plan may change as a result of many factors which are currently unknown to the Company, including possible additional clinical trials, and the Company may need additional funds sooner than currently planned.

As market conditions present uncertainty as to the Company’s ability to secure additional funds, there can be no assurances that the Company will be able to secure additional financing on acceptable terms, as and when necessary to continue to conduct operations. There is also significant uncertainty as to the effect that the coronavirus may have on the Company’s clinical trial schedule and the amount and type of financing available to the Company in the future.

If cash resources are insufficient to satisfy the Company’s ongoing cash requirements, the Company would be required to scale back or discontinue its clinical trial program, as well as its licensing and patent prosecution efforts and its technology and product development efforts, or obtain funds, if available, through strategic alliances or joint ventures that could require the Company to relinquish rights to and/or control of LB-100, or to discontinue operations entirely.

Operating Activities. For the year ended December 31, 2020, operating activities utilized cash of $2,131,414, as compared to utilizing cash of $1,674,148 for the year ended December 31, 2019, to fund the Company’s ongoing research and development activities and to fund its other ongoing operating expenses, including maintaining and developing its patent portfolio.

Investing Activities. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company had no investing activities.

Financing Activities. For the year December 31, 2020, financing activities consisted of the gross proceeds from the sales of units and warrants in the Company’s public offering of $5,701,800, offset by the payment of offering costs of $1,099,984. The Company had no financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Principal Commitments

Clinical Trial Agreements

Moffitt. Effective August 20, 2018, the Company entered into a Clinical Trial Research Agreement with the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Hospital Inc., Tampa, Florida (“Moffitt”), effective for a term of five years, unless terminated earlier by the Company pursuant to 30 days written notice. Pursuant to the Clinical Trial Research Agreement, Moffitt agreed to conduct and manage a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of the Company’s lead anti-cancer clinical compound LB-100 to be administered intravenously in patients with low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

In November 2018, the Company received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”) to conduct a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of LB-100 in patients with low and intermediate-1 risk MDS who have failed or are intolerant of standard treatment. Patients with MDS, although usually older, are generally well except for severe anemia requiring frequent blood transfusions. This Phase 1b/2 clinical trial utilizes LB-100 as a single agent in the treatment of patients with low and intermediate-1 risk MDS, including patients with del(5q) myelodysplastic syndrome (del5qMDS) failing first line therapy. The bone marrow cells of patients with del5qMDS are deficient in PP2A by virtue of an acquired mutation and are especially vulnerable to further inhibition of PP2A by LB-100. The clinical trial began at a single site in April 2019 and the first patient was entered into the clinical trial in July 2019. A total enrollment of 41 patients is planned. An interim analysis will be done after the first 21 patients are entered. If there are 3 or more responders but fewer than 7, an additional 20 patients will be entered. If at any point there are 7 or more responders, this will be sufficient evidence to support continued development of LB-100 for the treatment of low and intermediate-1 risk MDS. Recruitment has been slow and the Covid-19 pandemic has further reduced recruitment of patients into the protocol. At the current rate of accrual, the trial would be completed over a period of four years from its initiation, with the final analysis and reporting expected by July 2023. However, with additional funds, the Company’s objective would be to add two additional MDS centers to the Phase 2 portion of the study to accelerate patient accrual, with the goal of an earlier reporting date.

During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company paid Moffitt $41,142 and $45,093, respectively, pursuant to this agreement. As of December 31, 2020, total costs of $102,944 have been incurred pursuant to this agreement.

GEIS. Effective July 31, 2019, the Company entered into a Collaboration Agreement for an Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trial with the Spanish Sarcoma Group (Grupo Español de Investigación en Sarcomas or “GEIS”), Madrid, Spain, to carry out a study entitled “Randomized phase I/II trial of LB-100 plus doxorubicin vs. doxorubicin alone in first line of advanced soft tissue sarcoma”. The purpose of this clinical trial is to obtain information about the efficacy and safety of LB-100 combined with doxorubicin in soft tissue sarcomas. Doxorubicin is the global standard for initial treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas (“ASTS”). Doxorubicin alone has been the mainstay of first line treatment of ASTS for over 40 years, with little therapeutic gain from adding cytotoxic compounds to or substituting other cytotoxic compounds for doxorubicin. In animal models, LB-100 consistently enhances the anti-tumor activity of doxorubicin without apparent increases in toxicity.

GEIS has a network of referral centers in Spain and across Europe that have an impressive track record of efficiently conducting innovative studies in ASTS. The Company agreed to provide GEIS with a supply of LB-100 to be utilized in the conduct of this clinical trial, as well as to provide funding for the clinical trial. The goal was to enter the first patient during the quarter ending December 31, 2020, with approximately 150 patients to be enrolled over two years. Advanced sarcoma is a very aggressive disease. The design of the study assumes a median progression free survival (PFS, no evidence of disease progression or death from any cause) of 4.5 months in the doxorubicin arm and an alternative median PFS of 7.5 months in the doxorubicin plus LB-100 arm to demonstrate a statistically significant decrease in relative risk of progression or death by adding LB-100. There is a planned interim analysis of the primary endpoint when about half of the 102 events required for final analysis is reached.

The Company had previously expected that this clinical trial would commence during the quarter ended June 30, 2020. However, during July 2020, the Spanish regulatory authority advised the Company that although it had approved the scientific and ethical basis of the protocol, it required that the Company manufacture new inventory of LB-100 under current Spanish pharmaceutical manufacturing standards. These regulations were adopted subsequent to the production of the Company’s existing LB-100 inventory. The Company is in the process of obtaining approval from the European Union regulatory authorities for new inventory of LB-100. Accordingly, the clinical trial is now estimated to begin during the quarter ending September 30, 2021 and to be completed by the quarter ending September 30, 2024. The interim analysis is expected in June 2023 and could indicate either inferiority or superiority of LB-100 plus doxorubicin as compared to doxorubicin alone. A positive study would have the potential to change the standard therapy for this disease after four decades of failure to improve the marginal benefit of doxorubicin alone.

The Company’s agreement with GEIS provides for various payments based on achieving specific milestones over the term of the agreement. On February 18, 2020, the Company advanced $43,411 to GEIS towards a second milestone payment obligation of $87,471, which was expected to become due and payable during the quarter ended June 30, 2020 based on the anticipated achievement of the second milestone, and which was therefore recorded as an advance on the Company’s balance sheet at March 31, 2020. However, as a result of the substantial delay in commencing the clinical trial as described above, the achievement of the second milestone had been delayed until mid-2021 and the Company therefore determined to charge such advance to research and development costs in the Company’s statement of operations at June 30, 2020. Subsequently, on March 9, 2021, the Company paid an additional $23,802 to GEIS for current work being done under this agreement.

Accordingly, during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company incurred costs of $43,411 and $87,471, respectively, pursuant to this agreement. As of December 31, 2020, total costs of $130,882 have been incurred pursuant to this agreement.

The Company’s aggregate commitments pursuant to the aforementioned clinical trial agreements, less amounts previously paid to date under these agreements, totaled approximately $5,230,000 as of December 31, 2020, consisting of approximately $4,614,000 relating to the GEIS clinical trial and approximately $616,000 relating to the Moffit clinical trial, which are expected to be incurred over the next five years through December 31, 2025.

In order to manufacture a new inventory supply of LB-100 for the GEIS clinical trial, the Company has engaged a number of vendors to carry out the multiple tasks needed to make and gain approval of a new clinical product for investigational study in Spain. These tasks include the synthesis under good manufacturing practices (GMP) of the active pharmacologic ingredient (API), with documentation of each of the steps involved by an independent auditor. The API is then transferred to a vendor that prepares the clinical drug product (DP), also under GMP conditions documented by an independent auditor. The DP is then sent to a vendor to test for purity and sterility, provide appropriate labels, store the drug, and distribute the drug to the clinical centers for use in the clinical trials. A formal application documenting all steps taken to prepare the DP for clinical use must be submitted to the appropriate regulatory authorities for review and approval before being used in a clinical trial.

The Company estimates that this program to provide new inventory of the DP for the Spanish sarcoma study, and potentially for subsequent multiple trials within the European Union, will cost from $600,000 and $700,000. The Company’s remaining aggregate commitments under this program, less amounts previously paid to date, totaled approximately $300,000 as of December 31, 2020, which are expected to be incurred through June 30, 2021.

Clinical Trial Agreement Entered into Subsequent to December 31, 2020

City of Hope. Effective January 18, 2021, the Company executed a Clinical Research Support Agreement with City of Hope National Medical Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, and City of Hope Medical Foundation (collectively, “City of Hope”), to carry out a Phase 1b clinical trial of LB-100, the Company’s first-in-class protein phosphatase inhibitor, combined with a standard regimen for untreated, extensive stage-disease small cell lung cancer (ED-SCLC). LB-100 will be given in combination with carboplatin, etoposide and atezolizumab, an FDA-approved but marginally effective regimen, to previously untreated ED-SCLC patients. The dose of LB-100 will be escalated with the standard fixed doses of the 3-drug regimen to reach a recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D). Patient entry will be expanded so that a total of 12 patients will be evaluable at the RP2D to confirm the safety of the LB-100 combination and to look for potential therapeutic activity as assessed by objective response rate, duration of overall response, progression-free-survival and overall survival.

The Company estimates that from 24 to 30 patients will be needed to complete this clinical trial, at an estimated cost of $2,500,000 to $2,900,000, respectively. If a significant number of patients fail during the dose-escalation process, an increase of up to 12 patients would likely be necessary, at an estimated additional cost of $800,000.

The clinical trial is planned to commence during the quarter ending June 30, 2021, with patient accrual expected to take approximately 18 to 24 months to conduct. If LB-100 does potentiate the benefit of the standard regimen, some evidence could be noted at 12 months into the clinical trial, but an assessment of potential increased activity is likely to require at least 24 months.

Clinical Trial Monitoring Agreements

On September 12, 2018, the Company finalized a work order agreement with Theradex Systems, Inc. (“Theradex”), an international contract research organization (“CRO”), to monitor the Phase 1b/2 clinical trial being managed and conducted by Moffitt. The clinical trial began in April 2019 and the first patient was entered into the clinical trial in July 2019. At the current rate of accrual, the trial would be completed over a period of four years from its initiation, with the final analysis and reporting expected by July 2023.

Costs under this work order agreement are estimated to be approximately $954,000, with such payments expected to be divided approximately 94% to Theradex for services and approximately 6% for payments for pass-through costs. The costs of the Phase 1b/2 clinical trial being paid to or through Theradex are being recorded and charged to operations based on the periodic documentation provided by the CRO. During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company incurred costs of $18,663 and $51,586, respectively, pursuant to this work order. As of December 31, 2020, total costs of $75,788 have been incurred pursuant to this work order agreement.

The Company’s aggregate commitments pursuant to this clinical trial monitoring agreement, less amounts previously paid to date under this agreement, totaled approximately $874,000 as of December 31, 2020, which are expected to be incurred over the next five years through June 30, 2025.

On February 5, 2021, the Company signed a new work order agreement with Theradex to monitor the City of Hope investigator-initiated clinical trial in small cell lung cancer in accordance with FDA requirements for oversight by the sponsoring party. The Company estimates that it will incur approximately $335,000 of costs under this work order agreement through September 30, 2023.

Patent and License Agreements

On March 22, 2018, the Company entered into a Patent Assignment and Exploitation Agreement with INSERM TRANSFERT SA, acting as delegatee of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, for the assignment to the Company of INSERM’S interest in United States Patent No. 9,833,450 entitled “Oxabicyloheptanes and Oxabicycloheptenes for the Treatment of Depressive and Stress Disorders”, which was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the name of INSERM and the Company as co-owners on February 19, 2015 and granted on May 12, 2017, and related patent applications and filings. INSERM is a French public institution dedicated to research in the field of health and medicine that had previously entered into a Material Transfer Agreement (“MTA”) with the Company to allow INSERM to conduct research on the Company’s proprietary compound LB-100 and/or its analogs for the treatment of depressive or stress disorders in humans. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company has agreed to make certain milestone payments to INSERM aggregating up to $1,750,000 upon achievement of development milestones and up to $6,500,000 upon achievement of commercial milestones. The Company also agreed to pay INSERM certain commercial royalties on net sales of products attributed to the Agreement. The Company’s current plan is to complete the validation process to evaluate LB-100 for the treatment of depressive or stress disorders in humans within three years; however, the exploitation of this patent for the treatment of depressive and stress disorders in humans will require substantial additional capital and/or a joint venture or other type of business arrangement with a pharmaceutical company with substantially greater capital and business resources than those available to the Company. As there can be no assurances that the Company will be able to obtain the capital or business resources necessary to focus on the exploitation of this patent, it is uncertain as to when, if at all, the Company may reach any of the development or commercialization milestones under the Agreement. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, no amounts were due under this agreement.

Effective April 2, 2018, the Company entered into a consulting agreement for a term of two years with Liberi Life Sciences Consultancy BV, located in The Netherlands, for consulting and advisory services with respect to sales and licensing, as well as the procurement of investors in China, Japan and South Korea. The Consulting Agreement provided for the payment of a fixed, one-time retainer of EURO 15,000 (US $18,348), which was paid on April 5, 2018, and 2.5% of the net payments received by the Company from sales of products or licensing activities arising directly and exclusively from leads generated by the advisor during the term of the Consulting Agreement, and any investors introduced to the Company by the advisor that results in an investment in the Company during the term of the Consulting Agreement. The Company recorded the payment of the retainer as a prepaid expense in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet and amortized the retainer payment over the two-year life of the Consulting Agreement, as a result of which the Company recorded charges to operations of $2,294 and $9,174 during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, the prepaid consulting fee had been fully amortized. At December 31, 2019, the unamortized balance of the retainer payment was $9,174, all of which was classified as a current asset in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet at such date. On March 1, 2020, the Consulting Agreement was extended to April 2, 2021 without any additional consideration.

Effective August 20, 2018, the Company entered into an Exclusive License Agreement with Moffitt. Pursuant to the License Agreement, Moffitt granted the Company an exclusive license under certain patents owned by Moffitt relating to the treatment of MDS and a non-exclusive license under inventions, concepts, processes, information, data, know-how, research results, clinical data, and the like (other than the Licensed Patents) necessary or useful for the practice of any claim under the Licensed Patents or the use, development, manufacture or sale of any product for the treatment of MDS which would otherwise infringe a valid claim under the Licensed Patents. The Company was obligated to pay Moffitt a non-refundable license issue fee of $25,000 after the first patient is entered into a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to be managed and conducted by Moffitt. The clinical trial began at a single site in April 2019 and the first patient was entered into the clinical trial in July 2019. The Company is also obligated to pay Moffitt an annual license maintenance fee of $25,000 commencing on the first anniversary of the Effective Date and every anniversary thereafter until the Company commences payment of minimum royalty payments. The Company has also agreed to pay non-refundable milestone payments to Moffitt, which cannot be credited against earned royalties payable by the Company, based on reaching various clinical and commercial milestones aggregating $1,897,000, subject to reduction by 40% under certain circumstances relating to the status of Valid Claims, as such term is defined in the License Agreement. During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded charges to operations of $25,001 and $80,669, respectively, in connection with its obligations under the License Agreement. As of December 31, 2020, no milestones had yet been attained.

The Company will be obligated to pay Moffitt earned royalties of 4% on worldwide cumulative net sales of royalty-bearing products, subject to reduction to 2% under certain circumstances, on a quarterly basis, with a minimum royalty payment of $50,000 in the first four years after sales commence, and $100,000 in year five and each year thereafter, subject to reduction by 40% under certain circumstances relating to the status of Valid Claims, as such term is defined in the License Agreement. The Company’s obligation to pay earned royalties under the License Agreement commences on the date of the first sale of a royalty-bearing product, and shall automatically expire on a country-by-country basis on the date on which the last valid claim of the Licensed Patents expires, lapses or is declared invalid, and the obligation to pay any earned royalties under the License Agreement shall terminate on the date on which the last valid claim of the Licensed Patents expires, lapses, or is declared to be invalid in all countries.

Employment Agreements

Dr. John Kovach. On July 15, 2020, the Company entered into an employment agreement with Dr. John Kovach pursuant to which Dr. Kovach is to continue to act as the Company’s President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer. His responsibilities shall be for the oversight of the Company’s entire operations and strategic planning, and shall be the primary contact between the Company’s executive team and the Board of Directors, to whom he shall report. Dr. Kovach shall supervise all scientific endeavors, providing guidance to the Chief Medical Officer. He shall be the principal spokesperson for the Company. Dr. Kovach will receive an annual salary of $250,000, payable monthly. The effective date of the agreement was October 1, 2020 and shall remain in effect until the earlier of (i) one year from the effective date, automatically renewable for additional one-year periods unless terminated by either party upon 60 days written notice prior to the end of the applicable one-year period, (ii) his death, or (iii) termination for cause. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred charges for salary in the amount of $62,500 with respect to this agreement, which amount is included in general and administrative costs in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Eric Forman. On July 15, 2020, as amended on August 12, 2020, the Company entered into an employment agreement with Eric Forman, pursuant to which Mr. Forman will act as the Company’s Chief Administrative Officer reporting directly to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Forman’s primary function shall be to oversee the Company’s internal operations, including IT, licensing, legal, personnel, marketing, and corporate governance. Mr. Forman will receive an annual salary of $120,000, payable monthly. Mr. Forman was also granted stock options to acquire 350,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The effective date of the agreement was October 1, 2020 and shall remain in effect until the earlier of (i) one year from the effective date, automatically renewable for additional one-year periods unless terminated by either party upon 60 days written notice prior to the end of the applicable one-year period, (ii) his death, or (iii) termination for cause. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred charges for salary in the amount of $30,000 with respect to this agreement, which amount is included in general and administrative costs in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Dr. James Miser. On August 1, 2020, the Company entered into an employment agreement with Dr. James Miser, M.D., pursuant to which Dr. Miser was appointed as the Company’s Chief Medical Officer. Under the employment agreement, Dr. Miser will play a leadership role in planning, implementation and oversight of clinical trials. Dr. Miser will be responsible for assisting and developing strategic clinical goals and the implementation and safety monitoring of investigational studies. Dr. Miser will be the primary medical monitor for all clinical investigational studies and for the oversight of third party CRO monitors. Dr. Miser will work closely with the Company’s Chief Executive Officer on the development of specific goals needed to ensure the timely implementation of appropriate clinical studies needed for successful registration of therapeutic products and new drug development. Dr. Miser will be required to devote at least 50% of his business time to the Company’s activities. Dr. Miser will receive an annual salary of $150,000. Dr. Miser was also granted stock options to acquire 500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The effective date of the agreement was August 1, 2020. The agreement shall remain in effect until the earlier of (i) one year from the effective date, automatically renewable for additional one-year periods unless terminated by either party upon 60 days written notice prior to the end of the applicable one-year period, (ii) his death, or (iii) termination for cause. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred charges for salary in the amount of $62,500 with respect to this agreement, which amount is included in general and administrative costs in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Robert N. Weingarten. On August 12, 2020, the Company entered into an employment agreement with Robert N. Weingarten pursuant to which Mr. Weingarten was appointed as the Company’s Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Weingarten will receive an annual salary of $120,000. Mr. Weingarten was also granted stock options to acquire 350,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The effective date of the agreement was August 12, 2020. The agreement shall remain in effect until the earlier of (i) one year from the effective date, automatically renewable for additional one-year periods unless terminated by either party upon 60 days written notice prior to the end of the applicable one-year period, (ii) his death, or (iii) termination for cause. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred charges for salary in the amount of $46,451 with respect to this agreement, which amount is included in general and administrative costs in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

Other Significant Agreements and Contracts

On December 24, 2013, the Company entered into an agreement with NDA Consulting Corp. for consultation and advice in the field of oncology research and drug development. As part of the agreement, NDA also agreed to cause its president, Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., to become a member of the Company’s Scientific Advisory Committee. The term of the agreement was for one year and provided for a quarterly cash fee of $4,000. The agreement has been automatically renewed for additional one-year terms on its anniversary date since 2014. Consulting and advisory fees charged to operations pursuant to this agreement were $16,000 and $62,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, which were included in research and development costs in the consolidated statements of operations.

Effective September 14, 2015, the Company entered into a Collaboration Agreement with BioPharmaWorks, pursuant to which the Company engaged BioPharmaWorks to perform certain services for the Company. Those services included, among other things: (a) assisting the Company to (i) commercialize its products and strengthen its patent portfolio, (ii) identify large pharmaceutical companies with potential interest in the Company’s product pipeline, and (iii) prepare and deliver presentations concerning the Company’s products; (b) at the request of the Board of Directors, serving as backup management for up to three months should the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and scientific leader be temporarily unable to carry out his duties; (c) being available for consultation in drug discovery and development; and (d) identifying providers and overseeing tasks relating to clinical use and commercialization of new compounds.

BioPharmaWorks was founded in 2015 by former Pfizer scientists with extensive multi-disciplinary research and development and drug development experience. The Collaboration Agreement was for an initial term of two years and automatically renews for subsequent annual periods unless terminated by a party not less than 60 days prior to the expiration of the applicable period. In connection with the Collaboration Agreement, the Company agreed to pay BioPharmaWorks a monthly fee of $10,000, subject to the right of the Company to pay a negotiated hourly rate in lieu of the monthly payment and agreed to issue to BioPharmaWorks certain equity-based compensation. In April 2018, it was mutually agreed to suspend services and payments under the Collaboration Agreement, without extending its term, for the period from February 1, 2018 through the September 13, 2019 anniversary date. In February 2019, the Company and BioPharmaWorks subsequently agreed to resume the Collaboration Agreement effective March 1, 2019, and the Collaboration Agreement is currently in effect. The Company recorded charges to operations pursuant to this Collaboration Agreement of $131,650, including reimbursed expenses of $11,650, and $100,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, which were included in research and development costs in the consolidated statements of operations.

Effective August 12, 2020, the Company entered into a Master Service Agreement with the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapy (FAST) to collaborate in supporting preclinical studies of the potential benefit of LB-100 in a mouse model of Angelman Syndrome (AS) as reported in The Proceedings of The National Academy of Science (Wang et al, June 3, 2019). The preclinical studies will take place at The University of California - Davis under the direction of Dr. David Segal, an internationally recognized leader in AS research. If the preclinical studies confirm that LB-100 reduces AS signs in rodent models, the Company has agreed to enter into discussions with FAST with respect to possible collaborations to most efficiently assess the benefit of LB-100 in patients with AS, which is a rare disease affecting an estimated one out of 12,000 to one out of 20,000 persons in the United States. The genetic cause of AS, reduced function of a specific maternal gene called Ube3, has been understood for some time, but the molecular abnormality resulting from the genetic lesion has now been shown to be increased concentrations of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a molecular target of the Company’s investigational compound, LB-100. The Company has agreed to provide FAST with a supply of LB-100 to be utilized in the conduct of this study, which is initially expected to be completed within three years. Conditioned on FAST’s completion of this study, the Company has agreed to pay FAST five percent (5%) of all proceeds, as defined in the Master Service Agreement, received by the Company, up to a maximum of $250,000 from the exploitation of the study results.

Effective December 21, 2020, the Company entered into a services agreement with IRTH Communications, LLC for investor/public relations, financial communications and strategic consulting services, effective for an initial term of twelve months and renewable annually thereafter. The Company agreed to pay a monthly fee of $7,500, including any renewal term, and also agreed to issue restricted shares of common stock, fully vested upon issuance, with a grant date fair value of $100,000. Upon the commencement of any renewal term, the Company will be obligated to issue additional restricted shares of common stock, fully vested upon issuance, with a grant date fair value of $100,000.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

At December 31, 2020, the Company did not have any transactions, obligations or relationships that could be considered off-balance sheet arrangements.

Trends, Events and Uncertainties

Research and development of new pharmaceutical compounds is, by its nature, unpredictable. Although we will undertake research and development efforts with commercially reasonable diligence, there can be no assurance that our cash position will be sufficient to enable us to develop our pharmaceutical compounds to the extent needed to create future sales to sustain operations as contemplated herein.

There can be no assurances that one or more of our pharmaceutical compounds will obtain the regulatory approvals and market acceptance to achieve sustainable revenues sufficient to support our operations. Even if we are able to generate revenues, there can be no assurances that we will be able to achieve operating profitability or positive operating cash flows. There can be no assurances that we will be able to secure additional financing, to the extent required, on acceptable terms or at all. If cash resources are insufficient to satisfy our ongoing cash requirements, we would be required to reduce or discontinue our research and development programs, or attempt to obtain funds, if available (although there can be no assurances), through strategic alliances that may require us to relinquish rights to certain of our pharmaceutical compounds, or to curtail or discontinue our operations entirely.

Other than as discussed above, we are not currently aware of any trends, events or uncertainties that are likely to have a material effect on our financial condition in the near term, although it is possible that new trends or events may develop in the future that could have a material effect on our financial condition.

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

Not applicable.

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

The Company’s consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and the related report of its independent registered public accounting firm are attached to this Annual Report on Form 10-K beginning on page F-1.

ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

Not applicable.

ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As required by Rule 15d-15(b) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the Company carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of its management, consisting of the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020, the end of the most recent fiscal year covered by this report.

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), means controls and other procedures of a company 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 officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

There are limitations inherent in any internal control, such as the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of controls. As a result, even effective internal controls can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation. As conditions change over time so too may the effectiveness of internal controls. Any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

The Company’s management, consisting of its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. The Company’s internal control over financial reporting is designed to ensure that material information regarding the Company’s operations is made available to management and the Board of Directors to provide them reasonable assurance that the published financial statements are fairly presented.

Based on the Company’s assessment, management has concluded that its internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2020 to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, as described below.

In connection with the audit of the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company’s management has concluded that the Company had a material weakness in its internal controls at such date. Until recently, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer had almost complete responsibility for the processing of invoices and the preparation of checks, and the Company’s finance department did not have adequate internal staff and resources to process the accounting information and prepare periodic financial statements and footnotes. In order to mitigate these internal control weaknesses, the Company had designed and implemented measures and systems, including expanded bookkeeping and review procedures and the utilization of the services of qualified outside consultants with the expertise to perform specific accounting and finance functions, as well as the review of major transactions and agreements by the Board of Directors.

In order to address these internal controls weaknesses, effective August 12, 2020, the Company entered into an Employment Agreement with Robert N. Weingarten to serve as the Company’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Weingarten is an experienced business consultant and advisor focusing on accounting and SEC compliance issues. Since 1979, Mr. Weingarten has provided such financial consulting and advisory services, has acted as chief financial officer, and has served on the boards of directors of numerous public companies in various stages of development, operation or reorganization. Mr. Weingarten has experience in a variety of industries, including the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Weingarten is familiar with the financial and business operations of the Company, as he has provided accounting and financial consulting services to the Company for a number of years with respect to the preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements and certain other financial and compliance matters. During the next several months, it is expected that Mr. Weingarten will work with management to implement various policies and procedures that are expected to address and mitigate these internal control weaknesses.

However, these efforts may not be fully successful, which could undermine the Company’s ability to provide accurate, timely and reliable reports on its financial and operating results. In addition, if the Company identifies additional material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting, the Company may not detect errors on a timely basis and its consolidated financial statements may be materially misstated. Moreover, in the future the Company may engage in business activities or transactions that could negatively affect its internal control over financial reporting and result in additional material weaknesses.

Management believes that the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K fairly present, in all material respects, the Company’s financial condition, results of operations and cash flows as of and for the period ended December 31, 2020.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to rules of the SEC that permit the Company to provide only management’s report in this report.

Changes in Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

The Company’s management, consisting of its Chief Executive Officer and its Chief Financial Officer, has determined that no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as that term is defined in Rules 13(a)-15(f) and 15(d)-15(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) occurred during or subsequent to the period ended December 31, 2020 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, other than the material weaknesses as noted above.

ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION

None.

PART III

ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Directors and Executive Officers

The following table and text set forth the names of all of our directors and executive officers as of March 12, 2021. The Board of Directors is comprised of only one class. All of the directors will serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until their successors are elected and qualified, or until their earlier death, retirement, resignation or removal. The brief descriptions of the business experience of each director and executive officers and an indication of directorships held by each director in other companies subject to the reporting requirements under the Federal securities laws are provided herein below. Also provided are the biographies of the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee and our consultants.

Our directors and executive officers are as follows:

Biographies of Directors and Executive Officers

Dr. John S. Kovach

Dr. John S. Kovach founded the Company in August 2005 and is our President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Scientific Officer and a member of our Board of Directors. He received a B.A. (cum laude) from Princeton University and an M.D. (AOA) from the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University. Dr. Kovach trained in Internal Medicine and Hematology at Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University and spent six years in the laboratory of Chemical Biology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic diseases studying control of gene expression in bacterial systems.

Dr. Kovach was recruited to the State University of New York at Stony Brook (“SUNY – Stony Brook”) in Stony Brook, New York in 2000 to found the Long Island Cancer Center (now named the Stony Brook University Cancer Center). From 1994 to 2000, Dr. Kovach was Executive Vice President for Medical and Scientific Affairs at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His responsibilities included oversight of all basic and clinical research initiatives at the City of Hope. During that time, Dr. Kovach was also Director of the Beckman Research Center at City of Hope and a member of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Scientific Advisory Board in Newport Beach, California.

From 1976 to 1994, Dr. Kovach was a consultant in oncology and director of the Cancer Pharmacology Division at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. During this time, he directed the early clinical trials program for evaluation of new anti-cancer drugs as principal investigator of contracts from the National Cancer Institute. From 1986 to 1994, he was also Chair of the Department of Oncology and Director of the NCI-designated Mayo Comprehensive Cancer Center. During that time, Dr. Kovach, working with a molecular geneticist, Steve Sommer, M.D., Ph.D., published extensively on patterns of acquired mutations in human cancer cells as markers of environmental mutagens and as potential indicators of breast cancer patient prognosis. Dr. Kovach has published over 100 articles on the pharmacology, toxicity and effectiveness of anti-cancer treatments and on the molecular epidemiology of breast cancer.

Effective February 23, 2017, Dr. Kovach retired from his part-time (50%) academic position at SUNY – Stony Brook, as a result of which he has been devoting 100% of his time to our business activities since that date.

Dr. James S. Miser

James S. Miser, M.D., is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist, internationally recognized as an expert in the study and treatment of childhood cancers. His outstanding career includes leadership positions as Clinical Director, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospital and Medical Center and Associate Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington; Chairman, Division of Pediatrics, Director, Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Medical Officer, all at City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Active Staff, Department of Pediatrics at City of Hope, most recently part-time, and Chair Professor, College of Medical Sciences and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Dr. Miser has extensive experience in the clinical development of new anti-cancer drugs for pediatric malignancies, leading many clinical trials at institutional and national cancer study groups. He is expert in the design and monitoring of clinical cancer trials and was a member of the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Strategy Group, and Member of the New Agents Executive and Steering Committee, Phase II Coordinator Children’s Cancer Group and Chairman, Data Monitoring Committee, National Wilms Tumor Society. He has authored more than a 100 peer reviewed articles dealing primarily with pediatric clinical cancer studies.

Robert N. Weingarten

We have entered into an Employment Agreement with Mr. Weingarten to serve as our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective August 12, 2020. Mr. Weingarten is an experienced business consultant and advisor with a consulting practice focusing on accounting and SEC compliance issues. Since 1979, Mr. Weingarten has provided such financial consulting and advisory services, has acted as chief financial officer, and has served on the boards of directors of numerous public companies in various stages of development, operation or reorganization. Mr. Weingarten has experience in a variety of industries, including the pharmaceutical industry.

Mr. Weingarten has been a Director of Guardion Health Sciences, Inc. since June 2015 and Chairman of its Board of Directors since July 2020. Previously, Mr. Weingarten served as Lead Director on Guardion’s Board of Directors from January 2017 to March 2020. From July 2017 to June 2018, Mr. Weingarten was the Chief Financial Officer of Alltemp, Inc. From April 2013 to February 2017, Mr. Weingarten served on the Board of Directors of RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. and also served as its Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Weingarten received a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Washington in 1974, a M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Southern California in 1975, and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the State of California.

Eric Forman, J.D.

Mr. Forman has led our business development as a consultant since 2013. Effective as of October 1, 2020, Mr. Forman was appointed as our Chief Administrative Officer. In his capacity as a consultant, and in his role as Chief Administrative Officer, his responsibilities include overseeing all internal operations, the development of science/business collaborations, and the management of our growing intellectual property portfolio. Prior to his involvement with our company, he served as Counsel and Senior Project Manager at Shore Group Associates managing in-house legal, tax, and regulatory affairs and supervising client relations for financial software and mobile application development teams.

As an attorney, Mr. Forman has represented and advised both technology and biotechnology companies, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and start-ups with a focus on intellectual property, licensing, corporate structure and transactions.

Mr. Forman earned a B.A. degree Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University and a J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has an active law license and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

Dr. Philip F. Palmedo

Philip F. Palmedo, Ph.D., is a physicist, entrepreneur and corporate manager. Dr. Palmedo joined our Board of Directors on June 30, 2006. He founded and served as Chairman of the International Resources Group (IRG), an international consultancy in energy, natural resources and economic development. IRG was bought by L3 Communications in 2008. Dr. Palmedo designed and was the first President of the Long Island Research Institute formed by Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and SUNY – Stony Brook to facilitate the commercialization of technologies. In 1988, Dr. Palmedo joined in the formation of Kepler Financial Management, Ltd., a quantitative financial research and trading company. He was President and Managing Director until 1991, when Renaissance Technologies Corporation acquired the company.

Dr. Palmedo served on the boards of Asset Management Advisors, the Teton Trust Company, EHR Investments and C-Quest Capital, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Gyrodyne LLC. He also served on the Board of Trustees of Williams College and of the Stony Brook (University) Foundation, where he chaired the Foundation’s Investment Committee.

Dr. Stephen J. Forman

Stephen J. Forman, M.D., is an internationally recognized expert in hematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplantation and is a leader in preclinical and clinical cancer research. He is co-editor of Thomas’ Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, a definitive textbook for clinicians, scientists and health care professionals. Dr. Forman is the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, a position he has held since 1987.

In nearly 40 years at City of Hope, Dr. Forman has been instrumental in advancing the survival rates for patients suffering from cancers of the blood and immune system such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

As Director of the T Cell Immunotherapy Research Laboratory, his current research is focused on cancer immunotherapy, using the body’s own immune system to attack cancer. Pharmacological enhancement of patients’ immune responses to their cancers is of special interest to us as the enzyme target of its lead clinical compound, LB-100, has been reported recently to be critical to immune function. Much of Dr. Forman’s current work centers on T cells and their cancer-fighting potential.

Dr. Winson Sze Chun Ho

Winson Sze Chun Ho, M.D., is presently a pediatric neurosurgery fellow at the University of Utah School of Medicine. After receiving his M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine in 2011, Dr. Ho had four years of training in Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Prior to his final year as chief resident at the University of Virginia, Dr. Ho spent three years doing molecular pharmacologic research on methods to enhance the efficacy of cancer therapy as a Clinical and Research Fellow in the Surgical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. His research included several studies of our lead clinical compound, the protein phosphatase 2A inhibitor LB-100, including the demonstration that LB-100 potentiates the effectiveness of the immune checkpoint blocker PD-1 in several preclinical models. These results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Dr. Yun Yen

Yun Yen, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.P. is a physician, scientist, innovator, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as an expert in ribonucleotide reductase, a critical target in cancer therapy and diagnostics. He is President Emeritus of Taipei Medical University (TMU) and Chair Professor of the Ph.D. Program for Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery. Prior to TMU, Dr. Yen was the Allen and Lee Chao Endowed Chair in Developmental Cancer Therapeutics, Chair of Molecular Pharmacology Department, Associate Director for Translational Research, and Co-Director of the Developmental Cancer Therapeutics Program at the City of Hope NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte California. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, holds over 60 patents, and has commercialized multiple methodologies involving nanoparticles, small and large molecule drugs, biomarkers, stem cells, and medical devices. Dr. Yen also founded philanthropic organizations aimed at serving the global cancer community and holds membership in numerous professional societies. He serves on the boards of Fulgent Genetics and Tanvex BioPharma Inc.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The Scientific Advisory Committee was established to advise our management in three areas: human molecular pathology; the clinical management of human brain tumors; and medicinal chemistry. Our objective is to meet with the Committee as a group annually, with some members participating via telephone conference. The Committee members have been apprised of our general objectives and several of the specific challenges and leads for developing improved therapies for human brain tumors. The Committee members do not serve in any management capacity with us. Our Committee currently is comprised as follows:

Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D.

Dr. Von Hoff is currently Physician in Chief, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Clinical Translational Research Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He is also Chief Scientific Officer for US Oncology and for Scottsdale Healthcare’s Clinical Research Institute. He holds an appointment as Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Von Hoff is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Von Hoff’s major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. He and his colleagues were involved in the beginning of the development of many of the agents that are now used routinely, including mitoxantrone, fludarabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, irinotecan, nelarabine, capecitabine and lapatinib. At present, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies, particularly for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Von Hoff has published more than 620 papers, 137 book chapters and over 1,050 abstracts. Dr. Von Hoff received the 2010 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for his outstanding contributions to cancer research leading to significant improvement in patient care.

Dr. Von Hoff was appointed to President Bush’s National Cancer Advisory Board from 2004 to 2010. Dr. Von Hoff is the past President of the American Association for Cancer Research (the world’s largest cancer research organization), a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member and past board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founder of ILEX™ Oncology, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme in 2004 after Ilex had two agents, alemtuzumab and clofarabine, approved by the FDA for patients with leukemia). Dr. Von Hoff is founder and the Editor Emeritus of Investigational New Drugs – The Journal of New Anticancer Agents; and, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. He is a co-founder of the AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop.

KEY CONSULTANT

Gil Schwartzberg

Gil Schwartzberg, JD, ScD (hon) has been a consultant to the Company since its inception. Previously he was the Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of the City of Hope National Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading biomedical research and treatment facilities and a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center. Following his departure, the Graduate School of Biological Science of The Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope awarded him the degree of Doctor of Science, honoring his work in the advancement of science through programmatic development and the growth of the Graduate School. This was the first ScD. degree awarded by the Beckman Graduate School., which received its full academic accreditation during Mr. Schwartzberg’s tenure as the school’s president. He is now City of Hope Chairman Emeritus for life.

Prior to his joining the City of Hope Mr. Schwartzberg was Vice Chairman of the Board of Sterling Bank of Los Angeles, of which he was a founder and where he served for many years as the Chairman of the Loan Committee until the bank’s sale. Additionally, he was a founding shareholder of Skechers USA, Inc. (NYSE: SKX). He is currently a consultant to Skechers and both trustee and co-trustee of trusts that hold the controlling interest in the company.

Mr. Schwartzberg earned a Juris Doctorate awarded magna cum laude. He practiced law, specializing in business structure and transactions and remains a member in good standing of the California Bar, He is the author of two books. Warning Toxic Business Mistakes and How to Avoid Making Them and Jane Austen’s Persuasion Annotated, a Royal Navy Reading Companion.

Family Relationships

Eric Forman, our appointed Chief Administrative Officer, is the son of board member Dr. Stephen Forman and son-in-law of our consultant Gil Schwartzberg. Julie Forman, the wife of Eric Forman and the daughter of Gil Schwartzberg, is Vice President of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, where the Company’s cash is deposited and the Company maintains a continuing banking relationship.

Director Independence

Our Board of Directors undertook a review of the independence of our directors and considered whether any director has a relationship with us that could compromise that director’s ability to exercise independent judgment in carrying out that director’s responsibilities. Our Board of Directors has affirmatively determined that Philip Palmedo, Stephen Forman, Winson Sze Chun Ho, and Yun Yen are each an “independent director,” as defined under the Nasdaq rules.

Committees of Our Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors directs the management of our business and affairs, as provided by Delaware law, and conducts its business through meetings of the Board of Directors and its standing committees. We have a standing audit committee and compensation committee. Our entire Board of Directors will serve in place of a nominating and corporate governance committee. In addition, from time to time, special committees may be established under the direction of the Board of Directors when necessary to address specific issues.

Audit Committee

Our audit committee is responsible for, among other things:

Our audit committee consists of Dr. Philip Palmedo, Dr. Yun Yen, and Dr. Winson Sze Chun Ho, with Dr. Palmedo serving as chair. Our Board of Directors has affirmatively determined that each of the committee members meet the definition of “independent director” under the Nasdaq rules, and that they meet the independence standards under Rule 10A-3. Each member of our audit committee meets the financial literacy requirements of the Nasdaq rules. In addition, our Board of Directors has determined that Dr. Palmedo qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as such term is defined in Item 407(d)(5) of Regulation S-K. Our Board of Directors has adopted a written charter for the audit committee, which is available on our principal corporate website at www.lixte.com.

Compensation Committee

Our compensation committee is responsible for, among other things:

Our compensation committee consists of Dr. Yun Yen, Dr. Stephen Forman and Dr. Philip Palmedo, with Dr. Yen serving as chairman. Our Board of Directors has determined that all three committee members are independent directors under Nasdaq rules. Our Board of Directors has adopted a written charter for the compensation committee, which is available on our principal corporate website at www.lixte.com.

Nominating and Corporate Governance

Although our entire Board of Directors serves in place of a nominating and corporate governance committee, our independent directors on the board are responsible for, among other things:

Our Board of Directors will adopt resolutions addressing, among other things, the nomination process, as may be necessary in the future.

Code of Ethics

Our Board of Directors has adopted a code of ethics covering all of our executive officers and key employees. A copy of our code of ethics will be furnished without charge to any person upon written request. Requests should be sent to: Secretary, Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc., 248 Route 25A, No. 2, East Setauket, New York 11733.

Limitations on Liability and Indemnification Matters

Our Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that limit the liability of our current and former directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Delaware law provides that directors of a corporation will not be personally liable for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for: