Alaunos Therapeutics, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2020 March (Form 10-Q)

Large Accelerated Filer

Accelerated Filer

Non-Accelerated
Filer

Smaller Reporting Company

Emerging Growth Company

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C.

20549

Form

10-Q

(Mark One)

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

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2020

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

Commission File Number

001-33038

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


Delaware		84-1475642
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

One First Avenue, Parris Building 34, Navy Yard Plaza

Boston, Massachusetts 02129

(617)

259-1970

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including

area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

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


Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common	ZIOP	The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

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:

☑

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

during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes:

☑

No:

☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a

non-accelerated

filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b–2 of the Exchange Act.

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

☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule

12b-2

of the Exchange Act). Yes:

☐

No:

☑

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value, outstanding as of April

, 2020, was 214,286,337 shares.

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form

10-Q

contains forward-looking statements that are based on our current beliefs and expectations. These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by such words as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “target,” “will” and other words and terms of similar meaning, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this Quarterly Report, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our expectations of the future, about which we cannot be certain.

The forward-looking statements in this Quarterly Report include, but are not limited to, statements about:

•

our ability to raise substantial additional capital to fund our planned operations in the near term;

•

estimates regarding our expenses, use of cash, timing of future cash needs and anticipated capital requirements;

•

the development of our product candidates, including statements regarding the initiation, timing, progress and results of our preclinical clinical studies, clinical trials and research and development programs;

•

our ability to advance our product candidates through various stages of development, especially through pivotal safety and efficacy trials;

•

the risk that final trial data may not support interim analysis of the viability of our product candidates;

•

our expectation regarding the safety and efficacy of our product candidates;

•

the timing, scope or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies for our product candidates and for which indications;

•

our ability to license additional intellectual property relating to our product candidates from third parties and to comply with our existing license agreements;

•

our ability to enter into partnerships or strategic collaboration agreements, our ability to achieve the results contemplated and the potential benefits to be derived from relationships with collaborators;

•

our ability to maintain and establish collaborations and licenses;

•

developments and projections relating to competition from other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies or our industry;

•

our estimates regarding the potential market opportunity for our product candidates;

•

the anticipated rate and degree of commercial scope and potential, as well as market acceptance of our product candidates for any indication, if approved;

•

the anticipated amount, timing and accounting of contract liability (formerly deferred revenue), milestones and other payments under licensing, collaboration or acquisition agreements, research and development costs and other expenses;

•

our intellectual property position, including the strength and enforceability of our intellectual property rights;

•

our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel;

•

the impact of government laws and regulations in the United States and foreign countries;

•

our expectations regarding the impact of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, pandemic, including the expected duration of disruption and immediate and long-term impact and effect on our business and operations;

•

the diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials;

•

the interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, due to limitations on travel, quarantines or social distancing protocols imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others in connection with the ongoing

COVID-19

pandemic; and

•

other risks and uncertainties, including those listed under Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors”.

Any forward-looking statements in this Quarterly Report on Form

10-Q

reflect our current views with respect to future events or to our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, those listed under Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form

10-Q.

Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available in the future.

NOTE REGARDING COMPANY REFERENCES

Throughout this Quarterly Report on Form

10-Q,

“Ziopharm,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

NOTE REGARDING TRADEMARKS

All trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this Quarterly Report on Form

10-Q

are the property of their respective owners.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

Table of Contents


		Page
Part I - Financial Information

Item 1.	Financial Statements

	Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2020 (unaudited) and December 31, 2019		4

	Statements of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 (unaudited)		5

	Statement of Stockholders’ Equity for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 (unaudited)		6

	Statements of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 (unaudited)		7

	Notes to Financial Statements (unaudited)		8

Item 2.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations		24

Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk		33

Item 4.	Controls and Procedures		33

Part II - Other Information

Item 1.	Legal Proceedings		35

Item 1A.	Risk Factors		35

Item 2.	Unregistered Sale of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds		73

Item 3.	Defaults upon Senior Securities		73

Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures		73

Item 5.	Other Information		73

Item 6.	Exhibits		74

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Part I - Financial Information

Item 1. Financial Statements

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

BALANCE SHEETS

(unaudited)

(in thousands, except share and per share data)


	March 31, 2020			December 31, 2019
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	171,002		$	79,741
Receivables		782			3,330
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		19,836			22,421

Total current assets		191,620			105,492
Property and equipment, net		3,784			1,110
Right of use asset		2,079			2,272
Deposits		130			130
Other non-current assets		666			110

Total assets	$	198,279		$	109,114

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	$	396		$	906
Accrued expenses		15,355			10,846
Lease liability - current portion		828			774

Total current liabilities		16,579			12,526
Lease liability - noncurrent portion		1,363			1,578

Total liabilities		17,942			14,104

Commitments and contingencies (Note 6 )
Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock, $0.001 par value; 250,000,000 shares authorized; 214,286,337 and 181,803,320 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively		214			182
Additional paid-in capital		882,541			778,953
Accumulated deficit		(702,418	)		(684,125	)

Total stockholders’ equity		180,337			95,010

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$	198,279		$	109,114

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the unaudited interim financial statements.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(unaudited)

(in thousands, except share and per share data)


	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020			2019
Operating expenses:
Research and development	$	12,706		$	9,476
General and administrative		5,954			4,145

Total operating expenses		18,660			13,621

Loss from operations		(18,660	)		(13,621	)
Other income, net		367			187

Net loss	$	(18,293	)	$	(13,434	)
Basic and diluted net loss per share	$	(0.09	)	$	(0.08	)
Weighted average common shares outstanding used to compute basic and diluted net loss per share		199,814,768			160,640,859

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the unaudited interim financial statements.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 and 2020

(unaudited)

(in thousands, except share and per share data)


For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019
	Common Stock					Additional Paid In Capital			Accumulated Deficit			Total Stockholders’ Equity
	Shares			Amount
Balance at December 31, 2018		161,066,136		$	161	$	651,732		$	(566,329	)	$	85,564

Stock-based compensation		—			—		1,456			—			1,456
Issuance of restricted common stock		1,393,536			1		999			—			1,000
Cancelled restricted common stock		(7,333	)		—		—			—			—
Repurchase of restricted common stock		(165,178	)		—		(370	)		—			(370	)
Net loss							—			(13,434	)		(13,434	)

Balance at March 31, 2019		162,287,161		$	162	$	653,817		$	(579,763	)	$	74,216


For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020
	Common Stock					Additional Paid In Capital Common Stock			Accumulated Deficit			Total Stockholders’ Equity
	Shares			Amount
Balance at December 31, 2019		181,803,320		$	182	$	778,953		$	(684,125	)	$	95,010

Stock-based compensation		—			—		1,940			—			1,940
Exercise of employee stock options		2,333			—		4			—			4
Issuance of restricted common stock		555,900			1		(1	)		—			—
Issuance of common stock in connection with a public offering, net of commissions and expenses of $5.9 million		29,110,111			29		88,632			—			88,661
Issuance of common stock in connection with an at the market offering, net of commissions and expenses of $0.4 million		2,814,673			2		13,013			—			13,015
Net loss		—			—		—			(18,293	)		(18,293	)

Balance at March 31, 2020		214,286,337		$	214	$	882,541		$	(702,418	)	$	180,337

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the unaudited interim financial statements.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(unaudited)

(in thousands)


	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020			2019
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net loss	$	(18,293	)	$	(13,434	)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Depreciation		142			140
Stock-based compensation		1,940			1,456
Bonus paid in common stock, net		—			630
Change in operating assets and liabilities
(Increase) decrease in:
Receivables		2,548			1,009
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		2,585			(1,058	)
Right of use asset		193			(1,589	)
Deposits		—			(2	)
Other noncurrent assets		(556	)		2,817
Increase (decrease) in:
Accounts payable		(510	)		152
Accrued expenses		2,206			(1,929	)
Deferred rent		—			17
Lease liabilities		(161	)		1,559

Net cash used in operating activities		(9,906	)		(10,232	)

Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchases of property and equipment		(513	)		(10	)

Net cash used in investing activities		(513	)		(10	)

Cash flows from financing activities:
Proceeds from exercise of stock options		4			—
Issuance of common stock in connection with a public offering, net		88,661			—
Issuance of common stock in connection with at the market offerings, net		13,015			—

Net cash provided by financing activities		101,680			—

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash		91,261			(10,242	)
Cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash, beginning of period		79,741			61,729

Cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash, end of period	$	171,002		$	51,487

Supplementary disclosure of cash flow information:
Compensation paid in restricted stock, gross	$	—		$	1,000

Property and equipment included in accrued expenses	$	2,303		$	—

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the unaudited interim financial statements.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(unaudited)

1. Business

Overview

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., which is referred to herein as “ZIOPHARM,” or the “Company,” is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to develop, acquire, and commercialize, on its own or with partners, a diverse portfolio of immuno-oncology therapies.

The Company’s operations to date have consisted primarily of conducting research and development and raising capital to fund those efforts. The Company’s fiscal year ends on December 31.

The Company has operated at a loss since its inception in 2003 and has no recurring revenues from operations. The Company anticipates that losses will continue for the foreseeable future. As of March 31, 2020, the Company had approximately $171.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and the Company’s accumulated deficit was approximately $702.4 million. Given its current development plans, the Company anticipates cash resources will be sufficient to fund operations into the

mid-2022.

The Company’s ability to continue operations after its current cash resources are exhausted depends on its ability to obtain additional financing or to achieve profitable operations, as to which no assurances can be given. Cash requirements may vary materially from those now planned because of changes in the Company’s focus and direction of its research and development programs, competitive and technical advances, patent developments, regulatory changes or other developments. If adequate additional funds are not available when required, or if the Company is unsuccessful in entering into partnership agreements for further development of its product candidates, management may need to curtail its development efforts and planned operations to conserve cash.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form

10-Q

pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Certain information and note disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations.

It is management’s opinion that the accompanying unaudited interim financial statements reflect all adjustments (which are normal and recurring) that are necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim periods. The unaudited interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2019, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form

10-K

for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC on March 2, 2020, or the

Annual Report

The

year-end

balance sheet data was derived from the audited financial statements but does not include all disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States.

The results disclosed in the statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full fiscal year.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

1. Business (Continued)

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Although the Company regularly assesses these estimates, actual results could differ from those estimates. Changes in estimates are recorded in the period in which they become known.

The Company’s most significant estimates and judgments used in the preparation of its financial statements are:

•

Clinical trial expenses;

•

Collaboration agreements;

•

Fair value measurements of stock-based compensation; and

•

Income taxes

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

With the global spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, the Company has implemented business continuity plans designed to address and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the Company’s business, clinical development and regulatory efforts and the value of its common stock, will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence at this time, such as the ultimate duration of the pandemic, travel restrictions, quarantines, social distancing and business closure requirements, and the effectiveness of actions taken globally to contain and treat the disease. The global economic slowdown, the overall disruption of global healthcare systems and the other risks and uncertainties associated with the pandemic could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

In addition, the Company is subject to other challenges and risks specific to its business and its ability to execute on its business plan and strategy, as well as risks and uncertainties common to companies in the biopharmaceutical industry with development and commercial operations, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with: obtaining regulatory approval of its product candidates; delays or problems in obtaining clinical supply, loss of single source suppliers or failure to comply with manufacturing regulations; identifying, acquiring or in-licensing additional products or product candidates; biopharmaceutical product development and the inherent uncertainty of clinical success; and the challenges of complying with applicable regulatory requirements. In addition, to the extent the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects its business and results of operations, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks and uncertainties discussed above.

Subsequent Events

The Company evaluated all events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through the date of this filing. During this period, the Company did not have any material subsequent events that impacted its financial statements or disclosures.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

2. Financings

February 2020 Public Offering

On February 5, 2020, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement with Jefferies, as representative of the several underwriters named therein, relating to the issuance and sale of 27,826,086 shares of its common stock. The price to the public in the offering was $3.25 per share, and the underwriters agreed to purchase the shares from the Company pursuant to the underwriting agreement at a purchase price of $3.055 per share. Under the terms of the underwriting agreement, the Company also granted the underwriters an option, exercisable for 30 days, to purchase up to an additional 4,173,912 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $3.055 per share.

The offering was made pursuant to the Company’s effective registration statement on Form

S-3ASR

(File No.

333-232283)

previously filed with the SEC, and a prospectus supplement thereunder. The underwriters purchased the 27,826,086 shares on February 5, 2020. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $84.8 million after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses paid by the Company.

On March 10, 2020, the underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 1,284,025 shares. The net proceeds were approximately $3.9 million after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses paid by the Company.

At-the-Market

Offering

During the three months ended March 31, 2020, the Company sold an aggregate of 2,814,673 shares of its common stock. The offering was made pursuant to the Company’s effective registration statement on Form

S-3ASR

(Registration Statement No.

333-232283)

previously filed with the SEC, and a prospectus supplement thereunder. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $13.0 million after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. There were no similar sales during the three months ended March 31, 2019.

3. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

The Company’s significant accounting policies were identified in the Company’s Annual Report. There have been no material changes in those policies since the filing of its Annual Report except as noted below.

New Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No.

2018-13,

Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement

, or ASU

2018-03.

The guidance in this ASU modify the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement. Under the new guidance, transfers between asset classes and the valuation related to level 3 assets is modified. The new standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim reporting periods within each annual reporting period. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

4. Fair Value Measurements

The Company accounts for its financial assets and liabilities using fair value measurements. The authoritative accounting guidance defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value under generally accepted accounting principles and enhances disclosures about fair value measurements. Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Valuation techniques used to measure fair value must maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. The fair value hierarchy is based on three levels of inputs, of which the first two are considered observable and the last unobservable, that may be used to measure fair value as follows:

•

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

•

Level 2 - Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

•

Level 3 - Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.

Assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 were as follows:


($ in thousands)			Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using
Description	Balance as of March 31, 2020		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets/Liabilities (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets:
Cash equivalents	$	74,343	$	74,343	$	—	$	—


($ in thousands)			Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using
Description	Balance as of December 31, 2019		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets/Liabilities (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets:
Cash equivalents	$	68,031	$	68,031	$	—	$	—

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

4. Fair Value Measurements (Continued)

The cash equivalents represent deposits in short-term United States treasury money market mutual funds quoted in an active market and classified as a Level 1 asset.

5. Net Loss per Share

Basic net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding for the period. The Company’s potentially dilutive shares, which include outstanding common stock options, unvested restricted stock and preferred stock, have not been included in the computation of diluted net loss per share for any of the periods presented as the result would be anti-dilutive. Such potentially dilutive shares of common stock at March 31, 2020 and 2019 consisted of the following:


	March 31,
	2020		2019
Stock options		6,676,879		5,416,085
Inducement stock options		1,030,000		500,000
Unvested restricted stock		1,495,536		1,621,845
Warrants		22,272,727		18,939,394

	31,475,142		26,477,324

6. Commitments and Contingencies

License Agreements

Exclusive License Agreement with PGEN Therapeutics

On October 5, 2018, the Company entered into the License Agreement, with PGEN Therapeutics, or PGEN, a wholly owned subsidiary of Precigen Inc., or Precigen, which was formerly known as Intrexon Corporation. As between the Company and PGEN, the terms of the License Agreement replace and supersede the terms of: (a) that certain Exclusive Channel Partner Agreement by and between the Company and Precigen, dated January 6, 2011, as amended by the First Amendment to Exclusive Channel Partner Agreement effective September 13, 2011, the Second Amendment to the Exclusive Channel Partner Agreement effective March 27, 2015, and the Third Amendment to Exclusive Channel Partner Agreement effective June 29, 2016, which was subsequently assigned by Precigen to PGEN; (b) certain rights and obligations pursuant to that certain License and Collaboration Agreement effective March 27, 2015 between the Company, Precigen and ARES TRADING Trading S.A., or Ares Trading, a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, or Merck, as assigned by Precigen to PGEN, or the Ares Trading Agreement; (c) that certain License Agreement between the Company, Precigen, and MD Anderson, with an effective date of January 13, 2015, or the MD Anderson License, which was subsequently assigned by Precigen and assumed by PGEN effective as of January 1, 2018; and (d) that certain Research and Development Agreement between the Company, Precigen and MD Anderson with an effective date of August 17, 2015, or the Research and Development Agreement, and any amendments or statements of work thereto.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

6. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

Pursuant to the terms of the License Agreement, PGEN has granted the Company exclusive, worldwide rights to research, develop and commercialize (i) products utilizing PGEN’s RheoSwitch

gene switch, or RTS

, for the treatment of cancer, referred to as

IL-12

Products, (ii) CAR products directed to (A) CD19 for the treatment of cancer, referred to as CD19 Products, and (B) a second target for the treatment of cancer, subject to the rights of Ares Trading to pursue such target under the Ares Trading Agreement, and (iii)

T-cell

receptor, or TCR, products designed for neoantigens for the treatment of cancer. PGEN has also granted the Company an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing,

sub-licensable

license for certain patents relating to the

Sleeping Beauty

technology to research, develop and commercialize TCR products for both neoantigens and shared antigens for the treatment of cancer, referred to as TCR Products.

The Company is solely responsible for all aspects of the research, development and commercialization of the exclusively licensed products for the treatment of cancer. The Company is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize

IL-12

Products and CD19 Products and after a

two-year

period, the TCR Products.

PGEN has also granted the Company an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing,

sub-licensable

license to research, develop and commercialize products utilizing an additional construct that expresses RTS

IL-12

for the treatment of cancer, referred to as Gorilla

IL-12

Products.

In consideration of the licenses and other rights granted by PGEN, the Company will pay PGEN an annual license fee of

$0.1

million. The Company paid

$0.1

million during the three months ending March 31, 2020. The Company did

not

make any annual license payments for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

The Company will also make milestone payments totaling up to an

additional $52.5 million

for each exclusively licensed program upon the initiation of later stage clinical trials and upon the approval of exclusively licensed products in various jurisdictions. In addition, the Company will pay PGEN tiered royalties ranging from

low-single

digit to high-single digit on the net sales derived from the sales of any approved

IL-12

Products and CAR Products. The Company will also pay PGEN royalties ranging from

low-single

digit to

mid-single

digit on the net sales derived from the sales of any approved TCR Products, up to a maximum royalty

amount of $100.0 million in the aggregate. The Company will also pay PGEN 20% of any sublicensing income received by the Company relating to the licensed products.

The Company is responsible for all development costs associated with each of the licensed products, other than Gorilla

IL-12

Products. The Company and PGEN will share the development costs and operating profits for Gorilla

IL-12

Products, with the Company responsible for 80% of the development costs and receiving 80% of the operating profits, and PGEN responsible for the remaining 20% of the development costs and receiving 20% of the operating profits.

PGEN will pay the Company royalties ranging from

low-single

digits to

mid-single

digits on the net sales derived from the sale of PGEN’s CAR products, up to $50.0 million.

For

the three months ended March 31, 2020, there were no liabilities and expenses for services performed by PGEN. As of March 31, 2019, the Company recorded $0.9 million in current liabilities for amounts due to PGEN. For the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company expensed $1.2 million for services performed by PGEN.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

6. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

License Agreement—The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

On January 13, 2015, the Company, together with Precigen, entered into the MD Anderson License with MD Anderson (which Precigen subsequently assigned to PGEN). Pursuant to the MD Anderson License, the Company, together with Precigen, holds an exclusive, worldwide license to certain technologies owned and licensed by MD Anderson including technologies relating to novel CAR

T-cell

therapies,

non-viral

gene transfer systems, genetic modification and/or propagation of immune cells and other cellular therapy approaches, Natural Killer, or NK Cells, and TCRs, arising from the laboratory of Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., who became the Company’s Chief Executive Officer in May 2015 and was formerly a tenured professor of pediatrics at MD Anderson and is now currently a visiting scientist under that institution’s policies.

The term of the MD Anderson License expires on the last to occur of (a) the expiration of all patents licensed thereunder, or (b) the twentieth anniversary of the date of the MD Anderson License; provided, however, that following the expiration of the term of the MD Anderson License, the Company, together with PGEN, shall then have a fully-paid up, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable and sublicensable license to use the licensed intellectual property thereunder. After ten years from the date of the MD Anderson License and subject to a 90-day cure period, MD Anderson will have the right to convert the MD Anderson License into a non-exclusive license if ZIOPHARM and PGEN are not using commercially reasonable efforts to commercialize the licensed intellectual property on a case-by-case basis. After five years from the date of the MD Anderson License and subject to a 180-day cure period, MD Anderson will have the right to terminate the MD Anderson License with respect to specific technology(ies) funded by the government or subject to a third-party contract if the Company and PGEN are not meeting the diligence requirements in such funding agreement or contract, as applicable. MD Anderson may also terminate the agreement with written notice upon material breach by the Company and PGEN, if such breach has not been cured within 60 days of receiving such notice. In addition, the MD Anderson License will terminate upon the occurrence of certain insolvency events for both the Company and PGEN and may be terminated by the mutual written agreement of the Company, PGEN, and MD Anderson.

On August 17, 2015, the Company, Precigen and MD Anderson entered into the Research and Development, or the 2015 Agreement to formalize the scope and process for the transfer by MD Anderson, pursuant to the terms of the MD Anderson License, of certain existing research programs and related technology rights, as well as the terms and conditions for future collaborative research and development of new and ongoing research programs.

Pursuant to the 2015 Agreement, the Company, Precigen and MD Anderson formed a joint steering committee to oversee and manage the new and ongoing research programs. Under the License Agreement with PGEN, the Company and PGEN agreed that PGEN would no longer participate on the joint steering committee after the date of the License Agreement. As provided under the MD Anderson License, the Company provided funding for research and development activities in support of the research programs under the Research and Development Agreement for a period of three years and in an amount of no less than $15.0 million and no greater than $20.0 million per year.

On October 22, 2019, the Company entered into an amendment to the Research and Development Agreement extending its term until December 31, 2026.

During the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company made no payments to MD Anderson. The net balance of cash resources on hand at MD Anderson available to offset expenses and future costs is $18.0 million, which is included in prepaid expenses and other current assets on the Company’s balance sheet at March 31, 2020.

On October 22, 2019, the Company entered into the 2019 Research and Development Agreement, or the 2019 Agreement, with The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, or MD Anderson, pursuant to which the parties agreed to collaborate with respect to the Company’s

Sleeping Beauty

immunotherapy program, which uses

non-viral

gene transfer to stably express and clinically evaluate neoantigen-specific TCRs in T cells. Under the 2019 Agreement, the parties will, among other things, collaborate on programs to expand the Company’s TCR library and conduct clinical trials.

The Company will own all intellectual property developed under the 2019 Agreement and will retain all rights to intellectual property for oncology products manufactured using

non-viral

gene transfer technologies under the Agreement, including the Company’s

Sleeping Beauty

technology. The Company has granted MD Anderson an exclusive license for such intellectual property outside the field of oncology and to develop and commercialize autologous TCR products manufactured using viral gene transfer technologies, and a

non-exclusive

license for allogeneic TCR products manufactured using viral-based technologies.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

6. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

The Company has agreed, beginning on January 1, 2021, to reimburse MD Anderson up to a total of $20.0 million for development costs under the 2019 Agreement. In addition, the Company will pay MD Anderson royalties on net sales of its TCR products at rates in the low single digits. The Company is required to make performance-based payments upon the successful completion of clinical and regulatory benchmarks relating to its TCR products. The aggregate potential benchmark payments are $36.5 million, of which only $3.0 million will be due prior to the first marketing approval of the Company’s TCR products. The royalty rates and benchmark payments owed to MD Anderson may be reduced upon the occurrence of certain events. The Company also agreed that it will sell the Company’s TCR products to MD Anderson at preferential prices and will sell its TCR products in Texas exclusively to MD Anderson for a limited period of time following the first commercial sale of the Company’s TCR products.

In connection with the execution of the 2019 Agreement, the Company issued MD Anderson a warrant to purchase 3,333,333 shares of common stock. Refer to Note 9 –

Warrants

for further details.

License Agreement with the National Cancer Institute

On May 28, 2019, the Company entered into a patent license agreement, or the Patent License, with the National Cancer Institute, or the NCI. Pursuant to the Patent License, the Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to certain intellectual property to develop and commercialize patient-derived (autologous), peripheral blood

T-cell

therapy products engineered by transposon-mediated gene transfer to express TCRs reactive to mutated KRAS, TP53 and EGFR. In addition, pursuant to the Patent License, the Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to certain intellectual property for manufacturing technologies to develop and commercialize autologous, peripheral blood

T-cell

therapy products engineered by

non-viral

gene transfer to express TCRs, as well as a

non-exclusive,

worldwide license to certain additional manufacturing technologies.

Pursuant to the terms of the Patent License, the Company is required to pay the NCI a cash payment in the aggregate amount of $1.5 million payable in $0.5 million installments within sixty days,

six-months,

and the twelve-month anniversary of the effective date of the agreement of the Patent License.

The $1.5 million was expensed in the second quarter of 2019 with $0.5 million remaining in current liabilities at Mar

ch 31, 2020.

The Company also reimbursed the NCI for past patent expenses in the aggregate amount of approximately $46 thousand.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

6. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

The terms of the Patent License also require the Company to pay the NCI minimum annual royalties in the amount of $0.3 million, which amount will be reduced to $0.1 million once the aggregate minimum annual royalties paid by the Company equals $1.5 million. The first minimum annual royalty payment is payable on the date that is eighteen months following the date of the Patent License. As of March 31, 2020, the Company included a prepayment of $0.3 million related to the Patent License as prepaid expenses and other current assets on the Company’s Balance Sheet.

The Company is also required to make performance-based payments upon successful completion of clinical and regulatory benchmarks relating to the licensed products. The aggregate potential benchmark payments are $4.3 million, of which aggregate payments of $3.0 million are due only after marketing approval in the United States or in Europe, Japan, Australia, China or India. The first benchmark payment of $0.1 million will be due upon the initiation of the Company’s first sponsored phase 1 clinical trial of a licensed product or licensed process in the field of use licensed under the Patent License.

In addition, the Company is required to pay the NCI

one-time

benchmark payments following aggregate net sales of licensed products at certain net sales up to $1.0 billion. The aggregate potential amount of these benchmark payments is $12.0 million. The Company must also pay the NCI royalties on net sales of products covered by the Patent License at rates in the low to

mid-single

digits depending upon the technology included in a licensed product. To the extent the Company enters into a sublicensing agreement relating to a licensed product, the Company is required to pay the NCI a percentage of all consideration received from a sublicensee, which percentage will decrease based on the stage of development of the licensed product at the time of the sublicense.

The Patent License will expire upon expiration of the last patent contained in the licensed patent rights, unless terminated earlier. The NCI may terminate or modify the Patent License in the event of a material breach, including if the Company does not meet certain milestones by certain dates, or upon certain insolvency events that remain uncured following the date that is 90 days following written notice of such breach or insolvency event. The Company may terminate the Patent License, or any portion thereof, in the Company’s sole discretion at any time upon 60 days’ written notice to the NCI. In addition, the NCI has the right to: (i) require the Company to sublicense the rights to the product candidates covered by the Patent License upon certain conditions, including if the Company is not reasonably satisfying required health and safety needs and (ii) terminate or modify the Patent License, including if the Company is not satisfying requirements for public use as specified by federal regulations.

On January 8, 2020, the Company entered into an amendment to the patent license agreement which expanded the TCR library to include additional TCR’s reactive to mutated KRAS and TP53. Under the amendment, the Company paid $0.6 million during the three months ending March 31, 2020.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute

On January 10, 2017, the Company announced the signing of a CRADA, with the NCI for the development of adoptive cell transfer, or ACT,-based immunotherapies genetically modified using the

Sleeping Beauty

transposon/transposase system to express TCRs for the treatment of solid tumors. The principal goal of the CRADA is to develop and evaluate ACT for patients with advanced cancers using autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes, or PBL, genetically modified using the

non-viral

Sleeping Beauty

system to express TCRs that recognize neoantigens expressed within a patient’s cancer. Research conducted under the CRADA will be at the direction of Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Surgery Branch at the NCI, in collaboration with the Company’s researchers and PGEN researchers. In February 2019, the Company extended the CRADA with the NCI for two years, committing an additional $5.0 million to this program.

As of March 31, 2020, the Company recorded a liability of $0.6 million in accrued expenses. The Company paid $0.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2019.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

6. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

Ares Trading License and Collaboration Agreement

On March 27, 2015, the Company, together with PGEN, signed the Ares Trading Agreement, with Ares Trading S.A., a subsidiary of the biopharmaceutical business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, through which the parties established a collaboration for the research and development and commercialization of certain products for the prophylactic, therapeutic, palliative or diagnostic use for cancer in humans.

PGEN was entitled to receive $5.0 million, from Ares Trading, payable in equal quarterly installments over two years for each identified product candidate, which will be used to fund discovery work. The Company was responsible for costs exceeding the quarterly installments and all other costs of the preclinical research and development. For the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company incurred no expenses under the Ares Trading Agreement.

Ares Trading paid a

non-refundable

upfront fee of $115.0 million to PGEN as consideration for entry into the Ares Trading Agreement. Pursuant to the Third Amendment to Exclusive Channel Partner Agreement, or the 2016 ECP Amendment, the Company was entitled to receive 50% of the upfront fee, or $57.5 million, which was received from PGEN in July 2015.

Patent and Technology License Agreement—The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Texas A&M University System

On August 24, 2004, the Company entered into a patent and technology license agreement with MD Anderson and the Texas A&M University System, which the Company refers to, collectively, as the Licensors. Under this agreement, the Company was granted an exclusive, worldwide license to rights (including rights to U.S. and foreign patent and patent applications and related improvements and

know-how)

for the manufacture and commercialization of two classes of organic arsenicals (water- and lipid-based) for human and animal use. The class of water-based organic arsenicals includes darinaparsin.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Company may be required to make additional payments to the Licensors upon achievement of certain other milestones in varying amounts which, on a cumulative basis could total up to an additional $4.5 million. In addition, the Licensors are entitled to receive single digit percentage royalty payments on sales from a licensed product and will also be entitled to receive a portion of any fees that the Company may receive from a possible sublicense under certain circumstances.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

6. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

Collaboration Agreement with Solasia Pharma K.K.

On March 7, 2011, the Company entered into a License and Collaboration Agreement with Solasia Pharma K.K., or Solasia

which was amended on July 31, 2014 to include an exclusive worldwide license. Pursuant to the License and Collaboration Agreement, the Company granted Solasia an exclusive license to develop and commercialize darinaparsin in both intravenous and oral forms and related organic arsenic molecules, in all indications for human use.

As consideration for the license, the Company is eligible to receive from Solasia development- and sales-based milestones, a royalty on net sales of darinaparsin, once commercialized, and a percentage of any sublicense revenues generated by Solasia. Solasia will be responsible for all costs related to the development, manufacturing and commercialization of darinaparsin. The Company’s Licensors, as defined in the agreement, will receive a portion of all milestone and royalty payments made by Solasia to the Company in accordance with the terms of the license agreement with the Licensors.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

7. Leases

In June 2012, the Company entered into a master lease for the Company’s corporate

office

headquarters in Boston, which was originally set to expire in August 2016, but renewed through August 31, 2021. As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, a total security deposit of $0.1 million is included in deposits on the Company’s balance sheet.

On January

2018

, the Company entered into a lease agreement for office space in Houston at MD Anderson. Under the terms of the Houston lease agreement, the Company leases approximately two hundred and ten square feet and are required to make rental payments at an average monthly rate of approximately $

thousand through

April 2021

. All future rent expense incurred in Houston, will be deducted from the Company’s prepayments at MD Anderson.

On March 12, 2019, the Company entered into a lease agreement for office space in Houston. Under the terms of the Houston lease agreement, the Company leases approximately one thousand and thirty-eight square feet and is required to make rental payments at an average monthly rate of approximately $2.0 thousand through April 2021. On October 15, 2019, the Company entered into a lease agreement for additional office space in Houston. Under the terms of the Second Houston Lease, the Company leases approximately eight thousand four hundred and forty-three square feet and is initially required to make rental payments of approximately $17.0 thousand through February 2027, subject to an annual base rent increase of approximately 3.0% throughout the term

The components of lease expense were as follows:


	Three Months Ended March 31,
(in thousands)	2020			2019
Operating lease cost	$	236		$	178

Total lease cost	$	236		$	178

Weighted-average remaining lease term (years)		4.39			2.40
Weighted-average discount rate		8.00	%		8.00	%

As of March 31, 2020, the maturities of the Company’s operating lease liabilities for the years ended December 31, were as follows (in thousands):


Maturity of Lease Liabilities	Operating Leases
2020 (excluding the three months ended March 31, 2020)	$	720
2021		701
2022		213
2023		220
2024		226
Thereafter		514

Total lease payments		2,594
Less: Imputed Interest and Adjustments		(403	)

Present value of lease payments	$	2,191

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

. Stock-Based Compensation

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense on all employee and

non-employee

awards as follows:


	For the three months ended March 31,
(in thousands)	2020		2019
Research and development	$	530	$	433
General and administrative		1,410		1,023

Stock-based compensation expense	$	1,940	$	1,456

The Company granted an aggregate of 896,000 stock options during the three months ended March 31, 2020 with a weighted-average grant date fair value of $2.64 per share. The Company granted an aggregate of 1,496,333 stock options during the three months ended March 31, 2019 with a weighted average grant date fair value of $1.62 per share.

On January 6, 2019, the Company paid an accrued annual performance bonus by issuing 446,428 shares of common stock.

For the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the fair value of stock options was estimated on the date of grant using a Black-Scholes option valuation model with the following assumptions:


	For the three months ended March 31 ,
	2020		2019
Risk-free interest rate		0.50 - 1.68%		2.28 - 2.53%
Expected life in years		6 - 6.25		6 - 6.25
Expected volatility		71.11 - 73.01%		78.87 - 85.00%
Expected dividend yield		0%		0%

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

8. Stock-Based Compensation (Continued)

Stock option activity under the Company’s stock option plan for the three months ended March 31, 2020 is as follows:


(in thousands, except share and per share data)	Number of Shares			Weighted- Average Exercise Price		Weighted- Average Contractual Term (Years)		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding, December 31, 2019		5,842,879		$	3.21
Granted		896,000			4.17
Exercised		(2,333	)		1.87
Cancelled		(59,667	)		4.67

Outstanding, March 31, 2020		6,676,879		$	3.95		8.15	$	864

Options exercisable, March 31, 2020		3,024,728		$	4.05		6.83	$	509

Options exercisable, December 31, 2019		2,765,357		$	4.39		6.70	$	3,603

Options available for future grant		1,066,275

At March 31, 2020, total unrecognized compensation costs related to unvested stock options outstanding amounted to $10.1 million. The cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.78 years.

A summary of the status of unvested restricted stock for the

three

months ended March 31, 2020 is as follows:


	Number of Shares		Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value
Non-vested, December 31, 201 9		939,636	$	2.93
Granted		555,900		4.21
Vested		—		—
Cancelled		—		—

Non-vested, March 31, 2020		1,495,536	$	3.41

At March 31, 2020, total unrecognized compensation costs related to unvested restricted stock outstanding amounted to $4.5 million. The cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.59 years.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

. Warrants

In connection with the Company’s November 2018 private placement which provided net proceeds of approximately $47.1 million, the Company issued warrants to purchase an aggregate of 18,939,394 shares of common stock which became exercisable six months after the closing of the private placement. The warrants have an exercise price of $3.01 per share and have a five-year term. The relative fair value of the warrants was estimated at $18.4 million using a Black-Scholes model with the following assumptions: expected volatility of 71%, risk free interest rate of 2.99%, expected life of five years and no dividends.

The Company assessed whether the warrants require accounting as derivatives. The Company determined that the warrants were (1) indexed to the Company’s own stock and (2) classified in stockholders’ equity in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 815,

Derivatives and Hedging

. As such, the Company has concluded the warrants meet the scope exception for determining whether the instruments require accounting as derivatives and should be classified in stockholders’ equity.

On July 26, 2019 and September 12, 2019, the Company entered into agreements with existing investors for the exercise of previously issued warrants to purchase common stock in a private placement. Pursuant to the terms of the agreements, investors exercised their 2018 warrants for an aggregate of 17,803,031 shares of common stock, at an exercise price of $3.01 per share. The warrants exercised were originally issued by the Company in

the November 2018

private placement. Proceeds from the warrant exercise, after deducting placement agent fees and other related expenses of $1.1 million were approximately $52.5 million. The Company issued participating investors new warrants to purchase up to 17,803,031 additional shares of common stock as an inducement for the warrant holders to exercise their 2018 warrants early. The 2019 warrants will expire on the fifth anniversary of the initial exercise date and have an exercise price of $7.00. The 2019 warrants were valued using a Black-Scholes valuation model and resulted in a $60.8 million

non-cash

charge to the Company’s statement of operations in 2019.

On October 22, 2019, the Company entered into the 2019 Agreement with MD Anderson. In connection with the execution of the 2019 Agreement, the Company issued MD Anderson a warrant to purchase 3,333,333 shares of common stock. The warrant has an initial exercise price of $0.001 per share and grant date fair value of $14.5 million. The warrant expires on December 31, 2026 and vests upon the occurrence of certain clinical milestones. The Company will recognize expense on the warrant in the same manner as if the Company paid cash for services to be rendered.

For the three months ended March 31, 2020, work related to the clinical milestones has not been started and therefore the Company did not recognize any expense related to the warrant.

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ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (unaudited)

. Joint Venture

On December 18, 2018, the Company entered into a Framework Agreement with TriArm Therapeutics, Ltd., or TriArm, pursuant to which the parties agreed to launch Eden BioCell, Ltd., or Eden BioCell, to lead clinical development and commercialization of certain Sleeping Beauty-generated CAR-T therapies as set forth in a separate license agreement.

On January 3, 2019, Eden BioCell was incorporated in Hong Kong as a private company. Eden BioCell, the Company and TriArm entered into a Share Subscription Agreement on January 23, 2019, where the Company and TriArm agreed to contribute certain intellectual property, services and cash (only with respect to TriArm) to Eden BioCell to subscribe for a certain number of newly issued ordinary shares in the share capital of Eden BioCell. On the closing date, upon the issuance and subscription of the shares, in respect of the aforementioned consideration, 10,000,000 ordinary shares were issued to the Company and 10,000,000 ordinary shares were issued to TriArm.

The closing of the transaction occurred on July 5, 2019. The Framework Agreement and Share Subscription Agreements were each respectively amended to be effective as of this date. Upon consummation of the joint venture, Eden BioCell and the Company also entered into a license agreement, pursuant to which the Company licensed the rights to Eden BioCell for third-generation

Sleeping Beauty

-generated

CAR-T

therapies targeting the CD19 antigen for the territory of China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Taiwan and Korea. Eden BioCell will be responsible for certain milestone and royalty payments to related to the Company’s license agreements with MD Anderson and PGEN (Note

). TriArm entered into a Master Services Agreement with Eden BioCell and contributed $10.0 million of cash on the closing date. TriArm also committed to contribute an additional $25.0 million to Eden BioCell over time through the achievement of specified milestones. TriArm and the Company each received a 50% equity interest in the joint venture in exchange for their contributions to Eden BioCell.

As of July 5, 2019, as a result of the design and purpose of Eden BioCell, the Company determined that Eden BioCell was considered a variable interest entity, or VIE, and concluded that it is not the primary beneficiary of the VIE as it did not have the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact its performance. Rather, the Company accounts for the equity interest in Eden BioCell under the equity method of accounting as it has the ability to exercise significant influence over the operations of Eden BioCell.

The Company determined that Eden BioCell was not a customer and therefore, accounted for the transaction as the transfer of nonfinancial assets to be recognized at their fair value on the contribution date. The fair value of the intellectual property contributed to Eden BioCell had a de minimis value due to the early stage of the technology and the likelihood of clinical success.

Due to the de minimis fair value of the intellectual property contributed, the Company did not record a gain or loss on this transaction and recognized no value for its equity-method investment.

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

The following information should be read in conjunction with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the audited financial information and the notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on March 2, 2020, or the Annual Report.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may be deemed to be forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. We make such forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. In this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, words such as “may,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Our actual results and the timing of certain events may differ materially from the results discussed, projected, anticipated, or indicated in any forward-looking statements. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Quarterly Report, they may not be predictive of results or developments in future periods.

The following information and any forward-looking statements should be considered in light of factors discussed elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including those risks identified under Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors.

We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements made by us, which speak only as of the date they are made. We disclaim any obligation, except as specifically required by law and the rules of the SEC, to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing next generation immuno-oncology platforms that leverage cell- and gene-based therapies to treat patients with cancer. We are developing two immuno-oncology platform technologies that utilize the immune system by employing innovative cell engineering and novel, controlled gene expression technologies designed to deliver safe, effective, and scalable non-viral cell- and viral-based gene therapies for the treatment of multiple cancer types. Our first platform is referred to as

Sleeping Beauty

and is based on the genetic engineering of immune cells using a non-viral transposon/transposase system that is intended to stably reprogram T cells outside of the body for subsequent infusion. Our second platform is referred to as Controlled IL-12 and is designed to stimulate expression of interleukin 12, or IL-12, a master regulator of the immune system, in a controlled and safe manner to focus the patient’s immune system to more effectively attack cancer cells. We intend to use both of our platforms to become a leading immuno-oncology company focused on developing innovative, cost-effective therapies primarily aimed at the large unmet needs in solid tumors.

Using our

Sleeping Beauty

platform, we are developing T cell receptor, or TCR, T cell therapies to target solid tumors. Our program designs and manufactures T cells that are intended to target tumor-specific antigens, thereby delivering personalized therapy that can attack patients’ malignancies. These genetic changes are referred to as neoantigens as they are only expressed by the tumor, reducing the potential for toxicity upon targeting normal cells. Under our Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, is conducting a phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes genetically modified with the

Sleeping Beauty

system to express autologous (personalized) TCRs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has cleared the investigational new drug, or IND, application submitted by the NCI for this clinical trial. The trial was initiated in October 2019 and preparations to enable patient enrollment by the NCI are underway. We expect the trial will enroll patients with a broad range of solid tumors over the next several years. In addition, we are currently planning a clinical program to study our TCR approach with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, or MD Anderson. Under this program, we expect to clinically evaluate both our Personalized TCR Approach and our Library TCR Approach.

Our Controlled IL-12 platform uses virotherapy based on an engineered replication-incompetent adenovirus, referred to as Ad-RTS-hIL-12, plus veledimex as a gene delivery system to conditionally produce IL-12, a potent, naturally occurring anti-cancer protein, to treat patients with solid tumors where a specific target is unknown. Our Controlled IL-12 platform

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allows us to deliver IL-12 in a tunable dose as the cytokine is under transcriptional control of the RheoSwitch Therapeutic System

(RTS

). We are currently studying our Controlled IL-12 Platform as a monotherapy in a Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, or rGBM. Our substudy of this clinical trial is fully enrolled with 36 patients and is designed to encourage use of low-dose steroids and 20 mg veledimex to further understand the potential of Controlled IL-12 as a monotherapy. We are also developing our Controlled IL-12 platform in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. We have completed dosing in a Phase 1 dose-escalation clinical trial of Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex in combination with PD-1 antibody OPDIVO

(nivolumab) in patients with rGBM. Dosing is ongoing in a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex in combination with PD-1 antibody Libtayo

(cemiplimab-rwlc) for the treatment of recurrent or progressive glioblastoma multiforme in adults.

We are developing chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, T cell, or CAR+ T, therapies targeting CD19 on malignant B cells using our

Sleeping Beauty

platform in collaboration with MD Anderson. In a Phase 1 trial, we plan to infuse donor-derived T cells after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, or BMT, for recipients who have relapsed with CD19+ leukemias and lymphomas with our CD19-specific CAR+ T therapies manufactured using our rapid personalized manufacture, or RPM, technology. RPM enables T cells to be infused as soon as the day after gene transfer which is made possible by the genetic modification of resting T cells to express CAR and membrane bound IL-15, or mbIL15. We are also advancing our RPM technology in Greater China with Eden BioCell, Ltd., or Eden BioCell, our joint venture with TriArm Therapeutics, Ltd. Eden BioCell will lead the clinical development and commercialization of

Sleeping Beauty

-generated CD19-specific RPM CAR+ T therapies using patient-derived (autologous) T cells in order to treat patients with relapsed or refractory CD19+ leukemias and lymphomas.

We have not generated significant revenue and have incurred significant net losses in each year since our inception. For the three months ended March 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $18.3 million, and, as of March 31, 2020, we have incurred approximately $702.4 million of accumulated deficit since our inception in 2003. We expect to continue to incur significant operating expenditures and net losses. Further development of our product candidates will likely require substantial increases in our expenses as we:

•

continue to undertake clinical trials for product candidates;

•

seek regulatory approvals for product candidates;

•

work with regulatory authorities to identify and address program-related inquiries;

•

implement additional internal systems and infrastructure;

•

hire additional clinical, scientific and management personnel; and

•

scale-up the formulation and manufacturing of our product candidates.

We continue to seek additional financial resources to fund the further development of our product candidates. If we are unable to obtain sufficient additional capital, one or more of these programs could be delayed, and we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce our operations. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

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Recent Developments

COVID-19 Business Update

The current

COVID-19

pandemic has presented a significant health and economic challenge around the world and is affecting our employees, partners and business operations. The full extent to which the

COVID-19

pandemic will directly or indirectly impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted.

In response to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented business continuity plans designed to address and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our employees, our business, including our clinical trials, and our partners. We have implemented work-from-home policies for most of our employees in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic. The effects of our work-from-home policies may negatively impact productivity, disrupt our business and delay our clinical programs and timelines, the magnitude of which will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition. We continue to work with our partners, including the NCI and MD Anderson, to mitigate the impact the

COVID-19

pandemic is having on our business.

Clinical and Regulatory Developments

Under our Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, the NCI is undertaking a phase 2 clinical trial testing autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes genetically modified with the

Sleeping Beauty

system to express TCRs that recognize neoantigens expressed by patients with a broad range of solid tumors. In response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, the NCI has implemented work restrictions that have delayed its activities for this clinical trial. As a result, we have assumed the final product-engineering runs that we expect will enable the NCI to begin enrolling patients more quickly after it has lifted these restrictions.

We recently received feedback from the FDA to our

pre-IND

meeting request for the TCR clinical trial we are planning with MD Anderson. We expect this trial will evaluate treatments using (i) TCR

T cells expressing recipient-derived (autologous) TCRs, which we refer to as our Personalized TCR Approach, and (ii) TCR

T cells expressing third party (allogeneic) TCRs from a library, which we refer to as our Library TCR Approach. The feedback from the FDA will inform the clinical trial design and IND submission for this clinical trial. We are closely monitoring the impact that

COVID-19

may have on both our and our partners’ ability to prepare for this clinical trial.

Each of the clinical trials of our Controlled

IL-12

program continues to progress. As previously announced, patient enrollment is now complete in our phase 1 clinical trial of adult patients with rGBM evaluating

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus daily veledimex in combination with OPDIVO, as well as our Phase 1 clinical trial of patients with rGBM evaluating

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

as a monotherapy. We expect to provide an update for each of these clinical trials at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2020 Annual Meeting, including a subset of patients with unifocal disease who received a single administration of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

with 20 mg daily dosing of veledimex along with low-dose steroids.

We also continue to enroll patients in our phase 2 clinical trial evaluating Controlled

IL-12

in combination with

PD-1

antibody Libtayo

(cemiplimab-rwlc) for the treatment of rGBM in adults. Despite patient enrollment slowing in some centers since the

COVID-19

pandemic outbreak, we continue to expect to complete our projected enrollment during the first half of 2020. We have also begun evaluating

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex in a clinical trial of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex for the treatment of glioma in the pontine region of the brain, known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG.

Eden BioCell has continued to make significant progress preparing for a clinical trial of

Sleeping Beauty

-generated CD19-specific RPM CAR

T therapies using patient-derived (autologous) T cells to treat patients with relapsed or refractory CD19

leukemias and lymphomas. We expect Eden BioCell to submit an IND in Taiwan for this clinical trial in 2020 and we have elected to prioritize our resources on this clinical trial to support our autologous program while retaining the ability to pursue an autologous clinical trial in the United States in the future.

All our preparations have been made for our U.S. Phase 1 trial clinical trial infusing donor-derived T cells after allogeneic BMT for recipients who have relapsed with CD19

leukemias and lymphomas with our CD19-specific CAR

T therapies manufactured using our RPM technology. This clinical trial is being performed in collaboration with MD Anderson, which has informed us that, in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, it has limited operations and is delaying the site initiation required to begin enrolling patients in this clinical trial.

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Financial Updates

On February 5, 2020, we completed an underwritten public offering for the issuance and sale of 27,826,086 shares of our common stock, at a price of $3.25 per share. On March 10, 2020, the underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 1,284,025 shares. The net proceeds from the offering, including the exercise of the overallotment option, was $88.7 million after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses paid by us.

During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we sold an aggregate of 2,814,673 shares of our common stock in an at-the-market offering. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $13.0 million after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

With our strong cash balance, including the proceeds of our recent February 2020 public offering and sales from our ATM facility, we anticipate having sufficient liquidity to make planned investments in our business this year in support of our long-term growth strategy. We believe that our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2020 will fund our current operating plans into mid-2022. However, our operating plan may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings, third-party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or any combination of these approaches. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve and has already resulted in a significant disruption of global financial markets. If the disruption persists and deepens, we could experience an inability to access additional capital, which could in the future negatively affect our operations.

Financial Overview

Overview of Results of Operations

Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2019

Research and development expenses.

Research and development expenses during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:


	Three months ended March 31,
($ in thousands)	2020		2019		Change
Research and development	$	12,706	$	9,476	$	3,230	34	%

Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2020 increased by $3.2 million when compared to the three months ended March 31, 2019. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, our research and development costs associated with our gene therapy programs increased by $1.6 million which was related to trial related expenses, while our cell therapy expenses increased by $0.6 million due to costs associated with our licensing of IP from the NCI, developmental manufacturing expenses, and our employee related expenses increased $1.0 million due to headcount increases.

Our research and development expense consists primarily of salaries and related expenses for personnel, costs of contract manufacturing services, costs of facilities and equipment, fees paid to professional service providers in conjunction with our clinical trials, fees paid to contract research organizations in conjunction with preclinical animal studies, costs of materials used in research and development, consulting, license and milestone payments and sponsored research fees paid to third parties.

We have not accumulated and tracked our internal historical research and development costs or our personnel and personnel-related costs on a

program-by-program

basis. Our employee and infrastructure resources are allocated across several projects, and many of our costs are directed to broadly applicable research endeavors. As a result, we cannot state the costs incurred for each of our oncology programs on a

program-by-program

basis.

For the three months ended March 31, 2020, our clinical stage projects included a phase 1 clinical trial with

Ad-RTS-IL-12

plus veledimex in progressive glioblastoma; an

investigator-led

phase 1 clinical trial infusing our 2nd generation CD19-specific CAR

T cells in patients with advanced lymphoid malignancies; and a phase 1 clinical trial of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

with veledimex for the treatment of pediatric brain tumors. The expenses incurred by us to third parties for our phase 1 clinical trial with

Ad-RTS-IL-12

plus veledimex in progressive glioblastoma were $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and $12.3 million from the project’s inception in June 2015 through March 31, 2020. The expenses incurred by us to third parties for our

investigator-led

phase 1 clinical trial infusing our 2nd generation CD19-specific CAR

T cells in patients with advanced lymphoid malignancies were $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and

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$6.3 million from the project’s inception in December 2015 through March 31, 2020. The expenses incurred by us to third parties for our

investigator-led

phase 1 clinical trial of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

with veledimex for the treatment of pediatric brain tumors were $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and $2.3 million from the project’s inception in October 2017 through March 31, 2020. The expense incurred by us to third party for our

investigator-led

phase 2 clinical trial of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

with veledimex in combination with cemiplimab-rwlc in progressive glioblastoma were $1.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and $3.4 million from the projects inception in June 2019 through March 31, 2020.

Our future research and development expenses in support of our current and future programs will be subject to numerous uncertainties in timing and cost to completion. We test potential products in numerous preclinical studies for safety, toxicology and efficacy. We may conduct multiple clinical trials for each product. As we obtain results from trials, we may elect to discontinue or delay clinical trials for certain products to focus our resources on more promising products or indications. Completion of clinical trials may take several years or more, and the length of time generally varies substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use of a product. It is not unusual for preclinical and clinical development of each of these types of products to require the expenditure of substantial resources.

We estimate that clinical trials of the type generally needed to secure new drug approval are typically completed over the following timelines:


Clinical Phase	Estimated Completion Period
Phase 1		1 - 2 years
Phase 2		2 - 3 years
Phase 3		2 - 4 years

The duration and the cost of clinical trials may vary significantly over the life of a project as a result of differences arising during clinical development, including, among others, the following:

•

The number of clinical sites included in the trials;

•

The length of time required to enroll suitable patents;

•

The number of patients that ultimately participate in the trials;

•

The duration of patient

follow-up

to ensure the absence of long-term product-related adverse events; and

•

The efficacy and safety profile of the product.

As a result of the uncertainties discussed above, we are unable to determine the duration and completion costs of our programs or when and to what extent we will receive cash inflows from the commercialization and sale of a product. Our inability to complete our programs in a timely manner or our failure to enter into appropriate collaborative agreements could significantly increase our capital requirements and could adversely impact our liquidity. These uncertainties could force us to seek additional, external sources of financing from

time-to-time

in order to continue with our product development strategy. Our inability to raise additional capital, or to do so on terms reasonably acceptable to us, would jeopardize the future success of our business.

General and administrative expenses.

General and administrative expenses during the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:


	Three months ended March 31,
($ in thousands)	2020		2019		Change
General and administrative	$	5,954	$	4,145	$	1,809	44	%

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General and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2020 increased by $1.8 million as compared to three months ended March 31, 2019. The increase during the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily due to an increase of $1.1 million of salary and employee related expenses, including stock compensation, along with an increase of $0.6 million of legal expenses, incurred to expand our patent portfolio and an increase of $0.3 million in facilities offset by a $0.2 million decrease of business development .

Other income, (net).

Other income, net for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 was as follows:


	Three months ended March 31,
($ in thousands)	2020		2019		Change
Other income, net	$	367	$	187	$	180	96	%

Other income for the three months ended March 31, 2020 increased by $0.2 million as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2019 because invested funds increased.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Source of liquidity

We have not generated any revenue from product sales. Since inception, we have incurred net losses and negative cash flows from our operations.

As of March 31, 2020, we have approximately $171.0 million of cash and cash equivalents. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we completed an underwritten public offering of 29,110,111 shares of common stock, which includes a partial exercise by the underwriters of its over-allotment option of 1,284,025 shares from us at a price to the public of $3.25, less underwriting discounts. Our net proceeds from the sale of the shares, after deducting the underwriting discounts and offering expenses of $5.9 million, were $88.7 million.

At-the-Market offering program

In June 2019, we entered into an “at-the-market”, or ATM, open market sales agreement with Jefferies LLC, or Jefferies, acting as sale agent with an aggregate offering value of up to $100.0 million which allows us to sell shares of our common stock through the facilities of the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Subject to the terms of the open market sales agreement, we are able to determine, at our sole discretion, the timing and number of shares to be sold under this ATM facility. The compensation to Jefferies for sales of our common stock pursuant to the open market sale agreement will be an amount equal to 3% of the gross proceeds of any shares of common stock sold under the sales agreement. During the three months ended March 31, 2020, we sold 2,814,673 shares of common stock under the ATM facility for net cash proceeds of $13.0 million, after deducting commission fees of $0.4 million.

Funding requirements

Given our current development plans, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our current operations into mid-2022. We currently do not have any committed sources of additional capital at this time. The forecast of cash resources is forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainties, and the actual amount of our expenses could vary materially and adversely as a result of a number of factors. We have based our estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and our expenses could prove to be significantly higher than we currently anticipate. Management does not know whether additional financing will be on terms favorable or acceptable to us when needed, if at all. If adequate additional funds are not available when required, or if we are unsuccessful in entering into partnership agreements for further development of our products, management may need to curtail development efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve and has already resulted in a significant disruption of global financial markets. If the disruption persists and deepens, we could experience an inability to access additional capital when and if needed. If we are unable to obtain funding, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate some or all of our research and development programs, product portfolio expansion or commercialization efforts, which would adversely affect our business prospects, or we may be unable to continue operations.

In addition to these factors, our actual cash requirements may vary materially from our current expectations due to a number of other factors that may include, but are not limited to, changes in the focus and direction of our development programs, competitive and technical advances, costs associated with the development of our product candidates, our ability to secure partnering arrangements, and the costs of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing our intellectual property rights. If we exhaust our capital reserves more quickly than anticipated, regardless of the reason, and we are unable to obtain additional financing on terms acceptable to us or at all, we will be unable to proceed with development of some or all of our product candidates on expected timelines and will be forced to prioritize among them.

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Cash flows

The following table summarizes our net decrease in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash for the three months ended March 31, 2020:


	Three months ended March 31,
($ in thousands)	2020			2019
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities	$	(9,906	)	$	(10,232	)
Investing activities		(513	)		(10	)
Financing activities		101,680			—

Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	$	91,261		$	(10,242	)

Cash flows from operating activities represent the cash receipts and disbursements related to all of our activities other than investing and financing activities. Operating cash flow is derived by adjusting our net loss for:

•

Non-cash

operating items such as depreciation and stock-based compensation; and

•

Changes in operating assets and liabilities, which reflect timing differences between the receipt and payment of cash associated with transactions and when they are recognized in results of operations.

Net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $9.9 million, as compared to net cash used in operating activities of $10.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was primarily due to our net loss of $18.3 million, the change in other noncurrent assets of $0.6 million, the change in accounts payable of $0.5 million, offset by the change receivables of $2.6 million, the change in prepaid and other assets of $2.6 million primarily related to the use of our funds at MD Anderson, the change in $2.3 million of accrued expenses, and

non-cash

stock-based compensation on $1.9 million. The net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was primarily due to our net loss of $13.4 million, and the change in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $1.8 million, offset by non-cash expenses of $2.2 million and the change in receivables, prepaid and other current assets of $2.8 million.

Net cash used in investing activities was $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 compared to $10 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2019. For the three months ended March 31, 2020, the cash used was for the purchase of equipment for our offices in Houston.

Net cash provided by financing activities the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $101.7 million. The net cash was provided by $88.7 million from the issuance of common stock in our public offering, net and $13.0 million from the issuance of common stock in our at the market offerings, net.

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Operating capital and capital expenditure requirements

We anticipate that losses will continue for the foreseeable future. At March 31, 2020, our accumulated deficit was approximately $702.4 million. Our actual cash requirements will depend on and could increase significantly as a result of a number of factors, including:

•

the scope, number, initiation, progress, timing, costs, design, duration, any potential delays, and results of clinical trials and nonclinical studies for our current or future product candidates;

•

changes in the focus, direction and pace of our development programs;

•

the effect of competitive and technical advances and market developments;

•

costs associated with the development of our product candidates;

•

our ability to establish and maintain partnering, collaborations or similar arrangements on favorable terms and whether and to what extent we retain development or commercialization responsibilities under any new licensing, collaboration or similar arrangement;

•

diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials as a result of the ongoing

COVID-19

pandemic, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials;

•

COVID-19

pandemic;

•

our need and ability to hire additional management and scientific and medical personnel;

•

the costs of acquiring, licensing or investing in businesses, product candidates and technologies;

•

costs of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and any other intellectual property rights, or other developments; and

•

other matters identified under Part II, Item 1A. “Risk Factors.”

Working capital as of March 31, 2020 was $175.0 million, consisting of $191.6 million in current assets and $16.6 million in current liabilities. Working capital as of December 31, 2019 was $93.0 million, consisting of $105.5 million in current assets and $12.5 million in current liabilities.

Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes our outstanding obligations as of March 31, 2020 and the effect those obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flows in future periods:


($ in thousands)	Total		Less than 1 year		2 - 3 years		4 - 5 years		More than 5 years
Operating leases	$	2,594	$	962	$	727	$	450	$	455
CRADA		5,000		3,125		1,875		—		—
Royalty and license fees		3,900		850		700		700		1,650

Total	$	11,494	$	4,937	$	3,302	$	1,150	$	2,105

Our commitments for operating leases relate to the lease for our corporate headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, and office and laboratory space in Houston, Texas. On December 21, 2015 and April 15, 2016, we renewed the sublease for our corporate headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts through August 31, 2021. On January 30, 2018, we entered into a lease agreement for office space in Houston, Texas at MD Anderson through April 2021. On March 12, 2019, we entered into a lease agreement for additional office space in Houston through April 2021. On October 15, 2019, we entered into another lease agreement for additional office and laboratory space in Houston through February 2027.

On January 10, 2017, we announced the signing of a CRADA with the NCI for the development of

ACT-based

immunotherapies genetically modified using the

Sleeping Beauty

transposon/transposase system for the treatment of solid tumors. In February 2019, we extended the CRADA with the NCI until January 9, 2022.

On May 28, 2019, we entered into a patent license agreement, or the Patent License, with the NCI. The terms of the Patent License require us to pay the NCI minimum annual royalties in the amount of $0.3 million, which amount will be reduced to $0.1 million once the aggregate minimum annual royalties paid by us equals $1.5 million. The first minimum annual royalty payment is payable on the date that is eighteen months following the date of the Patent License.

On October 5, 2018, we entered into the License Agreement with PGEN. Under the License Agreement, we are obligated to pay PGEN an annual licensing fee of $0.1 million expected to be paid through the term of the agreement.

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Off-balance

sheet arrangements

We did not have during the periods presented, and we do not currently have, any off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined in the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

In our Annual Report our most critical accounting policies and estimates upon which our financial status depends were identified as those relating to clinical trial expenses; collaboration agreements; fair value measurements for stock-based compensation; and income taxes. We reviewed our policies and determined that those policies remain our most critical accounting policies for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Our exposure to market risk is limited to our cash. The goals of our investment policy are preservation of capital, fulfillment of liquidity needs and fiduciary control of cash. We also seek to maximize income from our investments without assuming significant risk. To achieve our goals, we maintain our cash in interest-bearing bank accounts in global banks, United States treasuries and other government-backed investments, which are subject to minimal interest rate risk.

Effect of Currency Exchange Rates and Exchange Rate Risk Management

We currently have no studies outside of the United States. Therefore, any currency fluctuations will not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we have evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined under Rule

13a-15(e)

15d-15(e)

promulgated under the Exchange Act, as of March 31, 2020. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that as of March 31, 2020, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to a material weakness identified in our internal control over financial reporting as described below under “Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting”.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for us. Internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule

13a-15(f)

of the Exchange Act) is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Internal control over financial reporting includes maintaining records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions; providing reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary for preparation of our financial statements; providing reasonable assurance that receipts and expenditures of company assets are made in accordance with management authorization; and providing reasonable assurance that unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of company assets that could have a material effect on our financial statements would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that a misstatement of our financial statements would be prevented or detected

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As of December 31, 2019, Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in

Internal Control—Integrated Framework

issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in 2013.

As previously disclosed under “Item 9A. Controls and Procedures” in our Annual Report on Form

10-K

for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, we identified the following deficiency that existed as of December 31, 2019 which continued to exist at March 31, 2020. This deficiency represented a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a control deficiency or a combination of control deficiencies that results in more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of the annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected.

As of December 31, 2019, and March 31, 2020, management identified a material weakness in the design and effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. We did not design and maintain effective controls relating to the monitoring and oversight of expensing third party clinical trial costs. Specifically, our internal controls were not designed effectively to provide reasonable assurance regarding the accurate and timely evaluation of the amount of third-party costs to record.

Based on this evaluation, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective at both December 31, 2019 and March 31, 2020 because of the material weakness described above.

Despite the existence of the material weakness described above, our financial statements as of both December 31, 2019 and March 31, 2020, are presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Remediation

We have implemented and are continuing to implement measures to remediate the control deficiency that constituted the above material weakness by implementing changes to our internal control over financial reporting. We are in the process of designing, implementing and testing measures to remediate the underlying causes of the control deficiency that gave rise to the material weakness. In addition, we are providing

in-house

accounting personnel training to ensure that they have the relevant expertise related to the monitoring and oversight of expensing third party clinical trial costs. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these controls and will make any further changes management determines appropriate.

Changes in Internal Controls over Financial Reporting

Except for the material weakness and related remediation efforts discussed above, there were no other changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule

13a-15(f)

of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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Part II - Other Information

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, we may periodically become subject to legal proceedings and claims arising in connection with ongoing business activities from time to time. The results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, and unfavorable resolutions are possible and could materially affect our results of operations, cash flows or financial position. In addition, regardless of the outcome, litigation could have an adverse impact on us because of defense costs, diversion of management attention and resources and other factors.

As of March 31, 2020, based on information readily available, there are no material matters that, in the opinion of management, are likely to result in a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

The following important factors could cause our actual business and financial results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or elsewhere by management from time to time. The risk factors in this Quarterly Report have been revised to incorporate changes to our risk factors from those included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. The risk factors set forth below with an asterisk (*) next to the title are new risk factors or risk factors containing changes, which may be material, from the risk factors previously disclosed in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The market price of our common stock could decline if one or more of these risks or uncertainties actually occur, causing you to lose all or part of your investment. The impact of COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risks discussed in this filing, any of which could have a material effect on us. This situation is changing rapidly and additional impacts may arise. Additional risks that we currently do not know about, or that we currently believe to be immaterial, may also impair our business. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this report.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION

* Our business, operations and clinical development plans and timelines could be adversely affected by the effects of health epidemics, including the

COVID-19

pandemic, on the manufacturing, clinical development and other business activities performed by us or by third parties with whom we conduct business, including our contract manufacturers, clinical research organizations, or CROs, shippers and others.

Our business could be adversely affected by health epidemics wherever we have clinical trial sites or other business operations. In addition, health epidemics could cause significant disruption in the operations of third-party manufacturers, CROs and other third parties upon whom we rely. For instance, certain of our collaborators such as MD Anderson and National Cancer Institute, or NCI have taken precautionary measures in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic which we believe will delay the commencement of our clinical trials planned at these institutions.

We have implemented work-from-home policies for most of our employees. The effects of our work-from-home policies and travel restrictions may negatively impact productivity, disrupt our business and delay our clinical programs and timelines, the magnitude of which will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.

We depend on a worldwide supply chain to manufacture products and clinical supply used in our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Quarantines,

shelter-in-place

and similar government orders, or the expectation that such orders, shutdowns or other restrictions could occur, whether related to

COVID-19

or other infectious diseases, could impact personnel at third-party manufacturing facilities in the United States and other countries, or the availability or cost, or ease of transportation of materials, which could disrupt our supply chain.

If our relationships with our suppliers or other vendors are terminated or scaled back as a result of the

COVID-19

pandemic or other health epidemics, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative suppliers or vendors or do so on commercially reasonable terms or in a timely manner. Switching or adding additional suppliers or vendors involves substantial cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new supplier or vendor commences work. As a result, delays may occur, which could adversely impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines, as well as any future commercialization timelines. Although we carefully manage our relationships with our suppliers and vendors and discuss business continuity plans, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not harm our business.

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In addition, our preclinical studies and clinical trials have been and may continue to be affected by the

COVID-19

pandemic. Clinical site initiation, patient enrollment and activities that require visits to clinical sites, including data monitoring, have been and may continue to be delayed due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the

COVID-19

pandemic or concerns among patients about participating in clinical trials during a pandemic. Some patients may have difficulty following certain aspects of clinical trial protocols if quarantines impede patient movement or interrupt healthcare services. Similarly, if we are unable to successfully recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to

COVID-19

or experience additional restrictions by their institutions, city, or state our clinical trial could be adversely impacted.

The spread of

COVID-19,

which has caused a broad impact globally, may also materially affect us economically. While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of,

COVID-19

may be difficult to assess or predict, a widespread pandemic could result in significant disruption of global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of

COVID-19

could materially affect our business and the value of our common stock.

The global pandemic of

COVID-19

continues to evolve rapidly. The ultimate impact of the

COVID-19

pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. The

COVID-19

pandemic may have a material impact on our operations, and we continue to monitor the situation closely.

*We will require substantial additional financial resources to continue ongoing development of our product candidates and pursue our business objectives; if we are unable to obtain these additional resources when needed, we may be forced to delay or discontinue our planned operations, including clinical testing of our product candidates.

We have not generated significant revenue and have incurred significant net losses in each year since our inception. For the three months ended March 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $18.3 million, and, as of March 31, 2020 we have incurred approximately $702.4 million of accumulated deficit since our inception in 2003. We expect to continue to incur significant operating expenditures and net losses. Further development of our product candidates will likely require substantial increases in our expenses as we:

•

continue to undertake clinical trials for product candidates;

•

scale-up

the formulation and manufacturing of our product candidates;

•

seek regulatory approvals for product candidates;

•

work with regulatory authorities to identify and address program-related inquiries;

•

implement additional internal systems and infrastructure; and

•

hire additional personnel.

As of March 31, 2020, we have approximately $101.7 million of cash and cash equivalents.

Given our current development plans, we anticipate our cash resources will be sufficient to fund our operations into

mid-2022

and we have no committed sources of additional capital at this time. The forecast of cash resources is forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainties, and the actual amount of our expenses could vary materially and adversely as a result of a number of factors. We have based our estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and our expenses could prove to be significantly higher than we currently anticipate. Management does not know whether additional financing will be on terms favorable or acceptable to us when needed, if at all.

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Our actual cash requirements may vary materially from our current expectations for a number of other factors that may include, but are not limited to, changes in the focus and direction of our development programs, slower than expected progress of our research and development efforts, changes in governmental regulation, competitive and technical advances, costs associated with the development of our product candidates, our ability to secure partnering arrangements, and costs of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing our intellectual property rights.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve and has already resulted in a significant disruption of global financial markets. If the disruption persists and deepens, we could experience an inability to access additional capital, which could in the future negatively affect our operations. If we exhaust our capital reserves more quickly than anticipated, regardless of the reason, and we are unable to obtain additional financing on terms acceptable to us or at all, we will be unable to proceed with development of some or all of our product candidates on expected timelines and will be forced to prioritize among them.

*We need to raise additional capital to fund our operations. The manner in which we raise any additional funds may affect the value of your investment in our common stock.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and license and collaboration agreements. We do not have any committed external source of funds. The unpredictability of the capital markets may severely hinder our ability to raise capital within the time periods needed or on terms we consider acceptable, if at all. In addition, the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 has significantly disrupted global financial markets, negatively impacted U.S. market conditions and may reduce opportunities for us to seek out additional funding. In particular, a decline in the market price of our common stock could make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate. If the disruption persists and deepens, we could experience an inability to access additional capital, which could in the future negatively affect our operations. Moreover, if we fail to advance one or more of our current product candidates to later-stage clinical trials, successfully commercialize one or more of our product candidates, or acquire new product candidates for development, we may have difficulty attracting investors that might otherwise be a source of additional financing.

To the extent that we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our existing stockholders’ ownership will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Any debt financing that we enter into may involve covenants that restrict our operations. These restrictive covenants may include limitations on additional borrowing and specific restrictions on the use of our assets as well as prohibitions on our ability to create liens, pay dividends, redeem our stock or make investments. Furthermore, the impact of COVID-19 on global financial markets could make the terms of any available financing less attractive to use and more dilutive to our existing shareholders. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves. If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us.

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Our plans to develop and commercialize

non-viral

and viral adoptive cellular therapies based on engineered cytokines and CAR

T-cell

as well as TCR therapies can be considered as new approaches to cancer treatment, the successful development of which is subject to significant challenges.

We intend to employ technologies such as the technology licensed from MD Anderson pursuant to the MD Anderson License described above, and from PGEN, pursuant to the License Agreement, to pursue the development and commercialization of

non-viral

and viral adoptive cellular therapies based on cytokines,

T-cells,

CARs and TCRs, possibly under control of the RTS

and other switch technologies targeting both hematologic and solid tumor malignancies. Because this is a new approach to cancer immunotherapy and cancer treatment generally, developing and commercializing product candidates subjects us to a number of challenges, including:

•

obtaining regulatory approval from the FDA and other regulatory authorities that have very limited experience with the commercial development of genetically modified and/or unmodified

T-cell

therapies for cancer;

•

identifying and manufacturing appropriate TCRs from patient and from third parties that can be administered to a patient;

•

developing and deploying consistent and reliable processes for engineering a patient’s and/or donor’s

T-cells

ex vivo

and infusing the

T-cells

back into the patient;

•

possibly conditioning patients with chemotherapy in conjunction with delivering each of the potential products, which may increase the risk of adverse side effects of the potential products;

•

educating medical personnel regarding the potential side effect profile of each of the potential products, such as the potential adverse side effects related to cytokine release;

•

addressing any competing technological and market developments;

•

developing processes for the safe administration of these potential products, including long-term

follow-up

for all patients who receive the potential products;

•

sourcing additional clinical and, if approved, commercial supplies for the materials used to manufacture and process the potential products;

•

developing a manufacturing process and distribution network with a cost of goods that allows for an attractive return on investment;

•

establishing sales and marketing capabilities after obtaining any regulatory approval to gain market acceptance;

•

developing therapies for types of cancers beyond those addressed by the current potential products;

•

maintaining and defending the intellectual property rights relating to any products we develop;

•

and not infringing the intellectual property rights, in particular, the patent rights, of third parties, including competitors, such as those developing

T-cell

therapies.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully address these challenges, which could prevent us from achieving our research, development and commercialization goals.

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Our current product candidates are based on novel technologies and are supported by limited clinical data and we cannot assure you that our current and planned clinical trials will produce data that supports regulatory approval of one or more of these product candidates.

The immuno-oncology effector platform in which we have acquired rights pursuant to our License Agreement with PGEN represents early-stage technology in the field of human oncology biotherapeutics, with

Ad-RTS-IL-12

plus veledimex having completed trials, in melanoma, breast cancer and rGBM. Similarly, our genetically modified and/ or

non-modified

T-cell

candidates are supported by limited clinical data, all of which has been generated through trials conducted by MD Anderson and the NCI, not by us. We plan to assume control of the overall clinical and regulatory development of our

T-cell

product candidates, and any failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, sponsorship of new INDs, or in filing INDs sponsored by us for these or any other product candidates we determine to advance could negatively affect the timing of our potential future clinical trials. Such an impact on timing could increase research and development costs and could delay or prevent obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Further, we did not control the design or conduct of the previous trials. It is possible that the FDA will not accept these previous trials as providing adequate support for future clinical trials, whether controlled by us or third parties, for any of one or more reasons, including the safety, purity, and potency of the product candidate, the degree of product characterization, elements of the design or execution of the previous trials or safety concerns, or other trial results. We may also be subject to liabilities arising from any treatment-related injuries or adverse effects in patients enrolled in these previous trials. As a result, we may be subject to unforeseen third-party claims and delays in our potential future clinical trials. We may also be required to repeat in whole or in part clinical trials previously conducted by MD Anderson or other entities, which will be expensive and delay the submission and licensure or other regulatory approvals with respect to any of our product candidates.

In addition, the results of the limited clinical trials conducted to date may not be replicated in future clinical trials. Our

Ad-RTS-IL-12

plus veledimex and genetically modified and

non-modified

T-cell

product candidates, as well as other product candidates, may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development, and we cannot assure you that the results of any future trials will demonstrate the value and efficacy of our product candidates. Moreover, there are a number of regulatory requirements that we must satisfy before we can continue clinical trials of CAR+ T, TCRs or other cellular therapy product candidates in the United States. Satisfaction of these requirements will entail substantial time, effort and financial resources. Any time, effort and financial resources we expend on our

Ad-RTS-IL-12

plus veledimex and genetically modified and

non-modified

T-cell

product candidates and other early-stage product candidate development programs may adversely affect our ability to continue development and commercialization of our immuno-oncology product candidates.

We report interim data on certain of our clinical trials and we cannot assure you that interim data will be predictive of either future interim results or final study results.

As part of our business, we provide updates related to the development of our product candidates, which may include updates related to interim clinical trial data. To date, our clinical trials have involved small patient populations and because of the small sample size, the interim results of these clinical trials may be subject to substantial variability and may not be indicative of either future interim results or final results. In addition, the design of a clinical trial, such as endpoints, inclusion and exclusion criteria, statistical analysis plans, data access protocols and trial sizing, can determine whether its results will support approval of a product and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced.

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

The development and commercialization for new products to treat cancer, including the indications we are pursuing, is highly competitive and considerable competition exists from major pharmaceutical, biotechnology and specialty cancer companies. Many of these companies have more experience in preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory, and global commercialization. We are also competing with academic institutions, governmental agencies, and private organizations that are conducting research in the field of cancer.

Our genetically engineering

T-cell

programs face significant competition in the CAR and TCR technology space from multiple companies and their collaborators. Two such companies, Novartis International AG (Kymriah

) and Kite Pharma Inc./Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Yescarta

), have now commercialized autologous CAR+ T cells against CD19. Additional companies developing autologous CAR+ T targets include Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Precigen, Inc., bluebird bio, Inc., in collaboration with Celgene Corporation, Nanjing Legend Biotech and Janssen Biotech, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Autolus Therapeutics plc, Mustang Bio, Inc., Crispr Therapeutics AG, Precision Biosciences Inc., Protheragen Inc. and Marker Therapeutics, Inc. Several companies are pursuing the development of allogeneic CAR+ T therapies, including Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (in collaboration with Pfizer Inc.), Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. and Cellectis SA (in collaboration with Servier) which may compete with our product candidates.

Our TCR program faces competition from several companies, including from Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline plc, ArsenalBio, Lyell, bluebird bio, Kite Pharma Inc./Gilead Sciences, Inc., Achilles Therapeutics Limited, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc., Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, Tmunity Therapeutics Inc, Medigene AG, Tactiva Therapeutics, LLC, Takara Bio, Inc., TC Biopharm Ltd., TCR2 Therapeutics Inc., Zelluna Immunotherapy AS, PACT Pharma, Inc. and others. Several companies, including Advaxis Inc./Amgen Inc., BioNTech AG and Gritstone Oncology, Inc., are pursuing vaccine platforms to target neoantigens for solid tumors. Other companies are developing

non-viral

gene therapies, including Poseida Therapeutics, Inc. and several companies developing CRISPR technology. We also face competition from companies developing therapies using cells other than T cells such as Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Incysus Therapeutics, Inc., and TC BioPharm Limited. We also face competition from companies developing T cells with cytokines such as Repertoire Immune Medicines and Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc.. We also face competition from

non-cell-

based treatments offered by other companies such as Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca plc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Incyte Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., and Roche Holding AG.

We are initially developing our Controlled

IL-12

platform for the treatment of rGBM. Companies that sell marketed drugs for rGBM are Genentech Inc. and Roche Holding AG with Avastin (bevacizumab), a vascular endothelial growth factor directed antibody indicated for the treatment of adults with rGBM. Arbor Pharmaceuticals Inc. markets GLIADEL Wafer, which is indicated in patients with newly diagnosed high-grade malignant glioma as an adjunct to surgery and radiation and is also indicated in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme as an adjunct to surgery. Additionally, Novocure has developed Optune (tumor treating fields) for newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma. Several companies have product candidates in phase 3 development for the treatment of glioblastoma, including, but not limited to, Vascular Biogenics Ltd. and DelMar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Several companies and institutions have product candidates currently in phase 2 clinical trials, including, but not limited to, Abbvie Inc., DNAtrix Therapeutics, Istari Oncology, Karyopharm and MedImmune LLC/AstraZeneca plc, and other companies are actively developing additional products to treat brain cancer including Mustang Bio Inc. and Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. Other competitors with product candidates currently in Phase 2 clinical trials include AbbVie Inc.’s

Depatus-M

(ABT-414)

and

DNA-2401,

a conditionally replicative adenovirus being evaluated in combination with pembrolizumab Phase 2 clinical trial of oncolytic polio/rhinovirus recombinant (PVSRIPO) alone or in combination with lomustine in recurrent WHO Grade IV malignant glioma patients. Also, MedImmune, LLC/AstraZeneca plc’s durvalumab was evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with rGBM.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval of potential products, we may not be the first to market and that may affect the price or demand for our potential products. Existing or future competing products may provide greater therapeutic convenience or clinical or other benefits for a specific indication than our products or may offer comparable performance at a lower cost.

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Additionally, the availability and price of our competitors’ products could limit the demand and the price we are able to charge for our potential products. We may not be able to implement our business plan if the acceptance of our potential products is inhibited by price competition or the reluctance of physicians to switch from existing methods of treatment to our potential products, or if physicians switch to other new drug or biologic products or choose to reserve our potential products. Additionally, a competitor could obtain orphan product exclusivity from the FDA with respect to such competitor’s product. If such competitor product is determined to be the same product as one of our potential products, that may prevent us from obtaining approval from the FDA for such potential products for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances. If our products fail to capture and maintain market share, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

We compete against fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with larger pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. Many of these competitors have products already approved or in development. In addition, many of these competitors, either alone or together with their collaborative partners, operate larger research and development programs or have substantially greater financial resources than we do, as well as significantly greater experience in:

•

developing drugs and biopharmaceuticals;

•

undertaking preclinical testing and human clinical trials;

•

obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of drugs and biopharmaceuticals;

•

formulating and manufacturing drugs and biopharmaceuticals; and

•

launching, marketing, and selling drugs and biopharmaceuticals.

Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third-party payors seeking to encourage the use of generic products.

*Any termination of our licenses with PGEN, MD Anderson or the National Cancer Institute or our research and development agreements with MD Anderson could result in the loss of significant rights and could harm our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

We are dependent on patents,

know-how,

and proprietary technology that are licensed from others, particularly MD Anderson, Precigen and the National Cancer Institute, or the NCI, as well as the contributions by MD Anderson under our research and development agreements. Any termination of these licenses or research and development agreements could result in the loss of significant rights and could harm our ability to commercialize our product

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candidates. Disputes may also arise between us and these licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including those relating to:

•

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

•

whether and the extent to which our technology and processes, and the technology and processes of PGEN, MD Anderson, the NCI and our other licensors, infringe intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the applicable license agreement;

•

our right to sublicense patent and other rights to third parties pursuant to our relationships with our licensors and partners;

•

whether we are complying with our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development and commercialization of our potential products under the MD Anderson License, the License Agreement with PGEN and our patent license agreement with the NCI; and

•

whether or not our partners are complying with all of their obligations to support our programs under licenses and research and development agreements; and

•

the allocation of ownership of inventions and

know-how

resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our licensors and by us.

In addition, under our License Agreement, PGEN is obligated to provide certain transition services and transfer certain

know-how

to us. For example, PGEN was previously responsible for manufacturing the products used in our clinical programs and is now responsible for transferring the related

know-how

so that we can begin manufacturing products used in our clinical trials. There is no guarantee that PGEN will perform these activities to our satisfaction, if at all. If PGEN fails to perform these activities our ability to pursue our clinical programs may be adversely affected.

If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements, particularly with MD Anderson, PGEN and the NCI, on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected potential products. We are generally also subject to all of the same risks with respect to protection of intellectual property that we license as we are for intellectual property that we own. If we or our licensors fail to adequately protect this intellectual property, our ability to commercialize potential products under our applicable licenses could suffer. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as administrative proceedings for challenging patents, including interference, derivation, and reexamination proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or oppositions and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. Recently, due to changes in U.S. law referred to as patent reform, new procedures including inter partes review and post-grant review have been implemented, which adds uncertainty to the possibility of challenge to our or our licensors’ patents in the future.

Furthermore, certain of the above risks and uncertainties may be amplified as a result of the impact of

COVID-19.

The extent to which

COVID-19

may impact our agreements with PGEN, MD Anderson or the National Cancer Institute, or any other third-party partner, will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of

COVID-19

and the actions to contain

COVID-19

or treat its impact, among others. For instance, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MD Anderson has implemented work restrictions that may delay the enrollment of the Phase 1 trial infusing donor-derived T cells after allogeneic BMT for recipients who have relapsed with CD19+ leukemias and lymphomas with our CD19-specific CAR+ T therapies manufactured using our RPM technology.

*We are partly reliant on the National Cancer Institute for research and development and early clinical testing of certain of our product candidates.

A portion of our research and development is being conducted by the NCI under the CRADA entered into in January 2017 and amended in February 2019. Under the CRADA, the NCI, with Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg as the principal investigator, is responsible for conducting a clinical trial using the

Sleeping Beauty

system to express TCRs for the treatment of solid tumors. We have limited control over the nature or timing of the NCI’s clinical trial and limited visibility into their day-to-day activities, including with respect to how they are providing and administering T cell therapy. For example, the research we are funding constitutes only a small portion of the NCI’s overall research. Additionally, other research being conducted by Dr. Rosenberg may at times receive higher priority than research on our program. Further, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCI has taken precautionary measures that may delay the enrollment of the TCR-T clinical trial using the

Sleeping Beauty

system to express TCRs for the treatment of solid tumors.

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The CRADA terminates on January 9, 2022 unless it is extended in writing by the parties, and either party may terminate the CRADA by providing at least 60 days’ prior written notice to the other party. If the NCI unilaterally terminates the CRADA or the CRADA lapses without any extension, part or all of the research and development of the

Sleeping Beauty

system conducted at the NCI would be suspended, and the research and development of our TCR program would be impacted.

*Clinical trials are very expensive, time-consuming, difficult to design, initiate and implement.

Human clinical trials are very expensive and difficult to design, initiate and implement, in part because they are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. The clinical trial

start-up

and process itself is also time-consuming and results are inherently uncertain. We estimate that clinical trials of our product candidates will take at least several years to complete. Furthermore, failure can occur at any stage of the trials, and we could encounter problems that cause us to delay the start of, abandon or repeat clinical trials. The commencement and completion of clinical trials may be delayed by several factors, including:

•

Additional nonclinical data requests by regulatory agencies;

•

Unforeseen safety issues;

•

Determination of dosing issues;

•

Lack of effectiveness during clinical trials;

•

Slower than expected rates of patient recruitment and enrollment;

•

Inability to monitor patients adequately during or after treatment;

•

Inability or unwillingness of medical investigators or patients to follow our clinical protocols or attend follow-up visits, including as a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic; and

•

Regulatory determinations to temporarily or permanently cease enrollment for other reasons not related to patient safety.

Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful. In addition, we or the FDA may suspend our clinical trials at any time if it appears that we are exposing participants to unacceptable health risks or if the FDA finds deficiencies in our IND submission or in the conduct of these trials. In June 2018, we announced that the FDA placed our Phase 1 trial on clinical hold to evaluate CD19-specific

CAR-T

therapies manufactured using our rapid personalized manufacturing technology with patient-derived (autologous) T cells in order to treat patients with relapsed or refractory CD19+ leukemias and lymphomas. The FDA requested additional information in support of the IND submission for the trial. Our business may be materially harmed if we or our partners are unable to adequately address the FDA’s requests for this trial.

See also “Risks Related to the Clinical Testing, Regulatory Approval and Manufacturing of our Product Candidates—

Our product candidates are in various stages of clinical trials, which are very expensive and time- consuming. We cannot be certain when we will be able to submit a BLA, to the FDA and any failure or delay in completing clinical trials for our product candidates could harm our business.”

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We may not be able to commercialize any products, generate significant revenues, or attain profitability.

To date, none of our product candidates have been approved for commercial sale in any country. The process to develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and commercialize potential product candidates is long, complex, and costly. Unless and until we receive approval from the FDA and/or other foreign regulatory authorities for our product candidates, we cannot sell our products and will not have product revenues. Even if we obtain regulatory approval for one or more of our product candidates, if we are unable to successfully commercialize our products, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenues to achieve or maintain profitability, or to continue our business without raising significant additional capital, which may not be available. Our failure to achieve or maintain profitability could negatively impact the trading price of our common stock.

Ethical, legal and social concerns about synthetic biologically engineered products could limit or prevent the use of our product candidates.

Our product candidates use an immuno-oncology platform. Public perception about the safety and environmental hazards of, and ethical concerns over, genetically engineered products could influence public acceptance of our product candidates. If we and our collaborators are not able to overcome the ethical, legal and social concerns relating to biological engineering, our product candidates may not be accepted. These concerns could result in increased expenses, regulatory scrutiny, delays or other impediments to the public acceptance and commercialization of our product candidates. Our ability to develop and commercialize products could be limited by public attitudes and governmental regulation.

The subject of genetically modified organisms has received negative publicity, which has aroused public debate. This adverse publicity could lead to greater regulation and trade restrictions on the development and commercialization of genetically altered products. Further, there is a risk that our product candidates could cause adverse health effects or other AEs, which could also lead to negative publicity.

The biological platform that we use may have significantly enhanced characteristics compared to those found in naturally occurring organisms, enzymes or microbes. While we believe we produce biological technologies only for use in a controlled laboratory and industrial environment, the release of such biological technologies into uncontrolled environments could have unintended consequences. Any adverse effect resulting from such a release could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition, and we may have exposure to liability for any resulting harm.

We may not be able to retain the rights licensed to us and PGEN by MD Anderson to technologies relating to CAR,

T-cell

therapies and other related technologies.

Under the MD Anderson License, we, together with PGEN, received an exclusive, worldwide license to certain technologies owned and licensed by MD Anderson including technologies relating to novel CAR+ T cell and TCR cell therapies arising from the laboratory of Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., who was then at MD Anderson, as well as either

co-exclusive

non-exclusive

licenses under certain related technologies. When combined with PGEN’s technology suite and Ziopharm’s clinically tested RTS

interleukin 12 modules, the resulting proprietary methods and technologies may help realize the promise of genetically modified CAR+ T cells and TCR therapies by controlling cell expansion and activation in the body, minimizing

off-target

and unwanted

on-target

effects and toxicity while maximizing therapeutic efficacy. The term of the MD Anderson License expires on the last to occur of (a) the expiration of all patents licensed thereunder, or (b) the twentieth anniversary of the date of the MD Anderson License; provided, however, that following the expiration of the term, we and PGEN shall then have a fully-paid up, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable and sublicensable license to use the licensed intellectual property thereunder.

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After 10 years from the date of the MD Anderson License and subject to a

90-day

cure period, MD Anderson will have the right to convert the MD Anderson License into a

non-exclusive

license if we and PGEN are not using commercially reasonable efforts to commercialize the licensed intellectual property on a

case-by-case

basis. After five years from the date of the MD Anderson License and subject to a

180-day

cure period, MD Anderson will have the right to terminate the MD Anderson License with respect to specific technology(ies) funded by the government or subject to a third-party contract if we and PGEN are not meeting the diligence requirements in such funding agreement or contract, as applicable. MD Anderson may also terminate the agreement with written notice upon material breach by us or PGEN, if such breach has not been cured within 60 days of receiving such notice. In addition, the MD Anderson License will terminate upon the occurrence of certain insolvency events for both us or PGEN and may be terminated by the mutual written agreement of us, PGEN and MD Anderson.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully perform under the MD Anderson License and if the MD Anderson License is terminated it may prevent us from achieving our business objectives.

We have a limited operating history upon which to base an investment decision.

We have not demonstrated an ability to perform the functions necessary for the successful commercialization of any product candidates. The successful commercialization of any product candidates will require us to perform a variety of functions, including:

•

Continuing to undertake preclinical development and clinical trials;

•

Participating in regulatory approval processes;

•

Formulating and manufacturing products; and

•

Conducting sales and marketing activities.

Our operations have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, acquiring, developing and securing our proprietary product candidates, and undertaking preclinical and clinical trials of our product candidates. These operations provide a limited basis for you to assess our ability to commercialize our product candidates and the advisability of investing in our securities.

We may not be successful in establishing development and commercialization collaborations, which failure could adversely affect, and potentially prohibit, our ability to develop our product candidates.

Developing biopharmaceutical products and complementary technologies, conducting clinical trials, obtaining marketing approval, establishing manufacturing capabilities and marketing approved products is expensive and, therefore, we anticipate exploring collaborations with third parties that have alternative technologies, more resources and more experience than we do. In situations where we enter into a development and commercial collaboration arrangement for a product candidate or complementary technology, we may also seek to establish additional collaborations for development and commercialization in territories outside of those addressed by the first collaboration arrangement for such product candidate or technology. There are a limited number of potential partners, and we expect to face competition in seeking appropriate partners. If we are unable to enter into any development and commercial collaborations and/or sales and marketing arrangements on reasonable and acceptable terms, if at all, we may be unable to successfully develop and seek regulatory approval for our product candidates and/or effectively market and sell future approved products, if any, in some or all of the territories outside of the United States where it may otherwise be valuable to do so.

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*Because we currently have limited internal research capabilities, we are dependent upon pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic and other researchers to sell or license us their product candidates and technology.

Proposing, negotiating, and implementing an economically viable product acquisition or license is a lengthy and complex process. We compete for partnering arrangements and license agreements with pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies, many of which have significantly more experience than we do and have significantly more financial resources. Our competitors may have stronger relationships with certain third parties including academic research institutions, with whom we are interested in collaborating and may have, therefore, a competitive advantage in entering into partnering arrangements with those third parties. We may not be able to acquire rights to additional product candidates or complementary technology on terms that we find acceptable, or at all.

We expect that any product candidate to which we acquire rights will require significant additional development and other efforts prior to commercial sale, including extensive clinical testing and approval by the FDA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities. All product candidates are subject to the risks of failure inherent in biopharmaceutical product development, including the possibility that the product candidate will not be shown to be sufficiently safe or effective for approval by regulatory authorities. Even if our product candidates are approved, they may not be economically manufactured or produced, or be successfully commercialized.

We actively evaluate complementary technologies to acquire or license. Such complementary technologies could significantly increase our capital requirements and place further strain on the time of our existing personnel, which may delay or otherwise adversely affect the development of our existing product candidates. We must manage our development efforts and clinical trials effectively, and hire, train and integrate additional management, administrative, and research and development personnel. We may not be able to accomplish these tasks, and our failure to accomplish any of them could prevent us from successfully growing.

We may not be able to successfully manage our growth.

In the future, if we are able to advance our product candidates to the point of, and thereafter through, clinical trials, we will need to expand our development, regulatory, manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities or contract with third parties to provide for these capabilities. Further, to advance our TCR program, we anticipate significantly expanding our internal research capabilities, including hiring additional employees focusing on

pre-clinical

research. This growth will place a significant strain on our management and on our administrative, operational, and financial resources. Therefore, our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates and to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to manage any future growth effectively. To manage this growth, we must expand our facilities, augment our operational, financial and management systems, and hire and train additional qualified personnel. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, our business may be harmed.

Our business will subject us to the risk of liability claims associated with the use of hazardous materials and chemicals.

Our contract research and development activities may involve the controlled use of hazardous materials and chemicals. Although we believe that our safety procedures for using, storing, handling and disposing of these materials comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials. In the event of such an accident, we could be held liable for any resulting damages and any liability could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, the federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous or radioactive materials and waste products may require our contractors to incur substantial compliance costs that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

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We rely on key executive officers and scientific and medical advisors, and their knowledge of our business and technical expertise would be difficult to replace.

We may not be able to attract or retain qualified management and commercial, scientific and clinical personnel due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses. If we are not able to attract and retain necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience constraints that will significantly impede the achievement of our development objectives, our ability to raise additional capital and our ability to implement our business strategy.

We are highly dependent on Dr. Laurence J.N. Cooper, our Chief Executive Officer; Dr. David Mauney, our President; and our principal scientific, regulatory, and medical advisors. Each of Dr. Cooper or Dr. Mauney may terminate their employment with us at any time, subject, however, to certain

non-compete

and

non-solicitation

covenants. The loss of the technical knowledge and management and industry expertise of each of Dr. Cooper or Dr. Mauney, or any of our other key personnel, could result in delays in product development, loss of key personnel or partnerships, and diversion of management resources, which could adversely affect our operating results. We do not carry “key person” life insurance policies on any of our officers or key employees.

If we are unable to hire additional qualified personnel, our ability to grow our business may be harmed.

We will need to hire additional qualified personnel with expertise in preclinical and clinical research and testing, government regulation, formulation and manufacturing, and eventually, sales and marketing. In particular, we expect to significantly expand our internal cell therapy capabilities in our Houston, Texas facilities by hiring additional research and development personnel. We compete for qualified individuals with numerous biopharmaceutical companies, universities, and other research institutions. Competition for such individuals is intense and we cannot be certain that our search for such personnel will be successful. Attracting and retaining qualified personnel will be critical to our success. If we are unable to hire additional qualified personnel, our ability to grow our business may be harmed.

We may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our products in response to product liability lawsuits.

The testing and marketing of medical products entail an inherent risk of product liability. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our products, if approved. Even a successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

•

Decreased demand for our product candidates;

•

Injury to our reputation;

•

Withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

•

Withdrawal of prior governmental approvals;

•

Costs of related litigation;

•

Substantial monetary awards to patients;

•

Product recalls;

•

Loss of revenue; and

•

The inability to commercialize our product candidates.

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We currently carry clinical trial insurance and product liability insurance. However, an inability to renew our policies or to obtain sufficient insurance at an acceptable cost could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of pharmaceutical products that we develop, alone or with collaborators.

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

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our current and future contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. While we are not aware of any such material system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations. 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 rely on third parties to manufacture our product candidates and conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed.

RISKS RELATED TO THE CLINICAL TESTING, REGULATORY APPROVAL AND MANUFACTURING OF OUR PRODUCT CANDIDATES

If we are unable to obtain the necessary U.S. or worldwide regulatory approvals to commercialize any product candidate, our business will suffer.

We may not be able to obtain the approvals necessary to commercialize our product candidates, or any product candidate that we may acquire or develop in the future for commercial sale. We will need FDA approval to commercialize our product candidates in the United States and approvals from regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions equivalent to the FDA to commercialize our product candidates in those jurisdictions. In order to obtain FDA approval of any product candidate, we must submit to the FDA a Biologics License Application, or BLA, demonstrating that the product candidate is safe for humans and effective for its intended use. This demonstration requires significant research and animal tests, which are referred to as preclinical studies, as well as human tests, which are referred to as clinical trials. Satisfaction of the FDA’s regulatory requirements typically takes many years, depending upon the type, complexity, and novelty of the product candidate, and will require substantial resources for research, development, and testing. We cannot predict whether our research, development, and clinical approaches will result in products that the FDA will consider safe for humans and effective for their intended uses. The FDA has substantial discretion in the approval process and may require us to conduct additional preclinical and clinical testing or to perform post-marketing studies. The approval process may also be delayed by changes in government regulation, future legislation, or administrative action or changes in FDA policy that occur prior to or during our regulatory review. Delays in obtaining regulatory approvals may:

•

Delay commercialization of, and our ability to derive product revenues from, our product candidates;

•

Impose costly procedures on us; and

•

Diminish any competitive advantages that we may otherwise enjoy.

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Even if we comply with all FDA requests, the FDA may ultimately reject one or more of our BLAs. We cannot be sure that we will ever obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. Failure to obtain FDA approval for our product candidates will severely undermine our business by leaving us without a saleable product, and therefore without any potential revenue source, until another product candidate can be developed. There is no guarantee that we will ever be able to develop or acquire another product candidate or that we will obtain FDA approval if we are able to do so.

In foreign jurisdictions, we similarly must receive approval from applicable regulatory authorities before we can commercialize any of our product candidates. Foreign regulatory approval processes generally include all of the risks associated with the FDA approval procedures described above.

*Our product candidates are in various stages of clinical trials, which are very expensive and time-consuming. We cannot be certain when we will be able to submit a BLA to the FDA and any failure or delay in completing clinical trials for our product candidates could harm our business.

Our product candidates are in various stages of development and require extensive clinical testing. Notwithstanding our current clinical trial plans for each of our existing product candidates, we may not be able to commence additional trials or see results from these trials within our anticipated timelines. As they enter later stages of development, our product candidates generally will become subject to more stringent regulatory requirements, including the FDA’s requirements for chemistry, manufacturing and controls for product candidates entering phase 3 clinical trials. There is no guarantee the FDA will allow us to commence phase 3 clinical trials for product candidates studied in early clinical trials. For example, we are currently evaluating

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex in combination with PD-1 antibody Libtayo

(cemiplimab-rwlc) in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent or progressive glioblastoma multiforme in adults. If we elect to advance

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex into a Phase 3 clinical trial, we will need to meet all of the FDA’s requirements for this clinical trial. We previously announced that we were pausing a pivotal randomized control trial for

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex for the treatment of rGBM and that were resolving previously disclosed technical requirements related to chemistry, manufacturing and controls prior to commencing a phase 3 clinical trial. These efforts remain ongoing and there is no guarantee we will be able to meet the FDA’s requirements for a Phase 3 clinical trial or that the development of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex will not be delayed in order to address these requirements.

If the FDA does not allow our product candidates to enter later stage clinical trials, or requires changes to the formulation or manufacture of our product candidates before commencing phase 3 clinical trials, our ability to further develop, or seek approval for, such product candidates may be materially impacted. As such, we cannot predict with any certainty if or when we might submit a BLA for regulatory approval of our product candidates or whether such a BLA will be accepted. Because we do not anticipate generating revenues unless and until we submit one or more BLAs and thereafter obtain requisite FDA approvals, the timing of our BLA submissions and FDA determinations regarding approval thereof, will directly affect if and when we are able to generate revenues.

Disruptions at the FDA and any comparable 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, in recent years, including in 2018 and 2019, the U.S. government shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities. Separately, in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic, on March 10, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to postpone most inspections of foreign manufacturing facilities and products through April 2020. On March 18, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to temporarily postpone routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities and provided guidance regarding the conduct of clinical trials. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the

COVID-19

pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, 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.

Our product candidates 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 potential marketing approval.

As with many pharmaceutical and biological products, treatment with our product candidates may produce undesirable side effects or adverse reactions or events, including potential adverse side effects related to cytokine release. If our product candidates or similar products or product candidates under development by third parties demonstrate unacceptable AEs, we may be required to halt or delay further clinical development of our product

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candidates. The FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. For instance,

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex may result in local reactions during the time of injection, including severe swelling and bleeding. If a serious adverse event was to occur in any of our clinical trials, including in our trial of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex for the treatment of DIPG, the FDA may place a hold on the clinical trial for this indication and, potentially, our clinical trials of

Ad-RTS-hIL-12

plus veledimex in other indications.

The product-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, these side effects may not be appropriately or timely recognized or managed by the treating medical staff, particularly outside of the institutions that collaborate with us, as toxicities resulting from our novel technologies may not be normally encountered in the general patient population and by medical personnel. We expect to have to train medical personnel using our product candidates to understand their side effect profiles, both for our planned clinical trials and upon any commercialization of any product candidates. Inadequate training in recognizing or managing the potential side effects of our product candidates could result in adverse effects to patients, including death.

Additionally, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, including during any

long-term

follow-up

observation period recommended or required for patients who receive treatment using our products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

•

regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product;

•

regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label;

•

we may be required to create a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy plan, which could include a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients, a communication plan for healthcare providers, and/or other elements to assure safe use;

•

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

•

our reputation may suffer.

Any of the foregoing could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved. Furthermore, any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

*Our cell-based and gene therapy immuno-oncology products rely on the availability of reagents, specialized equipment, and other specialty materials and infrastructure, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. For some of these reagents, equipment, and materials, we rely or may rely on sole source vendors or a limited number of vendors, which could impair our ability to manufacture and supply our products.

Manufacturing our product candidates will require many reagents, which are substances used in our manufacturing processes to bring about chemical or biological reactions, and other specialty materials and equipment, some of which are manufactured or supplied by small companies with limited resources and experience to support commercial biologics production. We currently depend on a limited number of vendors for certain materials and equipment used in the manufacture of our product candidates. Some of these suppliers may not have the capacity to support commercial products manufactured under current good manufacturing practices by biopharmaceutical firms

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or may otherwise be

ill-equipped

to support our needs. We also do not have supply contracts with many of these suppliers and may not be able to obtain supply contracts with them on acceptable terms or at all. Accordingly, we may experience delays in receiving key materials and equipment to support clinical or commercial manufacturing. Additionally, our third-party suppliers have been impacted and may continue to be impacted by the

COVID-19

pandemic. Quarantines, shelter-in-place and similar government orders, or the expectation that such orders, shutdowns or other restrictions could occur, whether related to

COVID-19

or other infectious diseases, could impact our third-party suppliers and the availability or cost of materials, which could disrupt our supply chain.

For some of these reagents, equipment, infrastructure, and materials, we rely and may in the future rely on sole source vendors or a limited number of vendors. An inability to continue to source product from any of these suppliers, which could be due to regulatory actions or requirements affecting the supplier, adverse financial or other strategic developments experienced by a supplier, labor disputes or shortages, unexpected demands, or quality issues, could adversely affect our ability to satisfy demand for our product candidates, which could adversely and materially affect our product sales and operating results or our ability to conduct clinical trials, either of which could significantly harm our business.

In addition, some of the reagents and products used by us, including in our clinical trials, may be stored at a single vendor. The loss of materials located at a single vendor, or the failure of such a vendor to manufacture clinical product in accordance with our specifications, would impact our ability to conduct ongoing or planned clinical trials and continue the development of our products. Further, manufacturing replacement material may be expensive and require a significant amount of time, which may further impact our clinical programs.

If our relationships with our manufacturers, suppliers or other vendors are terminated or scaled back as a result of the

COVID-19

pandemic persists for an extended period of time and begins to impact essential distribution systems such as FedEx and postal delivery, we could experience disruptions to our supply chain and operations, and associated delays in the manufacturing and supply of our product candidates. Switching or adding additional suppliers or vendors involves substantial cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new supplier or vendor commences work. As a result, delays may occur, which could adversely impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development and any future commercialization timelines. Although we carefully manage our relationships with our suppliers and vendors, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not harm our business.

As we continue to develop and scale our manufacturing process, we expect that we will need to obtain rights to and supplies of certain materials and equipment to be used as part of that process. We may not be able to obtain rights to such materials on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and if we are unable to alter our process in a commercially viable manner to avoid the use of such materials or find a suitable substitute, it would have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are able to alter our process so as to use other materials or equipment, such a change may lead to a delay in our clinical development and/or commercialization plans. If such a change occurs for product candidate that is already in clinical testing, the change may require us to perform both ex vivo comparability studies and to collect additional data from patients prior to undertaking more advanced clinical trials.

The results of our clinical trials may not support our product candidate claims.

Even if our clinical trials are completed as planned, we cannot be certain that their results will support approval of our product candidates. The FDA normally expects two randomized, well-controlled phase 3 pivotal trials in support of approval of a BLA. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and we cannot be certain that the results of later clinical trials will replicate the results of prior clinical trials and preclinical testing. The clinical trial process may fail to demonstrate that our product candidates are safe for humans and effective for the indicated uses. This failure would cause us to abandon a product candidate and may delay development of other product candidates. Any delay in, or termination of, our clinical trials will delay the submission of our BLAs with the FDA and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate product revenues. In addition, our clinical trials involve small patient populations. Because of the small sample size, the results of these clinical trials may not be indicative of future results.

Our immuno-oncology product candidates are based on a novel technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of product candidate development and subsequently obtaining regulatory approval. Currently, few gene therapy and cell therapy products have been approved in the United States and Europe.

We are currently focused on developing products in immuno-oncology that employ novel gene expression, control and cell technologies to deliver safe, effective and scalable cell- and viral-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. Due to the novelty of this medical technology, there can be no assurance that any development problems we experience in the future related to our immuno-oncology platforms will not cause significant delays or unanticipated

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costs, or that such development problems can be solved. We may also experience unanticipated problems or delays in expanding our manufacturing capacity or transferring our manufacturing process to commercial partners, which may prevent us from completing our clinical trials or commercializing our immuno-oncology product candidates on a timely or profitable basis, if at all.

In addition, the clinical study requirements of the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory agencies and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use and market of the potential products. The regulatory approval process for novel product candidates such as ours can be more expensive and take longer than for other, better known or extensively studied pharmaceutical or other product candidates. These factors make it difficult to determine how long it will take or how much it will cost to obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates in either the United States or Europe. Approvals by the EMA may not be indicative of what the FDA may require for approval.

Regulatory requirements governing gene and cell therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. For example, the FDA has established the Office of Tissue and Advanced Therapies within its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products, and the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee to advise CBER on its review. Also, before a clinical trial can begin at an institution, that institution’s institutional review board, or IRB, and its Institutional Biosafety Committee will have to review the proposed clinical trial to assess the safety of the trial. In addition, adverse developments in clinical trials of gene therapy products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other regulatory bodies to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates.

These regulatory review committees and advisory groups and the new guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of these treatment candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we advance our immuno-oncology product candidates, we will be required to consult with these regulatory and advisory groups, and comply with applicable guidelines. If we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of our product candidates. These additional processes may result in a review and approval process that is longer than we otherwise would have expected for oncology product candidates. Delay or failure to obtain, or unexpected costs in obtaining, the regulatory approval necessary to bring a potential product to market could decrease our ability to generate sufficient product revenue to maintain our business.

*Because we are dependent upon clinical research institutions and other contractors for clinical testing and for research and development activities, the results of our clinical trials and such research activities are, to a certain extent, beyond our control.

We materially rely upon independent investigators and collaborators, such as universities and medical institutions, to conduct our preclinical and clinical trials under agreements with us. These collaborators are not our employees and we cannot control the amount or timing of resources that they devote to our programs. These investigators may not assign as great a priority to our programs or pursue them as diligently as we would if we were undertaking such programs ourselves. If outside collaborators fail to devote sufficient time and resources to our product development programs, or if their performance is substandard, the approval of our FDA applications, if any, and our introduction of new products, if any, will be delayed. These institutions may also have, or implement in the future, policies and procedures that limit their ability to advance our programs. For instance, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MD Anderson has taken precautionary measures that will delay the enrollment of the Phase 1 trial infusing donor-derived T cells after allogeneic BMT for recipients who have relapsed with CD19+ leukemias and lymphomas with our CD19-specific CAR+ T therapies manufactured using our RPM technology. These collaborators may also have relationships with other commercial entities, some of whom may compete with us. If our collaborators assist our competitors to our detriment, our competitive position would be harmed.

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* Our reliance on third parties to formulate and manufacture our product candidates exposes us to a number of risks that may delay the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our products or result in higher product costs.

We have limited experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. We currently lack the internal resources and expertise to formulate or manufacture our own product candidates and, therefore, contract the manufacture of our product candidates with third parties. We intend to contract with one or more manufacturers to manufacture, supply, store, and distribute supplies for our clinical trials. If a product candidate we develop or acquire in the future receives FDA approval, we may rely on one or more third-party contractors to manufacture our products. Our anticipated future reliance on a limited number of third-party manufacturers exposes us to the following risks:

•

We may be unable to identify manufacturers on acceptable terms or at all because the number of potential manufacturers is limited and the FDA must approve any replacement contractor. This approval would require new testing and compliance inspections. In addition, a new manufacturer would have to be educated in, or develop substantially equivalent processes for, production of our products after receipt of FDA approval, if any.

•

Our third-party manufacturers might be unable to formulate and manufacture our products in the volume and of the quality required to meet our clinical needs and commercial needs, if any.

•

Our future contract manufacturers may not perform as agreed or may not remain in the contract manufacturing business for the time required to supply our clinical trials or to successfully produce, store, and distribute our products.

•

Biopharmaceutical manufacturers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA, the Drug Enforcement Administration and corresponding state and foreign agencies to ensure strict compliance with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, and other government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over third-party manufacturers’ compliance with these regulations and standards.

•

If any third-party manufacturer makes improvements in the manufacturing process for our products, we may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to the innovation.

•

Third party manufacturers may also encounter difficulties in achieving volume production, quality control, and quality assurance and also may experience shortages in qualified personnel and obtaining materials for our product candidates, including delays or shortages due to limited supply or capacity of production facilities as a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

•

Our third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products.

Each of these risks could delay our clinical trials, the approval, if any, of our product candidates by the FDA or the commercialization of our product candidates or result in higher costs or deprive us of potential product revenues.

Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval could be subject to post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our products, when and if any of them are approved.

Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post- approval clinical data, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual requirements of and review by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include, among other things, submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing

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requirements, cGMP requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. Even if marketing approval of a product candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, including the requirement to implement a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS, which could include requirements for a restricted distribution system. If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, the accompanying label may limit the approved uses, which could limit sales of the product.

The FDA may also impose requirements for costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of our approved products. The FDA closely regulates the post-approval marketing and promotion of products to ensure that they are marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. However, companies may share truthful and not misleading information that is otherwise consistent with the labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding

off-label

use and if we market our products outside of their approved indications, we may be subject to enforcement action for

off-label

marketing. Violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act relating to the promotion of prescription drugs may lead to investigations alleging violations of federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws.

In addition, later discovery of previously unknown AEs or other problems with our products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:

•

Litigation involving patients taking our product;

•

Restrictions on such products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes;

•

Restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a product;

•

Restrictions on product distribution or use;

•

Requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;

•

Warning letters;

•

Withdrawal of the products from the market;

•

Refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit;

•

Recall of products;

•

Fines, restitution or disgorgement of profits or revenues;

•

Suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals;

•

Damage to relationships with existing and potential collaborators;

•

Unfavorable press coverage and damage to our reputation;

•

Refusal to permit the import or export of our products;

•

Product seizure; or

•

Injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

Noncompliance with requirements regarding safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance can also result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with U.S. and foreign regulatory requirements regarding the development of products for pediatric populations and the protection of personal health information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.

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RISKS RELATED TO OUR ABILITY TO COMMERCIALIZE OUR PRODUCT CANDIDATES

If we are unable either to create sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to perform these functions, we will be unable to commercialize our product candidates successfully.

We currently have no marketing, sales, or distribution capabilities. If and when we become reasonably certain that we will be able to commercialize our current or future product candidates, we anticipate allocating resources to the marketing, sales and distribution of our proposed products in North America and in certain other countries; however, we cannot assure that we will be able to market, sell, and distribute our products successfully. Our future success also may depend, in part, on our ability to enter into and maintain collaborative relationships for such capabilities and to encourage the collaborator’s strategic interest in the products under development, and such collaborator’s ability to successfully market and sell any such products. Although we intend to pursue certain collaborative arrangements regarding the sale and marketing of certain of our product candidates, there are no assurances that we will be able to establish or maintain collaborative arrangements or, if we are able to do so, whether we would be able to conduct our own sales efforts. There can also be no assurance that we will be able to establish or maintain relationships with third-party collaborators or develop

in-house

sales and distribution capabilities. To the extent that we depend on third parties for marketing and distribution, any revenues we receive will depend upon the efforts of such third parties, and there can be no assurance that such efforts will be successful. In addition, there can also be no assurance that we will be able to market and sell our product candidates in the United States or overseas.

If we are not able to partner with a third party and are not successful in recruiting sales and marketing personnel or in building a sales and marketing infrastructure, we will have difficulty commercializing our product candidates, which would harm our business. If we rely on pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies with established distribution systems to market our products, we will need to establish and maintain partnership arrangements, and we may not be able to enter into these arrangements on acceptable terms or at all. To the extent that we enter into

co-promotion

or other arrangements, any revenues we receive will depend upon the efforts of third parties that may not be successful and that will be only partially in our control.

If we cannot compete successfully for market share against other biopharmaceutical companies, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

The market for our product candidates is characterized by intense competition and rapid technological advances. If a product candidate receives FDA approval, it will compete with a number of existing and future products and therapies developed, manufactured and marketed by others. Existing or future competing products may provide greater therapeutic convenience or clinical or other benefits for a specific indication than our products or may offer comparable performance at a lower cost. If our products fail to capture and maintain market share, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer.

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We will compete against fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with larger pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. Many of these competitors have products already approved or in development. In addition, many of these competitors, either alone or together with their collaborative partners, operate larger research and development programs or have substantially greater financial resources than we do, as well as significantly greater experience in:

•

Developing drugs and biopharmaceuticals;

•

Undertaking preclinical testing and human clinical trials;

•

Obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of drugs and biopharmaceuticals;

•

Formulating and manufacturing drugs and biopharmaceuticals; and

•

Launching, marketing, and selling drugs and biopharmaceuticals.

If physicians and patients do not accept and use our product candidates, our ability to generate revenue from sales of our products will be materially impaired.

Even if the FDA and/or foreign equivalents thereof approve our product candidates, physicians and patients may not accept and use them. Acceptance and use of our products will depend upon a number of factors including:

•

Perceptions by members of the healthcare community, including physicians, about the safety and effectiveness of our products;

•

Pharmacological benefit and cost-effectiveness of our products relative to competing products;

•

Availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement for our products from government or other third-party payors;

•

Effectiveness of marketing and distribution efforts by us and our licensees and distributors, if any; and

•

The price at which we sell our products.

Because we expect sales of our current product candidates, if approved, to generate substantially all of our product revenues for the foreseeable future, the failure of a product to find market acceptance would harm our business and could require us to seek additional financing in order to fund the development of future product candidates.

Our ability to generate product revenues will be diminished if our products do not obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement from payors.

Our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved, alone or with collaborators, will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement will be available from third-party payors, including government and health administration authorities, private health maintenance organizations and health insurers and other payors.

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Patients who are prescribed medicine for the treatment of their conditions generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their prescription drugs. Sufficient coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors are critical to new product acceptance. Coverage decisions may depend upon clinical and economic standards that disfavor new drug products when more established or lower cost therapeutic alternatives are already available or subsequently become available. It is difficult to predict the coverage and reimbursement decisions that will be made by third-party payors for novel gene and cell therapy products such as ours. Even if we obtain coverage for our product candidates, the resulting reimbursement payment rates might not be adequate or may require

co-payments

that patients find unacceptably high. Patients are unlikely to use our product candidates unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of our product candidates.

In addition, the market for our product candidates for which we may receive regulatory approval will depend significantly on access to third-party payors’ drug formularies or lists of medications for which third-party payors provide coverage and reimbursement, which might not include all of the

FDA-approved

drugs for a particular indication. The industry competition to be included in such formularies often leads to downward pricing pressures on pharmaceutical companies. Also, third-party payors may refuse to include a particular branded drug in their formularies or otherwise restrict patient access to a branded drug when a less costly generic equivalent or other alternative is available.

Third-party payors, whether foreign or domestic, or governmental or commercial, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. In addition, in the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payors. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for drug products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that requires us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that approval will be obtained. If we are unable to obtain coverage of and adequate payment levels for our product candidates from third-party payors, physicians may limit how much or under what circumstances they will prescribe or administer our products and patients may decline to purchase them. This in turn could affect our ability to successfully commercialize our products and impact our profitability, results of operations, financial condition, and future success.

In addition, in many foreign countries, particularly the countries of the EU, the pricing of prescription drugs is subject to government control. In some

non-U.S.

jurisdictions, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing vary widely from country to country. For example, the EU provides options for its member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. A member state may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. We may face competition for our product candidates from lower-priced products in foreign countries that have placed price controls on pharmaceutical products. In addition, there may be importation of foreign products that compete with our own products, which could negatively impact our profitability.

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The market opportunities for our product candidates may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for or have failed prior treatments and may be small.

Cancer therapies are sometimes characterized as first line, second line, or third line, and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for third line use. When cancer is detected early enough, first line therapy is sometimes adequate to cure the cancer or prolong life without a cure. Whenever first line therapy, usually chemotherapy, hormone therapy, surgery, or a combination of these, proves unsuccessful, second line therapy may be administered. Second line therapies often consist of more chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumor targeted small molecules, or a combination of these. Third line therapies can include bone marrow transplantation, antibody and small molecule targeted therapies, more invasive forms of surgery, and new technologies. We expect to initially seek approval of our product candidates as a third line therapy for patients who have failed other approved treatments.

Subsequently, for those products that prove to be sufficiently beneficial, if any, we would expect to seek approval as a second line therapy and potentially as a first line therapy, but there is no guarantee that our product candidates, even if approved, would be approved for second line or first line therapy. In addition, we may have to conduct additional clinical trials prior to gaining approval for second line or first line therapy.

Our projections of both the number of people who have the cancers we are targeting, as well as the subset of people with these cancers in a position to receive therapy and who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations, or market research and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these cancers. The number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our product candidates.

Our market opportunities may also be limited by competitor treatments that may enter the market. See also “Risks Related to Our Ability to Commercialize Our Product Candidates—

If we cannot compete successfully for market share against other biopharmaceutical companies, we may not achieve sufficient product revenues and our business will suffer

.”

*Healthcare legislative reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

In both the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory enactments in recent years that change the healthcare system in ways that could impact our future ability to sell our product candidates profitably.

Furthermore, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the federal and state level that seek to reduce healthcare costs. Most significantly, in March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively the ACA, which included measures that have significantly changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Among the provisions of the ACA of importance to the pharmaceutical industry are the following:

•

Created an annual, nondeductible fee on any entity that manufactures or imports certain branded prescription drugs and biologic agents, apportioned among these entities according to their market share in certain government healthcare programs;

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•

Increased the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to 23.1% and 13% of the average manufacturer price for most branded and generic drugs, respectively;

•

Created a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must now agree to offer 70%

point-of-sale

discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D;

•

Extended manufacturers’ Medicaid rebate liability to covered drugs dispensed to individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations;

•

Created new methodologies by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, and for drugs that are line extensions;

•

Expanded eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs by, among other things, allowing states to offer Medicaid coverage to additional individuals with income at or below 133% of the Federal Poverty Level, thereby potentially increasing both the volume of sales and manufacturers’ Medicaid rebate liability;

•

Expanded the entities eligible for discounts under the Public Health Service pharmaceutical pricing program;

•

Created a new requirement to annually report drug samples that certain manufacturers and authorized distributors provide to physicians;

•

Expanded healthcare fraud and abuse laws, including the False Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, new government investigative powers, and enhanced penalties for noncompliance;

•

Created a licensure framework for

follow-on

biologic products;

•

Created new requirements under the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act for certain drug manufacturers to annually report information related to payments and other transfers of value made to physicians, as defined by such law, and teaching hospitals as well as ownership or investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members;

•

Created a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; and

•

Established a Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, potentially including prescription drug spending.

There remain legal and political challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. Since January 2017, President Trump has signed several executive orders and other directives designed to delay, circumvent, or loosen certain requirements mandated by the ACA. Concurrently, Congress has considered legislation that would repeal or repeal and replace all or part of the ACA. While Congress has not passed comprehensive repeal legislation, several bills affecting the implementation of certain taxes under the ACA have been signed into law. In December 2017, Congress repealed the tax penalty, effective January 1, 2019, for an individual’s failure to maintain

ACA-mandated

health insurance as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or Tax Act. Further, the 2020 federal spending package permanently eliminated effective January 1, 2020, the PPALA-mandated “Cadillac” tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage and medical device tax and effective January 1,

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2021 also eliminates the health insurance tax. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, or the BBA, among other things, amended the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, to increase from 50 percent to 70 percent the

point-of-sale

discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D and close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole”. In December 2018, CMS published a new final rule permitting further collections and payments to and from certain ACA qualified health plans and health insurance issuers under the ACA risk adjustment program. On December 14, 2018, a Texas U.S. District Court Judge ruled that ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the “individual mandate” was repealed by Congress as part of the Tax Act. Additionally, on December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the District Court ruling that the individual mandate was unconstitutional and remanded the case back to the District Court to determine whether the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. It is unclear how this decision, future decisions, subsequent appeals, and other efforts to repeal and replace ACA will impact ACA and our business. The ultimate content, timing or effect of any healthcare reform measures on the U.S. healthcare industry is unclear.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the ACA was enacted. For example, in August 2011, President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, among other things, created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to recommend proposals in spending reductions to Congress. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction did not achieve its targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, triggering the legislation’s automatic reductions to several government programs. These reductions include aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013, and, due to subsequent legislative amendments, including the BBA, will stay in effect through 2029 unless additional Congressional action is taken. In January 2013, President Obama signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

Further, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. As a result, there have been several U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. At the federal level, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2021 includes a $135 billion allowance to support legislative proposals seeking to reduce drug prices, increase competition, lower

out-of-pocket

drug costs for patients, and increase patient access to lower cost generic and biosimilar drugs. Further, the Trump administration previously released a “Blueprint”, or plan, to lower drug prices and reduce out of pocket costs of drugs that contains additional proposals to increase drug manufacturer competition, increase the negotiating power of certain federal healthcare programs, incentivize manufacturers to lower the list price of their products, and reduce the out of pocket costs of drug products paid by consumers. The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, has solicited feedback on some of these measures and, has implemented others under its existing authority. For example in May 2019, CMS issued a final rule to allow Medicare Advantage Plans the option of using step therapy for Part B drugs beginning January 1, 2020. This final rule codified a CMS policy change that was effective January 1, 2019.] While some measures may require additional authorization to become effective, Congress and the Trump administration have each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative, administrative and/or executive measures to control drug costs. Individual states in the United States have also increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

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

We expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we may receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or if we receive regulatory approval, commercialize our products.

Additionally, it is possible that additional governmental action is taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, on April 18, 2020, CMS announced that Qualified Health Plan issuers under the ACA may suspend activities related to the collection and reporting of quality data that would have otherwise been reported between May and June 2020 given the challenges healthcare providers are facing responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If we fail to comply with federal and state healthcare laws, including fraud and abuse and health information privacy and security laws, we could face substantial penalties and our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be adversely affected.

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, certain federal and state healthcare laws and regulations pertaining to fraud and abuse and patients’ rights are and will be applicable to our business. For example, we could be subject to healthcare fraud and abuse and patient privacy regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include, among others:

•

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which regulates our business activities, including our marketing practices, educational programs, pricing policies, and relationships with healthcare providers or other entities, by prohibiting, among other things, soliciting, receiving, offering or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, to induce, or in return for, either the referral of an individual or the purchase or recommendation of an item or service reimbursable under a federal healthcare program, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs;

•

Federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the False Claims Act which permits a private individual acting as a “whistleblower” to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging violations of the False Claims Act, and civil monetary penalty laws, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent;

•

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, which created new federal civil and criminal statutes that prohibit, among other things, executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters;

•

HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH, and their implementing regulations, which imposes certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information on entities and individuals subject to the law including certain healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, known as covered entities, as well as individuals and entities that perform services for them which involve the use, or disclosure of, individually identifiable health information, known as business associates;

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•

Requirements under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to report annually to CMS certain financial arrangements with physicians, as defined by such law, and teaching hospitals, as defined in the ACA and its implementing regulations, including reporting any “transfer of value” made or distributed to teaching hospitals, prescribers, and other healthcare providers and reporting any ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members and applicable group purchasing organizations during the preceding calendar year; and

•

State and foreign law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including commercial insurers; state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government that otherwise restricts certain payments that may be made to healthcare providers and entities; state laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfer of value to physicians and other healthcare providers and entities; state laws that require the reporting of information related to drug pricing; state and local laws that require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives; and state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities, including our consulting agreements with physicians, some of whom receive stock or stock options as compensation for their services, could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. In addition, recent health care reform legislation has further strengthened these laws. For example, the ACA, among other things, amended the intent requirement of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and certain criminal healthcare fraud statutes. A person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it. Moreover, the ACA provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act.

To the extent that any of our product candidates is ultimately sold in a foreign country, we may be subject to similar foreign laws and regulations.

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements comply with applicable healthcare laws involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, we may be subject to significant penalties, including administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from participation in United States federal or state health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, disgorgement, imprisonment, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations any of which could materially adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results. Although compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be entirely eliminated. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. Moreover, achieving and sustaining compliance with applicable federal and state privacy, security and fraud laws may prove costly.

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Our immuno-oncology product candidates may face competition in the future from biosimilars.

The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, provides an abbreviated pathway for the approval of

follow-on

biological products. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product cannot be approved by the FDA until 12 years after the original branded product was approved under a BLA. However, there is a risk that the U.S. Congress could amend the BPCIA to significantly shorten this exclusivity period, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Further, this data exclusivity does not prevent another company from developing a product that is highly similar to the original branded product, generating its own data and seeking approval. Data exclusivity only assures that another company cannot rely upon the data within the innovator’s application to support the biosimilar product’s approval.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

If we or our licensors fail to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights or secure rights to patents of others, the value of our intellectual property rights would diminish and our ability to successfully commercialize our products may be impaired.

Our success, competitive position, and future revenues will depend in part on our ability and the abilities of our licensors to obtain and maintain patent protection for our products, methods, processes and other technologies, to preserve confidential information, including trade secrets, to prevent third parties from infringing our proprietary rights, and to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties.

To date, we have exclusive rights in the field of cancer treatment to certain U.S. and foreign intellectual property with respect to the PGEN technology, including

Ad-RTS-IL-12

plus veledimex, and with respect to CAR+ T, NK and TCR cell therapies arising from the laboratory of Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., who was then at MD Anderson. Under our License Agreement with PGEN, PGEN has the right, but not the obligation, to prepare, file, prosecute, and maintain the patents and patent applications licensed to us and shall bear any related costs incurred by it in regard to those actions. PGEN is required to consult with us and keep us reasonably informed of the status of the patents and patent applications licensed to us, and to confer with us and incorporate our comments prior to submitting any related filings and correspondence. Although under the agreement PGEN has agreed to consider in good faith and consult with us regarding any comments we may have regarding these patents and patent applications, we cannot guarantee that our comments will be solicited or followed. Under the MD Anderson License, future filings and applications require the agreement of each of MD Anderson, PGEN and us, and MD Anderson has the right to control the preparation and filing of additional patent applications unless the parties agree that we or PGEN may prosecute the application directly. Although under the agreement MD Anderson has agreed to review and incorporate any reasonable comments that we or PGEN may have regarding these patents and patent applications, we cannot guarantee that our comments will be solicited or followed. Under the patent license agreement with the NCI, the NCI is responsible for the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of patent applications or patents licensed to us. Although under the agreement, the NCI is required to consult with us in the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of all patent applications or patents licensed to us, we cannot guarantee that our comments will be solicited or followed. Without direct control of the

in-licensed

patents and patent applications, we are dependent on PGEN, MD Anderson or the NCI, as applicable, to keep us advised of prosecution, particularly in foreign jurisdictions where prosecution information may not be publicly available. We anticipate that we, PGEN, MD Anderson and the NCI will file additional patent applications both in the United States and in other countries. However, we cannot predict or guarantee:

•

The degree and range of protection any patents will afford us against competitors, including whether third parties will find ways to invalidate or otherwise circumvent our patents;

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•

If and when patents will be issued;

•

Whether or not others will obtain patents claiming subject matter related to or relevant to our product candidates; or

•

Whether we will need to initiate litigation or administrative proceedings that may be costly whether we win or lose.

The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost, in a timely manner, or in all jurisdictions. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. We may also require the cooperation of our licensors in order to enforce the licensed patent rights, and such cooperation may not be provided. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and we may fail to seek or obtain patent protection in all major markets. For example, European patent law restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than United States law does. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all.

Changes in patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our patent protection. In September 2011, the Leahy- Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law, resulting in a number of significant changes to United States patent law. These changes include provisions that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. In addition, the United States Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained, and with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future. As the USPTO continues to implement the Leahy-Smith Act, and as the federal courts have the opportunity to interpret the Leahy-Smith Act, the laws and regulations governing patents, and the rules regarding patent procurement could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and patents that we might obtain in the future.

Certain technologies utilized in our research and development programs are already in the public domain. Moreover, a number of our competitors have developed technologies, filed patent applications or obtained patents on technologies, compositions and methods of use that are related to our business and may cover or conflict with our owned or licensed patent applications, technologies or product candidates. Such conflicts could limit the scope of the patents that we may be able to obtain or may result in the rejection of claims in our patent applications. Because patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all, and because publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, neither we nor our licensors can be certain that others have not filed or maintained patent applications for technology used by us or covered by our pending patent

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applications without our being aware of these applications. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions, nor can we know whether those from whom we license patents were the first to make the inventions claimed or were the first to file. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. In addition, our own earlier filed patents and applications or those of PGEN MD Anderson, or NCI may limit the scope of later patents we obtain or may result in the rejection of claims in our later filed patent applications. If third parties filed patent applications or obtained patents on technologies, compositions and methods of use that are related to our business and that cover or conflict with our owned or licensed patent applications, technologies or product candidates, we may be required to challenge such protection, terminate or modify our programs impacted by such protection or obtain licenses from such third parties, which might not be available on acceptable terms, or at all.

Even if our owned and licensed patent applications issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Our competitors may be able to circumvent our owned or licensed patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a

non-infringing

manner.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our confidential information, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

Our success also depends upon the skills, knowledge, and experience of our scientific and technical personnel, our consultants and advisors, as well as our licensors and contractors. To help protect our proprietary

know-how

and our inventions for which patents may be unobtainable or difficult to obtain, and to maintain our competitive position, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements. To this end, it is our general policy to require our employees, consultants, advisors, and contractors to enter into agreements that prohibit the disclosure of confidential information and, where applicable, require disclosure and assignment to us of the ideas, developments, discoveries, and inventions important to our business. These agreements may not provide adequate protection for our trade secrets,

know-how,

confidential information or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure or the lawful development by others of such information. Moreover, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any breaches of these agreements. Our trade

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secrets or other confidential information may also be obtained by third parties by other means, such as breaches of our physical or computer security systems. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret or other confidential information is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets or other confidential information were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets,

know-how

or other proprietary information is disclosed, the value of our trade secrets,

know-how

and other proprietary rights would be significantly impaired and our business and competitive position would suffer.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement would require us to spend significant time and money and could prevent us from developing or commercializing our products.

In order to protect or enforce patent rights, we may initiate patent infringement litigation against third parties. Similarly, we may be sued by others for patent infringement. We also may become subject to proceedings conducted in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including interference proceedings to determine the priority or derivation of inventions, or post-grant review, inter partes review, or reexamination proceedings reviewing the patentability of our patented claims. In addition, any foreign patents that are granted may become subject to opposition, nullity, or revocation proceedings in foreign jurisdictions having such proceedings. The defense and prosecution, if necessary, of intellectual property actions are costly and divert technical and management personnel away from their normal responsibilities.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability, and the ability of our collaborators, to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. While no such litigation has been brought against us and we have not been held by any court to have infringed a third party’s intellectual property rights, we cannot guarantee that our products or use of our products do not infringe third- party patents. It is also possible that we have failed to identify relevant third-party patents or applications. For example, applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain applications filed after that date that will not be filed outside the United States remain confidential until patents issue. Patent applications in the United States and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing, which is referred to as the priority date. Therefore, patent applications covering our products or technology could have been filed by others without our knowledge. Additionally, pending patent applications which have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our products or the use of our products.

Our research, development and commercialization activities, as well as any product candidates or products resulting from these activities, may infringe or be claimed to infringe patents or patent applications under which we do not hold licenses or other rights. Patents do not protect its owner from a claim of infringement of another owner’s patent. Therefore, our patent position cannot and does not provide any assurance that we are not infringing the patent rights of another.

The patent landscape in the field of immuno-oncology is particularly complex. We are aware of numerous United States and foreign patents and pending patent applications of third parties that cover compositions, methods of use and methods of manufacture of immuno-oncology products. In addition, there may be patents and patent applications in the field of which we are not aware. The technology we license from PGEN, MD Anderson and

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NCI is early-stage technology and we are in the process of designing and developing products using this technology. Although we will seek to avoid pursuing the development of products that may infringe any patent claims that we believe to be valid and enforceable, we may fail to do so. Moreover, given the breadth and number of claims in patents and pending patent applications in the field of immuno-oncology and the complexities and uncertainties associated with them, third parties may allege that we are infringing patent claims even if we do not believe such claims to be valid and enforceable.

If a claim for patent infringement is asserted, there can be no assurance that the resolution of the claim would permit us to continue marketing the relevant product on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. We may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion. If we do not successfully defend any infringement actions to which we become a party or are unable to have infringed patents declared invalid or unenforceable, we may have to pay substantial monetary damages, which can be tripled if the infringement is deemed willful or be required to discontinue or significantly delay commercialization and development of the affected products.

Any legal action against us or our collaborators claiming damages and seeking to enjoin developmental or marketing activities relating to affected products could, in addition to subjecting us to potential liability for damages, require us or our collaborators to obtain licenses to continue to develop, manufacture, or market the affected products. Such a license may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.

An adverse determination in a proceeding involving our owned or licensed intellectual property may allow entry of substitutes, including biosimilar or generic substitutes, for our products.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for noncompliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits,

non-payment

of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we breach any of the agreements under which we license rights to products or technology from others, we

could lose license rights that are material to our business or be subject to claims by our licensors.

We license rights to products and technology that are important to our business, and we expect to enter into additional licenses in the future. For instance, we have exclusively licensed patents and patent applications under our License Agreement with PGEN as well as under the MD Anderson License and our patent license agreement with the NCI. Under these agreements, we are subject to a range of commercialization and development, sublicensing, royalty, patent prosecution and maintenance, insurance and other obligations.

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Any failure by us to comply with any of these obligations or any other breach by us of our license agreements could give the licensor the right to terminate the license in whole, terminate the exclusive nature of the license or bring a claim against us for damages. Any such termination or claim could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or business. Even if we contest any such termination or claim and are ultimately successful, such dispute could lead to delays in the development or commercialization of potential products and result in time-consuming and expensive litigation or arbitration. On termination we may be required to license to the licensor any related intellectual property that we developed.

In addition, in certain cases, the rights licensed to us are rights of a third party licensed to our licensor. In such instances, if our licensors do not comply with their obligations under such licenses, our rights under our license agreements with our licensor may be adversely affected.

We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that our employees or we have misappropriated their intellectual property or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Many of our employees were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information or

know-how

of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that these employees or we have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee’s former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims.

In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who in fact develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. Our and their assignment agreements may not be self-executing or may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property.

If we fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

OTHER RISKS RELATED TO OUR COMPANY

*Our stock price has been, and may continue to be, volatile.

The market price for our common stock is volatile and may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors, most of which we cannot control, including:

•

Price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market;

•

Changes in operating results and performance and stock market valuations of other biopharmaceutical companies generally, or those that develop and commercialize cancer drugs in particular;

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•

Market conditions or trends in our industry or the economy as a whole;

•

Preclinical or clinical trial results;

•

Public concern as to the safety of drugs developed by us or others;

•

The financial or operational projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections;

•

Comments by securities analysts or changes in financial estimates or ratings by any securities analysts who follow our common stock, our failure to meet these estimates or failure of those analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of our common stock;

•

The public’s response to press releases or other public announcements by us or third parties, including our filings with the SEC, as well as announcements of the status of development of our products, announcements of technological innovations or new therapeutic products by us or our competitors, announcements regarding collaborative agreements and other announcements relating to product development, litigation and intellectual property impacting us or our business;

•

Government regulation;

•

FDA determinations on the approval of a product candidate BLA submission;

•

The sustainability of an active trading market for our common stock;

•

Future sales of our common stock by us, our executive officers, directors and significant stockholders;

•

Announcements of mergers or acquisition transactions;

•

Our inclusion or deletion from certain stock indices;

•

Developments in patent or other proprietary rights;

•

Changes in reimbursement policies;

•

Announcements of medical innovations or new products by our competitors;

•

Announcements of changes in our senior management;

•

General economic, industry, political and market conditions, including those resulting from pandemic, epidemic or disease outbreaks, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or geo-political actions, including war and incidents of terrorism, natural disasters or responses to these events;

•

Changes in accounting principles; and

•

Other risks detailed in our SEC filings.

In addition, the stock market in general, and the Nasdaq Global Select Market and biopharmaceutical companies in particular, frequently experiences extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of such companies, including very recently in connection with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in decreased stock prices for many companies notwithstanding the lack of a fundamental change in their underlying business models or prospects. Broad market and industry factors, including potentially worsening economic conditions and other adverse effects or developments relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. The realization of any of the above risks or any of a broad range of other risks, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, could have a dramatic and negative impact on the market price of our common stock.

Stock prices of many biopharmaceutical companies have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. If we were involved in securities litigation, we could incur substantial costs and our resources, and the attention of management could be diverted from our business.

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Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law may make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult.

Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so would benefit our stockholders. These provisions authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to increase the number of outstanding shares and hinder a takeover attempt, and limit who may call a special meeting of stockholders. In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law generally prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with a party that owns at least 15% of its common stock unless the business combination is approved by the company’s board of directors before the person acquires the 15% ownership stake or later by its board of directors and

two-thirds

of its stockholders. Section 203 could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control that our stockholders might consider to be in their best interests.

Because we do not expect to pay dividends, you will not realize any income from an investment in our common stock unless and until you sell your shares at profit.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock and we do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, any return on an investment in us will be realized, if at all, only when you sell shares of our common stock.

Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and research tax credits to reduce future tax payments may be limited or restricted.

We have generated significant net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, and research and development tax credits, or R&D credits, as a result of our incurrence of losses and our conduct of research activities since inception. We generally are able to carry NOLs and R&D credits forward to reduce our tax liability in future years. However, our ability to utilize the NOLs and R&D credits is subject to the rules of Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, respectively. Those sections generally restrict the use of NOLs and R&D credits after an “ownership change.” An ownership change occurs if, among other things, the stockholders (or specified groups of stockholders) who own or have owned, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of a corporation’s common stock or are otherwise treated as 5% stockholders under Section 382 of the Code and the United States Treasury Department regulations promulgated thereunder increase their aggregate percentage ownership of that corporation’s stock by more than 50 percentage points over the lowest percentage of the stock owned by these stockholders over the applicable testing period. In the event of an ownership change, Section 382 imposes an annual limitation on the amount of taxable income a corporation may offset with NOL carry forwards and Section 383 imposes an annual limitation on the amount of tax a corporation may offset with business credit (including the R&D credit) carry forwards.

We may have experienced an “ownership change” within the meaning of Section 382 in the past and there can be no assurance that we will not experience additional ownership changes in the future. As a result, our NOLs and business credits (including the R&D credit) may be subject to limitations and we may be required to pay taxes earlier and in larger amounts than would be the case if our NOLs or R&D credits were freely usable.

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If securities and/or industry analysts fail to continue publishing research about our business, if they change their recommendations adversely or if our results of operations do not meet their expectations, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline. In addition, it is likely that in some future period our operating results will be below the expectations of securities analysts or investors. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock, or if our results of operations do not meet their expectations, our stock price could decline.

*Our principal stockholders, executive officers and directors have substantial control over the company, which may prevent you and other stockholders from influencing significant corporate decisions and may harm the market price of our common stock.

As of April 24, 2020, our executive officers, directors and holders of five percent or more of our outstanding common stock, beneficially owned, in the aggregate, 37.6% of our outstanding common stock. These stockholders may have interests that conflict with our other stockholders and, if acting together, have the ability to influence the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election and removal of directors and any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. Accordingly, this concentration of ownership may harm the market price of our common stock by:

•

Delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control;

•

Impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us; or

•

Discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

*We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting for the year ended December 31, 2019 and may identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which may result in material misstatements of our financial statements or could have a material adverse effect on our business and trading price of our securities.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations of The Nasdaq Global Market. Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we are required to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow our management to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. We are also required to have our independent registered public accounting firm issue an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis.

In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2019, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting which remains unremediated at March 31, 2020. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness is related to the design and maintenance of effective controls relating to the monitoring and oversight of expensing third party clinical trial costs. Specifically, our internal controls were not designed effectively to provide reasonable assurance regarding the accurate and timely evaluation of the amount of third party costs to record.

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We are in the process of designing and implementing measures to remediate the underlying causes of the control deficiencies that gave rise to the material weakness. In addition, we are providing

in-house

We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, together with any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to remediate the control deficiencies that led to the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting or to avoid potential future material weaknesses. If we are unable to successfully remediate our existing or any future material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or if we identify any additional material weaknesses, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected. If we are unable to maintain effective internal controls, we may not have adequate, accurate or timely financial information, and we may be unable to meet our reporting obligations as a public company, including the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results in future periods, or report them within the timeframes required by the requirements of the SEC, Nasdaq or the Sarbanes- Oxley Act. Failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, when and as applicable, could also potentially subject us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Any failure to maintain or implement required new or improved controls, or any difficulties we encounter in their implementation, could result in identification of additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements in our financial statements. Furthermore, if we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our business and results of operations could be harmed and investors could lose confidence in our reported financial information.

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

Our net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards could expire unused and be unavailable to offset future tax liabilities because of their limited duration or because of restrictions under U.S. tax law, as summarized above. 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 law. Under the Tax Act, as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, our federal NOLs generated in tax years ending after December 31, 2017 may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of federal NOLs, particularly for tax years beginning after December 31, 2020, may be limited. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act and the CARES Act. The impact of the CARES Act, and previous tax legislation, is uncertain and could be adverse to our operations.

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Item 2. Unregistered Sale of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

None.

Item 3. Defaults upon Senior Securities

Not applicable.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Item 5. Other Information

None.

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Item 6. Exhibits


Exhibit Number		Description

	3.1	Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant, as filed with the Delaware Secretary of State on April 26, 2006 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K, SEC File No. 000-32353, filed April 26, 2006).

	3.2	Bylaws of the Registrant, as amended to date (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K, SEC File No. 000-32353, filed September 19, 2005).

	3.3	Amended and Restated Certificate of Designation, Preferences and Rights of Series 1 preferred stock, as filed with the Delaware Secretary of State on July 1, 2016 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K/A, SEC File No. 001-33038, filed July 1, 2016).

	10.1	Amendment to Patent License Agreement, dated as of January 8, 2020, by and between the Registrant and the National Cancer Institute (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.22 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, SEC File No. 000-33038, filed March 2, 2020).

	31.1+	Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to Exchange Act rules 13a-14 or 15d-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

	31.2+	Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Exchange Act rules 13a-14 or 15d-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

	32.1++	Certifications of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

	101.INS+	Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document).

	101.SCH+	Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document

	101.CAL+	Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document

	101.DEF+	Inline XBRL Taxonomy Definition Linkbase Document

	101.LAB+	Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document

	101.PRE+	Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

	104+	Cover Page Interactive Data File—the cover page interactive data is embedded within the Inline XBRL document or included within the Exhibit 101 attachments

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	+			Filed herewith.

	++			This certification is deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liability of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended whether made before or after the date hereof, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.


ZIOPHARM ONCOLOGY, INC.

By:

/s/ Laurence J.N. Cooper
Laurence J.N. Cooper, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
(Principal Executive Officer)
Dated: May 7, 2020

By:

/s/ Satyavrat Shukla
Satyavrat Shukla
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer)
Dated: May 7, 2020