CHINOOK THERAPEUTICS, INC. - Quarter Report: 2015 June (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-Q

For the quarterly period ended June 30, 2015

OR

For the transition period from              to             

Commission File Number: 001-37345

ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

626 Bancroft Way, 3C

Berkeley, California  94710

(Address of principal executive offices including zip code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (510) 848-4400

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 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  o    No  x

As of August 6, 2015, the registrant had 62,275,894 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding.

Aduro Biotech, Inc.

Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q

For the Quarter Ended June 30, 2015

INDEX

In this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, “we,” “our,” “us,” “Aduro,” and “the Company” refer to Aduro Biotech, Inc. Aduro, Aduro Biotech, the Aduro logo and other trade names, trademarks or service marks of Aduro are the property of Aduro Biotech, Inc. This report contains references to our trademarks and to trademarks belonging to other entities. Trade names, trademarks and service marks of other companies appearing in this report are the property of their respective holders. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

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PART I. – FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

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

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

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

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

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

(In thousands, except share amounts)

(Unaudited)

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

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

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

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

1. Nature of Business

Aduro Biotech, Inc., or the Company, is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company located in Berkeley, California. The Company was founded in 2000 under the name Oncologic, Inc., later merged with Triton BioSystems, Inc. in 2008, and subsequently changed its name to Aduro Biotech, Inc. in 2009. The Company is focused on the development of technology platforms designed to stimulate robust and durable immune responses against cancer. The Company operates in one business segment.

The Company’s more advanced technology platform is its proprietary Live, Attenuated, Double-Deleted, or LADD, method of engineering Listeria monocytogenes bacteria into therapeutic agents that stimulate both an immediate innate immune response and a targeted adaptive immune response to specific tumor antigens. The Company’s earlier-stage technology platform is based on cyclic dinucleotides, or CDNs, novel small molecules that activate the intracellular Stimulator of Interferon Genes, or STING, receptor, a central mediator of the innate immune response. The Company’s pipeline of product candidates has the potential to be applicable to a variety of cancers and to be combinable with a range of conventional and emerging cancer therapies, including cellular vaccines, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors, among others.

2. Basis of Presentation, Use of Estimates, and Recent Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, and following the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by U.S. GAAP have been condensed or omitted, and accordingly the balance sheet as of December 31, 2014 has been derived from audited consolidated financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. These financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as our annual financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments) that are necessary for a fair presentation of our financial information. The results of operations for the period ended June 30, 2015 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2015 or for any other interim period or for any other future year.

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements and related financial information should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2014 included in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities and reported amounts of revenue and expenses in the financial statements and accompanying notes. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates, including those related to revenue recognition, clinical trial accruals, convertible preferred stock and related warrants, common stock and related warrants, income taxes and stock-based compensation. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other market-specific and relevant assumptions that management believes to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Initial Public Offering

On April 20, 2015, the Company closed its initial public offering, or IPO and sold 8,050,000 shares of its common stock (inclusive of 1,050,000 shares of common stock pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares) at a price to the public of $17.00 per share. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of $124.2 million, net of underwriting discounts and offering expenses. The Company also sold to Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc., or NIBR, in a concurrent private placement 1,470,588 shares of common stock at a price of $17.00 per share for proceeds of $25.0 million (See Note 7). Upon the closing of the IPO, all then-outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock converted by their terms into 51,822,659 shares of common stock. Additionally, the Company amended and restated its certificate of incorporation effective April 14, 2015 to, among other things, change the authorized number of shares of common stock to 300,000,000 shares and the authorized number of shares of preferred stock to 10,000,000 shares.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

Reverse Stock Split

On April 1, 2015, the Company effected a 0.72-for-1 reverse split of its common stock. Upon the effectiveness of the reverse stock split, (i) every 1 share of outstanding common stock was combined into 0.72 of a share of common stock, (ii) the number of shares of common stock for which each outstanding option or warrant to purchase common stock is exercisable was proportionally decreased on a 0.72-for-1 basis, (iii) the exercise price of each outstanding option or warrant to purchase common stock was proportionately increased on a 0.72-for-1 basis, and (iv) the conversion ratio for each share of preferred stock which was convertible into the Company’s common stock was proportionately reduced on a 0.72-for-1 basis. All of the outstanding common stock share numbers, warrants to purchase common stock, common stock share prices, common stock exercise prices and per share amounts have been adjusted, on a retroactive basis, to reflect this 0.72-for-1 reverse stock split for all periods presented. The par value per share, authorized number of shares of common stock, preferred stock and preferred stock warrants were not adjusted as a result of the reverse stock split.

Offering Costs

Offering costs represent underwriting, legal, accounting and other direct costs related to the Company’s IPO.  These costs were deferred until completion of the IPO, at which time they were reclassified to additional paid-in capital as a reduction of the proceeds.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued Auditing Standards Update, or ASU, No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606). This ASU affects any entity that either enters into contracts with customers to transfer goods and services or enters into contracts for the transfer of nonfinancial assets. ASU 2014-09 will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. GAAP when it becomes effective. The standard’s core principle is that a company will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In doing so, companies will need to use more judgment and make more estimates than under the currently effective guidance. These may include identifying performance obligations in the contract, estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation. In July 2015, the FASB voted to defer the effective date of the ASU by one year to December 15, 2017 for fiscal years, and interim periods within those periods, beginning after that date. Entities are permitted to adopt in accordance with the original effective date of December 15, 2016 if they choose. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

3. Fair Value Measurements

The carrying amounts of certain of the Company’s financial instruments, including cash equivalents, accounts receivable, and accounts payable are approximated at their fair values due to their short maturities. Assets and liabilities recorded at fair value on a recurring basis in the balance sheets, as well as assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis or disclosed at fair value, are categorized based upon the level of judgment associated with inputs used to measure their fair values. The accounting guidance for fair value provides a framework for measuring fair value, and requires certain disclosures about how fair value is determined. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received upon the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the reporting date. The accounting guidance also establishes a three-level valuation hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value based upon whether such inputs are observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect market assumptions made by the reporting entity. The three-level hierarchy for the inputs to valuation techniques is briefly summarized as follows:

Level 1—Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date;

Level 2—Inputs are observable, unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities, unadjusted quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities 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 related assets or liabilities; and

Level 3—Unobservable inputs that are significant to the measurement of the fair value of the assets or liabilities that are supported by little or no market data.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

The Company’s financial instruments consist of Level 1 assets and Level 3 liabilities. Where quoted prices are available in an active market, securities are classified as Level 1. Level 1 assets consist of highly liquid money market funds that are included in cash equivalents.

In certain cases where there is limited activity or less transparency around the inputs to valuation, securities are classified as Level 3. Level 3 liabilities consist of common and preferred stock warrant liabilities. The determination of the fair value of the warrants is discussed in Note 8. Increases or decreases in the fair value of the underlying convertible preferred stock or common stock warrants are accounted for as (loss) gain from remeasurement of fair value of warrants in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations.

The following table sets forth the Company’s financial instruments that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis by level within the fair value hierarchy (in thousands):

The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in the fair value of the Company’s Level 3 financial liabilities (in thousands):

4. Balance Sheet Components

Property and Equipment, Net

Property and equipment, net consisted of the following (in thousands):

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

Depreciation and amortization expense was $126,000 and $51,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively and was $219,000 and $94,000, for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Accrued Expenses and Other Liabilities

Accrued expenses and other liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):

5. Collaboration Agreements

Novartis Agreement

In March 2015, the Company entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, or Novartis, pursuant to which the Company is collaborating worldwide with Novartis regarding the development and potential commercialization of product candidates containing an agonist of the molecular target known as STING in the field of oncology, including immuno-oncology and cancer vaccines. Under this agreement, or the Novartis Agreement, the Company granted Novartis a co-exclusive license to develop such products worldwide, an exclusive license to commercialize such products outside the United States and a non-exclusive license to support the Company in commercializing such products in the United States if it requests such support. The collaboration is guided by a joint steering committee with each party having final decision making authority regarding specified areas of development or commercialization.

Under the Novartis Agreement, the Company received an upfront payment of $200 million in April 2015. The Company is also eligible to receive up to an additional $250 million in development milestones and up to an additional $250 million in regulatory approval milestones.

The Company is responsible for 38% of the joint development costs worldwide and Novartis is responsible for the remaining 62% of the joint development costs worldwide. The Company will also receive 50% of all profits for any products commercialized pursuant to this collaboration in the United States and 45% of all profits for specified European countries and Japan. For each of these profit share countries, each party will be responsible for its respective commercial sharing percentage of all joint commercialization costs incurred in that country. For all other countries where the Company is not sharing profits, Novartis will be responsible for all commercialization costs and will pay the Company a royalty in the mid-teens on all net sales of product sold by Novartis, its affiliates and sublicensees, with such percentage subject to reduction post patent and data exclusivity expiration and subject to reduction, capped at a specified percentage, for royalties payable to third party licensors. Novartis’ royalty obligation will run on a country-by-country basis until the later of expiration of the last valid claim covering the product, expiration of data exclusivity for the product or 12 years after first commercial sale of the product in such country.

With respect to the United States, specified European countries and/or Japan, the Company may elect for such region to either reduce by 50% or to eliminate in full the Company’s development cost sharing obligation. If the Company elects to reduce its cost sharing percentage by 50% in any such region, then its profit share in such region will also be reduced by 50%. If the Company elects to eliminate its development cost sharing obligation, then such region will be removed from the profit share, and instead Novartis will owe the Company royalties on any net sales of product for such region, as described above.

The Company recognizes revenue from collaboration, license or research arrangements when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred or services have been rendered, the price is fixed or determinable and collection is reasonably assured. As of June 30, 2015, the Company and Novartis had not yet completed activities to provide persuasive evidence of an arrangement, primarily the Joint Steering Committee’s approval of the research and development plan. As a result, the Company did not recognize any revenue pursuant to the Novartis collaboration for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. The Company recorded the $200 million upfront payment as deferred consideration from Novartis collaboration in the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

Janssen ADU-741 and GVAX Prostate Agreements

In May 2014, the Company entered into a Research and License Agreement, or Janssen ADU-741 Agreement, and a GVAX Prostate License Agreement, or Janssen GVAX Prostate Agreement, with Janssen Biotech, Inc., or Janssen, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, to collaborate on the development of a drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. Under the terms of the Janssen ADU-741 Agreement, the Company granted Janssen an exclusive, worldwide license to research, develop, manufacture, use, sell and otherwise exploit products containing ADU-741 for any and all uses. The Company is responsible for certain research and development activities from the effective date of the agreement until approval of an investigational new drug application, or IND. Since the inception of the Janssen ADU-741 Agreement, the Company received an upfront payment of $12.0 million and non-substantive and substantive milestone payments of $6.5 million upon completion of certain development activities. Under the terms of the Janssen ADU-741 Agreement, the Company may receive future nonrefundable milestone payments up to a total of $1.0 million after completion of various stages of the research and development activities, and the Company is eligible to receive future contingent payments up to a total of $345.5 million comprised of development milestones through completion of all Phase 3 clinical trials, as well as launch, commercialization and sales milestones. The contingent payments are triggered upon the activities expected to be undertaken by Janssen. The Company is eligible to receive royalties on net sales of licensed products by Janssen, its affiliates and sublicensees at a rate ranging from mid-single digits to low teens based on aggregate annual net sales and based on the country of sale.

Under the Janssen GVAX Prostate Agreement, the Company granted Janssen an exclusive worldwide license to research, develop, manufacture, use, sell and otherwise exploit products containing GVAX Prostate for any and all uses. The Company received an upfront payment of $500,000 in May 2014 and may receive an additional $2.0 million on the achievement of a specified commercial milestone. In addition, the Company is eligible to receive royalties in the high single digits based on net sales of the product.

The development activities being conducted by the Company are based on a combination of the technology licensed under both agreements. Accordingly, the Company has accounted for the Janssen ADU-741 Agreement and Janssen GVAX Prostate Agreement as one arrangement and has identified the deliverables within the arrangement as a license to the technology and research and development activities through IND regulatory approval. The Company has determined that the licenses and development services under the license and research agreements represent a single unit of accounting. The licenses do not have stand-alone value to Janssen, separable from the development services to be performed under the agreement, as Janssen is unable to use the licenses for their intended purpose without the Company’s performance of the research and development services. As a result, the Company recognizes revenue from the upfront payments ratably over the term of its estimated period of performance under the agreement. Changes in the estimated period of performance will be accounted for prospectively as a change in estimate. The upfront fees received totaling $12.5 million are being recognized on a straight-line basis from the effective date of the agreements to September 2015, the Company’s estimated performance period. The Company will recognize non-substantive milestone payments on a straight-line basis through September 2015, the Company’s estimated performance period.

Janssen ADU-214 Agreement

In November 2014, the Company entered into a Research and License Agreement with Janssen, or Janssen ADU-214 Agreement, to develop a drug for the treatment of lung cancer. Under the terms of the Janssen ADU-214 Agreement, the Company granted Janssen an exclusive, worldwide license to research, develop, manufacture, use, sell and otherwise exploit products containing ADU-214 for any and all uses. The Company is responsible for certain research and development activities from the effective date of the agreement until IND regulatory approval. In November 2014, the Company received an upfront license fee of $30.0 million, which is being recognized as revenue on a straight-line basis from the effective date of the Janssen ADU-214 Agreement to February 2016, the Company’s estimated performance period. Changes in the estimated period of performance will be accounted for prospectively as a change in estimate. Under the terms of the Janssen ADU-214 Agreement, the Company may receive future nonrefundable milestone payments up to a total of $11.0 million after completion of various stages of the research and development activities, and the Company is eligible to receive future contingent payments up to a total of $776.0 million comprised of development milestones through completion of all Phase 3 clinical trials, as well as regulatory and commercial milestones. The contingent payments are triggered upon the activities expected to be undertaken by Janssen. The Company is eligible to receive royalties on any net sales of licensed products by Janssen, its affiliates and sublicensees at a rate ranging from high-single digits to low teens based on the aggregate annual net sales of licensed products worldwide and based on the country of sale.

For the three months and six months ended June 30, 2015, the Company recognized revenue from its Janssen ADU-741 Agreement and Janssen ADU-214 Agreement totaling $9.1 million and $18.2 million, respectively, related to amortization of the upfront fees and development-related non-substantive milestones. The remaining balance of the payments received of $17.8 million is included in deferred revenue at June 30, 2015.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

6. Commitments and Contingencies

Leases

The Company leases its office and research and development facility in Berkeley, California, under a non-cancelable operating lease. In February 2015, the Company amended its office lease agreement to increase the total square footage to approximately 25,000 square feet and extended the term of the lease to expire on December 31, 2018. The lease also contains an option to extend the lease for an additional two years. Rent expense was $0.2 million and $0.1 million during the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively and was $0.3 million and $0.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Indemnifications

In the ordinary course of business, the Company enters into agreements that may include indemnification provisions. Pursuant to such agreements, the Company may indemnify, hold harmless and defend an indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party. Some of the provisions will limit losses to those arising from third party actions. In some cases, the indemnification will continue after the termination of the agreement. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make under these provisions is not determinable. The Company has never incurred material costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims related to these indemnification provisions. The Company has also entered into indemnification agreements with its directors, officers and key employees that may require the Company to indemnify such individuals against liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors, officers or key employees to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware corporate law. The Company currently has directors’ and officers’ insurance.

Legal

During the normal course of business, the Company may be a party to legal claims that may not be covered by insurance. Management does not believe that any such claims would have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

Other Commitments

The Company has various manufacturing, clinical, research and other contracts with vendors in the conduct of the normal course of its business. All contracts are terminable, with varying provisions regarding termination. If a contract with a specific vendor were to be terminated, the Company would only be obligated for the products or services that the Company had received at the time the termination became effective as well as non-cancelable and non-refundable payment obligations incurred by the vendor for products or services before the termination became effective. In the case of terminating a clinical trial agreement at a particular site, the Company would also be obligated to provide continued support for appropriate medical procedures at that site until completion or termination.

7. Convertible Preferred Stock

Novartis Stock Purchase

Concurrent with the March 2015 entry into the Novartis Agreement (See Note 5), the Company and NIBR, entered into a stock purchase agreement to purchase 2,361,029 shares of the Company’s Series E Convertible Preferred Stock (or 1,699,940 shares of common stock on an as-converted basis) for $25.0 million. Upon the closing of the IPO, these preferred shares converted into common stock. Under the stock purchase agreement, NIBR purchased an additional $25.0 million of the Company’s common stock concurrent with the completion of the Company’s April 2015 IPO at the initial price per share offered to the public.

8. Warrant Liabilities

In April 2011, the Company issued warrants to purchase 24,235 shares of Series A-1 convertible preferred stock, or Series A-1 warrants, and 83,771 warrants to purchase shares of Series B convertible preferred stock, or Series B warrants.  The Series A-1 warrants and Series B warrants were immediately exercisable and expire, if not exercised, in April 2021 and April 2016, respectively.  As the shares into which the warrants were exercisable were contingently redeemable, the Company recognized a liability for the fair value of the warrants on the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

At the date of the IPO, the Series A-1 warrants and Series B warrants became exercisable for common stock and were no longer contingently redeemable. At the IPO, the ending fair value of these warrants of $1.2 million was reclassified to additional paid-in capital, and the change in fair value of $1.1 million was recognized as loss from remeasurement of fair value of warrants in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

In April, June, and October 2011, the Company issued warrants to purchase 615,658 shares of common stock.  The common stock warrants were exercisable beginning in April 2015 and would have terminated in whole or part, if the Company had obtained certain levels of government grant funds by April 15, 2015.  The warrants expire, if not exercised, in April 2021.  As the warrants were subject to performance conditions which may result in the issuance of a variable number of shares, the Company recognized a liability for the fair value of the common stock warrants on the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

At April 15, 2015, the Company did not obtain the specified levels of government grant funds and the performance conditions expired and the number of common shares issuable was fixed. On April 15, 2015, the ending fair value of the common stock warrants of $25.9 million was reclassified to additional paid-in capital, and the change in fair value of $25.0 million was recognized as loss from remeasurement of fair value of warrants in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

The key assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option-pricing model for the valuation of the convertible preferred stock warrants were as follows:

The key assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option-pricing model for the valuation of the common stock warrants were as follows:

9. Stock-Based Compensation Plans

2015 Stock Option Plan

In March 2015, the Company’s board of directors adopted and in April 2015 the Company’s stockholders approved the 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2015 Plan, which became effective upon the IPO and provides for the granting of incentive stock options, nonstatutory stock options, and other forms of stock awards to its employees, directors and consultants.

The 2015 Plan is administered by the Board of Directors or a committee appointed by the Board of Directors, which determines the types of awards to be granted, including the number of shares subject to the awards, the exercise price and the vesting schedule. The exercise price of incentive stock options and nonqualified stock options will be no less than 100% of the fair value per share of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant. If an individual owns capital stock representing more than 10% of the voting shares, the price of each share will be at least 110% of the fair value on the date of grant. Options expire after 10 years (five years for stockholders owning greater than 10% of the voting stock). Shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2015 Plan is 6,134,292 shares with automatic annual increase to the shares issuable under the 2015 Plan to the lower of (i) 4% of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding on December 31 of the preceding calendar year, or (ii) a lower number determined by the Board of Directors.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

2009 Stock Incentive Plan

The Company’s 2009 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2009 Plan, terminated on the date the 2015 Plan was adopted. Options granted or shares issued under the 2009 Plan that were outstanding on the date the 2015 Plan became effective will remain subject to the terms of its plan.  Prior to the 2009 Plan termination, the number of options available for grant was increased by 360,000 shares.  At June 30, 2015, 8,777,668 options under the 2009 Plan remained outstanding.

Stock option activity under the Company’s 2015 plan and 2009 plan was as follows:

2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

In March 2015, the Company’s board of directors adopted and in April 2015 the Company’s stockholders approved the 2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or 2015 ESPP, which became effective upon the IPO. The 2015 ESPP is intended to qualify as an employee stock purchase plan under Section 423 of the Code, and administered by the Company’s board of directors and the Compensation Committee of the board of directors.

Stock-based Compensation Expense

Total stock-based compensation expense recognized was as follows (in thousands):

In determining the fair value of the stock-based awards, the Company uses the Black-Scholes option- pricing model. The fair value of stock-based awards granted to employees during the six months ended June 30, 2015 was estimated at the date of grant using the following assumptions:

No options were granted to employees during the six months ended June 30, 2014.

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ADURO BIOTECH, INC.

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

10. Income Taxes

The Company did not record a provision or benefit for income taxes during the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014. The Company continues to maintain a full valuation allowance for its net U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets.

The Company accounts for uncertain tax positions in accordance with ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes.  As of June 30, 2015 and 2014, the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits was $0.7 million and $0.4 million, respectively. As of June 30, 2015 and 2014, no amount of the unrecognized tax benefits, if recognized, would reduce the Company’s annual effective tax rate because the benefits are in the form of deferred tax assets for which a full valuation allowance has been recorded.

The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense. As of June 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company accrued no interest and penalties in the statement of financial position. Total interest and penalties included in the statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014 are each zero. The Company does not expect the amount of existing unrecognized tax benefits to change significantly within the next 12 months.

The Company is subject to taxation for U.S. federal and the state of California purposes only. The Company’s federal and California tax returns are open by statute for tax years 2011 and 2010 forward, respectively, and could be subject to examination by the tax authorities.

11. Net Loss per Common Share

Since the Company was in a loss position for all periods presented, basic net loss per common share is the same as diluted net loss per common share for all periods presented as the inclusion of all potential common shares outstanding would have been anti-dilutive. Potentially dilutive securities that were not included in the diluted per common share calculations because they would be anti-dilutive were as follows:

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Item 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part I, Item 1 of this report and with our audited financial statements and related notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2014, included in our prospectus dated April 14, 2015, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Prospectus. This discussion and other parts of this report contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section of this report titled “Risk factors.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This discussion contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as “believe,” “will,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “expect,” “predict,” “could,” “potentially” or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. You should read these statements carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition, or state other “forward-looking” information. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and financial performance and the assumptions that underlie these statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this report in Part II, Item 1A — “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in this report. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. These statements, like all statements in this report, speak only as of their date, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements in light of future developments. We caution investors that our business and financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties.

Overview

We are a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the development of first-in-class technology platforms designed to stimulate robust and durable immune responses against cancer, and our lead product candidate is in a randomized controlled Phase 2b clinical trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer. Immuno-oncology encompasses a class of therapies that leverage the patient’s immune system to slow the growth and spread of, or eliminate, tumor cells. We believe a critical distinguishing factor in our approach to immuno-oncology is that our novel therapies initiate powerful innate immune responses and drive targeted, durable adaptive immune responses. The immunotherapy field is rapidly advancing with new immuno-oncology combinations that focus on strengthening therapeutic efficacy in a wide range of cancers. We intend to pursue a broad strategy of combining our technology platforms with conventional and novel immuno-oncology therapies, based on their mechanisms of action, safety profiles and versatility.

Our pipeline of immuno-oncology product candidates is derived from two proprietary technology platforms: Live, Attenuated, Double-Deleted, or LADD, Listeria monocytogenes and cyclic dinucleotides, or CDNs. Our lead LADD product candidate, CRS-207, is currently being developed in metastatic pancreatic cancer and unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma. Our lead immuno-oncology regimen of CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas was granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and we have obtained orphan drug designations from the FDA for CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and for CRS-207 for the treatment of mesothelioma. We are developing a pipeline of proprietary product candidates, including two product candidates in collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc., or Janssen, targeting prostate and lung cancers. In addition, we established a worldwide collaboration with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, or Novartis, in March 2015 for CDN product candidates in oncology.

Financial Operations Overview

Revenue

We have not generated any revenue from product sales. Our revenue to date has been primarily derived from research and development grants from the U.S. government and two separate research and license agreements we entered into with Janssen, which became effective in May 2014 and in November 2014. We recognize revenue related to research and development grants when the related research expenses are incurred and our specific performance obligations under the terms of the respective contracts are satisfied. We recognize revenue from upfront payments under our collaboration agreements ratably over the term of our estimated period of performance under the agreement. In addition to receiving upfront payments, we may also be entitled to milestone and other contingent payments upon achieving predefined objectives. Revenue from milestones, if they are nonrefundable and deemed

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substantive, are recognized upon successful accomplishment of the milestones. To the extent that non-substantive milestones are achieved and we have remaining performance obligations, milestones are deferred and recognized as revenue over the estimated remaining period of performance.

We expect that any revenue we generate from our collaboration with Novartis, research and license agreements with Janssen, government research and development grants, and any future collaboration partners will fluctuate from year to year as a result of the timing and amount of milestones and other payments.

Research and Development Expenses

The largest component of our total operating expenses has historically been our investment in research and development activities, including the clinical development and manufacturing of our product candidates. Research and development expenses represent costs incurred to conduct research, such as the discovery and development of our product candidates, as well as the development of product candidates pursuant to our collaboration with Novartis and research and license agreement with Janssen. We recognize all research and development costs as they are incurred. Clinical trial costs, contract manufacturing and other development costs incurred by third parties are expensed as the contracted work is performed.

We expect our research and development expenses to increase in absolute dollars in the future as we advance our product candidates into and through clinical trials and pursue regulatory approval of our product candidates. The process of conducting the necessary clinical research to obtain regulatory approval is costly and time-consuming. The actual probability of success for our product candidates and technology platforms may be affected by a variety of factors including: the quality of our product candidates, early clinical data, investment in our clinical program, competition, manufacturing capability and commercial viability. We may never succeed in achieving regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. As a result of the uncertainties discussed above, we are unable to determine the duration and completion costs of our research and development projects or when and to what extent we will generate revenue from the commercialization and sale of our product candidates.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses include personnel costs, expenses for outside professional services and other allocated expenses. Personnel costs consist of salaries, bonuses and benefits. Outside professional services consist of legal, accounting and audit services and other consulting fees. Allocated expenses consist of rent expense related to our office and research and development facility. We expect to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including expenses related to compliance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and those of any national securities exchange on which our securities are traded, additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities and other administrative and professional services.

(Loss) Gain from Remeasurement of Fair Value of Warrants

(Loss) Gain from remeasurement of fair value of warrants consists of gains and losses from the remeasurement of the fair value of our liabilities related to our convertible preferred stock warrants and common stock warrants.

Interest Expense

Interest expense consists of amortization of debt discount associated with convertible promissory note warrants, issuance of the equity component of a convertible promissory note and beneficial conversion features associated with certain convertible promissory notes, as well as stated interest costs associated with our borrowings.

Other Income, Net

Other income, net, consists of gains and losses from the change in the fair value of the convertible promissory note warrants, and interest income earned on our cash and cash equivalents.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of the Three Months Ended June 30, 2015 and 2014

Revenue

Collaboration and license revenue was $9.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $8.7 million compared to the three months ended June 30, 2014, primarily due to recognition of a portion of the upfront fees and non-substantive development-related milestones achieved under the May 2014 and October 2014 Janssen agreements.

Grant revenue was $0.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $0.2 million compared to the three months ended June 30, 2014, primarily due to an increase in grant-related research and development.

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses incurred during the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014:

Research and development expenses were $13.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $8.1 million, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2014. The increase was primarily attributed to $3.0 million increase in licensing fees; a $1.6 million increase in clinical development expenses mainly associated with ongoing trials for our lead indication in pancreatic cancer; a $1.3 million increase in contract manufacturing costs of our clinical product candidates; $0.8 million of incremental compensation and related personnel expenses associated with additional research and development headcount; a $0.8 million increase in other research and development costs primarily for our CDN program; and a $0.6 million increase in stock-based compensation.

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General and Administrative Expenses

The following table summarizes our general and administrative expenses incurred during the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014:

General and administrative expenses were $5.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $3.7 million, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2014. The increase was primarily due to $2.1 million increase in stock-based compensation due to stock options granted and higher value of the underlying shares used in the valuation due to the IPO; a $0.8 million increase in compensation and related personnel expenses primarily related to additional general and administrative headcount; and a $0.5 million increase in other general and administrative costs.

(Loss) Gain from Remeasurement of Fair Value of Warrants

Loss from remeasurement of fair value of warrants was $16.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $16.8 million, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2014.  The increase in expense was primarily due to the higher stock prices used in the remeasurement of the fair value of liability classified preferred and common stock warrants.  

Interest Expense

We did not have any interest expense during the three months ended June 30, 2015. Interest expense for the three months ended June 30, 2014 was comprised of the amortization of debt discount associated with convertible promissory note warrants, debt discount associated with equity component of a convertible promissory note and beneficial conversion features attributable to certain promissory notes, as well as stated interest costs associated with our borrowings.

Comparison of the Six Months Ended June 30, 2015 and 2014

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Revenue

Collaboration and license revenue was $18.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $18.0 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2014, primarily due to recognition of a portion of the upfront fees and non-substantive development-related milestones achieved under the May 2014 and October 2014 Janssen agreements.

Grant revenue was $0.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $0.5 million compared to the six months ended June 30, 2014, primarily due to an increase in grant-related research and development.

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses incurred during the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014:

Research and development expenses were $24.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $14.0 million, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2014. The increase was primarily attributed to $3.5 million of incremental compensation and related personnel expenses associated with additional research and development headcount; a $3.0 million increase in clinical development expenses mainly associated with ongoing trials for our lead indication in pancreatic cancer; a $2.9 million increase in licensing fees; a $2.1 million increase in other research and development costs primarily for our CDN program; a $1.7 million increase in contract manufacturing costs of our clinical product candidates; and a $0.7 million increase in stock-based compensation.

General and Administrative Expenses

The following table summarizes our general and administrative expenses incurred during the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014:

General and administrative expenses were $12.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $8.6 million, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2014. The increase was primarily due to $2.7 million increase in compensation and related personnel expenses primarily related to additional general and administrative headcount; a $2.5 million increase in stock-based compensation due to stock options granted and higher value of the underlying shares used in the valuation due to the IPO; $2.4 million of incremental legal, consulting and other professional services fees related to our collaboration agreement, general corporate matters and accounting support; and a $0.7 million increase in other general and administrative costs.

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Loss from Remeasurement of Fair Value of Warrants

Loss from remeasurement of fair value of warrants was $26.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, an increase of $26.0 million, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2014.  The increase in expense was primarily due to the higher stock prices used in the remeasurement of the fair value of liability classified preferred and common stock warrants.

Gain on Extinguishment of Convertible Promissory Notes

During 2013 and 2014, we issued convertible promissory notes to related parties, which were subsequently converted in May 2014 to Series C convertible preferred stock. The conversion of convertible promissory notes was determined to be an extinguishment of debt and a portion of the reacquisition price was allocated to the reacquisition of the embedded beneficial conversion feature. We recorded a gain on extinguishment of $3.6 million during the six months ended June 30, 2014, as the amount allocated to reacquire the notes was less than the carrying value of the notes.

Interest Expense

We did not have any interest expense during the six months ended June 30, 2015. Interest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2014 was due to the amortization of debt discount associated with convertible promissory note warrants, debt discount associated with equity component of a convertible promissory note and beneficial conversion features attributable to certain promissory notes, as well as stated interest costs associated with our borrowings.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

To date, our operations have been financed primarily by net proceeds from the initial public offering, sale of convertible preferred stock, proceeds from our collaboration and license agreements and revenue from government grants. At June 30, 2015, we had cash and cash equivalents of $465.9 million. We believe that our available cash and cash equivalent will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements for at least the next twelve months. We have based our cash sufficiency estimate on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. If our assumptions prove to be incorrect, we could consume our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect or in excess of amounts that we currently expect, which could adversely affect our development activities.

In March 2015, we established a worldwide collaboration with Novartis for the development and commercialization of products containing an agonist of the molecular target known as STING in the field of oncology, including immuno-oncology and cancer vaccines. Under the Novartis Agreement, we received an upfront payment of $200 million in April 2015. We are also eligible to receive up to an additional $250 million in development milestones and up to an additional $250 million in regulatory approval milestones. Concurrent with the entry into the Novartis Agreement, we and Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research, Inc., or NIBR, entered into a stock purchase agreement to purchase 2,361,029 shares of our Series E Preferred Stock (which converted into 1,699,940 shares of common stock at the completion of the IPO), for $25.0 million.

On April 20, 2015, we closed our initial public offering, or IPO and sold 8,050,000 shares of our common stock (inclusive of 1,050,000 shares of common stock pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares) at a price to the public of $17.00 per share. We received aggregate net proceeds of $124.2 million, net of underwriting discounts and offering expenses. We also sold to NIBR in a concurrent private placement 1,470,588 shares of common stock at a price of $17.00 per share for proceeds of $25.0 million (See Note 7). Upon the closing of the IPO, all then-outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock converted by their terms into 51,822,659 shares of common stock. Additionally, we amended and restated our certificate of incorporation effective April 14, 2015 to, among other things, change the authorized number of shares of common stock to 300,000,000 shares and the authorized number of shares of preferred stock to 10,000,000 shares.

Our primary uses of capital are, and we expect will continue to be, compensation and related expenses, third-party clinical, manufacturing, and other research and development services, laboratory and related supplies, and legal and other professional services. Cash used to fund operating expenses is impacted by the timing of when we pay expenses, as reflected in the change in our outstanding accounts payable and accrued expenses. We expect to incur substantial expenditures in the foreseeable future for the development and potential commercialization of our product candidates, specifically in connection with our Phase 2b ECLIPSE clinical trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer, manufacturing of our product candidates, and advancement of CRS-207 in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy into Phase 3 clinical development for mesothelioma.

We plan to continue to fund our operations and capital funding needs through equity and/or debt financing. We may also consider entering into additional collaboration arrangements or selectively partnering for clinical development and commercialization. In addition, we expect to continue to opportunistically seek access to the equity capital markets to support our development efforts and operations. The sale of additional equity would result in additional dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of debt financing

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would result in debt service obligations and the instruments governing such debt could provide for operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. To the extent that we raise additional funds through collaboration or partnering arrangements, we may be required to relinquish some of our rights to our technologies or rights to market and sell our products in certain geographies, grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us, or issue equity that may be substantially dilutive to our stockholders. If we are not able to secure adequate additional funding, we may be forced to make reductions in spending, extend payment terms with suppliers, liquidate assets where possible and/or suspend or curtail planned programs. Any of these actions could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and future prospects.

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated:

Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $173.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, compared to $4.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014. The increase was primarily due to a $200 million upfront payment received from Novartis, partially offset by the increase in net loss of $31.5 million primarily due to increased research and development and general and administrative expenses.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $1.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, compared to $0.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014. The increase in net cash used in investing activities was primarily the result of investment in laboratory and office equipment, furniture and leasehold improvements.

Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $173.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2015, compared to $27.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014. The increase was primarily related to $124.2 million in net proceeds from the initial public offering, $25.0 million in gross proceeds from the private placement and $25.0 million in net proceeds from sale of Series E convertible preferred stock. Net cash provided by financing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2014 included net proceeds from the sale of Series C convertible preferred stock amounting to $26.9 million.

Contractual Obligations and Other Commitments

During the six months ended June 30, 2015, there were no material changes to our contractual obligations and commitments described under the section titled "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Prospectus.

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 under SEC rules.

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Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Management believes there have been no material changes to our quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risks during the six months ended June 30, 2015, compared to those discussed in our prospectus dated April 14, 2015 filed with the SEC on April 15, 2015 pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures.

Our management, with the participation of our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Operating Officer, our principal financial officer, have evaluated our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) prior to the filing of this quarterly report. Based on that evaluation, our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Operating Officer have concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this quarterly report, our disclosure controls and procedures were, in design and operation, effective.

Changes in internal control over financial reporting.

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended June 30, 2015 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Inherent limitation on the effectiveness of internal control.

The effectiveness of any system of internal control over financial reporting, including ours, is subject to inherent limitations, including the exercise of judgment in designing, implementing, operating, and evaluating the controls and procedures, and the inability to eliminate misconduct completely. Accordingly, any system of internal control over financial reporting, including ours, no matter how well designed and operated, can only provide reasonable, not absolute assurances. In addition, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. We intend to continue to monitor and upgrade our internal controls as necessary or appropriate for our business, but cannot assure you that such improvements will be sufficient to provide us with effective internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II. – OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings relating to claims arising from the ordinary course of business. Our management believes that there are currently no claims or actions pending against us, the ultimate disposition of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information contained in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, including the section of this report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes. If any of the events described in the following risk factors and the risks described elsewhere in this report occurs, our business, operating results and financial condition could be seriously harmed. This quarterly report on Form 10-Q also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this report. The risks relating to our business set forth in our prospectus dated April 14, 2015 that forms a part of the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed with the SEC, are set forth below and are unchanged substantively as of June 30, 2015, except for those risks designated by an asterisk (*).

Risks Related to Our Business

We have incurred net losses in every year since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur substantial and increasing net losses in the foreseeable future.*

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Investment in biopharmaceutical product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that any potential product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate effect or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval and become commercially viable. We have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity securities and convertible debt securities. Since our inception, most of our resources have been dedicated to the preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on our future expenses and our ability to generate revenue, if any. We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales to date, and we continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. As a result, we are not profitable and have incurred losses in each period since our inception. For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, and for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2015, we reported a net loss of $16.1 million, $17.0 million, $26.3 million, and $42.9 million, respectively. At June 30, 2015, we had an accumulated deficit of $104.5 million. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase as we continue our research and development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates.

Even if we succeed in commercializing one or more of our product candidates, we will continue to incur substantial research and development and other expenditures to develop and market additional product candidates. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue. Our prior losses and expected future losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.

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

Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. At June 30, 2015, our cash and cash equivalents were $465.9 million. We expect to continue to spend substantial amounts to continue the clinical development of our product candidates. If we are able to gain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we will require significant additional amounts of cash in order to launch and commercialize any such product candidates. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise. Because the design and outcome of our planned and anticipated clinical trials is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:

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We do not have any committed external source of funds or other support for our development efforts other than our license agreements with Janssen, which may be terminated by Janssen upon delivery of notice, and our collaboration and license agreement with Novartis, which may be terminated by Novartis at any time after March 19, 2018 upon 180 days’ notice. Until we can generate sufficient product and royalty revenue to finance our cash requirements, which we may never do, we expect to finance our future cash needs through a combination of public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances, licensing arrangements and other marketing or distribution arrangements. We expect to continue to opportunistically seek access to the equity capital markets to support our development efforts and operations. Additional financing may not be available to us when we need it or it may not be available on favorable terms.

If we raise additional capital through marketing and distribution arrangements or other collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish certain valuable rights to our product candidates, technologies, future revenue streams or research programs or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we raise additional capital through public or private equity offerings, the ownership interest of our existing stockholders will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect our stockholders’ rights. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, we may be subject to covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing when needed, we may have to delay, reduce the scope of or suspend one or more of our clinical trials or research and development programs or our commercialization efforts.

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

Our technology platforms and product candidates are based on novel technologies, and the development and regulatory approval pathway for such product candidates is unproven and may never lead to marketable products.

We are developing our pipeline of immuno-oncology product candidates via two technology platforms: Live, Attenuated, Double-Deleted, or LADD, Listeria monocytogenes and cyclic dinucleotides, or CDNs. Immuno-oncology encompasses a class of therapies that leverage the patient’s immune system to slow the growth and spread of, or eliminate, tumor cells. Any products we develop may not effectively modulate the immune response to slow the spread of or eliminate cancer cells. The scientific evidence to support the feasibility of developing product candidates based on impacting the anti-tumor immune response is preliminary and limited. Advancing these novel immuno-oncology therapies creates significant challenges for us, including, among others:

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

We may not be successful in our efforts to use and expand our technology platforms to build a pipeline of product candidates.

A key element of our strategy is to use and expand our technology platforms to build a pipeline of product candidates, combine our product candidates with existing and novel therapies, and progress these product candidates and combinations through clinical development for the treatment of various diseases. Although our research and development efforts to date have resulted in a pipeline of product candidates directed at various cancers, we may not be able to develop product candidates that are safe and effective. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipeline, the potential product candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development, including as a result of being shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance. If we do not continue to successfully develop and begin to commercialize product candidates, we will face difficulty in obtaining product revenues in future periods.

Our business is highly dependent on the success of our lead product candidate, CRS-207, and GVAX Pancreas. CRS-207, GVAX Pancreas and our other product candidates from our LADD and CDN technology platforms will require significant additional clinical testing before we can seek regulatory approval and potentially launch commercial sales.

We do not have any products that have gained regulatory approval. Our business and future success depend on our ability to obtain regulatory approval of and then successfully commercialize our lead product candidate, CRS-207, and GVAX Pancreas. CRS-207, GVAX Pancreas and our other product candidates are in the early stages of development. We are currently conducting our Phase 2b ECLIPSE clinical trial of CRS-207 in combination with GVAX Pancreas to treat patients with late-stage metastatic pancreatic cancer who have received at least one prior line of therapy. Our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and successfully commercialize CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas effectively will depend on several factors, including the following:

All of our product candidates, including CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas, will require additional clinical and non-clinical development, regulatory review and approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment, access to sufficient commercial manufacturing

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capacity and significant marketing efforts before we can generate any revenue from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. If we are unable to develop or receive marketing approval for CRS-207 or GVAX Pancreas in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to commercialize CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future clinical trial results. Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate adequately the safety and efficacy of one or more of our product candidates, which would prevent or delay regulatory approval and commercialization.

Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our product candidates, including CRS-207, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical testing and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. For example, the positive results generated to date in preclinical studies and in our Phase 2a metastatic pancreatic cancer study of CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas do not ensure that future studies will demonstrate similar results. There is typically an extremely high rate of attrition from the failure of product candidates proceeding through clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy profile despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. We cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. Most product candidates that commence clinical trials are never approved as commercial products.

We may experience delays in our ongoing clinical trials and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. Clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays related to:

We could encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trial or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Such authorities may impose such a suspension or termination due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial.

Furthermore, we rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and while we have agreements governing their committed activities, we have limited influence over their actual performance. If we experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. In addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive cash compensation in connection with such services. We also give grants to investigators’ institutions from time to time. If certain of these relationships exceed specific financial thresholds, they must be reported

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to the FDA If these relationships and any related compensation paid results in perceived or actual conflicts of interest, or the FDA concludes that the financial relationship may have affected interpretation of the study, the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site may be questioned and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized, which could result in the delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA. Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.

In addition, even if the trials are successfully completed, we cannot guarantee that the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities will interpret the results as we do, and we may need to conduct additional trials before we submit applications seeking regulatory approval of our product candidates.

To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory to the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities for support of a marketing application, approval of our product candidates may be significantly delayed, or we may be required to expend significant additional resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates.

Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their clinical development, prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential, if approved, or result in significant negative consequences.

Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Results of our clinical trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects or unexpected characteristics.

To date, patients treated with CRS-207 have experienced drug-related side effects including Grade 3 adverse events, or AEs, which are considered moderate, and Grade 4 AEs which are considered severe. In our Phase 2a clinical trial of CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas, the most frequent drug-related Grade 3 or 4 AE was lymphopenia (an abnormally low level of white blood cells), with three patients experiencing Grade 3 lymphopenia and two patients experiencing Grade 4 lymphopenia. Lymphopenia is expected based on prior nonclinical studies and CRS-207’s mechanism of action, and the AEs of lymphopenia were self-correcting or did not reveal an unexpected pattern of toxicity. We currently do not plan to alter our development plan for CRS-207 based on these observed AEs of lymphopenia. There were no other Grade 4 AEs, and there were no other Grade 3 AEs with frequencies higher than five percent in either arm. The most common Grade 3 AEs were transient lymphopenia, fevers, elevated liver enzymes and fatigue.

If unacceptable side effects arise in the development of our product candidates, we could suspend or terminate our clinical trials or the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease clinical trials or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Treatment-related side effects could also 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 recognized or managed by the treating medical staff. We expect to have to train medical personnel using our product candidates to understand the side effect profiles for our clinical trials and upon any commercialization of any of our product candidates. Inadequate training in recognizing or managing the potential side effects of our product candidates could result in patient injury or death. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

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, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

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

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

The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the study until its conclusion. We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:

In addition, our clinical trials will compete with other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our product candidates, and this competition will reduce the number and types of patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we expect to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which will reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in such clinical trial site. Moreover, because our product candidates represent a departure from more commonly used methods for cancer treatment, potential patients and their doctors may be inclined to use conventional therapies, such as chemotherapy and hematopoietic cell transplantation, rather than enroll patients in any future clinical trial.

Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our product candidates.

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

Human clinical trials are expensive and difficult to design and implement, in part because they are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. Because our product candidates are based on new technologies and engineered on a patient-by-patient basis, we expect that they will require extensive research and development and have substantial manufacturing and processing costs. In addition, costs to treat patients with relapsed/refractory cancer and to treat potential side effects that may result from our product candidates may be significant. Accordingly, our clinical trial costs are likely to be significantly higher than for more conventional therapeutic technologies or drug products.

The market opportunities for our product candidates may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for established therapies or for whom prior therapies have failed, 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, usually chemotherapy, hormone therapy, surgery, radiotherapy or a combination of these, is sometimes adequate to cure the cancer or prolong life without a cure. Second- and third-line therapies are administered to patients when prior therapy is not effective. We expect to initially seek approval of our product candidates as a therapy for patients who have received one or more prior treatments. Subsequently, for those products that prove to be sufficiently beneficial, if any, we would expect to seek approval potentially as a first-line therapy, but there is no guarantee that our product candidates, even if approved, would be approved for first-line therapy, and, prior to any such approvals, we may have to conduct additional clinical trials.

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 who have received one or more prior treatments, 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

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addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our product candidates. Even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve profitability without obtaining regulatory approval for additional indications, including to be used as first or second line therapy.

We have obtained orphan drug designations from the FDA for CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and for CRS-207 for the treatment of mesothelioma, but we may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is defined as one occurring in a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug or biologic will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. In addition, if a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full Biologics License Application, or BLA, to market the same biologic for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or where the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity.

Even though we have received orphan drug designation for both CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and for CRS-207 for the treatment of mesothelioma, we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval of either product candidate for the orphan-designated indication due to the uncertainties associated with developing pharmaceutical products. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for an indication broader than the orphan-designated indication or may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan product is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug with the same active moiety for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is safer, more effective, or makes a major contribution to patient care. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. In addition, while we intend to seek orphan drug designation for other product candidates, we may never receive such designations.

We have obtained Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA for the combination of CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas in pancreatic cancer, but we may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with this designation.

In 2012, the FDA established a new Breakthrough Therapy designation, which is intended to expedite the development and review of products that treat serious or life-threatening conditions where “preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development.” The designation of a product candidate as a Breakthrough Therapy provides potential benefits that include but are not limited to more frequent meetings with the FDA to discuss the development plan for the product candidate and ensure collection of appropriate data needed to support approval; more frequent written correspondence from FDA about such things as the design of the proposed clinical trials and use of biomarkers; intensive guidance on an efficient drug development program; organizational commitment involving senior managers; and eligibility for rolling review and priority review. Breakthrough Therapy designation does not change the standards for product approval. FDA can also rescind the Breakthrough Therapy designation in the event that the program no longer meets the criteria for eligibility. This could occur if a new therapy is approved and the existing data no longer show substantial improvement over the new therapy. We have obtained Breakthrough Therapy designation for our CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas combination. Despite the potential advantages of Breakthrough Therapy designation, we may fail to obtain regulatory approval of CRS-207 and GVAX Pancreas, and if we do obtain approval, we may fail to do so on an accelerated basis. In addition, while we intend to seek Breakthrough Therapy designation for other product candidates, we may never receive such designation.

If we fail to develop additional product candidates, our commercial opportunity will be limited.*

We expect to initially develop our lead product candidate, CRS-207. However, one of our strategies is to pursue clinical development of additional product candidates. Developing, obtaining regulatory approval for and commercializing additional product candidates will require substantial additional funding and are prone to the risks of failure inherent in medical product development. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully advance any of these additional product candidates through the development process.

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Even if we obtain FDA approval to market additional product candidates for the treatment of cancer, we cannot assure you that any such product candidates will be successfully commercialized, widely accepted in the marketplace or more effective than other commercially available alternatives. If we are unable to successfully develop and commercialize additional product candidates, our commercial opportunity will be limited. Moreover, a failure in obtaining regulatory approval of additional product candidates may have a negative effect on the approval process of any other, or result in losing approval of any approved, product candidate.

We are subject to a multitude of manufacturing and supply chain risks, any of which could substantially increase our costs and limit the supply of our product candidates.

The process of manufacturing our product candidates is complex, highly regulated and subject to several risks, including:

Any adverse developments affecting manufacturing operations for our product candidates and/or damage that occurs during shipping may result in delays, inventory shortages, lot failures, withdrawals or recalls or other interruptions in the supply of our drug substance and drug product. We may also have to write off inventory, incur other charges and expenses for supply of drug product that fails to meet specifications, undertake costly remediation efforts, or seek more costly manufacturing alternatives. Inability to meet the demand for any of our product candidates, if approved, could damage our reputation and the reputation of our products among physicians, healthcare payors, patients or the medical community, which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

We currently have no marketing and sales organization and have no experience in marketing products. If we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be able to generate product revenue.

We currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities and have no experience in marketing products. We intend to develop an in-house marketing organization and sales force, which will require significant capital expenditures, management resources and time. We will have to compete with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to recruit, hire, train and retain marketing and sales personnel.

If we are unable or decide not to establish internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, we will pursue collaborative arrangements regarding the sales and marketing of our products; however, we cannot assure you that we will be able to establish or maintain such collaborative arrangements, or if we are able to do so, that they will have effective sales forces. Any revenue we receive will depend upon the efforts of such third parties, which may not be successful. We may have little or no control over the marketing

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and sales efforts of such third parties and our revenue from product sales may be lower than if we had commercialized our product candidates ourselves. We also face competition in our search for third parties to assist us with the sales and marketing efforts of our product candidates.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to develop in-house sales and distribution capabilities or establish or maintain relationships with third-party collaborators to commercialize any product in the United States or elsewhere.

A variety of risks associated with marketing our product candidates internationally could materially adversely affect our business.

We plan to seek regulatory approval of our product candidates outside of the United States and, accordingly, we expect that we will be subject to additional risks related to operating in foreign countries if we obtain the necessary approvals, including:

These and other risks associated with our international operations may materially adversely affect our ability to attain or maintain profitable operations.

We face significant competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and our operating results will suffer if we fail to compete effectively.

The biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by intense competition and rapid innovation. Our competitors may be able to develop other compounds or drugs that are able to achieve similar or better results. Many major multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and universities and other research institutions continue to invest time and resources in developing novel approaches to immuno-oncology. Promising results have spurred significant competition from major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies alike. Our competitors in the field of immuno-oncology and cancer vaccines include AdaptImmune Therapeutics, PLC, Advaxis, Inc., AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol Myers-Squibb Company, Celgene Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Immune Design Corp., Incyte Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc., NewLink Genetic Corporation, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Roche Holding AG, Sanofi SA, and Verastem, Inc., among others. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources than we do, such as larger research and development staff and experienced marketing, market access, and manufacturing organizations and well-established sales forces. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these industries. Our competitors, either alone or with collaborative partners, may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis drug or biologic products that are more effective, safer, more easily commercialized or less costly than our product candidates or may develop proprietary technologies or secure patent protection that we may need for the development of our technologies and products. We believe the key competitive factors that will affect the development and commercial success of our product candidates are efficacy, safety, tolerability, reliability, convenience of use, price and reimbursement.

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Even if we obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates, the availability and price of our competitors’ products could limit the demand and the price we are able to charge for our product candidates. We may not be able to implement our business plan if the acceptance of our product candidates is inhibited by price competition or the reluctance of physicians to switch from existing methods of treatment to our product candidates, or if physicians switch to other new drug or biologic products or choose to reserve our product candidates for use in limited circumstances.

We are highly dependent on our key personnel, and if we are not successful in attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy.

Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified managerial, scientific and medical personnel. We are highly dependent on our management, scientific and medical personnel, including our President and Chief Executive Officer, our Chief Scientific Officer and our Chief Operating Officer. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers, other key employees, and other scientific and medical advisors, and our inability to find suitable replacements could result in delays in product development and harm our business.

We conduct our operations at our facility in Northern California. This region is headquarters to many other biopharmaceutical companies and many academic and research institutions. Competition for skilled personnel in our market is intense and may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms or at all.

To induce valuable employees to remain at our company, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided stock options that vest over time. The value to employees of stock options that vest over time may be significantly affected by movements in our stock price that are beyond our control, and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of our management, scientific and development teams may terminate their employment with us on short notice. Although we have employment agreements with our key employees, these employment agreements provide for at-will employment, which means that any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice. We do not maintain “key man” insurance policies on the lives of these individuals or the lives of any of our other employees. Our success also depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled junior, mid-level and senior managers as well as junior, mid-level and senior scientific and medical personnel.

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

At June 30, 2015, we had 65 full-time employees, including 45 employees engaged in research and development. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop, and as we transition into operating as a public company, we expect to need additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other personnel. Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:

Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth, and our management may also have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities.

We currently rely, and for the foreseeable future will continue to rely, in substantial part on certain independent organizations, advisors and consultants to provide certain services, including substantially all aspects of regulatory approval, clinical management, and manufacturing. We cannot assure you that the services of independent organizations, advisors and consultants will continue to be available to us on a timely basis when needed, or that we can find qualified replacements. In addition, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates or otherwise advance our business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to manage our existing consultants or find other competent outside contractors and consultants on economically reasonable terms, or at all.

If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

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Our internal computer systems, or those used by our CROs or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our future CROs and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses and unauthorized access. While we have not to our knowledge experienced any such material system failure 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 for the manufacture of our product candidates and to 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.

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

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

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

We are exposed to the risk that our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners and vendors may engage in fraudulent or illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or disclosure of unauthorized activities to us that violates: (1) the laws of the FDA and other similar foreign regulatory bodies, including those laws requiring the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such regulators; (2) manufacturing standards; (3) healthcare fraud and abuse laws in the United States and similar foreign fraudulent misconduct laws; or (4) laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. If we obtain FDA approval of any of our product candidates and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our potential exposure under such laws will increase significantly, and our costs associated with compliance with such laws are also likely to increase. These laws may impact, among other things, our current activities with principal investigators and research patients, as well as proposed and future sales, marketing and education programs. In particular, the promotion, sales and marketing of healthcare items and services, as well as certain business arrangements in the healthcare industry, are subject to extensive laws designed to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, structuring and commissions, certain customer incentive programs and other business arrangements generally. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of patient recruitment for clinical trials.

We have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics, but it is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by our employees and other third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent these activities may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could result in the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. Whether or not we are successful in defending against such actions or investigations, we could incur substantial costs, including legal fees, and divert the attention of management in defending ourselves against any of these claims or investigations.

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Even if we obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates, the products may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centers and others in the medical community.

The use of LADD or CDN product candidates as potential cancer treatments, even if approved, may not become broadly accepted by physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centers and others in the medical community. For example, certain of the product candidates that we are developing target a cell surface marker that may be present on non-cancerous cells as well as cancer cells. It is possible that our product candidates may kill these non-cancerous cells, which may result in unacceptable side effects, including death. Additional factors will influence whether our product candidates are accepted in the market, including: