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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒       ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 or 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

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OR

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

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM                      TO

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Commission File Number 0-14710

XOMA CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (510) 204-7200

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

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ☐ NO ☒

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Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. YES ☐ NO ☒

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

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Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). YES ☒ NO ☐

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

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

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

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Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES ☐ NO ☒

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The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, based on the closing price of the shares of common stock on June 30, 2020, was $136,774,906.

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Number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of March 5, 2021 was 11,240,057

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XOMA Corporation

2020 FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT

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This annual report on Form 10-K includes trademarks, service marks and trade names owned by us or others. “XOMA,” the XOMA logo and all other XOMA product and service names are registered or unregistered trademarks of XOMA Corporation or a subsidiary of XOMA Corporation in the United States and in other selected countries. All trademarks, service marks and trade names included or incorporated by reference in this annual report are the property of their respective owners.

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PART I

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to them. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “predicts,” “potential,” “intend” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: our future operating expenses, our future losses, the potential success of our strategy as a royalty aggregator, the extent to which our issued and pending patents may protect our products and technology, the potential of our existing product candidates to lead to the development of commercial products, our ability to receive potential milestone or royalty payments under license and collaboration agreements and the probability, amount and timing of receipt of those payments, and our ability to satisfy our indebtedness obligations and our continuing obligation to pay quarterly cash dividends on our Series A Preferred Stock. These statements are based on assumptions that may not prove accurate. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to certain risks inherent in the biotechnology industry and for our licensees engaged in the development of new products in a regulated market. Among other things: our product candidates subject to our out-license agreements are still being developed, and our licensees’ may require substantial funds to continue development which may not be available; if our therapeutic product candidates do not receive regulatory approval, our third-party licensees will not be able to market them; products or technologies of other companies may render some or all of our product candidates noncompetitive or obsolete; we do not know whether there will be, or will continue to be, a viable market for the products in which we have an ownership or royalty interest; even once approved, a product may be subject to additional testing or significant marketing restrictions, its approval may be withdrawn or it may be voluntarily taken off the market; and we and our licensees are subject to various state and federal healthcare related laws and regulations that may impact the commercialization of our product candidates and could subject us to significant fines and penalties; and certain of our technologies are in-licensed from third parties, so our capabilities using them may be restricted and subject to additional risks. These and other risks, including those related to current economic and financial market conditions, are contained principally in Item 1, Business; Item 1A, Risk Factors; Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations; and other sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in Item 1A, Risk Factors, as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and you should not place undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date that they were made. These cautionary statements should be considered in connection with any written or oral forward-looking statements that we may issue in the future. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements after completion of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to reflect later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

All references to “portfolio” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are to milestone and/or royalty rights associated with a basket of drug products in development.

Risk Factors Summary

Below is a summary of material factors that make an investment in our securities speculative or risky. Importantly, this summary does not address all of the risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional discussion of the risks and uncertainties summarized in this risk factor summary, as well as other risks and uncertainties that we face, can be found under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The below summary is qualified in its entirety by that more complete discussion of such risks and uncertainties. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K as part of your evaluation of the risks associated with an investment in our securities.

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Item 1.   Business

Overview and Strategy

XOMA Corporation (“XOMA”), a Delaware corporation, is a biotech royalty aggregator. We have a sizable portfolio of economic rights to future potential milestone and royalty payments associated with partnered pre-commercial therapeutic candidates. Our portfolio was built through licensing our proprietary products and platforms from our legacy discovery and development business, combined with acquisitions of rights to future milestones and royalties that we have

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made since our royalty aggregator business model was implemented in 2017. We expect that most of our future revenue will be based on payments we may receive for milestones and royalties related to these programs.

Our strategy is to expand our pipeline by acquiring additional potential milestone and royalty revenue streams on drug product candidates from third parties. Expanding our pipeline through these acquisitions can allow for further diversification across therapeutic areas and development stages. Our ideal target acquisitions are in pre-commercial stages of development, have an expected long duration of market exclusivity, high revenue potential, and are partnered with a large pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical enterprise.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose risks to our business as clinical trials industry-wide have slowed. Our business is dependent on the continued development and commercialization efforts of our licensees and our royalty agreement counterparties and their licensees. We have been monitoring and continue to monitor our portfolio programs for potential delays in underlying research programs and elections of our partners to continue or cease development. Delays in clinical trials and underlying research programs may lead to delayed revenue from milestones from our licensees and royalty agreement counterparties or, if certain research programs are discontinued, we may recognize impairment charges for our royalty receivables. COVID-19, the related variants, and the timing of vaccine distribution may impact our underlying programs in a variety of ways which are unknown in length and scope at this time.

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Portfolio Highlights

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The following table highlights key assets included in our portfolio of potential future milestone and royalty streams. This table does not include all assets because certain assets are subject to confidentiality agreements.

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Acquisitions

Royalty Purchase Agreement with Agenus, Inc.

In September 2018, we entered into a royalty purchase agreement (the “Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement”) with Agenus, Inc. (“Agenus”). Under the Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement, we purchased from Agenus the right to receive 33% of the future royalties due to Agenus from Incyte (net of certain royalties payable by Agenus to a third party) and 10% of all future developmental, regulatory and sales milestones on sales of six Incyte immuno-oncology assets. In addition, we purchased from Agenus the right to receive 33% of the future royalties due to Agenus from Merck and 10% of all future developmental, regulatory and sales milestones on sales of MK-4830, an immuno-oncology product currently in clinical development. Pursuant to the Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement, our share in future potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones is up to $59.5 million and the royalties have no limit. Under the terms of the Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement, we paid Agenus $15.0 million. We financed $7.5 million of the purchase price with a three-year term loan under our Loan and Security Agreement with Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) dated May 7, 2018.

In November 2020, MK-4830 advanced to Phase 2 development stage. As a result of the advancement, Agenus earned a $10.0 million clinical development milestone pursuant to its license agreement with Merck, of which we earned $1.0 million.

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Royalty Purchase Agreement with Bioasis Technologies, Inc.

In February 2019, we entered into a royalty purchase agreement with Bioasis Technologies, Inc. (the “Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement”) and certain affiliates (collectively “Bioasis”). Under the Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement, we purchased potential future milestone, royalty and option fee payment rights from Bioasis for product candidates that are being developed pursuant to a License Agreement between Bioasis and Prothena Biosciences Limited. Under the terms of the Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement, we paid Bioasis an upfront cash payment of $0.3 million and will be required to make contingent future cash payments of up to $0.2 million to Bioasis if and when the licensed product candidates reach certain development milestones. As of December 31, 2020, none of the development milestones had been achieved. In addition, we were granted an option to purchase a 1% royalty right on the next two license agreements entered into between Bioasis and third-party licensees subject to certain payments and conditions as well as a right of first negotiation on subsequent Bioasis license agreements with third parties.

In November 2020, we entered into a second royalty purchase agreement with Bioasis (the “Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement”). Under the Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement, we purchased potential future milestone and other payments, and royalty rights from Bioasis for product candidates that are being developed pursuant to a research collaboration and license agreement between Bioasis and Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. (“Chiesi”). We paid Bioasis $1.2 million upon closing of the Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement for the purchased rights.

Royalty Purchase Agreement with Aronora, Inc.

In April 2019, we entered into a royalty purchase agreement with Aronora, Inc. (the “Aronora Royalty Purchase Agreement”), a private research and development company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Under the Aronora Royalty Purchase Agreement, we purchased from Aronora the rights to potential royalties and a portion of upfront, milestone, and option payments associated with five anti-thrombotic hematology drug products in development: three candidates subject to Aronora’s collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG (“Bayer”) (the “Bayer Products”) and two additional early-stage candidates (the “non-Bayer Products”).

Under the terms of the Aronora Royalty Purchase Agreement, we made a $6.0 million upfront payment to Aronora when the transaction closed on June 26, 2019, and in September 2019 we made an additional $3.0 million payment for the three Bayer Products that were active as of September 1, 2019. Pursuant to the Aronora Royalty Purchase Agreement, if we receive $250.0 million in cumulative royalties on net sales per product, we will be required to pay associated tiered milestones payments to Aronora in an aggregate amount of up to $85.0 million per product. The tiered milestones will be paid based on various royalty tiers prior to reaching $250.0 million in cumulative royalties on net sales per product. We will retain royalties per product in excess of $250.0 million. We will receive, on average, low single-digit royalties on future sales of the Bayer Products and 10% of all future developmental, regulatory and sales milestones related to the Bayer Products. In addition, we purchased from Aronora the right to receive low-single digit percentage of net sales of the non-Bayer Products and 10% of all future payments, including upfront payments, option payments and developmental, regulatory and sales milestone payments on potential future sales of the non-Bayer Products. We financed $4.5 million of the purchase price with a three-year term loan under our Loan and Security Agreement with SVB dated May 7, 2018. In July 2020, Bayer elected to not exercise its option on the third Bayer Product and that product is now subject to the same economics as the non-Bayer Products.

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Royalty Purchase Agreement with Palobiofarma, S.L.

In September 2019, we entered into a royalty purchase agreement (the “Palo Royalty Purchase Agreement”) with Palobiofarma, S.L, (“Palo”). Pursuant to the Palo Royalty Purchase Agreement, we acquired the rights to potential royalty payments in low single digit percentages of aggregate net sales associated with six drug candidates in various clinical development stages, targeting the adenosine pathway with potential applications in solid tumors, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ulcerative colitis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer, psoriasis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and other indications (the “Palo Licensed Products”) that are being developed by Palo. Novartis Pharma AG (“Novartis”) is a development partner on NIR178, one of the Palo Licensed Products, and NIR178 is being developed pursuant to a license agreement between Palo and Novartis. Under the terms of the Palo Royalty Purchase Agreement, we paid Palo $10.0 million for the rights to potential royalty payments on future sales of the Palo Licensed Products. We financed $5.0 million of the purchase price with a three-year term loan under our Loan and Security Agreement with SVB dated May 7, 2018.

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Selected Programs Underlying Our Core Pipeline

Historically, we have licensed product candidates or provided research and development collaboration services to world-class organizations, such as Novartis and Takeda, in pursuit of new antibody products under which we are eligible to receive potential future milestone payments and royalties. The following is a summary of material license and collaboration agreements that represent a significant component of our core pipeline.

Novartis – Anti-TGFβ Antibody

In September 2015, we and Novartis International Pharmaceutical Ltd. (“Novartis International”) entered into a license agreement (the “Anti-TGFβ Antibody License Agreement”) under which we granted Novartis International an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license to our anti-TGFβ antibody program (“NIS793”). Novartis International is solely responsible for the development and commercialization of the antibodies and products containing the antibodies arising from this program.

Under the Anti-TGFβ Antibody License Agreement, we received a $37.0 million upfront fee, and are eligible to receive up to a total of $480.0 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones. We also are eligible to receive royalties on sales of licensed products, which are tiered based on sales levels and have percentage rates ranging from mid-single digits to low-teens. This program is currently in clinical testing.

In October 2020, the first patient was dosed in Novartis International's NIS793 Phase 2 clinical trial and we earned a $25.0 million milestone payment. As specified under the terms the Anti-TGFβ Antibody License Agreement, we received $17.7 million in cash and the remaining balance of $7.3 million was recognized as a reduction to our debt obligation to Novartis. We recorded $25.0 million as revenue from contracts with customers in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive income (loss) in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Novartis – Anti-CD40 Antibody

In February of 2004, we entered into an exclusive, worldwide, multi-product collaboration agreement with Chiron Corporation (“Chiron”) to research, develop and commercialize multiple antibody products for the treatment of cancer, and such agreement was replaced with a more detailed agreement entered in May of 2005 (the “Chiron Collaboration Agreement”). The Chiron Collaboration Agreement was a risk-sharing arrangement whereby Chiron and XOMA shared expenses and revenues on a 70-30 basis, with XOMA’s share being 30%. Financial terms included a loan facility from Chiron to XOMA, secured by XOMA’s 30% ownership interest in the collaboration, of up to $50.0 million to fund up to 75% of our share of expenses beginning in 2005.

In October 2005, Chiron announced it had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Novartis AG (“Novartis”) under which Novartis acquired all of the shares of Chiron that it did not already own. This transaction closed in 2006 at which time Novartis acquired Chiron’s interest in the Chiron Collaboration Agreement. In July of 2008, Novartis and XOMA restructured the Chiron Collaboration Agreement, which involved six development programs including iscalimab, a fully human anti-CD40 antagonist antibody intended as a treatment for B-cell mediated diseases, including malignancies and autoimmune diseases. As part of the restructuring, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. (“NVDI”), the successor to Chiron, was granted, among other things, control over the ongoing product development collaborations remaining thereunder, including iscalimab. In September 2015, the parties agreed to reduce the royalty-style payments that XOMA is eligible to receive on sales of NVDI’s clinical stage anti-CD40 antibodies (such as iscalimab). These royalty-style payments are tiered based on sales levels and now have percentage rates ranging from mid-single digit to low-teens.

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Our right to royalty-style payments expires on the later of the expiration of any licensed patent covering each product or 10 years from the first commercial sale of each product in each country. Novartis is currently conducting clinical testing of iscalimab in several indications.

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Novartis – Gevokizumab

In August 2017, we and Novartis entered into a license agreement (the “Gevokizumab License Agreement”), under which we granted Novartis an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license to gevokizumab (“VPM087”) (a clinical stage product candidate) and related know-how and patents. Under the terms of the Gevokizumab License Agreement, Novartis is solely responsible for the development and commercialization of VPM087 and products containing such antibody.

Under the Gevokizumab License Agreement, we received total consideration of $30.0 million in 2017 for the license and rights granted to Novartis. Of the total consideration, $15.7 million was paid in cash and $14.3 million (equal to €12.0 million) was paid by Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Inc. (“NIBR”), on our behalf, to settle our loan with Les Laboratories Servier (“Servier”). In addition, NIBR extended the maturity date on our debt to Novartis to September 30, 2022. We also received $5.0 million related to the sale of 539,131 shares of our common stock, at a price per share of $9.2742. Based on the achievement of pre-specified criteria, we are eligible to receive up to $438.0 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones. We are also eligible to receive royalties on sales of licensed products, which are tiered based on sales levels and have percentage rates ranging from mid-single digit to mid-teens. This program is in early clinical testing.

Unless terminated earlier, the Gevokizumab License Agreement will remain in effect, on a country-by-country and product-by-product basis, until Novartis’ royalty obligations end. The Gevokizumab License Agreement contains customary termination rights relating to material breach by either party. Novartis also has a unilateral right to terminate the Gevokizumab License Agreement on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis or in its entirety with six months’ prior written notice.

Takeda

In November 2006, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”) (the “Takeda Collaboration Agreement”) under which we agreed to discover and optimize therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets selected by Takeda.

Under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, we may receive additional milestone payments aggregating up to $19.0 million relating to TAK-079 (mezagitamab) and a 4% royalty on future sales of all products subject to this license, including TAK-169, which entered a phase 1 study in February 2020. Our right to milestone payments expires on the later of the receipt of payment from Takeda of the last amount to be paid under the agreement or the cessation by Takeda of all research and development activities with respect to all program antibodies, collaboration targets or collaboration products. Our right to royalties expires on the later of 13.5 years from the first commercial sale of each royalty-bearing discovery product or the expiration of the last-to-expire licensed patent (or 12 years from first commercial sale if there is significant generic competition post patent-expiration).

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In February 2009, we expanded our existing collaboration to provide Takeda with access to multiple antibody technologies, including a suite of research and development technologies and integrated information and data management systems. We may receive milestones of up to $3.3 million per discovery product candidate and low single-digit royalties on future sales of all antibody products subject to this license. Our right to milestone payments expires on the later of the receipt of payment from Takeda of the last amount to be paid under the agreement or the cessation by Takeda of all research and development activities with respect to all program antibodies, collaboration targets or collaboration products. Our right to royalties expires on the later of 10 years from the first commercial sale of such royalty-bearing discovery product or the expiration of the last-to-expire licensed.

In November 2020, the first patient was dosed in Takeda’s Phase 2 study of mezagitamab and we earned a $2.0 million milestone payment from Takeda.

Rezolute

In December 2017, we entered into a license agreement with Rezolute, Inc. (formerly AntriaBio, Inc.) (“Rezolute”) pursuant to which we granted an exclusive global license to Rezolute to develop and commercialize products containing X358 (now RZ358), a Phase 2 product candidate, for all indications. We and Rezolute also entered into a common stock purchase agreement.

Under the terms of the license agreement, Rezolute is responsible for all development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercialization activities associated with RZ358 and is required to make certain clinical, regulatory and annual net sales milestone payments to us of up to $232.0 million in the aggregate based on the achievement of pre-specified criteria. Rezolute is also obligated to pay us royalties ranging from the high single digits to the mid-teens based upon annual net sales of RZ358. Rezolute is obligated to take customary steps to advance RZ358, and to meet certain spending requirements on an annual basis for the program until a marketing approval application for RZ358 is accepted by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Rezolute’s obligation to pay royalties with respect to a particular licensed product and country will continue for the longer of the date of expiration of the last valid patent claim covering the product in that country, or twelve years from the date of the first commercial sale of the product in that country. Rezolute’s future royalty obligations in the United States will be reduced by 20% if the manufacture, use or sale of a licensed product is not covered by a valid XOMA patent claim, until such a claim is issued.

Under the terms of the license agreement, Rezolute is required to pay us a low single-digit royalty on sales of Rezolute’s other products from its existing programs, currently in preclinical and early clinical stages. Rezolute’s obligation to pay royalties with respect to a particular Rezolute product and country will continue for the longer of twelve years from the date of the first commercial sale of the product in that country or for so long as Rezolute or its licensee is selling such product in such country, provided that such royalty will terminate upon the termination of the licensee’s obligation to make payments to Rezolute based on sales of such product in such country.

We also granted Rezolute an option through June 1, 2019 for an exclusive license for their choice of one of our preclinical insulin receptor monoclonal antibody fragments, including X129. On June 1, 2019, such option expired unexercised. The license agreement contains customary termination rights relating to material breach by either party. Rezolute also has a unilateral right to terminate the license agreement in its entirety on ninety-days’ notice at any time.

Rezolute License Agreement - First Amendment

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In March 2018, we and Rezolute amended the license agreement and common stock purchase agreement. Pursuant to the as-amended terms of the license agreement and common stock purchase agreement, Rezolute was required to pay us $6.0 million in cash, to issue us $8.5 million worth of its common stock, and to issue us 7,000,000 shares of its common stock, contingent on the completion of its financing activities. Further, in the event that Rezolute did not complete a financing that raised at least $20.0 million in aggregate gross proceeds (“Qualified Financing”) by March 31, 2019 (the “2019 Closing”), it would issue to us an additional number of shares of its common stock equal to $8.5 million divided by the weighted average of the closing bid and ask prices or the average closing prices of Rezolute’s common stock on the ten-day trading period prior to March 31, 2019. Finally, if Rezolute was unable to complete a Qualified Financing by

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March 31, 2020, it was obliged to pay us $15.0 million in order to maintain the license. Under the common stock purchase agreement, Rezolute granted us the right and option to sell the greater of (i) 5,000,000 shares of common stock or (ii) one third of the aggregate shares held by us upon failure by Rezolute to list its shares of its common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market or a similar national exchange on or prior to December 31, 2019.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, Rezolute closed a debt financing activity for gross proceeds of $4.0 million, which triggered the Initial Closing, and completed an Interim Financing Closing, as defined in the common stock purchase agreement. These financing activities resulted in receipt of 8,093,010 shares of Rezolute’s common stock and cash of $0.5 million. Under the amended license agreement, we were also entitled to receive $0.3 million of reimbursable technology transfer expenses from Rezolute.

Rezolute License Agreement - Second Amendment

In January 2019, we and Rezolute further amended the license agreement and common stock purchase agreement. The license agreement was amended to eliminate the requirement that equity securities be issued to us upon the closing of the Qualified Financing and to replace it with a requirement that Rezolute: (1) make five cash payments to us totaling $8.5 million following the closing of a Qualified Financing on or before specified staggered future dates through September 2020 (the “Future Cash Payments”); and (2) provide for early payment of the Future Cash Payments (only until the above referenced $8.5 million is reached) by making cash payments to us equal to 15% of the net proceeds of each future financing following the closing of the Qualified Financing, with such payments to be credited against any remaining unpaid Future Cash Payments in reverse order of their scheduled payment date. In accordance with the terms of the license agreement, we received an additional $5.5 million in cash upon the closing of the Qualified Financing in February 2019. In July and August 2019, Rezolute received additional cash through two common stock financing events, resulting in early payment of $3.4 million of unrecognized Future Cash Payments. In addition, we received the $1.5 million and $1.0 million payments due in September 2019 and December 2019, respectively, resulting in a total of $11.4 million in cash received from Rezolute for Qualified Financing and Future Cash Payments in the year ended December 31, 2019. As of December 31, 2019, we had an outstanding receivable of $2.6 million representing the current estimate of the Future Cash Payments expected to be received from Rezolute. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recognized $14.0 million as revenue from Rezolute.

The license agreement amendment also revised the amount Rezolute is required to expend on development of RZ358 and related licensed products and revised provisions with respect to Rezolute’s diligence efforts in conducting clinical studies. Lastly, the common stock purchase agreement was amended to remove certain provisions related to the issuance of equity to us in accordance with the new provisions regarding the Future Cash Payments in the license agreement. Specifically, the common stock purchase agreement was amended to provide XOMA the right to sell up to 5,000,000 shares of Rezolute common stock currently held by us, back to Rezolute if it fails to list its shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market or a similar national exchange on or prior to December 31, 2019. Only 2,500,000 shares may be sold back to Rezolute during calendar year 2020. Any such shares may be sold back to Rezolute at the average of the closing bid and asked prices of its common stock quoted on its principal trading market on the date of such put option exercise. As of December 31, 2019, Rezolute failed to list its shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market or a similar exchange.

Rezolute License Agreement - Third Amendment

In March 2020, we and Rezolute further amended the license agreement to extend the payment schedule for the remaining $2.6 million in Future Cash Payments. The amendment to the payment terms was in response to Rezolute’s need to preserve cash as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The extended payment schedule did not impact the total amount due, but instead, spread the $2.6 million into seven quarterly payments to be paid through September 30, 2021. The amended license agreement required that in the event Rezolute completed a Qualified Financing at any time between March 31, 2020 and the date of the final payment, Rezolute would pay all amounts outstanding within fifteen days following the closing of the Qualified Financing.  

In October 2020, Rezolute completed a private placement of its equity securities with gross proceeds of $41.0 million, which was considered a Qualified Financing event under the third amendment of the Rezolute license agreement

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(the “Third Amendment”). The Qualified Financing resulted in acceleration of the remaining receivables of $1.4 million due from Rezolute, and we received the entire amount in October 2020.

During the quarter ended December 31, 2020, Rezolute completed a 1:50 reverse stock split of its common shares and started trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. As a result, our holding of Rezolute common stock was reduced from 8,093,010 shares to 161,860 shares.

Proprietary Product Candidates

We have a pipeline of unique monoclonal antibodies and technologies available to license to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to further their clinical development. A summary of these product candidates is provided below:

Technologies Available for Non-Exclusive License

We have a set of antibody discovery, optimization and development technologies available for licensing, including:

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Debt Agreements

Novartis

In connection with the collaboration between XOMA and Novartis AG (then Chiron Corporation), a secured note agreement was executed in May 2005. The note agreement is secured by our interest in the collaboration and was due and payable in full on June 21, 2015. In June 2015, we and NVDI, who assumed the note agreement, agreed to extend the maturity date of our secured note agreement from June 21, 2015 to September 30, 2015, which was then subsequently extended to September 30, 2020. In September 2017, in connection with the Gevokizumab License Agreement with Novartis, we and NIBR, who assumed the note agreement from NVDI, executed an amendment to the note agreement under which we further extended the maturity date of the note to September 30, 2022.

In October 2020, the first patient was dosed in Novartis International’s NIS793 Phase 2 clinical trial NCT04390763 and we earned a $25.0 million milestone payment, of which $7.3 million was recognized as a reduction to the debt obligation to Novartis.

As of December 31, 2020, the outstanding principal balance under this note agreement totaled $9.1 million.

Silicon Valley Bank Loan Agreement

In May 2018, we executed a loan and security agreement (the “Loan Agreement”) with SVB. Under the Loan Agreement, upon our request, SVB may make advances available to us of up to $20.0 million. We were able to borrow advances under the Term Loan from May 7, 2018 (the “Effective Date”) until the earlier of March 31, 2019 or an event of default.

In March 2019, we and SVB amended the Loan Agreement to extend the draw period from March 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Our draw period lapsed on March 31, 2020 with no further extension. In connection with the amendment, we issued a second warrant to SVB, which is exercisable in whole or in part for up to an aggregate of 4,845 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $14.71 per share.

In September 2018, we borrowed $7.5 million under the Loan Agreement in connection with the Agenus royalty purchase agreement. In June and September 2019, we borrowed advances of $3.0 million and $1.5 million for the upfront payment and the contingent consideration under the Aronora Royalty Purchase Agreement, respectively. In September 2019, we borrowed an additional $5.0 million in connection with the Palo Royalty Purchase Agreement.

As of December 31, 2020, the outstanding principal balance of the debt under the Loan Agreement was $12.2 million.

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Competition

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are subject to continuous and substantial technological change. Some of the drugs our licensees or royalty partners are developing may compete with existing therapies or other drugs in development by other companies. Furthermore, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private organizations conducting research may seek patent protection with respect to potentially competing products or technologies and may establish collaborative arrangements with our licensees’ or royalty partners’ competitors. There can be no assurance that developments by others, including, without limitation, the development of generics or biosimilars, will not render our, or our licensees’, products or technologies obsolete or uncompetitive.

Additionally, our royalty aggregator model faces competition on at least two fronts. First, there are other companies, funds and other investment vehicles seeking to aggregate royalties or provide alternative financing to development-stage biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The competitive companies, funds and other investment vehicles may have a lower target rate of return, a lower cost of capital or access to greater amounts of capital and thereby may be able to acquire assets that we are also targeting for acquisitions. Second, existing or potential competitors to our partners and licensees’ products, particularly large pharmaceutical companies, may have greater financial, technical and human resources than our licensees. Accordingly, these competitors may be better equipped to develop, manufacture and market products. Many of these companies also have extensive experience in preclinical testing and human clinical trials, obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals and manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products.

For a discussion of the risks associated with competition, see below under “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

Government Regulation and Environmental Matters

The research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products are subject to regulation by numerous governmental authorities in the United States and other countries. We and our partners and licensees, depending on specific activities performed, are subject to these regulations. In the United States, pharmaceuticals are subject to regulation by both federal and various state authorities, including the FDA. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act govern the testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, labeling, storage, record keeping, approval, advertising and promotion of pharmaceutical products and there are often comparable regulations that apply at the state level. There are similar regulations in other countries as well. For both currently marketed and products in development, failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can, among other things, result in delays, the suspension of regulatory approvals, as well as possible civil and criminal sanctions. Development stage products in our portfolio require approval by the FDA before we will recognize any royalties from sales. In addition, changes in existing regulations could have a material adverse effect on us or our partners.

We believe that there are no compliance issues with laws and regulations that have been enacted or adopted regulating the discharge of materials into the environment, or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment, that have adversely affected, or are reasonably expected to adversely affect, our business, financial condition and results of operations, and we do not currently anticipate material capital expenditures arising from environmental regulation. We believe that climate change could present risks to our business. Some of the potential impacts of climate change to our business include increased operating costs due to additional regulatory requirements and the risk of disruptions to our business. We do not believe these risks are material to our business at this time.

For a discussion of the risks associated with government regulations, see below under “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is important to our business and our future income streams will depend in part on our, and our partners and licensees’, ability to obtain issued patents and to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We hold and have filed applications for a number of patents in the United States and internationally to protect our products and technology. We also have obtained or have the right to obtain licenses to, or income streams based on, certain patents and applications filed by others. However, the patent position of biotechnology companies generally is highly uncertain and consistent policy regarding the breadth of allowed claims has not emerged from the actions of the U.S. Patent

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and Trademark Office with respect to biotechnology patents. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that our, or our partners or licensees’ patents will afford protection against competitors with similar products or others will not obtain patents claiming aspects similar to those covered by our, or our partners’ or licensees’ patent applications. Below is a list of representative patents and patent applications related to our licensed programs:

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* Jointly-owned with Medical University of South Carolina Foundation for Research Development

** Jointly-owned with Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc.

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If certain patents issued to others are upheld or if certain patent applications filed by others are issued and upheld, our partners and licensees may require certain licenses from others to develop and commercialize certain potential products incorporating our technology. There can be no assurance that such licenses, if required, will be available on acceptable terms.

We protect our proprietary information, in part, by confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and partners. These parties may breach these agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. To the extent that we or our consultants or partners use intellectual property owned by others, we may have disputes with our consultants or partners or other third parties, as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.

Concentration of Risk

Our business model is dependent on third parties achieving specified development milestones and product sales. Our pipeline currently includes over 65 fully-funded programs from which we could potentially receive royalties or other payments if the programs achieve marketability. Novartis is developing several of the programs in our pipeline. While we do not expect the discontinuation of any one program would have a material impact on our business, the discontinuation of all programs by Novartis could have a material effect on our business and financial condition.

Organization

We were incorporated in Delaware in 1981 and became a Bermuda-exempted company in December 1998. Effective December 31, 2011, we changed our jurisdiction of incorporation from Bermuda to Delaware and changed our name from XOMA Ltd. to XOMA Corporation. When referring to a time or period before December 31, 1998 or after December 31, 2011, the terms “Company” and “XOMA” refer to XOMA Corporation, a Delaware corporation; when referring to a time or period between December 31, 1998 and December 31, 2011, such terms refer to XOMA Ltd., a Bermuda company.

Our principal executive offices are located at 2200 Powell Street, Suite 310, Emeryville, California 94608. Our telephone number at our principal executive offices is (510) 204-7200. Our website address is www.xoma.com. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

Human Capital Resources

We rely on a small number of skilled, experienced, and innovative employees to conduct the operations of our company. As of March 5, 2021, we employed 10 full-time employees primarily engaged in executive, business development, legal, finance and administrative positions.

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The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our employees. We provide robust compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. In addition to salaries, these programs include potential annual discretionary bonuses, broad-based equity awards, a 401(k) plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, paid time off, family leave, and flexible work schedules, among others. These benefits provide our employees choices where possible so they can customize their benefits to meet their needs and the needs of their families, as well as access to tools and resources to help them improve or maintain their health status and encourage engagement in healthy behaviors to improve their physical and mental health.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and “shelter in place” and similar orders issued by state and local governments, we have temporarily restricted access to our office in California, as well as suspended any non-essential business travel. Our employees are conducting their work remotely, and they otherwise have minimal presence in our offices for essential activities. The safety, health and well-being of our employees is paramount. As such, we will consider ongoing government regulations and local health conditions before lifting any restrictions on travel or allowing any gatherings at our offices.  

Item 1A.       Risk Factors

The following risk factors and other information included in this Annual Report should be carefully considered. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us also may impair our business operations. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to our Royalty Aggregator Strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted and could materially and adversely impact in the future our licensees or royalty-agreement counterparties or their licensees, which could cause delays or elimination of our receipts of potential milestones and royalties under our licensing or royalty and milestone acquisition arrangements.

In March 2020, COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The pandemic has severely affected global economic activity and resulted in the implementation of significant governmental measures, including lockdowns, closures, quarantines and travel bans, intended to control the spread of the virus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted and could materially and adversely impact in the future our licensees or royalty-agreement counterparties or their licensees, which could cause delays, suspensions or cancellations of their drug development efforts including, without limitation, their clinical trials, which would correspondingly delay, suspend or negate the timing of our potential receipts of milestones and royalties under our out-licensing or royalty acquisition agreements. The disruptions to our licensees or royalty purchase agreement counterparties or their licensees could include, without limitation:

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The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our business and prospects and the overall economies of the United States and other countries will depend on numerous evolving factors, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, such as the duration and scope of the pandemic, potential mutations in the COVID-19 virus, travel restrictions and social distancing in the United States and other countries, business closures or business disruptions and the effectiveness of actions taken in the United States and other countries to contain and treat the disease.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose risks to our business, including at our headquarters in Emeryville, California, which has in the past been subject to local and statewide “stay-at-home” orders issued by Alameda County and the Governor of the State of California, as well as the business or operations of our partners and other third parties with whom we conduct business.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in extended travel and other continued restrictions in order to reduce the spread of the disease, including California executive orders, San Francisco Bay Area orders and several other state and local orders across the United States, which, among other things, direct individuals to continue to shelter at their places of residence, direct businesses and governmental agencies to cease non-essential operations at physical locations, prohibit certain non-essential gatherings, and order cessation of non-essential travel. The evolving effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictive government measures taken in response have had a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses and commerce, as significant reductions in business related activities have occurred, supply chains have been disrupted, and manufacturing and clinical development activities have been curtailed or suspended.

In response to these public health directives and orders, we previously implemented a work-from-home policy for all employees. We have been able to maintain our operations and productivity thus far; however, prolonged working remotely may negatively impact productivity, disrupt our business and delay our timelines, the magnitude of which will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course.

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In addition, quarantines, stay-at-home, executive and similar government orders, shutdowns or other restrictions on the conduct of business operations continue to impact personnel at third-party clinical testing sites, manufacturing facilities, and the availability or cost of materials, which could disrupt our licensees’ and royalty purchase agreement counterparties and their licensees’ supply chains.

The spread of COVID-19, which has caused a broad impact globally, may materially affect us economically. While the evolving economic impacts brought by, and the duration of, COVID-19 may be difficult to assess or predict, it has already significantly disrupted global financial markets, and may limit our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. A recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and the value of our common stock.

The evolving effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have already resulted in significant disruption of global financial markets. While several of our partners have experienced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not yet know the full extent of potential delays or impacts on our business, clinical trials, healthcare systems or the global economy as a whole. However, the effects could continue to have an impact on our operations and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects in future periods.

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Our acquisitions of potential future royalty and/or milestone payments may not produce anticipated revenues and/or may be negatively affected by a default or bankruptcy of the licensor(s) or licensee(s) under the applicable license agreement(s) covering such potential royalties and/or milestones, and if such transactions are secured by collateral, we may be, or may become, under-secured by the collateral or such collateral may lose value and we will not be able to recuperate our capital expenditures associated with the acquisition.

We are engaged in a continual review of opportunities to acquire future royalties, milestones and other payments related to drug development and sales as part of our royalty aggregator strategy or to acquire companies that hold royalty assets. Generally, at any time, we seek to have acquisition opportunities in various stages of active review, including, for example, our engagement of consultants and advisors to analyze particular opportunities, technical, financial and other confidential information, submission of indications of interest and involvement as a bidder in competitive auctions. Many potential acquisition targets do not meet our criteria, and for those that do, we may face significant competition for these acquisitions from other royalty buyers and enterprises. Competition for future asset acquisition opportunities in our markets could increase the price we pay for such assets and could reduce the number of potential acquisition targets. The success of our acquisitions is based on our ability to make accurate assumptions regarding the valuation, probability, timing and amount of potential future royalty and milestone payments as well as the viability of the underlying technology and intellectual property. The failure of any of these acquisitions to produce anticipated revenues may materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Some of these acquisitions may expose us to credit risk in the event of a default by or bankruptcy of the licensor(s) or licensee(s) that are parties to the applicable license agreement(s) covering the potential milestone and royalty streams being acquired. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 on the capital markets may limit our licensees or royalty-agreement counterparties’ ability to access additional funding. While we generally try to structure our receipt of potential milestone and royalty payments to minimize the risk associated with such a default or bankruptcy, there can be no assurance that any such default or bankruptcy will not adversely affect our ability to receive future potential royalty and/or milestone payments. To mitigate this risk, on occasion, we may obtain a security interest as collateral in such royalty, milestone and other payments. Our credit risk in respect of such counterparty may be exacerbated when the collateral held by us cannot be realized upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount we are due pursuant to the terms of the agreements covering the particular assets. This could occur in circumstances where the original collateral was not sufficient to cover a complete loss (e.g., our interests were only partially secured) or may result from the deterioration in value of the collateral, so that, in either such case, we are unable to recuperate our full capital outlay. Any such losses resulting therefrom could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

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Many of our potential royalty acquisitions may be associated with drug products that are in clinical development and have not yet been commercialized. To the extent that such products are not successfully developed and commercialized, our financial condition and results of operations may be negatively impacted. Acquisitions of potential royalties associated with development stage biopharmaceutical product candidates are subject to a number of uncertainties.

As part of our royalty aggregator strategy, we may continue to purchase future potential milestone and royalty streams associated with drug products which are in clinical development and have not yet received marketing approval by any regulatory authority or been commercialized. There can be no assurance that the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authorities will approve such products or that such products will be brought to market timely or at all, or that the market will be receptive to such products. To the extent that any such drug products are not successfully developed and subsequently commercialized, the value of our acquired potential milestone and royalty streams will be negatively affected. The ultimate success of our royalty aggregator strategy will depend on our ability to properly identify and acquire high quality products and the ability of the applicable counterparty to innovate, develop and commercialize their products, in increasingly competitive and highly regulated markets. Their inability to do so would negatively affect our ability to receive royalty and/or milestone payments. In addition, we are dependent, to a large extent, on third parties to enforce certain rights for our benefit, such as protection of a patent estate, adequate reporting and other protections, and their failure to do so would presumably negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.

If the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory authority approves a development-stage product candidate that generates our royalty, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for the product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. The subsequent discovery of previously unknown problems with the product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, may result in restrictions on the marketing of the product, and could include withdrawal of the product from the market.

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In addition, the developers of these development-stage product candidates may not be able to raise additional capital to continue their discovery, development and commercialization activities, which may cause them to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of their clinical trials or research and development programs. If other product developers introduce and market products that are more effective, safer, less invasive or less expensive than the relevant products that generate our royalties, or if such developers introduce their products prior to the competing products underlying our royalties, such products may not achieve commercial success and thereby result in a loss for us.

Further, the developers of such products may not have sales, marketing or distribution capabilities. If no sales, marketing or distribution arrangements can be made on acceptable terms or at all, the affected product may not be able to be successfully commercialized, which will result in a loss for us. Losses from such assets could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We intend to continue, and may increase, this strategy of acquiring development-stage product candidates. While we believe that we can readily evaluate and gain conviction about the likelihood of a development-stage product candidate’s approval and achieving significant sales, there can be no assurance that our assumptions will prove correct, that regulatory authorities will approve such development-stage product candidates, that such development-stage product candidates will be brought to market timely or at all, or that such products will achieve commercial success.

We have significantly restructured our business and revised our business plan and there are no assurances that we will be able to successfully implement our revised business plan or successfully operate as a royalty aggregator.

We have historically been focused on discovering and developing innovative therapeutics derived from our unique platform of antibody technologies. We have now become a royalty aggregator where we focus on expanding our pipeline of fully-funded programs by out-licensing our internally developed product candidates and acquiring potential milestone and royalty revenue streams on additional third party drug product candidates. Our strategy is based on a number of factors and assumptions, some of which are not within our control, such as the actions of third parties. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully execute all or any elements of our strategy, or that our ability to successfully execute our strategy will be unaffected by external factors. If we are unsuccessful in acquiring potential milestone and royalty revenue streams on additional drug product candidates, or those acquisitions do not perform to our expectations, our financial performance and balance sheet could be adversely affected.

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Risks Related to our Industry

Biopharmaceutical products are subject to sales risks.

Biopharmaceutical product sales may be lower than expected due to a number of reasons, including pricing pressures, insufficient demand, product competition, failure of clinical trials, lack of market acceptance, obsolescence, loss of patent protection, the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic or other factors, and development-stage product candidates may fail to reach the market. Unexpected side effects, safety or efficacy concerns can arise with respect to a product, leading to product recalls, withdrawals or declining sales. As a result, payments of our future potential milestones and/or royalties may be reduced or cease. In addition, these potential payments may be delayed, causing our near-term financial performance to be weaker than expected.

Biopharmaceutical products are subject to substantial competition.

The biopharmaceutical industry is a highly competitive and rapidly evolving industry. The length of any product’s commercial life cannot be predicted with certainty. There can be no assurance that one or more products on which we are entitled to a potential milestone or royalty will not be rendered obsolete or non-competitive by new products or improvements on which we are not entitled to a potential milestone or royalty, either by the current marketer of such products or by another marketer. Current marketers of products may undertake these development efforts in order to improve their products or to avoid paying our royalty. Adverse competition, obsolescence or governmental and regulatory action or healthcare policy changes could significantly affect the revenues, including royalty-related revenues, of the products which generate our potential milestones and royalties.

Competitive factors affecting the market position and success of each product include: 

Biopharmaceutical products that have the potential to generate future milestones and royalties for us may be rendered obsolete or non-competitive by new products, including generics and/or biosimilars, improvements on existing products or governmental or regulatory action. In addition, as biopharmaceutical companies increasingly devote significant resources to innovate next-generation products and therapies using gene editing and new curative modalities, such as cell and gene therapy, products on which we have a milestone or royalty rights may become obsolete. These developments could have a material adverse effect on the sales of the biopharmaceutical products that have potential to generate our milestones and royalties, and consequently could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We depend on our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties for the determination of royalty and milestone payments. While we typically have primary or back-up rights to audit our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties, the independent auditors may have difficulty determining the correct royalty calculation, we may not be able to detect errors and payment calculations may call for retroactive adjustments. We may have to exercise legal remedies, if available, to resolve any disputes resulting from any such audit.

The royalty and milestone payments we may receive are dependent on our licensees and royalty agreement counterparties and their licensees’ achievement of regulatory and developmental milestones and product sales. Each licensee’s calculation of the royalty payments is subject to and dependent upon the adequacy and accuracy of its sales and accounting functions, and errors may occur from time to time in the calculations made by a licensee and/or a licensee may fail to report the achievement of royalties or milestones in whole or in part. Our license and royalty agreements typically provide us the primary or back-up right to audit the calculations and sales data for the associated royalty payments; however, such audits may occur many months following our recognition of the royalty revenue, may require us to adjust our royalty revenues in later periods and may require expense on our part. Further, our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties may be uncooperative or have insufficient records, which may complicate and delay the audit process.

Although we intend to regularly exercise our royalty audit rights as necessary and to the extent available, we rely in the first instance on our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties to accurately report the achievement of milestones and royalty sales and calculate and pay applicable milestones and royalties and, upon exercise of such royalty and other audit rights, we rely on licensees’ and royalty-agreement counterparties’ cooperation in performing such audits. In the absence of such cooperation, we may be forced to incur expenses to exercise legal remedies, if available, to enforce our agreements.

The lack of liquidity of our acquisitions of future potential milestones and royalties may adversely affect our business and, if we need to sell any of our acquired assets, we may not be able to do so at a favorable price, if at all. As a result, we may suffer losses.

We generally acquire milestone and royalty rights that have limited secondary resale markets and may be subject to transfer restrictions. The illiquidity of most of our milestone and royalty receivable assets may make it difficult for us to dispose of them at a favorable price if at all and, as a result, we may suffer losses if we are required to dispose of any or all such assets in a forced liquidation or otherwise. In addition, if we liquidate all or a portion of our potential future milestone and/or purchased royalty stream interests quickly or relating to a forced liquidation, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we had previously recorded these interests.

Our royalty aggregator strategy may require that we register with the SEC as an “investment company” in accordance with the Investment Company Act of 1940.

The rules and interpretations of the SEC and the courts, relating to the definition of "investment company" are very complex. While we currently intend to conduct our operations so that we will not be an investment company under applicable SEC interpretations, we can provide no assurance that the SEC would not take the position that the Company would be required to register under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “‘40 Act”) and comply with the ‘40 Act’s registration and reporting requirements, capital structure requirements, affiliate transaction restrictions, conflict of interest rules, requirements for disinterested directors, and other substantive provisions. We monitor our assets and income for compliance under the ‘40 Act and seek to conduct our business activities to ensure that we do not fall within its definitions of “investment company,” or that we qualify under one of the exemptions or exclusions provided by the ‘40 Act and corresponding SEC regulations. If we were to become an “investment company” and be subject to the restrictions of the ‘40 Act, those restrictions would likely require significant changes in the way we do business and add significant administrative burdens to our operations. To ensure that we do not fall within the ‘40 Act, we may need to take various actions which we might otherwise not pursue. These actions may include restructuring the Company and/or modifying our mixture of assets and income or a liquidation of certain of our assets.

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Our licensees or royalty-agreement counterparties or their licensees could be subject to natural disasters, public health crises, political crises and other catastrophic events that could hinder or disrupt development efforts.

We depend on our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties and their licensees to successfully develop and commercialize product candidates for which we may receive milestone and royalty payments in the future. Our licensees and royalty-agreement counterparties and their licensees operate research and development efforts in various locations in the United States and internationally. If any of their facilities is affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, power shortages or outages, floods or monsoons, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict, or other events outside of their control, their research and development efforts could be disrupted, which could result in the delay or discontinuation of development of one or more of the product candidates in which we have rights to future milestone and/or royalty payments which could have a material adverse effect on our business operations and prospects.

Because many of the companies with which we do business also are in the biotechnology sector, the volatility of that sector can affect us indirectly as well as directly.

The same factors that affect us directly also can adversely affect us indirectly by affecting the ability of our partners and others with whom we do business to meet their obligations to us and reduce our ability to realize the value of the consideration provided to us by these other companies in connection with their licensing of our products.

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Risks Related to our Financial Results and Capital Requirements

We have sustained losses in the past, and we expect to sustain losses in the foreseeable future.

We have incurred significant operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception. Although, we generated net income of $13.3 million and positive cash flows from operations of $10.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, we had net losses of $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.2 billion. We do not know whether we will ever achieve sustained profitability or whether cash flow from future operations will be sufficient to meet our needs.

To date, we have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity securities and debt and royalty interests, and payments received under our collaboration and licensing arrangements. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of our future expenditures and our and our partners’ ability to generate revenues. If our partners’ product candidates are not successfully developed or commercialized, or if revenues are insufficient following regulatory approval, we will not achieve profitability and our business may fail. Our ability to achieve profitability is dependent in large part on the success of our and our partners’ ability to license product candidates, and the success of our partners’ development programs, both of which are uncertain. Our success is also dependent on our partners obtaining regulatory approval to market product candidates which may not materialize or prove to be successful.

Our royalty aggregator strategy may require us to raise additional funds to acquire milestone and royalty interests; we cannot be certain that funds will be available or available at an acceptable cost of capital, and if they are not available, we may be unsuccessful in acquiring milestone and royalty interests to sustain the business in the future.

We may need to commit substantial funds to continue our business, and we may not be able to obtain sufficient funds on acceptable terms, if at all. Any additional debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us and/or result in dilution to our stockholders, including pursuant to our 2018 ATM Agreement, as amended. Our Series A Preferred Stock, while not dilutive, includes dividends and required that we establish a segregated cash account adequate to fund the dividends. If we raise additional funds through licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish some rights to our technologies or our product candidates, grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us or enter into a license arrangement for a product candidate at an earlier stage of development or for a lesser amount than we might otherwise choose.

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If adequate funds are not available on a timely basis, we may:

Changes in the potential royalty acquisition market, including its structure and participants, or a reduction in the growth of the biopharmaceutical industry, could lead to diminished opportunities for us to acquire potential milestones and royalties, fewer potential milestones and royalties (or potential milestones or royalties of significant scale) being available, or increased competition for potential royalties. Even if we continue to acquire potential royalties and they become actual royalties, they may not generate a meaningful return for a period of several years, if at all, due to the price we pay for such royalties or other factors relating to the underlying products. As a result, we may not be able to continue to acquire potential milestones and royalties as we have in the past, or at all.

We use leverage in connection with our capital deployment, which magnifies the potential for loss if the potential royalties acquired or generated through out-licensing and royalty purchase agreements do not generate sufficient income to us.

We use borrowed funds to finance a portion of our deployed capital. The use of leverage creates an opportunity for an increased return but also increases the risk of loss if our assets do not generate sufficient income to us. The interest expense and other costs incurred in connection with such borrowings may not be covered by the future potential income from our assets. In addition, leverage and the requirement to pay cumulative dividends on Series A Preferred Stock, may inhibit our operating flexibility and reduce cash flow available for dividends to our common shareholders.

The level of our indebtedness could limit our ability to respond to changing business conditions. The various agreements relating to our borrowings may impose operating and financial restrictions on us which could affect the number and size of the potential milestones and royalties that we may pursue. Therefore, no assurance can be given that we will be able to take advantage of favorable conditions or opportunities as a result of any restrictive covenants under our indebtedness or preferred stock. There can also be no assurance that additional debt or equity financing, either to replace or increase existing debt financing, will be available when needed or, if available, will be obtainable on terms that are commercially reasonable.

Additional risks related to our leverage include:

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We have a continuing obligation to pay quarterly dividends to holders of our Series A Preferred stock, which will be an on-going expenditure for us and may limit our ability to borrow additional funds.

Holders of our Series A preferred stock are entitled to receive, when and as declared by our Board of Directors, out of funds legally available for the payment of dividends, cumulative cash dividends at the rate of 8.625% of the $25.00 liquidation preference per year (equivalent to $2.15625 per year). Dividends on the Series A preferred stock will accumulate and be cumulative from, and including, the date of original issue by us of the Series A preferred stock. Dividends will be payable in arrears on or about the 15th day of January, April, July and October beginning on or about April 15, 2021. In the event of any voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our affairs, the holders of shares of Series A preferred stock are entitled to be paid out of our assets legally available for distribution to our shareholders a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share, plus an amount equal to any accumulated and unpaid dividends up to the date of payment (whether or not declared), before any distribution or payment may be made to holders of shares of common stock or any other class or series of our equity stock ranking, as to liquidation rights, junior to the Series A preferred stock. On and after December 15, 2021, the shares of Series A preferred stock will be redeemable at our option, in whole or in part, at redemption prices ranging from $26.00 per share to $25.00 per share, plus any accrued and unpaid dividends, depending on the date of redemption. The payment of cash dividends and share repurchases is subject to limitations under applicable laws and the discretion of our Board of Directors and is determined after considering current conditions, including earnings, other operating results and capital requirements. Decreases in asset values or increases in liabilities can reduce net earnings and stockholders’ equity. A deficit in stockholders’ equity could limit our ability to pay dividends and make share repurchases under Delaware law. On the other hand, our continued obligation to pay dividends to the holders of our Series A preferred stock could restrict us from additional borrowings or make them more costly.

The holders of our indebtedness and preferred stock have rights that are senior to those of our common stockholders.

As of December 31, 2020, the outstanding principal balance of our indebtedness under the Loan Agreement was $12.2 million. The indebtedness under the Loan Agreement is senior to our shares of preferred stock and common stock in right of payment of dividends and other distributions. In the event of our bankruptcy, dissolution or liquidation, the holders of our indebtedness must be satisfied before any distributions can be made to our preferred or common stockholders.

At December 31, 2020 we had issued and outstanding 984,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock with a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share, plus an amount equal to any accumulated and unpaid dividends up to the date of payment (whether or not declared). Our preferred stock is senior to our shares of common stock in right of payment of dividends and other distributions. In the event of our bankruptcy, dissolution or liquidation, the holders of our preferred stock must be satisfied before any distributions can be made to our common stockholders.

Information available to us about the biopharmaceutical products underlying the potential royalties we buy may be limited and therefore our ability to analyze each product and its potential future cash flow may be similarly limited.

We may have limited information concerning the products generating the future potential milestones and royalties we are evaluating for acquisition. Often, the information we have regarding products following our acquisition of a potential milestone or royalty may be limited to the information that is available in the public domain. Therefore, there may be material information that relates to such products that we would like to know but do not have and may not be able to obtain. For example, we do not always know the results of studies conducted by marketers of the products of others or the nature or amount of any complaints from doctors or users of such products. In addition, the market data that we obtain independently may also prove to be incomplete or incorrect. Due to these and other factors, the actual potential cash flow from a potential royalty may be significantly lower than our estimates.

Our future income is dependent upon numerous potential milestone and royalty-specific assumptions and, if these assumptions prove not to be accurate, we may not achieve our expected rates of returns.

Our business model is based on multiple-year internal and external forecasts regarding potential product sales and numerous product-specific assumptions in connection with each potential milestone and royalty acquisition, including where we have limited information regarding the product. There can be no assurance that the assumptions underlying our financial models, including those regarding potential product sales or competition, patent expirations or license

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terminations for the products underlying our portfolio, are accurate. These assumptions involve a significant element of subjective judgment and may be and in the past have been adversely affected by post-acquisition changes in market conditions and other factors affecting the underlying product. Our assumptions regarding the financial stability or operational or marketing capabilities of the partner obligated to pay us potential royalties may also prove to be incorrect. Due to these and other factors, the assets in our current portfolio or future assets may not generate our projected returns or in the time periods we expect. This could negatively impact our results of operation for a given period.

Reductions or declines in income from potential milestones and royalties, or significant reductions in potential milestone or royalty payments compared to expectations, or impairments in the value of potential milestones and royalties acquired could have a material adverse effect our financial condition and results of operations.

The amount and duration of a royalty usually varies on a country-by-country basis and can be based on a number of factors, such as payments to third party licensors, whether the product is sold singly or in combination, patent expiration dates, regulatory exclusivity, years from first commercial sale of the applicable drug product, the entry of competing generic or biosimilar products, or other terms set out in the contracts governing the royalty. It is common for royalty durations to expire earlier or later than anticipated due to unforeseen positive or negative developments over time, including with respect to the granting of patents and patent term extensions, the invalidation of patents, claims of patent misuse, litigation between the party controlling the patents and third party challengers of the patents, the ability of third parties to design around or circumvent valid patents, the granting of regulatory exclusivity periods or extensions, timing for the arrival of generic or biosimilar competitor products, changes to legal or regulatory regimes affecting intellectual property rights or the regulation of pharmaceutical products, product life cycles, and industry consolidations. If an unexpected reduction in a royalty amount or shortening of a potential royalty term were to occur, it could result in a reduction in potential income from milestones and royalties, a significant reduction in potential milestones and royalty payments compared to expectations, or a permanent impairment of such potential milestones and royalty payments.

A large percentage of the calculated net present value of our portfolio is represented by a limited number of products. The failure of any one of these products to move forward in clinical development or commercialization may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operation.

Our asset portfolio may not be fully diversified by product, therapeutic area, geographic region or other criteria. Any significant deterioration in the amount or likelihood of receipt of potential cash flows from the top products in our asset portfolio could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, should the payor of any future potential milestones or royalties decline to pay such potential milestones and royalties for any reason, such failure may result in a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operation.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We and our partners rely heavily on license and collaboration relationships, and any disputes or litigation with our partners or termination or breach of any of the related agreements could reduce the financial resources available to us, including our ability to receive milestone payments and future potential royalty and other revenues. License or collaboration agreements relating to products may, in some instances, be unilaterally terminated or disputes may arise which may affect our potential milestones, royalties and other payments.

License or collaboration agreements relating to the products generating our future potential milestones and royalties and other payment rights may be terminated, which may adversely affect sales of such products and therefore the potential payments we may receive. For example, under certain license or collaboration agreements, marketers may retain the right to unilaterally terminate the agreements. When the last patent covering a product expires or is otherwise invalidated in a country, a marketer may be economically motivated to terminate the applicable license or collaboration agreement, either in whole or with respect to such country, in order to terminate its payment and other obligations. In the event of such a termination, a licensor (which may be us in the case of our out-licensed products) or collaborator may no longer receive all of the payments it expected to receive from the applicable licensee or collaborator and may also be unable to find another company to continue developing and commercializing the product on the same or similar terms as those under the license or collaboration agreement that has been terminated.

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In addition, license or collaboration agreements may fail to provide significant protection for the applicable licensor (which may be us in the case of our out-licensed products) or collaborator in case of the applicable licensee’s or collaborator’s failure to perform or in the event of disputes. License and collaboration agreements which relate to the products underlying our potential future milestones, royalties and other payment rights, are complex and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property, royalty terms, payment rights or other contractual terms subject to a license or collaboration agreement, including:

The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what the licensor (which may be us in the case of our out-licensed products) or collaborator believes to be the scope of its rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or decrease the licensee’s or collaborator’s financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, any of which could in turn impact the value of our potential royalties, milestones and other payments and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If a marketer were to default on its obligations under a license or collaboration agreement, the licensor’s or collaborator’s remedy may be limited either to terminating certain licenses or collaborations related to certain countries or to generally terminate the license or collaboration agreement with respect to such country. In such cases, we may not have the right to seek to enforce the rights of the licensor or collaborator (if not us) and we may be required to rely on the resources and willingness of the licensor or collaborator (if not us) to enforce its rights against the applicable licensee or collaborator. In any of these situations, if the expected upfront, milestone, royalty or other payments under the license or collaboration agreements do not materialize, this could result in a significant loss to us and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. At any given time, the Company may be engaged in discussions with its licensees or collaborators regarding the interpretation of the payment and other provisions relating to products as to which we have milestones and potential royalty or other payment rights. Should any such discussions result in a disagreement regarding a particular product that cannot be resolved satisfactorily to us, we may end up being paid less than anticipated on such product should it successfully progress through clinical development and be approved for commercialization. Should our milestone and future potential royalty or other payment interests be reduced or eliminated as result of any such disagreement, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation and prospects.

Our existing collaborations may not continue or be successful, and we may be unable to enter into future collaborative arrangements to develop and commercialize our unpartnered assets. Generally, our current collaborative partners also have the right to terminate their collaborations at will or under specified circumstances. If any of our collaborative partners breach or terminate their agreements with us or otherwise fail to conduct their collaborative activities successfully (for example, by not making required payments when due, or at all or failing to engage in commercially reasonable efforts to develop products if required), our product development under these agreements will be delayed or terminated.

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Our potential milestone and royalty providers may rely on third parties to provide services in connection with their product candidate development and manufacturing programs. The inadequate performance by or loss of any of these service providers could affect our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidate development.

Third parties provide services in connection with preclinical and clinical development programs, including in vitro and in vivo studies, assay and reagent development, immunohistochemistry, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, clinical trial support, manufacturing and other outsourced activities. If these service providers do not adequately perform the services for which our potential milestone and royalty providers have contracted, or cease to continue operations, and are not able to find a replacement provider quickly or lose information or items associated with their drug product candidates, our potential milestone and royalty providers’ development programs and receipt of any potential resulting income may be delayed.

Agreements with other third parties, many of which are significant to our business, expose us to numerous risks.

Because our licensees, suppliers and contractors are independent third parties, they may be subject to different risks than we are and have significant discretion in, and different criteria for, determining the efforts and resources they will apply related to their agreements with us. If these licensees, suppliers and contractors do not successfully perform the functions for which they are responsible, we may not have the capabilities, resources or rights to do so on our own.

We do not know whether we or our licensees will successfully develop and market any of the products that are or may become the subject of any of our licensing arrangements. In addition, third-party arrangements such as ours also increase uncertainties in the related decision-making processes and resulting progress under the arrangements, as we and our licensees may reach different conclusions, or support different paths forward, based on the same information, particularly when large amounts of technical data are involved.

Under our contracts with NIAID, a part of the National Institute of Health (“NIH”), we invoiced using NIH provisional rates, and these are subject to future audits at the discretion of NIAID’s contracting office. In October of 2019, NIH notified us that it engaged KPMG LLP (“KPMG”) to perform an audit of our Incurred Cost Submissions for 2013, 2014 and 2015. The audit procedures were complete as of December 31, 2020 and we adjusted our estimated liability owed to NIH to $1.4 million. This audit has resulted in an adjustment to revenue previously reported. The audit remains subject to further review by NIH as part of the contract close-out process and we may incur further liability as a result.  

In addition, under the contracts with HCRP, the amortization for the reporting period is calculated based on the payments expected to be made by the licensees to HCRP over the term of the arrangement. Any changes to the estimated payments by the licensees to HCRP can result in a material adjustment to revenue previously reported.

Failure of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates to meet current Good Manufacturing Practices standards may subject our licensees to delays in regulatory approval and penalties for noncompliance.

Our potential milestone and royalty providers may rely on third party manufacturers and such contract manufacturers are required to produce clinical product candidates under current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”) to meet acceptable standards for use in clinical trials and for commercial sale, as applicable. If such standards change, the ability of contract manufacturers to produce our potential milestone and royalty providers’ drug product candidates on the schedule required for clinical trials or to meet commercial requirements may be affected. In addition, contract manufacturers may not perform their obligations under their agreements with our potential milestone and royalty providers or may discontinue their business before the time required by us to successfully produce clinical and commercial supplies of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates.

Contract manufacturers are subject to pre-approval inspections and periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities to ensure strict compliance with cGMP and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. We do not have control over a third-party manufacturer’s compliance with these regulations and standards. Any difficulties or delays in contractors’ manufacturing and supply of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates or any failure of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ contractors to maintain compliance with the applicable regulations and standards could increase costs, reduce revenue,

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make our licensees postpone or cancel clinical trials, prevent or delay regulatory approval by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign authorities, prevent the import and/or export of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates, or cause any of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ products that may be approved for commercial sale to be recalled or withdrawn.

Certain of our technologies are in-licensed from third parties, so our and our licensees’ capabilities use of them may be restricted and subject to additional risks.

We have licensed technologies from third parties. These technologies include phage display technologies licensed to us in connection with our bacterial cell expression technology licensing program and antibody products. However, our and our licensees and collaborators’ use of these technologies is limited by certain contractual provisions in the licenses relating to them, and although we have obtained numerous licenses, intellectual property rights in the area of phage display are particularly complex. If we are unable to maintain our licenses, patents or other intellectual property, we could lose important protections that are material to continuing our operations and for future prospects. Our licensors also may seek to terminate our license, which could cause us and our licensees to lose the right to use the licensed intellectual property and adversely affect our and our licensees’ ability to commercialize our technologies, products or services.

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

We may not be able to successfully identify and acquire potential milestone and royalty streams on other products, product candidates, or programs, or other companies to grow and diversify our business, and, even if we are able to do so, we may not be able to successfully manage the risks associated with integrating any such products, product candidates, programs or companies into our business or we may otherwise fail to realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions.

To grow and diversify our business, we plan to continue our business development efforts to identify and seek to acquire and/or in-license potential milestone and royalty streams or companies. Future growth through acquisition or in-licensing will depend upon the availability of suitable products, product candidates, programs or companies for acquisition or in-licensing on acceptable prices, terms and conditions. Even if appropriate opportunities are available, we may not be able to acquire rights to them on acceptable terms, or at all. The competition to acquire or in-license rights to promising products, product candidates, programs and companies is fierce, and many of our competitors are large, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with considerably more financial, development and commercialization resources, personnel, and experience than we have. In order to compete successfully in the current business climate, we may have to pay higher prices for assets than may have been paid historically, which may make it more difficult for us to realize an adequate return on any acquisition.

Even if we are able to successfully identify and acquire or in-license new products, product candidates, programs or companies, we may not be able to successfully manage the risks associated with integrating any products, product candidates, programs or companies into our business or the risks arising from anticipated and unanticipated problems in connection with an acquisition or in-licensing. Further, while we seek to mitigate risks and liabilities of potential acquisitions through, among other things, due diligence, there may be risks and liabilities that such due diligence efforts fail to discover, that are not disclosed to us, or that we inadequately assess. Any failure in identifying and managing these risks and uncertainties effectively would have a material adverse effect on our business. In any event, we may not be able to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition or in-licensing for a variety of reasons, including the possibility that a product candidate fails to advance to clinical development, proves not to be safe or effective in clinical trials, or that a product fails to reach its forecasted commercial potential or that the integration of a product, product candidate, program or company gives rise to unforeseen difficulties and expenditures. Any failure in identifying and managing these risks and uncertainties would have a material adverse effect on our business.

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If our potential royalty providers’ therapeutic product candidates do not receive regulatory approval, our potential royalty providers will be unable to market them.

Our potential royalty providers’ product candidates cannot be manufactured and marketed in the United States or any other countries without required regulatory approvals. The U.S. government and governments of other countries extensively regulate many aspects of our product candidates, including:

In the United States, the FDA regulates pharmaceutical products under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other laws, including, in the case of biologics, the Public Health Service Act.

Initiation of clinical trials requires approval by health authorities. Clinical trials involve the administration of the investigational new drug to healthy volunteers or to patients under the supervision of a qualified principal investigator. Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with FDA and International Conference on Harmonization Good Clinical Practices and the European Clinical Trials Directive, as applicable, under protocols that detail the objectives of the study, the parameters to be used to monitor safety and the efficacy criteria to be evaluated. Other national, foreign and local regulations also may apply. The developer of the drug must provide information relating to the characterization and controls of the product before administration to the patients participating in the clinical trials. This requires developing approved assays of the product to test before administration to the patient and during the conduct of the trial. In addition, developers of pharmaceutical products must provide periodic data regarding clinical trials to the FDA and other health authorities, and these health authorities may issue a clinical hold upon a trial if they do not believe, or cannot confirm, that the trial can be conducted without unreasonable risk to the trial participants.

The results of the preclinical studies and clinical testing, together with chemistry, manufacturing and controls information, are submitted to the FDA and other health authorities in the form of a New Drug Application (“NDA”) for a drug, and in the form of a Biologic License Application (“BLA”) for a biological product, requesting approval to commence commercial sales. In responding to an NDA or BLA, the FDA or foreign health authorities may grant marketing approvals, request additional information or further research, or deny the application if they determine the application does not satisfy regulatory approval criteria. Regulatory approval of an NDA, BLA, or supplement is never guaranteed. The approval process can take several years, is extremely expensive and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity, and novelty of the products involved, as well as the target indications. Our potential royalty providers ultimately may not be able to obtain approval in a timely fashion or at all.

The FDA and foreign health authorities have substantial discretion in the drug and biologics approval processes. Despite the time and expense incurred, failure can occur at any stage, and our potential development partners could encounter problems that cause abandonment of clinical trials or cause them to repeat or perform additional preclinical, clinical or manufacturing-related studies.

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Changes in the regulatory approval policy during the development period, changes in, or the enactment of additional regulations or statutes, or changes in regulatory review for a submitted product application may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies have substantial discretion in both the product approval process and manufacturing facility approval process, and as a result of this discretion and uncertainties about outcomes of testing, we cannot predict at what point, or whether, the FDA or other regulatory agencies will be satisfied with our licensees’ submissions or whether the FDA or other regulatory agencies will raise questions that may be material and delay or preclude product approval or manufacturing facility approval. In light of this discretion and the complexities of the scientific, medical and regulatory environment, our or our potential royalty providers’ interpretation or understanding of the FDA’s or other regulatory agencies’ requirements, guidelines or expectations may prove incorrect, which also could delay further or increase the cost of the approval process.

Our potential milestone and royalty providers face uncertain results of clinical trials of product candidates.

Drug development has inherent risk, and our potential milestone and royalty providers are required to demonstrate through adequate and well-controlled clinical trials that product candidates are effective, with a favorable benefit-risk profile for use in their target profiles before they can seek regulatory approvals for commercial use. It is possible our potential royalty providers may never receive regulatory approval for any licensed product candidates. Even if a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the resulting product may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and the medical community.

Our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates require significant additional research and development, extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials and regulatory approval prior to any commercial sales. This process is lengthy and expensive, often taking a number of years. As clinical results frequently are susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals, the length of time necessary to complete clinical trials and to submit an application for marketing approval for a final decision by a regulatory authority varies significantly. As a result, it is uncertain whether:

The timing of the commencement, continuation and completion of clinical trials by our potential milestone and royalty providers may be subject to significant delays relating to various causes, including failure to complete preclinical testing and earlier-stage clinical trials in a timely manner, inability to engage contract research organizations and other service providers, scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and clinical institutions, changes in key personnel at clinical institutions, difficulties in identifying and enrolling patients who meet trial eligibility criteria and shortages of available drug supply. In addition, since we and our royalty agreement counterparties license our product candidates to others to fund and conduct clinical trials, we, and they, have limited control over how quickly and efficiently such licensees

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advance those trials. Patient enrollment is a function of many factors, including the size of the patient population, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the concentration of patients in specialist centers, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the existence of competing clinical trials and the availability of alternative or new treatments. Regardless of the initial size or relative complexity of a clinical trial, the costs of such trial may be higher than expected due to increases in duration or size of the trial, changes in the protocol under which the trial is being conducted, additional or special requirements of one or more of the healthcare centers where the trial is being conducted, or changes in the regulatory requirements applicable to the trial or in the standards or guidelines for approval of the product candidate being tested or for other unforeseen reasons.

In addition, our potential milestone and royalty providers may conduct clinical trials in foreign countries, which may subject them to further delays and expenses as a result of increased drug shipment costs, additional regulatory requirements and the engagement of foreign clinical research organizations, and may expose our potential milestone and royalty providers to risks associated with foreign currency transactions to make contract payments denominated in the foreign currency where the trial is being conducted.

New products and technologies of other companies may render some or all of our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates noncompetitive or obsolete.

New developments by others may render our potential milestone and royalty providers’ product candidates or technologies obsolete or uncompetitive. Technologies developed and utilized by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are changing continuously and substantially. Competition in antibody-based technologies is intense and is expected to increase in the future as a number of established biotechnology firms and large chemical and pharmaceutical companies advance in these fields. Many of these competitors may be able to develop products and processes competitive with or superior to our potential milestone and royalty providers for many reasons, including that they may have:

These factors may enable others to develop products and processes competitive with or superior to our own or those of our potential milestone and royalty providers. In addition, a significant amount of research in biotechnology is being carried out in universities and other non-profit research organizations. These entities are becoming increasingly interested in the commercial value of their work and may become more aggressive in seeking patent protection and licensing arrangements. Furthermore, many companies and universities tend not to announce or disclose important discoveries or development programs until their patent position is secure or, for other reasons, later. As a result, we and our potential milestone and royalty providers may not be able to track development of competitive products, particularly at the early stages.

Positive developments in connection with a potentially competing product may have an adverse impact on our future potential for receiving revenue derived from development milestones and royalties. For example, if another product is perceived to have a competitive advantage, or another product’s failure is perceived to increase the likelihood that our licensed product will fail, our potential milestone and royalty providers may halt development of product candidates in which we have an interest.

Our potential royalty providers may be unable to price our products effectively or obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement for sales of our products, which would prevent our potential royalty providers’ products from becoming profitable and negatively affect the royalties we may receive.

If our potential royalty providers succeed in bringing our product candidates to the market, they may not be considered cost effective, and reimbursement to the patient may not be available or may not be sufficient to allow our

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potential royalty providers to sell the products on a competitive basis. In both the United States and elsewhere, sales of medical products and treatments are dependent, in part, on the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors, such as government and private insurance plans. Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of any products for which our potential royalty providers may obtain regulatory approval. Even if coverage is available, the associated reimbursement rate may not be adequate for our potential royalty providers to cover related costs. Additionally, coverage and reimbursement policies for drug products can differ significantly from payor to payor as there is no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for drug products among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, the process of obtaining coverage and reimbursement is often time-consuming and costly.

Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for pharmaceutical products and services. Our business is affected by the efforts of government and third-party payors to contain or reduce the cost of healthcare through various means. In the United States, there have been and will continue to be a number of federal and state proposals to implement government controls on pricing.

In addition, the emphasis on managed care in the United States has increased and will continue to increase the pressure on the pricing of pharmaceutical products. We cannot predict whether any legislative or regulatory proposals will be adopted or the effect these proposals or managed care efforts may have on our or our potential milestone and royalty providers’ businesses.

We do not know whether there will be, or will continue to be, a viable market for the product candidates in which we have an ownership or royalty interest.

Even if product candidates in which we have an interest receive approval in the future, they may not be accepted in the marketplace. In addition, our potential royalty providers may experience difficulties in launching new products, many of which are novel and based on technologies that are unfamiliar to the healthcare community. We have no assurance healthcare providers and patients will accept such products, if developed. Similarly, physicians may not accept a product if they believe other products to be more effective or more cost effective or are more comfortable prescribing other products.

Furthermore, government agencies, as well as private organizations involved in healthcare, from time to time publish guidelines or recommendations to healthcare providers and patients. Such guidelines or recommendations can be very influential and may adversely affect product usage directly (for example, by recommending a decreased dosage of a product in conjunction with a concomitant therapy) or indirectly (for example, by recommending a competitive product over a product in which we have an ownership or royalty interest). Consequently, we do not know if physicians or patients will adopt or use products in which we have an ownership or royalty interest for their approved indications.

Even approved and marketed products are subject to risks relating to changes in the market for such products. Introduction or increased availability of generic or biosimilar versions of products can alter the market acceptance of branded products. In addition, unforeseen safety issues may arise at any time, regardless of the length of time a product has been on the market.

We are exposed to an increased risk of product liability claims.

The testing, marketing and sales of medical products entails an inherent risk of allegations of product liability. In the past, we were party to product liability claims filed against Genentech Inc. and, even though Genentech agreed to indemnify us in connection with these matters and these matters have been settled, there can be no assurance other product liability lawsuits will not result in liability to us or that our insurance or contractual arrangements will provide us with adequate protection against such liabilities. In the event of one or more large, unforeseen awards of damages against us, our product liability insurance may not provide adequate coverage. A significant product liability claim for which we were not covered by insurance or indemnified by a third party would have to be paid from cash or other assets, which could have an adverse effect on our business and the value of our common stock. To the extent we have sufficient insurance coverage, such a claim would presumably result in higher subsequent insurance rates. In addition, product liability claims can have various other ramifications, including loss of future sales opportunities, increased costs associated with replacing

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products, a negative impact on our goodwill and reputation, and divert our management’s attention from our business, each of which could also adversely affect our business and operating results.

If we and our potential royalty providers are unable to protect our intellectual property, in particular patent protection for principal products, product candidates and processes in which we have an ownership or royalty interest, and prevent the use of the covered subject matter by third parties, our potential royalty providers’ ability to compete in the market will be harmed, and we may not realize our profit potential.

We and our potential royalty providers rely on patent protection, as well as a combination of copyright, trade secret, and trademark laws to protect our proprietary technology and prevent others from duplicating our products or product candidates. However, these means may afford only limited protection and may not:

Because of the length of time and the expense associated with bringing new products to the marketplace, we and our potential royalty providers hold and are in the process of applying for a number of patents in the United States and abroad to protect product candidates and important processes and also have obtained or have the right to obtain exclusive licenses to certain patents and applications filed by others. However, the mere issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its validity or its enforceability.

The U.S. Federal Courts, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office or equivalent national courts or patent offices elsewhere may invalidate our patents or find them unenforceable. The America Invents Act introduced post-grant review procedures subjecting U.S. patents to post-grant review procedures similar to European oppositions. U.S. patents owned or licensed by us or our licensees may therefore be subject to post-grant review procedures, as well as other forms of review and re-examination. A decision in such proceedings adverse to our interests could result in the loss of valuable patent rights, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property rights effectively or to the same extent as the laws of the United States.

If our, and our potential royalty providers intellectual property rights are not protected adequately, our potential royalty providers may not be able to commercialize technologies or products in which we have an ownership or royalty interest, and our competitors could commercialize such technologies or products, which could result in a decrease in our potential royalty providers’ sales and market share that would harm our business and operating results. Specifically, the patent position of biotechnology companies generally is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. The legal standards governing the validity of biotechnology patents are in transition, and current defenses as to issued biotechnology patents may not be adequate or available in the future. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to:

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If certain patents issued to others are upheld or if certain patent applications filed by others are issued and upheld, our potential royalty providers may require licenses from others to develop and commercialize certain potential products in which we have an ownership or royalty interest. These licenses, if required, may not be available on acceptable terms, or may trigger contractual royalty offset clauses in our license agreements, or those of our royalty-agreement counterparties. We may become involved in litigation to determine the proprietary rights of others, and any such litigation will presumably be costly and may have other adverse effects on our business, such as inhibiting our potential royalty providers’ ability to compete in the marketplace and absorbing significant management time.

Due to the uncertainties regarding biotechnology patents, we also have relied and will continue to rely upon trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological advancement to develop and maintain our competitive position. Our employees and contractors are typically required to sign confidentiality agreements under which they agree not to use or disclose any of our proprietary information. Research and development contracts and relationships between us and our scientific consultants and potential licensees provide access to aspects of our know-how that are protected generally under confidentiality agreements. These confidentiality agreements may be breached or may not be enforced by a court. To the extent proprietary information is divulged to competitors or to the public generally, such disclosure may adversely affect our licensees’ ability to develop or commercialize our products by giving others a competitive advantage or by undermining our patent position.

Litigation regarding intellectual property and/or the enforcement of our contractual rights against licensees and third parties can be costly and expose us to risks of counterclaims against us.

We may be required to engage in litigation or other proceedings to protect our intellectual property and/or enforce our contractual rights against former or current licensees or third parties, including third-party collaborators of such licensees. The cost to us of this litigation, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial and parties to such litigation may be able to sustain the cost of such litigation and proceedings more effectively than we can if they have substantially greater resources than us. Such litigation and any negotiations leading up to it also could divert management’s attention and resources. If this litigation is resolved against us, we may lose the value associated with contract rights contained in our arrangements with licensees and third parties, our patents may be declared invalid, and we could be held liable for significant damages. While it is our current plan to pursue, on a selective basis, potential material contractual breaches against licensees and third parties (including third-party collaborators of licensees) and/or infringement of our intellectual property rights or technology, there can be no assurance that any such enforcement actions will be successful, or if successful, the timing of such success or that we will have sufficient capital to prosecute any such actions to a successful conclusion.

In addition, we may be subject to claims that we, or our licensees, are infringing other parties’ patents. If such claims are resolved against us, we or our licensees may be enjoined from developing, manufacturing, selling or importing products, processes or services unless we obtain a license from the other party. Such license may not be available on reasonable terms or at all, thus preventing us, or our licensees, from using these products, processes or services and adversely affecting our potential future revenue.

Uncertainties resulting from our participation in intellectual property litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, the perceived value of the drug product candidates as to which we hold future potential milestone or royalty interests, or intellectual property could be diminished. Accordingly, the market price of our common stock may decline. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of intellectual property litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect of our business, financial condition and results of operation.

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Risks Related to Employees, Location, Data Integrity, and Litigation

The loss or COVID-19 related absence of any of our personnel, including our Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer, could delay or prevent achieving our objectives.

Our business efforts could be adversely affected by the loss or COVID-19 related absence of one or more key members of our staff, including our executive officers: James R. Neal, our Chief Executive Officer and Thomas Burns, our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. We currently do not have key person insurance on any of our employees. In addition, given our minimal employee base, a COVID-19 outbreak in our employee population could significantly hinder our ability to meet our operating objectives.

Because we are a small biopharmaceutical focused company with limited resources, we may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel.

We had 10 employees as of March 5, 2021. We may require additional experienced executive, accounting, legal, administrative and other personnel from time to time in the future. There is intense competition for the services of these personnel, especially in California. Moreover, we expect that the high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters is located, may impair our ability to attract and retain employees in the future. If we do not succeed in attracting new personnel and retaining and motivating existing personnel, our business may suffer and we may be unable to implement our current initiatives or grow effectively.

We rely and will continue to rely on outsourcing arrangements for many of our activities, including financial reporting and accounting and human resources.

Due to our small number of employees, we rely, and expect to continue to rely, on outsourcing arrangements for a significant portion of our activities, including financial reporting and accounting and human resources, as well as for certain of our functions as a public company. We may have limited control over these third parties and we cannot guarantee that they will perform their obligations in an effective and timely manner.

Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures to comply with applicable regulations, provide accurate information to regulatory authorities, comply with federal and state fraud and abuse laws and regulations, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, the health care industry is subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with these laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

Natural disasters, power shortages, power interruptions or other calamities at our Emeryville headquarters could disrupt our business and adversely affect our operations.

Our corporate headquarters is located in Emeryville, California. This location is in an area of seismic activity near active earthquake faults. Any earthquake, tsunami, terrorist attack, riot, fire, power shortage or other calamity affecting our facilities may disrupt our business and could have material adverse effect on our results of operations.

If a natural disaster, power outage or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our headquarters, that damaged critical infrastructure or that otherwise disrupted operations, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible for us to continue our business for a substantial period of time. We may incur substantial expenses

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as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans, which, particularly when taken together with our lack of earthquake insurance, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

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

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our current and any future licensees, suppliers, contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from cyberattacks, computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. We could experience failures in our information systems and computer servers, which could be the result of a cyberattacks and could result in an interruption of our normal business operations and require substantial expenditure of financial and administrative resources to remedy. System failures, accidents or security breaches can cause interruptions in our operations and can result in a material disruption of our development programs and other business operations. 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. Similarly, we rely on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, and conduct clinical trials of our product candidates, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the development of any of our product candidates could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

Data breaches and cyberattacks could compromise our intellectual property or other sensitive information and cause significant damage to our business and reputation.

In the ordinary course of our business, we maintain sensitive data on our networks, including our intellectual property and proprietary or confidential business information relating to our business and that of our customers and business partners. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our business and reputation. We believe companies have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyberattacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. These threats can come from a variety of sources, all ranging in sophistication from an individual hacker to a state-sponsored attack. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Cyberattacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. Our network and storage applications may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers or breached due to operator error, malfeasance or other system disruptions. It is often difficult to anticipate or immediately detect such incidents and the damage caused by such incidents. These data breaches and any unauthorized access or disclosure of our information or intellectual property could compromise our intellectual property and expose sensitive business information. A data security breach could also lead to public exposure of personal information of our clinical trial patients, customers and others which could expose us to liability under federal or state privacy laws. Cyberattacks can result in the theft of proprietary information which could be used to compete against us and could cause us to incur significant remediation costs, result in product development delays, disrupt key business operations and divert attention of management and key information technology resources. These incidents could also subject us to liability, expose us to significant expense and cause significant harm to our reputation and business.

U.S. and international authorities have been warning businesses of increased cybersecurity threats from actors seeking to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, failure to maintain effective internal accounting controls related to data security breaches and cybersecurity in general could impact our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements and could subject us to regulatory scrutiny. In addition, these breaches and other inappropriate access can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm of the type described above. Moreover, the prevalent use of mobile devices that access confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches, which could lead to the loss of confidential information, trade secrets or other intellectual property. While we have implemented security measures that are intended to protect our data security and information technology systems, such measures may not prevent such events.

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Significant disruptions of information technology systems, including cloud-based systems, or breaches of data security could adversely affect our business.

Our business is increasingly dependent on critical, complex and interdependent information technology systems, including cloud-based systems, to support business processes as well as internal and external communications. Our computer systems, and those of our partners and contractors, are potentially vulnerable to breakdown, malicious intrusion and computer viruses that may result in the impairment of key business processes. Such disruptions and breaches of security could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our data security and information technology systems, as well as those of our partners and contractors, are potentially vulnerable to data security breaches, whether by employees or others, that may expose sensitive data or personal information to unauthorized persons. Effective May 25, 2018, the European Union (“EU”) implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) a broad data protection framework that expands the scope of current EU data protection law to non-European Union entities that process, or control the processing of, the personal information of EU subjects, including clinical trial data. The GDPR allows for the imposition of fines and/or corrective action on entities that improperly use or disclose the personal information of EU subjects, including through a data security breach.

The California Consumer Privacy Act became effective on January 1, 2020 and its applicable regulations are being implemented in waves by the California Attorney General, including additional regulations that were still in the comment phase at the end of 2020 (collectively the Act and its regulations, “CCPA”). The CCPA establishes a privacy framework for covered businesses, including an expansive definition of personal information and data privacy rights for California residents. The CCPA includes a framework with potentially severe statutory damages and private rights of action. The CCPA requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers (as that word is broadly defined in the CCPA), provide such consumers new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information, and allow for a new cause of action for data breaches. As we expand our operations, the CCPA will likely impact our business activities and may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. If we fail to comply with the CCPA, including all of the various and recent waves of its implementing regulations, we may face significant fines and penalties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Other states are beginning to pass similar laws, and some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States, which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business. Accordingly, data security breaches experienced by us, our partners or contractors could lead to significant fines, required corrective action, the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, public disclosure of sensitive clinical or commercial data, and the exposure of personally identifiable information (including sensitive personal information) of our employees, partners, and others. A data security breach or privacy violation that leads to disclosure or modification of, or prevents access to, patient information, including personally identifiable information or protected health information, could result in fines, increased costs or loss of revenue as a result of:

If we are unable to prevent such data security breaches or privacy violations or implement satisfactory remedial measures, our operations could be disrupted, and we may suffer loss of reputation, financial loss and other regulatory penalties because of lost or misappropriated information, including sensitive patient data. In addition, these breaches and other inappropriate access can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm of the type described above. Moreover, the prevalent use of mobile devices that access confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches, which could lead to the loss of confidential information, trade secrets or other intellectual

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property. While we have implemented security measures to protect our data security and information technology systems, such measures may not prevent such events. We expect that there will continue to be new proposed laws, regulations and industry standards relating to privacy and data protection in the United States, the EU and other jurisdictions, such as the CCPA. We cannot presently determine the impact such laws, regulations and standards will have on our business. It is possible that the GDPR, CCPA or other laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction or inconsistent with our current policies and practices and compliance with such laws and regulations could require us to change our business practices and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our business. We cannot guarantee that we are in compliance with all such applicable data protection laws and regulations as they are enforced now or as they evolve.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

Even after FDA approval, a product may be subject to additional testing or significant marketing restrictions, its approval may be withdrawn or it may be removed voluntarily from the market.

Even if our potential royalty providers receive regulatory approval for our product candidates, our licensees will be subject to ongoing regulatory oversight and review by the FDA and other regulatory entities. The FDA, the EMA, or another regulatory agency may impose, as a condition of the approval, ongoing requirements for post-approval studies or post-approval obligations, including additional research and development and clinical trials, and the FDA, EMA or other regulatory agency subsequently may withdraw approval based on these additional trials or obligations.

Even for approved products, the FDA, EMA or other regulatory agency may impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses, conditions for use, labeling, advertising, promotion, marketing and production of such product. In addition, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and record-keeping for our products are subject to extensive regulatory requirements.

Furthermore, marketing approval of a product may be withdrawn by the FDA, the EMA or another regulatory agency or such product may be withdrawn voluntarily by our potential royalty providers based, for example, on subsequently arising safety concerns. The FDA, EMA and other agencies also may impose various civil or criminal sanctions for failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including withdrawal of product approval.

Healthcare reform measures and other statutory or regulatory changes could adversely affect our business.

The United States and some foreign jurisdictions have enacted or are considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our potential royalty providers’ ability to sell products in which we have ownership or and royalty interests, if approved, profitably. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives. Since January 2017, President Trump signed several executive orders and other directives designed to delay, circumvent, or loosen certain requirements mandated by ACA. Concurrently, Congress considered legislation that would repeal or repeal and replace all or part of ACA. While Congress has not passed comprehensive repeal legislation, several bills affecting the implementation of certain taxes under the ACA have been signed into law. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or Tax Act, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by ACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate”. In addition, the 2020 federal spending package permanently eliminated, effective January 1, 2020, the ACA-mandated “Cadillac” tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage and medical device tax and, effective January l, 2021, also eliminated the health insurer tax. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, or the BBA, among other things, amends the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, to increase from 50 percent to 70 percent the point-of-sale discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D and close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole”. On December 14, 2018, a Texas U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the “individual mandate” was repealed by Congress as part of the Tax Act. Additionally, on December 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the District Court ruling that the individual mandate was unconstitutional and remanded the case back

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to the District Court to determine whether the remaining provisions of the ACA are invalid as well. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing this case, but it is unknown when a decision will be reached. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has yet ruled on the constitutionality of the ACA, on January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order to initiate a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through May 15, 2021 for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace. The executive order also instructs certain governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to healthcare, including among others, reexamining Medicaid demonstration projects and waiver programs that include work requirements, and policies that create unnecessary barriers to obtaining access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the ACA. It is unclear how the Supreme Court ruling, other such litigation, and the healthcare reform measures will impact the ACA and our business.

Other legislative changes have also been proposed and adopted since the ACA was enacted. For example, the Budget Control Act of 2011 resulted in aggregate reductions in Medicare payments to providers of up to two percent per fiscal year, starting in 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, including the BBA, will remain in effect through 2030 unless additional Congressional action is taken. However, COVID-19 relief support legislation suspended the 2% Medicare sequester from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021. In addition, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. Such laws, and others that may affect our business that have been recently enacted or may in the future be enacted, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding.

Also, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny recently in the U.S. over pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs and biologics. Such scrutiny has resulted in several recent Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. At the federal level, the Trump administration used several means to propose or implement drug pricing reform, including through federal budget proposals, executive orders and policy initiatives. For example, on July 24, 2020 and September 13, 2020, the Trump administration announced several executive orders related to prescription drug pricing that attempt to implement several of the administration’s proposals. The FDA also released a final rule, effective November 30, 2020, implementing a portion of the importation executive order providing guidance for states to build and submit importation plans for drugs from Canada. Further, on November 20, 2020, HHS finalized a regulation removing safe harbor protection for price reductions from pharmaceutical manufacturers to plan sponsors under Part D, either directly or through pharmacy benefit managers, unless the price reduction is required by law. The implementation of the rule has been delayed by the Biden administration from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023 in response to ongoing litigation. The rule also creates a new safe harbor for price reductions reflected at the point-of-sale, as well as a new safe harbor for certain fixed fee arrangements between pharmacy benefit managers and manufacturers, the implementation of which have also been delayed pending review by the Biden administration until March 22, 2021. On November 20, 2020, CMS issued an interim final rule implementing President Trump’s Most Favored Nation executive order, which would tie Medicare Part B payments for certain physician-administered drugs to the lowest price paid in other economically advanced countries, effective January 1, 2021. On December 28, 2020, the United States District Court in Northern California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against implementation of the interim final rule. However, it is unclear whether the Biden administration will work to reverse these measures or pursue similar policy initiatives. At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, and restrictions on certain product access. In some cases, such legislation and regulations have been designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

An expansion in the government’s role in the U.S. healthcare industry may cause general downward pressure on the prices of prescription drug products, lower reimbursements for providers, and reduced product utilization, any of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Moreover, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny in the United States of pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs and biologics. Such scrutiny has resulted in several recent congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. We cannot know what form any such new legislation may take or the market’s perception of how such legislation would affect us.

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Any reduction in reimbursement from government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent our potential royalty providers from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, develop, or commercialize our current product candidates in which we have an ownership or royalty interest.

We and our potential milestone and royalty providers are subject to various state and federal healthcare-related laws and regulations that may impact the commercialization of product candidates for which we possess milestone or royalty rights or could subject us to significant fines and penalties.

Our operations may be directly or indirectly subject to various state and federal healthcare laws, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal False Claims Act and state and federal data privacy and security laws. These laws may impact, among other things, the commercial operations for any of our product candidates that may be approved for commercial sale.

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, persons and entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing any remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, in exchange for or to induce either the referral of an individual for, or the furnishing or arranging for the purchase, lease, or order of a good or service for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The ACA modified the federal Anti-Kickback Statute’s intent requirement so that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute or the specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation. In addition, several courts have interpreted the statute’s intent requirement to mean that if any one purpose of an arrangement involving remuneration is to induce referrals of federal healthcare covered business, the statute has been violated. The Anti-Kickback Statute is broad and prohibits many arrangements and practices that are lawful in businesses outside of the healthcare industry.

The federal false claims laws, including the False Claims Act, and civil monetary penalties laws prohibit, among other things, persons and entities from knowingly filing, or causing to be filed, a false claim to, or the knowing use of false statements to obtain payment from the federal government. Certain suits filed under the False Claims Act, known as “qui tam” actions, can be brought by any individual on behalf of the government and such individual, commonly known as a “whistleblower,” may share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. The filing of qui tam actions has caused a number of pharmaceutical, medical device and other healthcare companies to have to defend and/or settle a False Claims Act action.

The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) created new federal criminal statutes that prohibit, among other things, executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including a private payor, or falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, health care benefits, items or services.

HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act, and its implementing regulations, also imposes certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information by entities subject to the law, such as certain healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses as well as their respective business associates that perform certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information on their behalf.

Many states also have adopted laws similar to each of the federal laws described above, some of which apply to healthcare items or services reimbursed by any source, not only federal healthcare programs, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, some states have laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government. Additionally, certain state and local laws require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives, restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources, and require manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers. Further, some states have laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which are not preempted by HIPAA and differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts.

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Because of the breadth of these laws, and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our or our potential milestone and royalty providers’ business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws.

If we or our potential milestone and royalty providers are found to be in violation of any of the laws and regulations described above or other applicable state and federal healthcare laws, we or our potential milestone and royalty providers may be subject to penalties, including significant civil, criminal, and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, integrity oversight and reporting obligations, reputational harm, exclusion from government healthcare reimbursement programs and the curtailment or restructuring of our or our potential milestone and royalty providers’ operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, we and our licensees may be subject to certain analogous foreign laws and violations of such laws could result in significant penalties.

As we or our potential milestone and royalty providers do more business internationally, we will be subject to additional political, economic and regulatory uncertainties.

We or our potential milestone and royalty providers may not be able to operate successfully in any foreign market. We believe that because the pharmaceutical industry is global in nature, international activities will be a significant part of future business activities and when and if we or our potential milestone and royalty providers are able to generate income, a substantial portion of that income will be derived from product sales and other activities outside the United States. Foreign regulatory agencies often establish standards different from those in the United States, and an inability to obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis could put us at a competitive disadvantage or make it uneconomical to proceed with a product or product candidate’s development. International sales may be limited or disrupted by many factors, including without limitation:

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General Risk Factors

Our share price may be volatile, and there may not be an active trading market for our common stock or Series A preferred stock.

There can be no assurance that the market price of our common stock will not decline below its present market price. Additionally, there may not be an active trading market for our common stock or Series A preferred stock. The market prices of biotechnology companies have been and are likely to continue to be highly volatile. Fluctuations in our operating results and general market conditions for biotechnology stocks could have a significant impact on the volatility of our stock price or the existence of an active trading market for our common stock or Series A preferred stock. We have experienced significant volatility in the price of our common stock. From January 1, 2020, through March 5, 2021, the

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share price of our common stock has ranged from a high of $46.32 to a low of $14.14. Additionally, we have one significant holder of our stock that could affect the liquidity of our stock and have a significant negative impact on our stock price if the holder was to quickly sell their ownership position.

Our results of operations and liquidity needs could be materially negatively affected by market fluctuations or an economic downturn.

Our results of operations could be materially negatively affected by economic conditions generally, both in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Concerns over inflation, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the availability and cost of credit, and the U.S. financial markets have in the past contributed to, and may continue in the future contribute to, increased volatility and diminished expectations for the economy and the markets. Domestic and international equity markets periodically experience heightened volatility and turmoil. These events may have an adverse effect on us. In the event of a market downturn, our results of operations could be adversely affected by those factors in many ways, including making it more difficult for us to raise funds if necessary, and our stock price may decline.

We have issued equity securities, and may issue additional equity securities from time to time, that materially and adversely affect the price of our common stock, including our Series X preferred stock and our Series A preferred stock.

We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in such a manner as we determine from time to time, including pursuant to our 2018 ATM Agreement, as amended. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. These sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to our existing stockholders. If we issue additional equity securities, the price of our common stock may be materially and adversely affected.

As of December 31, 2020, there were 984,000 shares of Series A preferred stock and 5,003 shares of Series X preferred stock issued and outstanding. Each share of Series X preferred stock is convertible into 1,000 shares of registered common stock. The total number of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of all issued Series X preferred stock would be 5,003,000 shares. Each share is convertible at the option of the holder at any time, provided that the holder will be prohibited from converting into common stock if, as a result of such conversion, the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own a number of shares above a conversion blocker, which was initially set at 19.99% of our total common stock then issued and outstanding immediately following the conversion of such shares. A holder of Series X preferred shares may elect to increase or decrease the conversion blocker above or below 19.99% on 61 days’ notice, provided the conversion blocker does not exceed the limits under Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5635(b), to the extent then applicable. If holders of our Series X convertible preferred stock elect to convert their preferred shares into common stock such conversion would dilute our currently outstanding common stock both in number and in earnings per share. BVF (and its affiliates), as current holders of all shares of our Series X preferred stock, would, if they converted all such shares to common stock, obtain majority voting control of the Company. In February 2020, Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. (“BVF”), the holders of Series Y convertible preferred shares, elected to increase the beneficial ownership limitation to 50% and on April 15, 2020, BVF converted all of their shares of Series Y preferred stock into 1,252,772 shares of common stock. As of December 31, 2020, BVF owned approximately 37.2% of our total outstanding shares of common stock, and if all the Series X convertible preferred shares were converted, BVF would own 56.6% of our total outstanding shares of common stock.

We may sell additional equity or debt securities to fund our operations, which may result in dilution to our stockholders and impose payment obligations or restrictions on our business.

In order to raise additional funds to support our operations, we may sell additional equity or convertible debt securities, which would result in dilution to our stockholders and/or debt securities which may impose restrictive covenants that would adversely impact our business. The sale of additional equity or convertible debt securities could result in additional dilution or result in other rights or obligations that adversely affect our stockholders. For example, holders of shares of our Series A preferred stock are entitled to receive, when and as declared by our Board of Directors, out of funds

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legally available for the payment of dividends, cumulative cash dividends at the rate of 8.625% of the $25.00 liquidation preference per year (equivalent to $2.15625 per year). The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we are unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected and we may not be able to meet our debt service obligations.

Our organizational documents contain provisions that may prevent transactions that could be beneficial to our stockholders and may insulate our management from removal.

Our charter and by-laws:

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), that may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding common stock, from merging or combining with us.

These provisions of our organizational documents and the DGCL, alone or in combination with each other, may discourage transactions involving actual or potential changes of control, including transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices to holders of common stock, could limit the ability of stockholders to approve transactions that they may deem to be in their best interests, and could make it considerably more difficult for a potential acquirer to replace management.

As a public company in the United States, we are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We have determined our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting are effective. We can provide no assurance that we will, at all times, in the future be able to report that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective.

Companies that file reports with the SEC, including us, are subject to the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”). Section 404 requires management to establish and maintain a system of internal control over financial reporting, and annual reports on Form 10-K filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), must contain a report from management assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Ensuring we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Failure on our part to have effective internal financial and accounting controls would cause our financial reporting to be unreliable, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition, and could cause the trading price of our common stock to fall.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carry-forwards and other tax attributes will be substantially limited by Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

Under the federal income tax law, federal net operating losses incurred in 2018 and in future years may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such federal net operating losses is limited. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the federal tax law. In addition, Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and corresponding provisions of state law, generally limit the ability of a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” to utilize its net operating loss carry-forwards (“NOLs”) and certain other tax attributes against any taxable income in taxable periods after the ownership change. The amount of taxable income in each taxable year after the

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ownership change that may be offset by pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes is generally equal to the product of (a) the fair market value of the corporation’s outstanding shares (or, in the case of a foreign corporation, the fair market value of items treated as connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States) immediately prior to the ownership change and (b) the long-term tax exempt rate (i.e., a rate of interest established by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that fluctuates from month to month). In general, an “ownership change” occurs whenever the percentage of the shares of a corporation owned, directly or indirectly, by “5-percent shareholders” (within the meaning of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code) increases by more than 50 percentage points over the lowest percentage of the shares of such corporation owned, directly or indirectly, by such “5-percent shareholders” at any time over the preceding three years.

Based on an analysis under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (which subjects the amount of pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes that can be utilized to an annual limitation), we experienced ownership changes in 2009 and 2012, which substantially limit the future use of our pre-change NOLs and certain other pre-change tax attributes per year. In February 2017, we completed an equity financing for net proceeds of $24.8 million which triggered an additional ownership change under Section 382 that significantly impacted the availability of our tax attributes against future income. Further, due to the existence of a net unrealized built-in loss at the ownership change date, Section 382 further limits our ability to fully utilize the tax deductions associated with certain of our assets, including depreciation and amortization deductions recognized during the 60-month period following the ownership change ending in 2022. Although these deductions will occur in the post-change period, Section 382 treats the deductions as pre-change losses subject to the annual 382 limitation. As of December 31, 2020, we have excluded the NOLs and research and development credits that will expire as a result of the annual limitations. To the extent that we do not utilize our carry-forwards within the applicable statutory carry-forward periods, either because of Section 382 limitations or the lack of sufficient taxable income, the carry-forwards will also expire unused.

The 2017 tax reform law, as modified by 2020 tax legislation, and possible future changes in tax laws or regulations could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law comprehensive tax legislation (the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”) that significantly revised the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Future guidance from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities with respect to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may affect us, and certain aspects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could be repealed or modified in future legislation. For example, on March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was enacted, which includes changes to the tax provisions that benefit business entities and makes certain technical corrections to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. On June 29, 2020, California Assembly Bill 85 (AB 85) was signed into law, which suspends the use of California net operating losses and limits the use of California research tax credits for tax years beginning in 2020 and before 2023. Changes in corporate tax rates, the realization of net deferred tax assets relating to our U.S. operations, the taxation of foreign earnings, and the deductibility of expenses under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the CARES Act, or future tax reform legislation could have a material impact on the value of our deferred tax assets, could result in significant one-time charges in the current or future taxable years, and could increase our future U.S. tax expense. The foregoing items, as well as any other future changes in tax laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition, or results of operations. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the CARES Act, or any newly enacted federal tax legislation.

Shareholder and private lawsuits, and potential similar or related lawsuits, could result in substantial damages, divert management’s time and attention from our business, and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Securities-related class action and shareholder derivative litigation has often been brought against companies, including many biotechnology companies, which experience volatility in the market price of their securities. This risk is especially relevant for us because biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies often experience significant stock price volatility in connection with their product development programs.

It is possible that suits will be filed, or allegations received from stockholders, naming us and/or our officers and directors as defendants. These potential lawsuits are subject to inherent uncertainties, and the actual defense and disposition costs will depend upon many unknown factors. The outcome of these lawsuits is uncertain. We could be forced to expend significant resources in the defense of these suits and we may not prevail. In addition, we may incur substantial legal fees and costs in connection with these lawsuits. It is possible that we could, in the future, incur judgments or enter into

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settlements of claims for monetary damages. A decision adverse to our interests on these actions could result in the payment of substantial damages, or possibly fines, and could have a material adverse effect on our cash flow, results of operations and financial position.

Monitoring, initiating and defending against legal actions, including any currently pending litigation, are time-consuming for our management, are likely to be expensive and may detract from our ability to fully focus our internal resources on our business activities. The outcome of litigation is always uncertain, and in some cases could include judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin us from certain activities, or otherwise affect our legal or contractual rights, which could have a significant adverse effect on our business. In addition, the inherent uncertainty of any future litigation could lead to increased volatility in our stock price and a decrease in the value of an investment in our common stock.

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Item 1B.       Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

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Item 2.   Properties

We currently lease one building that houses our corporate headquarters in Emeryville, California. The building lease expires in February 2023, and total net lease liability from January 2021 until expiration of the lease is $0.4 million. We believe that our facilities are adequate to meet our requirements for the near term.

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Item 3.   Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we may be involved in litigation relating to claims arising out of our operations. We are not currently involved in any material legal proceedings. We may, however, be involved in material legal proceedings in the future. Such matters are subject to uncertainty and there can be no assurance that such legal proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

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Item 4.   Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5.   Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity

Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Global Market tier of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “XOMA.” On March 5, 2021, there were 202 stockholders of record of our common stock, one of which was Cede & Co., a nominee for Depository Trust Company (“DTC”). All of the shares of our common stock held by brokerage firms, banks and other financial institutions as nominees for beneficial owners are deposited into participant accounts at DTC and are therefore considered to be held of record by Cede & Co. as one stockholder.

Dividend Policy

We have not paid dividends on our common stock. Holders of shares of our Series A preferred stock are entitled to receive, when and as declared by our Board of Directors, out of funds legally available for the payment of dividends, cumulative cash dividends at the rate of 8.625% of the $25.00 liquidation preference per year (equivalent to $2.15625 per year). We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

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Item 6.   Selected Consolidated Financial Data

We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and are not required to provide the information required under this item.

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Item 7.   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Overview

XOMA Corporation (“XOMA”), a Delaware corporation, is a biotech royalty aggregator. We have a sizable portfolio of economic rights to future potential milestone and royalty payments associated with partnered pre-commercial therapeutic candidates. Our portfolio was built through licensing our proprietary products and platforms from our legacy discovery and development business, combined with acquisitions of rights to future milestones and royalties that we have made since our royalty aggregator business model was implemented in 2017. Our drug royalty aggregator business is focused on early to mid-stage clinical assets primarily in Phase 1 and 2 with blockbuster potential licensed to large-cap partners. We expect that most of our future revenue will be based on payments we may receive for milestones and royalties related to these programs.

Significant Developments

Public Offering of Series A Preferred Shares

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In December 2020, we sold 984,000 shares of 8.625% Series A cumulative, perpetual preferred stock (“Series A Preferred Stock”) at the price of $25.00 per share, through a public offering for aggregate gross proceeds of $24.6 million. Total offering costs of $2.0 million were offset against the proceeds from the sale of Series A Preferred Stock, for total net proceeds of $22.6 million. As of December 31, 2020, we held restricted cash of $2.1 million in a segregated account that may only be used to pay dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock. As of December 31, 2020, the current and non-current portion of restricted cash was $1.6 million and $0.5 million, respectively.

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Royalty Purchase Agreements

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Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement

In November 2020, we earned $1.0 million pursuant to our Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement upon the advancement of Merck’s MK-4830 into Phase 2 development.  

Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement

In November 2020, we entered into the Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement with Bioasis. Under the Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement, we purchased potential future milestone and other payments, and royalty rights from Bioasis for product candidates that are being developed pursuant to a research collaboration and license agreement between Bioasis and Chiesi. We paid Bioasis $1.2 million upon closing of the Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement for the purchased rights.  

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License and Collaboration Agreements

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Novartis

In October 2020, the first patient was dosed in Novartis International’s Phase 2 study of NIS793, an anti-TGFβ monoclonal antibody that we licensed to Novartis International, and we earned a $25.0 million milestone payment. As specified under the terms the Anti-TGFβ Antibody License Agreement, we received $17.7 million in cash and the remaining balance of $7.3 million was recognized as a reduction to our debt obligation to Novartis.

Takeda

In November 2020, the first patient was dosed in Takeda’s Phase 2 study of mezagitamab, and we earned a $2.0 million milestone payment from Takeda pursuant to our Takeda Collaboration Agreement.

Rezolute

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In December 2017, we entered into a license and common stock purchase agreement with Rezolute, which was amended on March 30, 2018 and further amended on January 7, 2019. The license agreement was amended to eliminate the requirement that equity securities be issued to us upon the closing of the Qualified Financing (as defined in the license agreement) and to replace it with a requirement that Rezolute: (1) make five cash payments to us totaling $8.5 million following the closing of a Qualified Financing on or before specified staggered future dates through September 2020 (the “Future Cash Payments”); and (2) provide for early payment of the Future Cash Payments (only until $8.5 million was reached) by making cash payments to us equal to 15% of the net proceeds of each future financing following the closing of the Qualified Financing, with such payments to be credited against any remaining unpaid Future Cash Payments in reverse order of their future payment date. The common stock purchase agreement was amended to remove certain provisions related to the issuance of equity to us in accordance with the new provisions regarding the Future Cash Payments in the license agreement.

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On March 31, 2020, we and Rezolute further amended the license agreement to extend the payment schedule for the remaining $2.6 million in Future Cash Payments. The amendment to the payment terms was in response to Rezolute’s need to preserve cash as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and was agreed to by us. The revised payment schedule did not impact the total amount due, but instead, spread the $2.6 million into seven quarterly payments to be paid through September 30, 2021. The amended license agreement required that in the event Rezolute completed a Qualified Financing at any time between March 31, 2020 and the date of the final payment, Rezolute would pay all amounts outstanding within fifteen days following the closing of the Qualified Financing.

In the first quarter of 2020, we received the scheduled $0.4 million Future Cash Payment from Rezolute. We evaluated Rezolute’s cash position as of March 31, 2020, including the estimated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and determined payments scheduled beyond September 30, 2020 were unlikely to be collected unless Rezolute was able to obtain additional funding, which had not occurred as of March 31, 2020. Therefore, for the three months ended March 31, 2020, we recorded $1.4 million in bad debt expense related to the Future Cash Payments. We received the scheduled $0.4 million and $0.4 million Future Cash Payments from Rezolute in the second and third quarters of 2020, respectively.

On October 9, 2020, Rezolute completed a private placement of its equity securities with gross proceeds of $41.0 million, which was considered a Qualified Financing event under the Third Amendment. The Qualified Financing resulted in acceleration of the remaining receivables of $1.4 million due from Rezolute, and we received the entire amount in October 2020.

Zydus

In March 2020, we entered into a license agreement (the “Zydus Agreement”) with Cadila Healthcare Limited (“Zydus”) under which we granted Zydus an exclusive royalty-bearing license to our anti-interleukin-2 (“IL-2”) monoclonal antibodies, including mAb19, for Zydus to develop and commercialize drug candidates in India, Brazil, Mexico and certain other emerging markets. We retain rights in all other territories, subject to a Zydus right of first negotiation. Under the terms of the Zydus Agreement, Zydus is responsible for the development and commercialization of IL-2 based immuno-oncology drug candidates. XOMA is entitled to receive up to $0.5 million in development and regulatory milestone payments, up to $23.5 million in commercial milestone payments, and mid single-digit to low teens royalties from Zydus. We are also eligible to share out-licensing revenue received by Zydus should Zydus (sub)license to third parties, which share is tiered based on clinical trial stage and ranges from a low to mid double-digit percentage rate.

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COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose risks to our business as clinical trials industry-wide have slowed. Our business is dependent on the continued development and commercialization efforts of our licensees and our royalty agreement counterparties and their licensees. We have been monitoring and continue to monitor our portfolio programs for potential delays in underlying research programs and elections of our partners to continue or cease development. Delays in clinical trials and underlying research programs may lead to delayed revenue from milestones from our licensees and royalty agreement counterparties or, if certain research programs are discontinued, we may recognize impairment charges for our royalty receivables. COVID-19, the related variants, and the timing of vaccine distribution may impact our underlying programs in a variety of ways which are unknown in length and scope at this time.

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Critical Accounting Estimates

The accompanying discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements and the related disclosures, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, assumptions and judgments described below that have the greatest potential impact on our consolidated financial statements, including those related to legal contingencies, revenue recognized under units-of-revenue method and stock-based compensation. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Accounting assumptions and estimates are inherently uncertain and actual results may differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

While our significant accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, we believe the following policies to be the most critical to an understanding of our financial condition and results of operations because they require us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue from all contracts with customers according to Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers ("ASC 606"), except for contracts that are within the scope of other standards, such as leases, insurance, collaboration arrangements and financial instruments. We recognize revenue when our customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which we expect to receive in exchange for those goods or services.

We have certain license arrangements in the scope of ASC 606. The terms of these agreements may contain multiple performance obligations, which primarily include transfer of our licenses. Prior to recognizing revenue, we make estimates of the transaction price, including variable consideration that is subject to a constraint. Amounts of variable consideration are included in the transaction price to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur and when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved. Variable consideration may include payments based upon the achievement of specified milestones, and royalty payments based on product sales derived from the license agreements. The royalty payments will be recognized as revenue when the related sales occur, as far as there are no unsatisfied performance obligations remaining. If there are multiple distinct performance obligations, we allocate the transaction price to each distinct performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price. All licenses we grant to customers are unique, as each uses a specific technology of XOMA or is geared towards a specific unique product candidate. Thus, there is no observable evidence of standalone selling price for the licenses. The standalone selling price is generally determined using a valuation approach based on discounted cash flow analysis. For licenses that are bundled with other promises, we utilize judgement to assess the nature of the combined performance obligation to determine whether the combined performance obligation is satisfied over time or at a point in time. Under our license agreements, the nature of the combined performance obligation is the granting of licenses to the customers. As such, we recognize revenue related to the combined performance obligation upon transfer of the license to the customers or completion of the transfer of related materials and services (i.e., point in time).

Sale of Future Revenue Streams

We have sold our rights to receive certain milestones and royalties on product sales. In the circumstance where we have sold our rights to future milestones and royalties under a license agreement and also maintain limited continuing involvement in the arrangement (but not significant continuing involvement in the generation of the cash flows that are due to the purchaser), we defer recognition of the proceeds we received for the sale of milestone or royalty streams and recognize such unearned revenue as revenue under the units-of-revenue method over the life of the underlying license agreement. Under the units-of-revenue method, amortization for a reporting period is calculated by computing a ratio of

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the proceeds received from the purchaser to the total payments expected to be made to the purchaser over the term of the agreement, and then applying that ratio to the period’s cash payment.

Estimating the total payments expected to be received by the purchaser over the term of such arrangements requires management to use subjective estimates and assumptions. Changes to our estimate of the payments expected to be made to the purchaser over the term of such arrangements could have a material effect on the amount of revenues recognized in any particular period.

Stock-based Compensation

Stock-based compensation expense for stock options and other stock awards is estimated at the grant date based on the award’s fair value-based measurement. The valuation of stock-based compensation awards is determined at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model (the “Black-Scholes Model”). This model requires highly complex and subjective inputs, such as the expected term of the option and expected volatility. These inputs are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop. Our current estimate of volatility is based on the historical volatility of our stock price. To the extent volatility in our stock price increases in the future, our estimates of the fair value of options granted in the future could increase, thereby increasing stock-based compensation cost recognized in future periods. To establish an estimate of expected term, we consider the vesting period and contractual period of the award and our historical experience of stock option exercises, post-vesting cancellations and volatility. The risk-free rate is based on the yield available on United States Treasury zero-coupon issues. Forfeitures are recognized as they occur.

We review our valuation assumptions quarterly and, as a result, we likely will update our valuation assumptions used to value stock-based awards granted in future periods utilizing current data. In the future, as additional empirical evidence regarding these input estimates becomes available, we may change or refine our approach of deriving these input estimates. These changes could impact our fair value-based measurement of stock options granted in the future. Changes in the fair value-based measurement of stock awards could materially impact our operating results.

For our stock options and service-based awards, we recognize compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the award’s vesting period.

Purchase of Rights to Future Milestones and Royalties

We have purchased rights to receive a portion of certain future developmental, regulatory and commercial sales milestones, and royalties on sales of products currently in clinical development. We acquired such rights from various entities and recorded the amount paid for these rights as long-term royalty receivables. We have accounted for the purchased rights as a financial asset in accordance with ASC 310, Receivables.

We account for milestone and royalty rights related to developmental pipeline products on a non-accrual basis using the cost recovery method. These developmental pipeline products are non-commercialized, non-approved products that require FDA or other regulatory approval, and thus have uncertain cash flows. The related receivable balance is classified as noncurrent since no payments are probable to be received in the near term. Under the cost recovery method, any milestone or royalty received is recorded as a direct reduction of the recorded receivable balance. When the recorded receivable balance has been fully collected, any additional amounts collected are recognized as revenue.

We review public information on clinical trials, press releases and updates from our partners regularly to identify any impairment indicators or changes in expected recoverability of the long-term receivable asset. If expected future cash flows discounted to the current period are less than the carrying value of the asset, we will record impairment. The impairment will be recognized by reducing the financial asset to an amount that represents the present value of the most recent estimate of cash flows. No impairment was recorded as of December 31, 2020.

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Results of Operations

Revenues

Total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020, and 2019 were as follows (in thousands):

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Revenue from Contracts with Customers

Revenue from contracts with customers includes upfront fees, milestone payments and royalties related to the out-licensing of our product candidates and technologies. The primary components of revenue from contracts with customers in 2020 was $25.0 million in milestone revenue earned under our Anti-TGFβ Antibody License Agreement with Novartis International and $2.0 million earned under our collaboration agreement with Takeda. The primary components of revenue from contracts with customers in 2019 was $14.0 million recognized under our license agreement and common stock purchase agreement with Rezolute and $2.5 million in revenue earned from a one-time payment under our license agreement with Janssen.

The generation of future revenues related to licenses, milestones, and royalties is dependent on the achievement of milestones or product sales by our existing licensees. Due to the anticipated impact of COVID-19 on clinical trial activities of our licensees, potential milestone payments may be delayed.

Revenue recognized under units-of-revenue method

Revenues recognized under the units-of-revenue method include the amortization of unearned revenue from the sale of royalty interests to HealthCare Royalty Partners II, L.P (“HCRP”) in 2016. The increase in 2020 compared with 2019 was due to increased sales of products underlying the agreements with HCRP.

The generation of future revenues related to licenses, milestones, and royalties is dependent on the achievement of milestones or product sales by our existing licensees. Milestone payments earned in 2020 are not indicative of anticipated milestones in future periods.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development (“R&D”) expenses were $0.2 million in 2020, compared with $1.3 million in 2019. The decrease of $1.1 million in 2020, as compared with 2019, was primarily due to a $0.5 million decrease in salary and related expenses as a result of a shift in employee duties that led to a recategorization of an employee from R&D to a general and administrative (“G&A”) department and a $0.5 million decrease in license fee expenses.

We do not expect to incur substantial R&D expenses in 2021 due to the focus on our royalty aggregator business model.

General and Administrative Expenses

G&A expenses include salaries and related personnel costs, facilities costs and professional fees. In 2020, G&A expenses were $16.8 million compared with $21.0 million in 2019.

The decrease of $4.2 million in 2020 as compared with 2019 was primarily due to a $3.9 million decrease in facilities costs due to the termination of our legacy leases and a $1.2 million decrease in salary and related expenses due

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to a 2019 separation agreement. These decreases were partially offset by a $1.4 million increase in consulting and legal costs.

To support our royalty aggregator business model, we engage third parties to assist in our evaluation of potential acquisitions of milestone and royalty streams. While we expect our personnel related costs to be comparable in 2021 with 2020, consulting expenses may increase in response to an increase in the volume of acquisition targets evaluated or completed.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest Expense

Amortization of debt issuance costs and discounts are included in interest expense. Interest expense is shown below for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):

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The decrease in interest expense compared with 2019 is primarily due to lower interest rates and decreased loan balances. In October 2020, in connection with the achievement of a clinical development milestone, $7.3 million of the $25.0 million milestone payment received was recognized as a reduction to the Novartis debt obligation.

We expect our interest expense to decrease in 2021 due to the reduction in our outstanding loan balances. If market interest rates increase in the near term, or if we elect to obtain additional financing, our interest expense may increase.

Other Income, Net

The following table shows the activity in other income (expense), net for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands):

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We own equity securities consisting of shares of Rezolute’s common stock which are remeasured at fair value at each reporting period. During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we remeasured the fair value of the equity securities and recognized gains of $1.0 million and $0.3 million, respectively.

The decrease in investment income for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the same period of 2019 is due to lower rates of return on our cash deposits.

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We were party to four sublease agreements in 2019. As a result of the termination of our legacy leases in December 2019, we are no longer party to any subleases, resulting in no sublease income for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the same period of 2019.

Total other income, net for 2020 decreased by $2.6 million as compared to 2019 primarily due to the $3.0 million decrease in sublease income.

Provision for Income Taxes

We recorded a $1.5 million income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2020 as a result of the CARES Act, which was enacted on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act permits us to carry back losses from 2018 to offset income in 2017 resulting in an income tax receivable. We had no provision for income tax for the year ended December 31, 2019 since we incurred net operating losses.

We continue to maintain a full valuation allowance against our remaining net deferred tax assets. We had a total of $5.9 million of gross unrecognized tax benefits, none of which would affect the effective tax rate upon realization. We do not expect our unrecognized tax benefits to change significantly over the next twelve months.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

The following table summarizes our unrestricted cash, our working capital and our cash flow activities for each of the periods presented (in thousands):

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Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 of $10.1 million was primarily due to $13.3 million net income and $4.0 million non-cash stock-based compensation, partially offset by the $7.3 million non-cash portion of the Novartis milestone revenue.

Net cash used in operating activities in 2019 of $0.3 million was primarily due to the $2.0 million net loss incurred.

Cash Used in Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 of $0.2 million was due to the purchase of milestone and royalty rights of $1.2 million in connection with the Second Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement in November 2020, partially offset by $1.0 million milestone payment received in connection with the Agenus Royalty Purchase Agreement.

Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 of $19.3 million was due to the purchases of milestone and royalty rights of $19.3 million in connection with the Bioasis Royalty Purchase Agreement

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executed in February 2019, the Aronora Royalty Purchase Agreement executed in April 2019, and the Palo Royalty Purchase Agreement executed in September 2019.

Cash Provided by Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 of $19.8 million was primarily due to the receipt of net cash proceeds of $22.6 million from the public offering of Series A Preferred Stock and $2.4 million net cash provided from the exercise of stock options after related tax payments, partially offset by $5.3 million cash used in the principal payments of debt.

Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 of $30.5 million was primarily related to the sale of common stock issued under the 2019 Rights Offering for total net proceeds of $21.9 million and proceeds received under the SVB loan agreement of $9.5 million.

Public Offering of Series A Preferred Shares

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In December 2020, we sold 984,000 shares of 8.625% Series A cumulative, perpetual preferred stock at the price of $25.00 per share, through a public offering for aggregate gross proceeds of $24.6 million. Total offering costs of $2.0 million were offset against the proceeds from the sale of Series A Preferred Stock, for net proceeds of $22.6 million. Holders of our Series A preferred stock are entitled to receive, when and as declared by our Board of Directors, out of funds legally available for the payment of dividends, cumulative cash dividends at the rate of 8.625% of the $25.00 liquidation preference per year (equivalent to $2.15625 per year). Dividends on the Series A preferred stock will accumulate and be cumulative from, and including, the date of original issue by us of the Series A preferred stock. Dividends will be payable in arrears on or about the 15th day of January, April, July and October beginning on or about April 15, 2021. As of December 31, 2020, we held restricted cash of $2.1 million in a segregated account that may only be used to pay dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock. As of December 31, 2020, the current and non-current portion of restricted cash was $1.6 million and $0.5 million, respectively.

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Rights Offering 2019

In November 2019, we initiated a rights offering to raise $22.0 million through the distribution of subscription rights to holders of our common stock and Series X and Series Y preferred stock. In December 2019, we sold 1,000,000 shares of our common stock at the subscription price of $22.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $22.0 million. Total offering costs of $0.2 million were offset against the proceeds from the sale of common stock, for total net proceeds of $21.8 million.

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Silicon Valley Bank Loan Agreement

Under our Loan Agreement with SVB, upon our request, SVB made advances available to us up to $20.0 million. In March 2019, we and SVB amended the Loan Agreement to extend the draw period from March 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020. In connection with the amendment, we issued a second warrant to SVB which is exercisable in whole or in part for up to an aggregate of 4,845 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $14.71 per share. The warrant may be exercised on a cashless basis and is exercisable within 10 years from the date of issuance or upon the consummation of certain acquisitions of XOMA. As of December 31, 2020, we had an outstanding principal balance of $12.2 million under the Loan Agreement, of which $8.1 million was classified as current portion of long-term debt.

2018 ATM Agreement

In December 2018, we entered into an At The Market Issuance Sales Agreement (the “2018 ATM Agreement”) with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (“HCW”), under which we may offer and sell from time to time at our sole discretion shares of our common stock through HCW as our sales agent, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $30.0 million. HCW may sell the shares by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at the market” offering as defined in Rule 415 of the Securities Act, and will use its commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices to sell the shares up to the amount specified. We are required to pay HCW a commission of up to 3% of the gross proceeds of any shares of common stock sold under the 2018 ATM Agreement. We have not sold any shares of common stock under the 2018 ATM Agreement.

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We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and have an accumulated deficit of $1.2 billion at December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had $84.2 million and $2.1 million in unrestricted and restricted cash, respectively, which will enable us to maintain our operations for a period of at least 12 months following the filing date of this report. As of December 31, 2020, the current and non-current portion of restricted cash was $1.6 million and $0.5 million, respectively.

We have taken and continue to take steps to manage our resources by reducing and/or deferring certain discretionary expenditures to mitigate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future impacts of COVID-19, related variants, and vaccine distribution may require further actions to improve our cash position, which may include reducing or delaying acquisitions of additional royalty and milestone rights or obtaining additional funds through debt arrangements, the 2018 ATM Agreement, or other equity issuances. Our ability to raise additional capital in the equity and debt markets, should we choose to do so, is dependent on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the market demand for our common stock, which itself is subject to a number of development and business risks and uncertainties, our creditworthiness and the uncertainty that we would be able to raise such additional capital at a price or on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, our ability to raise additional funds may be adversely impacted by deteriorating global economic conditions and the recent disruptions to and volatility in the credit and financial markets in the United States and worldwide resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Commitments and Contingencies

Although operations are influenced by general economic conditions, we do not believe inflation had a material impact on financial results for the periods presented. We believe that we are not dependent on materials or other resources that would be significantly impacted by inflation or changing economic conditions in the foreseeable future.

Collaborative Agreements, Royalties and Milestone Payments

We have committed to make potential future milestone payments and legal fees to third parties as part of licensing and development programs. Payments under these agreements become due and payable only upon the achievement of certain developmental, regulatory and commercial milestones by our licensees. Because it is uncertain if and when these milestones will be achieved, such contingencies, aggregating up to $7.6 million (assuming one product per contract meets all milestones) have not been recorded on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020. We are unable to

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determine precisely when and if our payment obligations under the agreements will become due as these obligations are based on milestone events, the achievement of which is subject to a significant number of risks and uncertainties.

Lease Agreements

In December 2019, we terminated two of our operating leases in Berkeley, California and were fully released from any further payment obligations. We continue to lease one administrative facility in Emeryville, California under an operating lease expiring in February 2023. The lease requires us to pay taxes, insurance, maintenance and minimum lease payments.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. ASU 2016-13 replaced the incurred loss impairment methodology under current GAAP with a methodology that reflects expected credit losses and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to inform credit loss estimates. ASU 2016-13 requires use of a forward-looking expected credit loss model for accounts receivables, loans, and other financial instruments. Adoption of the standard requires using a modified retrospective approach through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the effective date to align existing credit loss methodology with the new standard. Subsequent to issuing ASU 2016-13, the FASB issued ASU 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, or ASU 2018-19, for the purpose of clarifying certain aspects of ASU 2016-13. In May 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-05, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief, or ASU 2019-05, to provide entities with more flexibility in applying the fair value option on adoption of the credit impairment standard. ASU 2018-19 and ASU 2019-05 have the same effective date and transition requirements as ASU 2016-13. ASU 2016-13 will be effective for all entities except public companies that are not smaller reporting companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within those fiscal years, using a modified retrospective approach. Early adoption is permitted. We plan to adopt ASU 2016-13 and related updates as of January 1, 2023. We are evaluating the impact of adopting this new accounting guidance on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820) (“ASU 2018-13”), which modifies, removes and adds certain disclosure requirements on fair value measurements based on the FASB Concepts Statement, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting—Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements. The ASU is effective for our interim and annual reporting periods during the year ending December 31, 2020, and all annual and interim reporting period thereafter. The amendments on changes in unrealized gains and losses, the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty should be applied prospectively for only the most recent interim or annual period presented in the initial fiscal year of adoption. All other amendments should be applied retrospectively to all periods presented upon their effective date. Early adoption is permitted upon issuance of ASU 2018-13. An entity is permitted to early adopt any removed or modified disclosures upon issuance of ASU 2018-13 and delay adoption of the additional disclosures until their effective date. We early adopted the guidance related to removal of disclosures upon issuance of this ASU and adopted the deferred provisions as permitted under the ASU in the first quarter of 2020. The adoption of ASU 2018-13 did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-18, Collaborative Arrangements (Topic 808) “Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606,” which requires transactions in collaborative arrangements to be accounted for under ASC 606 if the counterparty is a customer for a good or service that is a distinct unit of account. The new standard also precludes an entity from presenting consideration from transactions with a collaborator that is not a customer together with revenue recognized from contracts with customers. The ASU is effective for our interim and annual reporting periods during the year ending December 31, 2020, and all annual and interim reporting period thereafter. Early adoption is permitted, but no earlier than an entity’s adoption date of Topic 606. This ASU requires retrospective adoption to the date we adopted ASC 606, January 1, 2018, by recognizing a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings of the earliest annual period presented. We may elect to apply the ASU retrospectively either to all contracts or

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only to contracts that are not completed at the date it initially applied ASC 606. We adopted ASU 2018-18 as of January 1, 2020. The adoption of ASU 2018-18 did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. The amendments in ASU 2019-12 are intended to simplify various aspects related to accounting for income taxes. ASU 2019-12 removes certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740 and also clarifies and amends existing guidance to improve consistent application. ASU 2019-12 is effective for us beginning January 1, 2021. We are evaluating the impact of ASU 2019-12, but do not expect adopting this new accounting guidance will have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. These amendments provide temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. The ASU provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying generally accepted accounting principles to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference LIBOR or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. It is intended to help stakeholders during the global market-wide reference rate transition period. The guidance is effective for all entities as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022 and can be adopted as of any date from the beginning of an interim period that includes or is subsequent to March 12, 2020. We are evaluating the impact of adopting this new accounting guidance on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Debt – Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivative and Hedging – Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40). This ASU reduces the number of accounting models for convertible debt instruments and convertible preferred stock and amends the guidance for the derivatives scope exception for contracts in an entity’s own equity to reduce form-over-substance-based accounting conclusion. In addition, this ASU improves and amends the related EPS guidance. These amendments are effective for us for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, including interim period within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted, but no earlier than fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Adoption is either a modified retrospective method or a fully retrospective method of transition. We are currently evaluating the impacts of the provisions of ASU 2020-06 and we do not expect this ASU to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not engaged in any off-balance sheet arrangements, including the use of structured finance, special purpose entities or variable interest entities.

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Item 7A.       Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and are not required to provide the information required under this item.

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Item 8.   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

The following consolidated financial statements of the registrant, related notes and report of independent registered public accounting firm are set forth beginning on page F-1 of this report.

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Item 9.   Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Not applicable.

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Item 9A.       Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined under Rule 13a-15 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as of the end of the period covered by this report. Our disclosure controls and procedures are intended to ensure that the information we are required to disclose in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, as the principal executive and financial officers, respectively, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f)). The Company’s internal control system was designed to provide reasonable assurance to the Company’s management and board of directors regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013 Framework). Based on our assessment we believe that, as of December 31, 2020, our internal control over financial reporting is effective based on those criteria.

This Annual Report does not include an attestation report by our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management's report is not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act pursuant to the rules established by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which permit us to provide only our management report in this Annual Report.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There have been no changes in our internal controls over financial reporting as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act during our most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal controls over financial reporting. While COVID-19 has resulted in our staff operating remotely, our established internal control structure is not impacted. As we continue to monitor and adapt to the changing environment due to COVID-19 and the related possibility of a cybersecurity impact, including a security breach or cyber-attack, we will continue to evaluate our internal controls over financial reporting.

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Item 9B.       Other Information

On March 10, 2021, we amended the 2018 ATM Agreement with HCW to increase the aggregate amount of shares of our common stock that we could sell through HCW as our sales agent to $50.0 million.

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PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers, Corporate Governance

Directors

Our board of directors currently consists of seven members. The following is a brief biography of each member of our board of directors, with each biography including information regarding the experiences, qualifications, attributes or skills that caused our board of directors to determine that each member of our board of directors should serve as a director as of the date of this Form 10-K.

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