# Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. (EWTX) FY 2021 MD&A

Verbatim Item 7 Management's Discussion and Analysis from Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc.'s 10-K for fiscal year 2021.

SEC filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710072/000155837022001850/ewtx-20211231x10k.htm
Accession: 0001558370-22-001850
Filing date: 2022-02-24
Report date: 2021-12-31
Extracted from a substantive MD&A body after the formal Item 7 span was a TOC or reference stub.
Confidence: high

Company profile: /company/EWTX/
All MD&A years: /company/EWTX/mda/
Next year: /company/EWTX/mda/fy2022/ (FY 2022)

Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative treatments for severe, rare muscle disorders for which there is significant unmet medical need. Guided by our holistic drug discovery approach to targeting the muscle as an organ, we have combined our foundational expertise in muscle biology and small molecule engineering to build our proprietary, muscle focused drug discovery platform. Our platform utilizes custom-built high throughput and translatable systems that measure integrated muscle function in whole organ extracts to identify small molecule precision medicines regulating key proteins in muscle tissue, initially focused on addressing rare neuromuscular and cardiac diseases. Our lead candidate, EDG-5506, is an orally administered

135

Table of Contents

allosteric, selective, fast myofiber (type II) myosin small molecule inhibitor designed to address the root cause of dystrophinopathies including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), and recently completed a Phase 1 clinical trial. We have developed and characterized a library of selective fast skeletal myosin inhibitors exhibiting a broad range of pharmacological and pharmacokinetic (PK) properties. We also intend to advance two other muscle-focused precision medicines into clinical development. Our second program, EDG-5440, is a next generation myosin ATPase modulator designed to target skeletal muscle in a specific set of rare neuromuscular diseases. Our third program, EDG-002, focuses on identification of novel mechanism cardiac modulators. We are initially pursuing a new target for inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in addition to exploring the potential of this novel mechanism across other cardiac disorders. We believe our programs also offer substantial opportunities for us to expand into related rare diseases for which there are limited or no approved treatments.

In October 2021, we announced positive topline results from the MAD portion of a first-in-human Phase 1, HV clinical trial. In addition, in January 2022, we announced positive topline results from the BMD, or Phase 1b, portion of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial assessing the safety, tolerability, PK and PD of EDG-5506. We are currently enrolling a follow-on open-label, single-center study that will assess the safety and PK of EDG-5506 over one year in adults with BMD. We anticipate initiation of Phase 2 trials in individuals with BMD in the first half of 2022 and DMD in the second half of 2022.

Since our inception in 2017, we have devoted substantially all of our focus and financial resources to discovering, identifying and developing potential product candidates, including advancing our development programs, conducting preclinical studies of our product candidates and initiating a clinical trial, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital and securing related intellectual property rights. To date, we have not completed the development of any of our product candidates, have not generated any revenue and have never been profitable. Our ability to achieve profitability, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more of our product candidates. We will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our development and commercialization strategy. Until such time that we can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity, debt financings or other capital sources, including income from collaborations, strategic partnerships or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties or from grants from organizations and foundations. We may be unable to raise additional funds or to enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development and commercialization of one or more of our product candidates or delay or terminate our efforts to expand our product pipeline.

We have incurred significant losses since the commencement of our operations. Our net losses were $42.8 million and $17.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and we expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future as we advance our product candidates through preclinical development and clinical trials and seek regulatory approval of our product candidates. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from period to period, depending on the timing of and expenditures on our planned research and development activities.

As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $77.0 million. To date, we have financed our operations primarily through private placements of convertible preferred stock and an initial public offering (IPO) of our common stock. From inception through December 31, 2021, these private placements have provided gross proceeds of $160.7 million and the IPO generated net proceeds of $186.1 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $16.3 million. We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities of $280.8 million will enable us to fund our planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through at least the next 12 months.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. To limit the spread of COVID-19, governments have taken various actions including the issuance of stay-at-home orders and physical distancing guidelines. Accordingly, businesses have adjusted, reduced or suspended operating activities. Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the effects of the stay-at-home orders and work-from-home policies, have impacted productivity, have resulted in increased operational expenses, certain adjustments to the operations of our clinical trial, delays in the enrollment of new patients at our clinical trial site, and

136

Table of Contents

delays in certain supply chain activities and collecting and analyzing data from patients in our clinical trial, and may further disrupt our business and delay our development programs and regulatory 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 business in the ordinary course as well as the spread, severity and potential resurgence of COVID-19, the impact of new COVID-19 variants, and vaccination deployment efforts. As a result, research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses may vary significantly if there is an increased impact from COVID-19 on the costs and timing associated with the conduct of our clinical trial and other related business activities.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Operating expenses

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred in connection with the discovery and development of our product candidates. We record research and development expenses when these are incurred. Such expenses include:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","employee and consultant-related expenses including salaries, bonuses, benefits and stock-based compensation expense for employees engaged in research and development functions;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","expenses incurred in connection with the planned clinical development of our product candidates including under agreements with third parties, such as consultants and contract research organizations (CROs);"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the cost of manufacturing drug products for use in our preclinical studies and ongoing and planned clinical trials including under agreements with third parties such as consultants and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs);"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","expenses incurred in connection with the preclinical development of our product candidates including outsourced professional scientific development services, consulting research fees and payments made under sponsored research arrangements with third parties;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","laboratory supplies;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","facilities, depreciation and other expenses, which include direct or allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","expenses related to compliance with regulatory requirements; and"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","payments made under third-party licensing agreements."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

The majority of these expenses have been incurred to advance our lead product candidate, EDG-5506. We expect that significant additional spending will be required to progress EDG-5506 through the remainder of the clinical development phases. These expenses will primarily consist of expenses for the administration of clinical trials as well as manufacturing costs for clinical material supply.

We track our direct research and development expenses on a program-by-program basis once a lead compound has been selected and clinical trials have been initiated. These direct costs consist primarily of external costs such as fees paid to outside consultants, CROs, CDMOs, clinical trial sites and central laboratories in connection with our discovery and preclinical activities, process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities. These expenses are recognized based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using information provided to us by our service providers or our estimate of the level of service that has been performed at each reporting date. Our direct research and development expenses by program also include costs of laboratory supplies that can be directly attributed to

137

Table of Contents

a specific program as well as any fees incurred under license agreements. We do not allocate employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, or facility expenses, including rent, depreciation or other indirect costs, to specific programs because these costs are deployed across multiple programs and, as such, are not separately classified. We use internal resources primarily to conduct our research and discovery activities and to manage our preclinical development, manufacturing and clinical development activities.

Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. As a result, we expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially over the next several years as we advance EDG-5506 through clinical trials and additional product candidates enter clinical trials; continue to develop our proprietary drug discovery platform; continue to discover and develop additional product candidates; and hire additional personnel.

The successful development of our product candidates is highly uncertain, and we do not believe it is possible at this time to accurately project the nature, timing and extent of expenses necessary to complete the development of our product candidates. We are also unable to predict when, if ever, we will generate revenue from our product candidates to offset these expenses. Our expenditures on current and future preclinical and clinical development programs are subject to numerous uncertainties in timing and cost to completion. The duration, costs and timing of preclinical studies and clinical trials and development of our product candidates will depend on a variety of factors, including:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the timing and progress of preclinical and clinical development activities;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the number and scope of preclinical and clinical programs we decide to pursue;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","our ability to maintain our current research and development programs and to establish new ones;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","establishing an appropriate safety profile with IND-enabling studies;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","successful patient enrollment in, and the initiation and completion of, clinical trials;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the successful completion of clinical trials with safety, tolerability and efficacy profiles that are satisfactory to the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the receipt of regulatory approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the timing, receipt and terms of any marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","our ability to establish new licensing or collaboration arrangements;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the performance of our future collaborators, if any;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","establishing commercial manufacturing capabilities or making arrangements with third-party manufacturers;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","development and timely delivery of commercial-grade drug formulations that can be used in our planned clinical trials and for commercial launch;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","obtaining, maintaining, defending and enforcing patent claims and other intellectual property rights;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","launching commercial sales of our product candidates, if approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","maintaining a continued acceptable safety profile of the product candidates following approval."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

138

Table of Contents

Any changes in the outcome of any of these factors could significantly impact the costs and timing

associated with the development of our product candidates.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, related benefits and stock-based compensation expense for personnel in executive, finance, accounting, legal and administrative functions. General and administrative expenses also include facilities and other expenses, which include direct or allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities and insurance, not otherwise included in research and development expenses, as well as professional fees for legal, patent, consulting, investor and public relations, accounting and audit services.

We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future as we increase our headcount to support the continued research and development of our programs.

Interest income

Interest income primarily consists of interest income generated from our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

​

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["\u200b","\u200b","Year ended December 31,","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["\u200b","","2021","","2020","","Change"],["\u200b","\u200b","(in thousands)"],["Operating expenses:","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["Research and development","\u200b","$","32,189","\u200b","$","14,983","\u200b","$","17,206"],["General and administrative","\u200b","","11,026","\u200b","","2,209","\u200b","","8,817"],["Total operating expenses","\u200b","","43,215","\u200b","","17,192","\u200b","","26,023"],["Loss from operations","\u200b","","\u200b","\u200b","","\u200b","\u200b","","\u200b"],["Interest income","\u200b","","402","\u200b","","69","\u200b","","333"],["Net loss","\u200b","$","42,813","\u200b","$","17,123","\u200b","$","25,690"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

​

Research and development expenses

​

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses:

​

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["\u200b","\u200b","Year ended December 31,","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["\u200b","","2021","","2020","","Change"],["\u200b","\u200b","(in thousands)"],["External research and development expenses:","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["EDG-5506 clinical program","\u200b","$","13,870","\u200b","$","7,810","\u200b","$","6,060"],["Discovery and preclinical","\u200b","","7,664","\u200b","","2,869","\u200b","","4,795"],["Internal costs, including personnel related","\u200b","","10,655","\u200b","","4,304","\u200b","","6,351"],["Total research and development expenses","\u200b","$","32,189","\u200b","$","14,983","\u200b","$","17,206"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

​

Research and development expenses were $32.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $15.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase of $17.2 million was primarily driven by $6.1 million of higher external research and development expenses related to our Phase 1 clinical trial of EDG-5506, an increase of $4.8 million related to increased costs in outsourced chemistry, drug metabolism and efficacy studies for drug discovery and

139

Table of Contents

preclinical development of our other programs and an increase of $6.4 million in internal costs, including personnel related. Internal costs increased by $6.1 million in personnel-related costs, due largely to an increased employee headcount and stock-based compensation to support the growth of our research and development programs and $0.3 million in lab supply costs and depreciation expense.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses were $11.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $2.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase of $8.8 million was primarily related to the cost of operating as a public company, including $3.9 million in increased personnel-related costs from increased headcount and stock-based compensation, $2.2 million in increased directors and officers insurance and $2.7 million in increased professional and consulting costs and other administrative costs.

Interest income

Interest income was $0.4 million and $0.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase of $0.3 million was the result of higher cash and marketable securities balances from the proceeds of our IPO in 2021 as compared to our cash balances in 2020, resulting in higher interest income earned.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of liquidity

Since our inception, we have not generated any revenue and have incurred significant operating losses and negative cash flows from our operations. We have funded our operations to date primarily with proceeds from the sale of convertible preferred stock and the initial public offering of our common stock. Through December 31, 2021, we had received gross proceeds of $160.7 million from the sale of convertible preferred stock and $186.1 million in net proceeds from the initial public offering of our common stock after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering costs of $16.3 million. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities in the amount of $280.8 million.

Cash flows

The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash for each of the periods presented:

​

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b","\u200b"],["\u200b","\u200b","Year ended December 31,"],["\u200b","","2021","","2020"],["\u200b","\u200b","(in thousands)"],["Net cash used in operating activities","\u200b","$","(33,507)","\u200b","$","(14,634)"],["Net cash used in investing activities","\u200b","","(242,227)","\u200b","","(24,381)"],["Net cash provided by financing activities","\u200b","","186,384","\u200b","","120,278"],["Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents","\u200b","$","(89,350)","\u200b","$","81,263"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

​

Operating activities

Cash used in operating activities in the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily driven by our net loss for the period of $42.8 million, and was also impacted by changes in operating assets and liabilities which decreased net working capital by $4.6 million. Cash used in operating activities was reduced by non-cash charges of $4.7 million relating to stock-based compensation expense of $4.4 million and depreciation of $0.3 million.

140

Table of Contents

Cash used in operating activities in the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily driven by our net loss for the period of $17.1 million, and was also impacted by changes in operating assets and liabilities which decreased net working capital by $2.0 million. Cash used in operating activities was also impacted by non-cash charges of $0.5 million relating to stock-based compensation expense of $0.3 million and depreciation expense of $0.2 million.

Investing activities

Cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 amounted to $242.2 million which was due to $288.2 million in purchases of marketable securities and $0.7 million for purchases of equipment, which was partially offset by $43.2 million in maturities of marketable securities and $3.4 million of sales of marketable securities.

Cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 amounted to $24.4 million which was due to $24.2 million in purchases of marketable securities and $0.2 million for purchases of equipment.

Financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021 was $186.4 million, primarily consisting of cash proceeds from the initial public offering of the Company’s common stock. In addition, we generated cash proceeds of $0.4 million from the issuance of common stock upon the exercise of stock options and the employee stock purchase plan and paid $0.1 million in preferred stock issuance costs.

Net cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 was $120.3 million, primarily consisting of cash proceeds of $120.1 million generated from our sale of shares of Series B-2 and Series C convertible preferred stock. In addition, we generated cash proceeds of $0.2 million from the issuance of common stock upon the exercise of stock options.

Funding requirements

We will continue to require substantial additional capital to develop our product candidates and fund operations for the foreseeable future. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue the development of and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates, and begin to commercialize any approved products. We are subject to all of the risks incident in the development of new products, and we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may harm our business. In addition, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Our expenses will also increase if, and as, we:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","advance our product candidates through preclinical and clinical development;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","seek regulatory approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","continue to invest in our proprietary drug discovery platform;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","seek to discover and develop additional product candidates;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","establish a sales, marketing, medical affairs and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any product candidates for which we may obtain marketing approval and intend to commercialize on our own or jointly;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","hire additional clinical, quality control, scientific and other personnel;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","expand our operational, financial and management systems and increase personnel including personnel to support our clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization efforts and our operations as a public company;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

141

Table of Contents

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","maintain, expand, protect and enforce our intellectual property portfolio; and"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

We do not currently have material any long-term capital requirements other than what will be required to fund operations for the foreseeable future and the amounts disclosed on the contractual obligations and commitments section below. In order to complete the process of obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates and to build the sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure that we believe will be necessary to commercialize our product candidates, if approved, we will require substantial additional funding.

We have based our projections of operating capital requirements on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect and we may use all of our available capital resources sooner than we expect. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with research, development and commercialization of product candidates, we are unable to estimate the exact amount and timing of our working capital requirements. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the scope, progress, results and costs of researching and developing our product candidates including"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the number and characteristics of other product candidates that we pursue;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the costs of future activities, including product sales, medical affairs, marketing, manufacturing and distribution, for any of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the costs of manufacturing commercial-grade products and sufficient inventory to support commercial launch;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the revenue, if any, received from commercial sale of our products, should any of our product candidates receive marketing approval;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the cost and timing of hiring new employees to support our continued growth;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the effect of competing products that may limit market penetration of our products;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the ability to establish and maintain collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the extent to which we acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the timing, receipt and amount of sales of, or milestone payments related to or royalties on, our current or future product candidates, if any;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","our need to implement additional internal systems and infrastructure, including financial and reporting systems;"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the compliance and administrative costs associated with being a public company; and"]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

[[GREPCENT_TABLE]]
[["","\u25cf","the extent to which we acquire or invest in businesses, products, or technologies, although we currently have no commitments or agreements relating to any of these types of transactions."]]
[[/GREPCENT_TABLE]]

142

Table of Contents

A change in the outcome of any of these or other factors with respect to the development of any of our product candidates could significantly change the costs and timing associated with the development of that product candidate. Furthermore, our operating plans may change in the future, and we may need additional funds to meet operational needs and capital requirements associated with such operating plans.

If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may be required to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development or future commercialization efforts. We may also be required to grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

The issuance of additional equity securities may cause our stockholders to experience dilution. Future equity or debt financings may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders including debt instruments imposing covenants that restrict our operations and limit our ability to incur liens, issue additional debt, pay dividends, repurchase our common stock, make certain investments or engage in merger, consolidation, licensing or asset sale transactions.

Operating and Capital Expenditure Requirements and Contractual Obligations

We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities, will be sufficient to enable us to fund our planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through at least the next 12 months.

Our short-term material cash requirements as of December 31, 2021 are to fund our operations, which consist primarily of research and development expenses related to our programs, and to a lesser extent, general and administrative expenses. We have entered into contracts in the normal course of business with CROs, CDMOs and other third parties for preclinical research studies and testing, clinical trials and manufacturing services. These contracts do not contain any minimum purchase commitments and are cancelable by us upon prior notice. Payments due upon cancellation consist only of payments for services provided and expenses incurred, including non-cancelable obligations of our service providers, up to the date of cancellation.

In addition, we have exclusively licensed intellectual property from The Ohio State Innovation Foundation (OSIF) pursuant to a license agreement effective November 20, 2020. Under the license agreement, we are obligated to make payments to OSIF aggregating up to $1.3 million per product covered by the OSIF licensed patent rights upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory approval milestones and approximately $2.3 million per product covered by the OSIF licensed patent rights upon the achievement of specified sales milestones. We are also obligated to pay low single-digit royalties to OSIF based on net sales by us and our affiliates and sublicensees of each product covered by the OSIF licensed patent rights. In addition, in the event we sublicense the OSIF licensed patent rights, we are obligated to pay OSIF a specified portion of income we receive from sublicensing.

Our long-term cash requirements as of December 31, 2021 include our lease obligations. In January 2022, we entered into a lease agreement for approximately 18,614 square feet of office and laboratory space in Boulder, Colorado. The new lease commences on or around September 1, 2022 and includes escalating rent payments and an 84-month term. The lease agreement includes a tenant improvement allowance for $1.0 million of construction costs to be paid for by the landlord and up to an additional $2.0 million of tenant improvement allowance for which the Company will repay the landlord on an amortized straight-line basis over the initial term of the lease, commencing on the commencement date and continuing for the duration of the initial term at 6% interest. The total annual minimum lease payments will be less than $0.5 million per year with a total of approximately $3.3 million committed under the lease agreement.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The preparation of our financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, costs and expenses, and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are 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. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on a periodic basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates.

143

Table of Contents

The economic uncertainty in the current environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could limit our ability to accurately make and evaluate our estimates and judgments. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.

While our significant accounting policies are described in the notes to our financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report, we believe that the following critical accounting policies are most important to understanding and evaluating our reported financial results.

Research and development expenses and accrued research and development expenses

As part of the process of preparing our financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued research and development expenses. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of actual costs. The majority of our service providers invoice us in arrears for services performed, based on a pre-determined schedule or when contractual milestones are met, but some require advance payments. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date in the financial statements based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. If timelines or contracts are modified based upon changes in the clinical trial protocol or scope of work to be performed, we modify our estimates of clinical trial accruals accordingly on a prospective basis. Examples of estimated accrued research and development expenses include fees paid to:

​

• vendors in connection with preclinical development activities;

​

• CROs and investigative sites in connection with preclinical studies and clinical trials; and

​

• CDMOs in connection with the production of preclinical and clinical trial materials.

​

​

We base our expenses related to external research and development services on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with multiple CROs and CDMOs that supply, conduct and manage preclinical studies and clinical trials on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the expense. Payments under some of these contracts depend on factors such as the successful enrollment of patients and the completion of clinical trial milestones. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from the estimate, we adjust the accrual or the amount of prepaid expenses accordingly.

​

Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, our understanding of the status and timing of services performed relative to the actual status and timing of services performed may vary and may result in reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have not been any material adjustments to our prior estimates of accrued research and development expenses.

​

Stock-based compensation

​

We measure stock-based awards granted to employees, directors and non-employee consultants based on their fair value on the date of grant and recognize compensation expense for those awards over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award. We issue stock options with only service-based vesting conditions and record the expense for these awards using the straight-line method.

​

We estimate the fair value of each stock option grant at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires inputs based on certain subjective assumptions.

144

Table of Contents

Changes to these assumptions can materially affect the fair value of stock options and ultimately the amount of stock-based compensation expense recognized in our financial statements. These assumptions include:

​

Expected Term — We have opted to use the “simplified method” for estimating the expected term of options, whereby the expected term equals the arithmetic average of the vesting term and the original contractual term of the option, which is generally 10 years.

​

Expected Volatility — Due to our limited operating history and a lack of company-specific historical and implied volatility data, we have based our estimate of expected volatility on an analysis of the volatility used by a peer group of publicly traded companies. In evaluating similarity, we consider factors such as industry, stage of life cycle and size.

​

Risk-Free Interest Rate — The risk-free rate assumption is based on the U.S. Treasury instruments with maturities similar to the expected term of our stock options.

​

Expected Dividend — To date, we have not issued any dividends and do not expect to issue dividends over the life of the options and therefore have estimated the dividend yield to be zero.

​

We determine the fair market value of our common stock using the closing price of our common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

​

Stock-based compensation expense was $4.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, there was $25.2 million of total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to unvested stock-based compensation awards, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of approximately 3.4 years.

​

​

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

A description of recently issued accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is disclosed in Note 2 to our financial statements appearing in our Annual Report.

Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company Status

Section 107 of The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act) permits an “emerging growth company” such as us to take advantage of an extended transition time to comply with new or revised accounting standards as applicable to public companies. Thus, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this extended transition period and, as a result, we will adopt new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for private companies.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; (2) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (3) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period; and (4) the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering.

We are also a “smaller reporting company,” meaning that the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million and our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (1) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (2) our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure

145

Table of Contents

requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company, we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.

​