Organization and Description of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Description of Business

1. Organization and Description of Business

CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. (the Company or CymaBay) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and providing access to innovative therapies for patients with liver and other chronic diseases with high unmet medical need. The Company’s key clinical development candidate is seladelpar. Seladelpar has been primarily under development for the treatment primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a rare liver disease. The Company was incorporated in Delaware in October 1988 as Transtech Corporation. The Company’s headquarters and operations are located in Newark, California and it operates in one segment.

Liquidity

The Company has incurred net operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since its inception. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company incurred a net loss of $90.0 million and used $69.4 million of cash in operations. At December 31, 2021, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $766.9 million.

Historically, the Company has incurred substantial research and development expenses in the course of studying its product candidates in clinical trials. To date, none of the Company’s product candidates have been approved for marketing and sale, and the Company has not recorded any revenue from product sales. Generally, the Company’s ability to achieve profitability is dependent on its ability to successfully develop, acquire or in-license additional product candidates, conduct clinical trials for those product candidates, obtain regulatory approvals, and support commercialization activities for those product candidates. Any products developed will require approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or a foreign regulatory authority prior to commercial sale. The regulatory approval process is expensive, time-consuming, and uncertain, and any denial or delay of approval could have a material adverse effect on the Company. Even if approved, the Company’s products may not achieve market acceptance and will face competition from both generic and branded pharmaceutical products.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company completed certain financing transactions as follows:

• On July 30, 2021, the Company entered into a Development Financing Agreement (the Financing Agreement) with ABW Cyclops SPV LP, an affiliate of Abingworth LLP (Abingworth), pursuant to which Abingworth committed to provide $75.0 million in funding in three equal quarterly installments, and an additional amount of $25.0 million at the Company’s option, for a total funding commitment of up to $100 million, to support the Company’s development of seladelpar for the treatment of PBC. The Company received the first $25.0 million installment in August 2021, the second $25.0 million installment in November 2021 and the third $25.0 million installment subsequently in January 2022. For further details, refer to Note 6—Development Financing Agreement.

• On November 22, 2021, the Company sold 15,625,000 shares of common stock at $4.00 per share and pre-funded warrants to purchase 3,125,000 shares of common stock at $3.9999 per shares in a public equity offering, for total gross offering proceeds of approximately $75 million, before deducting approximately $5 million of underwriting discount and other offering expenses. For further details, refer to Note 9—Stockholders’ Equity.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling $194.6 million, which the Company believes is sufficient to fund its current operating plan for at least twelve months from the issuance date of its financial statements.

The Company has historically obtained, and expects to obtain in the future, additional financing to fund its business strategy through: future equity offerings; debt financing; one or more possible licenses, collaborations

or other similar arrangements with respect to development and/or commercialization rights of the Company’s product candidates; or a combination of the above. It is unclear if or when any such transactions will occur, on satisfactory terms or at all. The Company’s failure to raise capital as and when needed could have a negative impact on its financial condition and its ability to pursue its business strategies. If adequate funds are not available to the Company, it could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations, and financial condition. Market volatility resulting from the global novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic or other factors could also adversely impact the Company’s ability to access capital when and as needed. Failure to raise sufficient capital when needed could require the Company to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue its product development programs or commercialization efforts or other aspects of its business plans, and its operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.