Nature of business and future operations

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (the “Company” or “Arbutus”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing a cure for people with chronic hepatitis B virus (“HBV”) infection. The Company is advancing multiple drug product candidates that may be combined into a potentially curative regimen for chronic HBV infection.

The Company’s pipeline includes:


•	AB-729, a subcutaneously-delivered RNA interference (“RNAi”) product candidate currently in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial with preliminary results announced in March 2020. Additional Week 12 single-dose results for the 60 mg dose cohort are expected in the second quarter of 2020. Results from a single-dose 90 mg cohort and a multi-dose 60 mg cohort are expected in the second half of 2020;


•	AB-836, a next-generation capsid inhibitor product candidate currently advancing through IND-enabling studies; and


•	other compounds early in the development process, including oral compounds that inhibit PD-L1 and next-generation oral HBV RNA destabilizers.

The success of the Company is dependent on obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals to bring its products to market and achieving profitable operations. The Company’s research and development activities and commercialization of its products are dependent on its ability to successfully complete these activities and to obtain adequate financing through a combination of financing activities and operations. It is not possible to predict either the outcome of the Company’s existing or future research and development programs or the Company’s ability to continue to fund these programs in the future.

COVID-19

In December 2019, an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China. This virus continues to spread globally, has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and has spread to nearly every country in the world. The impact of this pandemic has been, and will likely continue to be, extensive in many aspects of society. The pandemic has resulted in and will likely continue to result in significant disruptions to businesses. A number of countries and other jurisdictions around the world have implemented extreme measures to try and slow the spread of the virus. These measures include the closing of businesses and requiring people to stay in their homes, the latter of which raises uncertainty regarding the ability to travel to hospitals in order to participate in clinical trials. Additional measures that have had, and will likely continue to have, a major impact on clinical development, at least in the near-term, include shortages and delays in the supply chain, and prohibitions in certain countries on enrolling subjects in new clinical trials. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, we have not had to alter our objectives for 2020. However, future disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic could negatively impact our plans and timelines, including enrolling and monitoring subjects in the trial.

While Arbutus’ core mission is to find a cure for hepatitis B, the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic is undeniable. Given the Company’s proven expertise in the discovery of new antiviral therapies, Arbutus feels compelled to work towards the discovery of a new treatment. To that end, the Company has assembled an internal team of expert scientists under the direction of Arbutus’ Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Michael Sofia, to identify novel small molecule therapies to treat COVID-19 and future coronavirus outbreaks. Dr. Sofia, who was awarded the Lasker-DeBakey Award for his discovery of sofosbuvir, brings extensive antiviral drug discovery experience to this new program. The Company has also recently joined forces with the COVID R&D consortium to further support and expedite efforts to address the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and any future coronavirus outbreaks. At this time, Arbutus’ COVID-19 research program will focus on the discovery and development of new molecular entities that address specific viral targets including the nsp12 viral polymerase and the viral protease. These targets are essential viral proteins which Arbutus has experience in targeting. The establishment of the COVID-19 effort does not impact the Company’s belief that its cash, cash equivalents and investments as of March 31, 2020 are sufficient to fund its operations into the middle of 2021.