10-Q

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

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

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2022

OR

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

For the transition period from ______________ to ______________

Commission File Number: 001-38898

Applied Therapeutics, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Delaware	81-3405262
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

545 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1400

New York, New York 10017

(212) 220-9226

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

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

Title of each class	Trading Symbol	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.0001	APLT	The Nasdaq Global Market

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  ☐

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  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a 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.

Large accelerated filer	☐	Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer	☒	Smaller reporting company	☒
Emerging growth company	☒

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.  ☒

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

As of May 11, 2022, the registrant had 26,236,931 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding.

Table of Contents

		Page
	Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements	2
PART I.	FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1.	Financial Statements (Unaudited)	4
	Condensed Balance Sheets	4
	Condensed Statements of Operations	5
	Condensed Statements of Comprehensive Loss	6
	Condensed Statements of Stockholders’ Equity	7
	Condensed Statements of Cash Flows	8
	Notes to Condensed Financial Statements (Unaudited)	9
Item 2.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	24
Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	35
Item 4.	Controls and Procedures	36
PART II.	OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1.	Legal Proceedings	36
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	36
Item 2.	Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds	81
Item 3.	Defaults Upon Senior Securities	82
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	82
Item 5.	Other Information	82
Item 6.	Exhibits	82
	Signatures	83

1

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including statements regarding our strategy, future financial condition, future operations, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management and expected market growth, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “design,” “due,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “predict,” “project”, “positioned,” “potential,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and other similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.

We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks described in the section titled “Risk Factors” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q:

● our plans to develop, market and commercialize our product candidates;

● the initiation, timing, progress and results of our current and future preclinical studies and clinical trials and our research and development programs;

● our ability to take advantage of expedited regulatory pathways for any of our product candidates;

● our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing;

● our ability to successfully acquire or license additional product candidates on reasonable terms and advance product candidates into, and successfully complete, clinical studies;

● our ability to maintain and establish collaborations or obtain additional funding;

● our ability to obtain and timing of regulatory approval of our current and future product candidates;

● the anticipated indications for our product candidates, if approved;

● our expectations regarding the potential market size and the rate and degree of market acceptance of such product candidates;

● our ability to fund our working capital requirements and expectations regarding the sufficiency of our capital resources;

● the implementation of our business model and strategic plans for our business and product candidates;

● our intellectual property position and the duration of our patent rights;

● developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or other proprietary rights;

● the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the timing and progress of our ongoing clinical trials, our business, results of operations, liquidity, and operations and our ability to mitigate those potential impacts;

● our expectations regarding government and third-party payor coverage and reimbursement;

● our ability to compete in the markets we serve;

● the impact of government laws and regulations and liabilities thereunder;

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● developments relating to our competitors and our industry; and

● other factors that may impact our financial results.

The foregoing list of risks is not exhaustive. Other sections of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may include additional factors that could harm our business and financial performance. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements.

In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur at all. You should refer to the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for a discussion of important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. Furthermore, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Applied,” “Applied Therapeutics,” “the Company,” “we,” “us,” “our”, “the registrant” and similar references in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q refer to Applied Therapeutics, Inc.

3

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements.

Applied Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Balance Sheets

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

	As of		As of
	March 31,		December 31,
	2022		2021
	(Unaudited)
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	38,214	$	53,888
Investments		17,437		26,935
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		7,913		7,571
Total current assets		63,564		88,394
Operating lease right-of-use asset		1,190		1,298
Security deposits and leasehold improvements		199		200
TOTAL ASSETS	$	64,953	$	89,892
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES:
Current portion of operating lease liabilities	$	453	$	442
Accounts payable		5,922		9,461
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities		15,842		16,559
Total current liabilities		22,217		26,462
NONCURRENT LIABILITIES:
Noncurrent portion of operating lease liabilities		773		891
Total noncurrent liabilities		773		891
Total liabilities		22,990		27,353
STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; 26,215,514 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021		3		3
Preferred stock, par value $0.0001; 10,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; 0 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021		-		-
Additional paid-in capital		331,476		328,958
Accumulated other comprehensive loss		(80)		(107)
Accumulated deficit		(289,436)		(266,315)
Total stockholders' equity		41,963		62,539
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY	$	64,953	$	89,892

The Notes to Condensed Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

4

Applied Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Statements of Operations

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(Unaudited)

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Research and development	$	15,030	$	14,448
General and administrative		8,071		9,751
Total operating expenses		23,101		24,199
LOSS FROM OPERATIONS		(23,101)		(24,199)
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET:
Interest income (expense), net		76		76
Other income (expense)		(96)		(56)
Total other income (expense), net		(20)		20
Net loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders—basic and diluted	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders—basic and diluted	$	(0.88)	$	(1.00)
Weighted-average common stock outstanding—basic and diluted		26,215,514		24,135,735

The Notes to Condensed Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

5

Applied Therapeutics Inc.

Condensed Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)

(in thousands)

(Unaudited)

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021
Net Loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Other comprehensive income (loss)
Unrealized gain (loss) on marketable securities		27		(42)
Foreign currency translation adjustments		—		—
Income tax related to unrealized gain or loss on marketable securities		—		—
Other comprehensive gain (loss), net of tax		27		(42)
Comprehensive income (loss), net of tax	$	(23,094)	$	(24,221)

The Notes to Condensed Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

6

Applied Therapeutics Inc.

Condensed Statements of Stockholders’ Equity

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

(Unaudited)

	Common Stock
	$0.0001				Additional				Accumulated Other		Total
	Par Value				Paid-in		Accumulated		Comprehensive		Stockholders’
	Shares		Amount		Capital		Deficit		Income (Loss)		Equity
BALANCE, January 1, 2021		22,493,661	$	2	$	242,780	$	(160,731)	$	(112)	$	81,939
Issuance of common stock upon secondary public offering, net of issuance costs of $203		3,450,000		1		74,386		—		—		74,387
Exercise of options for common stock issued under Equity Incentive Plan		37,400		—		67		—		—		67
Exercise of options for common stock not yet issued		(465)		—		(1)		—		—		(1)
Restricted Stock Unit released for common stock issued under Equity Incentive Plan		1,988		—		—		—		—		—
Exercise of warrants for common stock		27,855		—		69		—		—		69
Stock-based compensation expense		—		—		2,981		—		—		2,981
Net loss		—		—		—		(24,179)		—		(24,179)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		—		—		—		—		(42)		(42)
BALANCE, March 31, 2021		26,010,439		3		320,282		(184,910)		(154)		135,221

	Common Stock
	$0.0001				Additional				Accumulated Other		Total
	Par Value				Paid-in		Accumulated		Comprehensive		Stockholders’
	Shares		Amount		Capital		Deficit		Income (Loss)		Equity
BALANCE, January 1, 2022		26,215,514	$	3	$	328,958	$	(266,315)	$	(107)	$	62,539
Restricted Stock Unit released for common stock issued under Equity Incentive Plan		21,417		—		—		—		—		—
Restricted Stock Units released for common stock not yet issued		(21,417)		—		—		—		—		—
Stock-based compensation expense		—		—		2,077		—		—		2,077
Issuance of options in-lieu of bonus		—		—		441		—		—		441
Net loss		—		—		—		(23,121)		—		(23,121)
Other comprehensive income (loss)		—		—		—		—		27		27
BALANCE, March 31, 2022		26,215,514	$	3	$	331,476	$	(289,436)	$	(80)	$	41,963

7

Applied Therapeutics, Inc.

Condensed Statements of Cash Flows

(in thousands)

(Unaudited)

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021
OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Stock-based compensation expense		2,077		2,981
Issuance of options in-lieu of bonus		441		—
Amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets		108		100
Change in operating lease liability		(106)		(97)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Prepaid expenses		(1,435)		(1,573)
Accounts payable		(3,539)		2,835
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities		72		(3,270)
Amortization of insurance premium		1,093		990
Net cash used in operating activities		(24,410)		(22,213)
INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchase of available-for-sale securities		(5,994)		(88,007)
Proceeds from sale of available-for-sale securities		—		500
Proceeds from maturities of available-for-sale securities		15,519		62,835
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities		9,525		(24,672)
FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from February Offering, net of cash issuance costs of $165		—		74,424
Repayments of short-term borrowings		(789)		(1,074)
Exercise of stock options for common stock under Equity Incentive Plan		—		67
Exercise of Warrants		—		69
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities		(789)		73,486
NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS		(15,674)		26,601
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period		53,888		57,466
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	$	38,214	$	84,067
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION:
Unrealized gain (loss) on marketable securities	$	27	$	(42)
February Offering costs still in accrued expense	$	—	$	38

The Notes to Condensed Financial Statements are an integral part of these statements.

8

Applied Therapeutics, Inc.

Notes to Condensed Financial Statements (Unaudited)

1. ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Operations and Business

Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need. In particular, the Company is currently targeting treatments for rare metabolic diseases such as Galactosemia, Sorbitol Dehydrogenase deficiency, (“SORD” deficiency), and diabetic complications including diabetic cardiomyopathy. The Company was incorporated in Delaware on January 20, 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

On January 28, 2020, the Company completed its secondary public offering (the “Secondary Public Offering”), pursuant to which it issued and sold 2,741,489 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $45.50 per share, with an additional 411,223 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ full exercise of their option to purchase additional shares. The aggregate net proceeds received by the Company from the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs, were $134.1 million.

On June 4, 2020, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the “Shelf Registration Statement”) under which the Company may, from time to time, sell securities in one or more offerings having an aggregate offering price of up to $300.0 million. The Shelf Registration Statement was declared effective as of June 15, 2020.

On June 12, 2020, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement”) with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (“Goldman”), as a sales agent to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100 million. Goldman may act as an agent on the Company’s behalf or purchase shares of the Company’s common stock as a principal. The Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement was terminated as of January 24, 2022.

In February 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 3,450,000 shares of common stock (the “February Offering”), including the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase 450,000 additional shares of common stock, which option closed on February 19, 2021. The shares were offered at a price to the public of $23.00 per share, resulting in aggregate net proceeds of approximately $74.4 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses.

On January 26, 2022, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”), as a sales agent, to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. Pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement shares of our common stock may be offered and sold through the sales agent in sales deemed “at-the-market” offerings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, the sales agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 3% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of our common stock sold through it pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement. In connection with the sale of shares of our common stock on our behalf, the sales agent may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the sales agent may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement.

9

The accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared by the Company in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial statements. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These condensed financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited financial statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2021 included in the Annual Report, filed with the SEC on March 10, 2022 (the “Annual Report”).

The unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements contain all adjustments which are necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position as of March 31, 2022, results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021. Such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022, are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022.

Liquidity and Going Concern

The Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, significant operating losses for the foreseeable future as it continues to develop its drug candidates. To date, the Company has not generated any revenue, and it does not expect to generate revenue unless and until it successfully completes development and obtains regulatory approval for one of its product candidates.

Under ASC Topic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern, management is required at each reporting period to evaluate whether there are conditions and events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. We are actively pursuing several potential financing options. While we continue to explore opportunities to raise additional equity capital in the public markets, this has proven to be challenging in the biotech sector recently. Other options for structured finance which we continue to explore include a PIPE, debt, convertible debt, and synthetic royalty financing. Synthetic royalty financing, in particular, has become a favorable option for many companies for funding ongoing clinical development in late-stage and pre-approval programs. We have engaged an investment bank and we are specifically exploring this option in the near term. Additionally, we are in active dialogue with several potential partners regarding business development opportunities related to one or more of our programs. There can be no assurances that our discussions with any of the current counterparties will be successful, and the Company expects to continue to pursue additional opportunities.

As reflected in the accompanying financial statements, the Company has a net loss of $23.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and has an accumulated deficit of $289.4 million as of March 31, 2022. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming the continuation of the Company as a going concern. The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and is dependent on debt and equity financing to fund its operations. While we believe that our cash and cash equivalents and investments of $55.7 million at March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to fund our operations through year end 2022, given our planned expenditures for the next several years, we have concluded and our independent registered public accounting firm has agreed with our conclusion that there is still a substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

Risks and Uncertainties

The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the biotechnology industry, including, but not limited to, risks of failure of preclinical studies and clinical trials, the need to obtain marketing approval for any product candidate that it may identify and develop, the need to successfully commercialize and gain market acceptance of its product candidates, dependence on key personnel, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations, development by competitors of technological innovations and reliance on third-party manufacturers.

10

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Significant Accounting Policies

The significant accounting policies and estimates used in preparation of the condensed financial statements are described in the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the notes thereto, which are included in the Annual Report. There have been no material changes to the Company’s significant accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2022.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Any recent pronouncements issued by the FASB or other authoritative standards groups with future effective dates are either not applicable or are not expected to be significant to the financial statements of the Company.

2. LICENSE AGREEMENT

Columbia University

In October 2016, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “2016 Columbia Agreement”) with the Trustees of Columbia University (“Columbia University”) to obtain an exclusive royalty-bearing sublicensable license in respect to certain patents. As part of the consideration for entering into the 2016 Columbia Agreement, the Company issued to Columbia University shares equal to 5% of its outstanding common stock on a fully diluted basis at the time of issue. The common stock had a fair value of $0.5 million at the time of issuance. The Company will be required to make further payments to Columbia University of up to an aggregate of $1.3 million for the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, and up to an aggregate of $1.0 million for the achievement of a specified level of aggregate annual net sales, in each case in connection with products covered by the 2016 Columbia Agreement. The Company will also be required to pay tiered royalties to Columbia University in the low- to mid-single digit percentages on the Company’s, its affiliates’ and its sublicensees’ net sales of licensed products, subject to specified offsets and reductions. In addition, the Company is required to make specified annual minimum royalty payments to Columbia University, which is contingent upon the approval of the licensed products, in the mid-six figures beginning on the 10th anniversary of the effective date of the 2016 Columbia Agreement. The Company has not granted any sublicenses under the 2016 Columbia Agreement. However, if the Company sublicenses the rights granted under the 2016 Columbia Agreement to one or more third parties, it will be required to pay Columbia University a portion of the net sublicensing revenue received from such third parties, at percentages between 10% and 20%, depending on the stage of development at the time such revenue is received from such third parties.

The 2016 Columbia Agreement will terminate upon the expiration of all the Company’s royalty payment obligations in all countries. The Company may terminate the 2016 Columbia Agreement for convenience upon 90 days’ written notice to Columbia University. At its election, Columbia University may terminate the 2016 Columbia Agreement, or convert the licenses granted to the Company into non-exclusive, non-sublicensable licenses, in the case of (a) the Company’s uncured material breach upon 30 days’ written notice (which shall be extended to 90 days if the Company is diligently attempting to cure such material breach), (b) the Company’s failure to achieve the specified development and funding milestone events, or (c) the Company’s insolvency.

11

In January 2019, the Company entered into a second license agreement with Columbia University (the “2019 Columbia Agreement”). Pursuant to the 2019 Columbia Agreement, Columbia University granted the Company a royalty-bearing, sublicensable license that is exclusive with respect to certain patents, and non-exclusive with respect to certain know-how, in each case to develop, manufacture and commercialize PI3k inhibitor products. The license grant is worldwide. Under the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the Company is obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to research, discover, develop and market licensed products for commercial sale in the licensed territory, and to comply with certain obligations to meet specified development and funding milestones within defined time periods. Columbia University retains the right to conduct, and grant third parties the right to conduct, non-clinical academic research using the licensed technology; provided that such research is not funded by a commercial entity or for-profit entity or results in rights granted to a commercial or for-profit entity. As consideration for entering into the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the Company made a nominal upfront payment to Columbia University. The Company will be required to make further payments to Columbia University of up to an aggregate of $1.3 million for the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, and up to an aggregate of $1.0 million for the achievement of a specified level of aggregate annual net sales, in each case in connection with products covered by the 2019 Columbia Agreement. The Company will also be required to pay tiered royalties to Columbia University in the low- to mid-single digit percentages on the Company’s, its affiliates’ and its sublicensees’ net sales of licensed products, subject to specified offsets and reductions. In addition, the Company is required to make specified annual minimum royalty payments to Columbia University, which is contingent upon the approval of the licensed products, in the mid-six figures beginning on the tenth anniversary of the effective date of the 2019 Columbia Agreement.

The Company has not granted any sublicenses under the 2019 Columbia Agreement. However, if the Company sublicenses the rights granted under the 2019 Columbia Agreement to one or more third parties, it will be required to pay Columbia University a portion of the net sublicensing revenue received from such third parties, at percentages between 10% and 50%, depending on the stage of development at the time such revenue is received from such third parties. The 2019 Columbia Agreement will terminate upon the expiration of all the Company’s royalty payment obligations in all countries. The Company may terminate the 2019 Columbia Agreement for convenience upon 90 days’ written notice to Columbia University. At its election, Columbia University may terminate the 2019 Columbia Agreement, or convert the licenses granted to the Company into non-exclusive, non-sublicensable licenses, in the case of (a) the Company’s uncured material breach upon 30 days’ written notice (which shall be extended to 90 days if the Company is diligently attempting to cure such material breach), (b) the Company’s failure to achieve the specified development and funding milestone events, or (c) the Company’s insolvency.

In March 2019, and in connection with the 2016 Columbia Agreement, the Company entered into a research services agreement (the “2019 Columbia Research Agreement”) with Columbia University with the purpose of analyzing structural and functional changes in brain tissue in an animal model of Galactosemia, and the effects of certain compounds whose intellectual property rights were licensed to the Company as part of the 2016 Columbia Agreement on any such structural and functional changes. The 2019 Columbia Research Agreement had a term of 12 months from its effective date and expired in accordance with its terms.

On October 3, 2019, and in connection with the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the Company entered into a research services agreement (the “PI3k Columbia Research Agreement” and collectively with the 2016 Columbia Agreement, 2019 Columbia Agreement and 2019 Columbia Research Agreement, the “Columbia Agreements”) with Columbia University with the purpose of analyzing PI3k inhibitors for the treatment of lymphoid malignancies. The PI3k Columbia Research Agreement had a term of 18 months from its effective date and expired in accordance with its terms.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recorded $0 and $13,000 in research and development expense and general and administrative expense, respectively, related to the Columbia Agreements. During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the Company recorded $0 in research and development expense and $32,000 in general and administrative expense, respectively, related to the Columbia Agreements. In aggregate, the Company has incurred $2.5 million in expense from the execution of the Columbia Agreements through March 31, 2022.

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As of March 31, 2022, the Company had $36,000 due to Columbia University included in accrued expenses and $0 included in accounts payable. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $12,000 due to Columbia University included in accrued expenses and $0.1 million included in accounts payable.

University of Miami

2020 Miami License Agreement

On October 28, 2020, the Company entered into a license agreement with the University of Miami (the “2020 Miami License Agreement”) relating to certain technology that is co-owned by the University of Miami (UM), the University of Rochester (UR) and University College London (UCL). UM was granted an exclusive agency from UR and UCL to license each of their rights in the technology. Pursuant to the 2020 Miami License Agreement, UM, on behalf of itself and UR and UCL, granted the Company a royalty-bearing, sublicensable license that is exclusive with respect to certain patent applications and patents that may grant from the applications, and non-exclusive with respect to certain know-how, in each case to research, develop, make, have made, use, sell and import products for use in treating and/or detecting certain inherited neuropathies, in particular those caused by mutation in the sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) gene. The license grant is worldwide. Under the 2020 Miami License Agreement, the Company is obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, manufacture, market and sell licensed products in the licensed territory, and to comply with certain obligations to meet specified development milestones within defined time periods. UM retains for itself, UR, and UCL the right to use the licensed patent rights and licensed technology for their internal non-commercial educational, research and clinical patient care purposes, including in sponsored research and collaboration with commercial entities.

Under the terms of the 2020 Miami License Agreement, the Company was obligated to pay UM an up-front non-refundable license fee of $1.1 million, and a second non-refundable license fee of $0.5 million due on the first anniversary of the date of the license. The Company will be required to make further payments to UM of up to an aggregate $2.2 million for the achievement of specified patenting and development milestones, and up to an aggregate of $4.1 million for achievement of late stage regulatory milestones. The Company will also be required to pay royalties ranging from 0.88% - 5% on the Company’s, the Company’s affiliates’ and the Company’s sublicensees’ net sales of licensed products. If the Company sublicenses the rights granted under the 2020 Miami License Agreement to one or more third parties, the Company will be required to pay to UM a portion of the non-royalty sublicensing revenue received from such third parties ranging from 15% – 25%.

The 2020 Miami License Agreement terminates upon the later of the expiration of all issued patents and filed patent applications or 10 years after the first commercial sale of the last product or process for which a royalty is due, unless earlier terminated. In addition, the 2020 Miami License Agreement may be terminated by the Company at any time upon 60 days prior written notice to UM, and may be terminated by either the Company or UM upon material breach of an obligation if action to cure the breach is not initiated within 60 days of receipt of written notice.

During each of the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 the Company recorded $25,000 in research and development expense related to the 2020 Miami License Agreement. In aggregate, the Company has incurred $2.3 million in expense from execution of the 2020 Miami License Agreement through March 31, 2022.

The Company had $0.3 million and $0.3 million due to UM included in accrued expenses as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, relating to the 2020 Miami License Agreement.

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2020 Miami Option Agreement

On October 28, 2020, the Company entered into an option agreement with the University of Miami (the “2020 Miami Option Agreement”) concerning certain research activities and technology relating to SORD neuropathy that may be pursued and developed by UM. Under the 2020 Miami Option Agreement, if UM conducts such research activities, then UM is obligated to grant the Company certain option rights to access and use the research results and to obtain licenses to any associated patent rights upon the Company making specified payments to UM within specified time limits. If the Company elects to obtain option rights the Company will be required to make payments to UM in the low-six figures to the low-seven figures, depending upon the rights the Company elects to obtain, and the Company will be obligated to make certain milestone payments in the high-six figures to mid-seven figures if UM conducts and completes certain research activities within specified time periods and the Company elects to receive rights to use the results of that research.

2020 Miami Sponsored Research Agreement

On December 14, 2020, the Company entered into a research agreement with the University of Miami (the “2020 Miami Research Agreement”), under which the University of Miami will conduct a research study relating to SORD neuropathy and deliver a final report on the study to the Company. The term of the research agreement is from December 14, 2020 through December 30, 2021, and was extended through May 31, 2022. The total consideration for the 2020 Miami Research Agreement was $0.3 million.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recorded $37,000 and $67,000, respectively, in research and development expense in relation to the 2020 Miami Research Agreement. The Company had $0.1 million and $0.2 million as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, in accrued expense in relation to the 2020 Miami Research Agreement.

Bayh-Dole Act

Some of the intellectual property rights the Company has licensed, including certain rights licensed in the agreements described above, may have been generated through the use of U.S. government funding. As a result, the U.S. government may have certain rights to intellectual property embodied in the Company’s current or future product candidates under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, or Bayh-Dole Act, including the grant to the government of a non-exclusive, worldwide, freedom to operate license under any patents, and the requirement, absent a waiver, to manufacture products substantially in the United States.  To the extent any of the Company’s current or future intellectual property is generated through the use of U.S. government funding, the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act may similarly apply.

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3. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

The following tables summarize, as of March 31, 2022, the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis, according to the fair value hierarchy described in the significant accounting policies in the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the notes thereto, which are included in the Annual Report.

	As of March 31, 2022
(in thousands)	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash	$	3,991	$	—	$	—	$	3,991
Money market funds		34,223		—		—		34,223
Total cash and cash equivalents	$	38,214	$	—	$	—	$	38,214
U.S. government agency debt securities		—		17,437		—		17,437
Total marketable securities	$	—	$	17,437	$	—	$	17,437
Total financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis	$	38,214	$	17,437	$	—	$	55,651

Investments in U.S. government agency debt securities have been classified as Level 2 as they are valued using quoted prices in less active markets or other directly or indirectly observable inputs. Fair values of U.S. government agency debt securities were derived from a consensus or weighted average price based on input of market prices from multiple sources at each reporting period. During the period ended March 31, 2022, there were no transfers of financial assets between Level 1 and Level 2.

4. INVESTMENTS

Marketable Securities

Marketable securities, which the Company classifies as available-for-sale securities, primarily consist of U.S. government debt obligations. Marketable securities with remaining effective maturities of twelve months or less from the balance sheet date are classified as short-term; otherwise, they are classified as long-term on the balance sheets.

The following tables provide the Company’s marketable securities by security type (in thousands):

	As of March 31, 2022								As of December 31, 2021
			Gross		Gross						Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated				Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935
Total	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935

As of March 31, 2022, the Company’s investment portfolio reported an unrealized loss of $0.1 million. Based on its evaluations, the Company determined that a credit loss allowance is not required since the decline was not related to underlying credit issues of the counterparties. The counterparties to these investments have high credit quality with investment grade ratings of at least AA+ or above, along with a history of no defaults. No single investment in the portfolio had an individually material unrealized loss and in the aggregate. The total amount of unrealized losses of $0.1 million as of March 31, 2022 was only 0.47% of the total amortized costs basis of the investment portfolio. In addition, the Company does not intend to sell these investments and it is not more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell these investments before recovery of their amortized cost bases. Accordingly, based on the foregoing evaluation, the Company did not record any credit losses during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the entire amount of the decline in fair value below the amortized cost basis was recorded as an unrealized loss, net of tax, in other comprehensive loss in the Statements of Comprehensive Loss. Unrealized gains are also reflected, net of tax, as other comprehensive income (loss) in the Statements of Comprehensive Loss.

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Contractual maturities of the Company’s marketable securities are summarized as follows:

	As of March 31, 2022								As of December 31, 2021
			Gross		Gross						Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated				Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value
Due in one year or less	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935
Due in one through two years		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		—
Total	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935

At March 31, 2022, the Company had $1,000 of gross unrealized gains and $0.1 million of gross unrealized losses primarily due to fluctuations in the fair value of certain U.S. government agency debt securities.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recorded gross realized losses of $80,000 and no gross realized gains of from the sale of marketable securities.

The unrealized losses and fair values of available-for-sale securities that have been in an unrealized loss position for a period of less than and greater than 12 months as of March 31, 2022 are as follows:

	As of March 31, 2022
	Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months				Securities in an unrealized loss position greater than 12 months				Total
	Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	(82)	$	14,438	$	—	$	—	$	(82)	$	14,438
Total	$	(82)	$	14,438	$	—	$	—	$	(82)	$	14,438

The unrealized losses and fair values of available-for-sale securities that have been in an unrealized loss position for a period of less than and greater than 12 months as of December 31, 2021 are as follows:

	As of December 31, 2021
	Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months				Securities in an unrealized loss position greater than 12 months				Total
	Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	(108)	$	17,696	$	—	$	—	$	(108)	$	17,696
Total	$	(108)	$	17,696	$	—	$	—	$	(108)	$	17,696

5. PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

Prepaid expenses and other current assets consisted of the following:

	March 31,		December 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Prepaid research and development expenses	$	5,837	$	4,483
Insurance premium asset		522		1,616
Prepaid rent expenses		125		117
Prepaid insurance expenses		99		105
Prepaid commercial and patient advocacy		383		254
Research and development tax credit receivable		469		502
Interest receivable		23		23
Other prepaid expenses and current assets		455		471
Total prepaid expenses & other current assets	$	7,913	$	7,571

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6. ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities consisted of the following:

	March 31,		December 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Accrued pre-clinical and clinical expenses	$	12,217	$	9,912
Short-term insurance financing note		—		789
Accrued professional fees		533		419
Accrued compensation and benefits		707		2,779
Accrued commercial expenses		1,355		1,394
Accrued patent expenses		328		279
Other		702		987
Total accrued expenses & other current liabilities	$	15,842	$	16,559

7. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

Equity Incentive Plans

In May 2019, the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”) adopted its 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (“2019 Plan”), which was subsequently approved by its stockholders and became effective on May 13, 2019. As a result, no additional awards under the Company’s 2016 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2016 Plan”) will be granted and all outstanding stock awards granted under the 2016 Plan that are repurchased, forfeited, expired, or are cancelled will become available for grant under the 2019 Plan in accordance with its terms. The 2016 Plan will continue to govern outstanding equity awards granted thereunder.

The 2019 Plan provides for the issuance of incentive stock options (“ISOs”) to employees, and for the grant of nonstatutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, performance stock awards, performance cash awards and other forms of stock awards to the Company’s employees, officers, and directors, as well as non- employees, consultants, and affiliates to the Company. Under the terms of the 2019 Plan, stock options may not be granted at an exercise price less than fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date of the grant. The 2019 Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board.

Initially, subject to adjustments as provided in the 2019 Plan, the maximum number of the Company’s common stock that may be issued under the 2019 Plan was 4,530,000 shares, which is the sum of (i) 1,618,841 new shares, plus (ii) the number of shares (not to exceed 2,911,159 shares) that remained available for the issuance of awards under the 2016 Plan, at the time the 2019 Plan became effective, and (iii) any shares subject to outstanding stock options or other stock awards granted under the 2016 Plan that are forfeited, expired, or reacquired. The 2019 Plan provides that the number of shares reserved and available for issuance under the 2019 Plan will automatically increase each January 1, beginning on January 1, 2020, by 5% of the outstanding number of shares of common stock on the immediately preceding December 31 or such lesser number of shares as determined by the Board. Subject to certain changes in capitalization of the Company, the aggregate maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued pursuant to the exercise of ISOs shall be equal to 13,000,000 shares of common stock. Stock options awarded under the 2019 Plan expire 10 years after grant and typically vest over four years.

As of March 31, 2022, there were 1,379,543 shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2019 Plan.

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Stock-Based Compensation Expense

Total stock-based compensation expense recorded for employees, directors and non-employees (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Research and development	$	856	$	799
General and administrative		1,221		2,182
Total stock-based compensation expense	$	2,077	$	2,981

Stock Option Activity

During the three months ended March 31, 2022 the Company granted 400,416 options to shares of common stock. For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, amortization of stock compensation of options amounted to $2.0 million and $2.5 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2022 and 2021, the total unrecognized stock-based compensation balance for unvested options was $13.0 million and $22.7 million, respectively, which is expected to be recognized over 2.4 years and 2.9 years, respectively. The weighted-average fair value per share of options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 was $2.22 and zero, respectively.

The following table summarizes the information about options outstanding at March 31, 2022:

				Weighted-Average
		Weighted-		Remaining	Aggregate
	Options	Average		Contractual	Intrinsic
(in thousands, except for share data)	Outstanding	Exercise Price		Term (in years)	Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2021	4,704,888	$	13.29	7.7	$	10,305
Options granted	400,416		3.68
Options exercised	-		—
Forfeited	(248,222)		27.73
Expired	(5,517)		23.15
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	4,851,565	$	11.74	7.4	$	489
Exercisable at March 31, 2022	3,577,835	$	9.81	7.0	$	489
Nonvested at March 31, 2022	1,273,730	$	17.17	8.5	$	—

Valuation of Stock Options Granted to Employees that Contain Service Conditions Only

The fair value of each option award granted with service-based vesting is estimated on the date of the grant using the Black-Scholes option valuation model based on the weighted average assumptions noted in the table below for those options granted in the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022			2021
Expected term (in years)		5.5			—
Volatility		69.68	%		—	%
Risk-free interest rate		1.56	%		—	%
Dividend yield		—	%		—	%

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Restricted Stock Unit Activity

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company granted 248,700 RSUs to shares of common stock. For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, amortization of stock compensation of RSUs amounted to $0.1 million and $0.5 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2022 and 2021, the unamortized compensation costs associated with non-vested restricted stock awards were $5.4 million and $5.9 million, respectively, with a weighted-average remaining amortization period of 3.4 and 3.2 years, respectively.

The following table summarizes the information about restricted stock units outstanding at March 31, 2022:

		Weighted-Average
		Grant Date		Aggregate
(in thousands, except for share data)	Shares	Fair Value		Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2021	469,485	$	18.05	$	4,202
Awarded	248,700		4.17
Released	(21,417)		25.69
Forfeited	(145,300)		19.48
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	551,468	$	11.12	$	1,164
Nonvested at March 31, 2022	551,468	$	11.12	$	1,164
Weighted Average Remaining Recognition Period (in years)	3.4

2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

In May 2019, the Company’s Board and its stockholders approved the 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”), which became effective as of May 13, 2019. The ESPP is intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” within the meaning of Section 423 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The number of shares of common stock initially reserved for issuance under the ESPP was 180,000 shares. The ESPP provides for an annual increase on the first day of each year beginning in 2020 and ending in 2029, in each case subject to the approval of the Board, equal to the lesser of (i) 1% of the shares of common stock outstanding on the last day of the calendar month before the date of the automatic increase and (ii) 360,000 shares; provided that prior to the date of any such increase, the Board may determine that such increase will be less than the amount set forth in clauses (i) and (ii). As of March 31, 2022, no shares of common stock had been issued under the ESPP. The first offering period has not yet been decided by the Board.

8. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

As of March 31, 2022, and December 31, 2021, the authorized capital stock of the Company consists of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share.

Common Stock

Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement

In June 2020, the Company entered into the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. The issuance and sale of shares of common stock by the Company pursuant to the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement is deemed an “at-the-market” offering under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Goldman is entitled to compensation for its services equal to up to 3.0% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of the Company’s common stock sold through it as a sales agent pursuant to the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement. The Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement was terminated as of January 24, 2022.

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Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement

On January 26, 2022, the Company entered into the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. Pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement shares of our common stock may be offered and sold through the sales agent in sales deemed “at-the-market” offerings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, the sales agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 3% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of our common stock sold through it pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement. In connection with the sale of shares of our common stock on our behalf, the sales agent may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the sales agent may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement.

9. WARRANTS

Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock

On January 26, 2017, in connection with the sale and issuance of the Series A Preferred Stock, the Company issued equity-classified warrants to purchase 309,389 shares of common stock (the “2017 Warrants”), valued at $0.2 million, and included in the issuance costs of the Series A Preferred Stock. The warrants vested immediately and have an exercise price of $2.49 per share and expire on March 13, 2027.

The fair value of warrants issued is estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions for the 2017 Warrants.

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	74.48	%
Risk-free interest rate	3.20	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

On February 5, 2021, a warrantholder exercised 27,855 warrants on a cash basis and received 27,855 shares of common stock. The Company received $69,000 in cash proceeds for the exercise of these warrants.

Warrants Issued with the 2018 Notes

On January 18, 2018, the Company entered into a placement agent agreement through which it became obligated to issue common stock warrants in connection with the issuance of convertible promissory notes, issued on February 5, 2018 (the “2018 Notes”). The obligation to issue the 2018 Notes Warrants was recorded as a liability at its fair value, (see Note 3), which was initially $0.1 million, and was included in the issuance costs of the 2018 Notes. On November 5, 2018, in connection with the extinguishment of the 2018 Notes into shares of Series B Preferred Stock, the Company issued the 2018 Notes Warrants, which were equity-classified warrants upon issuance, to purchase 76,847 shares of common stock, valued at $0.3 million. The 2018 Notes Warrants vested immediately upon issuance and have an exercise price of $6.59 per share and expire on November 4, 2028.

Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock

In November and December 2018, in connection with the sale and issuance of the Series B Preferred Stock, the Company was obligated to issue equity-classified warrants to purchase 72,261 shares of common stock (collectively the “2018 Warrants”), valued in the aggregate at $0.2 million, which was included in the issuance costs for the Series B Preferred Stock. The warrants vest immediately upon issuance, have an exercise price of $8.24 per share and expire 10 years from the date of issuance.

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The fair value of the 2018 Warrants was estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions:

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	73.22	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.70	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

In February 2019, in connection with the sale and issuance of the Series B Preferred Stock, the Company was obligated to issue warrants to purchase 23,867 shares of common stock (collectively the “2019 Warrants”), valued in the aggregate at $0.1 million, which was included in the issuance costs for the Series B Preferred Stock. The warrants vested immediately upon issuance, have an exercise price of $8.24 per share and expire 10 years from the date of issuance.

The fair value of the 2019 Warrants was estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions:

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	73.22	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.70	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

The inputs utilized by management to value the warrants are highly subjective. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of the warrants represent the Company’s best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management judgment. As a result, if factors change and the Company uses different assumptions, the fair value of the warrants may be materially different in the future.

A summary of the Company’s outstanding common stock warrants as of March 31, 2022 is as follows:

	Warrants
Outstanding as of December 31, 2021		125,618
Warrants granted and issued		—
Warrants exercised		—
Warrants exchanged		—
Balance as of March 31, 2022		125,618

10. LEASES

The following table summarizes the Company’s lease related costs for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

		Operating (in thousands)
Lease Cost	Statement of Operations Location		2022		2021
Operating Lease Cost	General and administrative	$	142	$	126
Total Lease Cost		$	142	$	126

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Average lease terms and discount rates for the Company’s operating leases were as follows:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,		March 31,
Other Information	2022		2021
Weighted-average remaining lease term
Operating leases		2.6 years		3.6 years
Weighted-average discount rate
Operating leases		5.69%		5.69%

The following table summarizes the maturities of lease liabilities as of March 31, 2022:

	Operating
Year	(in thousands)
2022	$	381
2023		515
2024		426
Thereafter		—
Total lease payments		1,322
Less: interest		96
Total lease liabilities	$	1,226

11. INCOME TAXES

On March 27, 2020, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to provide certain relief as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The CARES Act provides numerous tax provisions and other stimulus measures, including temporary changes regarding the prior and future utilization of net operating losses, temporary changes to the prior and future limitations on interest deductions, temporary suspension of certain payment requirements for the employer portion of social security taxes, technical corrections from prior tax legislation for tax depreciation of certain qualified improvement property and the creation of certain refundable employee retention credits. The CARES Act did not have a material impact on our financial statements for the three ended March 31, 2022. The Company continues to monitor any effects that may result from the CARES Act.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded a full valuation allowance on federal and state deferred tax assets since management does not forecast the Company to be in a profitable position in the near future.

12. BENEFIT PLANS

The Company established a defined contribution savings plan under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code in 2018. This plan covers substantially all employees who meet minimum age and service requirements and allows participants to defer a portion of their annual compensation on a pre-tax basis. Matching contributions to the plan may be made at the discretion of the Company’s board of directors. The Company made approximately $0.2 million and $0.1 million in matching contributions to the plan during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

13. NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE

Basic net loss per common share is computed by dividing the net loss available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period.

Diluted net loss per common share is computed by giving the effect of all potential shares of common stock, including stock options, preferred shares, warrants and instruments convertible into common stock, to the extent dilutive. Basic and diluted net loss per common share was the same for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, as the inclusion of all potential common shares outstanding would have been anti-dilutive.

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The following tables set forth the computation of basic and diluted net loss per common share for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021
Numerator:
Net loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Denominator:
Weighted-average common stock outstanding		26,215,514		24,135,735
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders - basic and diluted	$	(0.88)	$	(1.00)

The Company’s potentially dilutive securities, which include restricted stock units, stock options, and warrants, have been excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share as the effect would be to reduce the net loss per share. Therefore, the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding used to calculate both basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders is the same. The Company excluded the following potential common shares, presented based on amounts outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders because including them would have had an anti-dilutive effect:

	As of
	March 31,
	2022	2021
Options to purchase common stock	4,851,565	4,491,670
Restricted stock units	551,468	204,279
Warrants to purchase common stock	125,618	125,618

14. RELATED PARTIES

In December 2018, the Company entered into an agreement (the “LaunchLabs Agreement”) with ARE-LaunchLabs NYC LLC (“Alexandria LaunchLabs”), a subsidiary of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. for use of specified premises within the Alexandria LaunchLabs space on a month-to-month basis. A member of the Company’s board of directors is the founder and executive chairman of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, and 2021, the Company made payments to Alexandria LaunchLabs of approximately $16,000, and $23,000 respectively, under the LaunchLabs Agreement, which was recognized in research and development expenses. As of March 31, 2022, there were no amounts due to Alexandria LaunchLabs under the LaunchLabs Agreement.

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Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

The following information should be read in conjunction with the unaudited financial information and the notes thereto included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the audited financial information and the notes thereto included in the Annual Report. In addition, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements and involves numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this report, and in other reports we file with the SEC, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need. We focus on molecules and pathways whose role in the disease process is well known based on prior research, but have previously failed to yield successful products due to poor efficacy and tolerability. Our unique approach to drug development leverages recent technological advances to design improved drugs, employs early use of biomarkers to confirm biological activity and focuses on abbreviated regulatory pathways. Our first molecular target is aldose reductase, or AR, an enzyme that converts glucose to sorbitol under oxidative stress conditions, and is implicated in multiple diseases. Prior attempts to inhibit this enzyme were hindered by nonselective, nonspecific inhibition, which resulted in limited efficacy and significant off-target safety effects. The detrimental consequences of AR activation have been well established by decades of prior research. Our AR program currently includes three small molecules, which are all potent and selective inhibitors of AR, but are engineered to have unique tissue permeability profiles to target different disease states, including diabetic complications, heart disease and rare metabolic diseases. Using similar strategies to our ARI program, we have also developed a program targeting selective inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, or PI3K, subunits, which has produced an early-stage oncology pipeline. The result of this unique multifaceted approach to drug development is a portfolio of highly specific and selective product candidates that we believe are significantly de-risked and can move quickly through the development process.

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AT-007 is a novel central nervous system, or CNS, penetrant ARI that we are developing for the treatment of rare metabolic diseases, including Galactosemia, a devastating rare pediatric metabolic disease that affects how the body processes a simple sugar called galactose, and for which there is no known cure or approved treatment available. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has granted both orphan drug designation and rare pediatric disease designation to AT-007 for the treatment of Galactosemia and in June 2021, the FDA granted Fast Track Designation to AT-007 for the treatment of Galactosemia. We have completed an adult study in healthy volunteers and Galactosemia patients, demonstrating that AT-007 is safe and well tolerated, and significantly reduces plasma galactitol levels vs. placebo. Galactitol is a toxic metabolite of galactose, which is formed in Galactosemia patients by aberrant activity of aldose reductase when galactose is present at high levels. A pediatric study is underway in children with Galactosemia, assessing the impact of AT-007 vs. placebo on safety, biomarker reduction of galactitol, and long-term functional outcomes. On April 13, 2021, we presented data featuring a cross-sectional analysis of nineteen pediatric patients with Classic Galactosemia, providing meaningful insight on the progressive worsening of the central nervous system phenotype with age. On October 18, 2021, we reported biomarker data from the pediatric ACTION-Galactosemia Kids study. The results demonstrate a substantial reduction in plasma galactitol of approximately 40%, which was statistically significant (p<0.001) vs. placebo. We previously reported a baseline analysis of the 47 children enrolled in the study which demonstrated a clear correlation between baseline galactitol levels and baseline clinical functional outcomes. The long-term functional outcomes portion of the pediatric study is ongoing, and the outcomes are assessed every 6 months by a fire-walled data monitoring committee (DMC). When the study reaches statistical significance in the active treated arm vs. the placebo arm, the DMC will alert the Company and the trial will be unblinded. Statistical modelling suggests that this should occur at approximately the 18-month outcome assessment, based on currently available predictive information. In April 2022, the Company met with the FDA to discuss the design of the ongoing pediatric study prior to the first 6-month outcomes assessment by the DMC. The FDA confirmed that the pediatric study as it is currently designed would support an NDA submission if statistical significance is reached, and there is alignment between the FDA and the Company on the potential path forward to approval. The 6-month clinical outcomes were assessed by the fire-walled DMC, and as expected the data did not yet reach statistical significance. The DMC determined that the safety/benefit profile supported continuing the study. The next DMC evaluation will be following completion of the 12-month clinical outcomes assessments.

AT-007 is also being studied in a rare disease caused by Sorbitol Dehydrogenase deficiency, called SORD deficiency. Aldose Reductase is the first enzyme in the polyol pathway, converting glucose to sorbitol. AR is then followed by Sorbitol Dehydrogenase, which converts sorbitol to fructose. Patients with SORD deficiency accumulate very high levels of sorbitol in their cells and tissues as a result of the enzyme deficiency, which results in tissue toxicities such as peripheral neuropathy and motor neuron disease. Recent research in drosophila and cell models of SORD deficiency demonstrated that treatment with an ARI that blocks sorbitol production may provide benefit in this disease. Preclinical studies on AT-007 have demonstrated significant reduction in sorbitol levels in fibroblasts from SORD deficient patients. Treatment with AT-007 in the drosophila model of SORD prevented the disease phenotype and protected from neuronal degeneration. On October 25, 2021, we reported data from a pilot open-label study in 8 SORD Deficiency patients. AT-007 reduced blood sorbitol levels by approximately 66% from baseline through 30 days of treatment. AT-007 was safe and well tolerated in all treated patients. In December 2021, we initiated a Phase 2/3 registrational study in patients with SORD Deficiency, which will take place at multiple clinical sites in the US and Europe. We are in the process of discussing regulatory requirements for approval in SORD deficiency and plan to advance AT-007 towards registration for this indication.

We also plan to initiate a clinical development program on AT-007 in another pediatric rare disease, called PMM2-CDG. PMM2-CDG is a glycosylation disorder caused by deficiencies in the enzyme phosphomannomutase 2, which leads to CNS symptoms similar to galactosemia, including low IQ, tremor, and speech and motor problems. Aldose Reductase is over-activated in this disease as a compensatory consequence of PMM2 deficiency, and a CNS penetrant ARI may be a compelling clinical option. Initial data in fibroblast cell lines derived from PMM2-CDG patients demonstrates that AT-007 treatment increases phosphomannomutase 2 activity. The FDA has granted pediatric rare disease designation and orphan designation for AT-007 in PMM2-CDG.

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AT-001 is a novel ARI with broad systemic exposure and peripheral nerve permeability that we are developing for the treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy, or DbCM, a fatal fibrosis of the heart, for which no treatments are available. We completed a Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating AT-001 in approximately 120 patients with type 2 diabetes, in which no drug-related adverse effects or tolerability issues were observed. In September 2019, we announced the initiation of a Phase 3 registrational trial of AT-001 in DbCM. The study, called ARISE-HF, is designed to evaluate AT-001’s ability to improve or prevent the decline of functional capacity in patients with DbCM at high risk of progression to overt heart failure. Although we did experience enrollment delays in 2020 associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, modifications were made to the trial to include additional sites and geographies to address Covid-19-related issues.

AT-003 is a novel ARI designed to cross through the back of the eye when dosed orally, and has demonstrated strong retinal penetrance, for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, or DR. DR is an ophthalmic disease that occurs in diabetic patients and for which treatments are currently limited to high-cost biologics requiring intravitreal administration. DR has been linked to AR activity, including elevations in sorbitol and subsequent changes in retinal blood vessels, which distorts vision and leads to permanent blindness.

AT-104 is a dual selective PI3K inhibitor in preclinical development for T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (“T-ALL”). AT-104 has demonstrated significant benefit in both in vitro and in vivo models of T-ALL. In September 2020 we received pediatric rare disease designation for AT-104 in T-ALL.

As we advance our product candidates forward in additional indications, such as SORD deficiency, PMM2-CDG and retinopathy, we anticipate potential moderate growth in our clinical development and operations teams to support the additional clinical trials, as well as addition of a medical affairs team to support the late stage indications and preparations for commercialization.

Since inception in 2016, our operations have focused on developing our product candidates, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, establishing our intellectual property portfolio and conducting clinical trials. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale and have not generated any revenue.

We have incurred significant operating losses since inception in 2016. Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful development and commercialization of one or more of our product candidates. Our net loss was $23.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022. As of March 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $289.4 million. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future in connection with our ongoing activities. Furthermore, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company, including significant legal, accounting, investor relations and other expenses. As of March 31, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $55.7 million.

February 2021 Secondary Public Offering

In February 2021, we issued and sold 3,000,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $23.00 per share, with an additional 450,000 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ full exercise of their option to purchase additional shares in the February Offering. We received aggregate net proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs of $74.4 million.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

Since inception, we have not generated any revenue and do not expect to generate any revenue from the sale of products in the near future. If our development efforts for our product candidates are successful and result in regulatory approval, or if we enter into collaboration or license agreements with third parties, we may generate revenue in the future from a combination of product sales or payments from collaboration or license agreements.

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Operating Expenses

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for our research activities, including our discovery efforts and the development of our product candidates, and include:

● employee-related expenses, including salaries, related benefits and stock-based compensation expense for employees engaged in research and development functions;

● fees paid to consultants for services directly related to our product development and regulatory efforts;

● expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, as well as contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, and consultants that conduct and provide supplies for our preclinical studies and clinical trials;

● costs associated with preclinical activities and development activities;

● costs associated with our technology and our intellectual property portfolio; and

● costs related to compliance with regulatory requirements.

We expense research and development costs as incurred. Costs for external development activities are recognized based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using information provided to us by our vendors. Payments for these activities are based on the terms of the individual agreements, which may differ from the pattern of costs incurred, and are reflected in our financial statements as prepaid or accrued research and development expenses.

Research and development costs also include costs incurred in connection with certain licensing arrangements. Before a compound receives regulatory approval, we record upfront and milestone payments made by us to third parties under licensing arrangements as expense. Upfront payments are recorded when incurred, and milestone payments are recorded when the specific milestone has been achieved. Once a compound receives regulatory approval, we will record any milestone payments in Identifiable intangible assets, commence amortization and, unless the asset is determined to have an indefinite life, we amortize the payments on a straight-line basis over the remaining agreement term or the expected product life cycle, whichever is shorter.

Research and development activities are central to our business model. We expect that our research and development expenses will continue to increase for the foreseeable future as we continue clinical development for our product candidates and continue to discover and develop additional product candidates. If any of our product candidates enter into later stages of clinical development, they will generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. Historically, we have incurred research and development expenses that primarily relate to the development of AT-007, AT-001 and our ARI program. As we advance our product candidates, we expect to allocate our direct external research and development costs across each of the indications or product candidates.

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The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Product pipeline research and development expenses
AT-001	$	5,187	$	8,118
AT-007		6,853		4,401
Personnel-related expenses		1,937		1,092
Stock-based compensation		856		799
Other expenses		197		38
Total research and development expenses	$	15,030	$	14,448

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and other related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in our executive, finance, and commercial functions. General and administrative expenses also include professional fees for legal, accounting, auditing, tax and consulting services; travel expenses; and facility-related expenses, which include allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities and other operating costs.

Commercial expenses consist of payroll expense for commercial personnel, as well as marketing, market research, market access, and other focused investments to support launch of drug candidates and generate evidence of commercial potential and value proposition. Commercial expenses are included in general and administrative expenses.

We expect that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future as we increase our general and administrative headcount to support our continued research and development and potential commercialization of our product candidates. We also expect to incur increased expenses associated with being a public company, including costs of accounting, audit, legal, regulatory and tax compliance services; director and officer insurance costs; and investor and public relations costs.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net consists of interest income (expense), net, and other income (expense), net. Interest income (expense), net consists primarily of our interest income on our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities. Other income (expense), net consists primarily of realized gains and losses on sales of marketable securities.

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Results of Operations

Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 and 2021

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

	(Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Operating expenses:
Research and development	$	15,030	$	14,448
General and administrative		8,071		9,751
Total operating expenses		23,101		24,199
Loss from operations		(23,101)		(24,199)
Other income (expense), net:
Interest income (expense), net		76		76
Other income (expense)		(96)		(56)
Other income (expense), net		(20)		20
Net loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021		Increase/(Decrease)
Clinical and pre-clinical	$	11,528	$	6,454	$	5,074
Drug manufacturing and formulation		231		5,820		(5,589)
Personnel expenses		1,937		1,092		845
Stock-based compensation		856		799		57
Regulatory and other		478		283		195
Total research and development expenses	$	15,030	$	14,448	$	582

Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 were $15.0 million, compared to $14.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, the increase of $0.6 million was primarily related to:

● a decrease in drug manufacturing and formulation costs of $5.6 million primarily related to the completion and release of AT-001 and AT-007 drug product batches in the three months ended March 31, 2021;

● an increase in clinical and pre-clinical expense of $5.1 million, primarily related to the progression of the SORD pivotal trial, progression of the AT-007 ACTION-Galactosemia long-term extension adult study, and progression of the AT-007 ACTION-Galactosemia Kids pediatric registrational study;

● an increase in personnel expenses of $0.8 million due to the increase in headcount in support of our clinical program pipeline;

● an increase in regulatory and other expenses of $0.2 million; and

● an increase in stock-based compensation of $0.1 million due to new stock option and restricted stock grants.

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General and Administrative Expenses

The following table summarizes our general and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021		Increase/(Decrease)
Legal and professional fees	$	1,619	$	1,771	$	(152)
Commercial expenses		1,288		1,932		(644)
Personnel expenses		1,768		1,544		224
Stock-based compensation		1,221		2,182		(961)
Insurance expenses		1,125		1,010		115
Other expenses		1,050		1,312		(262)
Total general and administrative expenses	$	8,071	$	9,751	$	(1,680)

General and administrative expenses were $8.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $9.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, the decrease of $1.7 million was primarily related to:

● a decrease in commercial expenses of $0.6 million related to a decrease in spend relating to commercial operations;

● a decrease in other expenses of $0.3 million relating to decreased costs of other office expenses;

● a decrease in stock-based compensation of $1.0 million relating to options being forfeited during the current period;

● an increase in personnel expenses of $0.2 million related to an increase in headcount;

● an increase in insurance expenses of $0.1 million related to increased insurance costs; and

● a decrease in legal and professional fees of $0.2 million due to lower external legal fees.

Interest Income (Expense), Net

Interest income was $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, as compared to $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. Interest income from our marketable securities remained relatively consistent period over period.

Other Income (Expense)

Other expense was $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $56,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The change was primarily related to the realized loss of $0.1 million related to the sale and or maturities of marketable securities and currency translation losses of $16,000 incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to a realized loss of $56,000 on the sale and or maturities of marketable securities during the three months ended March 31, 2021.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since our inception through March 31, 2022, we have not generated any revenue and have incurred significant operating losses and negative cash flows from our operations. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming the continuation of the Company as a going concern. The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and is dependent on debt and equity financing to fund its operations. While we believe that our cash and cash equivalents of $55.7 million at March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to fund our operations through year end 2022, given our planned expenditures for the next several years, we have concluded and our independent registered public accounting firm has agreed with our conclusion that there is still a substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for each of the periods presented:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Net cash used in operating activities	$	(24,410)	$	(22,213)
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities		9,525		(24,672)
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities		(789)		73,486
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	$	(15,674)	$	26,601

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2022, was $24.4 million primarily due to our net losses of $23.1 million, a decrease in operating lease liability of $0.1 million, a decrease in accounts payable of $3.5 million, and a decrease in prepaid expenses of $1.4 million. This is partially offset by increases of $2.1 million in non-cash stock-based compensation expense, $0.1 million in accrued expense, $0.4 million in options issued in lieu of bonus, $1.1 million of amortization of insurance premium, and $0.1 million in amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets.

Net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2021, was $22.2 million. For the three months ended March 31, 2021, the increase was primarily due to our net losses of $24.2 million, a decrease in accrued expenses of $3.3 million, an increase in prepaid expenses of $1.6 million, and a decrease in operating lease liability of $0.1 million. This is partially offset by an increase of $2.8 million in accounts payable, $3.0 million in non-cash stock-based compensation expense, $1.0 million of amortization of insurance premium, and $0.1 million in amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets.

Investing Activities

Net cash provided by investing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was $9.5 million relating to our purchase of available-for-sale securities for $6.0 million, offset by the proceeds from the maturities of available-for-sale securities of $15.5 million.

Net cash used in investing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was $24.7 million relating to our purchase of available-for-sale securities for $88.0 million, offset by the proceeds from the sale and maturities of available-for-sale securities of $0.5 million and $62.8 million, respectively.

Financing Activities

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, net cash used in financing activities was $0.8 million, primarily from the repayment of short-term borrowings of $0.8 million.

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In June 2020, we entered into the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement to sell shares of our common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100 million. The Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement was terminated as of January 24, 2022.

On January 26, 2022, the Company entered into the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. Pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement shares of our common stock may be offered and sold through the sales agent in sales deemed “at-the-market” offerings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, the sales agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 3% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of our common stock sold through it pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement. In connection with the sale of shares of our common stock on our behalf, the sales agent may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the sales agent may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, net cash provided by financing activities was $73.5 million, primarily from the cash proceeds from the February Offering of $74.4 million, $67,000 from the exercise of stock options for common stock under the 2019 Plan, and $69,000 from the exercise of warrants for common stock. This was partially offset by the payment of short-term borrowings of $1.1 million.

Funding Requirements

We expect our expenses to increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we advance the preclinical activities and clinical trials of our product candidates. We expect that our expenses will increase significantly if and as we:

● continue the ongoing and planned development of our product candidates;

● initiate, conduct and complete any ongoing, anticipated or future preclinical studies and clinical trials for our current and future product candidates;

● seek marketing approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;

● establish a sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any current or future product candidate for which we may obtain marketing approval;

● seek to discover and develop additional product candidates;

● continue to build a portfolio of product candidates through the acquisition or in-license of drugs, product candidates or technologies;

● maintain, protect and expand our intellectual property portfolio;

● hire additional clinical, regulatory and scientific personnel; and

● add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned future commercialization efforts.

Furthermore, we have and expect to continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company, including significant legal, accounting, investor relations and other expenses.

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Due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with the development of our product candidates and programs, and because the extent to which we may enter into collaborations with third parties for development of our product candidates is unknown, we are unable to estimate the timing and amounts of increased capital outlays and operating expenses associated with completing the research and development of our product candidates. Our future funding requirements, both near and long-term, will depend on many factors, including:

● the initiation, scope, progress, timing, costs and results of our ongoing and planned clinical trials for our product candidates;

● the outcome, timing and cost of meeting regulatory requirements established by the FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities;

● the cost of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing our patent claims and other intellectual property rights;

● the cost of defending potential intellectual property disputes, including patent infringement actions;

● the achievement of milestones or occurrence of other developments that trigger payments under the Columbia Agreements, the 2020 Miami License Agreement, the 2020 Miami Research Agreement, the 2020 Miami Option Agreement, or other agreements we may enter into;

● the extent to which we are obligated to reimburse, or entitled to reimbursement of, clinical trial costs under future collaboration agreements, if any;

● the effect of competing technological and market developments;

● the cost and timing of completion of clinical or commercial-scale manufacturing activities;

● the costs of operating as a public company;

● the extent to which we in-license or acquire other products and technologies;

● our ability to establish and maintain collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;

● the cost of establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities for our product candidates in regions where we choose to commercialize our product candidates, if approved; and

● the initiation, progress, timing and results of the commercialization our product candidates, if approved, for commercial sale.

A change in the outcome of any of these variables with respect to the development of a product candidate could mean a significant change in the costs and timing associated with the development of that product candidate.

Until such time, if ever, that we can generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability, we expect to finance our cash needs through offerings of securities, PIPE, debt financings, collaborations or other strategic transactions. The terms of financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders. Funding may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to obtain funding, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate some or all of our research and product development, product portfolio expansion or future commercialization efforts. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, we may be subject to covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends.

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Contractual Obligations and Commitments

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of March 31, 2022:

	Payments Due By Period
			Less Than						More Than
(in thousands)	Total		1 Year		1 to 3 Years		4 to 5 Years		5 Years
Operating lease commitments(1)	$	1,322	$	510	$	813	$	—	$	—
Total	$	1,322	$	510	$	813	$	—	$	—

(1) Represents future minimum lease payments under our operating leases for office space.

Except as disclosed in the table above, we have no long-term debt or capital leases and no material non-cancelable purchase commitments with service providers, as we have generally contracted on a cancelable, purchase-order basis. We enter into contracts in the normal course of business with CROs, CMOs and other third parties for clinical trials, preclinical research studies and testing and manufacturing services. These contracts are cancelable by us upon prior notice. Payments due upon cancellation consist only of payments for services provided or expenses incurred, including noncancelable obligations of our service providers, up to the date of cancellation. These payments are not included in the preceding table as the amount and timing of such payments are not known.

We may incur potential contingent payments upon our achievement of clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as applicable, or royalty payments that we may be required to make under the 2016 and 2019 Columbia Agreements, the 2020 Miami License Agreement, the 2020 Miami Option Agreement, and the 2020 Miami Research Agreement, pursuant to which we have in-licensed certain intellectual property. Due to the uncertainty of the achievement and timing of the events requiring payment under these agreements, the amounts to be paid by us are not fixed or determinable at this time and are excluded from the table above.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP. The preparation of our financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and 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 an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

There have been no significant changes to our critical accounting policies from those described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” included in the Annual Report.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not entered into any off-balance sheet arrangements and do not have any holdings in variable interest entities.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Refer to Note 1, in the accompanying notes to our condensed financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements.

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Emerging Growth Company Status

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 permits an “emerging growth company” such as us to take advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards when they are required to be adopted by public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business. These risks primarily include interest rate sensitivities and foreign currency sensitivities.

Interest Rate Sensitivity

Our exposure to market risk relates to our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $55.7 million. The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time maximizing the income we receive without significantly increasing risk. Some of the financial instruments in which we invest could be subject to market risk where the interest rates may cause the value of the instruments to fluctuate. To minimize this risk, we intend to maintain a portfolio which may include cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment securities available-for-sale in a variety of securities.

The securities in our investment portfolio are not leveraged and are classified as available-for-sale. These available-for-sale securities are short-term in nature and subject to minimal interest rate risk. All investments have a fixed interest rate and are carried at market value, which approximates cost. We do not use derivative financial instruments in our investment portfolio. A change of 50 to 100 basis points would result in a change of $14,000 to $27,000, respectively, on the value of our investment portfolio.

We do not believe that our cash has significant risk of default or illiquidity. While we believe our cash and cash equivalents does not contain excessive risk, we cannot provide absolute assurance that in the future our investments will not be subject to adverse changes in market value. In addition, we maintain significant amounts of cash at one or more financial institutions that are in excess of federally insured limits. Inflation generally affects us by increasing our cost of labor and clinical trial costs. We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our results of operations during the periods presented.

As of March 31, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents of $55.7 million. Our exposure to interest rate sensitivity is impacted by changes in the underlying U.S. bank interest rates. Our surplus cash has been invested in interest-bearing savings accounts from time to time. We have not entered into investments for trading or speculative purposes. A change of 50 to 100 basis points would result in a change of $29,000 to $49,000, respectively, on the value of our portfolio.

Foreign Currency Sensitivity

Our primary operations are transacted in U.S. Dollars, however, certain service agreements with third parties are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar, primarily the Euro. As such, we are subject to foreign exchange risk and therefore, fluctuations in the value of the U.S. Dollar against the Euro may impact the amounts reported for expenses and obligations incurred under such agreements. We do not participate in any foreign currency hedging activities and we do not have any other derivative financial instruments. We did not recognize any significant exchange rate gain or loss during the three months ended March 31, 2022. A hypothetical 10% change in foreign exchange rates during any of the periods presented would not have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

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Item 4. Controls and Procedures.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures.

As of March 31, 2022, our management, with the participation of our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that, as of March 31, 2022, the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting.

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) and 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the quarter ended March 31, 2022 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II—OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings, and we are not aware of any pending or threatened legal proceeding against us that we believe could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

An investment in shares of our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following information about these risks described below, together with other information appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our financial statements and the related notes and the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding whether to invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations and the market price of our common stock.

Risk Factor Summary

The following is a summary of the risk factors included in this Item 1A and is qualified entirely by the disclosure included in the rest of this Item 1A:

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Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Capital Needs

● We have incurred and expect to continue to incur substantial operating losses and our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

● Our operating history makes evaluating our business and future viability more difficult.

● We will require substantial additional funding to finance our operations, and may suffer consequences to our development programs upon failure to do so.

● Raising additional capital may cause adverse effects.

Risks Related to the Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

● Our success is substantially dependent on the successful clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our product candidates and may be adversely affected upon failure to do so.

● Success in preclinical studies or earlier clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials and our results may not be sufficient for the necessary regulatory approvals.

● Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process and the development of additional product candidates is risky and uncertain.

● We may be unable to obtain/maintain or receive the benefits of regulatory approval, rare pediatric disease designation/exclusivity, accelerated registration pathways, breakthrough therapy designations or fast track designations for our product candidates, as applicable.

● Clinical trials are expensive, time consuming and subject to factors outside our control.

● Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects, affecting regulatory approval, commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences following any potential marketing approval.

● Interim, “top line” and preliminary data from our clinical trials may be subject to change.

● The market opportunities for our product candidates may be smaller than we believe or approval we obtain may narrow our patient population.

● We may face substantial competition.

● We may face risks related to strategic collaborations to develop our product candidates

● Our product candidates may fail to achieve market acceptance necessary for commercial success.

● We may face risks related to any potential international operations.

● We may be adversely affected by product liability lawsuits.

● Our insurance policies may be inadequate and potentially expose us to unrecoverable risks.

Risks Related to Regulatory Compliance

● We are subject to healthcare laws and regulations, which carry substantial penalties for noncompliance.

● Coverage and adequate reimbursement may not be available for our product candidates.

● Healthcare reform measures may have a negative impact on our business and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

● Third-parties may conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials in an unsatisfactory manner.

● We intend to rely on third parties to produce supplies of our product candidates.

● We and our third-party affiliates are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

● Breaches of our license agreements may result in the adverse effects to our ability to continue the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

● Insufficient patent protection could allow our competitors to develop and commercialize products and technology similar or identical to ours.

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● Obtaining and maintaining our patent rights is expensive, complicated and labor intensive and patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product candidates.

● We may be subject to claims alleging violations of intellectual property rights.

● Changes in patent law could impair our ability to protect our product candidates.

● We may be unable to protect our intellectual property rights.

● Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our business.

Risks Related to Our Business Operations, Employee Matters and Managing Growth

● We are highly dependent on the services of our current executive officers.

● We may experience difficulties resulting from the expansion of our organization.

● We may be subject to security breaches in our information technology systems.

● Our employees and the third-parties we deal with may engage in misconduct or improper activities.

● Our business may be adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

● The market price of our common stock is volatile and has fluctuated substantially.

● Concentration of stock ownership among our existing executive officers, directors and principal stockholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

● We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future.

General Risk Factors

● We may be affected by unfavorable research or reports.

● We may use our cash and cash equivalents ineffectively or in ways with which you do not agree.

●We are subject to risks as an “emerging growth company” and a public company.

● We may avail ourselves of defensive and forum selection provisions in our governing documents and under Delaware law.

Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Capital Needs

We have incurred significant operating losses since inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur substantial operating losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

Since inception in January 2016, we have incurred significant operating losses. Our net loss was $105.6 million and $94.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively and $23.1 million and $24.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively. As of March 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $289.4 million. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. Since inception, we have devoted substantially all of our efforts to research and preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, establishing our intellectual property portfolio and conducting clinical trials. To date, we have never obtained regulatory approval for, or commercialized, any drugs. It could be several years, if ever, before we have a commercialized drug. The net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year-to-year. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if, and as, we:

● continue the ongoing and planned development of our product candidates;

● initiate, conduct and complete any ongoing, anticipated or future preclinical studies and clinical trials for our current and future product candidates;

● seek marketing approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;

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● establish a sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any current or future product candidate for which we may obtain marketing approval;

● seek to discover and develop additional product candidates;

● continue to build a portfolio of product candidates through the acquisition or in-license of drugs, product candidates or technologies;

● maintain, protect and expand our intellectual property portfolio;

● meet the requirements and demands of being a public company;

● defend against any product liability claims or other lawsuits related to our products;

● hire additional clinical, regulatory and scientific personnel; and

● add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned future commercialization efforts.

Furthermore, we have incurred additional costs associated with operating as a public company, including significant legal, accounting, investor relations and other expenses.

To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing and eventually commercializing drugs that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical studies and clinical trials of our current and future product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval, procuring commercial-scale manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which we obtain regulatory approval (including through third parties), as well as discovering or acquiring and developing additional product candidates. We are only in the preliminary stages of most of these activities. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are sufficient to offset our expenses and achieve profitability.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with drug development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. If we are required by regulatory authorities to perform studies in addition to those currently expected, or if there are any delays in the initiation and completion of our clinical trials or the development of any of our product candidates, our expenses could increase.

Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our research and development efforts, expand our business or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our common stock could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

The report of our independent registered public accounting firm included a “going concern” explanatory paragraph.

The report of our independent registered public accounting firm on our Financial Statements for the year ended

December 31, 2021 includes an explanatory paragraph regarding the existence of substantial doubt about our ability to

continue as a going concern. While we believe that our cash and cash equivalents and investments of $55.7 million at

March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to fund our operations through year end 2022, given our planned expenditures for the

next several years, we have concluded and our independent registered public accounting firm has agreed with our conclusion that there is still a substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. Any such inability to continue as a going concern may result in our stockholders losing their entire investment. There is no guarantee that we will become profitable or secure additional financing on acceptable terms.

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Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We are a clinical-stage company with limited operational history, and our operations to date have been largely focused on raising capital, organizing and staffing our company, identifying and developing our product candidates, and undertaking preclinical and clinical development for our product candidates. As an organization, we have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully complete clinical development, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization, or arrange for a third party to conduct these activities on our behalf. Consequently, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history.

We have encountered, and may continue to encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known or unknown factors in achieving our business objectives. We will need to transition at some point from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.

Additionally, we expect our financial condition and operating results to continue to fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, you should not rely upon the results of any quarterly or annual periods as indications of future operating performance.

We will require substantial additional funding to finance our operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce or terminate certain of our development programs or other operations.

As of March 31, 2022, our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities was $55.7 million. Based on our current operating and research and development plans, we do not believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to fund our projected operations through at least the next 12 months from the date the financial statements were issued. We will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations and planned research and clinical development activities. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

● the timing, progress and results of our ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates;

● the scope, progress, results and costs of preclinical development, laboratory testing and clinical trials of other product candidates that we may pursue;

● our ability to establish collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;

● the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;

● the costs and timing of future commercialization activities, including product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution, for any of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval;

● the revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval;

● the cost of any milestone and royalty payments with respect to any approved product candidates;

● the costs and timing of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending any intellectual property-related claims;

● the costs of operating as a public company; and

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● the extent to which we acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies.

Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of drugs that we do not expect to be commercially available for several years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. We may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.

In addition, our ability to access additional capital has been affected by overall macroeconomic trends, among other things, including rising interest rates, which have caused the price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly and/or decline. These macroeconomic trends have been exacerbated by recent hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, which have contributed to further economic instability in the global financial markets. As a result, adequate additional financing may not be available to us when needed or on attractive terms. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we could be forced to delay, reduce, or altogether terminate our research and development programs or future commercialization efforts.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders and restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our product candidates.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our cash needs through public or private equity or debt financings, including through the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, third party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or any combination of these approaches. We do not have any committed external source of funds. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest in our company may be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a stockholder. Debt and equity financings, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as redeeming our shares, making investments, incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, declaring dividends or placing limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights.

If we raise additional capital through future collaborations, strategic alliances or third party licensing arrangements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our intellectual property, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our drug development or future commercialization efforts, or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise develop and market ourselves.

Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

We have incurred substantial losses since inception and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, if ever. In general, under Section 382 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs to offset future taxable income. We may have experienced ownership changes in the past and may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent changes in our stock ownership (some of which shifts are outside our control). As a result, if, and to the extent that we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change NOLs to offset such taxable income may be subject to limitations.

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For NOLs arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the Code limits a taxpayer’s ability to utilize NOL carryforwards to 80% of taxable income. In addition, NOLs arising in tax years ending after December 31, 2017 can be carried forward indefinitely, but carryback is generally prohibited. NOLs generated in tax years beginning before January 1, 2018 will not be subject to the taxable income limitation, and NOLs generated in tax years ending before January 1, 2018 will continue to have a two-year carryback and 20-year carryforward period. Deferred tax assets for NOLs will need to be measured at the applicable tax rate in effect when the NOL is expected to be utilized. The limitations in the carryforward/carryback periods, as well as the limitation on use of NOLs for NOLs arising in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 may significantly impact our ability to utilize our NOLs to offset taxable income in the future.

In order to realize the future tax benefits of our NOL carryforwards, we must generate taxable income, of which there is no assurance. Accordingly, we have provided a full valuation allowance for deferred tax assets as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.

Risks Related to the Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

Our future success is substantially dependent on the successful clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our product candidates. If we are not able to obtain required regulatory approvals, we will not be able to commercialize our product candidates and our ability to generate product revenue will be adversely affected.

We have invested a significant portion of our time and financial resources in the development of AT-007, AT-001 and AT-003. Our business is dependent on our ability to successfully complete development of, obtain regulatory approval for, and, if approved, successfully commercialize our product candidates in a timely manner. We may face unforeseen challenges in our drug development strategy, and we can provide no assurances that our drug design will prove to be effective, that we will be able to take advantage of expedited regulatory pathways for any of our product candidates, or that we will ultimately be successful in our future clinical trials.

We have not obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate, and it is possible that any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will not obtain regulatory approval. Neither we nor any future collaborator is permitted to market any product candidates in the United States or abroad until we receive regulatory approval from the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory agency. The time required to obtain approval or other marketing authorizations by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable and typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions.

Prior to obtaining approval to commercialize any product candidate in the United States or abroad, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, that such product candidate is safe and effective for its intended uses. Results from preclinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways. Even if we believe that the preclinical or clinical data for our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. The FDA may also require us to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidates either prior to or post-approval, or it may object to elements of our clinical development program, requiring their alteration.

Of the large number of products in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities approval processes and are commercialized. The lengthy approval or marketing authorization process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval or marketing authorization to market our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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Even if we eventually complete clinical testing and receive approval of a new drug application, or NDA, or foreign marketing for our product candidates, the FDA or the comparable foreign regulatory authorities may grant approval or other marketing authorization contingent on the performance of costly additional clinical trials, including post-market clinical trials. The FDA or the comparable foreign regulatory authorities also may approve or authorize for marketing a product candidate for a more limited indication or patient population than we originally request, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not approve or authorize the labeling that we believe is necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of a product candidate. Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approval or other marketing authorization would delay or prevent commercialization of that product candidate and would adversely impact our business and prospects.

In addition, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may change their policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations or take other actions, which may prevent or delay approval of our future product candidates under development on a timely basis. Such policy or regulatory changes could impose additional requirements upon us that could delay our ability to obtain approvals, increase the costs of compliance or restrict our ability to maintain any marketing authorizations we may have obtained.

Furthermore, even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will still need to develop a commercial organization, establish a commercially viable pricing structure and obtain approval for coverage and adequate reimbursement from third party and government payors, including government health administration authorities. If we are unable to successfully commercialize our product candidates, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to continue our business.

The development of additional product candidates is risky and uncertain, and we can provide no assurances that we will be able to replicate our approach to drug development for other disease indications.

Efforts to identify, acquire or in-license, and then develop, product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources, whether or not any product candidates are ultimately identified. Our efforts may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development, approved products or commercial revenues for many reasons, including the following:

● the methodology used may not be successful in identifying potential product candidates;

● competitors may develop alternatives that render any product candidates we develop obsolete;

● any product candidates we develop may be covered by third parties’ patents or other exclusive rights;

● a product candidate may be shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate it is unlikely to be effective or otherwise does not meet applicable regulatory criteria;

● a product candidate may not be capable of being produced in commercial quantities at an acceptable cost, or at all; and

● a product candidate may not be accepted as safe and effective by physicians, patients, the medical community or third party payors.

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We have limited financial and management resources and, as a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater market potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial drugs or profitable market opportunities. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in circumstances under which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate. In addition, we may not be successful in replicating our approach to drug development for other disease indications. If we are unsuccessful in identifying and developing additional product candidates or are unable to do so, our business may be harmed.

Success in preclinical studies or earlier clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials and we cannot assure you that any ongoing, planned or future clinical trials will lead to results sufficient for the necessary regulatory approvals.

Success in preclinical testing and earlier clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will generate the same results or otherwise provide adequate data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of a product candidate. Preclinical studies and Phase 1 clinical trials are primarily designed to test safety, to study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and to understand the side effects of product candidates at various doses and schedules. Success in preclinical studies and earlier clinical trials does not ensure that later efficacy trials will be successful, nor does it predict final results. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in preclinical studies or having successfully advanced through earlier clinical trials.

In addition, the design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product, and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. As an organization, we have limited experience designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support regulatory approval. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing and earlier clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, we may experience regulatory delays or rejections as a result of many factors, including changes in regulatory policy during the period of our product candidate development. Any such delays could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process. We may incur additional costs and encounter substantial delays or difficulties in our clinical trials.

We may not commercialize, market, promote or sell any product candidate without obtaining marketing approval from the FDA or other comparable regulatory authority, and we may never receive such approvals. It is impossible to predict when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective or safe in humans and will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must complete preclinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, is difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to outcome.

A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products.

We may experience numerous unforeseen events prior to, during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidates, including the following:

● delays in reaching a consensus with regulatory authorities on the design or implementation of our clinical trials;

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● regulators or institutional review boards, or IRBs, may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;

● delays in reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective clinical research organizations, or CROs, and clinical trial sites;

● the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate, participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate or fail to return for post-treatment follow-up or we may fail to recruit suitable patients to participate in a trial;

● clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results;

● imposition of a clinical hold by regulatory authorities as a result of a serious adverse event, concerns with a class of product candidates or after an inspection of our clinical trial operations, trial sites or manufacturing facilities;

● occurrence of serious adverse events associated with the product candidate that are viewed to outweigh its potential benefits;

● changes in regulatory requirements and guidance that require amending or submitting new clinical protocols; or

● we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs.

Any inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenue from future drug sales or other sources. In addition, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates, we may need to conduct additional testing to bridge our modified product candidate to earlier versions. Clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates, if approved, or allow our competitors to bring competing drugs to market before we do, which could impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Additionally, if the results of our clinical trials are inconclusive or if there are safety concerns or serious adverse events associated with our product candidates, we may:

● be delayed in obtaining marketing approval, or not obtain marketing approval at all;

● obtain approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;

● obtain approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings, including in the form of a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS;

● be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements;

● be required to perform additional clinical trials to support approval or be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements;

● have regulatory authorities withdraw, or suspend, their approval of the drug or impose restrictions on its distribution in the form of a modified REMS;

● be subject to the addition of labeling statements, such as warnings or contraindications;

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● be sued; or

● experience damage to our reputation.

Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or obtaining marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our preclinical studies or clinical trials will begin as planned, need to be restructured or be completed on schedule, if at all.

Further, we, the FDA or an IRB may suspend our clinical trials at any time if it appears that we or our collaborators are failing to conduct a trial in accordance with regulatory requirements, including the FDA’s current Good Clinical Practice, or GCP, regulations, that we are exposing participants to unacceptable health risks, or if the FDA finds deficiencies in our investigational new drug applications, or INDs, or the conduct of these trials. Therefore, we cannot predict with any certainty the schedule for commencement and completion of future clinical trials. If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of our clinical trials, or if we terminate a clinical trial prior to completion, the commercial prospects of our product candidates could be negatively impacted, and our ability to generate revenues from our product candidates may be delayed.

All of our current product candidates that have proceeded to clinical trials target inhibition of aldose reductase. There can be no assurance that aldose reductase inhibitors will ever receive regulatory approval.

All of our current product candidates that have proceeded to clinical trials target inhibition of the aldose reductase enzyme. There are no currently approved aldose reductase inhibitors on the market outside of Japan, India and China, and there can be no assurance that aldose reductase inhibitors will ever receive regulatory approval in all other countries, including the United States. Prior attempts to inhibit this enzyme were hindered by nonselective, nonspecific inhibition, which resulted in limited efficacy and significant off-target safety effects. Our current product candidates, including AT-007, AT-001 and AT-003, may face similar or different challenges that prevent their successful commercialization.

We may not be able to obtain or maintain rare pediatric disease designation or exclusivity for our product candidates, which could limit the potential profitability of our product candidates.

We have obtained orphan drug designation and rare pediatric disease designation, from the FDA for AT-007 for the treatment of galactosemia and PMM2-CDG. We have also obtained rare pediatric disease designation, from the FDA for AT-104 for treatment of T-ALL. The FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is defined as a disease or condition that either affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or if it affects more than 200,000 individuals, there is no reasonable expectation that sales of the drug in the United States will be sufficient to offset the costs of developing and making the drug available in the United States. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.

For the purposes of the rare pediatric disease program, a “rare pediatric disease” is a serious or life-threatening disease in which the serious or life-threatening manifestations primarily affect individuals aged from birth to 18 years or a rare disease or conditions within the meaning of the Orphan Drug Act. Under the FDA’s rare pediatric disease priority review voucher, or RPD-PRV, program, upon the approval of an NDA for the treatment of a rare pediatric disease, the sponsor of such application would be eligible for an RPD-PRV that can be used to obtain priority review for a subsequent NDA. The sponsor of the application may transfer (including by sale) the RPD-PRV to another sponsor. The voucher may be further transferred any number of times before the voucher is used, as long as the sponsor making the transfer has not yet submitted the application. Congress has extended the RPD-PRV program until September 30, 2024, with potential for vouchers to be granted until 2026. This program has been subject to criticism, including by the FDA. As such it is possible that even though we have obtained qualification for a RPD-PRV, the program may no longer be in effect at the time of approval. Also, although priority review vouchers may be sold or transferred to third parties, there is no guaranty that we will be able to realize any value if we obtained, and subsequently were able to sell a priority review voucher. The RPD-PRV program is currently scheduled to sunset as of September 30, 2026.

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A breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for a product candidate may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and it would not increase the likelihood that the product candidate will receive marketing approval.

We may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for one or more product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a product candidate that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product candidate may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For product candidates that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Product candidates designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA are also eligible for priority review if supported by clinical data at the time of the submission of the NDA.

Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe that one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to product candidates considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and it would not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that the product candidate no longer meets the conditions for qualification or it may decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened.

We have sought, and may in the future seek, fast track designation from the FDA for our product candidates. Even if granted, fast track designation may not actually lead to a faster development, regulatory review or approval process.

If a product candidate is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and demonstrates the potential to address unmet needs for this condition, the sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. If fast track designation is obtained, the FDA may prioritize interactions with the sponsor concerning the designated development program and initiate review of sections of an NDA before the application is complete, known as “rolling review.” Fast track designation would not ensure that we would experience a faster development, regulatory review or approval process compared to conventional FDA procedures or that we would ultimately obtain regulatory approval. Additionally, the FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.

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We intend to seek approval from the FDA through the use of accelerated registration pathways. If we are unable to obtain approval under an accelerated pathway, we may be required to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, which could increase the expense of obtaining, reduce the likelihood of obtaining and/or delay the timing of obtaining, necessary marketing approvals. Even if we receive approval from the FDA to utilize an accelerated registration pathway, if our confirmatory trials do not verify clinical benefit, or if we do not comply with rigorous post-marketing requirements, the FDA may seek to withdraw accelerated approval.

We intend to seek an accelerated approval development pathway for our product candidates. Under the accelerated approval provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDCA, and the FDA’s implementing regulations, the FDA may grant accelerated approval to a product designed to treat a serious or life-threatening condition that provides meaningful therapeutic advantage over available therapies and demonstrates an effect on a surrogate endpoint or intermediate clinical endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. The FDA considers a clinical benefit to be a positive therapeutic effect that is clinically meaningful in the context of a given disease. For the purposes of accelerated approval, a surrogate endpoint is a marker, such as a laboratory measurement, radiographic image, physical sign or other measure that is thought to predict clinical benefit, but is not itself a measure of clinical benefit. An intermediate clinical endpoint is a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. The accelerated approval development pathway may be used in cases in which the advantage of a new drug over available therapy may not be a direct therapeutic advantage, but is a clinically important improvement from a patient and public health perspective. If granted, accelerated approval is contingent on the sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verify and describe the drug’s clinical profile or risks and benefits for accelerated approval. The FDA may require that any such confirmatory studies be initiated or substantially underway prior to the submission of an application for accelerated approval. If such post-approval studies fail to confirm the drug’s clinical profile or risks and benefits, the FDA may withdraw its approval of the drug. Because we are still in early stages of our clinical trials, we can provide no assurances that our biomarker-based approach will be successful in demonstrating a causal link to the relevant outcomes we are evaluating. If our approach is not successful, we may be required to conduct longer clinical trials.

If we choose to pursue accelerated approval, we intend to seek feedback from the FDA or will otherwise evaluate our ability to seek and receive such accelerated approval. There can be no assurance that, after our evaluation of the feedback from the FDA or other factors, we will decide to pursue or submit an NDA for accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval. Furthermore, even if we submit an application for accelerated approval, there can be no assurance that the application will be accepted or that approval will be granted on a timely basis, or at all. The FDA also could require us to conduct further studies or trials prior to considering our application or granting approval of any type. We might not be able to fulfill the FDA’s requirements in a timely manner, which would cause delays, or approval might not be granted because our submission is deemed incomplete by the FDA. A failure to obtain accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval for a product candidate would result in a longer time period to commercialize such product candidate, could increase the cost of development of such product candidate and could harm our competitive position in the marketplace.

Even if we receive accelerated approval from the FDA, we will be subject to rigorous post-marketing requirements, including the completion of confirmatory post-market clinical trial(s) to verify the clinical benefit of the product, and submission to the FDA of all promotional materials prior to their dissemination. The FDA could seek to withdraw accelerated approval for multiple reasons, including if we fail to conduct any required post-market study with due diligence, a post-market study does not confirm the predicted clinical benefit, other evidence shows that the product is not safe or effective under the conditions of use, or we disseminate promotional materials that are found by the FDA to be false or misleading.

A failure to obtain accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval for a product candidate that we may choose to develop would result in a longer time period prior to commercializing such product candidate, could increase the cost of development of such product candidate and could harm our competitive position in the marketplace.

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Enrollment and retention of patients in clinical trials is an expensive and time-consuming process and could be delayed, made more difficult or rendered impossible by multiple factors outside our control.

Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in our clinical trials is critical to our success. We may encounter difficulties in enrolling patients in our clinical trials, thereby delaying or preventing development and approval of our product candidates. Even once enrolled, we may be unable to retain a sufficient number of patients to complete any of our trials. Patient enrollment and retention in clinical trials depends on many factors, including the size of the patient population, the nature of the trial protocol, the existing body of safety and efficacy data, the number and nature of competing treatments and ongoing clinical trials of competing therapies for the same indication, the proximity of patients to clinical sites and the eligibility criteria for the trial. Because our focus includes rare disorders, there are limited patient pools from which to draw in order to complete our clinical trials in a timely and cost-effective manner. Accordingly, enrollment of our clinical trials could take significantly longer than projected, which would delay any potential approval of our product candidates. Furthermore, even if we are able to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials, we may have difficulty maintaining enrollment of such patients in our clinical trials.

Our efforts to build relationships with patient communities may not succeed, which could result in delays in patient enrollment in our clinical trials. Any negative results we may report in clinical trials of our product candidates may make it difficult or impossible to recruit and retain patients in other clinical trials of that same product candidate. Delays or failures in planned patient enrollment or retention may result in increased costs, program delays or both, which could have a harmful effect on our ability to develop our product candidates or could render further development impossible. In addition, we may rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure proper and timely conduct of our future clinical trials and, while we intend to enter into agreements governing their services, we will be limited in our ability to ensure their actual performance.

For additional information regarding delays in enrollment and retention of patients, see “Risks Related to Our Business Operations, Employee Matters and Managing Growth—Our business may be adversely affected by the recent coronavirus outbreak.”

Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences following any potential marketing approval.

During the conduct of clinical trials, patients report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries and discomforts, to their doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the product candidate being studied caused these conditions. Regulatory authorities may draw different conclusions or require additional testing to confirm these determinations, if they occur.

In addition, it is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as use of these product candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by subjects or patients. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational drugs are tested in large-scale pivotal trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to patients on a commercial scale after approval. If additional clinical experience indicates that any of our product candidates have side effects or cause serious or life-threatening side effects, the development of the product candidate may fail or be delayed, or, if the product candidate has received regulatory approval, such approval may be revoked, which would harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

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Interim, “top-line” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publish interim, “top-line” or preliminary data from our clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Preliminary or “top-line” data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects and may cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.

The incidence and prevalence for target patient populations of our product candidates have not been established with precision. If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than we believe they are or any approval we obtain is based on a narrower definition of the patient population, our business may suffer.

We currently focus our drug development on product candidates for the treatment of diseases with high unmet medical need. Our eligible patient population and pricing estimates may differ significantly from the actual market addressable by our product candidates. Our estimates of both the number of people who have these diseases, as well as the subset of people with these diseases who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and analyses. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including the scientific literature, patient foundations or market research, and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of the diseases we are targeting. The number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected. Likewise, the potentially addressable patient population for each of our product candidates may be limited or may not be receptive to treatment with our product candidates, and new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or access. If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than we estimate, we may not be able to achieve our forecast revenue, which could hinder our business plan and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may face substantial competition, which may result in others developing or commercializing drugs before or more successfully than us.

The development and commercialization of new drugs is highly competitive. We may face potential competition with respect to our current product candidates and may face competition with respect to any other product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research institutions.

Our competitors may have an advantage over us due to their greater size, resources and institutional experience. In particular, these companies have greater experience and expertise in securing reimbursement, government contracts and relationships with key opinion leaders, conducting testing and clinical trials, obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals and distribution relationships to market products and marketing approved drugs. These companies also have significantly greater research and marketing capabilities than we do. If we are not able to compete effectively against existing and potential competitors, our business and financial condition may be harmed.

As a result of these factors, our competitors may obtain regulatory approval of their drugs before we are able to, which may limit our ability to develop or commercialize our product candidates. Our competitors may also develop therapies that are safer, more effective, more widely accepted or less expensive than ours, and may also be more successful than we are in manufacturing and marketing their drugs. These advantages could render our product candidates obsolete or non-competitive before we can recover the costs of such product candidates’ development and commercialization.

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Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third-parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, management and commercial personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and subject registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

We may explore strategic collaborations that may never materialize or we may be required to relinquish important rights to and control over the development and commercialization of our product candidates to any future collaborators.

Over time, our business strategy includes acquiring or in-licensing additional product candidates for treatments of diseases with high unmet medical need. As a result, we intend to periodically explore a variety of possible strategic collaborations in an effort to gain access to additional product candidates or resources. These strategic collaborations may include partnerships with large strategic partners, particularly for the development of DPN treatments using AT-001. At the current time however, we cannot predict what form such a strategic collaboration might take. We are likely to face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic collaborators, and strategic collaborations can be complicated and time consuming to negotiate and document. We may not be able to negotiate strategic collaborations on acceptable terms, or at all. We are unable to predict when, if ever, we will enter into any strategic collaborations because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with establishing them.

Future collaborations could subject us to a number of risks, including:

● we may be required to undertake the expenditure of substantial operational, financial and management resources;

● we may be required to issue equity securities that would dilute our stockholders’ percentage ownership of our company;

● we may be required to assume substantial actual or contingent liabilities;

● we may not be able to control the amount and timing of resources that our strategic collaborators devote to the development or commercialization of our product candidates;

● strategic collaborators may select indications or design clinical trials in a way that may be less successful than if we were doing so;

● strategic collaborators may delay clinical trials, provide insufficient funding, terminate a clinical trial or abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical trials or require a new version of a product candidate for clinical testing;

● strategic collaborators may not pursue further development and commercialization of products resulting from the strategic collaboration arrangement or may elect to discontinue research and development programs;

● strategic collaborators may not commit adequate resources to the marketing and distribution of our product candidates, limiting our potential revenues from these products;

● disputes may arise between us and our strategic collaborators that result in the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of our product candidates or that result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management’s attention and consumes resources;

● strategic collaborators may experience financial difficulties;

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● strategic collaborators may not properly maintain, enforce or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information in a manner that could jeopardize or invalidate our proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation;

● business combinations or significant changes in a strategic collaborator’s business strategy may adversely affect a strategic collaborator’s willingness or ability to complete its obligations under any arrangement;

● strategic collaborators could decide to move forward with a competing product candidate developed either independently or in collaboration with others, including our competitors; and

● strategic collaborators could terminate the arrangement or allow it to expire, which would delay the development and may increase the cost of developing our product candidates.

Even if any product candidates receive marketing approval, they may fail to achieve market acceptance by physicians, patients, third party payors or others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

Even if any product candidates receive marketing approval, they may fail to gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third party payors and others in the medical community. If such product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant drug revenue and may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of any product candidate, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to:

● the convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments and therapies;

● the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies;

● the efficacy and potential advantages compared to alternative treatments and therapies;

● the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts;

● the strength of our relationships with patient communities;

● the cost of treatment in relation to alternative treatments and therapies, including any similar generic treatments;

● our ability to offer such drug for sale at competitive prices;

● the strength of marketing and distribution support;

● the availability of third party coverage and adequate reimbursement;

● the prevalence and severity of any side effects; and

● any restrictions on the use of the drug together with other medications.

Our efforts to educate physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may never be successful. Such efforts may require more resources than are typically required due to the complexity and uniqueness of our product candidates. Because we expect sales of our product candidates, if approved, to generate substantially all of our revenues for the foreseeable future, the failure of our product candidates to find market acceptance would harm our business.

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Even if we obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates, they will remain subject to ongoing regulatory oversight.

Even if we obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates, such approvals will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record keeping and submission of safety and other post-market information. Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may also be subject to a REMS, limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the drug may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 trials, and surveillance to monitor the quality, safety and efficacy of the drug. Such regulatory requirements may differ from country to country depending on where we have received regulatory approval.

In addition, drug manufacturers and their facilities are subject to payment of user fees and continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, requirements and adherence to commitments made in the NDA or foreign marketing application. If we, or a regulatory authority, discover previously unknown problems with a drug, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the drug is manufactured or if a regulatory authority disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of that drug, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions relative to that drug, the manufacturing facility or us, including requesting a recall or requiring withdrawal of the drug from the market or suspension of manufacturing.

If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements following approval of our product candidates, a regulatory authority may, among other actions:

● issue an untitled letter or warning letter asserting that we are in violation of the law;

● seek an injunction or impose administrative, civil or criminal penalties or monetary fines;

● suspend or withdraw regulatory approval;

● suspend any ongoing clinical trials;

● refuse to approve a pending NDA or comparable foreign marketing application or any supplements thereto submitted by us or our partners;

● restrict the marketing or manufacturing of the drug;

● seize or detain the drug or otherwise require the withdrawal of the drug from the market;

● refuse to permit the import or export of product candidates; or

● refuse to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts.

Moreover, the FDA strictly regulates the promotional claims that may be made about drug products. In particular, a product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties.

Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit our ability to commercialize our product candidates and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional laws or government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance with the FDCA, Cures Act, or other applicable requirements, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, we cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the U.S. administration may impact our business and industry. It is difficult to predict how executive actions, including executive orders, may be implemented and the extent to which they will affect the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If legislative, administrative or executive actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.

If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be successful in commercializing them, if and when they are approved.

To successfully commercialize any product candidate that may result from our development programs, we will need to build out our sales and marketing capabilities, either on our own or with others. The establishment and development of our own commercial team or the establishment of a contract sales force to market any product candidate we may develop will be expensive and time-consuming and could delay any drug launch. Moreover, we cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully develop this capability. We may seek to enter into collaborations with other entities to utilize their established marketing and distribution capabilities, but we may be unable to enter into such agreements on favorable terms, if at all. If any current or future collaborators do not commit sufficient resources to commercialize our product candidates, or we are unable to develop the necessary capabilities on our own, we may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to sustain our business. We compete with many companies that currently have extensive, experienced and well-funded marketing and sales operations to recruit, hire, train and retain marketing and sales personnel. We will likely also face competition if we seek third parties to assist us with the sales and marketing efforts of our product candidates. Without an internal team or the support of a third party to perform marketing and sales functions, we may be unable to compete successfully against these more established companies.

Even if we obtain and maintain approval for our product candidates from the FDA, we may never obtain approval outside the United States, which would limit our market opportunities.

Approval of a product candidate in the United States by the FDA does not ensure approval of such product candidate by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. Sales of our product candidates outside the United States will be subject to foreign regulatory requirements governing clinical trials and marketing approval. Even if the FDA grants marketing approval for a product candidate, comparable foreign regulatory authorities also must approve the manufacturing and marketing of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and more onerous than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials. In many countries outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that country. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for any product candidates, if approved, is also subject to approval. Obtaining approval for our product candidates in the European Union from the European Commission following the opinion of the European Medicines Agency, or the EMA, if we choose to submit a marketing authorization application there, would be a lengthy and expensive process. Even if a product candidate is approved, the EMA may limit the indications for which the drug may be marketed, require extensive warnings on the drug labeling or require expensive and time-consuming additional clinical trials or reporting as conditions of approval. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our product candidates in certain countries.

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Further, clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries. Also, regulatory approval for our product candidates may be withdrawn. If we fail to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be harmed.

If we commercialize our product candidates outside the United States, a variety of risks associated with international operations could harm our business.

We intend to seek approval to market our product candidates outside the United States, and may do so for future product candidates. If we market approved products outside the United States, we expect that we will be subject to additional risks in commercialization, including:

● different regulatory requirements for approval of therapies in foreign countries;

● reduced protection for intellectual property rights;

● unexpected changes in tariffs, trade barriers and regulatory requirements;

● economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in particular foreign economies and markets;

● compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labor laws for employees living or traveling abroad;

● foreign currency fluctuations, which could result in increased operating expenses and reduced revenues, and other obligations incident to doing business in another country;

● foreign reimbursement, pricing and insurance regimes;

● workforce uncertainty in countries where labor unrest is more common than in the United States;

● production shortages resulting from any events affecting raw material supply or manufacturing capabilities abroad; and

● business interruptions resulting from geopolitical actions, including war and terrorism, international hostilities, or natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods and fires.

We have no prior experience in these areas. In addition, there are complex regulatory, tax, labor and other legal requirements imposed by many of the individual countries in which we may operate, with which we will need to comply. Many biopharmaceutical companies have found the process of marketing their products in foreign countries to be challenging.

Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and could limit commercialization of any product candidate that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in clinical trials and may face an even greater risk if we commercialize any product candidate that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that any such product candidates caused injuries, we could incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

● decreased demand for any product candidate that we may develop;

● loss of revenue;

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● substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;

● significant time and costs to defend the related litigation;

● withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

● increased insurance costs;

● the inability to commercialize any product candidate that we may develop; and

● injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention.

Any such outcomes could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our insurance policies may be inadequate and potentially expose us to unrecoverable risks.

Although we maintain product liability insurance coverage, such insurance may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We anticipate that we will need to increase our insurance coverage each time we commence a clinical trial and if we successfully commercialize any product candidate. Insurance availability, coverage terms and pricing continue to vary with market conditions. We endeavor to obtain appropriate insurance coverage for insurable risks that we identify; however, we may fail to correctly anticipate or quantify insurable risks, we may not be able to obtain appropriate insurance coverage and insurers may not respond as we intend to cover insurable events that may occur. We have observed rapidly changing conditions in the insurance markets relating to nearly all areas of traditional corporate insurance. Such conditions have resulted in higher premium costs, higher policy deductibles, and lower coverage limits. For some risks, we may not have or maintain insurance coverage because of cost or availability.

Risks Related to Regulatory Compliance

Our relationships with customers, physicians, and third party payors are subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, false claims laws, health information privacy and security laws, and other healthcare laws and regulations. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers and third-party payors subject us to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws and other healthcare laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil and criminal false claims laws and the law commonly referred to as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and regulations.

Ensuring that our business arrangements with third-parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will likely be costly. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participating in government-funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of noncompliance with these laws, contractual damages, reputational harm and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations.

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If the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government-funded healthcare programs. Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to healthcare laws and regulations may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common shares. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development, manufacturing, sales, marketing or distribution activities. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of litigation or other proceedings relating to applicable healthcare laws and regulations could have an adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

Coverage and adequate reimbursement may not be available for our product candidates, which could make it difficult for us to sell profitably, if approved.

Market acceptance and sales of any product candidates that we commercialize, if approved, will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for these drugs and related treatments will be available from third-party payors, including government health administration authorities, managed care organizations and other private health insurers. Third-party payors decide which therapies they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. While no uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement exists in the United States, third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own coverage and reimbursement policies. However, decisions regarding the extent of coverage and amount of reimbursement to be provided for any product candidates that we develop will be made on a payor-by-payor basis. Therefore, one payor’s determination to provide coverage for a drug does not assure that other payors will also provide coverage, and adequate reimbursement, for the drug. Additionally, a third-party payor’s decision to provide coverage for a therapy does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be approved. Each payor determines whether or not it will provide coverage for a therapy, what amount it will pay the manufacturer for the therapy, and on what tier of its formulary it will be placed. The position on a payor’s list of covered drugs, or formulary, generally determines the co-payment that a patient will need to make to obtain the therapy and can strongly influence the adoption of such therapy by patients and physicians. Patients who are prescribed treatments for their conditions and providers prescribing such services generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the associated healthcare costs. Patients are unlikely to use our product candidates, if approved, unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of our products.

Third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any drug that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, what the level of reimbursement will be. Inadequate coverage and reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any drug for which we obtain marketing approval. If coverage and adequate reimbursement are not available, or are available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidates that we develop.

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Healthcare reform measures may have a negative impact on our business and results of operations.

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes, as well as judicial challenges, regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. In particular, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the U.S. federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of healthcare. For example, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, or the MMA, changed the way Medicare covers and pays for pharmaceutical products. The legislation expanded Medicare coverage for drug purchases by the elderly and introduced a new reimbursement methodology based on average sales prices for physician-administered drugs. In addition, this legislation provided authority for limiting the number of drugs that will be covered in any therapeutic class. Cost reduction initiatives and other provisions of this legislation could decrease the coverage and price that we receive for any approved products. While the MMA applies only to drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payors often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement rates. Therefore, any reduction in reimbursement that results from the MMA may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.

Further, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or, collectively, the PPACA, was passed, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private payors in the United States. Some of the provisions of the PPACA have yet to be fully implemented, while certain provisions have been subject to executive, judicial and Congressional challenges. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or Tax Act includes a provision that repealed, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the PPACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year, which is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” Additionally, on January 22, 2018, then-President Trump signed a continuing resolution on appropriations for fiscal year 2018 that delayed the implementation of certain PPACA-mandated fees, including the so-called “Cadillac” tax on certain high-cost employer-sponsored insurance plans, the annual fee imposed on certain health insurance providers based on market share, and the medical device excise tax on non-exempt medical devices. Further, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, or the BBA, among other things, amended the PPACA, effective January 1, 2019, to close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole.” In July 2018, CMS published a final rule permitting further collections and payments to and from certain PPACA-qualified health plans and health insurance issuers under the PPACA adjustment program in response to the outcome of federal district court litigation regarding the method CMS uses to determine this risk adjustment. On December 14, 2018, a U.S. District Court Judge in the Northern District of Texas, or Texas District Court Judge, ruled that the individual mandate was a critical and inseverable feature of the PPACA, and therefore, because it was repealed as part of the Tax Act, the remaining provisions of the PPACA were invalid as well. In December 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the lower court decision, which was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in November 2020 and issued its decision in June 2021, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked the standing to challenge the individual mandate provision. In so holding, the Supreme Court did not consider larger constitutional questions about the validity of this provision or the validity of the PPACA in its entirety. It is unclear how any potential future litigation and other efforts to repeal and replace the PPACA will impact the PPACA. Congress may consider additional legislation to repeal or repeal and replace other elements of the PPACA. We continue to evaluate the effect that the PPACA and its possible repeal and replacement may have on our business and the potential profitability of our product candidates.

Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the PPACA was enacted. These changes include aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year pursuant to the Budget Control Act of 2011, which began in 2013, and due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, including the BBA, which will remain in effect through 2027 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

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Additional changes that may affect our business include the expansion of programs such as Medicare payment for performance initiatives for physicians under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. At this time, the full impact of the introduction of the Medicare quality payment program on overall physician reimbursement is unclear.

Further, in the United States there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under government payor programs, and review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs. While some of the proposed measures will require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, the U.S. Congress have indicated that they will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. For example, on April 21, 2021, the Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2021 was introduced, a bill intended to reduce Medicare and Medicaid prescription drug prices, including by restructuring the Medicare Part B reimbursement and Medicare Part D benefit and modifying aspects of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. An even more restrictive bill, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, was introduced in the House of Representatives on September 19, 2019, and re-introduced on April 22, 2021, and would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. The Biden Administration’s Prescription Drug Pricing Plan as part of the House-passed Build Back Better Act also seeks to reduce prescription drug costs by, among other provisions, allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for certain high-cost prescription drugs in Medicare Parts B and D, imposing an excise tax on pharmaceutical manufacturers that refuse to negotiate pricing with Medicare, requiring inflation rebates to limit annual drug price increases in Medicare and private insurance, redesigning the Medicare Part D formula, and limiting cost-sharing for insulin products. It is unclear whether such measures will be acted, and if enacted, what effect they would have on our business. We expect that additional U.S. federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that the U.S. federal government will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our current or any future product candidates or additional pricing pressures. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States or any other jurisdiction. If we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing or new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our current or any future product candidates we may develop may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.

Further, on May 30, 2018, the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017, or the Right to Try Act, was signed into law. The law, among other things, provides a federal framework for certain patients to access certain investigational new drug products that have completed a Phase 1 clinical trial and that are undergoing investigation for FDA approval. Under certain circumstances, eligible patients can seek treatment without enrolling in clinical trials and without obtaining FDA permission under the FDA expanded access program. There is no obligation for a pharmaceutical manufacturer to make its drug products available to eligible patients as a result of the Right to Try Act.

We expect that these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved drug, which could have an adverse effect on demand for our product candidates if they are approved. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other 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 us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our product candidates.

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Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

We intend to rely on third parties to produce clinical and commercial supplies of our product candidates.

We do not own or operate facilities for drug manufacturing, storage and distribution, or testing. We are dependent on third parties to manufacture the clinical supplies of our current and any future product candidates. The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates must be approved by the FDA pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit our NDA to the FDA. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with the cGMP requirements, for manufacture of both active drug substance and finished drug product. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, we will not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved. Any significant delay in the supply of a product candidate, or the raw material components thereof, for an ongoing clinical trial due to the need to replace a third-party manufacturer could considerably delay completion of our clinical trials, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates.

We also intend to rely on third-party manufacturers to supply us with sufficient quantities of our product candidates to be used, if approved, for commercialization. We do not yet have a commercial supply agreement for commercial quantities of drug substance or drug product. If we are not able to meet market demand for any approved product, it would negatively impact our ability to generate revenue, harm our reputation, and could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Further, our reliance on third-party manufacturers entails risks to which we would not be subject if we manufactured product candidates ourselves, including:

● inability to meet our product specifications and quality requirements consistently;

● delay or inability to procure or expand sufficient manufacturing capacity;

● issues related to scale-up of manufacturing;

● costs and validation of new equipment and facilities required for scale-up;

● our third party manufacturers may not be able to execute our manufacturing procedures and other logistical support requirements appropriately;

● our third party manufacturers may fail to comply with cGMP requirements and other inspections by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities;

● our inability to negotiate manufacturing agreements with third parties under commercially reasonable terms, if at all;

● breach, termination or nonrenewal of manufacturing agreements with third parties in a manner or at a time that is costly or damaging to us;

● reliance on single sources for drug components;

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● lack of qualified backup suppliers for those components that are currently purchased from a sole or single-source supplier;

● our third party manufacturers may not devote sufficient resources to our product candidates;

● we may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to any improvements made by our third party manufacturers in the manufacturing process for our product candidates;

● operations of our third party manufacturers or suppliers could be disrupted by conditions unrelated to our business or operations, including the bankruptcy of the manufacturer or supplier; and

● carrier disruptions or increased costs that are beyond our control.

In addition, if we enter into a strategic collaboration with a third party for the commercialization of our current or any future product candidates, we will not be able to control the amount of time or resources that they devote to such efforts. If any strategic collaborator does not commit adequate resources to the marketing and distribution of our product candidates, it could limit our potential revenues.

Any of these events could lead to clinical trial delays or failure to obtain regulatory approval, or impact our ability to successfully commercialize our current or any future product candidates once approved. Some of these events could be the basis for FDA action, including injunction, request for recall, seizure, or total or partial suspension of production.

Our business involves the use of hazardous materials and we and our third-party manufacturers and suppliers must comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict how we do, or interrupt our, business.

Our research and development activities and our third-party manufacturers’ and suppliers’ activities involve the generation, storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials, including the components of our product candidates and other hazardous compounds and wastes. We and our manufacturers and suppliers are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other matters, the use, manufacture, generation, storage, handling, transportation, discharge and disposal of these hazardous materials and wastes and worker health and safety. In some cases, these hazardous materials and various wastes resulting from their use are stored at our and our manufacturers’ facilities pending their use and disposal. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury, which could result in an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development efforts and business operations, damages and significant cleanup costs and liabilities under applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. We also cannot guarantee that the safety procedures utilized by our third-party manufacturers for handling and disposing of these materials and wastes generally comply with the standards prescribed by these laws and regulations. We may be held liable for any resulting damages, costs or liabilities, which could exceed our resources, and state or federal or other applicable authorities may curtail our use of certain materials and/or interrupt our business operations. Furthermore, environmental, health and safety laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance. Failure to comply with these environmental, health and safety laws and regulations may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions. We do not currently carry environmental insurance coverage.

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We rely on third-parties to conduct, supervise and monitor our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and if those third parties perform in an unsatisfactory manner, it may harm our business.

We do not currently have the ability to independently conduct any clinical trials. We intend to rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and we expect to have limited influence over their actual performance. We rely upon CROs to monitor and manage data for our clinical programs, as well as the execution of future preclinical studies. We expect to control only certain aspects of our CROs’ activities. Nevertheless, we will be responsible for ensuring that each of our preclinical studies and clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities.

We and our CROs are required to comply with the good laboratory practices, or GLPs, and GCPs, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in the form of International Conference on Harmonization guidelines for any of our product candidates that are in preclinical and clinical development. The regulatory authorities enforce GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and clinical trial sites. Although we rely on CROs to conduct GCP-compliant clinical trials, we remain responsible for ensuring that each of our GLP preclinical studies and clinical trials is conducted in accordance with its investigational plan and protocol and applicable laws and regulations. If we or our CROs fail to comply with GCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. Accordingly, if our CROs fail to comply with these regulations or fail to recruit a sufficient number of subjects, we may be required to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

Our reliance on third parties to conduct clinical trials will result in less direct control over the management of data developed through clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff. Communicating with CROs and other third parties can be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Such parties may:

● have staffing difficulties;

● fail to comply with contractual obligations;

● experience regulatory compliance issues; or

● undergo changes in priorities or become financially distressed.

These factors may adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. If our CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations, fail to meet expected deadlines, or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for any other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, any product candidate that we develop. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for any product candidate that we develop would be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed. While we will have agreements governing their activities, our CROs will not be our employees, and we will not control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our future clinical and preclinical programs. These CROs may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials, or other drug development activities which could harm our business. We face the risk of potential unauthorized disclosure or misappropriation of our intellectual property by CROs, which may reduce our trade secret protection and allow our potential competitors to access and exploit our proprietary technology.

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If our relationship with any of these CROs terminates, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional CROs involves substantial cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can negatively impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. While we intend to carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

In addition, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA. The FDA may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the trial. The FDA may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of our product candidates.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. If we breach our license agreements with Columbia University or any of the other agreements under which we acquired, or will acquire, the intellectual property rights to our product candidates, we could lose the ability to continue the development and commercialization of the related product.

The licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and to our current and future product candidates, and we expect to enter into additional such agreements in the future. In particular, our current product candidates AT-007, AT-001 and AT-003 are dependent on our license agreement with The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, or Columbia University. Pursuant to that license agreement with Columbia University, or the 2016 Columbia Agreement, Columbia University granted us an exclusive license under two important patent families, and a nonexclusive license to certain know-how, owned by Columbia University to develop, manufacture or commercialize certain compounds, including AT-001, AT-003 and AT-007, for the diagnosis and treatment of human and animal diseases and conditions. The license grant is worldwide, with the exception of the patent family that covers AT-001 and AT-003. The license grant for the patent family that covers AT-001 and AT-003 excludes patent rights in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, which Columbia University has exclusively licensed to a third party. We cannot prevent Columbia University’s third party licensee from developing, manufacturing or commercializing certain compounds, including AT-001 and AT-003, but not including AT-007, in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, and we cannot develop, manufacture or commercialize AT-001 or AT-003 in these territories, which could have a negative effect on our business. In addition, we entered into the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the 2019 Columbia Research Agreement and the PI3k Columbia Research Agreement, whereby, among other things, Columbia University granted to us an exclusive license under certain patents, and a non-exclusive license to certain know-how, in each case to develop, manufacture and commercialize certain PI3K inhibitor products, including AT-104.

We do not have the right to control the preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance of patents and patent applications covering the technology that we license under either of the Columbia Agreements. Therefore, we cannot always be certain that these patents and patent applications will be prepared, filed, prosecuted and maintained in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. Although we have a right to have our comments considered in connection with the prosecution process, if Columbia University fails to prosecute and maintain such patents, or loses rights to those patents or patent applications as a result of its control of the prosecution activities, the rights we have licensed may be reduced or eliminated, and our right to develop and commercialize any of our product candidates that are the subject of such licensed rights could be adversely affected.

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If we fail to meet our obligations under either Columbia Agreement in any material respect and fail to cure such breach in a timely fashion, then Columbia University may terminate such Columbia Agreement. If either Columbia Agreement is terminated, and we lose our intellectual property rights under such Columbia Agreement, this may result in complete termination of our product development and any commercialization efforts for the product candidates that are subject to such agreement, including AT-007, AT-001, AT-003 and AT-104. While we would expect to exercise all rights and remedies available to us, including seeking to cure any breach by us, and otherwise seek to preserve our rights under each Columbia Agreement, we may not be able to do so in a timely manner, at an acceptable cost or at all.

Furthermore, license agreements we enter into in the future may not provide exclusive rights to use intellectual property and technology in all relevant fields of use and in all territories in which we may wish to develop or commercialize our technology and products. As a result, we may not be able to prevent competitors from developing and commercializing competitive products in territories included in all of our licenses.

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our product candidates and technology, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad or robust, our competitors could develop and commercialize products and technology similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and technology may be adversely affected.

Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our product candidates and our technology. We and our licensors have sought, and intend to seek, to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our product candidates and our technology that are important to our business.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has, in recent years, been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or product candidates or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and product candidates. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing, and some remain so until issued, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to file a patent application relating to any particular aspect of a product candidate. Furthermore, if third parties have filed such patent applications, an interference proceeding in the United States can be initiated by such third party, or by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, itself, to determine who was the first to invent any of the subject matter covered by the patent claims of our applications.

The patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming and complex, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce or license all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection.

We or our licensors have not pursued or maintained, and may not pursue or maintain in the future, patent protection for our product candidates in every country or territory in which we may sell our products, if approved. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing our patents in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products that infringe our patents in and into the United States or other jurisdictions.

Moreover, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and its scope can be reinterpreted after issuance. Even if the patent applications we license or own do issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors or other third parties from competing with us or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Our competitors or other third parties may be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative products in a non-infringing manner.

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The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and product candidates. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our intellectual property may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

Furthermore, our owned and in-licensed patents may be subject to a reservation of rights by one or more third parties. For example, the research resulting in certain of our owned and in-licensed patent rights and technology was funded in part by the U.S. government. As a result, the government may have certain rights, or march-in rights, to such patent rights and technology. When new technologies are developed with government funding, the government generally obtains certain rights in any resulting patents, including a nonexclusive license authorizing the government to use the invention for noncommercial purposes. These rights may permit the government to disclose our confidential information to third parties and to exercise march-in rights to use or allow third parties to use our licensed technology. The government can exercise its march-in rights if it determines that action is necessary because we fail to achieve practical application of the government-funded technology, because action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs, to meet requirements of federal regulations, or to give preference to U.S. industry. In addition, our rights in such inventions may be subject to certain requirements to manufacture products embodying such inventions in the United States. Any exercise by the government of such rights could harm our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent rights depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by government patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for noncompliance with these requirements.

The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In addition, periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other government fees on patents and/or patent applications will have to be paid to the USPTO and various government patent agencies outside the United States over the lifetime of our owned and licensed patents and/or applications and any patent rights we may own or license in the future. We rely on our service providers or our licensors to pay these fees. The USPTO and various non-U.S. government patent agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply, and we are also dependent on our licensors to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to our licensed intellectual property. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, nonpayment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we or our licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or technologies, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing products that are the same as or similar to our product candidates, which would have an adverse effect on our business. In many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. There are situations, however, in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, potential competitors might be able to enter the market and this circumstance could harm our business.

In addition, if we fail to apply for applicable patent term extensions or adjustments, we will have a more limited time during which we can enforce our granted patent rights. In addition, if we are responsible for patent prosecution and maintenance of patent rights in-licensed to us, any of the foregoing could expose us to liability to the applicable patent owner.

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Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our product candidates for an adequate amount of time.

Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of product candidates such as AT-007, AT-001, and AT-003, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. We expect to seek extensions of patent terms in the United States and, if available, in other countries where we have or will obtain patent rights. In the United States, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 permits a patent term extension of up to five years beyond the normal expiration of the patent; provided that the patent is not enforceable for more than 14 years from the date of drug approval, which is limited to the approved indication (or any additional indications approved during the period of extension). Furthermore, only one patent per approved product can be extended and only those claims covering the approved product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. However, the applicable authorities, including the FDA and the USPTO in the United States, and any equivalent regulatory authority in other countries, may not agree with our assessment of whether such extensions are available, and may refuse to grant extensions to our patents, or may grant more limited extensions than we request. If this occurs, our competitors may be able to take advantage of our investment in development and clinical trials by referencing our clinical and preclinical data and launch their drug earlier than might otherwise be the case.

Third-parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a negative impact on the success of our business.

Our commercial success depends, in part, upon our ability and the ability of others with whom we may collaborate to develop, manufacture, market and sell our current and any future product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the proprietary rights and intellectual property of third parties. The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by extensive and complex litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. We may in the future become party to, or be threatened with, adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our current and any future product candidates and technology, including interference proceedings, post grant review and inter partes review before the USPTO. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future, regardless of their merit. There is a risk that third parties may choose to engage in litigation with us to enforce or to otherwise assert their patent rights against us. Even if we believe such claims are without merit, a court of competent jurisdiction could hold that these third-party patents are valid, enforceable and infringed, which could have a negative impact on our ability to commercialize our current and any future product candidates. In order to successfully challenge the validity of any such U.S. patent in federal court, we would need to overcome a presumption of validity. As this is a high burden and requires us to present clear and convincing evidence as to the invalidity of any such U.S. patent claim, there is no assurance that a court of competent jurisdiction would invalidate the claims of any such U.S. patent. Moreover, given the vast number of patents in our field of technology, we cannot be certain that we do not infringe existing patents or that we will not infringe patents that may be granted in the future. Other companies and research institutions have filed, and may file in the future, patent applications related to AR inhibitors and their therapeutic use. Some of these patent applications have already been allowed or issued, and others may issue in the future. While we may decide to initiate proceedings to challenge the validity of these or other patents in the future, we may be unsuccessful, and courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad could uphold the validity of any such patent. Furthermore, because patent applications can take many years to issue and may be confidential for 18 months or more after filing, and because pending patent claims can be revised before issuance, there may be applications now pending which may later result in issued patents that may be infringed by the manufacture, use or sale of our product candidates. Regardless of when filed, we may fail to identify relevant third-party patents or patent applications, or we may incorrectly conclude that a third-party patent is invalid or not infringed by our product candidates or activities. If a patent holder believes that our product candidate infringes its patent, the patent holder may sue us even if we have received patent protection for our technology. Moreover, we may face patent infringement claims from nonpracticing entities that have no relevant drug revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may thus have no deterrent effect. If a patent infringement suit were threatened or brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay research, development, manufacturing or sales of the drug or product candidate that is the subject of the actual or threatened suit.

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If we are found to infringe a third party’s valid and enforceable intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing, manufacturing and marketing our product candidate(s) and technology. Under any such license, we would most likely be required to pay various types of fees, milestones, royalties or other amounts. Moreover, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

The licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and more established companies may also pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third-party intellectual property rights or maintain the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may have to abandon development of the relevant program or product candidate, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be nonexclusive, thereby giving our competitors and other third-parties access to the same technologies licensed to us, and it could require us to make substantial licensing and royalty payments. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing, manufacturing and commercializing the infringing technology or product candidate. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees, if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent or other intellectual property right. We may be required to indemnify collaborators or contractors against such claims. A finding of infringement could prevent us from manufacturing and commercializing our current or any future product candidates or force us to cease some or all of our business operations, which could harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation can be expensive and time-consuming and would divert management’s attention from our core business. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have an adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to claims asserting that our employees, consultants or advisors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Certain of our employees, consultants or advisors are currently, or were previously, employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants and advisors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that these individuals or we have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such individual’s current or former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

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In addition, we may in the future be subject to claims by our former employees or consultants asserting an ownership right in our patents or patent applications, as a result of the work they performed on our behalf. Although it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own, and we cannot be certain that our agreements with such parties will be upheld in the face of a potential challenge or that they will not be breached, for which we may not have an adequate remedy. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents, the patents of our licensors or our other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our patents, the patents of our licensors or our other intellectual property rights. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file legal claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming and are likely to divert significant resources from our core business, including distracting our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours or our licensors is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of our owned or licensed patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our owned or licensed patent applications at risk of not issuing. The initiation of a claim against a third party might also cause the third-party to bring counterclaims against us, such as claims asserting that our patent rights are invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, non-enablement or lack of statutory subject matter. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant material information from the USPTO, or made a materially misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar validity claims before the USPTO in post-grant proceedings such as ex parte reexaminations, inter partes review, post-grant review, or oppositions or similar proceedings outside the United States, in parallel with litigation or even outside the context of litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. We cannot be certain that there is or will be no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. For the patents and patent applications that we have licensed, we may have limited or no right to participate in the defense of any licensed patents against challenge by a third party. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of any future patent protection on our current or future product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could harm our business.

We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensors, misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the United States. Our business could be harmed if in litigation the prevailing party does not offer us a license, or if the license offered as a result is not on commercially reasonable terms. Any litigation or other proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights may fail, and even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have an adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

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We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating or from successfully challenging our intellectual property rights. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have an adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

Changes in U.S. patent law or the patent law of other countries or jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our current and any future product candidates.

Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. Assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 2013, in the United States, the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the United States, the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. After March 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the America Invents Act, the United States transitioned to a first inventor to file system in which, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third-party was the first to invent the claimed invention. The America Invents Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and also may affect patent litigation. These include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by USPTO-administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review, and derivation proceedings. However, the America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we own, have licensed or might obtain in the future. Similarly, changes in patent law and regulations in other countries or jurisdictions, changes in the governmental bodies that enforce them or changes in how the relevant governmental authority enforces patent laws or regulations may weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we own or have licensed or that we may obtain in the future.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world, which could negatively impact our business.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents covering our current and any future product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we or our licensors have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we may obtain patent protection but where patent enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products in jurisdictions where we do not have any issued or licensed patents, and any future patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from so competing.

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Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology products, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our intellectual property and proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly, could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

Many countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patent. If we or any of our licensors is forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.

Reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them or that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or disclosed.

Since we rely on third parties to help us discover, develop and manufacture our current and any future product candidates, or if we collaborate with third parties for the development, manufacturing or commercialization of our current or any future product candidates, we must, at times, share trade secrets with them. We may also conduct joint research and development programs that may require us to share trade secrets under the terms of our research and development partnerships or similar agreements. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our advisors, employees, third-party contractors and consultants prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, including our trade secrets. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with third parties, the need to share trade secrets and other confidential information increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others, or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. Given that our proprietary position is based, in part, on our know-how and trade secrets, a competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

In addition, these agreements typically restrict the ability of our advisors, employees, third-party contractors and consultants to publish data potentially relating to our trade secrets. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, we may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical know-how or other trade secrets by the parties to these agreements. Moreover, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our confidential information or proprietary technology and processes. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies will be effective. If any of the collaborators, scientific advisors, employees, contractors and consultants who are parties to these agreements breaches or violates the terms of any of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could lose our trade secrets as a result. Moreover, if confidential information that is licensed or disclosed to us by our partners, collaborators, or others is inadvertently disclosed or subject to a breach or violation, we may be exposed to liability to the owner of that confidential information. Enforcing a claim that a third-party illegally or unlawfully obtained and is using our trade secrets, like patent litigation, is expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States are sometimes less willing to protect trade secrets.

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If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

In addition to seeking patent and trademark protection for our product candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our trade secrets, in part, by entering into nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties. We also enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees, advisors and consultants. Despite these efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures of our intellectual property is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be effective. In addition, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets.

Moreover, our competitors may independently develop knowledge, methods and know-how equivalent to our trade secrets. Competitors could purchase our products and replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts for technologies on which we do not have patent protection. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed.

We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and other confidential information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached, and detecting the disclosure or misappropriation of confidential information and enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated confidential information is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Further, we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our confidential information may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors, in which case we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us.

Any trademarks we may obtain may be infringed or successfully challenged, resulting in harm to our business.

We expect to rely on trademarks as one means to distinguish any of our product candidates that are approved for marketing from the products of our competitors. We have selected trademarks for some of our later stage product candidates and filed applications to register those trademarks for our current or any future product candidates. For other earlier stage product candidates, we have not yet selected trademarks or begun the process of applying to register trademarks. Our pending trademark applications, and any future trademark applications may not be approved. Third parties may oppose our trademark applications or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Our competitors may infringe our trademarks, and we may not have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

In addition, any proprietary name we propose to use with our current or any other product candidate in the United States must be approved by the FDA, regardless of whether we have registered it, or applied to register it, as a trademark. The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product names, including an evaluation of the potential for confusion with other product names. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed proprietary product names, we may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable proprietary product name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA.

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Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our business.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business. The following examples are illustrative:

● others may be able to make compounds or formulations that are similar to our product candidates but that are not covered by the claims of any patents, should they issue, that we own or license;

● we or our licensors might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patents or pending patent applications that we own or license;

● we or our licensors might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our inventions;

● others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing our intellectual property rights;

● it is possible that our pending patent applications will not lead to issued patents;

● issued patents that we own or license may not provide us with any competitive advantages, or may be held invalid or unenforceable as a result of legal challenges;

● our competitors might conduct research and development activities in the United States and other countries that provide a safe harbor from patent infringement claims for certain research and development activities, as well as in countries where we do not have patent rights, and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive drugs for sale in our major commercial markets;

● we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable; and

● the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Our Business Operations, Employee Matters and Managing Growth

We are highly dependent on the services of our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Dr. Shoshana Shendelman, and our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Riccardo Perfetti, and if we are not able to retain these members of our management team or recruit and retain additional management, clinical and scientific personnel, our business will be harmed.

We are highly dependent on our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Dr. Shoshana Shendelman, and our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Riccardo Perfetti. Each of them may currently terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of either of these persons could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives.

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Recruiting and retaining other senior executives, qualified scientific and clinical personnel and, if we progress the development of any of our product candidates, commercialization, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel, will be critical to our success. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize our product candidates. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.

Our future performance will also depend, in part, on our ability to successfully integrate newly hired executive officers into our management team and our ability to develop an effective working relationship among senior management. Our failure to integrate these individuals and create effective working relationships among them and other members of management could result in inefficiencies in the development and commercialization of our product candidates, harming future regulatory approvals, sales of our product candidates and our results of operations. Additionally, we do not currently maintain “key person” life insurance on the lives of our executives or any of our employees.

We expect to expand our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth, which could disrupt our operations.

As of March 31, 2022, we had 33 full-time employees. As the clinical development of our product candidates progresses, we also expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of research, drug development, regulatory affairs and, if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, sales, marketing and distribution. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities, and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited financial resources and the limited experience of our management team in managing a company with such anticipated growth, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.

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Our internal computer systems, or those of our collaborators or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a significant disruption of our product development programs and our ability to operate our business effectively, and adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our internal computer systems, cloud-based computing services and those of our current and any future collaborators and other contractors or consultants are vulnerable to damage or interruption from computer viruses, data corruption, cyber-based attacks (including phishing attempts, denial of service attacks, and malware or ransomware incidents), unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war, international hostilities and telecommunication and electrical failures. While we have not experienced any significant system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a disruption of our development programs and our business operations, whether due to a loss of our trade secrets or other proprietary information or other similar disruptions. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Furthermore, federal, state and international laws and regulations, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in May 2018, can expose us to enforcement actions and investigations by regulatory authorities, and potentially result in regulatory penalties and significant legal liability, if our information technology security efforts fail. In addition, our software systems include cloud-based applications that are hosted by third-party service providers with security and information technology systems subject to similar risks. 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, our competitive position could be harmed and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed.

Risks of unauthorized access and cyber-attacks have increased as most of our personnel, and the personnel of many third-parties with which we do business, have adopted remote working arrangements as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and may increase as a result of recent hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Improper or inadvertent employee behavior, including data privacy breaches by employees, contractors and others with permitted access to our systems, may also pose a risk that sensitive data may be exposed to unauthorized persons or to the public. If a system failure or security breach occurs and interrupts our operations or the operations at one of our third-party vendors, it could result in intellectual property and other proprietary or confidential information being lost or stolen or a material disruption of our drug development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from ongoing or planned clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, loss of trade secrets or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, including protected health information or personal data of employees or former employees, access to our clinical data, or disruption of the manufacturing process, we could incur liability and the further development of our drug candidates could be delayed. We may also be vulnerable to cyber-attacks by hackers or other malfeasance. This type of breach of our cybersecurity may compromise our confidential information and/or our financial information and adversely affect our business or reputation or result in legal or regulatory proceedings. In addition, if a ransomware attack or other cyber-attack occurs, either internally or at our third-party vendors, we could be prevented from accessing our systems or data, which may cause interruptions or delays in our business, cause us to incur remediation costs or subject us to demands to pay ransom, or adversely affect our business reputation.

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Our employees, principal investigators, consultants and commercial partners 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 fraud or other misconduct by our employees, principal investigators, consultants and commercial partners. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or the regulations applicable in other jurisdictions, provide accurate information to the FDA and other regulatory authorities, comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations in the United States and abroad, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs, and other business arrangements. Such misconduct also could involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials or interactions with the FDA or other regulatory authorities, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. 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 government investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply 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 result in significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participating in government-funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of noncompliance with these laws, contractual damages, reputational harm and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Any future acquisitions or strategic collaborations may increase our capital requirements, dilute our stockholders, cause us to incur debt or assume contingent liabilities and/or subject us to other risks.

From time to time, we may evaluate various acquisitions and strategic collaborations, including licensing or acquiring complementary drugs, intellectual property rights, technologies or businesses, as deemed appropriate to carry out our business plan. Any potential acquisition or strategic partnership may entail numerous risks, including:

● increased operating expenses and cash requirements;

● the assumption of additional indebtedness or contingent or unknown liabilities;

● assimilation of operations, intellectual property and drugs of an acquired company, including difficulties associated with integrating new personnel;

● the diversion of our management’s attention from our existing drug programs and initiatives in pursuing such a strategic partnership, merger or acquisition;

● retention of key employees, the loss of key personnel, and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships;

● risks and uncertainties associated with the other party to such a transaction, including the prospects of that party and their existing drugs or product candidates and regulatory approvals; and

● our inability to generate revenue from acquired technology and/or drugs sufficient to meet our objectives in undertaking the acquisition or even to offset the associated acquisition and maintenance costs.

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In addition, if we engage in future acquisitions or strategic partnerships, we may issue dilutive securities, assume or incur debt obligations, incur large one-time expenses, and acquire intangible assets that could result in significant future amortization expense. Moreover, we may not be able to locate suitable acquisition opportunities, and this inability could impair our ability to grow or obtain access to technology or drugs that may be important to the development of our business.

Our business may be adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Covid-19 pandemic, (“Covid-19”) has had and may continue to have a material impact on our operations. Infections and deaths related to Covid-19 continue to disrupt the United States’ healthcare and healthcare regulatory systems. Such disruptions could divert healthcare resources away from, or materially delay FDA approval with respect to, our clinical trials. In addition, other known and unknown factors caused by Covid-19 could materially delay our clinical trials, including our ability to recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to Covid-19. For example, with respect to our trials related to AT-001 for the treatment of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy, we have experienced, and continued to experience, delays in patient enrollment. Furthermore, we may experience additional delays in patient enrollment that we may not be able to mitigate. In addition, we have partnered with clinical research organizations, or CROs, to conduct clinical studies in jurisdictions, such as the EU, that have been affected by the spread of Covid-19. There is a possibility that such CROs may become unavailable or that the clinical trials they manage may be delayed due to Covid-19 or containment efforts associated with it. Such events may lead to termination of our relationship with affected CROs, affecting the development and study of our product candidates. Any elongation or de-prioritization of our clinical trials or delay in regulatory review resulting from such disruptions could materially affect the development and study of our product candidates, and increase the costs related to such development. While Covid-19 vaccines have become available both domestically and internationally, the effects of Covid-19, including the impacts described above may last longer than expected, extending such impacts, and materially impacting our business, financial condition, and results of operations. 

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

The market price of our common stock is volatile and has fluctuated substantially, which could result in substantial losses for purchasers of our common stock.

The stock market in general and the market for biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies in particular, has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above the price at which you purchased it. In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this Quarterly Report, the market price for our common stock has been, and is likely to continue to be influenced by the following:

● the commencement, enrollment, results of , or any delays in our planned or future clinical trials of our product candidates or those of our competitors;

● the success of competitive drugs or therapies;

● regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;

● the success of competitive products or technologies;

● developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;

● the recruitment or departure of key personnel;

● the level of expenses related to our product candidates or clinical development programs;

● the results of our efforts to discover, develop, acquire or in-license additional product candidates;

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● actual or anticipated changes in estimates as to financial results, development timelines or recommendations by securities analysts;

● our inability to obtain or delays in obtaining adequate drug supply for any approved drug or inability to do so at acceptable prices;

● disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our technologies;

● the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the timing and progress of our ongoing clinical trials, our business, results of operations, liquidity, and operations and our ability to mitigate those potential impacts;

● significant lawsuits, including patent or stockholder litigation;

● variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;

● changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems, including coverage and adequate reimbursement for any approved drug;

● market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors;

● general economic, political, and market conditions and overall fluctuations in the financial markets in the United States and abroad; and

● investors’ general perception of us and our business.

These and other market and industry factors have caused the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate substantially, regardless of our actual operating performance, which may limit or prevent investors from selling their shares at or above the price paid for the shares and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common stock. Furthermore, we believe our stock has been, and may in the future be, adversely affected as a result of actions by third parties. Short sellers and others, some of whom post anonymously on social media, may be positioned to profit if our stock declines and their activities can negatively affect our stock price.

Some companies that have experienced volatility in the trading price of their shares have been the subject of securities class action litigation. Any lawsuit to which we are a party, with or without merit, may result in an unfavorable judgment. We also may decide to settle lawsuits on unfavorable terms. Any such negative outcome could result in payments of substantial damages or fines, damage to our reputation or adverse changes to our business practices. Defending against litigation is costly and time-consuming, and could divert our management’s attention and our resources. Furthermore, during the course of litigation, there could be negative public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, which could have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.

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Concentration of ownership of our common stock among our existing executive officers, directors and principal stockholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

Based upon shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2022, and after giving effect to the February Offering, our executive officers, directors, and stockholders who owned more than 5% of our outstanding common stock, in the aggregate, beneficially own shares representing approximately 35.9% of our outstanding common stock. If our executive officers, directors and stockholders who owned more than 5% of our outstanding common stock acted together, they may be able to significantly influence all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. The concentration of voting power and transfer restrictions could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company on terms that other stockholders may desire or result in the management of our company in ways with which other stockholders disagree.

Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be your sole source of gain.

You should not rely on an investment in our common stock to provide dividend income. We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. In addition, the terms of any future debt agreements may preclude us from paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.

Future sales of common stock by holders of our common stock, or the perception that such sales may occur, could depress the market price of our common stock.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time, subject to certain restrictions described below. These sales, or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. As of March 31, 2022, we had outstanding 26,215,514 shares of common stock. A substantial number of such shares are currently restricted as a result of securities laws or lock-up agreements but will be able to be sold in the future.

We further have registered all shares of common stock that we may issue in the future or have issued to date under our equity compensation plans. These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates and certain lock-up agreements. Sales of a large number of the shares issued under these plans in the public market could have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

General Risk Factors

If research analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish unfavorable research or reports, about us, our business or our market, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. Equity research analysts may discontinue research coverage of our common stock, and such lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. We do not have any control over the analysts, or the content and opinions included in their reports. The price of our shares could decline if one or more equity research analysts downgrade our shares or issue other unfavorable commentary or research about us. If one or more equity research analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our shares could decrease, which in turn could cause the trading price or trading volume of our common stock to decline.

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We have broad discretion in the use of our cash and cash equivalents and may use them ineffectively, in ways with which you do not agree or in ways that do not increase the value of your investment.

Our management has broad discretion in the application of our cash and cash equivalents and could spend the proceeds in ways that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our common stock. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could result in additional operating losses that could have a negative impact on our business, cause the price of our common stock to decline and delay the development of our product candidates. Pending their use, we may invest our cash and cash equivalents in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” or EGC, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of some of the exemptions from reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs, including:

● being permitted to provide only two years of audited financial statements, in addition to any required unaudited interim financial statements, with correspondingly reduced “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” disclosure;

● not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements in the assessment of our internal control over financial reporting;

● not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements;

● reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation; and

● not being required to hold a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our share price may be more volatile. We currently take advantage of some or all of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an EGC. We will remain an EGC until the earlier of (i) December 31, 2024, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, (iii) the last day of the first fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (iv) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

In addition, under Section 107(b) of the JOBS Act, EGCs can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will be subject to the same requirements to adopt new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not EGCs.

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We have incurred increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an EGC, we incur and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC have imposed various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to comply with these requirements. Moreover, these rules and regulations increase our legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting, including an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. However, while we remain an EGC, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm will be able to conclude within the prescribed timeframe that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404. This could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

Provisions in our corporate charter and our bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of us that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. These provisions also could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:

● establish a classified board of directors such that not all members of the board are elected at one time;

● allow the authorized number of our directors to be changed only by resolution of our board of directors;

● limit the manner in which stockholders can remove directors from the board;

● establish advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals that can be acted on at stockholder meetings and nominations to our board of directors;

● require that stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called stockholder meeting and prohibit actions by our stockholders by written consent;

● limit who may call stockholder meetings;

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● authorize our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a stockholder rights plan, or so-called “poison pill,” that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by our board of directors; and

● require the approval of the holders of at least 66²/₃% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast to amend or repeal certain provisions of our charter or bylaws.

Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. These provisions could discourage potential acquisition proposals and could delay or prevent a change in control transaction. They could also have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our common stock, including transactions that may be in your best interests. These provisions may also prevent changes in our management or limit the price that investors are willing to pay for our stock.

Our governing documents designate certain courts as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, with respect to any state actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for:

● any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;

● any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty;

● any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers, employees or agents arising under the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws;

● any action or proceeding to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; and

● any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers, employees or agents that is governed by the internal-affairs doctrine.

In addition, our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees. If a court were to find an exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

None.

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Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.

Not applicable.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

Item 5. Other Information.

None.

Item 6. Exhibits.

Exhibit Number	Description
31.1	Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification under the Exchange Act by Shoshana Shendelman, President and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer).
31.2	Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification under the Exchange Act by Chids Mahadevan, Senior Vice President of Finance (Interim Principal Financial Officer).
32.1*	Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Section 1350 Certifications.
32.2*	Certification of Interim Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Section 1350 Certifications.
101.INS	Inline XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.
101.SCH	XBRL Schema Document.
101.CAL	XBRL Calculation Linkbase Document.
101.DEF	XBRL Definition Linkbase Document.
101.LAB	XBRL Label Linkbase Document.
101.PRE	XBRL Presentation Linkbase Document.
104	Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL with applicable taxonomy extension information contained in Exhibits 101).

*     Furnished herewith and not deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act, or the Exchange Act (whether made before or after the date of the Form 10-Q), irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

	APPLIED THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Date: May 12, 2022	By:	/s/ Shoshana Shendelman, Ph.D.
		Shoshana Shendelman, Ph.D.
		President and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer)
Date: May 12, 2022	By:	/s/ Chids Mahadevan
		Chids Mahadevan
		Senior Vice President of Finance
		(Interim Principal Financial Officer)

83

EX-31.1

Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATIONS

I, Shoshana Shendelman, certify that:

1.           I have reviewed this Form 10-Q of Applied Therapeutics, Inc.;

2.           Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.           Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.           The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

(a)          Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b)          Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c)          Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)          Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.           The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

(a)          All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

(b)         Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Date: May 12, 2022

By:	/s/ Shoshana Shendelman
Name:	Shoshana Shendelman, Ph.D.
Title:	Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer)

EX-31.2

Exhibit 31.2

CERTIFICATIONS

I, Chids Mahadevan, certify that:

1.           I have reviewed this Form 10-Q of Applied Therapeutics, Inc.;

2.           Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.           Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.           The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

(a)          Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b)          Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c)          Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)          Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.           The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

(a)          All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

(b)         Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Date: May 12, 2022

By:	/s/ Chids Mahadevan
Name:	Chids Mahadevan
Title:	Senior Vice President of Finance (Interim Principal Financial Officer)

EX-32.1

Exhibit 32.1

CERTIFICATION

Pursuant to the requirement set forth in Rule 13a-14(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”) and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. §1350), the undersigned hereby certifies that, to the best of their knowledge:

1. The Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) for the period ended March 31, 2022, to which this Certification is attached as Exhibit 32.1 (the “Quarterly Report”), fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act; and

2. The information contained in the Quarterly Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

Dated: May 12, 2022

By:	/s/ Shoshana Shendelman
Name:	Shoshana Shendelman, Ph.D.
Title:	Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer)

EX-32.2

Exhibit 32.2

CERTIFICATION

Pursuant to the requirement set forth in Rule 13a-14(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”) and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. §1350), the undersigned hereby certifies that, to the best of their knowledge:

1. The Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) for the period ended March 31, 2022, to which this Certification is attached as Exhibit 32.2 (the “Quarterly Report”), fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act; and

2. The information contained in the Quarterly Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

Dated: May 12, 2022

By:	/s/ Chids Mahadevan
Name:	Chids Mahadevan
Title:	Senior Vice President of Finance (Interim Principal Financial Officer)

XML

Document and Entity Information - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	May 11, 2022
Cover [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q
Document Quarterly Report	true
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2022
Document Transition Report	false
Entity File Number	001-38898
Entity Registrant Name	Applied Therapeutics, Inc.
Entity Incorporation, State or Country Code	DE
Entity Tax Identification Number	81-3405262
Entity Address, Address Line One	545 Fifth Avenue
Entity Address, Address Line Two	Suite 1400
Entity Address, City or Town	New York
Entity Address, State or Province	NY
Entity Address, Postal Zip Code	10017
City Area Code	212
Local Phone Number	220-9226
Title of 12(b) Security	Common Stock
Trading Symbol	APLT
Security Exchange Name	NASDAQ
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Interactive Data Current	Yes
Entity Filer Category	Non-accelerated Filer
Entity Small Business	true
Entity Emerging Growth Company	true
Entity Ex Transition Period	true
Entity Shell Company	false
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		26,236,931
Entity Central Index Key	0001697532
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2022
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Amendment Flag	false

XML

Condensed Balance Sheets - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
CURRENT ASSETS:
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 38,214	$ 53,888
Investments	17,437	26,935
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	7,913	7,571
Total current assets	63,564	88,394
Operating lease right-of-use asset	1,190	1,298
Security deposits and leasehold improvements	199	200
TOTAL ASSETS	64,953	89,892
CURRENT LIABILITIES:
Current portion of operating lease liabilities	453	442
Accounts payable	5,922	9,461
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities	15,842	16,559
Total current liabilities	22,217	26,462
NONCURRENT LIABILITIES:
Noncurrent portion of operating lease liabilities	773	891
Total noncurrent liabilities	773	891
Total liabilities	22,990	27,353
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY:
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; 26,215,514 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021	3	3
Preferred stock, par value $0.0001; 10,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021; 0 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.
Additional paid-in capital	331,476	328,958
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(80)	(107)
Accumulated deficit	(289,436)	(266,315)
Total stockholders' equity	41,963	62,539
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	$ 64,953	$ 89,892

XML

Condensed Balance Sheets (Parenthetical) - $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Condensed Balance Sheets
Common Stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001
Common Stock, authorized (in shares)	100,000,000	100,000,000
Common Stock, issued (in shares)	26,215,514	26,215,514
Common stock, outstanding (in shares)	26,215,514	26,215,514
Preferred Stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001
Preferred Stock, authorized (in shares)	10,000,000	10,000,000
Preferred Stock, issued (in shares)	0	0
Preferred Stock, outstanding (in shares)	0	0

XML

Condensed Statements of Operations - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Research and development	$ 15,030	$ 14,448
General and administrative	8,071	9,751
Total operating expenses	23,101	24,199
LOSS FROM OPERATIONS	(23,101)	(24,199)
OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET:
Interest income (expense), net	76	76
Other income (expense)	(96)	(56)
Total other income (expense), net	(20)	20
Net loss	(23,121)	(24,179)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders-basic	(23,121)	(24,179)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders-diluted	$ (23,121)	$ (24,179)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders-basic (in dollars per share)	$ (0.88)	$ (1.00)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders-diluted (in dollars per share)	$ (0.88)	$ (1.00)
Weighted-average common stock outstanding-basic (in shares)	26,215,514	24,135,735
Weighted-average common stock outstanding-diluted (in shares)	26,215,514	24,135,735

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Condensed Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Condensed Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
Net Loss	$ (23,121)	$ (24,179)
Other comprehensive income (loss)
Unrealized gain (loss) on marketable securities	27	(42)
Other comprehensive gain (loss), net of tax	27	(42)
Comprehensive income (loss), net of tax	$ (23,094)	$ (24,221)

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Condensed Statement of Stockholders' Equity - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Common Stock	Additional Paid-in Capital	Accumulated Deficit	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)	Total
Balance at Dec. 31, 2020	$ 2	$ 242,780	$ (160,731)	$ (112)	$ 81,939
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2020	22,493,661
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity
Issuance of common stock	$ 1	74,386			74,387
Issuance of common stock (in shares)	3,450,000
Exercise of options for common stock issued under equity incentive plan		67			67
Exercise of options for common stock issued under equity incentive plan (in shares)	37,400
Exercise of options for common stock not yet issued		(1)			(1)
Exercise of options for common stock not yet issued (in shares)	(465)
Restricted Stock Unit released for common stock issued under Equity Incentive Plan (in shares)	1,988
Exercise of warrants of common stock		69			69
Exercise of warrants of common stock (in shares)	27,855
Stock-based compensation expense		2,981			2,981
Net loss			(24,179)		(24,179)
Other comprehensive income (loss)				(42)	(42)
Balance at Mar. 31, 2021	$ 3	320,282	(184,910)	(154)	135,221
Balance (in shares) at Mar. 31, 2021	26,010,439
Balance at Dec. 31, 2021	$ 3	328,958	(266,315)	(107)	62,539
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2021	26,215,514
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity
Restricted Stock Unit released for common stock issued under Equity Incentive Plan (in shares)	21,417
Restricted Stock Units released for common stock not yet issued (in shares)	(21,417)
Stock-based compensation expense		2,077			2,077
Issuance of options in-lieu of bonus		441			441
Net loss			(23,121)		(23,121)
Other comprehensive income (loss)				27	27
Balance at Mar. 31, 2022	$ 3	$ 331,476	$ (289,436)	$ (80)	$ 41,963
Balance (in shares) at Mar. 31, 2022	26,215,514

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Condensed Statement of Stockholders' Equity (Parenthetical) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2022
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity
Common Stock, par value (in dollars per share)		$ 0.0001
Stock issuance cost	$ 203
Common Stock
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity
Common Stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001

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Condensed Statements of Cash Flows - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
Net loss	$ (23,121)	$ (24,179)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Stock-based compensation expense	2,077	2,981
Issuance of options in-lieu of bonus	441
Amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets	108	100
Change in operating lease liability	(106)	(97)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Prepaid expenses	(1,435)	(1,573)
Accounts payable	(3,539)	2,835
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities	72	(3,270)
Amortization of insurance premium	1,093	990
Net cash used in operating activities	(24,410)	(22,213)
INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchase of available-for-sale securities	(5,994)	(88,007)
Proceeds from sale of available-for-sale securities		500
Proceeds from maturities of available-for-sale securities	15,519	62,835
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities	9,525	(24,672)
FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Proceeds from February Offering, net of cash issuance costs of $169		74,424
Repayments of short-term borrowings	(789)	(1,074)
Exercise of stock options for common stock under Equity Incentive Plan		67
Exercise of Warrants		69
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities	(789)	73,486
NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS	(15,674)	26,601
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period	53,888	57,466
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	38,214	84,067
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION:
Unrealized gain (loss) on marketable securities	$ 27	(42)
February Offering costs still in accrued expense		$ 38

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Condensed Statements of Cash Flows (Parenthetical) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2021 USD ($)
Condensed Statements of Cash Flows
Cash issuance costs, February Offering	$ 165

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ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

1. ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Operations and Business

Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need. In particular, the Company is currently targeting treatments for rare metabolic diseases such as Galactosemia, Sorbitol Dehydrogenase deficiency, (“SORD” deficiency), and diabetic complications including diabetic cardiomyopathy. The Company was incorporated in Delaware on January 20, 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

On January 28, 2020, the Company completed its secondary public offering (the “Secondary Public Offering”), pursuant to which it issued and sold 2,741,489 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $45.50 per share, with an additional 411,223 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ full exercise of their option to purchase additional shares. The aggregate net proceeds received by the Company from the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs, were $134.1 million.

On June 4, 2020, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the “Shelf Registration Statement”) under which the Company may, from time to time, sell securities in one or more offerings having an aggregate offering price of up to $300.0 million. The Shelf Registration Statement was declared effective as of June 15, 2020.

On June 12, 2020, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement”) with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (“Goldman”), as a sales agent to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100 million. Goldman may act as an agent on the Company’s behalf or purchase shares of the Company’s common stock as a principal. The Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement was terminated as of January 24, 2022.

In February 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 3,450,000 shares of common stock (the “February Offering”), including the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase 450,000 additional shares of common stock, which option closed on February 19, 2021. The shares were offered at a price to the public of $23.00 per share, resulting in aggregate net proceeds of approximately $74.4 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses.

On January 26, 2022, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”), as a sales agent, to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. Pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement shares of our common stock may be offered and sold through the sales agent in sales deemed “at-the-market” offerings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, the sales agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 3% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of our common stock sold through it pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement. In connection with the sale of shares of our common stock on our behalf, the sales agent may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the sales agent may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement.

The accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared by the Company in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial statements. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These condensed financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited financial statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2021 included in the Annual Report, filed with the SEC on March 10, 2022 (the “Annual Report”).

The unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements contain all adjustments which are necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position as of March 31, 2022, results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021. Such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022, are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022.

Liquidity and Going Concern

The Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, significant operating losses for the foreseeable future as it continues to develop its drug candidates. To date, the Company has not generated any revenue, and it does not expect to generate revenue unless and until it successfully completes development and obtains regulatory approval for one of its product candidates.

Under ASC Topic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern, management is required at each reporting period to evaluate whether there are conditions and events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. We are actively pursuing several potential financing options. While we continue to explore opportunities to raise additional equity capital in the public markets, this has proven to be challenging in the biotech sector recently. Other options for structured finance which we continue to explore include a PIPE, debt, convertible debt, and synthetic royalty financing. Synthetic royalty financing, in particular, has become a favorable option for many companies for funding ongoing clinical development in late-stage and pre-approval programs. We have engaged an investment bank and we are specifically exploring this option in the near term. Additionally, we are in active dialogue with several potential partners regarding business development opportunities related to one or more of our programs. There can be no assurances that our discussions with any of the current counterparties will be successful, and the Company expects to continue to pursue additional opportunities.

As reflected in the accompanying financial statements, the Company has a net loss of $23.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and has an accumulated deficit of $289.4 million as of March 31, 2022. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming the continuation of the Company as a going concern. The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and is dependent on debt and equity financing to fund its operations. While we believe that our cash and cash equivalents and investments of $55.7 million at March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to fund our operations through year end 2022, given our planned expenditures for the next several years, we have concluded and our independent registered public accounting firm has agreed with our conclusion that there is still a substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

Risks and Uncertainties

The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the biotechnology industry, including, but not limited to, risks of failure of preclinical studies and clinical trials, the need to obtain marketing approval for any product candidate that it may identify and develop, the need to successfully commercialize and gain market acceptance of its product candidates, dependence on key personnel, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations, development by competitors of technological innovations and reliance on third-party manufacturers.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Significant Accounting Policies

The significant accounting policies and estimates used in preparation of the condensed financial statements are described in the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the notes thereto, which are included in the Annual Report. There have been no material changes to the Company’s significant accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2022.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Any recent pronouncements issued by the FASB or other authoritative standards groups with future effective dates are either not applicable or are not expected to be significant to the financial statements of the Company.

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LICENSE AGREEMENT

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

LICENSE AGREEMENT

LICENSE AGREEMENT

2. LICENSE AGREEMENT

Columbia University

In October 2016, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “2016 Columbia Agreement”) with the Trustees of Columbia University (“Columbia University”) to obtain an exclusive royalty-bearing sublicensable license in respect to certain patents. As part of the consideration for entering into the 2016 Columbia Agreement, the Company issued to Columbia University shares equal to 5% of its outstanding common stock on a fully diluted basis at the time of issue. The common stock had a fair value of $0.5 million at the time of issuance. The Company will be required to make further payments to Columbia University of up to an aggregate of $1.3 million for the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, and up to an aggregate of $1.0 million for the achievement of a specified level of aggregate annual net sales, in each case in connection with products covered by the 2016 Columbia Agreement. The Company will also be required to pay tiered royalties to Columbia University in the low- to mid-single digit percentages on the Company’s, its affiliates’ and its sublicensees’ net sales of licensed products, subject to specified offsets and reductions. In addition, the Company is required to make specified annual minimum royalty payments to Columbia University, which is contingent upon the approval of the licensed products, in the mid-six figures beginning on the 10th anniversary of the effective date of the 2016 Columbia Agreement. The Company has not granted any sublicenses under the 2016 Columbia Agreement. However, if the Company sublicenses the rights granted under the 2016 Columbia Agreement to one or more third parties, it will be required to pay Columbia University a portion of the net sublicensing revenue received from such third parties, at percentages between 10% and 20%, depending on the stage of development at the time such revenue is received from such third parties.

The 2016 Columbia Agreement will terminate upon the expiration of all the Company’s royalty payment obligations in all countries. The Company may terminate the 2016 Columbia Agreement for convenience upon 90 days’ written notice to Columbia University. At its election, Columbia University may terminate the 2016 Columbia Agreement, or convert the licenses granted to the Company into non-exclusive, non-sublicensable licenses, in the case of (a) the Company’s uncured material breach upon 30 days’ written notice (which shall be extended to 90 days if the Company is diligently attempting to cure such material breach), (b) the Company’s failure to achieve the specified development and funding milestone events, or (c) the Company’s insolvency.

In January 2019, the Company entered into a second license agreement with Columbia University (the “2019 Columbia Agreement”). Pursuant to the 2019 Columbia Agreement, Columbia University granted the Company a royalty-bearing, sublicensable license that is exclusive with respect to certain patents, and non-exclusive with respect to certain know-how, in each case to develop, manufacture and commercialize PI3k inhibitor products. The license grant is worldwide. Under the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the Company is obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to research, discover, develop and market licensed products for commercial sale in the licensed territory, and to comply with certain obligations to meet specified development and funding milestones within defined time periods. Columbia University retains the right to conduct, and grant third parties the right to conduct, non-clinical academic research using the licensed technology; provided that such research is not funded by a commercial entity or for-profit entity or results in rights granted to a commercial or for-profit entity. As consideration for entering into the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the Company made a nominal upfront payment to Columbia University. The Company will be required to make further payments to Columbia University of up to an aggregate of $1.3 million for the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones, and up to an aggregate of $1.0 million for the achievement of a specified level of aggregate annual net sales, in each case in connection with products covered by the 2019 Columbia Agreement. The Company will also be required to pay tiered royalties to Columbia University in the low- to mid-single digit percentages on the Company’s, its affiliates’ and its sublicensees’ net sales of licensed products, subject to specified offsets and reductions. In addition, the Company is required to make specified annual minimum royalty payments to Columbia University, which is contingent upon the approval of the licensed products, in the mid-six figures beginning on the tenth anniversary of the effective date of the 2019 Columbia Agreement.

The Company has not granted any sublicenses under the 2019 Columbia Agreement. However, if the Company sublicenses the rights granted under the 2019 Columbia Agreement to one or more third parties, it will be required to pay Columbia University a portion of the net sublicensing revenue received from such third parties, at percentages between 10% and 50%, depending on the stage of development at the time such revenue is received from such third parties. The 2019 Columbia Agreement will terminate upon the expiration of all the Company’s royalty payment obligations in all countries. The Company may terminate the 2019 Columbia Agreement for convenience upon 90 days’ written notice to Columbia University. At its election, Columbia University may terminate the 2019 Columbia Agreement, or convert the licenses granted to the Company into non-exclusive, non-sublicensable licenses, in the case of (a) the Company’s uncured material breach upon 30 days’ written notice (which shall be extended to 90 days if the Company is diligently attempting to cure such material breach), (b) the Company’s failure to achieve the specified development and funding milestone events, or (c) the Company’s insolvency.

In March 2019, and in connection with the 2016 Columbia Agreement, the Company entered into a research services agreement (the “2019 Columbia Research Agreement”) with Columbia University with the purpose of analyzing structural and functional changes in brain tissue in an animal model of Galactosemia, and the effects of certain compounds whose intellectual property rights were licensed to the Company as part of the 2016 Columbia Agreement on any such structural and functional changes. The 2019 Columbia Research Agreement had a term of 12 months from its effective date and expired in accordance with its terms.

On October 3, 2019, and in connection with the 2019 Columbia Agreement, the Company entered into a research services agreement (the “PI3k Columbia Research Agreement” and collectively with the 2016 Columbia Agreement, 2019 Columbia Agreement and 2019 Columbia Research Agreement, the “Columbia Agreements”) with Columbia University with the purpose of analyzing PI3k inhibitors for the treatment of lymphoid malignancies. The PI3k Columbia Research Agreement had a term of 18 months from its effective date and expired in accordance with its terms.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recorded $0 and $13,000 in research and development expense and general and administrative expense, respectively, related to the Columbia Agreements. During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the Company recorded $0 in research and development expense and $32,000 in general and administrative expense, respectively, related to the Columbia Agreements. In aggregate, the Company has incurred $2.5 million in expense from the execution of the Columbia Agreements through March 31, 2022.

As of March 31, 2022, the Company had $36,000 due to Columbia University included in accrued expenses and $0 included in accounts payable. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $12,000 due to Columbia University included in accrued expenses and $0.1 million included in accounts payable.

University of Miami

2020 Miami License Agreement

On October 28, 2020, the Company entered into a license agreement with the University of Miami (the “2020 Miami License Agreement”) relating to certain technology that is co-owned by the University of Miami (UM), the University of Rochester (UR) and University College London (UCL). UM was granted an exclusive agency from UR and UCL to license each of their rights in the technology. Pursuant to the 2020 Miami License Agreement, UM, on behalf of itself and UR and UCL, granted the Company a royalty-bearing, sublicensable license that is exclusive with respect to certain patent applications and patents that may grant from the applications, and non-exclusive with respect to certain know-how, in each case to research, develop, make, have made, use, sell and import products for use in treating and/or detecting certain inherited neuropathies, in particular those caused by mutation in the sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) gene. The license grant is worldwide. Under the 2020 Miami License Agreement, the Company is obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, manufacture, market and sell licensed products in the licensed territory, and to comply with certain obligations to meet specified development milestones within defined time periods. UM retains for itself, UR, and UCL the right to use the licensed patent rights and licensed technology for their internal non-commercial educational, research and clinical patient care purposes, including in sponsored research and collaboration with commercial entities.

Under the terms of the 2020 Miami License Agreement, the Company was obligated to pay UM an up-front non-refundable license fee of $1.1 million, and a second non-refundable license fee of $0.5 million due on the first anniversary of the date of the license. The Company will be required to make further payments to UM of up to an aggregate $2.2 million for the achievement of specified patenting and development milestones, and up to an aggregate of $4.1 million for achievement of late stage regulatory milestones. The Company will also be required to pay royalties ranging from 0.88% - 5% on the Company’s, the Company’s affiliates’ and the Company’s sublicensees’ net sales of licensed products. If the Company sublicenses the rights granted under the 2020 Miami License Agreement to one or more third parties, the Company will be required to pay to UM a portion of the non-royalty sublicensing revenue received from such third parties ranging from 15% – 25%.

The 2020 Miami License Agreement terminates upon the later of the expiration of all issued patents and filed patent applications or 10 years after the first commercial sale of the last product or process for which a royalty is due, unless earlier terminated. In addition, the 2020 Miami License Agreement may be terminated by the Company at any time upon 60 days prior written notice to UM, and may be terminated by either the Company or UM upon material breach of an obligation if action to cure the breach is not initiated within 60 days of receipt of written notice.

During each of the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 the Company recorded $25,000 in research and development expense related to the 2020 Miami License Agreement. In aggregate, the Company has incurred $2.3 million in expense from execution of the 2020 Miami License Agreement through March 31, 2022.

The Company had $0.3 million and $0.3 million due to UM included in accrued expenses as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, relating to the 2020 Miami License Agreement.

2020 Miami Option Agreement

On October 28, 2020, the Company entered into an option agreement with the University of Miami (the “2020 Miami Option Agreement”) concerning certain research activities and technology relating to SORD neuropathy that may be pursued and developed by UM. Under the 2020 Miami Option Agreement, if UM conducts such research activities, then UM is obligated to grant the Company certain option rights to access and use the research results and to obtain licenses to any associated patent rights upon the Company making specified payments to UM within specified time limits. If the Company elects to obtain option rights the Company will be required to make payments to UM in the low-six figures to the low-seven figures, depending upon the rights the Company elects to obtain, and the Company will be obligated to make certain milestone payments in the high-six figures to mid-seven figures if UM conducts and completes certain research activities within specified time periods and the Company elects to receive rights to use the results of that research.

2020 Miami Sponsored Research Agreement

On December 14, 2020, the Company entered into a research agreement with the University of Miami (the “2020 Miami Research Agreement”), under which the University of Miami will conduct a research study relating to SORD neuropathy and deliver a final report on the study to the Company. The term of the research agreement is from December 14, 2020 through December 30, 2021, and was extended through May 31, 2022. The total consideration for the 2020 Miami Research Agreement was $0.3 million.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recorded $37,000 and $67,000, respectively, in research and development expense in relation to the 2020 Miami Research Agreement. The Company had $0.1 million and $0.2 million as of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, in accrued expense in relation to the 2020 Miami Research Agreement.

Bayh-Dole Act

Some of the intellectual property rights the Company has licensed, including certain rights licensed in the agreements described above, may have been generated through the use of U.S. government funding. As a result, the U.S. government may have certain rights to intellectual property embodied in the Company’s current or future product candidates under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, or Bayh-Dole Act, including the grant to the government of a non-exclusive, worldwide, freedom to operate license under any patents, and the requirement, absent a waiver, to manufacture products substantially in the United States.  To the extent any of the Company’s current or future intellectual property is generated through the use of U.S. government funding, the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act may similarly apply.

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FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

3. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

The following tables summarize, as of March 31, 2022, the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis, according to the fair value hierarchy described in the significant accounting policies in the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the notes thereto, which are included in the Annual Report.

	As of March 31, 2022
(in thousands)	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash	$	3,991	$	—	$	—	$	3,991
Money market funds		34,223		—		—		34,223
Total cash and cash equivalents	$	38,214	$	—	$	—	$	38,214
U.S. government agency debt securities		—		17,437		—		17,437
Total marketable securities	$	—	$	17,437	$	—	$	17,437
Total financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis	$	38,214	$	17,437	$	—	$	55,651

Investments in U.S. government agency debt securities have been classified as Level 2 as they are valued using quoted prices in less active markets or other directly or indirectly observable inputs. Fair values of U.S. government agency debt securities were derived from a consensus or weighted average price based on input of market prices from multiple sources at each reporting period. During the period ended March 31, 2022, there were no transfers of financial assets between Level 1 and Level 2.

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INVESTMENTS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

INVESTMENTS

INVESTMENTS

4. INVESTMENTS

Marketable Securities

Marketable securities, which the Company classifies as available-for-sale securities, primarily consist of U.S. government debt obligations. Marketable securities with remaining effective maturities of twelve months or less from the balance sheet date are classified as short-term; otherwise, they are classified as long-term on the balance sheets.

The following tables provide the Company’s marketable securities by security type (in thousands):

	As of March 31, 2022								As of December 31, 2021
			Gross		Gross						Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated				Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935
Total	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935

As of March 31, 2022, the Company’s investment portfolio reported an unrealized loss of $0.1 million. Based on its evaluations, the Company determined that a credit loss allowance is not required since the decline was not related to underlying credit issues of the counterparties. The counterparties to these investments have high credit quality with investment grade ratings of at least AA+ or above, along with a history of no defaults. No single investment in the portfolio had an individually material unrealized loss and in the aggregate. The total amount of unrealized losses of $0.1 million as of March 31, 2022 was only 0.47% of the total amortized costs basis of the investment portfolio. In addition, the Company does not intend to sell these investments and it is not more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell these investments before recovery of their amortized cost bases. Accordingly, based on the foregoing evaluation, the Company did not record any credit losses during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the entire amount of the decline in fair value below the amortized cost basis was recorded as an unrealized loss, net of tax, in other comprehensive loss in the Statements of Comprehensive Loss. Unrealized gains are also reflected, net of tax, as other comprehensive income (loss) in the Statements of Comprehensive Loss.

Contractual maturities of the Company’s marketable securities are summarized as follows:

	As of March 31, 2022								As of December 31, 2021
			Gross		Gross						Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated				Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value
Due in one year or less	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935
Due in one through two years		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		—
Total	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935

At March 31, 2022, the Company had $1,000 of gross unrealized gains and $0.1 million of gross unrealized losses primarily due to fluctuations in the fair value of certain U.S. government agency debt securities.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company recorded gross realized losses of $80,000 and no gross realized gains of from the sale of marketable securities.

The unrealized losses and fair values of available-for-sale securities that have been in an unrealized loss position for a period of less than and greater than 12 months as of March 31, 2022 are as follows:

	As of March 31, 2022
	Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months				Securities in an unrealized loss position greater than 12 months				Total
	Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	(82)	$	14,438	$	—	$	—	$	(82)	$	14,438
Total	$	(82)	$	14,438	$	—	$	—	$	(82)	$	14,438

The unrealized losses and fair values of available-for-sale securities that have been in an unrealized loss position for a period of less than and greater than 12 months as of December 31, 2021 are as follows:

	As of December 31, 2021
	Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months				Securities in an unrealized loss position greater than 12 months				Total
	Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	(108)	$	17,696	$	—	$	—	$	(108)	$	17,696
Total	$	(108)	$	17,696	$	—	$	—	$	(108)	$	17,696

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PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

5. PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

Prepaid expenses and other current assets consisted of the following:

	March 31,		December 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Prepaid research and development expenses	$	5,837	$	4,483
Insurance premium asset		522		1,616
Prepaid rent expenses		125		117
Prepaid insurance expenses		99		105
Prepaid commercial and patient advocacy		383		254
Research and development tax credit receivable		469		502
Interest receivable		23		23
Other prepaid expenses and current assets		455		471
Total prepaid expenses & other current assets	$	7,913	$	7,571

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ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

6. ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities consisted of the following:

	March 31,		December 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Accrued pre-clinical and clinical expenses	$	12,217	$	9,912
Short-term insurance financing note		—		789
Accrued professional fees		533		419
Accrued compensation and benefits		707		2,779
Accrued commercial expenses		1,355		1,394
Accrued patent expenses		328		279
Other		702		987
Total accrued expenses & other current liabilities	$	15,842	$	16,559

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

STOCK BASED COMPENSATION

STOCK BASED COMPENSATION

7. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

Equity Incentive Plans

In May 2019, the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”) adopted its 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (“2019 Plan”), which was subsequently approved by its stockholders and became effective on May 13, 2019. As a result, no additional awards under the Company’s 2016 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2016 Plan”) will be granted and all outstanding stock awards granted under the 2016 Plan that are repurchased, forfeited, expired, or are cancelled will become available for grant under the 2019 Plan in accordance with its terms. The 2016 Plan will continue to govern outstanding equity awards granted thereunder.

The 2019 Plan provides for the issuance of incentive stock options (“ISOs”) to employees, and for the grant of nonstatutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, performance stock awards, performance cash awards and other forms of stock awards to the Company’s employees, officers, and directors, as well as non- employees, consultants, and affiliates to the Company. Under the terms of the 2019 Plan, stock options may not be granted at an exercise price less than fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the date of the grant. The 2019 Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board.

Initially, subject to adjustments as provided in the 2019 Plan, the maximum number of the Company’s common stock that may be issued under the 2019 Plan was 4,530,000 shares, which is the sum of (i) 1,618,841 new shares, plus (ii) the number of shares (not to exceed 2,911,159 shares) that remained available for the issuance of awards under the 2016 Plan, at the time the 2019 Plan became effective, and (iii) any shares subject to outstanding stock options or other stock awards granted under the 2016 Plan that are forfeited, expired, or reacquired. The 2019 Plan provides that the number of shares reserved and available for issuance under the 2019 Plan will automatically increase each January 1, beginning on January 1, 2020, by 5% of the outstanding number of shares of common stock on the immediately preceding December 31 or such lesser number of shares as determined by the Board. Subject to certain changes in capitalization of the Company, the aggregate maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued pursuant to the exercise of ISOs shall be equal to 13,000,000 shares of common stock. Stock options awarded under the 2019 Plan expire 10 years after grant and typically vest over four years.

As of March 31, 2022, there were 1,379,543 shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2019 Plan.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

Total stock-based compensation expense recorded for employees, directors and non-employees (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Research and development	$	856	$	799
General and administrative		1,221		2,182
Total stock-based compensation expense	$	2,077	$	2,981

Stock Option Activity

During the three months ended March 31, 2022 the Company granted 400,416 options to shares of common stock. For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, amortization of stock compensation of options amounted to $2.0 million and $2.5 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2022 and 2021, the total unrecognized stock-based compensation balance for unvested options was $13.0 million and $22.7 million, respectively, which is expected to be recognized over 2.4 years and 2.9 years, respectively. The weighted-average fair value per share of options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 was $2.22 and zero, respectively.

The following table summarizes the information about options outstanding at March 31, 2022:

				Weighted-Average
		Weighted-		Remaining	Aggregate
	Options	Average		Contractual	Intrinsic
(in thousands, except for share data)	Outstanding	Exercise Price		Term (in years)	Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2021	4,704,888	$	13.29	7.7	$	10,305
Options granted	400,416		3.68
Options exercised	-		—
Forfeited	(248,222)		27.73
Expired	(5,517)		23.15
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	4,851,565	$	11.74	7.4	$	489
Exercisable at March 31, 2022	3,577,835	$	9.81	7.0	$	489
Nonvested at March 31, 2022	1,273,730	$	17.17	8.5	$	—

Valuation of Stock Options Granted to Employees that Contain Service Conditions Only

The fair value of each option award granted with service-based vesting is estimated on the date of the grant using the Black-Scholes option valuation model based on the weighted average assumptions noted in the table below for those options granted in the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021.

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022			2021
Expected term (in years)		5.5			—
Volatility		69.68	%		—	%
Risk-free interest rate		1.56	%		—	%
Dividend yield		—	%		—	%

Restricted Stock Unit Activity

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company granted 248,700 RSUs to shares of common stock. For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, amortization of stock compensation of RSUs amounted to $0.1 million and $0.5 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2022 and 2021, the unamortized compensation costs associated with non-vested restricted stock awards were $5.4 million and $5.9 million, respectively, with a weighted-average remaining amortization period of 3.4 and 3.2 years, respectively.

The following table summarizes the information about restricted stock units outstanding at March 31, 2022:

		Weighted-Average
		Grant Date		Aggregate
(in thousands, except for share data)	Shares	Fair Value		Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2021	469,485	$	18.05	$	4,202
Awarded	248,700		4.17
Released	(21,417)		25.69
Forfeited	(145,300)		19.48
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	551,468	$	11.12	$	1,164
Nonvested at March 31, 2022	551,468	$	11.12	$	1,164
Weighted Average Remaining Recognition Period (in years)	3.4

2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

In May 2019, the Company’s Board and its stockholders approved the 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”), which became effective as of May 13, 2019. The ESPP is intended to qualify as an “employee stock purchase plan” within the meaning of Section 423 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The number of shares of common stock initially reserved for issuance under the ESPP was 180,000 shares. The ESPP provides for an annual increase on the first day of each year beginning in 2020 and ending in 2029, in each case subject to the approval of the Board, equal to the lesser of (i) 1% of the shares of common stock outstanding on the last day of the calendar month before the date of the automatic increase and (ii) 360,000 shares; provided that prior to the date of any such increase, the Board may determine that such increase will be less than the amount set forth in clauses (i) and (ii). As of March 31, 2022, no shares of common stock had been issued under the ESPP. The first offering period has not yet been decided by the Board.

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STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

8. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

As of March 31, 2022, and December 31, 2021, the authorized capital stock of the Company consists of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share.

Common Stock

Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement

In June 2020, the Company entered into the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. The issuance and sale of shares of common stock by the Company pursuant to the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement is deemed an “at-the-market” offering under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Goldman is entitled to compensation for its services equal to up to 3.0% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of the Company’s common stock sold through it as a sales agent pursuant to the Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement. The Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement was terminated as of January 24, 2022.

Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement

On January 26, 2022, the Company entered into the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. Pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement shares of our common stock may be offered and sold through the sales agent in sales deemed “at-the-market” offerings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, the sales agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 3% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of our common stock sold through it pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement. In connection with the sale of shares of our common stock on our behalf, the sales agent may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the sales agent may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement.

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WARRANTS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

WARRANTS

WARRANTS

9. WARRANTS

Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock

On January 26, 2017, in connection with the sale and issuance of the Series A Preferred Stock, the Company issued equity-classified warrants to purchase 309,389 shares of common stock (the “2017 Warrants”), valued at $0.2 million, and included in the issuance costs of the Series A Preferred Stock. The warrants vested immediately and have an exercise price of $2.49 per share and expire on March 13, 2027.

The fair value of warrants issued is estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions for the 2017 Warrants.

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	74.48	%
Risk-free interest rate	3.20	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

On February 5, 2021, a warrantholder exercised 27,855 warrants on a cash basis and received 27,855 shares of common stock. The Company received $69,000 in cash proceeds for the exercise of these warrants.

Warrants Issued with the 2018 Notes

On January 18, 2018, the Company entered into a placement agent agreement through which it became obligated to issue common stock warrants in connection with the issuance of convertible promissory notes, issued on February 5, 2018 (the “2018 Notes”). The obligation to issue the 2018 Notes Warrants was recorded as a liability at its fair value, (see Note 3), which was initially $0.1 million, and was included in the issuance costs of the 2018 Notes. On November 5, 2018, in connection with the extinguishment of the 2018 Notes into shares of Series B Preferred Stock, the Company issued the 2018 Notes Warrants, which were equity-classified warrants upon issuance, to purchase 76,847 shares of common stock, valued at $0.3 million. The 2018 Notes Warrants vested immediately upon issuance and have an exercise price of $6.59 per share and expire on November 4, 2028.

Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock

In November and December 2018, in connection with the sale and issuance of the Series B Preferred Stock, the Company was obligated to issue equity-classified warrants to purchase 72,261 shares of common stock (collectively the “2018 Warrants”), valued in the aggregate at $0.2 million, which was included in the issuance costs for the Series B Preferred Stock. The warrants vest immediately upon issuance, have an exercise price of $8.24 per share and expire 10 years from the date of issuance.

The fair value of the 2018 Warrants was estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions:

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	73.22	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.70	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

In February 2019, in connection with the sale and issuance of the Series B Preferred Stock, the Company was obligated to issue warrants to purchase 23,867 shares of common stock (collectively the “2019 Warrants”), valued in the aggregate at $0.1 million, which was included in the issuance costs for the Series B Preferred Stock. The warrants vested immediately upon issuance, have an exercise price of $8.24 per share and expire 10 years from the date of issuance.

The fair value of the 2019 Warrants was estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following assumptions:

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	73.22	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.70	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

The inputs utilized by management to value the warrants are highly subjective. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of the warrants represent the Company’s best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management judgment. As a result, if factors change and the Company uses different assumptions, the fair value of the warrants may be materially different in the future.

A summary of the Company’s outstanding common stock warrants as of March 31, 2022 is as follows:

	Warrants
Outstanding as of December 31, 2021		125,618
Warrants granted and issued		—
Warrants exercised		—
Warrants exchanged		—
Balance as of March 31, 2022		125,618

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LEASES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

LEASES

LEASES

10. LEASES

The following table summarizes the Company’s lease related costs for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

		Operating (in thousands)
Lease Cost	Statement of Operations Location		2022		2021
Operating Lease Cost	General and administrative	$	142	$	126
Total Lease Cost		$	142	$	126

Average lease terms and discount rates for the Company’s operating leases were as follows:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,		March 31,
Other Information	2022		2021
Weighted-average remaining lease term
Operating leases		2.6 years		3.6 years
Weighted-average discount rate
Operating leases		5.69%		5.69%

The following table summarizes the maturities of lease liabilities as of March 31, 2022:

	Operating
Year	(in thousands)
2022	$	381
2023		515
2024		426
Thereafter		—
Total lease payments		1,322
Less: interest		96
Total lease liabilities	$	1,226

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INCOME TAXES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

11. INCOME TAXES

On March 27, 2020, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to provide certain relief as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The CARES Act provides numerous tax provisions and other stimulus measures, including temporary changes regarding the prior and future utilization of net operating losses, temporary changes to the prior and future limitations on interest deductions, temporary suspension of certain payment requirements for the employer portion of social security taxes, technical corrections from prior tax legislation for tax depreciation of certain qualified improvement property and the creation of certain refundable employee retention credits. The CARES Act did not have a material impact on our financial statements for the three ended March 31, 2022. The Company continues to monitor any effects that may result from the CARES Act.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded a full valuation allowance on federal and state deferred tax assets since management does not forecast the Company to be in a profitable position in the near future.

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BENEFIT PLANS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

BENEFIT PLANS

BENEFIT PLANS

12. BENEFIT PLANS

The Company established a defined contribution savings plan under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code in 2018. This plan covers substantially all employees who meet minimum age and service requirements and allows participants to defer a portion of their annual compensation on a pre-tax basis. Matching contributions to the plan may be made at the discretion of the Company’s board of directors. The Company made approximately $0.2 million and $0.1 million in matching contributions to the plan during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

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NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE

NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE

13. NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE

Basic net loss per common share is computed by dividing the net loss available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period.

Diluted net loss per common share is computed by giving the effect of all potential shares of common stock, including stock options, preferred shares, warrants and instruments convertible into common stock, to the extent dilutive. Basic and diluted net loss per common share was the same for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, as the inclusion of all potential common shares outstanding would have been anti-dilutive.

The following tables set forth the computation of basic and diluted net loss per common share for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021
Numerator:
Net loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Denominator:
Weighted-average common stock outstanding		26,215,514		24,135,735
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders - basic and diluted	$	(0.88)	$	(1.00)

The Company’s potentially dilutive securities, which include restricted stock units, stock options, and warrants, have been excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share as the effect would be to reduce the net loss per share. Therefore, the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding used to calculate both basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders is the same. The Company excluded the following potential common shares, presented based on amounts outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders because including them would have had an anti-dilutive effect:

	As of
	March 31,
	2022	2021
Options to purchase common stock	4,851,565	4,491,670
Restricted stock units	551,468	204,279
Warrants to purchase common stock	125,618	125,618

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RELATED PARTIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

RELATED PARTIES

RELATED PARTIES

14. RELATED PARTIES

In December 2018, the Company entered into an agreement (the “LaunchLabs Agreement”) with ARE-LaunchLabs NYC LLC (“Alexandria LaunchLabs”), a subsidiary of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. for use of specified premises within the Alexandria LaunchLabs space on a month-to-month basis. A member of the Company’s board of directors is the founder and executive chairman of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, and 2021, the Company made payments to Alexandria LaunchLabs of approximately $16,000, and $23,000 respectively, under the LaunchLabs Agreement, which was recognized in research and development expenses. As of March 31, 2022, there were no amounts due to Alexandria LaunchLabs under the LaunchLabs Agreement.

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ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Operations and Business

Operations and Business

Applied Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need. In particular, the Company is currently targeting treatments for rare metabolic diseases such as Galactosemia, Sorbitol Dehydrogenase deficiency, (“SORD” deficiency), and diabetic complications including diabetic cardiomyopathy. The Company was incorporated in Delaware on January 20, 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

On January 28, 2020, the Company completed its secondary public offering (the “Secondary Public Offering”), pursuant to which it issued and sold 2,741,489 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $45.50 per share, with an additional 411,223 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ full exercise of their option to purchase additional shares. The aggregate net proceeds received by the Company from the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs, were $134.1 million.

On June 4, 2020, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the “Shelf Registration Statement”) under which the Company may, from time to time, sell securities in one or more offerings having an aggregate offering price of up to $300.0 million. The Shelf Registration Statement was declared effective as of June 15, 2020.

On June 12, 2020, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement”) with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (“Goldman”), as a sales agent to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100 million. Goldman may act as an agent on the Company’s behalf or purchase shares of the Company’s common stock as a principal. The Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement was terminated as of January 24, 2022.

In February 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 3,450,000 shares of common stock (the “February Offering”), including the exercise in full of the underwriters’ option to purchase 450,000 additional shares of common stock, which option closed on February 19, 2021. The shares were offered at a price to the public of $23.00 per share, resulting in aggregate net proceeds of approximately $74.4 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses.

On January 26, 2022, the Company entered into an equity distribution agreement (the “Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”), as a sales agent, to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, from time to time, having an aggregate offering price of up to $100.0 million. Pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement shares of our common stock may be offered and sold through the sales agent in sales deemed “at-the-market” offerings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. Under the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement, the sales agent will be entitled to compensation of up to 3% of the gross offering proceeds of all shares of our common stock sold through it pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement. In connection with the sale of shares of our common stock on our behalf, the sales agent may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to the sales agent may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock pursuant to the Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement.

The accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared by the Company in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial statements. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These condensed financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited financial statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2021 included in the Annual Report, filed with the SEC on March 10, 2022 (the “Annual Report”).

The unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements contain all adjustments which are necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position as of March 31, 2022, results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021. Such adjustments are of a normal and recurring nature. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2022, are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022.

Liquidity and Going Concern

Liquidity and Going Concern

The Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, significant operating losses for the foreseeable future as it continues to develop its drug candidates. To date, the Company has not generated any revenue, and it does not expect to generate revenue unless and until it successfully completes development and obtains regulatory approval for one of its product candidates.

Under ASC Topic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern, management is required at each reporting period to evaluate whether there are conditions and events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. We are actively pursuing several potential financing options. While we continue to explore opportunities to raise additional equity capital in the public markets, this has proven to be challenging in the biotech sector recently. Other options for structured finance which we continue to explore include a PIPE, debt, convertible debt, and synthetic royalty financing. Synthetic royalty financing, in particular, has become a favorable option for many companies for funding ongoing clinical development in late-stage and pre-approval programs. We have engaged an investment bank and we are specifically exploring this option in the near term. Additionally, we are in active dialogue with several potential partners regarding business development opportunities related to one or more of our programs. There can be no assurances that our discussions with any of the current counterparties will be successful, and the Company expects to continue to pursue additional opportunities.

As reflected in the accompanying financial statements, the Company has a net loss of $23.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and has an accumulated deficit of $289.4 million as of March 31, 2022. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming the continuation of the Company as a going concern. The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and is dependent on debt and equity financing to fund its operations. While we believe that our cash and cash equivalents and investments of $55.7 million at March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to fund our operations through year end 2022, given our planned expenditures for the next several years, we have concluded and our independent registered public accounting firm has agreed with our conclusion that there is still a substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

Risk and Uncertainties

Risks and Uncertainties

The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the biotechnology industry, including, but not limited to, risks of failure of preclinical studies and clinical trials, the need to obtain marketing approval for any product candidate that it may identify and develop, the need to successfully commercialize and gain market acceptance of its product candidates, dependence on key personnel, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations, development by competitors of technological innovations and reliance on third-party manufacturers.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Significant Accounting Policies

Significant Accounting Policies

The significant accounting policies and estimates used in preparation of the condensed financial statements are described in the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the notes thereto, which are included in the Annual Report. There have been no material changes to the Company’s significant accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2022.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Any recent pronouncements issued by the FASB or other authoritative standards groups with future effective dates are either not applicable or are not expected to be significant to the financial statements of the Company.

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FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

Schedule of financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis

	As of March 31, 2022
(in thousands)	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash	$	3,991	$	—	$	—	$	3,991
Money market funds		34,223		—		—		34,223
Total cash and cash equivalents	$	38,214	$	—	$	—	$	38,214
U.S. government agency debt securities		—		17,437		—		17,437
Total marketable securities	$	—	$	17,437	$	—	$	17,437
Total financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis	$	38,214	$	17,437	$	—	$	55,651

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INVESTMENTS (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

INVESTMENTS

Schedule of marketable securities by security type

	As of March 31, 2022								As of December 31, 2021
			Gross		Gross						Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated				Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935
Total	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935

Schedule of contractual maturities

	As of March 31, 2022								As of December 31, 2021
			Gross		Gross						Gross		Gross
			Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated				Unrealized		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value
Due in one year or less	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935
Due in one through two years		—		—		—		—		—		—		—		—
Total	$	17,518	$	1	$	(82)	$	17,437	$	27,042	$	1	$	(108)	$	26,935

Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Investments

	As of March 31, 2022
	Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months				Securities in an unrealized loss position greater than 12 months				Total
	Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	(82)	$	14,438	$	—	$	—	$	(82)	$	14,438
Total	$	(82)	$	14,438	$	—	$	—	$	(82)	$	14,438

	As of December 31, 2021
	Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months				Securities in an unrealized loss position greater than 12 months				Total
	Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated		Unrealized		Estimated
(in thousands)	Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value
US government agency debt security	$	(108)	$	17,696	$	—	$	—	$	(108)	$	17,696
Total	$	(108)	$	17,696	$	—	$	—	$	(108)	$	17,696

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PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS

Summary of prepaid expenses and other current assets

	March 31,		December 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Prepaid research and development expenses	$	5,837	$	4,483
Insurance premium asset		522		1,616
Prepaid rent expenses		125		117
Prepaid insurance expenses		99		105
Prepaid commercial and patient advocacy		383		254
Research and development tax credit receivable		469		502
Interest receivable		23		23
Other prepaid expenses and current assets		455		471
Total prepaid expenses & other current assets	$	7,913	$	7,571

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ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

Summary of accrued expenses and other current liabilities

	March 31,		December 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Accrued pre-clinical and clinical expenses	$	12,217	$	9,912
Short-term insurance financing note		—		789
Accrued professional fees		533		419
Accrued compensation and benefits		707		2,779
Accrued commercial expenses		1,355		1,394
Accrued patent expenses		328		279
Other		702		987
Total accrued expenses & other current liabilities	$	15,842	$	16,559

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Stock-based compensation

Schedule of stock-based compensation expenses

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
(in thousands)	2022		2021
Research and development	$	856	$	799
General and administrative		1,221		2,182
Total stock-based compensation expense	$	2,077	$	2,981

Schedule of options outstanding

				Weighted-Average
		Weighted-		Remaining	Aggregate
	Options	Average		Contractual	Intrinsic
(in thousands, except for share data)	Outstanding	Exercise Price		Term (in years)	Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2021	4,704,888	$	13.29	7.7	$	10,305
Options granted	400,416		3.68
Options exercised	-		—
Forfeited	(248,222)		27.73
Expired	(5,517)		23.15
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	4,851,565	$	11.74	7.4	$	489
Exercisable at March 31, 2022	3,577,835	$	9.81	7.0	$	489
Nonvested at March 31, 2022	1,273,730	$	17.17	8.5	$	—

Schedule of restricted stock units outstanding

		Weighted-Average
		Grant Date		Aggregate
(in thousands, except for share data)	Shares	Fair Value		Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2021	469,485	$	18.05	$	4,202
Awarded	248,700		4.17
Released	(21,417)		25.69
Forfeited	(145,300)		19.48
Outstanding at March 31, 2022	551,468	$	11.12	$	1,164
Nonvested at March 31, 2022	551,468	$	11.12	$	1,164
Weighted Average Remaining Recognition Period (in years)	3.4

Stock options - Service conditions only

Stock-based compensation

Schedule of valuation assumptions

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022			2021
Expected term (in years)		5.5			—
Volatility		69.68	%		—	%
Risk-free interest rate		1.56	%		—	%
Dividend yield		—	%		—	%

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WARRANTS (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Warrants

Schedule of warrants outstanding

	Warrants
Outstanding as of December 31, 2021		125,618
Warrants granted and issued		—
Warrants exercised		—
Warrants exchanged		—
Balance as of March 31, 2022		125,618

Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock | 2017 Warrants

Warrants

Schedule of fair value of warrants using the Black Scholes option pricing model

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	74.48	%
Risk-free interest rate	3.20	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2018 Warrants

Warrants

Schedule of fair value of warrants using the Black Scholes option pricing model

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	73.22	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.70	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2019 Warrants

Warrants

Schedule of fair value of warrants using the Black Scholes option pricing model

Contractual term (in years)	10.0
Volatility	73.22	%
Risk-free interest rate	2.70	%
Dividend yield	0.00	%

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LEASES (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

LEASES

Summary of lease related costs

		Operating (in thousands)
Lease Cost	Statement of Operations Location		2022		2021
Operating Lease Cost	General and administrative	$	142	$	126
Total Lease Cost		$	142	$	126

Summary of lease terms and discount rates

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,		March 31,
Other Information	2022		2021
Weighted-average remaining lease term
Operating leases		2.6 years		3.6 years
Weighted-average discount rate
Operating leases		5.69%		5.69%

Summary of maturities of lease liabilities

	Operating
Year	(in thousands)
2022	$	381
2023		515
2024		426
Thereafter		—
Total lease payments		1,322
Less: interest		96
Total lease liabilities	$	1,226

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NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE

Schedule of computation of basic and diluted net loss per common share

	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021
Numerator:
Net loss	$	(23,121)	$	(24,179)
Denominator:
Weighted-average common stock outstanding		26,215,514		24,135,735
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders - basic and diluted	$	(0.88)	$	(1.00)

Schedule of potential dilutive securities excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders

	As of
	March 31,
	2022	2021
Options to purchase common stock	4,851,565	4,491,670
Restricted stock units	551,468	204,279
Warrants to purchase common stock	125,618	125,618

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ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES - Stock issued (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands					1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Jan. 26, 2022	Jun. 12, 2020	Jun. 04, 2020	Jan. 28, 2020	Feb. 28, 2021	Jun. 30, 2020	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Sale of stock
Proceeds from stock issuance, net of cash issuance costs								$ 74,424
Secondary Public Offering, 2020
Sale of stock
Issue price (in dollars per share)				$ 45.50
Secondary Public Offering, Excluding Underwriters' Option
Sale of stock
Issuance of common stock (in shares)				2,741,489
Secondary Public Offering, Underwriters' Option
Sale of stock
Issuance of common stock (in shares)				411,223
Proceeds from stock issuance, net of cash issuance costs				$ 134,100
Shelf Registration Statement
Sale of stock
Maximum value of shares authorized to be sold in stock offering			$ 300,000
Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement
Sale of stock
Maximum value of shares authorized to be sold in stock offering		$ 100,000				$ 100,000
Maximum amount to be paid to sales agent (as a percent)						3.00%
February Offering, 2021
Sale of stock
Issuance of common stock (in shares)					3,450,000
Issue price (in dollars per share)					$ 23.00
Proceeds from stock issuance, net of cash issuance costs					$ 74,400
February Offering Underwriters' Option
Sale of stock
Issuance of common stock (in shares)					450,000
Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement
Sale of stock
Issuance of common stock (in shares)							0
Maximum value of shares authorized to be sold in stock offering	$ 100,000
Maximum amount to be paid to sales agent (as a percent)	3.00%

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ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES - Liquidity and Going Concern (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2021
ORGANIZATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Net loss	$ (23,121)	$ (24,179)
Accumulated deficit	(289,436)		$ (266,315)
Cash and cash equivalents and investments	$ 55,700
Substantial Doubt about Going Concern, within One Year	true

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LICENSE AGREEMENT - Columbia (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		66 Months Ended
	Oct. 03, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Jan. 31, 2019	Oct. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Agreements
Research and development					$ 15,030	$ 14,448
General and administrative					8,071	9,751
Operating expenses					23,101	24,199
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities					15,842		$ 15,842	$ 16,559
Accounts payable					5,922		5,922	9,461
Columbia University
Agreements
Research and development					0	0
General and administrative					13	$ 32
Operating expenses							2,500
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities					36		36	12
Accounts payable					$ 0		$ 0	$ 100
2016 license agreement | Columbia University
Agreements
Percentage of outstanding common stock issued				5.00%
Fair value of stock issued				$ 500
Written notice period for termination of agreement				90 days
Written notice period for termination of agreement, uncured material breach				30 days
Extended written notice period for termination of agreement, attempt to cure material breach				90 days
2016 license agreement | Columbia University | Minimum
Agreements
Percentage of sublicensing revenue, if sublicenses rights granted				10.00%
2016 license agreement | Columbia University | Maximum
Agreements
Payment on achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones				$ 1,300
Payment on achievement of specified level of aggregate annual net sales				$ 1,000
Percentage of sublicensing revenue, if sublicenses rights granted				20.00%
2019 license agreement | Columbia University
Agreements
Written notice period for termination of agreement			90 days
Written notice period for termination of agreement, uncured material breach			30 days
Extended written notice period for termination of agreement, attempt to cure material breach			90 days
2019 license agreement | Columbia University | Minimum
Agreements
Percentage of sublicensing revenue, if sublicenses rights granted			10.00%
2019 license agreement | Columbia University | Maximum
Agreements
Payment on achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones			$ 1,300
Payment on achievement of specified level of aggregate annual net sales			$ 1,000
Percentage of sublicensing revenue, if sublicenses rights granted			50.00%
2019 research agreement | Columbia University
Agreements
Agreement term		12 months
P13k Research agreement | Columbia University
Agreements
Agreement term	18 months

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LICENSE AGREEMENT - Miami University (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended		17 Months Ended
	Dec. 14, 2020	Oct. 28, 2020	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Agreements
Research and development			$ 15,030	$ 14,448
Operating expenses			23,101	24,199
General and administrative			8,071	9,751
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities			15,842		$ 15,842	$ 16,559
Accounts payable			5,922		5,922	9,461
2020 license agreement | University of Miami
Agreements
Amount of first payment to be made for license issue fee		$ 1,100
Amount of second payment to be made for license issue fee, due on first anniversary of the date of license		500
Payment to be made on achievement of specified patenting and development milestones		2,200
Payment to be made on achievement of late stage regulatory milestones		$ 4,100
Agreement term		10 years
Written notice period for termination of agreement		60 days
Written notice period of material breach leading to termination		60 days
Research and development			25	25
Operating expenses					2,300
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities			300		300	$ 300
2020 license agreement | University of Miami | Minimum
Agreements
Royalties payment (as a percent)		0.88%
Non-royalty sublicensing revenue payment (as a percent)		15.00%
2020 license agreement | University of Miami | Maximum
Agreements
Royalties payment (as a percent)		5.00%
Non-royalty sublicensing revenue payment (as a percent)		25.00%
2020 research agreement and amendment | University of Miami
Agreements
Consideration	$ 300
Research and development			37	67
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities			$ 100	$ 200	$ 100

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FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS - FV hierarchy (Details) - Fair Value, Recurring $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($)
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 38,214
Marketable securities	17,437
Total financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis	55,651
Level 1
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Cash and cash equivalents	38,214
Total financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis	38,214
Level 2
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Marketable securities	17,437
Total financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis	17,437
Cash
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Cash and cash equivalents	3,991
Cash | Level 1
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Cash and cash equivalents	3,991
Money market funds
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Cash and cash equivalents	34,223
Money market funds | Level 1
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Cash and cash equivalents	34,223
U.S. government agency debt securities
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Marketable securities	17,437
U.S. government agency debt securities | Level 2
Financial assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis
Marketable securities	$ 17,437

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FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS - Transfers (Details) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($)
FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
Assets, transfer from level 1 to level 2	$ 0
Assets, transfer from level 2 to level 1	$ 0

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INVESTMENTS - By type (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Marketable securities by type
Cost	$ 17,518	$ 27,042
Gross Unrealized Gains	1	1
Gross Unrealized Losses	(82)	(108)
Estimated Fair Value	17,437	26,935
U.S. government agency debt securities
Marketable securities by type
Cost	17,518	27,042
Gross Unrealized Gains	1	1
Gross Unrealized Losses	(82)	(108)
Estimated Fair Value	$ 17,437	$ 26,935

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INVESTMENTS - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
INVESTMENTS
Gross unrealized loss	$ 82	$ 108
Unrealized loss as a percentage of total amortized costs basis of corporate bond portfolio	0.47%

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INVESTMENTS - By contractual maturity (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
INVESTMENTS
Due in one year or less - Cost	$ 17,518	$ 27,042
Due in on year or less - Gross Unrealized Gains	1	1
Due in one year or less - Gross Unrealized Losses	(82)	(108)
Due in one year or less - Estimated Fair Value	17,437	26,935
Cost	17,518	27,042
Gross Unrealized Gains	1	1
Gross Unrealized Losses	(82)	(108)
Estimated Fair Value	$ 17,437	$ 26,935

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INVESTMENTS - Realized gains and losses (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($)
Marketable securities realized gain (loss) recorded
Gross realized loss from sale of marketable securities	$ 80
Gross realized gain from sale of marketable securities	$ 0

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INVESTMENTS - Unrealized losses and fair values of available-for-sale securities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months
Unrealized Losses Less Than 12 months	$ (82)	$ (108)
Estimated Fair Value Less Than 12 Months	14,438	17,696
Total Unrealized Losses	(82)	(108)
Total Estimated Fair Value	14,438	17,696
U.S. government agency debt securities
Securities in an unrealized loss position less than 12 months
Unrealized Losses Less Than 12 months	(82)	(108)
Estimated Fair Value Less Than 12 Months	14,438	17,696
Total Unrealized Losses	(82)	(108)
Total Estimated Fair Value	$ 14,438	$ 17,696

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PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
PREPAID EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT ASSETS
Prepaid research and development expenses	$ 5,837	$ 4,483
Insurance premium asset	522	1,616
Prepaid rent expenses	125	117
Prepaid insurance expenses	99	105
Prepaid commercial and patient advocacy	383	254
Research and development tax credit receivable	469	502
Interest receivable	23	23
Other prepaid expenses and current assets	455	471
Total prepaid expenses & other current assets	$ 7,913	$ 7,571

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ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES
Accrued pre-clinical and clinical expenses	$ 12,217	$ 9,912
Short-term insurance financing note		789
Accrued professional fees	533	419
Accrued compensation and benefits	707	2,779
Accrued commercial expenses	1,355	1,394
Accrued patent expenses	328	279
Other	702	987
Total accrued expenses & other current liabilities	$ 15,842	$ 16,559

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - Plans (Details) - 2019 Plan - shares	1 Months Ended
	May 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2022
Stock-based compensation
Shares reserved (in shares)	4,530,000
New shares reserved (in shares)	1,618,841
Reserved shares available from 2016 Plan (in shares)	2,911,159
Increase in number of shares reserved and available for issuance (as a percent)	5.00%
Number of shares available for future issuance		1,379,543
Options
Stock-based compensation
Maximum number of shares authorized for issuance	13,000,000
Expiration period	10 years
Vesting period	4 years

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - Stock-based compensation expense (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Stock-based compensation
Total stock-based compensation expense	$ 2,077	$ 2,981
Research and development
Stock-based compensation
Total stock-based compensation expense	856	799
General and administrative
Stock-based compensation
Total stock-based compensation expense	$ 1,221	$ 2,182

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - Options (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Stock-based compensation
Options granted (in shares)	400,416
Stock-based compensation expense	$ 2,077	$ 2,981
Unrecognized stock-based compensation balance for unvested options	$ 13,000	$ 22,700
Weighted-average fair value of options granted (in dollars per share)	$ 2.22	$ 0
Options
Stock-based compensation
Stock-based compensation expense	$ 2,000	$ 2,500
Weighted Average Remaining Recognition Period (in years)	2 years 4 months 24 days	2 years 10 months 24 days

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - Options activity (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Options Outstanding
Outstanding at beginning of period (in shares)	4,704,888
Options granted (in shares)	400,416
Forfeited (in shares)	(248,222)
Expired (in shares)	(5,517)
Outstanding at end of period (in shares)	4,851,565	4,704,888
Exercisable at end of period (in shares)	3,577,835
Nonvested at end of period (in shares)	1,273,730
Weighted-Average Exercise Price
Outstanding at beginning of period (in dollars per share)	$ 13.29
Options granted (in dollars per share)	3.68
Options forfeited (in dollars per share)	27.73
Options expired (in dollars per share)	23.15
Outstanding at end of period (in dollars per share)	11.74	$ 13.29
Exercisable at end of period (in dollars per share)	9.81
Nonvested at end of period (in dollars per share)	$ 17.17
Weighted-Average Remaining Contractual Term-in years
Outstanding	7 years 4 months 24 days	7 years 8 months 12 days
Exercisable	7 years
Nonvested	8 years 6 months
Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding (in dollars)	$ 489	$ 10,305
Exercisable (in dollars)	$ 489

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - Valuation assumptions (Details) - Stock options - Service conditions only	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022
Valuation Assumptions
Expected term/Time to expiration (in years)	5 years 6 months
Volatility (as a percent)	69.68%
Risk-free interest rate (as a percent)	1.56%

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - RSUs (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2021
Stock-based compensation
Stock-based compensation expense	$ 2,077	$ 2,981
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Stock-based compensation
Stock-based compensation expense	100	500
Unamortized stock-based compensation costs for unvested awards	$ 5,400	$ 5,900
Summary of restricted stock units outstanding
Outstanding at beginning of period ( in shares)	469,485
Awarded (in shares)	248,700
Released (in shares)	(21,417)
Forfeited (in shares)	(145,300)
Outstanding at end of period ( in shares)	551,468
Nonvested at end of period (in shares)	551,468
Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at beginning of period (in dollars per share)	$ 18.05
Awarded (in dollars per share)	4.17
Released (in dollars per share)	25.69
Forfeited (in dollars per share)	19.48
Outstanding at end of period (in dollars per share)	11.12
Nonvested at end of period (in dollars per share)	$ 11.12
Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at end of period (in dollars)	$ 1,164		$ 4,202
Nonvested at end of period (in dollars)	$ 1,164
Weighted Average Remaining Recognition Period (in years)	3 years 4 months 24 days	3 years 2 months 12 days

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STOCK BASED COMPENSATION - 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (Details) - 2019 ESPP - shares	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	May 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2022
Stock-based compensation
Shares authorized (in shares)	180,000
Shares issued under ESPP		0
Maximum
Stock-based compensation
Increase in number of shares reserved and available for issuance (as a percent)	1.00%
Increase in number of shares reserved and available for issuance (in shares)	360,000

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STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY - Authorized stock (Details) - $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Common Stock, authorized (in shares)	100,000,000	100,000,000
Common Stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001
Preferred Stock, authorized (in shares)	10,000,000	10,000,000
Preferred Stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001

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STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY - Common Stock and Equity Distribution Agreement (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions			1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Jan. 26, 2022	Jun. 12, 2020	Jun. 30, 2020	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Goldman Equity Distribution Agreement
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Maximum value of shares authorized to be sold in stock offering.		$ 100.0	$ 100.0
Maximum amount to be paid to sales agent (as a percent)			3.00%
Cowen Equity Distribution Agreement
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Maximum value of shares authorized to be sold in stock offering.	$ 100.0
Maximum amount to be paid to sales agent (as a percent)	3.00%
Issuance of common stock (in shares)				0
Common Stock
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Issuance of common stock (in shares)					3,450,000

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WARRANTS - Issued with Series A Preferred Stock (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended
	Feb. 05, 2021 USD ($) shares	Jan. 26, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 31, 2022 Y shares	Mar. 31, 2021 USD ($)
Warrants
Warrants exercised (in shares)			0
Proceeds from exercise of warrants | $				$ 69
2017 Warrants | Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock
Warrants
Warrants to purchase common stock (in shares)		309,389
Warrants to purchase common stock (in dollars) | $		$ 200
Exercise price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 2.49
Warrants exercised (in shares)	27,855
Stock issued in exercise of warrants (in shares)	27,855
Proceeds from exercise of warrants | $	$ 69
2017 Warrants | Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock | Contractual term (in years)
Warrants
Measurement input | Y			10.0
2017 Warrants | Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock | Volatility
Warrants
Measurement input			0.7448
2017 Warrants | Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock | Risk-free interest rate
Warrants
Measurement input			0.0320
2017 Warrants | Warrants Issued with Series A Preferred Stock | Dividend yield
Warrants
Measurement input			0.0000

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WARRANTS - Issued with the 2018 Notes (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions		3 Months Ended
	Nov. 05, 2018	Mar. 31, 2022	Jan. 18, 2018
Warrants
Warrants exercised (in shares)		0
Warrants Issued with the 2018 Notes
Warrants
Initial fair value recorded as debt discount (in dollars)			$ 0.1
Warrants to purchase common stock (in shares)	76,847
Warrants to purchase common stock (in dollars)	$ 0.3
Exercise price (in dollars per share)	$ 6.59

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WARRANTS - Issued with Series B Preferred Stock (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	2 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 31, 2022 Y Rate shares
Warrants
Warrants exercised (in shares) | shares			0
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2018 Warrants
Warrants
Warrants to purchase common stock (in shares) | shares		72,261
Warrants to purchase common stock (in dollars) | $		$ 0.2
Exercise price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 8.24
Expiration term		10 years
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2018 Warrants | Contractual term (in years)
Warrants
Measurement input | Y			10.0
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2018 Warrants | Volatility
Warrants
Measurement input			0.7322
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2018 Warrants | Risk-free interest rate
Warrants
Measurement input			0.0270
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2018 Warrants | Dividend yield
Warrants
Measurement input			0.0000
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2019 Warrants
Warrants
Warrants to purchase common stock (in shares) | shares	23,867
Warrants to purchase common stock (in dollars) | $	$ 0.1
Exercise price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares	$ 8.24
Expiration term	10 years
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2019 Warrants | Contractual term (in years)
Warrants
Measurement input | Y			10.0
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2019 Warrants | Volatility
Warrants
Measurement input			0.7322
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2019 Warrants | Risk-free interest rate
Warrants
Measurement input			0.0270
Warrants Issued with Series B Preferred Stock | 2019 Warrants | Dividend yield
Warrants
Measurement input			0.0000

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WARRANTS - Warrant Activity (Details)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($) shares
WARRANTS
Outstanding as of beginning of period	125,618
Warrants granted and issued | $	$ 0
Warrants exercised	0
Warrants exchanged	0
Outstanding as of end of period	125,618

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LEASES - Lease Cost (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Leases
Operating Lease Cost	$ 142	$ 126
General and administrative
Leases
Operating Lease Cost	$ 142	$ 126

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LEASES - Lease terms and discount rates (Details)	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
LEASES
Weighted-average remaining lease term - operating leases	2 years 7 months 6 days	3 years 7 months 6 days
Weighted-average discount rate - operating leases	5.69%	5.69%

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LEASES - Maturities of Lease Liabilities (Details) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($)
LEASES
2022	$ 381
2023	515
2024	426
Total lease payments	1,322
Less: interest	96
Total lease liabilities	$ 1,226

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BENEFIT PLANS (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
BENEFIT PLANS
Employer matching contributions to the plan	$ 0.2	$ 0.1

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NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE - EPS (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Numerator:
Net loss attributable to common stockholders-basic	$ (23,121)	$ (24,179)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders-diluted	$ (23,121)	$ (24,179)
Denominator:
Weighted-average common stock outstanding-basic (in shares)	26,215,514	24,135,735
Weighted-average common stock outstanding-diluted (in shares)	26,215,514	24,135,735
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders-basic (in dollars per share)	$ (0.88)	$ (1.00)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders-diluted (in dollars per share)	$ (0.88)	$ (1.00)

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NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE - Anti-dilutive securities (Details) - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Options
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of loss per share
Potential dilutive securities excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders	4,851,565	4,491,670
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of loss per share
Potential dilutive securities excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders	551,468	204,279
Warrants Liability
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of loss per share
Potential dilutive securities excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders	125,618	125,618

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RELATED PARTIES (Details) - LaunchLabs Agreement - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Payments to related party	$ 16	$ 23
Due to related parties	$ 0