424B4 1 tm2119783-17_424b4.htm 424B4 tm2119783-17_424b4 - none - 49.2815493s
 Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)
 Registration No. 333-259431
13,850,000 American Depositary Shares
(Representing 13,850,000 Ordinary Shares)
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This is an initial offering of American depositary shares, or ADSs, representing ordinary shares of Exscientia plc.
We are offering 13,850,000 ADSs in this offering. Each ADS represents the right to receive one ordinary share, nominal value £0.0005 per share, and may be evidenced by American depositary receipts, or ADRs.
Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the ADSs or our ordinary shares. The initial public offering price per ADS is $22.00. Our ADSs have been approved for listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “EXAI”.
We are an “emerging growth company” and a “foreign private issuer” as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws and, as such, will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. See “Prospectus summary — Implications of being an emerging growth company” and “— Implications of being a foreign private issuer” for additional information.
Investing in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. Before buying any ADSs, you should carefully read the discussion of material risks of investing in our ADSs in “Risk Factors” beginning on page 17 of this prospectus.
PER ADS
TOTAL
Initial public offering price
$ 22.00 $ 304,700,000
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)
1.54 21,329,000
Proceeds, before expenses, to us
$ 20.46 $ 283,371,000
(1)
See “Underwriting” for additional information regarding total underwriter compensation.
The underwriters may also exercise their option to purchase up to an additional 2,077,500 ADSs from us at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting commissions and commissions, for 30 days after the date of the final prospectus.
SVF II Excel (DE) LLC, or Softbank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, or the Gates Foundation, have agreed to purchase from us, concurrently with this offering in private placement transactions, $125.0 million and $35.0 million of our ADSs, respectively, at the price per ADS in this offering of $22.00. The sale of ADSs in the concurrent private placements will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and these ADSs will be subject to 180-day lock-up agreements with the underwriters for this offering. The closing of this offering is not conditioned upon the closing of either of the concurrent private placements. The ADSs purchased in the concurrent private placement to the Gates Foundation will not be subject to any underwriting discounts or commissions. We will pay a commission of $8.75 million to the underwriters in connection with the concurrent private placement to Softbank, which is equal to 7% of the aggregate value of ADSs sold to Softbank. See “Concurrent Private Placements.”
The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs to purchasers on or about October 5, 2021.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any U.S. state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offence.
Joint Book-Running Managers
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Morgan Stanley BofA Securities Barclays
The date of this prospectus is September 30, 2021.

 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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F-1
Neither we nor the underwriters have authorised anyone to provide you with information that is different from that contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus we may authorise to be delivered or made available to you. Neither we nor the underwriters take any responsibility for, or provide any assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We and the underwriters are offering to sell ADSs and seeking offers to purchase ADSs only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of ADSs.
For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor any of the underwriters have taken any action to permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. You are required to inform yourselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus.
We are incorporated under the laws of England and Wales and a majority of our outstanding securities is owned by non-U.S. residents. Under the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, we are currently, and upon completion of our corporate reorganisation, expect to remain, eligible for treatment as a “foreign private issuer”. As a foreign private issuer, we will not be required to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as domestic registrants whose securities are registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
 
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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS
Prior to the completion of this offering, we undertook a corporate reorganisation, as described in the section titled “Corporate Reorganisation”, pursuant to which Exscientia Holdings Limited, a company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, acquired all the issued shares of Exscientia AI Limited (formerly named Exscientia Limited), incorporated under the laws of Scotland, in a share for share exchange, or the Share Exchange. Following the Share Exchange, Exscientia (UK) Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exscientia Holdings Limited, acquired all the issued shares of Exscientia AI Limited from Exscientia Holdings Limited in consideration for the issue of an additional share in Exscientia (UK) Holdings Limited to Exscientia Holdings Limited. On August 18, 2021, Exscientia Holdings Limited, incorporated in England and Wales, changed its name to Exscientia Limited and Exscientia Limited, incorporated in Scotland, changed its name to Exscientia AI Limited. On September 22, 2021, Exscientia Limited re-registered as a public limited company and changed its name to Exscientia plc.
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this prospectus to (i) the terms “Exscientia AI Limited” or “Exscientia Scotland” refer to Exscientia AI Limited, incorporated in Scotland in July 2012 with company number SC428761 which changed its name from Exscientia Limited to Exscientia AI Limited on August 18, 2021 and (ii) the terms “Exscientia plc” or “Exscientia Holdco” refer to Exscientia plc, incorporated in England and Wales in June 2021 with company number 13483814, which changed its name from Exscientia Holdings Limited to Exscientia Limited on August 18, 2021 and, on September 22, 2021, re-registered as a public limited company and changed its name to Exscientia plc. In the financial statements on pages F-1 to F-66, references to Exscientia Limited are to Exscientia AI Limited incorporated in Scotland, which as of the dates of such financial statements was named Exscientia Limited.
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this prospectus to the terms “Exscientia”, “the Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to (i) prior to the Share Exchange, Exscientia AI Limited and its subsidiaries, (ii) after the Share Exchange and prior to the re-registration as a public limited company described above, Exscientia Limited and its subsidiaries and (iii) after the Share Exchange and re-registration as a public limited company, Exscientia plc and its subsidiaries. See the section titled “Corporate Reorganisation” for additional information.
This prospectus includes trademarks, tradenames and service marks, certain of which belong to us and others that are the property of other organisations. Solely for convenience, trademarks, tradenames and service marks referred to in this prospectus appear without the ®, ™ and SM symbols, but the absence of those symbols is not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert our rights or that the applicable owner will not assert its rights to these trademarks, tradenames and service marks to the fullest extent under applicable law. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.
PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Our financial statements in this prospectus were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IASB. None of our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
Our financial information is presented in pounds sterling. For the convenience of the reader, in this prospectus, unless otherwise indicated, translations from pounds sterling into U.S. dollars were made at the rate of £1.00 to $1.3806, which was the noon buying rate of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on June 30, 2021. Such U.S. dollar amounts are not necessarily indicative of the amounts of U.S. dollars that could actually have been purchased upon exchange of pounds sterling at the dates indicated or any other date.
All references in this prospectus to “$” mean U.S. dollars and all references to “£” and “GBP” mean pounds sterling.
 
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We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures included in this prospectus. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in some tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that preceded them.
We have historically conducted our business through Exscientia AI Limited, and therefore, our historical consolidated financial statements present the consolidated results of operations of Exscientia AI Limited (which, as of the dates of such financial statements, was named Exscientia Limited) and its subsidiaries. The consolidated financial statements included in this prospectus do not give effect to our corporate reorganisation described in the section titled “Corporate Reorganisation.”
 
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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus and does not contain all of the information you should consider in making your investment decision. Before investing in our ADSs, you should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”, and our financial statements and the related notes, in each case contained elsewhere in this prospectus. You should carefully consider, among other things, the matters discussed in the section titled “Business” before making an investment decision.
Overview
We are an artificial intelligence-driven pharmatech company committed to discovering, designing and developing the best possible drugs in the fastest and most effective manner. Our goal is to change the pharmaceutical industry’s underlying pharmacoeconomic model, what we call "Shifting the Curve", by improving the probability of success, time and cost involved with creating new medicines. Our pipeline demonstrates our ability to rapidly translate scientific concepts into precision-designed therapeutic candidates. We have built a complete end-to-end solution of artificial intelligence, or AI, and experimental technologies for target identification, drug candidate design, translational models and patient selection. Our platform has enabled us to design candidate drug molecules that have progressed into clinical trials as well as to provide patients with potentially more applicable drug therapies through AI guided assessment. Our patient-first AI process is comprised of the following four elements:

Precision Target: deep learning approaches to prioritise projects;

Precision Design: an extensive platform of AI technologies to design innovative drugs;

Precision Experiment: tech-enabled precision experimentation to derive better data; and

Precision Medicine: integrated analysis of patient data to ensure clinical relevance.
Our AI-design capabilities include a wide range of deep-learning and machine-learning algorithms, generative methods, active learning and natural language processing. These methods are used to guide target selection, to design the precise molecular architecture of potential drug molecules and to analyse patient tissues to prioritise the molecules that are likely to provide the best response for an individual’s specific tumour.
Demonstrating the Impact of our AI
The first three AI-designed drug candidates to enter human clinical trials.    We originated the first three AI-designed precision drug candidates to enter human clinical trials. Among these is our most advanced internally developed drug candidate, EXS21546. We began the first Phase 1 clinical trial of this drug candidate in December 2020 and currently expect to report topline data from this trial by the end of 2022. The other two drug candidates, also currently in Phase 1 clinical trials, are being developed by our collaboration partner, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., or Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, which has sole economic rights to these drug candidates. We have designed four additional drug candidates currently undergoing advanced profiling for submission of investigational new drug, or IND, applications and have more than 25 active projects in total. Although we and our collaboration partners have to date not received regulatory approval for any of our drug candidates, we believe that the quality of our molecules has been demonstrated by the partnership expansions and product-licensing arrangements we have entered into with our collaborators, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi S.A., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, EQRx, Inc. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, or the Gates Foundation.
First AI system demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes in oncology.   Our platform is designed to anticipate the effectiveness of potential cancer treatments in the clinic through AI analysis of drug activity in live patient samples at single-cell resolution. In the EXALT-1 clinical study (n=56), which was completed in January 2020, tissue samples from late-stage haemato-oncology patients were collected, the samples’ reactions to more than 100 clinically-approved third-party anticancer drugs were evaluated, which therapies included the patients’ prior treatments, and a treatment recommendation
 
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was made based on these reactions. Patients who were treated using the AI-recommended therapy achieved a 55% overall response rate and a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival, or PFS, over their respective prior line of therapy. Specifically, 30 out of 56 patients (54%) reached a PFS under assay-guided therapy that was >1.3-fold longer than in their respective previous therapy, with a median ratio of 3.4. We believe that the results of EXALT-1 were very encouraging and warranted further investigation. In June 2020, we initiated the EXALT-2 clinical trial, a Phase 1 prospective, randomised trial of up to 150 patients to further investigate the original findings from the EXALT-1 trial. We currently deploy our patient tissue AI to support our drug design, discovery and development efforts and do not currently plan to use our AI platform to treat patients in a clinical setting.
End-to-end platform generates ideas, data and drug candidates.    Using our extensive AI and experimental technologies, we prioritise proteins as transformative drug targets, create proprietary drug candidates, analyse their performance and select patients for treatment. Our AI platform is data-agnostic and designs from any configuration of high-content, structural or biochemical data, which allows us to advance into the most cutting-edge, data-sparse target categories. We use AI methods, including evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement learning, deep learning and active learning, to design virtually all of our novel molecules.
Solutions custom-designed to address complex problems.   Every project in our pipeline starts with the desired specification of the ideal drug molecule, including not only target potency and selectivity, but also addressing therapeutic index, predicted human dosing levels and frequency, brain penetration and other important characteristics. Because we can design for multiple parameters in parallel, we set our objectives to achieve all of the design goals rather than prioritising one over another. This allows us, using our AI, to design high-quality molecules with balanced properties and to produce an optimised drug candidate for a specific disease and patient population.
Our platform continually learns from new data integration.   Our platform is designed to learn and becomes increasingly powerful and accurate with each incremental piece of data analysed. We build and automatically update more than 2,500 data-driven models to predict the properties of every drug candidate we design. We also use outcomes data in conjunction with data from patient tissue to define the optimum target product profile. By anticipating the many characteristics a drug will need in an actual patient setting, our platform is designed to find the optimal balance of properties to maximise future probability of success.
Exceptional, repeated efficiency.   We have repeatedly demonstrated our ability to create novel optimised drug candidates several years faster than the industry average. The term ‘‘optimised drug candidate’’ is an industry standard term meaning a molecule that has been nominated to progress to toxicology profiling and preclinical testing. Our entire process, from the AI generation of the first novel molecules within a particular project to the design of a development candidate, has historically taken approximately one year. In addition, use of our AI has historically resulted in significantly fewer compounds needing to be synthesised and tested than the industry average of 2,500. By targeting efficiencies with each new project, we are able to concurrently advance more than 25 projects, despite having fewer than 210 employees as of September 1, 2021.
 
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REDUCTION IN DISCOVERY TIME FROM TARGET TO CANDIDATE IDENTIFICATION BY 70%
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The figures above show a comparison of our timelines and process to the industry averages of 54 months and 2,500 molecules required to discover a drug candidate.
Advancing small molecule target druggability.   Our AI platform has enabled the exploration of challenging design hypotheses, such as purely phenotypic-based projects or engineering bispecific small molecules. We believe our AI-based design can begin to solve some of the same scientific problems for which large molecules are currently used. For example, we have designed multiple highly selective bispecific small molecules. This is a design category where biologics are typically used because a design process would be almost impossible using conventional small molecule drug discovery techniques. We believe there are other similar categories where small molecules could be applied using our technology to expand the overall addressable market.
Focused on shifting the curve through improved probability of success, time and cost.   The investment model for new drugs has been dramatically impacted by the industry’s 96% failure rate from project inception to drug approval, resulting in an average cost of $1.8 billion per drug over more than 10 years of development. Although we and our collaboration partners have not to date received marketing approval for any of our drug candidates, by focusing on improving the probability of success, time and
 
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cost of drug creation, our goal is to enable a broad portfolio approach to pipeline development while minimising the capital and resources required for each individual project. In addition, our efficiency allows us to advance many projects simultaneously with a variety of business models, including wholly-owned projects, joint ventures and partnerships. As a result, near-term cash flows from partnerships can balance long-term investments in our own pipeline, as is demonstrated by our last twelve-month operating cash flows of only £(11.1) million.
The chart below shows our strategy of shifting the curve for drug development can have a significant impact on investment profile, and thereby overall pharmacoeconomics. We estimate that the data from our first seven development candidates show that our efficiency in drug discovery results in four times the net present value of an industry standard project at initiation. Although we cannot provide any guarantee that we will achieve similar development timelines with future development candidates, our goal is to demonstrate an even greater return as our projects move through clinical development.
OPERATIONAL FOCUS ON IMPROVING PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS, TIME AND COST
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Reinventing the Drug Design Process
Our mission is to bring about a revolution in the entire process of inventing small molecule drugs, replacing the sequential, artisanal approach that currently dominates the industry, with an efficient, integrated, AI-first, patient-based learning system that is suited to the complexity of drug discovery. We are driven to codify and systematise drug discovery, to move away from this sequential approach and scale the creation of precision engineered drugs.
From Data to Drug
We believe thousands of druggable proteins remain to be explored as new therapeutic targets. Oral small molecule drugs are the largest drug class and remain the therapeutic agent of choice. They accounted for 75% of the $1.2 trillion in drug sales in 2019. Small molecules are capable of performing biological functions, such as intracellular activation or inhibition, that are not possible with other modalities and can be distributed easily into the brain. Our end-to-end discovery AI technology platform is designed to identify, generate, analyse and optimise small molecules to ultimately exploit many more of these opportunities. Our philosophy is as follows:

Every atom counts.   A drug’s potential utility is encoded into its chemical structure from the moment it is first designed. Before a compound is ever tested, the placement of each atom and bond will have predetermined how it will interact with the incredible complexity of human
 
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biology and disease. The molecular structure of the compound determines its potency, selectivity, safety, absorption, dose requirements and manufacturability as well as many other features that define a drug product. We believe every drug candidate should be designed at the atomic level to drive optimal efficacy with minimal side effects.

Drug design is a learning problem.   When designing truly innovative drugs, there will be insufficient information available at the start of the project and the right solution will not already exist in big datasets or screening libraries. In other words, drug design is a learning — not a screening — problem. This is true for both novel targets, where no work has been done before, and established targets, where new approaches must be devised that are distinct from existing efforts. As we start to explore novel chemical space, we are likely to be at the limit of predictive power or the domain of applicability for current models. Our systems and models are designed to learn and evolve which, like nature, allows them to find optimum solutions to problems.

Design from virtually any data.   High-quality drugs need to satisfy an extensive range of diverse parameters, defined as a “target product profile,” which cannot be determined from any single data type. Our AI platform is data-agnostic, capable of modelling and exploiting virtually any configuration of protein structural data, high content screening data and/or pharmacology data through thousands of machine learning, physics-based and other predictive models. We have developed proprietary tech-enabled laboratory capabilities to generate internally a wide variety of high-fidelity screening data (high content, biophysical, pharmacological and biochemical) and structural biology data to provided differentiated insights for our projects.

The patient is the best model.   Data from screening can be irrelevant or misleading if the cell types screened do not accurately represent actual patient biology. Currently-available model systems such as cell lines, organoids or mouse models are heavily transformed and do not recapitulate the complexity of human disease. We use a wide variety of technologies to ensure that the way we measure success in the drug design process translates as closely as possible to human biology. In particular, we can measure drug activity by applying deep-learning AI to actual patient samples to derive the most accurate representations of patient biology.
Patient-First AI
We have put AI systems at the heart of everything we do, from target selection and design, to patient selection and trial design, and we have invested in experimental strategies that utilise patient tissues directly to reflect the potential clinical setting for the medicine. We believe we have built a new process that will accelerate small molecule drug discovery and smooth the path of future medicines through the clinic to the right patient. Our platform has grown by applying our core principles:

learning fast is more important than screening big;

learn from all types of data;

encode and automate wherever possible; and

the patient is the best model to ensure translation from the lab to the clinic.
We have developed our extensive platform by applying AI and automation to solve problems we encounter during the design process. This has allowed us to create systems that have continuity and application throughout the drug discovery process.
The Learning Loop of Drug Discovery
To maximise our ability to learn across drug discovery and development, we have engineered a comprehensive suite of AI-enabled computational tools that work in concert with our laboratory experimental platforms. Our experimental platforms are AI-enabled and fully integrated with our AI-driven computational platform to perform four key tasks:
 
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Precision Target — select the right target;

Precision Design — design the right molecule;

Precision Experiment — collect the right data; and

Precision Medicine — select the right patient.
This creates a closed loop learning system that allows data to feed from experiment to design and from patient to target selection. This flywheel effect drives the perpetual growth in the power of our predictive models.
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Business Model
Platform with a history of operational execution.   From our founding in 2012 until 2020, we were funded solely through business performance and collaboration partners, so every project had to have real-world results. We are concurrently advancing more than 25 projects, including the first three AI-designed drug candidates to enter Phase 1 clinical trials, one of which we are developing internally, and two of which are being developed by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, which has all development and economic rights to these two programmes. In addition, both Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi have in-licenced candidates we designed through our collaborations. As we have scaled our business and invested in our wholly-owned pipeline, we have maintained our core culture of blending visionary goals with results-based pragmatism.
Tech driven scalability.   Our focus on encoding and automating critical functions in drug discovery has meant we can readily scale our business. The technology has the potential to be applied to small molecule discovery, in any therapeutic indication, in any disease area. Our goal is to expand our range of partnerships and seek out new drug discovery problems to challenge and expand our technology platform. We continue to build in three distinct project categories:

our wholly-owned projects in oncology, immunology and anti-virals;

50/50 joint ventures, where we provide end-to-end drug discovery capabilities and our partners provide clinical and commercial infrastructure across a range of therapeutic areas; and

large pharma partnerships, where we receive upfront payments, milestone payments and royalties in exchange for our drug-discovery capabilities.
We expect our future development efforts to be balanced among these three categories.
 
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Our Internal and Collaboration Projects
The following table summarises our pipeline programmes that are in late discovery or more advanced development:
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In addition, we have more than 20 programmes initiated in early discovery.
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Risks Associated with Our Business
Our business is subject to a number of risks of which you should be aware before making an investment decision. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this prospectus and, in particular, should evaluate the specific factors set forth in the section titled “Risk Factors” before deciding whether to invest in our ADSs. Among these important risks are the following:

We have a history of significant operating losses, and we expect to incur losses over the next several years.

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

If we and our present and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialise drug products, our revenues may be insufficient for us to achieve or maintain profitability.

We are substantially dependent on our technology platform to identify promising molecules to accelerate drug discovery and development. Our platform technology may fail to discover and design molecules with therapeutic potential or may not result in the discovery and development of commercially viable products for us or our collaborators.

All of our drug candidates are in early-stage clinical development or in preclinical development. If we are unable to advance our drug candidates through clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialise our drug candidates, or if we experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We have never successfully completed a clinical trial, and we may be unable to do so for any drug candidates we develop.

Our research activities and clinical trials may fail to demonstrate adequately the safety, efficacy, potency and purity of our lead drug candidate or any other drug candidate, which would prevent or delay development, regulatory approval and commercialisation.

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercialising products before or more successfully than we do.

We have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in research and development efforts that further enhance our technology platform. Such investments may affect our operating results, and, if the return on these investments is lower or develops more slowly than we expect, our revenue and operating results may suffer.

The effects of health epidemics, including the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in regions where we, or the third parties on which we rely, have business operations could adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials, as well as the business or operations of our contract research organisations or other third parties with whom we conduct business.

We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our drug candidates for preclinical development and clinical testing, and we expect to continue to do so for commercialisation if any of our drug candidates are approved. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our drug candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialisation efforts.

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

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position may be harmed.
 
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Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.

We are pursuing multiple business strategies and expect to expand our development and regulatory capabilities, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our multiple business units and our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

We are subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and may identify material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, which may impair our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or prevent fraud. If we are unable to establish and maintain effective internal controls, shareholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our ADSs.
Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
As a company with less than $1.07 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other burdens that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies in the United States. These provisions include:

the ability to present only two years of audited financial statements in addition to any required interim financial statements and correspondingly reduced disclosure in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in this prospectus;

reduced disclosure about our executive compensation arrangements;

an exemption from the non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation, including golden parachute arrangements; and

an exemption from the auditor attestation requirement in the assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
As a result, we do not know if some investors will find our ADSs less attractive. The result may be a less active trading market for our ADSs, and the price of our ADSs may become more volatile. We may choose to take advantage of some or all these provisions until the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of this offering or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1.07 billion in total annual gross revenue, have more than $700 million in market value of our ADSs held by non-affiliates or issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period.
Implications of Being a Foreign Private Issuer
Our status as a foreign private issuer also exempts us from compliance with certain laws and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and certain regulations of the Nasdaq Stock Market, or Nasdaq. Consequently, even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we are not subject to all of the disclosure requirements applicable to U.S. public companies. For example, we are exempt from certain rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that regulate disclosure obligations and procedural requirements related to the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorisations applicable to a security registered under the Exchange Act. In addition, our executive officers and directors are exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act and related rules with respect to their purchases and sales of our securities. Moreover, we are not required to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. public companies. Accordingly, there may be less publicly-available information concerning our company than there is for U.S. public companies.
 
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In addition, foreign private issuers are not required to file their annual report on Form 20-F until 120 days after the end of each fiscal year, while U.S. domestic issuers that are accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 75 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from the Regulation Fair Disclosure, or Regulation FD, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information.
We may take advantage of these exemptions until such time as we no longer qualify as a foreign private issuer. To maintain our current status as a foreign private issuer, either a majority of our outstanding voting securities must be directly or indirectly held of record by non-residents of the United States, or, if a majority of our outstanding voting securities are directly or indirectly held of record by residents of the United States, a majority of our executive officers or directors may not be United States citizens or residents, more than 50% of our assets cannot be located in the United States and our business must be administered principally outside the United States.
We have taken advantage of certain of these reduced reporting and other requirements in this prospectus. Accordingly, the information contained herein may be different from the information you receive from other public companies in which you hold equity securities.
Corporate Information
Exscientia AI Limited was incorporated under the laws of Scotland in July 2012, with company registration number SC428761 with the company name Ex Scientia Limited (changed to Exscientia Limited in December 2018) and changed its name to Exscientia AI Limited on August 18, 2021. Exscientia plc was incorporated under the laws of England and Wales in June 2021 with company registration number 13483814 and changed its name to Exscientia Limited on August 18, 2021. Exscientia Limited re-registered as a public limited company on September 22, 2021 and changed its name to Exscientia plc. Our global headquarters and registered office is at The Schrödinger Building, Oxford Science Park, Oxford OX4 4GE, United Kingdom, and the telephone number at that office is +44(0) 1382 202136.
The principal office for our U.S. subsidiary is located at Office 316, 2125 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, Florida 33137, United States, and our telephone number at that office is +1 954 406 8602.
Our website address is www.exscientia.ai. We have included our website address in this prospectus solely as an inactive textual reference. Information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and you should not consider information on our website to be part of this prospectus. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Exscientia Inc.
Corporate Reorganisation
Prior to the completion of this offering, we undertook a corporate reorganisation pursuant to which Exscientia Holdco acquired all the issued shares in Exscientia Scotland, in consideration for the issue by Exscientia Holdco of newly-issued shares of the same class, and with the same rights attaching thereto, of Exscientia Holdco and, as a result, Exscientia Scotland became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exscientia Holdco. Following this transaction, which we refer to as the Share Exchange, Exscientia (UK) Holdings Limited, a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Exscientia Holdco incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, acquired all the issued shares in Exscientia Scotland from Exscientia Holdco in consideration for the issue of an additional share in Exscientia (UK) Holdings Limited to Exscientia Holdco and, as a result, Exscientia (UK) Holdings Limited became the direct holding company of Exscientia Scotland.
Subsequently, Exscientia Holdco re-registered as a public limited company and changed its name to Exscientia plc. Immediately prior to completion of this offering, it is expected that Exscientia plc’s share capital will be reorganised such that it consists of a single class of ordinary shares and a one-for-300 share split will be effected. The consolidated financial statements included in this prospectus do not give effect to our corporate reorganisation. Please see the section titled “Corporate Reorganisation” for additional information.
 
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Concurrent Private Placements
SVF II Excel (DE) LLC, or Softbank, has agreed to purchase $125.0 million of our ADSs and the Gates Foundation, has agreed to purchase $35.0 million of our ADSs in concurrent private placement transactions, each at a price per ADS equal to the price per ADS in this offering, or the concurrent private placements. Based on the initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS, Softbank will purchase 5,681,818 ADSs and the Gates Foundation will purchase 1,590,909 ADSs. We will receive the full proceeds from the sale and will not pay any underwriting discounts or commissions with respect to the ADSs that are sold in the concurrent private placement to the Gates Foundation and will pay a commission of $8.75 million to the underwriters in connection with the concurrent private placement to Softbank which is equal to 7% of the aggregate value of ADSs sold to Softbank. Softbank and the Gates Foundation have agreed to enter into lock-up agreements with the underwriters for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus. The closing of this offering is not conditioned upon the closing of either of the concurrent private placements.
In connection with the concurrent private placement with the Gates Foundation, we entered into a collaboration agreement with the foundation to expand our pandemic preparedness programme. We have committed to contribute a matching amount of $35.0 million to the collaboration, through operations and funding for third party activities. Please see the sections titled “Business — Partnership Agreements with Non-Profit Organisations” and “Concurrent Private Placements” for additional information.
 
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THE OFFERING
ADSs offered by us
13,850,000 ADSs, each representing one ordinary share.
Underwriters’ option to purchase additional ADSs
We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional 2,077,500 ADSs from us.
ADSs sold by us in the concurrent private
placements
Softbank and the Gates Foundation will purchase 5,681,818 and 1,590,909 ADSs, respectively, at the initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS We will receive the full proceeds from the sale in the placement to the Gates Foundation and will not pay any underwriting discounts or commissions with respect to the ADSs that are sold in the concurrent private placement to the Gates Foundation. We will pay a commission of $8.75 million to the underwriters in connection with the concurrent private placement to Softbank, which is equal to 7% of the aggregate value of ADSs sold to Softbank.
Ordinary shares to be outstanding immediately after this offering and the concurrent private
placements
118,310,127 ordinary shares (or 120,387,627 ordinary shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase an additional ADSs).
American Depositary Shares
Each ADS represents one ordinary share, nominal value £0.0005 per ordinary share. As a holder of ADSs, you will not be treated as one of our shareholders and you will not have shareholder rights. You will have the rights of an ADS holder or beneficial owner of ADSs (as applicable) as provided in the deposit agreement among us, the depositary and holders and beneficial owners of ADSs from time to time. To better understand the terms of our ADSs, see “Description of American Depositary Shares”. We also encourage you to read the deposit agreement, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.
Depositary
Citibank, N.A.
Use of proceeds
We estimate that the net proceeds to us from this offering, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, to be approximately $276.8 million, or $319.3 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase an additional 2,077,500 ADSs, and we expect that the net proceeds to us from the private placement transactions will be $151.25 million, each based on the initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, to continue to develop our propriety technology platform, to fund clinical development of our product candidates, to fund research and discovery with respect to our ongoing and future projects, including with respect to our pandemic preparedness
 
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programme, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. See “Use of Proceeds” for additional information regarding the intended use of proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements.
Risk factors
See “Risk Factors” and the other information included in this prospectus for a discussion of factors you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in our ADSs.
Directed Share Program
At our request, the underwriters reserved up to 138,500 ADSs, or up to 1% of the ADSs offered by this prospectus, for sale at the initial public offering price through a directed share program to certain individuals identified by our officers and directors. The number of ADSs available for sale to the general public will be reduced to the extent that such persons purchase such reserved ADSs. Any reserved ADSs not so purchased will be offered by the underwriters to the general public on the same basis as the other ADSs offered by this prospectus. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC will administer our directed share program. See the sections titled “Related Party Transactions,” “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” and “Underwriting — Directed Share Program.”
Proposed Nasdaq Global Select Market symbol
“EXAI”
The number of ordinary shares, including ordinary shares represented by ADSs, that will be outstanding after this offering and the concurrent private placements is based on 315,232 ordinary shares outstanding as of June 30, 2021 (on a pre share split basis) and gives further effect to our corporate reorganisation, and the issuance (on a pre share split basis) of 8,726 of our class A ordinary shares, or A Ordinary Shares, as partial consideration for our acquisition of Allcyte GmbH, or Allcyte, completed on August 18, 2021, and excludes:

17,215 A Ordinary Shares and 13,726 B Ordinary Shares, issuable upon the exercise of options outstanding under our existing equity incentive plans as of June 30, 2021 (on a pre share split basis), with a weighted-average exercise price of £5.93 per share; and

6,611 ordinary shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans as of June 30, 2021 (on a pre share split basis), which is equivalent to 1,983,300 ordinary shares on a post share split basis, and which will increase to 10,479,300 ordinary shares on a post share split basis, effective in connection with this offering and the concurrent private placements, as well as any automatic annual increases in the number of ordinary shares reserved for future issuance under the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, as more fully described in the section titled “Management — Equity Incentive Plans.”
Except as otherwise noted, the information in this prospectus assumes:

the completion of the transactions described in the section titled “Corporate Reorganisation,” including a one-for-300 share split, prior to the completion of this offering;

the adoption of our new articles of association immediately prior to the completion of this offering;

no issuance or exercise of outstanding options described above after June 30, 2021;

an initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS;

the closing of the concurrent private placements of 7,272,727 ADSs subsequent to the completion of this offering, based upon an initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS; and

no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to additional 2,077,500 ADSs in this offering.
 
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SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA
The following tables present summary consolidated financial data as of the dates and for the periods indicated. Our audited annual consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS, as issued by the IASB. We derived the summary consolidated statements of loss and other comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 and summary consolidated statement of financial position data as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2021 have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34, “Interim Financial Reporting,” or IAS34, as issued by the IASB. We derived the summary consolidated statements of loss and other comprehensive income for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 and summary consolidated statement of financial position data as of June 30, 2021 from our unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The accounting policies and methods of computation applied in the preparation of the interim financial statements are consistent with those applied in our annual financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 except for the estimation of income tax (see note 10 to the annual financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus).
Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future, and our results for the six months ended June 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future, and our results for the six months ended June 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2021. Our audited consolidated financial statements and our interim condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus do not include adjustments for our corporate reorganisation. You should read the consolidated financial data set forth below in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes and the information in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” contained elsewhere in this prospectus.
 
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Six Months Ended
June 30,
Year ended
December 31,
2021
2020
2020
2019
Consolidated Statement of
Loss and Other
Comprehensive Loss Data
Revenue
$ 7,697 £ 5,575 £ 4,753 $ 13,353 £ 9,672 £ 9,107
Costs of sales
(10,327) (7,480) (6,909) (19,640) (14,226) (5,634)
Gross (loss)
(2,630) (1,905) (2,156) (6,287) (4,554) 3,473
Research and development expenses
(17,091) (12,379) (4,323) (15,072) (10,917) (6,671)
General administrative expenses
(14,915) (10,803) (2,916) (12,319) (8,923) (5,512)
Foreign exchange losses/(gains)
(4,002) (2,899) 1,488
Other income
1,729 1,252 450 1,664 1,205 534
Operating loss
(36,909) (26,734) (7,456) (32,015) (23,189) (8,176)
Finance income
7 5 77 152 110 272
Finance expenses
(81) (59) (26) (123) (89) (50)
Share of loss of joint venture
(1,026) (743) (449) (1,672) (1,211) (90)
Gain on derivative financial instruments
1,881 1,362
Loss before taxation
(36,128) (26,169) (7,854) (33,658) (24,379) (8,044)
Income tax benefit
2,905 2,104 675 2,894 2,096 1,727
Loss for the period
$ (33,223) £ (24,065) £ (7,179) $ (30,764) £ (22,283) £ (6,317)
Other comprehensive loss
Foreign currency income/(loss)
on translation of foreign
operations
8 6 31 (142) (103) (8)
Change in fair value of
financial assets at fair value
414 300
Total other comprehensive
income/(loss) for the period,
net tax
422 306 31 (142) (103) (8)
Total comprehensive loss for the period
(32,801) (23,759) (7,148) (30,906) (22,386) (6,325)
Basic diluted loss per share (pence per share)(1)
(0.35) (0.25) (0.07) (0.30) (0.22) (0.64)
Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding – basic and diluted
95,223 95,223 100,737 101,923 101,923 99,106
Pro forma net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted (unaudited)(2)
(0.0004) (0.0003) (0.0001) (0.0005) (0.0004) (0.0001)
Pro forma weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding, basic and diluted (unaudited)
82,099,248 82,099,248 59,332,050 61,206,300 61,206,300 50,248,350
(1)
See Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements appearing at the end of this prospectus for details on the calculation of basic and diluted net loss per share.
(2)
Pro forma net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted, were computed to give effect to the issuance of 8,726 A ordinary shares (on a pre share split basis) paid as partial consideration in our August 2021 acquisition of Allcyte and our corporate reorganisation, reflected as though these events had occurred as of the beginning of the period presented or the date of issuance, if later.
 
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As of June 30, 2021
Actual
Pro Forma(1)
Pro Forma
as Adjusted(2)
(in thousands)
Consolidated statement of financial position data:
Cash and cash equivalents
£ 245,593 £ 237,975 £ 548,039
Total assets
270,443 262,826 572,890
Total liabilities
49,406 (49,405) (49,405)
Share capital
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Share premium
272,223 294,358 604,411
Foreign exchange reserve
(105) (105) (105)
Share-based payment reserve
6,330 6,330 6,330
Fair value reserve
300 300 300
Accumulated loss
(57,711) (43,225) (43,225)
Total equity (deficit) attributable to owners of the parent
£ 221,037 £ 257,658 £ 567,722
(1)
The pro forma balance sheet data give effect to the consideration paid in our August 2021 acquisition of Allcyte and the receipt of the $20 million BMS milestone payment.
(2)
Pro forma as adjusted balance sheet data give effect to (i) the adjustments listed in footnote (1); (ii) our corporate reorganization; (iii) our issuance and sale of 13,850,000 ADSs in this offering and our receipt of the net proceeds therefrom, based on the initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS , and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us; and (iv) our issuance and sale of 7,272,727 ADSs in concurrent private placements at the offering price of $22.00 per ADS after deducting commissions payable by us.
 
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RISK FACTORS
Investing in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”, before deciding whether to invest in our ADSs. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In such an event, the market price of our ADSs 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.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position
We have a history of significant operating losses, and we expect to incur losses over the next several years.
We have a history of significant operating losses. Our net losses before taxation were £24.1 million and £22.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and for the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively. As of June 30, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of £57.7 million. We anticipate that our operating expenses will increase substantially in the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in our internal drug discovery programmes, our computational platform and marketing infrastructure. We are still in the early stages of development of our own drug discovery programmes. We have no drug products licenced for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from our own drug product sales to date. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses over the next several years. Our operating expenses and net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially as we:

continue to invest in and develop our computational platform and software solutions and submit investigational new drug applications, or INDs, for our drug candidates;

continue our research and development efforts for our internal and joint arrangement drug discovery programmes;

conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials for any of our current or future drug candidates;

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

establish a sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure and scale-up manufacturing capabilities, whether alone or with third parties, to commercialise any drug candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval, if any;

maintain, expand, enforce, defend and protect our intellectual property;

hire additional software engineers, programmers, sales and marketing and other personnel to support the development of our software solutions;

hire additional clinical, quality control and other scientific personnel;

experience any delays or encounter any issues with any of the above, including but not limited to failed studies, complex results, safety issues or other regulatory challenges;

acquire and integrate new technologies, businesses or other assets; and

add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel to support our operations as a public company.
Our operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We commenced operations in July 2012, and our operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, conducting discovery and research activities, developing our drug discovery platform, filing patent applications, identifying potential drug candidates,
 
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undertaking research activities and identifying and entering into collaborations that would allow us to further develop viable drug candidates. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete any clinical trials, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales, marketing and distribution activities necessary for successful product commercialisation. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history.
In addition, as an early-stage company, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. 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.
If we and our present and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialise drug products, our revenues may be insufficient for us to achieve or maintain profitability.
We have never generated revenue from drug product sales and our most advanced drug candidate is in a Phase 1 clinical trial. We have no commercial rights to the two molecules we discovered that are currently being developed by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. We currently generate revenues primarily from upfront and milestone payments under our agreements with our collaborators. To achieve and maintain profitability, we must succeed in developing, and eventually commercialising, a drug product or drug products that generate significant revenue. As such, we will be dependent on the ability of our platform to identify promising molecules for preclinical and clinical development. Achieving success in drug development will require us and our collaborators to be effective in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical testing and clinical trials of drug candidates, obtaining regulatory approval for these drug candidates and manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which we or our collaborators may obtain regulatory approval. All our wholly-owned drug candidates and those that we have developed with our collaborators are in the preliminary stages of most of these activities. We and they may never succeed in these activities and, even if we or they do, we may never generate revenues that are significant enough to achieve profitability. Because of the intense competition that our technology platform faces in the market and the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with biopharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict when, or if, we will be able to achieve or sustain profitability.
Even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability. Our failure to become and remain profitable would depress the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, increase sales of our software, develop a pipeline of drug candidates, enter into collaborations or even continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.
Our interim and annual results may fluctuate significantly, which could adversely impact the value of our ADSs.
Our results of operations, including our revenues, gross profit, profitability and cash flows, have historically varied from period-to-period, and we expect that they will continue to do so. As a result, period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful, and our interim and annual results should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our interim and annual financial results may fluctuate as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. Factors that may cause fluctuations in our interim and annual financial results include, without limitation, those listed elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section and those listed below:

the amount and timing of operating expenses related to the maintenance and expansion of our business, operations and infrastructure;

the success of our drug discovery collaborators in developing and commercialising drug products for which we are entitled to receive upfront payments, milestone or royalty payments and the timing of receipt of such payments, if any;
 
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our ability to enter into new collaboration agreements;

our ability to collect receivables from our collaborators;

unforeseen business disruptions that increase our costs or expenses;

the timing and success of the introduction of new software solutions by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive dynamics of our industry, including consolidation among competitors, customers or strategic collaborators;

changes in the fair value of or receipt of distributions or proceeds on account of the equity interests we hold in our drug discovery collaborators;

future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies;

general economic, industry and market conditions, including within the life sciences industry; and

the timing and amount of expenses related to our drug discovery programmes, the development or acquisition of technologies or businesses and potential future charges for impairment of goodwill from acquired companies.
Even if this offering and the concurrent private placements are successful, we may need additional funding. If we are unable to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us or at all or to generate cash flows necessary to maintain or expand our operations, we may not be able to compete successfully, which would harm our business, operations, financial condition and prospects.
We expect to devote substantial financial resources to our ongoing and planned activities, including the development of our current and future drug discovery programmes and continued investment in our technology platform. We expect our expenses to increase substantially in connection with these activities, particularly as we advance our internal drug discovery programmes, initiate and complete preclinical and investigational new drug enabling studies, and invest in the further development of our platform. Furthermore, upon the closing of this offering, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.
We and our current drug discovery collaborators, from whom we are entitled to receive milestone payments upon achievement of various development, regulatory and commercial milestones as well as royalties on commercial sales, if any, under the collaboration agreements that we have entered into with them, face numerous risks in the development of drugs, including conducting preclinical and clinical tests, obtaining regulatory approval and achieving product sales. In addition, the amounts we are entitled to receive upon the achievement of such milestones tend to be smaller for near-term development milestones and increase if and as a collaborative drug candidate advances through development to commercialisation and will vary depending on regulatory approval and the level of commercial success achieved, if any. Accordingly, we may need to obtain substantial additional capital to fund our continuing operations.
As of June 30, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of £245.6 million. We believe that the net proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operations and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next twelve months. However, we have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and our operating plans may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us. As a result, we could deplete our capital resources sooner than we currently expect.
Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

the scope, timing, progress and extent of spending to support research and development efforts of our drug candidates, including preclinical studies and clinical trials;

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

the development requirements of other drug candidates that we may pursue;
 
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the costs of acquiring, licensing or investing in drug discovery technologies;

the timing and receipt of payments from our collaborations;

our ability to establish additional discovery collaborations on favourable terms, if at all;

the timing and receipt of any distributions or proceeds we may receive from our equity stakes in companies;

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

the costs of expanding our operations, including our sales and marketing efforts to drive market recognition of our platform and address competitive developments;

the costs of future commercialisation activities, including product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution, for any drug candidate for which we receive marketing approval;

the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; and

the costs of operating as a public company.
In the event that we require additional financing, we may not be able to raise such financing on terms acceptable to us or at all. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favourable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. If we are unable to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us or at all or generate cash flows necessary to maintain or expand our operations and invest in our computational platform, we may not be able to compete successfully, which would harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of Our Drug Candidates
We are substantially dependent on our technology platform to identify promising molecules to accelerate drug discovery and development. Our platform technology may fail to discover and design molecules with therapeutic potential or may not result in the discovery and development of commercially viable products for us or our collaborators.
We use our technology platform to conduct AI-enabled laboratory experimentation and our technology platform underpins all our efforts. As a result, the quality and sophistication of our platform and technology is critical to our ability to conduct our research discovery activities, to design and deliver promising molecule candidates and to accelerate and lower the cost of drug discovery as compared to traditional methods for our partnerships. We originated the first three AI-designed precision drugs to enter human clinical trials: our internal lead drug candidate, EXS21546, and two drug candidates that we developed with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and for which we no longer have commercial rights. Because AI-designed drug candidates are novel, there is greater uncertainty about our ability to develop, advance and commercialise drug candidates using our AI-design process.
While the results of certain of our internal drug discovery programmes and drug discovery collaborators suggest that our platform is capable of accelerating drug discovery and identifying high-quality drug candidates, these results do not assure future success for our drug discovery collaborators or for us with our internal drug discovery programmes. Even if we or our drug discovery collaborators are able to develop drug candidates that demonstrate potential in preclinical studies, we or they may not succeed in demonstrating safety and efficacy of these drug candidates in human clinical trials. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are susceptible to error and inaccurate or varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that believed their drug candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their drug candidates.
 
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All of our drug candidates are in early-stage clinical development or in preclinical development. If we are unable to advance our drug candidates through clinical development, to obtain regulatory approval and ultimately to commercialise our drug candidates, or if we experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
Our lead drug candidate, EXS21546, is our only internally-developed drug candidate in clinical development. To date, only three AI-developed drug candidates have entered clinical trials: EXS21546 and two candidates that we developed with one of our collaborators. Thus far, no approved therapeutics have been developed using AI. There is no assurance that any current or future clinical trials of our drug candidates will be successful or will generate positive clinical data, and we may not receive marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, or other regulatory agencies for any of our drug candidates. We have submitted a Clinical Trial Application, or CTA, in the U.K. for EXS21546, but we have never submitted an IND to the FDA. Our other drug candidates are in preclinical development. There can be no assurance that the FDA will permit the INDs for any of our drug candidates to go into effect in a timely manner or at all.
Biopharmaceutical development is a long, expensive and uncertain process, and delay or failure can occur at any stage of any of our clinical trials. Failure to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates will prevent us from commercialising and marketing our drug candidates. Successful development of our drug candidates will depend on many factors, including:

completing preclinical studies;

submission of INDs for and receipt of allowance to proceed with our planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials;

initiating, enrolling and completing clinical trials;

obtaining positive results from our preclinical studies and clinical trials that demonstrate safety and efficacy for our drug candidates;

receiving approvals for commercialisation of our drug candidates from applicable regulatory authorities;

establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and successfully launching commercial sales of our products, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others;

making arrangements with third-party manufacturers for, or establishing, clinical and commercial manufacturing capabilities;

manufacturing our drug candidates at an acceptable cost;

acceptance of our products, if and when approved, by patients, the medical community and third-party payors; and

maintaining and growing an organisation of scientists, medical professionals and businesspeople who can develop and commercialise our products and technology.
Many of these factors are beyond our control, including the time needed to adequately complete clinical testing and the regulatory submission process. It is possible that none of our drug candidates will ever obtain regulatory approval, even if we expend substantial time and resources seeking such approval. If we do not achieve one or more of the above-listed requirements in a timely manner or at all, or if any other factor impacts the successful development of biopharmaceutical products, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully develop our drug candidates, which would materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes. If our preclinical studies and clinical trials are not sufficient to support regulatory approval of any of our drug candidates, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development of such drug candidate.
All of our drug candidates are in preclinical development or early-stage clinical trials and their risk of failure is high. Clinical testing is expensive, is difficult to design and implement, can take many years
 
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to complete and has an uncertain outcome. We cannot guarantee that any of our clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, or at all. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing, which may result from a multitude of factors, including, but not limited to, flaws in trial design, dose selection issues, participant enrolment criteria and failure to demonstrate favourable safety or efficacy traits.
Before we can commence clinical trials for a drug candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical testing and studies that support our planned INDs and other regulatory filings in the United States and abroad. We cannot be certain of the timely completion or outcome of our preclinical testing and studies and cannot predict if regulatory authorities will accept our proposed clinical programmes or if the outcome of our preclinical testing and studies will ultimately support the further development of any drug candidates. As a result, we cannot be sure that we will be able to submit INDs or corresponding regulatory filings for our preclinical programmes on the timelines we expect, if at all, and we cannot be sure that submission of INDs or these regulatory filings will result in regulatory authorities allowing clinical trials to begin.
The time required to obtain approval from the FDA, European Medicines Agency, or EMA, or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of regulatory authorities. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any drug candidate, we must complete preclinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of such drug candidate in humans. We have not yet completed a clinical trial of any of our drug candidates. Clinical trials may fail to demonstrate that our drug candidates are safe and effective for indicated uses. Even if the clinical trials are successful, changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment or promulgation of additional statutes, regulations or guidance or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application.
Furthermore, drug candidates are subject to continued preclinical safety studies, which may be conducted concurrently with our clinical testing. The outcomes of these safety studies may delay the launch of or enrolment in future clinical trials and could impact our ability to continue to conduct our clinical trials.
Other events that may prevent successful or timely completion of clinical development include:

inability to generate sufficient preclinical, toxicology or other in vivo or in vitro data to support the initiation of clinical trials;

delays in reaching a consensus with regulatory authorities on trial design;

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

delays related to COVID-19 disruptions at CROs, contract development and manufacturing organisations or CDMOs and/or clinical trial sites;

delays in opening clinical trial sites or obtaining required institutional review board, or IRB, or institutional biosafety committee, or IBC, approval, or that of the equivalent review groups for sites outside the United States, at each clinical trial site;

imposition of a clinical hold by regulatory authorities, including as a result of a serious adverse event or after an inspection of our clinical trial operations or trial sites;

failure by us, any CROs we engage or any other third parties to adhere to clinical trial requirements;

failure to perform in accordance with Good Clinical Practices, or GCPs;

failure by investigators and clinical sites to adhere to protocols leading to variable results;

failure of our delivery approach in humans;
 
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delays in the testing, validation, manufacturing and delivery of our drug candidates to the clinical sites, including delays by third parties with whom we have contracted to perform certain of those functions;

failure of our third-party contractors to comply with regulatory requirements or to meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;

inability to enrol participants or delays in having enrolled participants complete their participation in a trial or return for post-administration follow-up;

clinical trial sites or participants dropping out of a trial;

selection of clinical endpoints that require prolonged periods of clinical observation or analysis of the resulting data;

clinical trials of our drug candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon development programmes;

occurrence of serious adverse events associated with the drug candidate or administration of the drug candidate that are viewed to outweigh its potential benefits;

occurrence of serious adverse events or other unexpected events in trials of the same class of agents conducted by other sponsors;

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

changes in the legal or regulatory regimes domestically or internationally related to patient rights and privacy; or

lack of adequate funding to continue a given clinical trial.
Any inability to successfully complete preclinical studies and clinical trials could result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenues from product sales, regulatory and commercialisation milestones and royalties. In addition, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our drug candidates, we may need to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials to bridge our modified drug candidates to earlier versions. Clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialise our drug candidates or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, which could impair our ability to successfully commercialise our drug candidates and may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our research activities and clinical trials may fail to demonstrate adequately the safety and efficacy of EXS21546 or any other drug candidate, which would prevent or delay development, regulatory approval and commercialisation.
Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any drug candidate, including EXS21546, we must demonstrate, through lengthy, complex and expensive research activities and clinical trials, that our drug candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Research activities and clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial processes, and, because EXS21546 is in an early stage of development, there is a high risk of failure and we may never succeed in developing it as a marketable product.
Any clinical trial that we may conduct may not demonstrate the safety and efficacy necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market our drug candidates. If the results of our ongoing or future clinical trials are inconclusive with respect to the safety, potency, purity and efficacy of our drug candidates, if we do not meet the clinical endpoints with statistical and clinically meaningful significance, or if there are safety concerns associated with our drug candidates, we may be prevented from or delayed in obtaining marketing approval for such drug candidates. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety and efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same drug candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, manufacturing variances,
 
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differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants.
We have never successfully completed a clinical trial, and we may be unable to do so for any drug candidates we develop.
We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete any clinical trial, obtain a regulatory approval, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialisation of a drug candidate. In December 2020, we began our first Phase 1 clinical trial, which is currently ongoing. We may not be able to file an IND or CTA for this or any of our other drug candidates on the timelines we expect, if at all. For example, we may experience manufacturing delays with IND-enabling studies. Moreover, we cannot be sure that submission of an IND will result in the FDA allowing further clinical trials to begin, or that, once begun, issues will not arise that require us to suspend or terminate clinical trials. Commencing each of these clinical trials is subject to finalizing the trial design based on discussions with the FDA and other regulatory authorities. Any guidance we receive from regulatory authorities is subject to change. For example, a regulatory authority could change its position, including on the acceptability of our trial designs or the clinical endpoints selected, which may require us to complete additional clinical trials or impose stricter approval conditions than we currently expect.
If we are required to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials or other testing of our drug candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our drug candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive or if there are safety concerns, we may:

be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our drug candidates;

not obtain marketing approval at all;

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

be subject to post-marketing testing requirements; or

have the product removed from the market after obtaining marketing approval.
We may incur additional costs or experience delays in initiating or completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialisation of our drug candidates.
We may experience delays in initiating or completing our preclinical studies and clinical trials, including as a result of delays in obtaining, or failure to obtain, the FDA’s clearance to initiate clinical trials under future INDs. Additionally, we cannot be certain that preclinical studies or clinical trials for our drug candidates will not require redesign, enrol an adequate number of subjects on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, preclinical studies and clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialise our drug candidates, including:

we may receive feedback from regulatory authorities that requires us to modify the design or implementation of our preclinical studies or clinical trials;

regulators, IRBs or ethics committees may not authorise us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;

we may experience delays in reaching, or fail to reach, agreement on acceptable terms with prospective trial sites and prospective CROs, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;

preclinical studies or clinical trials of our drug candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials or we may decide to abandon product development programmes;
 
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the number of patients required for clinical trials of our drug candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrolment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate or participants may drop out of these clinical trials or fail to return for post-treatment follow-up at a higher rate than we anticipate;

our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements, fail to maintain adequate quality controls, be unable to provide us with sufficient product supply to conduct or complete preclinical studies or clinical trials, or fail to meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all, or may deviate from the clinical trial protocol or drop out of the trial, which may require that we add new clinical trial sites or investigators;

we may elect to, or regulators, IRBs or ethics committees may require us or our investigators to, suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

the cost of clinical trials of our drug candidates may be greater than we anticipate;

the supply or quality of our drug candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our drug candidates may be insufficient or inadequate;

our drug candidates may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, causing us or our investigators, or regulators, IRBs or ethics committees to suspend or terminate the trials, or reports may arise from preclinical or clinical testing of other cancer therapies that raise safety or efficacy concerns about our drug candidates; and

regulatory authorities may revise the requirements for approving our drug candidates, or such requirements may not be as we anticipate.
We could encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs of the institutions at which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trials or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Such authorities may impose such a suspension or termination or clinical hold due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our drug candidates. Further, the FDA may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval even after it has reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials.
Moreover, principal investigators for our current and future 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 or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected the interpretation of the study. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority 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 jeopardised. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of one or more of our drug candidates.
Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or obtaining regulatory approvals. We do not know whether any of our future clinical trials will begin as planned, or whether any of our current or future clinical trials will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Significant preclinical study or clinical trial delays, including those caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive
 
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right to commercialise our drug candidates or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialise our drug candidates. Any delays in our preclinical or future clinical development programmes may harm our business, financial condition and growth prospects significantly.
If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrolment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our drug candidates if we are unable to locate and enrol a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. In particular, because we are deploying our drug discovery platform across a broad target space, our ability to enrol eligible patients may be limited or may result in slower enrolment than we anticipate. For example, because some of our drug candidates target rare diseases, we may have difficulty enrolling a sufficient number of eligible patients or enrolment may be slower than we anticipate. In addition, some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for drug candidates that treat the same indications as our drug candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enrol in clinical trials of our competitors’ drug candidates.
In addition to the competitive trial environment, the eligibility criteria of our planned clinical trials will further limit the pool of available study participants as we will require that patients have specific characteristics that we can measure to assure their cancer is either severe enough or not too advanced to include them in a study. We may not be able to identify, recruit and enrol a sufficient number of patients to complete our clinical studies for a number of reasons, including:

the severity of the disease under investigation;

the eligibility criteria and overall design of the clinical trial in question;

the perceived risks and benefits of the drug candidate under study;

clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the drug candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating;

the ability to obtain and maintain patient consents;

the efforts to facilitate timely enrolment in clinical trials;

the patient referral practices of physicians;

the size and nature of the patient population required for analysis of the trial’s primary endpoints;

the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment;

the proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients;

the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the clinical trials before completion of their treatment; and

factors we may not be able to control, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or potential future pandemics that may limit patients, principal investigators, staff or clinical site availability.
Delays in patient enrolment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these clinical trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our drug candidates. In addition, many of the factors that may lead to a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our drug candidates.
Success in preclinical studies or clinical trials may not be predictive of results in future clinical trials.
Positive results from early preclinical studies and clinical trials of our drug candidates are not necessarily predictive of the results of later preclinical studies and any future clinical trials of our drug
 
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candidates. Even if we are able to complete our planned preclinical studies and clinical trials of our drug candidates according to our current development timeline, the results from such preclinical studies and clinical trials of our drug candidates may not be replicated in subsequent preclinical studies or clinical trial results. If we cannot replicate such positive results in our later preclinical studies and future clinical trials, we may be unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialise our drug candidates.
Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early-stage development, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical and other nonclinical findings made while clinical trials were underway, or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical trials, including previously unreported adverse events. Moreover, preclinical, nonclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that believed their drug candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials nonetheless failed to obtain FDA or EMA approval.
Additionally, future clinical trials that we may plan might utilise an “open-label” trial design. An “open-label” clinical trial is one where both the patient and investigator know whether the patient is receiving the investigational drug candidate or either an existing approved drug or placebo. Most typically, open-label clinical trials test only the investigational drug candidate and sometimes may do so at different dose levels. Open-label clinical trials are subject to various limitations that may exaggerate any therapeutic effect as patients in open-label clinical trials are aware when they are receiving treatment. Open-label clinical trials may be subject to a “patient bias” where patients perceive their symptoms to have improved merely due to their awareness of receiving an experimental treatment. In addition, open-label clinical trials may be subject to an “investigator bias” where those assessing and reviewing the physiological outcomes of the clinical trials are aware of which patients have received treatment and may interpret the information of the treated group more favourably given this knowledge. The results from an open-label trial may not be predictive of future clinical trial results with any of our drug candidates for which we include an open-label clinical trial when studied in a controlled environment with a placebo or active control.
Interim, “topline”, 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 publicly disclose preliminary or topline data from our clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the topline or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Topline 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, topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. From time to time, we may also disclose interim 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 enrolment continues and more patient data become available or as patients from our clinical trials continue other treatments for their disease. Adverse differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects. Further, disclosure of interim data by us or by our competitors could result in volatility in the price of the ADSs after this offering.
If the interim, topline, or preliminary data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialise, our drug candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, the information we choose to publicly
 
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disclose regarding a particular clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure.
Our current and future clinical trials or those of our current or future collaborators may reveal significant adverse events not seen in our preclinical or nonclinical studies and may result in a safety profile that could inhibit regulatory approval or market acceptance of any of our drug candidates.
Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any products, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our drug candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. There is typically an extremely high rate of attrition for drug candidates proceeding through clinical trials. Drug candidates in later stages of clinical trials also may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy profile despite having progressed through nonclinical studies and initial clinical trials. If the results of our ongoing or future preclinical studies and clinical trials are inconclusive with respect to the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates, if we do not meet the clinical endpoints with statistical and clinically meaningful significance, or if there are safety concerns associated with our drug candidates, we may be prevented from or delayed in obtaining marketing approval for such drug candidates. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same drug candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. While we have not yet initiated clinical trials for certain of our drug candidates and are in early stages of clinical development for EXS21546, it is likely, as is the case with many oncology therapies, that there will be side effects associated with their use. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects. Further, our drug candidates could cause undesirable side effects in clinical trials related to on-target toxicity. If on-target toxicity is observed, or if our drug candidates have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to narrower uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. In addition, our drug candidates could cause undesirable side effects that we have not observed yet to date. We also may develop future drug candidates for use in combination with one or more existing cancer therapies. The uncertainty resulting from the use of our drug candidates in combination with other cancer therapies may make it difficult to accurately predict side effects in future clinical trials. Most drug candidates that commence clinical trials are never approved as products and there can be no assurance that any of our current or future clinical trials will ultimately demonstrate positive results or support further clinical development of any of our drug candidates.
If significant adverse events or other side effects are observed in any of our current or future clinical trials, we may have difficulty recruiting patients to our clinical trials, patients may drop out of our trials or we may be required to abandon the trials or our development efforts of one or more drug candidates altogether. We, the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities, or an IRB may suspend or terminate clinical trials of a drug candidate at any time for various reasons, including a belief that subjects in such trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or adverse side effects. Some potential therapeutics that initially showed therapeutic promise in early-stage trials have later been found to cause side effects that prevented their further development. Even if the side effects do not preclude the product from obtaining or maintaining marketing approval, undesirable side effects may inhibit market acceptance of the approved product due to its tolerability versus other therapies. Any of these developments could materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We intend to develop EXS21546, and potentially other future drug candidates, for use in combination with other therapies, which exposes us to additional risks.
We intend to develop EXS21546 for use in combination with one or more currently approved cancer therapies. If a drug candidate we develop were to receive marketing approval for use in
 
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combination with these existing therapies, we would continue to bear the risks that the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities could revoke approval of the therapies used in combination with our drug candidate or that safety, efficacy, manufacturing or supply issues could arise with such existing therapies. We would be subject to similar risks if we develop any of our drug candidates for use in combination with other drugs or for indications other than cancer. This could result in our own products being removed from the market or being less successful commercially.
We may also potentially evaluate other drug candidates in combination with one or more other cancer therapies that have not yet been approved for marketing by the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities. We will not be able to market and sell any drug candidate we develop in combination with any such cancer therapies that do not ultimately obtain marketing approval whether alone or in combination with our product. In addition, unapproved cancer therapies face the same risks described with respect to our drug candidates currently in development and clinical trials, including the potential for serious adverse effects, delay in their clinical trials and lack of FDA approval. If safety, efficacy, manufacturing or supply issues arise with the products we choose to evaluate in combination with our drug candidates, we may be unable to obtain approval of or market such combination.
We currently, and may in the future, conduct clinical trials for our drug candidates outside the United States, and the FDA and similar foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such trials.
We are currently conducting a clinical trial outside the United States, and we may in the future conduct clinical trials outside the United States, including in China, Australia, Europe, elsewhere in Asia or other foreign jurisdictions. The acceptance of trial data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may be subject to certain conditions. In cases where data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States are intended to serve as the sole basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of such data alone unless (i) the data are applicable to the United States population and United States medical practice; (ii) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognised competence pursuant to GCP regulation; and (iii) the data may be considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA or, if the FDA considers such an inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means. In general, the patient population for any clinical trials conducted outside the United States must be representative of the population for whom we intend to label the drug candidate in the United States. Additionally, the FDA’s clinical trial requirements, including sufficient size of patient populations and statistical powering, must be met. Many foreign regulatory bodies have similar approval requirements. In addition, such foreign trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any similar foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States or the applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA or any similar foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay aspects of our business plan, and which may result in our drug candidates not receiving approval or clearance for commercialisation in the applicable jurisdiction.
We may seek orphan drug designation for certain of our drug candidates, and we may be unsuccessful or may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.
As part of our business strategy, we may seek orphan drug designation for certain of our drug candidates, and such efforts may be unsuccessful. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States, or a patient population of 200,000 or more in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a
 
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party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers.
Similarly, in the European Union, the European Commission, upon the recommendation of the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, grants orphan drug designation to promote the development of drugs that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions and either the prevalence of the condition is not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the European Union or, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the European Union would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the drug. In each case, there must be no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment of the condition that has been authorised, or, if such a method exists, the product in question must be of significant benefit to those affected by such condition. In the European Union, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers.
Generally, if a drug candidate with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the drug is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA or the EMA from approving another marketing application for the same drug and indication for that time period, except in limited circumstances. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in the European Union. The exclusivity period in the European Union can be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is established that a drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation, including if the drug is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified. An additional year of market exclusivity is available in the European Union if, during the first eight years of the ten year period the marketing authorisation holder obtains an authorisation for one or more new indications which are held to bring a significant clinical benefit in comparison with existing therapies.
Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a drug, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the drug from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA and EMA can subsequently approve another drug for the same condition if the FDA and EMA (as applicable) conclude that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. Moreover, orphan drug exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. While we may seek orphan drug designations for our drug candidates, we may never receive such designations. Even if we do receive such designations, there is no guarantee that we will enjoy the benefits that can come from those designations.
Even if we receive regulatory approval for any of our drug candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our drug candidates, if approved, could be subject to post-market study requirements, marketing and labelling restrictions and even recall or market withdrawal if unanticipated safety issues are discovered following approval. In addition, we may be subject to penalties or other enforcement action if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements.
If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves any of our drug candidates, the manufacturing processes, labelling, packaging, distribution, import, export, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, monitoring and recordkeeping for the product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, establishment registration and listing, as well as continued compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMPs, and GCPs for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. Additionally, manufacturers are required to comply with extensive FDA, and comparable foreign regulatory authority requirements, including ensuring that quality control and
 
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manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations and applicable product tracking and tracing requirements. Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our drug candidates may also be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing studies, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product. A product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labelling, although physicians may, in their independent medical judgement, prescribe legally available products for “off-label” uses. If any of our current or future drug candidates is approved for marketing, and we are found to have improperly promoted off-label uses of those products, we may become subject to significant liability. The FDA may also require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, to approve our drug candidates, which could entail requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimisation tools. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:

restrictions on marketing or manufacturing of the product, withdrawal of the product from the market, or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;

manufacturing delays and supply disruptions where regulatory inspections identify noncompliance requiring remediation;

revisions to the labelling, including limitation on approved uses or the addition of warnings, contraindications or other safety information, including boxed warnings;

imposition of a REMS, which may include distribution or use restrictions;

requirements to conduct additional post-market clinical trials to assess the safety of the product;

clinical trial holds;

fines, warning letters or other regulatory enforcement action;

refusal by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us or suspension or revocation of approvals;

product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; and

injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our drug candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our drug candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be able to obtain regulatory approval of our drug candidates in other jurisdictions.
We may submit marketing applications in countries in addition to the United States. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of drug candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realise the full market potential of our drug candidates will be harmed.
 
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Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our drug candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a drug candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the drug candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In short, the foreign regulatory approval process involves all the risks associated with FDA approval. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a drug candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we may intend to charge for our products will also be subject to approval.
Risks Related to Our Business
We may not be successful in our efforts to identify or discover drug candidates and may fail to capitalise on programmes, collaborations or drug candidates that may present a greater commercial opportunity or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
Research programmes to identify new drug candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources. As an organisation, aside from EXS21546, we have not yet developed any drug candidates, and we may fail to identify potential drug candidates for clinical development. Similarly, a key element of our business plan is to expand the use of our computational platform through an increase in software sales and drug discovery collaborations. A failure to demonstrate the utility of our platform by using it ourselves to discover drug candidates for internal development could harm our business prospects.
Because we have limited resources, we focus our research programmes on protein targets where we believe our computational assays are a good substitute for experimental assays, where we believe it is theoretically possible to discover a molecule with properties that are required for the molecule to become a drug and where we believe there is a meaningful commercial opportunity, among other factors. Currently, the focus of our internal drug discovery programmes is in the areas of oncology, immunology and anti-virals. We may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with certain programmes, collaborations or drug candidates or for indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. However, the development of any drug candidate we pursue may ultimately prove to be unsuccessful or less successful than another potential drug candidate that we might have chosen to pursue on a more aggressive basis with our capital resources. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential for a particular drug candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that drug candidate through strategic collaboration, partnership, licensing or other arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialisation rights to such drug candidate. Alternatively, we may allocate internal resources to a drug candidate in a therapeutic area in which it would have been more advantageous to enter into a collaboration.
We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercialising products before or more successfully than we do.
The development and commercialisation of new pharmaceutical products is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological advancements. We face competition from major multi-national pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and specialty pharmaceutical companies. A number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies currently market and sell products, or are developing drug candidates, for the treatment of cancer. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organisations.
Our competitors with development-stage programmes may obtain marketing approval from the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities for their drug candidates more rapidly than we do, and
 
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they could establish a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. In addition, our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing technologies and products that are more effective, more effectively marketed and sold or less costly than any drug candidates that we may develop, which could render our drug candidates non-competitive and obsolete and result in our competitors establishing a strong market position for either the product or a specific indication before we are able to enter the market.
Many of our competitors, either alone or with their strategic collaborators, have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do. Accordingly, our competitors may be more successful than we are in obtaining approval for treatments and achieving widespread market acceptance, which may render our treatments obsolete or non-competitive. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical studies, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programmes.
We are aware of several companies using various technologies, including AI and other sophisticated computational tools, to accelerate drug development and improve the quality of identified drug candidates. These companies include Relay Therapeutics, AbCellera, Schrodinger, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, PathAI, Insitro, Valo Health, Cellarity, XtalPi, BenevolentAI, Datavant and Atomwise.
We have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in research and development efforts that further enhance our technology platform. If the return on these investments is lower or develops more slowly than we expect, our revenue and results of operations may suffer.
We use our technological capabilities for the discovery of new drugs and, since our inception, we have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in research and development efforts that further enhance our technology platform. These investments may involve significant time, risks and uncertainties, including the risk that the expenses associated with these investments may affect our margins and results of operations and that such investments may not generate sufficient technological advantages relative to alternatives in the market, which would in turn, impact revenues generated to offset the liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these investments. The software industry changes rapidly as a result of technological and product developments, which may render our platform’s ability to identify and develop drug candidates less efficient than other technologies and platforms. We believe that we must continue to invest a significant amount of time and resources in our technology platform to maintain and improve our competitive position. If we do not achieve the benefits anticipated from these investments, if the achievement of these benefits is delayed or if our technology is not able to accelerate the process of drug discovery as quickly as we anticipate, our revenue and results of operations may be adversely affected.
We must adapt to rapid and significant technological change and respond to introductions of new products and technologies by competitors to remain competitive.
In addition to using our platform for the discovery and development of our own drug candidates, we provide our drug discovery solution and capabilities in industries that are characterised by significant enhancements and evolving industry standards. As a result, our and our collaborators’ needs are rapidly evolving. If we do not appropriately innovate and invest in new technologies, including within the field of AI, our platform may become less competitive, and our collaborators could move to new technologies offered by our competitors or engage in drug discovery themselves. We believe that because of the initial time investment required by many of our collaborators to reach a decision about whether to collaborate with us, it may be difficult to regain a commercial relationship with such collaborators should they enter into a partnership or collaboration agreement with a competitor. Without the timely introduction of new solutions and technological enhancements, our offerings will likely become less competitive over time, in which case our competitive position and results of operations could suffer. Accordingly, we focus significant efforts and resources on the development and identification of new technologies and markets to further broaden and deepen our capabilities and expertise in AI
 
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drug discovery and development. To the extent we fail to timely introduce new and innovative technologies or solutions, adequately predict our collaborators’ needs or fail to obtain desired levels of market acceptance, our business may suffer and our results of operations could be adversely affected.
We rely upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our software solutions. Any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We outsource substantially all of the infrastructure relating to our hosted software solutions to third-party hosting services. Customers of our hosted software solutions need to be able to access our computational platform at any time, without interruption or degradation of performance, and we provide them with service-level commitments with respect to uptime. Our hosted software solutions depend on protecting the virtual cloud infrastructure hosted by third-party hosting services by maintaining its configuration, architecture, features and interconnection specifications, as well as the information stored in these virtual data centres, which is transmitted by third-party internet service providers. Any limitation on the capacity of our third-party hosting services could impede our ability to onboard new customers or expand the usage of our existing customers, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any incident affecting our third-party hosting services’ infrastructure that may be caused by cyber-attacks, natural disasters, fires, floods, severe storms, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, terrorist or other attacks and other similar events beyond our control could negatively affect our cloud-based solutions. A prolonged service disruption affecting our cloud-based solutions for any of the foregoing reasons would negatively impact our ability to serve our customers and could damage our reputation with current and potential customers, expose us to liability, cause us to lose customers or otherwise harm our business. We may also incur significant costs for using alternative equipment or taking other actions in preparation for, or in reaction to, events that damage the third-party hosting services we use.
In the event that our service agreements with our third-party hosting services are terminated, or there is a lapse of service, elimination of services or features that we utilise, interruption of internet service provider connectivity or damage to such facilities, we could experience interruptions in access to our platform as well as significant delays and additional expense in arranging or creating new facilities and services and/or re-architecting our hosted software solutions for deployment on a different cloud infrastructure service provider, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Defects or disruptions in our technology platform could result in diminishing demand for the drug candidates discovered using such platforms and a reduction in our revenues, and subject us to substantial liability.
Our ability to effectively deploy our drug discovery platform depends upon the continuous, effective and reliable operation of our software and related tools and functions. Our technology platform is inherently complex and may contain defects or errors. The risk of errors is particularly significant when a new software application is first introduced or when new versions or enhancements of existing software applications are used in our technology platform. We have from time to time found defects in our software, and new errors in our existing software may be detected in the future. Any errors, defects, disruptions or other performance problems with our technology platform could adversely impact the efficacy of our drug discovery processes, delay our drug discovery and collaboration timelines, hurt our reputation or damage our collaborators’ businesses. If any of these events occurs, our collaborators may delay or withhold payment to us, cancel their agreements with us, elect not to renew, make service credit claims, warranty claims or other claims against us, and we could lose future revenues. The occurrence of any of these events could result in diminishing demand for our technology platform and any drug candidates discovered through such a platform, a reduction of our revenues and increased expenses of litigation or substantial liability.
 
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The market opportunities for our drug candidates may be smaller than we anticipated or may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for or have failed prior treatments, and our estimates of the prevalence of our target patient populations may be inaccurate.
Our current and future target patient populations are based on our beliefs and estimates regarding the incidence or prevalence of certain types of cancers that may be addressable by our drug candidates, which is derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature and surveys of clinics. Our projections may prove to be incorrect and the number of potential patients may turn out to be lower than expected. Even if we obtain significant market share for our drug candidates, because the potential target populations could be small, we may never achieve profitability without obtaining regulatory approval for additional indications, including use of our drug candidates for first-line and second-line therapy.
Cancer therapies are sometimes characterised by line of therapy (first-line, second-line, third-line, etc.), and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for a particular line or lines of use. When cancer is detected early enough, first-line therapy is sometimes adequate to cure the cancer or prolong life without a cure. Whenever first-line therapy, usually chemotherapy, antibody drugs, tumour-targeted small molecules, hormone therapy, radiation therapy, surgery or a combination of these, proves unsuccessful, second-line therapy may be administered. Second-line therapies often consist of more chemotherapy, radiation, antibody drugs, tumour-targeted small molecules or a combination of these. Third-line therapies can include chemotherapy, antibody drugs and small molecule tumour-targeted therapies, more invasive forms of surgery and new technologies. We expect to initially seek approval of some of our drug candidates as second- or third-line therapies for patients who have failed other approved treatments. Subsequently, for those drug candidates that prove to be sufficiently beneficial, if any, we would expect to seek approval as a second-line therapy and potentially as a first-line therapy, but there is no guarantee that our drug candidates, even if approved for third-line therapy, would be approved for second-line or first-line therapy. In addition, we may have to conduct additional clinical trials prior to gaining approval for any of our current or future drug candidates as potential second-line or first-line therapies.
Even if we obtain regulatory approval of our current or future drug candidates, the products may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centres and others in the medical community.
The use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technology-based platforms to discover compounds and molecules and develop optimally-designed drug candidates is still a recent phenomenon; and therefore, the drug candidates resulting from such a process may not become broadly accepted by physicians, patients, hospitals and others in the medical community, even if approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities for marketing and sale. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our current programmes or any future drug candidates and such drug candidates do not gain an adequate level of market acceptance, we could be prevented from or significantly delayed in achieving profitability. Various factors will influence whether our drug candidates, if approved, are accepted in the market, including:

the efficacy of our drug candidates as demonstrated in clinical trials, and, if required by any applicable authority in connection with the approval for the applicable indications, the ability of our drug candidates to provide patients with incremental health benefits, as compared with other available therapies;

potential product liability claims;

physicians, hospitals and patients considering our drug candidates as safe and effective treatment options;

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

the prevalence and severity of any side effects of our drug candidates;
 
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product labelling or product insert requirements of the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities;

limitations or warnings contained in the labelling approved by the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities;

the cost of treatment in relation to current and future treatment alternatives;

pricing of our products and the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors and government authorities;

the willingness of patients to pay out-of-pocket in the absence of coverage by third-party payors and government authorities;

relative convenience and ease of administration, including as compared to current and future alternative treatments and competitive therapies; and

the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts.
Even if our drug candidates, if approved, achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to maintain that market acceptance over time if new products or technologies are introduced that are more favourably received than our products, are more cost effective or render our products obsolete.
The effects of health epidemics, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in regions where we, or the third parties on which we rely, have business operations could adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials, as well as the business or operations of our CROs or other third parties with whom we conduct business.
Our business could be adversely affected by health epidemics in regions where we have concentrations of clinical trial sites or other business operations, and could cause significant disruption in the operations of third-party manufacturers and CROs upon whom we rely. Since December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has spread worldwide. Our company headquarters is located in Oxford, United Kingdom, and our CROs are operating as of the date of this prospectus in Europe and Asia. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, and many governments imposed restrictions on travel and varying levels of economic shutdowns.
In response to such public health directives and orders, we have implemented work-from-home policies to support the community efforts to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and protect employees, complying with guidance from federal, state/provincial or municipal government and health authorities. We implemented a number of measures to ensure employee safety and business continuity. Employees who can work from home have been doing so, while those needing to work in laboratory facilities are divided into shifts to reduce the number of people gathered together at one time. Business travel has been suspended, and online and teleconference technology is used to meet virtually rather than in person. We have taken measures to secure our research and development project activities, while work in laboratories and facilities has been organised to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The effects of the executive orders and our work-from-home policies may negatively impact efficiency, disrupt our business and delay our preclinical and clinical programmes and timelines. The magnitude of the impact will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.
Quarantines, shelter-in-place and similar government orders, or the perception that such orders, shutdowns, or other restrictions on the conduct of business operations could occur, whether related to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases, could impact personnel at third-party manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom and other countries, or the availability or cost of materials, which would disrupt our supply chain.
 
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In addition, our business operations, preclinical studies and clinical trials may be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including:

delays or difficulties in enrolling and retaining patients in our clinical trials, including patients who may not be able or willing to comply with clinical trial protocols such as weekly dosing regimens if quarantines impede patient movement or interrupt healthcare services;

delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including difficulties in recruiting and retaining clinical site investigators and clinical site staff;

increased rates of patients withdrawing from our clinical trials following enrolment as a result of risks of exposure to COVID-19, being forced to quarantine or being unable to visit clinical trial locations or otherwise comply with clinical trial protocols;

diversion or prioritisation of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials and towards the COVID-19 pandemic, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials;

interruption of our clinical supply chain or key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by federal, state/provincial or municipal governments, employers and others; and

limitations in healthcare provider and employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, including because of sickness of such healthcare providers, who may have heightened exposure to COVID-19, and employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people.
For our clinical trials that are or that we expect to conduct or be conducted at sites outside the United States, particularly in countries which are experiencing heightened impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the risks listed above, we may also experience the following adverse impacts:

delays in receiving approval from local regulatory authorities to initiate our planned clinical trials;

delays in clinical sites receiving the supplies and materials needed to conduct our clinical trials;

interruption in global shipping that may affect the transport of clinical trial materials, such as investigational drug product and comparator drugs used in our clinical trials;

changes in federal, state/provincial or municipal regulations as part of a response to the COVID-19 outbreak which may require us to change the ways in which our clinical trials are conducted, potentially resulting in unexpected costs, or to discontinue the clinical trials altogether;

delays in necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or forced furlough of government employees; and

the refusal of the FDA to accept data from clinical trials in these affected geographies.
The spread of COVID-19, which has caused a broad impact globally, may materially affect us economically. While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to assess or predict, it has resulted in, and may continue to result in, significant disruption of global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and the value of our ADSs.
The global outbreak of COVID-19 continues to rapidly evolve. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our business and clinical trials will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, such as the ultimate geographic spread of the disease, the identification of new variants of the virus, the duration of the outbreak, travel restrictions and social distancing in the United Kingdom, United States and other countries, business closures or business disruptions, vaccination rates, the vaccines’ efficacy against future potential variants and the
 
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effectiveness of actions taken in the United Kingdom, United States, and other countries to contain and treat the disease. We may experience a material impact on our operations from the pandemic, and we continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely.
We have in the past and may in the future acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management’s attention, result in additional dilution to our shareholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and adversely affect our operating results.
In August 2021, we acquired 100% of the outstanding share capital of Allcyte GmbH, or Allcyte, a precision medicine biotechnology company. We may in the future seek to acquire or invest in additional businesses, solutions or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our solutions, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated.
We have limited experience in acquiring new businesses. We may not be able to integrate the Allcyte personnel, operations and technologies effectively, efficiently manage the combined business or preserve the operational synergies between our business units that we believe currently exist. If we acquire additional businesses in the future, we will face all of these challenges again. We cannot assure you that following any acquisition we will achieve the expected synergies to justify the transaction, due to a number of factors, including:

inability to integrate or benefit from acquired technologies or services in a profitable manner;

incurrence of acquisition-related costs;

unanticipated costs or liabilities associated with the acquisition;

difficulty integrating the accounting systems, operations and personnel of the acquired business;

difficulties and additional expenses associated with supporting legacy products and hosting infrastructure of the acquired business;

difficulty converting the customers of the acquired business onto our solutions and contract terms, including disparities in the revenues, licensing, support or professional services model of the acquired company;

diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;

adverse effects to our existing business relationships with business partners and customers as a result of the acquisition;

the potential loss of key employees;

use of resources that are needed in other parts of our business; and

use of substantial portions of our available cash to consummate the acquisition.
In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may suffer.
Clinical trial and product liability lawsuits against us could divert our resources, cause us to incur substantial liabilities and limit commercialisation of our drug candidates.
We face an inherent risk of clinical trial and product liability exposure related to the testing of drug candidates in clinical trials, and we will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products
 
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that we may develop. While we currently have no products that have been approved for commercial sale, the current and future use of drug candidates by us in clinical trials, and the sale of any approved products in the future, may expose us to liability claims. These claims might be made by patients who use the product, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling such products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our drug candidates or products caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

decreased demand for our drug candidates;

injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention;

withdrawal of clinical trial participants;

significant costs to defend any related litigation;

substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;

loss of revenue;

reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy; and

the inability to commercialise our drug candidates.
We will need to increase our insurance coverage as we expand our clinical trials or if we commence commercialisation of any drug candidates. If a successful clinical trial or product liability claim or series of claims is brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.
Our insurance policies are expensive and protect us only from some business risks, which leaves us exposed to significant uninsured liabilities.
We do not carry insurance for all categories of risk that our business may encounter and our policies have limits and significant deductibles. Some of the policies we currently maintain include clinical trial, product liability, general liability, property, employment and director and officer insurance.
Our existing insurance coverage and any additional coverage we acquire in the future may not be sufficient to reimburse us for expenses or losses we may suffer. Moreover, insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive, and we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses. A successful liability claim or series of claims in which judgements exceed our insurance coverage could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. We do not know if we will be able to maintain existing insurance with adequate levels of coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified people to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers. Any significant uninsured liability may require us to pay substantial amounts, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to Collaborators and Other Third Parties
Our drug discovery collaborators have significant discretion regarding the clinical development of the programmes subject to the collaboration. The failure of our collaborators to perform their obligations under our collaboration agreements could negatively impact our business. We may never realise the return on our investment of resources in our drug discovery collaborations.
We use our technology platform to engage in drug discovery with collaborators who are engaged in drug discovery and development. These collaborators include pre-commercial biotechnology companies and large-scale pharmaceutical companies. When we engage in drug discovery with these
 
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collaborators, we enter into agreements that provide us the right to receive option fees, cash milestone payments upon the achievement of specified development, regulatory and commercial sales milestones for the drug discovery targets and potential royalties. From time to time, we may take equity stakes in our drug discovery collaborators.
Our drug discovery collaborations may not lead to development or commercialisation of drug candidates that result in our receipt of such option fees, milestone payments or royalties in a timely manner, or at all. Our drug discovery collaborators may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialisation of any drug candidates. In addition, our ability to realise return from our drug discovery collaborations is subject to the following risks:

drug discovery collaborators have significant discretion in determining the amount and timing of efforts and resources that they will apply to our collaborations and may not perform their obligations as expected;

drug discovery collaborators may not pursue development or commercialisation of any drug candidates for which we are entitled to option fees, milestone payments or royalties or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialisation programmes based on results of clinical trials or other studies, changes in the collaborator’s strategic focus or available funding, or external factors, such as an acquisition, that divert resources or create competing priorities;

drug discovery collaborators may delay clinical trials for which we are entitled to milestone payments;

drug discovery collaborators have significant discretion in determining when to make announcements about the status of our collaborations, including about preclinical and clinical developments and timelines for advancing the collaborative programmes;

we may not have access to, or may be restricted from disclosing, certain information regarding our collaborators’ drug candidates being developed or commercialised and, consequently, may have limited ability to inform our shareholders and ADS holders about the status of, and likelihood of achieving, milestone payments or royalties under such collaborations;

drug discovery collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with any drug candidates and products for which we are entitled to milestone payments or royalties if the collaborator believes that the competitive products are more likely to be developed or can be commercialised under terms that are more economically attractive;

drug candidates discovered in drug discovery collaborations with us may be viewed by our collaborators as competitive with their own drug candidates or products, which may cause our collaborators to cease to devote resources to the commercialisation of any such drug candidates;

existing drug discovery collaborators and potential future drug discovery collaborators may begin to perceive us to be a competitor more generally, particularly as we advance our internal drug discovery programmes, and therefore may be unwilling to continue existing collaborations with us or to enter into new collaborations with us;

drug discovery collaborators may fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements regarding the development, manufacture, distribution or marketing of a drug candidate or product, which may impact our ability to receive milestone payments;

disagreements with drug discovery collaborators, including disagreements over intellectual property or proprietary rights, contract interpretation or the preferred course of development, might cause delays or terminations of the research, development or commercialisation of drug candidates for which we are eligible to receive milestone payments, or might result in litigation or arbitration;

drug discovery collaborators may not properly obtain, maintain, enforce, defend or protect our intellectual property or proprietary rights or may use our proprietary information in such a
 
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way as to potentially lead to disputes or legal proceedings that could jeopardise or invalidate our or their intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us and them to potential litigation;

drug discovery collaborators may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate the intellectual property or proprietary rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability; and

drug discovery collaborations may be terminated prior to our receipt of any significant value from the collaboration.
If any drug discovery collaborations that we enter into do not result in the successful development and commercialisation of drug products that result in option fees, milestone payments, or royalties to us, we may not realise satisfactory, if any, returns on the resources we have invested in the drug discovery collaboration. Moreover, even if a drug discovery collaboration initially leads to the achievement of milestones that result in payments to us, it may not continue to do so.
If we are not able to establish or maintain collaborations to develop and commercialise any of the drug candidates we discover internally, we may have to alter our development and commercialisation plans for those drug candidates and our business could be adversely affected.
We have worked closely with our collaborators, such as Bristol Myers Squibb and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma to develop and advance drug discovery programmes past the discovery stage and into preclinical studies or human clinical trials. We expect to rely on future collaborators for the development and potential commercialisation of drug candidates we discover internally when we believe it will help maximise the commercial value of the drug candidate. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators for these activities, and a number of more established companies may also be pursuing development and commercialisation for the same or similar drug candidates. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, financial resources and greater clinical development and commercialisation expertise. Furthermore, collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for such collaborations will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of preclinical studies and clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States, the potential market for the subject drug candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such drug candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge, and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative drug candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our drug candidate.
If we are unable to reach agreements with suitable collaborators on a timely basis, on acceptable terms or at all, we may have to curtail the development of a drug candidate, reduce or delay its development programme or one or more of our other development programmes or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialisation activities at our own expense. If we elect to fund and undertake development or commercialisation activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional expertise and additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we fail to enter into collaborations and do not have sufficient funds or expertise to undertake the necessary development and commercialisation activities, we may not be able to further develop any drug candidates or bring them to market.
In recent periods, we have depended on a limited number of collaborators for our revenue, the loss of any of which could have an adverse impact on our business.
In recent periods, a limited number of collaborations accounted for a significant portion of our revenues. For the year ended December 31, 2020, one of our partners accounted for 83% of our
 
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revenue. These collaborations cover a large number of programmes under contract, and therefore represent a large portion of potential downstream value. As a result, if we fail to maintain our relationships with our collaborators or if any of our collaborators discontinue their programmes, our future results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
We may never realise a return on our equity investments in our drug discovery collaborators.
We have decided to take and may decide in the future to take equity stakes in our drug discovery collaborators. We may never realise a return on our equity investments in our drug discovery collaborators. None of the drug discovery collaborators in which we hold equity generate revenue from commercial sales of drug products. They are therefore dependent on the availability of capital on favourable terms to continue their operations. In addition, if the drug discovery collaborators in which we hold equity raise additional capital, our ownership interest in and degree of control over these drug discovery collaborators will be diluted, unless we have sufficient resources and choose to invest in them further or successfully negotiate contractual anti-dilution protections for our equity investment. The financial success of our equity investment in any collaborator will likely be dependent on a liquidity event, such as a public offering, acquisition or other favourable market event reflecting appreciation in the value of the equity we hold. The capital markets for public offerings and acquisitions are dynamic, and the likelihood of liquidity events for the companies in which we hold equity interests could significantly worsen. Further, valuations of privately held companies are inherently complex due to the lack of readily available market data. If we determine that any of our investments in such companies have experienced a decline in value, we may be required to record an impairment, which could negatively impact our financial results. All of the equity we hold in our drug discovery collaborators is subject to a risk of partial or total loss of our investment.
We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our drug candidates for preclinical development and clinical testing, and expect to continue to do so for commercialisation. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our drug candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialisation efforts.
We do not currently own or operate, nor do we have any plans to establish in the future, any manufacturing facilities or personnel. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the manufacture of our drug candidates for preclinical development and clinical testing, as well as for the commercial manufacture of our products if any of our drug candidates receive marketing approval. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will have less direct control over the conduct, timing and completion of such manufacturing and thus, will not have sufficient quantities of our drug candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialisation efforts.
The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our drug candidates must be inspected by the FDA pursuant to pre-approval inspections that will be conducted after we submit our marketing applications to the FDA. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and will be completely dependent on, our contract manufacturers for compliance with cGMPs, with which they are required to comply, in connection with the manufacture of our drug candidates. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, they will not be able to pass regulatory inspections and/or maintain regulatory compliance for their manufacturing facilities. 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 finds deficiencies with or does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our drug candidates or if it finds deficiencies or 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 drug candidates, if approved. Further, our failure, or the failure of our third party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including warning or untitled letters, clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of requisite approvals (including marketing approvals), licence
 
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revocation, seizures or recalls of drug candidates or products, if approved, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect our business and supplies of our drug candidates.
We may be unable to establish any agreements with third-party manufacturers or to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks to those discussed above, including:

reliance on the third party for regulatory compliance and quality assurance;

the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party;

damage to our brand reputation caused by defective products or drug candidates produced by the third party;

the possible misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how; and

the possible termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by the third party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us.
Our drug candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other drug candidates and approved products for access to manufacturing facilities. There is a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us. These third-party manufacturers may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be manufacturing certain products and/or drug candidates, which could affect their performance on our behalf.
Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or marketing approval. If our current contract manufacturers cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace such manufacturers, which may cause us to incur additional costs and undergo further delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement. There is a natural transition period when a new third party commences work, which may cause delays that materially impact our ability to meet the anticipated timelines for manufacturing our products and drug candidates. In addition, changes in manufacturers often involve changes in manufacturing procedures and processes, which could require that we conduct bridging studies between our prior clinical supply used in our clinical trials and that of any new manufacturer. We may be unsuccessful in demonstrating the comparability of clinical supplies which could require the conduct of additional clinical trials.
Given our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our drug candidates or products, if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced 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 other reasons, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our drug candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.
We rely on third parties to conduct our Phase 1 clinical trials of EXS21546 and expect to rely on third parties to conduct future clinical trials, as well as investigator-sponsored clinical trials of our drug candidates. If these third parties do not carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialise our drug candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.
We do not have the ability to independently conduct clinical trials. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on medical institutions, clinical investigators, contract laboratories, collaborators and other third parties, such as CROs, to conduct or otherwise support clinical trials for our drug candidates, including our Phase 1 clinical trials of EXS21546. We may also rely on academic and private non-academic institutions to conduct and sponsor clinical trials relating to our drug candidates. We will not control the design or conduct of the investigator-sponsored trials, and it is possible that the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory
 
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authorities will not view these investigator-sponsored trials as providing adequate support for future clinical trials, whether controlled by us or third parties, for any one or more reasons, including elements of the design or execution of the trials or safety concerns or other trial results.
Such third-party arrangements will likely provide us certain information rights with respect to the investigator-sponsored trials, including access to and the ability to use and reference the data, including for our own regulatory filings, resulting from the investigator-sponsored trials. However, we would not have control over the timing and reporting of the data from investigator-sponsored trials, nor would we own the data from the investigator-sponsored trials. If we are unable to confirm or replicate the results from the investigator-sponsored trials or if negative results are obtained, we would likely be further delayed or prevented from advancing further clinical development of our drug candidates. Further, if investigators or institutions breach their obligations with respect to the clinical development of our drug candidates, or if the data prove to be inadequate compared to the first-hand knowledge we might have gained had the investigator-sponsored trials been sponsored and conducted by us, then our ability to design and conduct any future clinical trials ourselves may be adversely affected.
Though we rely, and expect to continue to rely, heavily on third parties for execution of clinical trials for our drug candidates and as such, control only certain aspects of their activities, we still remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards and our reliance on CROs will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For any violations of laws and regulations during the conduct of our clinical trials, we could be subject to warning letters or enforcement action that may include civil penalties up to and including criminal prosecution.
We, our principal investigators and our CROs are required to comply with regulations, including GCPs, for conducting, monitoring, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to ensure that the data and results are scientifically credible and accurate, and that the trial patients are adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical trials and their rights are protected. These regulations are enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for any products in clinical development. The FDA enforces GCP regulations through periodic inspections of clinical trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we, our principal investigators or our CROs fail to comply with applicable 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. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, the FDA will determine that any of our future clinical trials will comply with GCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with drug candidates produced under cGMP regulations. Our failure or the failure of our principal investigators or CROs to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process and could also subject us to enforcement action. We also are required to register ongoing clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
Although we designed our Phase 1 clinical trials of EXS21546 and intend to design the future clinical trials for our drug candidates, we expect that CROs will conduct all of our clinical trials. As a result, many important aspects of our development programmes, including their conduct and timing, are outside of our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct future clinical trials also results 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 outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties may:

have staffing difficulties;

fail to comply with contractual obligations;

experience regulatory compliance issues;

undergo changes in priorities or become financially distressed; or

form relationships with entities, some of which may be our competitors.
 
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These factors may materially 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 the principal investigators or CROs do not perform clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the development, regulatory approval and commercialisation of our drug candidates may be delayed, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval and commercialise our drug candidates or our development programme may be materially and irreversibly harmed. If we are unable to rely on clinical data collected by our principal investigators or CROs, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of or increase the size of any clinical trials we conduct and this could significantly delay commercialisation and require significantly greater expenditures.
If any of our relationships with these third-party principal investigators or CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative investigators or CROs. If principal investigators or CROs do not carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, any clinical trials such principal investigators or CROs are associated with may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialise our drug candidates. As a result, we believe that our financial results and the commercial prospects for our drug candidates in the subject indication would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.
The third parties upon whom we rely for the supply of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used in our drug candidates are our sole source of supply, and the loss of any of these suppliers could harm our business.
The active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, used in our drug candidates are supplied to us from single-source suppliers. Our ability to successfully develop our drug candidates, and to ultimately supply our commercial products in quantities sufficient to meet the market demand, depends in part on our ability to obtain the API for these products in accordance with regulatory requirements and in sufficient quantities for clinical testing and commercialisation. We do not currently have arrangements in place for a redundant or second-source supply of any such API in the event any of our current suppliers of such API cease their operations for any reason. We are also unable to predict how changing global economic conditions or potential global health concerns such as the COVID-19 pandemic will affect our third-party suppliers and manufacturers. For example, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, three vaccines for COVID-19 have received Emergency Use Authorisation by the FDA and one of those later received marketing approval. Additional vaccines may be authorised or approved in the future. The resultant demand for vaccines and potential for manufacturing facilities and materials to be commandeered under the Defense Production Act of 1950, or equivalent foreign legislation, may make it more difficult to obtain materials or manufacturing slots for the products needed for our clinical trials, which could lead to delays in these trials. Any negative impact of such matters on our third-party suppliers and manufacturers may also have an adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition.
For all of our drug candidates, we intend to identify and qualify additional manufacturers to provide such API prior to submission of a new drug application, or NDA, to the FDA and/or a marketing authorisation application, or MAA, to the EMA. We are not certain, however, that our single-source suppliers will be able to meet our demand for their products, either because of the nature of our agreements with those suppliers, our limited experience with those suppliers or our relative importance as a customer to those suppliers. It may be difficult for us to assess their ability to timely meet our demand in the future based on past performance. While our suppliers have generally met our demand for their products on a timely basis in the past, they may subordinate our needs in the future to their other customers.
Establishing additional or replacement suppliers for the API used in our drug candidates, if required, may not be accomplished quickly. If we are able to find a replacement supplier, such replacement supplier would need to be qualified and may require additional regulatory inspection or
 
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approval, which could result in further delay. While we seek to maintain adequate inventory of the API used in our drug candidates, any interruption or delay in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain such API from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner could impede, delay, limit or prevent our development efforts, which could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We rely on CROs to synthesise any molecules with therapeutic potential that we discover. If such organisations do not meet our supply requirements, development of any drug candidate we may develop may be delayed.
We currently rely and expect to continue to rely on third parties to synthesise any molecules with therapeutic potential that we discover. Reliance on third parties may expose us to different risks than if we were to synthesise molecules ourselves. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or synthesise molecules in accordance with regulatory requirements, if there are disagreements between us and such parties or if such parties are unable to expand capacities, we may not be able to fulfil, or may be delayed in producing sufficient drug candidates to meet, our supply requirements. These facilities may also be affected by natural disasters, such as floods or fire, or geopolitical developments, or such facilities could face production issues, such as contamination or regulatory concerns following a regulatory inspection of such a facility. In such instances, we may need to locate an appropriate replacement third-party facility and establish a contractual relationship, which may not be readily available or on acceptable terms, which would cause additional delay and increased expense, and may have a material adverse effect on our business.
We or any third party may also encounter shortages in the raw materials or API necessary to synthesise any molecule we may discover in the quantities needed for preclinical studies or clinical trials, as a result of capacity constraints or delays or disruptions in the market for the raw materials or API. Even if raw materials or API are available, we may be unable to obtain sufficient quantities at an acceptable cost or quality. The failure by us or the third parties to obtain the raw materials or API necessary to synthesise sufficient quantities of any molecule we may discover could delay, prevent or impair our development efforts and may have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
If we fail to comply with our obligations under our existing intellectual property licence agreements or under any future intellectual property licences, or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our current or any future licensors, we could lose intellectual property rights that are important to our business.
We are party to a number of licence agreements pursuant to which we have been granted exclusive and non-exclusive worldwide licences to certain patents, software code and software programmes to, among other things, reproduce, use, execute, copy, operate, sublicence and distribute the licenced technology in connection with the marketing and sale of our software solutions and to develop improvements thereto. Our current licence agreements impose, and we expect that future licences will impose, specified royalty and other obligations on us.
In spite of our best efforts, our current or any future licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our licence agreements with them and might therefore terminate the licence agreements, thereby delaying our ability to market and sell our existing software solutions and develop and commercialise new software solutions that utilise technology covered by these licence agreements. If these in-licences are terminated, or if the underlying intellectual property fails to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors could market products and technologies similar to ours. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
 
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Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing agreement, including with respect to:

the scope of rights granted under the licence agreement and other interpretation-related issues;

the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;

the sublicensing of patent and other rights under any collaborative development relationships;

the inventorship and ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our current or future licensors and us and our collaborators; and

the priority of invention of patented technology.
In addition, licence agreements are complex, and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement. For example, our counterparties have in the past and may in the future dispute the amounts owed to them pursuant to payment obligations. If disputes over intellectual property that we have licenced prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on commercially acceptable terms, we may experience delays in the development and commercialisation of new software solutions and in our ability to market and sell existing software solutions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our obligations under our existing or future drug discovery collaboration agreements may limit our intellectual property rights that are important to our business. Further, if we fail to comply with our obligations under our existing or future collaboration agreements, or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our prior, current, or future collaborators, we could lose intellectual property rights that are important to our business.
We are party to collaboration agreements with biopharmaceutical companies, pursuant to which we provide drug discovery services but have no ownership rights, or only co-ownership rights, to certain intellectual property generated through the collaborations. We may enter into additional collaboration agreements in the future, pursuant to which we may have no ownership rights, or only co-ownership rights, to certain intellectual property generated through the future collaborations. If we are unable to obtain ownership or licence of such intellectual property generated through our prior, current or future collaborations and overlapping with, or related to, our own proprietary technology or drug candidates, then our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.
Our existing collaboration agreements contain certain exclusivity obligations that require us to design compounds exclusively for our collaborators with respect to certain specific targets over a specified time period. Our future collaboration agreements may grant similar exclusivity rights to future collaborators with respect to target(s) that are the subject of such collaborations. These existing or future collaboration agreements may impose diligence obligations on us. For example, existing or future collaboration agreements may impose restrictions on us from pursuing the drug development targets for ourselves or for our other current or future collaborators, thereby removing our ability to develop and commercialise, or to jointly develop and commercialise with other current or future collaborators, drug candidates and technology related to the drug development targets. In spite of our best efforts, our prior, current or future collaborators might conclude that we have materially breached our collaboration agreements. If these collaboration agreements are terminated, or if the underlying intellectual property, to the extent we have ownership or licence thereof, fails to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors would have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products and technology identical to ours. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
 
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Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a collaboration agreement, including:

the scope of ownership or licence granted under the collaboration agreement and other interpretation related issues;

the extent to which our technology and drug candidates infringe on intellectual property that is or will be generated through the collaboration, to which we do not have ownership or licence under such collaboration agreement;

the assignment or sublicence of intellectual property rights and other rights under the collaboration agreement;

our diligence obligations under the collaboration agreement and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations; and

the inventorship and ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by us and our current or future collaborators.
In addition, collaboration agreements are complex, and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property, or increase what we believe to be our obligations under the relevant agreements, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have owned, co-owned or in-licenced under the collaboration agreements prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current collaboration arrangements on commercially acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialise the affected technology or drug candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we are unable to obtain, maintain, enforce and protect patent protection for our technology and drug candidates or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialise technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully develop and commercialise our technology and drug candidates may be adversely affected.
Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain protection of the intellectual property we may own solely and jointly with others or may licence from others, particularly patents, in the United States and other countries with respect to any proprietary technology and drug candidates we develop. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our technology and any drug candidates we may develop that are important to our business and by in-licensing intellectual property related to our technology and drug candidates. If we are unable to obtain or maintain patent protection with respect to any proprietary technology or drug candidate, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.
The patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming and complex, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, defend, or licence 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. Moreover, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain, enforce and defend the patents, covering technology that we co-own with third parties or licence from third parties. Therefore, these co-owned and in-licenced patents and applications may not be prepared, filed, prosecuted, maintained, defended and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.
The patent position of software and biopharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. In addition, the scope of patent protection outside of the United States is uncertain and laws of non-U.S. countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States or vice versa. With respect to both owned and in-licenced patent rights, we cannot predict whether the patent applications
 
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we and our licensor are currently pursuing will issue as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any issued patents will provide sufficient protection from competitors. Further, we may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights or prior art potentially relating to our technology platform, other technology and any drug candidates we may develop. In addition, publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing of the priority application, or in some cases not published at all. Therefore, neither we nor our collaborators or our licensor can know with certainty whether we, our collaborators or our licensor were the first to make the inventions claimed in the patents and patent applications we own or in-licence now or in the future, or whether we, our collaborators or our licensor were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our owned, co-owned and in-licenced patent rights are highly uncertain. Moreover, our owned, co-owned and in-licenced pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued that protect our technology and drug candidates, in whole or in part, or that effectively prevent others from commercialising competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our owned, co-owned or in-licenced current or future patents and our ability to obtain, protect, maintain, defend and enforce our patent rights, narrow the scope of our patent protection and, more generally, could affect the value of, or narrow the scope of, our patent rights. For example, recent Supreme Court decisions have served to curtail the scope of subject matter eligible for patent protection in the United States, and many software patents have since been invalidated on the basis that they are directed to abstract ideas.
To pursue protection based on our provisional patent applications, we will need to file Patent Cooperation Treaty applications, non-U.S. applications and/or U.S. non-provisional patent applications prior to applicable deadlines. Even then, as highlighted above, patents may never be issued from our patent applications, or the scope of any patent may not be sufficient to provide a competitive advantage.
Moreover, we, our collaborators or our licensor may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, or become involved in opposition, derivation, revocation, re-examination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights or allow third parties to commercialise our technology or drug candidates and compete directly with us, without payment to us. If the breadth or strength of protection provided by our owned, co-owned or in-licenced current or future patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to licence, develop or commercialise current or future technology or drug candidates.
Additionally, 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 our owned, co-owned and in-licenced current and future patent applications are issued as patents, they may not be issued in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors from competing with us, or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability and our owned and in-licenced 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 patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercialising similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and drug candidates. Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our management and employees, even if the eventual outcome is favourable to us. In particular, given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new drug candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialised. Furthermore, our competitors may be able to circumvent our owned, co-owned or in-licenced current or future patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner. As a result, our owned, co-owned and in-licenced current or future patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercialising technology and products similar or identical to any of our technology and drug candidates.
 
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Changes to patent laws in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.
Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of patent laws in the United States, including patent reform legislation such as the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned and in-licenced patent applications and the maintenance, enforcement or defence of our owned and in-licenced issued patents. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to United States patent law. These changes include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art, provide more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents, and enable third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent at USPTO-administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings. 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 Act, the United States transitioned to a first-to-file system in which, assuming that the other statutory 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. As such, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defence of our issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialisation of software, biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents once obtained. Depending on future 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 have a material adverse effect on our patent rights and our ability to protect, defend and enforce our patent rights in the future.
A number of recent cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court have involved questions of when claims reciting abstract ideas, laws of nature, natural phenomena and/or natural products are eligible for a patent, regardless of whether the claimed subject matter is otherwise novel and inventive. These cases include Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 12-398 (2013) or Myriad; Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 13-298 (2014); and Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., or Prometheus, 566 U.S. 10-1150 (2012). In response to these cases, federal courts have held numerous patents invalid as claiming subject matter ineligible for patent protection. Moreover, the USPTO has issued guidance to the examining corps on how to apply these cases during examination. The full impact of these decisions is not yet known.
In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain future patents, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on these and other decisions by Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change or be interpreted in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce any patents that may issue to us in the future. In addition, these events may adversely affect our ability to defend any patents that may be issued in procedures in the USPTO or in courts.
We, our prior, existing or future collaborators, and our existing or future licensors, may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patent or other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors and other third parties may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our, our prior, current and future collaborators’, or our current and future licensors’, issued patents or other intellectual property. As a result, we, our prior, current or future collaborators, or our current or future licensor
 
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may need to file infringement, misappropriation or other intellectual property related claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke such parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, such parties could assert that the patents we or our licensors have asserted are invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defences 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 or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may institute such claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, interference proceedings, derivation proceedings and equivalent proceedings in non-U.S. jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings). The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable.
An adverse result in any such proceeding could put one or more of our owned, co-owned or in-licenced current or future patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put any of our owned, co-owned or in-licenced current or future patent applications at risk of not yielding an issued patent. A court may also refuse to stop the third party from using the technology at issue in a proceeding on the grounds that our owned, co-owned or in-licenced current or future patents do not cover such technology. 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 or trade secrets could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. Any of the foregoing could allow such third parties to develop and commercialise competing technologies and products in a non-infringing manner and have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Interference or derivation proceedings provoked by third parties, or brought by us or by our licensor, or declared by the USPTO may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications. An unfavourable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to licence rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a licence on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or if a non-exclusive licence is offered and our competitors gain access to the same technology. Our defence of litigation or interference or derivation proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to conduct clinical trials, continue our research programmes, licence necessary technology from third parties, or enter into development collaborations that would help us bring any drug candidates to market.
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 material adverse effect on the success of our business.
Our commercial success will depend upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and sell any drug candidates we may develop and for our collaborators, customers and partners to use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property and proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable patent and other intellectual property litigation in the software, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. We may become party to, or threatened with, adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our technology and drug candidates, including interference proceedings, post grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings before the USPTO and similar proceedings in non-U.S. jurisdictions such as oppositions before the European Patent Office. Numerous U.S. and non-U.S. issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are pursuing development candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our technologies or drug candidates that we may identify may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties.
 
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The legal threshold for initiating litigation or contested proceedings is low, so that even lawsuits or proceedings with a low probability of success might be initiated and require significant resources to defend. Litigation and contested proceedings can also be expensive and time-consuming, and our adversaries in these proceedings may have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to prosecuting these legal actions than we can. The risks of being involved in such litigation and proceedings may increase if and as any drug candidates near commercialisation and as we gain the greater visibility associated with being a public company. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future, regardless of merit. We may not be aware of all such intellectual property rights potentially relating to our technology and drug candidates and their uses, or we may incorrectly conclude that third-party intellectual property is invalid or that our activities and drug candidates do not infringe such intellectual property. Thus, we do not know with certainty that our technology and drug candidates, or our development and commercialisation thereof, do not and will not infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any third party’s intellectual property.
Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorisation. There may be third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations or methods, such as methods of manufacture or methods for treatment, related to the discovery, use or manufacture of the drug candidates that we may identify or otherwise related to our technologies. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications which may later result in issued patents that the drug candidates that we may identify may infringe. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. Moreover, as noted above, there may be existing patents that we are not aware of or that we have incorrectly concluded are invalid or not infringed by our activities. If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover, for example, the manufacturing process of the drug candidates that we may identify, any molecules formed during the manufacturing process or any final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialise such drug candidate unless we obtained a licence under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire.
Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialise the drug candidates that we may identify. Defence of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for wilful infringement, pay royalties, redesign our infringing products, be forced to indemnify our customers or collaborators or obtain one or more licences from third parties, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure.
We may choose to take a licence or, if we are found to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could also be required to obtain a licence from such third party to continue developing, manufacturing and marketing our technology and drug candidates. However, we may not be able to obtain any required licence on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a licence, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors and other third parties access to the same technologies licenced to us and could require us to make substantial licensing and royalty payments. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing, manufacturing and commercialising the infringing technology or product. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercialising any drug candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. In addition, we may be forced to redesign any drug candidates, seek new regulatory approvals and indemnify third parties pursuant to contractual agreements. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that our employees, consultants or contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties, or we have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting we have misappropriated their intellectual property, or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.
Certain of our employees, consultants and contractors were previously employed at universities or other software or biopharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors.
 
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Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants and contractors 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.
In addition, while it is our policy to require that our employees, consultants and contractors who may be involved in the 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 develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. Our intellectual property assignment agreements with them may not be self-executing or may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Such claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
If we fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel, which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive business position and prospects. Such intellectual property rights could be awarded to a third party, and we could be required to obtain a licence from such third party to commercialise our technology or products, which licence may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or such licence may be non-exclusive. Even if we are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our management and employees.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position may be harmed.
In addition to seeking patents for our drug candidates and certain aspects of our technology platform, we also rely on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information. In particular, the software code underlying our technology platform is generally protected through trade secret laws rather than through patent law. We seek to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary technology, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract research organisations, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors, collaborators and other third parties. We also enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants, but we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or has had access to our trade secrets or proprietary technology. Despite these efforts, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Detecting the disclosure or misappropriation of a trade secret and 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 of the United States have appeared to be unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate such trade secrets, 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 or other third party, our competitive position may be materially and adversely harmed.
Risks Related to Government Regulation and Legal Compliance Matters
Compliance with stringent and evolving global privacy and data security requirements could result in additional costs and liabilities to us or inhibit our ability to collect and process data globally, and the failure to comply with such requirements could subject us to significant fines and penalties, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
The legislative and regulatory framework for the collection, use, safeguarding, sharing, transfer and other processing of personal data (including health-related personal data) worldwide is rapidly
 
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evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. Globally, virtually every jurisdiction in which we operate has established its own data security and privacy frameworks with which we must comply and some of which may impose potentially conflicting obligations.
Accordingly, we are, or may become, subject to data privacy and security laws, regulations and industry standards as well as policies, contracts and other obligations that apply to the processing of personal data both by us and on our behalf, which we refer to collectively as Data Protection Requirements. If we fail, or are perceived to have failed, to address or comply with Data Protection Requirements, this could result in government enforcement actions against us that could include investigations, fines, penalties, audits and inspections, additional reporting requirements and/or oversight, temporary or permanent bans on all or some processing of personal data, orders to destroy or not use personal data and imprisonment of company officials. Further, individuals or other relevant stakeholders could bring a variety of claims against us for our actual or perceived failure to comply with Data Protection Requirements.
For example, the collection, use, disclosure, transfer or other processing of personal data regarding individuals in the European Union, including personal health data and employee data, is subject to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, which took effect across all member states of the European Economic Area, or EEA, in May 2018. The GDPR is wide-ranging in scope and imposes numerous, significant and complex requirements on companies that process personal data, including (without limitation) requirements relating to processing health and other sensitive data, establishing a legal basis for any processing of personal data, obtaining consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, providing information to individuals regarding data processing activities, limiting the collection and retention of personal data through ‘data minimisation’ and ‘storage limitation’ principles, implementing safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data, honouring increased rights for data subjects, providing notification of data breaches in some instances, and taking certain measures when engaging third-party processors. The GDPR would increase our obligations with respect to any clinical trials conducted in the EEA by expanding the definition of personal data to include key-coded data and requiring changes to informed consent practices and more detailed notices for clinical trial subjects and investigators. In particular, the processing of ‘special category personal data’ (such as personal data related to health and genetic information), which will be relevant to our operations in the context of our conduct of clinical trials, imposes heightened compliance burdens under European data protection laws and is a topic of active interest among relevant regulators.
In addition, the GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EEA, including the United States and, as a result, increases the scrutiny that such rules should apply to transfers of personal data from any clinical trial sites located in the EEA to the United States. We have yet to adopt and implement comprehensive processes, systems and other relevant measures within our organisation, and/or with our relevant collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants, which are appropriate to address relevant requirements relating to international transfers of personal data from the EEA, and to minimise the potential impacts and risks resulting from those requirements, across our organisation. Additionally, other countries outside of the EEA have enacted or are considering enacting similar cross-border data transfer restrictions and laws requiring local data residency, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services and operating our business.
European data protection laws also provide for more robust regulatory enforcement and greater penalties for non-compliance than previous data protection laws, including, for example under the GDPR, fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue of any non-compliant organisation for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher. In addition to administrative fines, a wide variety of other potential enforcement powers are available to competent supervisory authorities in respect of potential and suspected violations of the GDPR, including extensive audit and inspection rights, and powers to order temporary or permanent bans on all or some processing of personal data carried out by non-compliant actors — including permitting authorities to require destruction of improperly gathered or used personal data. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR.
 
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In addition, the GDPR provides that EEA member states may make their own further laws and regulations limiting the processing of personal data, including genetic, biometric or health data. This fact may lead to greater divergence on the law that applies to the processing of such personal data across the EEA and/or UK, which may increase our costs and overall compliance risk.
In addition, further to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union on January 31, 2020, the GDPR ceased to apply in the U.K. at the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020. However, as of January 1, 2021, the U.K.’s European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 incorporated the GDPR (as it existed on December 31, 2020 but subject to certain U.K. specific amendments) into English law, which is hereinafter referred to as the U.K. GDPR. The U.K. GDPR and the U.K. Data Protection Act 2018 set out the U.K.’s data protection regime, which is independent from but aligned to the European Union’s data protection regime. Non-compliance with the U.K. GDPR may result in monetary penalties of up to £17.5 million or 4% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. The U.K., however, is now regarded as a third country under the European Union’s GDPR which means that transfers of personal data from the EEA to the U.K. will be restricted unless an appropriate safeguard, as recognised by the European Union’s GDPR, has been put in place. Although, under the European Union-U.K. Trade Cooperation Agreement, or TCA, it is lawful to transfer personal data between the U.K. and the EEA for a 6 month period following the end of the transition period, with a view to achieving an adequacy decision from the European Commission during that period. If the European Commission does not adopt an adequacy decision in respect of the UK prior to the expiry of that transition period, from that point onwards the UK will be an ‘inadequate third country’ and transfers of personal data from the EEA to the UK will require a valid transfer mechanism which complies with the GDPR. Like the GDPR, the U.K. GDPR restricts personal data transfers outside the U.K. to countries not regarded by the U.K. as providing adequate protection (this means that personal data transfers from the U.K. to the EEA remain free flowing).
Generally, these laws exemplify the vulnerability of our business to the evolving regulatory environment related to personal data and may require us to modify our processing practices at substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Given the breadth and depth of changes in data protection obligations, preparing for and complying with GDPR and the U.K. GDPR requirements are rigorous and time intensive and require significant resources and a review of our technologies, systems and practices, as well as those of any third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants that process or transfer personal data collected in the European Union and/or the U.K. The GDPR, the U.K. GDPR and other changes in laws or regulations associated with the enhanced protection of certain types of sensitive data, such as healthcare data or other personal information, could require us to change our business practices and put in place additional compliance mechanisms, may interrupt or delay our development, regulatory and commercialisation activities and increase our cost of doing business, and could lead to government enforcement actions, private litigation and significant fines and penalties against us, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Similar privacy and data security requirements are either in place or underway in the United States. There are a broad variety of data protection laws that may be applicable to our activities, and a range of enforcement agencies at both the state and federal levels that can review companies for privacy and data security concerns. The Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General all are aggressive in reviewing privacy and data security protections for consumers. New laws also are being considered at both the state and federal levels. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, is creating similar risks and obligations as those created by GDPR. Because of this, we may need to engage in additional activities (e.g., data mapping) to identify the personal information we are collecting and the purposes for which such information is collected. Further, a new California privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act, or CPRA, was passed by California voters on November 3, 2020. The CPRA will create additional obligations with respect to processing and storing personal information that are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2023 (with certain provisions having retroactive effect to January 1, 2022). In addition, we will need to ensure that our policies recognise the rights granted to consumers (as that phrase is broadly defined in the CCPA and can include business contact information), including granting consumers the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information. While we are not subject to the CCPA or CPRA at present, we may be if we expand our operations to California. Many other states are considering similar legislation.
 
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A broad range of legislative measures also have been introduced at the federal level. Accordingly, failure to comply with current and any future federal and state laws regarding privacy and security of personal information could expose us to fines and penalties. We also face a threat of consumer class actions related to these laws and the overall protection of personal data. Even if we are not determined to have violated these laws, investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which could harm our reputation and our business.
Additionally, regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information, or protected health information, and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards designed to protect the privacy, confidentiality, integrity and availability of protected health information. These provisions may be applicable to our business or that of our collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants.
We may also publish privacy policies and other documentation regarding our processing of personal data and/or other confidential, proprietary or sensitive information. Although we endeavour to comply with our published policies and other documentation, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so. Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance if our employees, third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants fail to comply with our policies and documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential foreign, local, state and federal action if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices.
We, and our collaborators may be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, transparency, health information privacy and security and other healthcare laws and regulations. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations may result in substantial penalties.
We and our collaborators may be subject to broadly applicable healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain our relationships with our drug discovery collaborators and any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Such healthcare laws and regulations include, but are not limited to:

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits any person or entity from, among other things, knowingly and wilfully soliciting, receiving, offering or paying any remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of an item or service reimbursable, in whole or in part, under a federal healthcare programme, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programmes. The term “remuneration” has been broadly interpreted to include anything of value. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute has also been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers on the one hand and prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers on the other hand. There is a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbours protecting some common activities from prosecution, but the exceptions and safe harbours are drawn narrowly and require strict compliance to offer protection. Additionally, the intent standard under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute was amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or collectively the ACA, to a stricter standard such that a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation. Further, the ACA codified case law that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the civil False Claims Act, or the FCA.

Federal civil and criminal false claims laws, such as the FCA, which can be enforced by private citizens through civil qui tam actions, and civil monetary penalty laws prohibit individuals or entities from, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, false, fictitious or fraudulent claims for payment of federal funds, and knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government. For example, pharmaceutical companies have been prosecuted under the FCA in connection with their alleged off-label promotion of drugs, purportedly concealing price concessions in the
 
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pricing information submitted to the government for government price reporting purposes, and allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal healthcare programmes for the product. In addition, a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the FCA. As a result of a modification made by the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, a claim includes “any request or demand” for money or property presented to the U.S. government. In addition, manufacturers can be held liable under the FCA even when they do not submit claims directly to government payors if they are deemed to “cause” the submission of false or fraudulent claims.

HIPAA, among other things, imposes criminal liability for executing or attempting to execute a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit programme, including private third-party payors, knowingly and wilfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit programme, wilfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offence, and creates federal criminal laws that prohibit knowingly and wilfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation, or making or using any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services.

HIPAA, as amended by Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH, and their implementing regulations, which impose privacy, security and breach reporting obligations with respect to individually identifiable health information upon entities subject to the law, such as health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and certain healthcare providers, known as covered entities, and their respective business associates and subcontractors that perform services for them that involve individually identifiable health information. HITECH also created new tiers of civil monetary penalties, amended HIPAA to make civil and criminal penalties directly applicable to business associates, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in U.S. federal courts to enforce HIPAA laws and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions.

Federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers.

The federal transparency requirements under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under the ACA, which requires, among other things, certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies reimbursed under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Programme to report annually to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, information related to payments and other transfers of value provided to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report information regarding payments and other transfers of value provided during the previous year to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, anaesthesiologist assistants, certified registered nurse anaesthetists and certified nurse midwives.

State and foreign laws that are analogous to each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws, that may impose similar or more prohibitive restrictions, and may apply to items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers.

State and foreign laws that require pharmaceutical companies to implement compliance programmes, comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, or to track and report gifts, compensation and other remuneration provided to physicians and other healthcare providers; state laws that require the reporting of marketing expenditures or drug pricing, including information pertaining to and justifying price increases; state and local laws that
 
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require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives; state laws that prohibit various marketing-related activities, such as the provision of certain kinds of gifts or meals; state laws that require the posting of information relating to clinical trials and their outcomes; and other federal, state and foreign laws that govern the privacy and security of health information or personally identifiable information in certain circumstances, including state health information privacy and data breach notification laws which govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not pre-empted by HIPAA, thus requiring additional compliance efforts.
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. 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. Violations of applicable healthcare laws and regulations may result in significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, fines, individual imprisonment, exclusion of products from government funded healthcare programmes, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and/or oversight if a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement is executed to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws and the curtailment or restructuring of operations. In addition, violations may also result in reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings.
Current and future healthcare legislative reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
In the United States and in some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and likely will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes intended to broaden access to healthcare, improve the quality of healthcare and contain or lower the cost of healthcare. For example, in March 2010, the ACA, was passed, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacted the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, subjects biological products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars, expands the types of entities eligible for the 340B drug discount programme, addresses a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Programme are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, increases rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Programme and extends the rebate programme to individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organisations, establishes annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs and creates a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount programme, in which manufacturers must agree to offer 50% (increased to 70% pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, or BBA, effective as of January 2019) point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D.
Since its enactment, there have been numerous judicial, administrative, executive and legislative challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. Various portions of the ACA are currently undergoing legal and constitutional challenges in the United States Supreme Court and members of Congress have introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at significantly revising or repealing the ACA. The United States Supreme Court is currently reviewing a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the ACA. It is unclear when or how the United States Supreme Court will rule. On February 10, 2021, the Biden administration withdrew the federal government’s support for overturning the ACA. Although the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the ACA, on January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order to initiate a special enrolment period for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace, which began on February 15, 2021 and remained open through August 15, 2021. The implementation of the ACA is ongoing, and the law appears likely to continue the downward pressure on pharmaceutical pricing, especially under the Medicare programme, and may also increase our regulatory burdens and operating costs. Litigation and legislation related to the ACA are likely to continue, with unpredictable and uncertain results.
 
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In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. For example, in August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. Specifically, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programmes. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in April 2013, and, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will remain in effect through 2030 unless additional Congressional action is taken. However, COVID-19 relief legislation suspended the 2% Medicare sequester from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021. On January 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, imaging centres and cancer treatment centres, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. The BBA also amended the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, by increasing the point-of-sale discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D and closing the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole”.
Furthermore, 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 legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient assistance programmes and reform government programme reimbursement methodologies for pharmaceutical and biological products. At the federal level, the previous administration used several means to propose or implement drug pricing reform, including through federal budget proposals, executive orders and policy initiatives. For example, on July 24, 2020 and September 13, 2020, the former Trump administration announced several executive orders related to prescription drug pricing that attempted to implement several of the administration’s proposals. As a result, the FDA released a final rule on September 24, 2020, effective November 30, 2020, providing guidance for states to build and submit importation plans for drugs from Canada. Further, on November 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, finalised a regulation removing safe harbour protection for price reductions from pharmaceutical manufacturers to plan sponsors under Medicare Part D, either directly or through pharmacy benefit managers, unless the price reduction is required by law. The implementation of the rule has been delayed by the Biden administration from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023 in response to ongoing litigation. The rule also creates a new safe harbour for price reductions reflected at the point-of-sale, as well as a new safe harbour for certain fixed fee arrangements between pharmacy benefit managers and manufacturers, the implementation of which have also been delayed until January 1, 2023. On November 20, 2020, CMS issued an interim final rule implementing the Most Favored Nation, or MFN, Model under which Medicare Part B payments will be calculated for certain physician-administered drugs and biologics based on the lowest price drug manufacturers receive in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries with a similar gross domestic product per capita. The MFN Model regulations mandate participation by identified Part B providers and would have applied to all U.S. states and territories for a seven-year period beginning January 1, 2021 and ending December 31, 2027. However, on December 28, 2020, the United States District Court in Northern California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against implementation of the interim final rule. On January 13, 2021, in a separate lawsuit brought by industry groups in the U.S. District of Maryland, the government defendants entered a joint motion to stay litigation on the condition that the government would not appeal the preliminary injunction granted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and that performance for any final regulation stemming from the MFN Interim Final Rule shall not commence earlier than 60 days after publication of that regulation in the Federal Register. Further, authorities in Canada have passed rules designed to safeguard the Canadian drug supply from shortages. If implemented, importation of drugs from Canada and the MFN Model may materially and adversely affect the price we receive for any of our product candidates. It is unclear whether the Biden administration will work to reverse these measures or pursue similar policy initiatives. Additionally, on July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order directing the FDA to, among other things, continue to clarify and improve the approval framework for generic drugs and identify and address any efforts to impede generic drug competition. Individual states in the United States have also become increasingly active in
 
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passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programmes. It is difficult to predict the future legislative landscape in healthcare and the effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. However, we expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, particularly in light of the new presidential administration. Further, it is possible that additional governmental action is taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the state level, individual states are increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. In addition, regional health care authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other health care programmes. These measures could reduce the ultimate demand for our products, once approved, or put pressure on our product pricing.
We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our services by our partners or for our current or future drug candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States. If we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our drug candidates may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.
We are subject to anti-corruption laws, as well as export control laws, customs laws, sanctions laws and other laws governing our operations. If we fail to comply with these laws, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, other remedial measures and legal expenses, be precluded from developing, manufacturing and selling certain products outside the United States or be required to develop and implement costly compliance programmes, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our operations are subject to anti-corruption laws, including the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, or Bribery Act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and other anti-corruption laws that apply in countries where we do business and may do business in the future. The Bribery Act, FCPA and these other laws generally prohibit us, our officers and our employees and intermediaries from bribing, being bribed, or making other prohibited payments to government officials or other persons to obtain or retain business or gain some other business advantage. Compliance with the FCPA, in particular, is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognised problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the biopharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.
We currently have operations in China, and we may in the future operate in additional jurisdictions that pose a high risk of potential Bribery Act or FCPA violations, and we may participate in collaborations and relationships with third parties whose actions could potentially subject us to liability under the Bribery Act, FCPA, or local anti-corruption laws. In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our international operations might be subject or the
 
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manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted. If we further expand our operations outside of the United States and the United Kingdom, we will need to dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate.
We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including regulations administered by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States, and authorities in the European Union, including applicable export control regulations, economic sanctions on countries and persons, customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as the Trade Control laws. In addition, various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing or selling certain products and drug candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.
There is no assurance that we will be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all applicable anti-corruption laws, including the Bribery Act, the FCPA, or other legal requirements, including Trade Control laws. If we are not in compliance with the Bribery Act, the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures and legal expenses, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions. Any investigation of any potential violations of the Bribery Act, the FCPA, other anti-corruption laws or Trade Control laws by United Kingdom, U.S. or other authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Any drug candidates we develop may become subject to unfavourable third-party coverage and reimbursement practices, as well as pricing regulations.
The availability and extent of coverage and adequate reimbursement by third-party payors, including government health authorities, private health coverage insurers, managed care organisations and other third-party payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford expensive treatments. Sales of any of our drug candidates that receive marketing approval will depend substantially, both in the United States and internationally, on the extent to which the costs of such drug candidates will be covered and reimbursed by third-party payors. If reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialise our drug candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realise an adequate return on our investment. Coverage and reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any drug candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. If coverage and reimbursement are not available or reimbursement is available only to limited levels, we may not successfully commercialise any drug candidate for which we obtain marketing approval.
There is significant uncertainty related to third-party payor coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. In the United States, for example, principal decisions about reimbursement for new drug products are typically made by CMS, an agency within HHS. CMS decides whether and to what extent a new drug product will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare, and private third-party payors often follow CMS’s decisions regarding coverage and reimbursement to a substantial degree. However, one third-party payor’s determination to provide coverage for a product candidate does not assure that other payors will also provide coverage for the product candidate. Further, no uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement exists in the United States, and coverage and reimbursement can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often time-consuming and costly. This process will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our drug products to each third-party payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance.
 
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Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. Further, such payors are increasingly challenging the price, examining the medical necessity and reviewing the cost effectiveness of medical drug candidates. There may be especially significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs. Third-party payors may limit coverage to specific drug candidates on an approved list, known as a formulary, which might not include all FDA-approved drugs for a particular indication. We may need to conduct expensive pharmaco-economic studies to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost effectiveness of our products. Nonetheless, our drug candidates may not be considered medically necessary or cost effective. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any product that we commercialise and, if reimbursement is available, what the level of reimbursement will be.
If we are unable to establish or sustain coverage and adequate reimbursement for any drug candidates from third-party payors, the adoption of those products and sales revenue will be adversely affected, which, in turn, could adversely affect the ability to market or sell those drug candidates, if approved. Coverage policies and third-party payor reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favourable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favourable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. Additionally, any companion diagnostic test that we develop will be required to obtain coverage and reimbursement separate and apart from the coverage and reimbursement we seek for our product candidates, if approved. If any companion diagnostic is unable to obtain reimbursement or is inadequately reimbursed, that may limit the availability of such companion diagnostic, which would negatively impact prescriptions for our product candidates, if approved.
Our employees, independent contractors, consultants and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading laws, which could cause significant liability for us and harm our reputation.
We are exposed to the risk of fraud or other misconduct by our employees, independent contractors, consultants and vendors. Misconduct by these partners could include intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or similar regulations of comparable foreign regulatory authorities, provide accurate information to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, comply with manufacturing standards, comply with federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations and similar laws and regulations established and enforced by comparable foreign regulatory authorities, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorised activities to us. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. This could include violations of HIPAA, other U.S. federal and state law and requirements of non-U.S. jurisdictions, including the European Union Data Protection Directive. We are also exposed to risks in connection with any insider trading violations by employees or others affiliated with us. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws, standards, regulations, guidance or codes of conduct. Furthermore, our employees may, from time to time, bring lawsuits against us for employment issues, including injury, discrimination, wage and hour disputes, sexual harassment, hostile work environment or other employment issues. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
Our internal information technology systems, or those of our third-party vendors, contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, loss or leakage of data and other disruptions, which could result in a material disruption of our services, compromise sensitive information related to our business, or prevent us from accessing critical information, potentially exposing us to liability or otherwise adversely affecting our business.
We are increasingly dependent upon information technology systems, infrastructure and data to operate our business. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store, process and transmit
 
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confidential information (including but not limited to intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information). It is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of such confidential information. We also have outsourced elements of our operations to third parties, and as a result we manage a number of third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants who have access to our confidential information. We may be required to expend significant resources, at significant cost, materially change our business activities and practices or modify our operations, including our clinical trial activities, or information technology in an effort to protect against security breaches and to mitigate, detect and remediate actual or potential vulnerabilities as well as security breaches.
Despite the implementation of security measures, given the size and complexity of our internal information technology systems and those of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants, and the increasing amounts of confidential information that they maintain, our information technology systems are potentially vulnerable to breakdown or other damage or interruption from service interruptions, system malfunction, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures, as well as security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions by our employees, third-party vendors, contractors, consultants, business partners and/or other third parties or from cyber-attacks by malicious third parties (including the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information), which may compromise our system infrastructure, or that of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants or lead to data leakage. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. We may not be able to anticipate all types of security threats, and we may not be able to implement preventive measures effective against all such security threats. For example, third parties have in the past and may in the future illegally pirate our software and make that software publicly available on peer-to-peer file sharing networks or otherwise. The techniques used by cyber criminals change frequently, may not be recognised until launched, and can originate from a wide variety of sources, including outside groups such as external service providers, organised crime affiliates, terrorist organisations or hostile foreign governments or agencies. If any such material system failure, accident or security breach were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our development programmes and our business operations, whether due to a loss of our trade secrets or other sensitive information or similar disruptions, as well as necessitating that we incur significant costs to address such failure, accident or security breach. To the extent that any such material system failure, accident or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or those of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and reputational damage and the further development and commercialisation of our software could be delayed. The costs related to significant security breaches or disruptions could be material and exceed the limits of the cybersecurity insurance we maintain against such risks. If the information technology systems of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants become subject to disruptions or security breaches, we may have insufficient recourse against such third parties and we may have to expend significant resources to mitigate the impact of such an event, and to develop and implement protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring.
Furthermore, significant disruptions of our internal information technology systems or those of our third-party vendors and other contractors and consultants or security breaches could result in the loss, misappropriation, and/or unauthorised access, use, or disclosure of, or the prevention of access to, confidential information (including trade secrets or other intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information), which could result in financial, legal, business and reputational harm to us. For example, any such event that leads to unauthorised access, use, or disclosure of personal information, including personal information regarding our customers or employees, could harm our reputation directly, compel us to comply with federal and/or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to mandatory corrective action, and otherwise subject us to liability under laws and regulations that protect the privacy and security of personal information, which could result in significant legal and financial exposure and reputational damages that could potentially have an adverse
 
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effect on our business. Further, sophisticated cyber attackers (including foreign adversaries engaged in industrial espionage) are skilled at adapting to existing security technology and developing new methods of gaining access to organisations’ sensitive business data, which could result in the loss of sensitive information, including trade secrets. Additionally, actual, potential or anticipated attacks may cause us to incur increasing costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees and engage third-party experts and consultants.
Risks Related to our Employee Matters and Managing Growth
Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.
We are highly dependent on the research and development, clinical, financial, operational, scientific, software engineering and other business expertise of our executive officers, as well as the other principal members of our management, scientific, clinical and software engineering teams. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our executive officers, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees.
The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our development and sales goals in our software business and the achievement of our research, development and commercialisation objectives in our drug discovery business. In either case, the loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could 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 with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of, and commercialise products in the life sciences industry.
Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing, accounting, legal and sales and marketing personnel, as well as software engineers and computational chemists, will also be critical to our success. In the technology industry, there is substantial and continuous competition for engineers with high levels of expertise in designing, developing and managing software and related services, as well as competition for sales executives, data scientists and operations personnel. Competition to hire these individuals is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous biopharmaceutical and technology 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 to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialisation strategy and advancing our computational platform. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by employers other than us and 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 and our business would be adversely affected.
We are pursuing multiple business strategies and expect to expand our development and regulatory capabilities, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our multiple business units and our growth, which could disrupt our operations.
Currently, we are pursuing multiple business strategies simultaneously, including activities in research and development and collaborative and internal drug discovery. We believe pursuing these multiple business strategies offers financial and operational synergies, but these diversified operations place increased demands on our limited resources. Furthermore, we expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of drug development, clinical and regulatory affairs. To manage our multiple business units and 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 our management team’s limited attention and limited experience in managing a company with such anticipated growth, we may not be able to effectively manage our multiple
 
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business units and 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. In addition, to meet our obligations as a public company and to support our anticipated long-term growth, we will need to increase our general and administrative capabilities. Our management, personnel and systems may not be adequate to support this future growth. Any inability to manage our multiple business units and growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations and the synergies we believe currently exist between our business units. In addition, adverse developments in one of these business units may disrupt these synergies.
We may be unable to manage our current and future growth effectively, which could make it difficult to execute our business strategy.
Since our inception in 2012, we have experienced rapid growth, and we anticipate further growth in our business operations, including by opening offices in new geographies. This growth requires managing complexities across all aspects of our business, including complexities associated with increased headcount, expansion of international operations, expansion of facilities, execution on new lines of business and implementations of appropriate systems and controls to grow the business. Our growth has required significant time and attention from our management, and placed strains on our operational systems and processes, financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business.
We expect to continue to increase headcount and to hire more specialised personnel in the future as we grow our business. We will need to continue to hire, train and manage additional qualified scientists, engineers, laboratory personnel and sales and marketing staff and improve and maintain our technology to properly manage our growth. We may also need to hire, train and manage individuals with expertise that is separate, supplemental or different from expertise that we currently have, and accordingly we may not be successful in hiring, training and managing such individuals. For example, if our new hires perform poorly, if we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing and integrating these new employees, or if we are not successful in retaining our existing employees, our business may be harmed. Improving our technology and processes have required us to hire and retain additional scientific, engineering, sales and marketing, software, manufacturing, distribution and quality assurance personnel. As a result, we have experienced rapid headcount growth from 17 employees as of January 1, 2018 to 208 employees as of September 1, 2021. We currently serve partners around the world and plan to continue to expand to new international jurisdictions as part of our growth strategy, which will lead to increased dispersion of our employees. Moreover, we expect that we will need to hire additional accounting, finance and other personnel in connection with our becoming, and our efforts to comply with the requirements of being a public company. Once public, our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements. A risk associated with maintaining this rate of growth, for example, is that we may face challenges integrating, developing and motivating our rapidly growing and increasingly dispersed employee base.
We may not be able to maintain the quality, reliability or robustness of our platform, or the expected turnaround times of our solutions and support, or to satisfy customer demand as it grows. Our ability to manage our growth properly will require us to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems and procedures. If we are unable to manage our growth properly, we may experience future weaknesses in our internal controls, which we may not successfully remediate on a timely basis or at all. For example, in connection with the preparation and audits of our financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, material weaknesses were identified in our internal control over financial reporting, as described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section. To effectively manage our growth, we must continue to improve our operational and manufacturing systems and processes, our financial systems and internal controls and other aspects of our business and continue to effectively expand, train and manage our personnel. The time and resources required to improve our existing systems and procedures, implement new systems and procedures and to adequately staff such existing and new systems and procedures are uncertain, and failure to complete this in a timely and efficient manner could adversely affect our operations and negatively impact our business and financial.
 
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If we fail to manage our technical operations infrastructure, our internal drug discovery team may experience service outages, and our new customers may experience delays in the deployment of our solutions.
We have experienced significant growth in the number of users and data that our operations infrastructure supports. We seek to maintain sufficient excess capacity in our operations infrastructure to meet the needs of all our customers and to support our internal drug discovery programmes. We also seek to maintain excess capacity to facilitate the rapid provision of new customer deployments and the expansion of existing customer deployments. In addition, we need to properly manage our technological operations infrastructure to support version control, changes in hardware and software parameters and the evolution of our solutions. However, the provision of new hosting infrastructure requires adequate lead-time. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, website disruptions, outages and other performance problems. These types of problems may be caused by a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, viruses, security attacks, fraud, spikes in usage and denial of service issues. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these performance problems within an acceptable period of time. If we do not accurately predict our infrastructure requirements, our existing customers may experience service outages that may subject us to financial penalties, financial liabilities and customer losses. If our operations infrastructure fails to keep pace with increased sales and usage, customers and our internal drug discovery team may experience delays in the deployment of our solutions as we seek to obtain additional capacity, which could adversely affect our reputation and adversely affect our revenues.
Increased labour costs, potential organisation of our workforce, employee strikes and other labour-related disruption may adversely affect our operations.
None of our employees are represented by a labour union or subject to a collective bargaining agreement. However, in Austria, we are subject to a government-mandated collective bargaining agreement, which sets minimum wage expectations and grants employees additional benefits beyond those required by the local labour code. We provide no assurance that our labour costs going forward will remain competitive for various reasons, such as: (i) our workforce may organise in the future and labour agreements may be put in place that have significantly higher labour rates and company obligations; (ii) our competitors may maintain significantly lower labour costs, thereby reducing or eliminating our comparative advantages vis-à-vis one or more of our competitors or the larger industry; and (iii) our labour costs may increase in connection with our growth.
Risks Related to International Operations
As a company based outside of the United States, we are subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations.
As a company based in the United Kingdom, our business is subject to risks associated with conducting business outside of the United States. Many of our suppliers and clinical trial relationships are located outside the United States. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:

economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in certain non-U.S. economies and markets;

differing and changing regulatory requirements for product approvals;

differing jurisdictions could present different issues for securing, maintaining or obtaining freedom to operate in such jurisdictions;

potentially reduced protection for intellectual property and proprietary rights;

difficulties in compliance with different, complex and changing laws, regulations and court systems of multiple jurisdictions and compliance with a wide variety of foreign laws, treaties and regulations;

changes in non-U.S. regulations and customs, tariffs and trade barriers;
 
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changes in currency exchange rates of the pound sterling, euro and the risk of the imposition of currency controls;

changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic environment;

trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements or other restrictive actions by governments;

differing reimbursement regimes and price controls in certain non-U.S. markets;

negative consequences from changes in tax laws or practice;

compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labour laws for employees living or travelling abroad, including, for example, the variable tax treatment in different jurisdictions of options granted under our share option schemes or equity incentive plans;

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

litigation or administrative actions resulting from claims against us by current or former employees or consultants individually or as part of class actions, including claims of wrongful terminations, discrimination, misclassification or other violations of labour law or other alleged conduct;

difficulties associated with staffing and managing international operations, including differing labour relations;

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

business interruptions resulting from geo-political actions, including war and terrorism, or natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods and fires.
The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union may adversely impact our and our collaborators’ ability to obtain regulatory approvals of our drug candidates in the United Kingdom and European Union and may require us to incur additional expenses to develop, manufacture and commercialise our drug candidates in the United Kingdom and European Union.
We are headquartered in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom formally exited the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit, on January 31, 2020. Under the terms of its departure, the United Kingdom entered a transition period, or the Transition Period, during which it continued to follow all European Union rules, which ended on December 31, 2020. On December 30, 2020, the United Kingdom and European Union signed the TCA, which includes an agreement on free trade between the two parties and has been provisionally applicable since January 1, 2021.
Since January 1, 2021 the United Kingdom has operated under a separate regulatory regime to the European Union. European Union laws regarding medicinal products only apply in respect of the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland (as set out in the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland). The European Union laws that have been transposed into United Kingdom law through secondary legislation remain applicable. While the United Kingdom has indicated a general intention that new law regarding the development, manufacture and commercialisation of medicinal products in the United Kingdom will align closely with European Union law there are limited detailed proposals for future regulation of medicinal products. The TCA includes specific provisions concerning medicinal products, which include the mutual recognition of Good Manufacturing Practice, or GMP, inspections of manufacturing facilities for medicinal products and GMP documents issued (such mutual recognition can be rejected by either party in certain circumstances), but does not foresee wholesale mutual recognition of United Kingdom and European Union pharmaceutical regulations including in relation to batch testing and pharmacovigilance, which remain subject to further negotiation. Therefore, there remains political and economic uncertainty regarding to what extent the regulation of medicinal products will differ between the United Kingdom and the European Union in the future.
Since a significant proportion of the regulatory framework in the United Kingdom applicable to our business and our drug candidates is derived from European Union directives and regulations, the
 
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withdrawal has and could continue to materially impact the regulatory regime with respect to the development, manufacture, importation, approval and commercialisation of our drug candidates in the United Kingdom or the European Union. Great Britain is no longer covered by the European Union’s procedures for the grant of marketing authorisations (Northern Ireland is covered by the centralised authorisation procedure and can be covered under the decentralised or mutual recognition procedures). A separate marketing authorisation will be required to market drugs in Great Britain. It is currently unclear whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the United Kingdom is sufficiently prepared to handle the increased volume of marketing authorisation applications that it is likely to receive. Any delay in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, any marketing approvals, as a result of Brexit or otherwise, would prevent us and our collaborators or delay us and our collaborators from commercialising our drug candidates in the United Kingdom and/or the EEA and restrict our ability to generate revenue and achieve and sustain profitability. Following Brexit, there is no pre-marketing authorisation orphan designation in Great Britain, instead an application for orphan designation is made at the same time as an application for marketing authorisation. Orphan designation in the United Kingdom (or Great Britain, depending on whether there is a prior centralised marketing authorisation in the EEA) following Brexit based on the prevalence of the condition in Great Britain as opposed to the current position where prevalence in the EU is the determinant. It is therefore possible that conditions that are currently designated as orphan conditions in the United Kingdom, or Great Britain, will no longer be and that conditions are not currently designated as orphan conditions in the European Union will be designated as such in the United Kingdom, or Great Britain.
There is a degree of uncertainty regarding the overall impact that Brexit will have in the long-term on the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of pharmaceutical products, including the process to obtain regulatory approval in the United Kingdom for drug candidates and the award of exclusivities that are normally part of the European Union legal framework (for instance Supplementary Protection Certificates, Paediatric Extensions or Orphan exclusivity). Any divergence between the regulatory environments in place in the European Union and the United Kingdom could lead to increased costs and delays in bringing drug candidates to market.
In addition, we may be required to pay taxes or duties or be subjected to other hurdles in connection with the importation of our drug candidates into the European Union, or we may incur expenses in establishing a manufacturing facility in the European Union to circumvent such hurdles, all of which may make our doing business in the European Union and the EEA more difficult. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to restrict or delay efforts to seek regulatory approval in the United Kingdom or the European Union for our drug candidates, or incur significant additional expenses to operate our business, which could significantly and materially harm or delay our ability to generate revenues or achieve profitability of our business.
As a result of Brexit, other European countries may seek to conduct referenda with respect to their continuing membership with the European Union. Given these possibilities and others we may not anticipate, as well as the absence of comparable precedent, it is unclear what financial, regulatory and legal implications the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union will have in the long-term and how such withdrawal will affect us, and the full extent to which our business could be adversely affected.
Exchange rate fluctuations may materially affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Owing to the international scope of our operations, fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly between the pound sterling and the U.S. dollar, may adversely affect us. Although we are based in the United Kingdom, we source research and development, manufacturing, consulting and other services from the United States and the European Union. Further, potential future revenue may be derived from abroad, particularly from the United States. As a result, our business and the price of our ADSs may be affected by fluctuations in foreign exchange rates not only between the pound sterling and the U.S. dollar, but also the euro, which may have a significant impact on our results of operations and cash flows from period to period.
We anticipate that our ADSs will trade in U.S. dollars. As a result of fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the pound sterling, the U.S. dollar equivalent of the proceeds that a
 
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holder of ADSs would receive upon the sale in the United Kingdom of any ordinary shares withdrawn from the depositary and the U.S. dollar equivalent of any cash dividends paid in pounds sterling on our ordinary shares represented by ADSs could also decline.
Risks Related to this Offering and Ownership of Our Securities
We do not know whether an active, liquid and orderly trading market will develop for our ADSs or what the market price of our ADSs will be. As a result, it may be difficult for you to sell your ADSs.
This offering constitutes the initial public offering of our ADSs, and no public market has previously existed for our ADSs or ordinary shares. We intend to apply to have our ADSs listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, or Nasdaq, and we expect our ADSs to be quoted on Nasdaq, subject to completion of customary procedures in the United States. Any delay in the commencement of trading of the ADSs on Nasdaq would impair the liquidity of the market for the ADSs and make it more difficult for holders to sell the ADSs.
Prior to this offering, there was no public trading market for our ordinary shares or ADSs. If the ADSs are listed and quoted on Nasdaq, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for the ADSs will develop or be sustained after this offering is completed. You may not be able to sell your ADSs quickly or at the market price if trading in our ADSs is not active. The initial offering price will be determined by negotiations among the lead underwriters and us. Among the factors considered in determining the initial public offering price will be our future prospects and the prospects of our industry in general, our revenue, net income and certain other financial and operating information in recent periods, and the market prices of securities and certain financial and operating information of companies engaged in activities similar to ours. However, there can be no assurance that, following the completion of this offering, the ADSs will trade at a price equal to or greater than the public offering price.
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing shareholders, restrict our operations or cause us to relinquish valuable rights.
We may seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity, convertible debt securities or other equity-based derivative securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as holder of ADSs. Any indebtedness we incur would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire or licence intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. Any debt or additional equity financing that we raise may contain terms that are not favourable to us or our shareholders. Furthermore, the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our ADSs to decline and existing shareholders may not agree with our financing plans or the terms of such financings. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships, collaborations and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our intellectual property, technologies or our drug candidates, or grant licences on terms unfavourable to us.
The market price of our ADSs may be highly volatile, and you may not be able to resell your ADSs at or above the initial public offering price.
The market price of our ADSs following this offering is likely to be highly volatile. The stock market in general, and the market for biopharmaceutical companies in particular, has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies and the trading price of our equity securities may be volatile due to factors beyond our control. As a result of this volatility, you may not be able to sell your ADSs at or above the initial public offering price. The market price for our ADSs may be influenced by many factors, including:
 
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our investment in, and the success of, our software solutions;

the success of our research and development efforts for our internal and/or partnered drug discovery programmes;

adverse results or delays in preclinical studies or clinical trials;

reports of adverse events in products similar or perceived to be similar to those we are developing or clinical trials of such products;

an inability to obtain additional funding;

failure by us to successfully develop and commercialise our drug candidates;

the success of our drug discovery collaborators and any milestone or other payments we receive from such collaborators;

failure by us or our licensors and/or collaborators to prosecute, maintain, protect or enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights;

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

changes in laws or regulations applicable to future products;

adverse regulatory decisions;

the introduction of new products, services or technologies by our competitors;

failure by us to meet or exceed financial projections we may provide to the public;

failure by us to meet or exceed the financial projections of the investment community;

the perception of the pharmaceutical industry by the public, legislatures, regulators and the investment community;

changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;

announcements of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by us, our strategic partner or our competitors;

additions or departures of key scientific or management personnel;

significant lawsuits, including patent or shareholder litigation;

changes in the market valuations of similar companies;

commentary by investors on the prospects for our business, our ordinary shares or ADSs on the internet, including via blogs, articles, message boards or social media platforms;

general economic, industry, political and market conditions, including, but not limited to, the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

sales of our ADSs or ordinary shares by us or our shareholders in the future; and

the trading volume of our ADSs.
In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of its securities. This risk is especially relevant for us because biopharmaceutical companies have experienced significant securities price volatility in recent years. If we face such litigation, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business. Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. Further, a decline in the financial markets and related factors beyond our control may cause the price of our ADSs to decline rapidly and unexpectedly. If the market price of our ADSs after the completion of this offering does not exceed the initial public offering price, you may not realise any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment.
 
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If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavourable research about our business, our ADS price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our ADSs will likely depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. We do not currently have research coverage, and there can be no assurance that analysts will cover us, or provide favourable coverage. Securities or industry analysts may elect not to provide research coverage of our ADSs after this offering, and such lack of research coverage may negatively impact the market price of our ADSs. In the event we do have analyst coverage, if one or more analysts downgrade our ADSs or change their opinion of our ADSs, our ADS price would likely decline. In addition, if one or more analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our ADS price or trading volume to decline.
Concentration of ownership of our ordinary shares (including ordinary shares represented by ADSs) among our existing executive officers, directors and principal shareholders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.
Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private placements, our executive officers, directors and current beneficial owners of five percent or more of our ordinary shares and their respective affiliates will, in aggregate, beneficially own approximately 69.3% of our outstanding ordinary shares, based on the number of ordinary shares outstanding as of June 30, 2021 and assuming the issuance of ordinary shares (including ordinary shares represented by ADSs) in this offering and the concurrent private placements.
As a result, depending on the level of attendance at our general meetings of shareholders, these persons, acting together, would be able to significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election, re-election and removal of directors, any merger, scheme of arrangement, or sale of all or substantially all of our asset, or other significant corporate transactions and amendments to our articles of association.
In addition, these persons, acting together, may have the ability to control the management and affairs of our company. Accordingly, this concentration of ownership may harm the market price of our ADSs and ordinary shares by:

delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control;

entrenching our management and/or the board of directors;

impeding a merger, scheme of arrangement, takeover or other business combination involving us; or

discouraging a potential acquirer from making a takeover offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.
In addition, some of these persons or entities may have interests different than yours. For example, because many of these shareholders purchased their ordinary shares at prices substantially below the price at which ADSs are being sold in this offering and have held their ordinary shares for a longer period, they may be more interested in selling our company to an acquirer than other investors or they may want us to pursue strategies that deviate from the interests of other shareholders.
We may be required to repurchase for cash all, or to facilitate the purchase by a third party of all, of the ADSs of our company purchased by the Gates Foundation in a concurrent private placement if we default under the global access commitments agreement, which could have an adverse impact on us and limit our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.
In connection with commitment by the Gates Foundation to purchase $35.0 million of our ADSs, concurrently with this offering in a private placement, we entered into a Global Access Commitments Agreement, or the Global Access Agreement, pursuant to which we are required to take certain actions to support the Gates Foundation’s mission. In the event that we are in breach of certain related
 
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provisions of the Global Access Agreement, following a cure period, we may be required to repurchase for cash all, or to facilitate the purchase by a third party of all, of the ADSs purchased by the Gates Foundation in the concurrent private placement, at terms that may not be favorable to us. If this occurs, cash used for this purpose may adversely affect our liquidity, cause us to reduce expenditures in other areas of our business, or curtail our growth plans. If we do not have sufficient cash on hand to purchase the securities, we may have to seek financing alternatives in order to meet our obligations, and there is no certainty that financing would be available on reasonable terms or at all. During any period that we are unable to repurchase the ADSs held by the Gates Foundation or arrange for a third party to purchase such ADSs, we would not likely be allowed to pay dividends, repurchase the securities of any other shareholder or otherwise make any other distribution to any of our shareholders in connection with their securities. Therefore, meeting this purchase obligation, if necessary, could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.
Future sales, or the possibility of future sales, of a substantial number of our securities could adversely affect the price of the shares and dilute shareholders.
Sales of a substantial number of our ADSs in the public market could occur at any time, subject to certain restrictions described below. If our existing shareholders sell, or indicate an intent to sell, substantial amounts of our securities in the public market, the trading price of the ADSs could decline significantly and could decline below the public offering price in this offering. Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private placements, we will have 118,310,127 outstanding ordinary shares (including ordinary shares represented by ADSs), based on the number of shares outstanding as of June 30, 2021 calculated on a post share split basis (or 120,387,627 ordinary shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional ADSs). Of these shares, only the 13,850,000 ADSs sold in this offering (or 15,927,500 ADSs if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional ADSs) will be freely tradable, and the remaining 104,460,127 ordinary shares will be available for sale in the public market beginning 180 days after the date of this prospectus following the expiration of lock-up agreements entered into by our directors, executive officers and substantially all of our shareholders in connection with this offering and by the investors in the concurrent private placements. The representatives of the underwriters may agree to release our directors, executive officers, shareholders or the investors in the concurrent private placements from their lock-up agreements at any time and without notice, which would allow for earlier sales of ordinary shares in the public market. See “Ordinary Shares and ADS’s Eligible for Future Sale”. After the lock-up agreements pertaining to this offering and the concurrent private placements expire, these 104,460,127 additional ordinary shares will be eligible for sale in the public market, though shares that are held by directors and executive officers and other affiliates will be subject to volume limitations under Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, for sales in the United States. In addition, ordinary shares subject to outstanding options under our equity incentive plans and the ordinary shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans will become eligible for sale in the public market in the future, subject to certain legal and contractual limitations.
Sales of a substantial number of such ADSs or ordinary shares upon expiration of the lock-up agreements, the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of restrictions in the lock-up agreements, could cause the market price of our ADSs to fall or make it more difficult for purchasers of ADSs to sell their ADSs at a time and price that they deem appropriate.
Moreover, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of 95,726,827 ordinary shares will have rights, subject to conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other shareholders, as well as to cooperate in certain public offerings of such ordinary shares. In addition, we intend to register all ordinary shares that we may issue under our equity compensation plans. Once we register these ordinary shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates and the lock-up agreements described in the “Ordinary Shares and ADS’s Eligible for Future Sale” section of this prospectus.
Holders of ADSs are not treated as holders of our ordinary shares.
By participating in this offering, you will become a holder of ADSs with underlying ordinary shares in a company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales. Holders of ADSs are not treated as
 
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holders of our ordinary shares, unless they withdraw the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs in accordance with the deposit agreement and applicable laws and regulations. The depositary is the holder of the ordinary shares underlying the ADSs. Holders of ADSs therefore do not have any rights as holders of our ordinary shares, other than the rights that they have pursuant to the deposit agreement. See “Description of American Depositary Shares”.
Holders of ADSs may be subject to limitations on the transfer of their ADSs and the withdrawal of the underlying ordinary shares.
ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary think it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law, government or governmental body or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason, subject to the right of ADS holders to cancel their ADSs and withdraw the underlying ordinary shares. Temporary delays in the cancellation of your ADSs and withdrawal of the underlying ordinary shares may arise because the depositary has closed its transfer books, we have closed our transfer books, the transfer of ordinary shares is blocked to permit voting at a shareholders’ meeting or we are paying a dividend on our ordinary shares. In addition, ADS holders may not be able to cancel their ADSs and withdraw the underlying ordinary shares when they owe money for fees, taxes and similar charges and when it is necessary to prohibit withdrawals to comply with any laws or governmental regulations that apply to ADSs or to the withdrawal of ordinary shares or other deposited securities. See “Description of American Depositary Shares”.
We are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, or to terminate the deposit agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders.
We are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of the ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders. We and the depositary may agree to amend the deposit agreement in any way we decide is necessary or advantageous to us or to the depositary. Amendments may reflect, among other things, operational changes in the ADS programme, legal developments affecting ADSs or changes in the terms of our business relationship with the depositary. In the event that the terms of an amendment are materially disadvantageous to ADS holders, ADS holders will only receive 30 days’ advance notice of the amendment, and no prior consent of the ADS holders is required under the deposit agreement. Furthermore, we may decide to direct the depositary to terminate the ADS facility at any time for any reason. For example, terminations may occur when we decide to list our ordinary shares on a non-U.S. securities exchange and determine not to continue to sponsor an ADS facility or when we become the subject of a takeover or a going-private transaction. If the ADS facility will terminate, ADS holders will receive at least 30 days’ prior notice, but no prior consent is required from them. Under the circumstances that we decide to make an amendment to the deposit agreement that is disadvantageous to ADS holders or terminate the deposit agreement, the ADS holders may choose to sell their ADSs or surrender their ADSs and become direct holders of the underlying ordinary shares, but will have no right to any compensation whatsoever.
ADS holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favourable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.
The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our ordinary shares provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, holders and beneficial owners of ADSs irrevocably waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to the ADSs or the deposit agreement.
If this jury trial waiver provision is not permitted by applicable law, an action could proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our
 
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knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a federal or state court in the City of New York, which has non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the deposit agreement.
If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and/or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and/or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favourable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action, depending on, among other things, the nature of the claims, the judge or justice hearing such claims and the venue of the hearing.
No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
You will not have the same voting rights as the holders of our ordinary shares and may not receive voting materials in time to be able to exercise your right to vote.
Except as described in this prospectus and the deposit agreement, holders of the ADSs will not be able to exercise voting rights attaching to the ordinary shares represented by the ADSs. Under the terms of the deposit agreement, holders of the ADSs may instruct the depositary to vote the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs. Otherwise, holders of ADSs will not be able to exercise their right to vote unless they withdraw the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs to vote them in person or by proxy in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and our articles of association. Even so, ADS holders may not know about a meeting far enough in advance to withdraw those ordinary shares. If we ask for the instructions of holders of the ADSs, the depositary, upon timely notice from us, will notify ADS holders of the upcoming vote and arrange to deliver our voting materials to them. Upon our request, the depositary will mail to holders a shareholder meeting notice that contains, among other things, a statement as to the manner in which voting instructions may be given. We cannot guarantee that ADS holders will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that they can instruct the depositary to vote the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs. A shareholder is only entitled to participate in, and vote at, the meeting of shareholders, provided that it holds our ordinary shares as of the record date set for such meeting and otherwise complies with our articles of association. In addition, the depositary’s liability to ADS holders for failing to execute voting instructions or for the manner of executing voting instructions is limited by the deposit agreement. As a result, holders of ADSs may not be able to exercise their right to give voting instructions or to vote in person or by proxy and they may not have any recourse against the depositary or us if their ordinary shares are not voted as they have requested or if their shares cannot be voted.
You may not receive distributions on our ordinary shares represented by the ADSs or any value for them if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to holders of ADSs.
The depositary for the ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses, and any taxes. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of our ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, in accordance with the limitations set forth in the deposit
 
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agreement, it may be unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to holders of ADSs. We have no obligation to take any other action to permit distribution on the ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of the ADSs. This means that you may not receive the distributions we make on our ordinary shares or any value from them if it is unlawful or impractical to make them available to you. These restrictions may have an adverse effect on the value of your ADSs.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our ADSs in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be your sole source of gains and you may never receive a return on your investment.
Under current English law, a company’s accumulated realised profits, to the extent they have not been previously utilised by distribution or capitalisation, must exceed its accumulated realised losses, to the extent they have not been previously written off in a reduction or reorganisation of capital duly made (as determined on a non-consolidated basis), before dividends can be declared and paid. Therefore, we must have distributable profits before declaring and paying a dividend. In addition, as a public limited company incorporated in England and Wales, we will only be able to make a distribution if the amount of our net assets is not less than the aggregate of our called-up share capital and undistributable reserves and if, and to the extent that, the distribution does not reduce the amount of those assets to less than that aggregate.
We have not paid dividends in the past on our ordinary shares. We intend to retain earnings, if any, for use in our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, on our ADSs will be your sole source of gains for the foreseeable future, and you will suffer a loss on your investment if you are unable to sell your ADSs at or above the initial public offering price. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our ADSs in this offering.
If you purchase our ADSs in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of your shares.
Investors purchasing ADSs in this offering will pay a price per ordinary share that substantially exceeds the pro forma book value per share of our tangible assets after subtracting our liabilities. As a result, investors purchasing ADSs in this offering will incur immediate dilution of $15.82 per ADS, based on the initial public offering price of $22.00 per ADS, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, representing the difference between the initial public offering price and our as adjusted net tangible book value as of June 30, 2021 after giving effect to this offering and the concurrent private placements. Further, investors purchasing ADSs in this offering will contribute approximately 36.3% of the total amount invested by shareholders since our inception, but will own only approximately 11.7% of the ordinary shares outstanding after this offering and the concurrent private placements. Furthermore, if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares or our previously issued options to acquire ordinary shares at prices below the initial public offering price are exercised, you will experience further dilution. For additional information on the dilution that you will experience immediately after this offering, see the section titled “Dilution”.
We may not be able to collect the proceeds from the concurrent private placements.
Subject to completion of this offering, the concurrent private placements are expected to close shortly thereafter. The payments from each of Softbank and the Gates Foundation are due in full upon issuance of the ADSs to the respective investor. If Softbank or the Gates Foundation refuses to pay for their respective ADSs, they will be in breach of the applicable Subscription Agreement and we will not receive the expected proceeds from such concurrent private placement.
We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements and may not use them effectively.
Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements, including for any of the purposes described in the section titled “Use of Proceeds”, and you will not have the opportunity as part of your investment decision to assess
 
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whether the net proceeds are being used appropriately. Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of the net proceeds from this offering and the concurrent private placements, their ultimate use may vary substantially from their currently intended use. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing securities. These investments may not yield a favourable return to our shareholders.
Claims of U.S. civil liabilities may not be enforceable against us.
We are incorporated under English law and have our registered office in England. Certain members of our board of directors and senior management are non-residents of the United States, and all or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of such persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible to serve process on such persons or us in the United States or to enforce judgements obtained in U.S. courts against them or us based on civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States.
The United States and the United Kingdom do not currently have a treaty providing for recognition and enforcement of judgements (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters. Consequently, a final judgement for payment given by a court in the United States, whether or not predicated solely upon U.S. securities laws, would not automatically be recognised or enforceable in the United Kingdom. In addition, uncertainty exists as to whether the courts of England and Wales would entertain original actions brought in the United Kingdom against us or our directors or senior management predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States. Any final and conclusive monetary judgement for a definite sum obtained against us in U.S. courts would be treated by the courts of the United Kingdom as a cause of action in itself and sued upon as a debt at common law so that no retrial of the issues would be necessary, provided that certain requirements are met. Whether these requirements are met in respect of a judgement based upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. securities laws, including whether the award of monetary damages under such laws would constitute a penalty, is an issue for the court making such a decision. If an English court gives judgement for the sum payable under a U.S. judgement, the English judgement will be enforceable by methods generally available for this purpose. These methods generally permit the English court discretion to prescribe the manner of enforcement.
As a result, U.S. investors may not be able to enforce against us or our senior management, board of directors or certain experts named herein who are residents of the United Kingdom or countries other than the United States any judgements obtained in U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters, including judgements under the U.S. federal securities laws.
Your right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to your holdings.
We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make rights available to you in the United States unless the rights and the securities to which the rights relate are registered by us under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Also, under the deposit agreement, the depositary bank will not make rights available to you unless either both the rights and any related securities are registered under the Securities Act, or the distribution of them to ADS holders is exempted from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavour to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective. Moreover, we may not be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. If the depositary does not distribute the rights, it may, under the deposit agreement, either sell them, if possible, or allow them to lapse. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution in your holdings.
Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private placements, we expect to qualify as a foreign private issuer, which means we will be exempt from a number of rules under the U.S. securities laws and will be permitted to file less information with the SEC than U.S. public companies.
Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private placements, we expect to qualify as a “foreign private issuer”, as defined in the SEC rules and regulations and, consequently, we do not expect
 
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to be subject to all the disclosure requirements applicable to companies organised within the United States. For example, we expect to be exempt from certain rules under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that regulate disclosure obligations and procedural requirements related to the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorisations applicable to a security registered under the Exchange Act. In addition, our officers and directors will be exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act and related rules with respect to their purchases and sales of our securities. Moreover, we will not be required to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. public companies. Accordingly, there may be less publicly available information concerning our company than there is for U.S. public companies.
As a foreign private issuer, we will file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the close of each fiscal year ended December 31 and reports on Form 6-K relating to certain material events promptly after we publicly announce these events and disclosing our financial results. However, because of the above exemptions for foreign private issuers, our shareholders will not be afforded the same protections or information generally available to investors holding shares in public companies organised in the United States.
While we are a foreign private issuer, we are not subject to certain Nasdaq corporate governance rules applicable to public companies organised in the United States.
We are entitled to rely on a provision in Nasdaq’s corporate governance rules that allows us to follow English corporate law with regard to certain aspects of corporate governance. This allows us to follow certain corporate governance practices that differ in significant respects from the corporate governance requirements applicable to domestic issuers listed on Nasdaq, which may provide less protection to our shareholders than what is accorded to investors under the Nasdaq rules applicable to domestic issuers.
We are entitled to deviate from the Nasdaq standards and rules applicable to the operation or and disclosure surrounding our board of directors. We are not subject to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(b)(2) because English law does not require that independent directors regularly have scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present. Similarly, we have adopted a compensation committee, but English law does not require that we adopt a compensation committee or that such committee be fully independent. As a result, our practice varies from the requirements of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(d), which sets forth certain requirements as to the responsibilities, composition and independence of compensation committees. English law requires that we disclose information regarding compensation of our directors for services as a director of an undertaking that is our subsidiary undertaking and as a director of any other undertaking of which a director is appointed by virtue of our nomination (directly or indirectly) but not other third-party compensation of our directors or director nominees. As a result, our practice varies from the third-party compensation disclosure requirements of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(b)(3). In addition, while we have a compensation committee, English law does not require that we adopt a compensation committee or that such committee be fully independent. Additionally, we are not subject to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(e) because, under English law, director nominees are not required to be selected or recommended for selection by either a majority of the independent directors or a nominations committee comprised solely of independent directors.
Furthermore, English law does not have a regulatory regime for the solicitation of proxies applicable to us, thus our practice varies from the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5620(b), which sets forth certain requirements regarding the solicitation of proxies. In addition, we have opted out of shareholder approval requirements for the issuance of securities in connection with certain events such as the acquisition of stock or assets of another company, the establishment of or amendments to equity-based compensation plans for employees, a change of control of us and certain private placements. To this extent, our practice will vary from the requirements of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635, which generally requires an issuer to obtain shareholder approval for the issuance of securities in connection with such events. In addition, while we have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics, English law does not require us to publicly disclose waivers from this code that have been approved by our board within four business days. As a result, our practice varies from the requirements for domestic issuers pursuant to
 
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Nasdaq Listing Rule 5610. We expect to report any such waivers in the subsequent Annual Report on Form 20-F. Moreover, we are not required to comply with Regulation FD, which restricts the selective disclosure of material information, although we have voluntarily adopted a corporate disclosure policy substantially similar to Regulation FD. These exemptions and leniencies will reduce the frequency and scope of information and protections to which you may otherwise have been eligible in relation to a U.S. domestic issuer.
In accordance with our anticipated listing on Nasdaq, our audit committee would be required to comply with the provisions of Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act, both of which are also applicable to Nasdaq listed U.S. companies. Because we are a foreign private issuer, however, our audit committee will not be subject to additional requirements applicable to Nasdaq listed U.S. companies, including an affirmative determination that all members of the audit committee are “independent”, using more stringent criteria than those applicable to us as a foreign private issuer, subject to certain phase-in requirements permitted by Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act.
We are an “emerging growth company”, and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our ADSs less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company, or an EGC, and we will remain an EGC until the earlier to occur of (i) the last day of 2026; (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of at least $1.07 billion; (iii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer”, under the rules of the SEC, which means the market value of our equity securities 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. For so long as we remain an EGC, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not EGCs. These exemptions include:

not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404;

being permitted to provide only two years of audited financial statements in this initial registration statement, 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;

reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation; and

an exemption from the requirement to seek non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation or golden parachute arrangements.
We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of the available exemptions. We have taken advantage of reduced reporting burdens in this prospectus. In particular, we have not included all of the executive compensation information that would be required if we were not an EGC. We cannot predict whether investors will find our ADSs less attractive if we rely on certain or all of these exemptions. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and our ADS price may be more volatile.
In addition, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or the JOBS Act, provides that an EGC may take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an EGC to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this extended transition period and, as a result, we will adopt new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for other public companies.
We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a company whose ADSs are publicly traded in the United States, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.
As a company whose ADSs are publicly traded in the United States, and particularly after we are no longer an EGC, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur
 
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as a private company. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq have imposed various requirements on publicly traded companies 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 these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will 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, 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 we will not 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.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and may identify material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, which may impair our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or prevent fraud. If we are unable to establish and maintain effective internal controls, shareholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our ADSs.
Although we are not yet subject to the certification or attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in the course of auditing our financial statements for this offering, we identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A company’s internal control over financial reporting are processes designed by, or under the supervision of, a company’s principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by a company’s board of directors, management and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with international financial reporting standards, or IFRS, as adopted by the IASB. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Prior to the completion of this offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel to adequately execute our accounting processes and perform supervisory reviews, a lack of robust accounting system controls, and informal control documentation with which to evidence our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audit of our financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we identified the following material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting:

We did not design, and have not maintained, effective processes and controls. Specifically, we lacked a sufficient number of professionals with an appropriate level of accounting knowledge, training and experience to appropriately analyse, record and disclose accounting matters timely and accurately while maintaining appropriate segregation of duties. Without such professionals, we did not design and/or maintain formal accounting procedures and controls to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, including with respect to the preparation and review of account reconciliations.
 
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The lack of information technology general controls over our financial accounting system presents ineffective segregation of duties, change management and programme development in our control environment.
To address the material weaknesses, in 2021 we developed and began a remediation plan that includes the following activities:

We have hired new leadership in the accounting and finance team, including a new Director of Financial Reporting and a Finance Manager, with appropriate technical accounting knowledge and public company experience in finance and accounting.

We intend to continue to implement new financial processes and design and implement appropriate controls to enhance segregation of duties in the general ledger system that we implemented in the first quarter of 2020.

We intend to continue to hire additional experienced accounting and financial reporting personnel as necessary, to formalise documentation of policies and procedures, and to further evolve our accounting processes, including by implementing information technology-related general controls and appropriate segregation of duties.
The actions that we are taking are subject to ongoing review by our executive management and will be subject to audit committee oversight. Although we intend to complete this remediation process as quickly as practicable, we cannot at this time estimate how long it will take, and our initiatives may not prove to be successful in remediating the material weaknesses.
As a public company, we will be subject to reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404(a), will require that, beginning with our second annual report following our initial public offering, management assess and report annually on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and identify any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. We expect our first Section 404(a) assessment will take place for our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. If we fail to remediate the material weaknesses identified above, our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Although Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404(b), requires our independent registered public accounting firm to issue an annual report that addresses the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, we have opted to rely on the exemptions provided in the JOBS Act, and consequently will not be required to comply with SEC rules that implement Section 404(b) until such time as we are no longer an EGC. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation. If we are unable to successfully remediate our identified material weakness, if we discover additional material weaknesses or if we otherwise are unable to otherwise determine on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting, and the price of our ADSs may decline as a result. We also could become subject to investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.
Upon completion of this offering, we will become subject to certain reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to reasonably assure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, recorded, processed, summarised and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgements in decision-making can be faulty, and that
 
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breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorised override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements or insufficient disclosures due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.
If we are (or one of our non-U.S. subsidiaries is) a “controlled foreign corporation”, or a CFC, there could be adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to certain U.S. holders.
Generally, if a U.S. holder is treated as owning, directly, indirectly or constructively, at least 10% of either the total value or total combined voting power of our stock, such U.S. holder may be treated as a “United States shareholder” with respect to each CFC in our group, if any, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A non-U.S. corporation will generally be classified as a CFC for U.S. federal income tax purposes if United States shareholders own, directly, indirectly or constructively, more than 50% of either the total value or the total combined voting power of the stock of such corporation. Because our group includes U.S. subsidiaries, our current non-U.S. subsidiaries and potentially any future newly formed or acquired non-U.S. subsidiaries will be treated as CFCs, regardless of whether we are treated as a CFC. A United States shareholder of a CFC may be required to annually report and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of “Subpart F income”, “global intangible low-taxed income” and investments of earnings in U.S. property, regardless of whether such CFC makes any distributions to its shareholders. Additionally, an individual that is a United States shareholder with respect to a CFC generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a United States shareholder that is a U.S. corporation. Failure to comply with CFC reporting obligations may also subject a United States shareholder to significant monetary penalties. We cannot provide any assurances that we will furnish to any United States shareholder information that may be necessary to comply with the reporting and tax paying obligations applicable under the CFC rules of the Code. U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to their investment in our ordinary shares or ADSs.
If we are a “passive foreign investment company”, or a PFIC, for any taxable year, there could be adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
Under the Code, in general, we will be a PFIC, for any taxable year in which, after the application of certain look-through rules with respect to our subsidiaries, either (1) 75% or more of our gross income consists of passive income or (2) 50% or more of the average quarterly value of our assets consists of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, passive income (including cash and cash equivalents). For purposes of these tests, passive income generally includes, among other things, dividends, interest, gains from certain sales or exchanges of investment property and certain rents and royalties. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. investor holds our shares, we will generally continue to be treated as a PFIC with respect to such U.S. investor for all succeeding taxable years during which such U.S. investor holds our shares, even if we cease to meet the threshold requirements for PFIC status. Such U.S. investor may be subject to adverse tax consequences, including ineligibility for any preferential tax rates on capital gains or on actual or deemed dividends, interest charges on certain taxes treated as deferred and additional reporting requirements. We cannot provide any assurance that we will furnish to such U.S. investor information that may be necessary to comply with the reporting and tax paying obligations applicable under the PFIC rules of the Code. Such U.S. investor should consult its tax advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to their investment in our ordinary shares or ADSs.
Based upon the value of our assets and the nature and composition of our income and assets, we expect that we will not be classified as a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2020, although no assurances can be made in this regard. However, the determination of whether we are a PFIC is a fact-intensive determination made on an annual basis applying principles and methodologies that in some circumstances are unclear and subject to varying interpretation. For instance, for our current and future taxable years, the total value of our assets (including goodwill) for PFIC testing purposes may be determined in part by reference to the market price of our ordinary shares or ADSs from time to time, which may fluctuate considerably. If our market capitalisation declines while we hold a substantial amount of cash and cash equivalents for any taxable year, we may be a PFIC for that taxable year.
 
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Furthermore, under the income test, our status as a PFIC depends on the composition of our income for the relevant taxable year, which will depend on the transactions we enter into in the future and our corporate structure. The composition of our income and assets is also affected by how we spend the cash we raise in any offering, including this offering. We currently do not generate product revenues and therefore we may be a PFIC for any taxable year in which we do not generate sufficient amounts of active income to offset our passive financing income. As a result, there can be no assurance that we will not be treated as a PFIC for the current or any future taxable year and our U.S. counsel expresses no opinion with respect to our PFIC status for any prior, current or future taxable year. Even if we determine that we are not a PFIC for a taxable year, there can be no assurance that the Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, will agree with our conclusion and that the IRS would not successfully challenge our position.
For further discussion of the PFIC rules and the adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences in the event we are classified as a PFIC, as well as certain elections that may be available to U.S. investors, see the section of this prospectus titled “Material Income Tax Considerations — Material United States Federal Income Considerations for U.S. Holders”.
We may be unable to use net operating loss and tax credit carry forwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments or benefit from favourable U.K. tax legislation.
As a U.K. incorporated and tax resident entity, we are subject to U.K. corporate taxation. Due to the nature of our business, we have generated losses since inception and therefore have not paid any U.K. corporation tax. As of December 31, 2020, we had cumulative carryforward tax losses of £23.3 million. Subject to any relevant utilisation criteria and restrictions (including those that limit the percentage of profits that can be reduced by carried forward losses and those that can restrict the use of carried forward losses where there is a change of ownership of more than half the ordinary shares of the company and a major change in the nature, conduct or scale of the trade), we expect these to be eligible for carry forward against future operating profits.
As a company that carries out extensive research and development activities, we seek to benefit from the U.K. research and development tax relief programmes, one of which is the small and medium-sized enterprises research and development tax relief programme, or SME Programme, and, to the extent that our projects are grant funded or relate to work subcontracted to the company by third parties, the Research and Development Expenditure Credit programme, or RDEC Programme. Under the SME Programme, we may be able to surrender the trading losses that arise from our qualifying research and development activities for a cash rebate of up to 33.35% of such qualifying research and development expenditures. The majority of our research and development activities are eligible for inclusion within these tax credit cash rebate claims. We may not be able to continue to claim payable research and development tax credits in the future if we cease to qualify as a SME, based on size criteria concerning employee headcount, turnover and gross assets. The U.K. Finance Act of 2021 introduced a cap on payable credit claims under the SME Programme in excess of £20,000 with effect from April 2021 by reference to, broadly, three times the total PAYE and NICs liability of the company, subject to an exception which prevents the cap from applying. That exception requires the company to be creating, taking steps to create or managing intellectual property, as well as having qualifying research and development expenditure in respect of connected parties which does not exceed 15% of the total claimed. If such exception does not apply, this could restrict the amount of payable credit that we claim.
We may benefit in the future from the United Kingdom’s “patent box” regime, which allows certain profits attributable to revenues from patented products (and other qualifying income) to be taxed at an effective rate of 10% by giving an additional tax deduction. We are the exclusive licensee or owner of several patent applications which, if issued, would cover our drug candidates, and accordingly, future upfront fees, milestone fees, product revenues and royalties could be eligible for this deduction. When taken in combination with the enhanced relief available on our research and development expenditures, we expect a long-term rate of corporation tax lower than the statutory rate to apply to us. If, however, there are unexpected adverse changes to the U.K. research and development tax credit regime or the “patent box” regime, or for any reason we are unable to qualify for such advantageous tax legislation, or we are unable to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments then our business, results of operations and financial condition may be
 
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adversely affected. This may impact our ongoing requirement for investment and the timeframes within which additional investment is required.
Changes and uncertainties in the tax system in the countries in which we have operations, could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations, and reduce net returns to our shareholders.
We conduct business globally and file income tax returns in multiple jurisdictions. Our consolidated effective income tax rate, and the tax treatment of our ADSs and ordinary shares, could be materially adversely affected by several factors, including: changing tax laws, regulations and treaties, or the interpretation thereof; tax policy initiatives and reforms under consideration (such as those related to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, or BEPS, Project, the European Commission’s state aid investigations and other initiatives); the practices of tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we operate; the resolution of issues arising from tax audits or examinations and any related interest or penalties. Such changes may include (but are not limited to) the taxation of operating income, investment income, dividends received or (in the specific context of withholding tax) dividends paid, or the stamp duty or stamp duty reserve tax treatment of our ADSs or ordinary shares.
We are unable to predict what tax reform may be proposed or enacted in the future or what effect such changes would have on our business, but such changes, to the extent they are brought into tax legislation, regulations, policies or practices in jurisdictions in which we operate, could increase the estimated tax liability that we have expensed to date and paid or accrued on our financial statements, and otherwise affect our financial position, future results of operations, cash flows in a particular period and overall or effective tax rates in the future in countries where we have operations, reduce post-tax returns to our shareholders and increase the complexity, burden and cost of tax compliance.
Tax authorities may disagree with our positions and conclusions regarding certain tax positions, or may apply existing rules in an unforeseen manner, resulting in unanticipated costs, taxes or non-realisation of expected benefits.
A tax authority may disagree with tax positions that we take, which could result in increased tax liabilities. For example, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, the IRS or another tax authority could challenge our allocation of income by tax jurisdiction and the amounts paid between our affiliated companies pursuant to our intercompany arrangements and transfer pricing policies, including amounts paid with respect to our intellectual property development. Similarly, a tax authority could assert that we are subject to tax in a jurisdiction where we believe we have not established a taxable connection, often referred to as a “permanent establishment” under international tax treaties, and such an assertion, if successful, could increase our expected tax liability in one or more jurisdictions.
A tax authority may take the position that material income tax liabilities, interest and penalties are payable by us, in which case we expect that we might contest such assessment. Contesting such an assessment may be lengthy and costly and if we were unsuccessful in disputing the assessment, the implications could increase our anticipated effective tax rate, where applicable.
HMRC may decline to grant relief from stamp duty for which we currently intend to apply under section 77 of the Finance Act 1986 in respect of the share for share exchange effected pursuant to our corporate reorganisation. See the section titled “Corporate Reorganisation” elsewhere in this prospectus. If HMRC does decline to grant relief, stamp duty will arise at a rate of 0.5%, chargeable on the greater of the amount or value of the consideration given (being the value of the shares issued by the company to each shareholder of Exscientia AI Limited) and the market value of the shares in Exscientia AI Limited at the time of the share for share exchange. Stamp duty reserve tax will also be chargeable on the agreement to enter into the share for share exchange, although such liability would be cancelled, or if already paid, repaid, if stamp duty is duly paid on the relevant instruments of transfer within a period of six years from the stamp duty reserve tax charge arising or if the relevant instruments of transfer are otherwise exempt from stamp duty.
 
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Shareholder protections found in provisions under the U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, or the Takeover Code, will not apply if our place of central management and control remains outside the United Kingdom (or the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man).
On September 22, 2021, Exscientia Limited was re-registered as a public limited company with the name Exscientia plc. Depending on meeting the jurisdictional criteria, the Takeover Code can be applicable to public limited companies incorporated in England and Wales. We believe that, as of the date of this document, our place of central management and control is not in the United Kingdom (or the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man) for the purposes of the jurisdictional criteria of the Takeover Code. Accordingly, we believe that we are currently not subject to the Takeover Code and, as a result, our shareholders are not currently entitled to the benefit of certain takeover offer protections provided under the Takeover Code, including the rules regarding mandatory takeover bids.
In the event that this changes, or if the interpretation and application of the Takeover Code by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, or Takeover Panel, changes (including changes to the way in which the Takeover Panel assesses the application of the Takeover Code to English companies whose securities are listed outside of the United Kingdom), the Takeover Code may apply to us in the future.
The Takeover Code provides a framework within which takeovers of companies are regulated and conducted. The following is a brief summary of some of the most important rules of the Takeover Code:

In connection with a potential offer, if following an approach by or on behalf of a potential bidder, the company is “the subject of rumour or speculation” or there is an “untoward movement” in the company’s share price, there is a requirement for the potential bidder to make a public announcement about a potential offer for the company, or for the company to make a public announcement about its review of a potential offer.

When a person or group of persons acting in concert (a) acquires, whether by a series of transactions over a period of time or not, interests in shares carrying 30% or more of the voting rights of a company (which percentage is treated by the Takeover Code as the level at which effective control is obtained) or (b) acquires an interest in any other shares which increases the percentage of shares carrying voting rights in which they are interested when they are already interested in shares which carry not less than 30% of the voting rights but do not hold shares carrying more than 50% of such voting rights, they must make a cash offer to all other shareholders at the highest price paid by them or any person acting in concert with them in the 12 months before the offer was announced.

When interests in shares carrying 10% or more of the voting rights of a class have been acquired by an offeror (i.e., a bidder) and any person acting in concert with it in the offer period (i.e., before the shares subject to the offer have been acquired) or within the previous 12 months, the offer must be in cash or be accompanied by a cash alternative for all shareholders of that class at the highest price paid by the offeror or any person acting in concert with them in that period. Further, if an offeror or any person acting in concert with them acquires any interest in shares during the offer period, the offer for the shares must be in cash or accompanied by a cash alternative at a price at least equal to the price paid for such shares during the offer period.

If after an announcement is made, the offeror or any person acting in concert with them acquires an interest in shares in an offeree company (i.e., a target) at a price higher than the value of the offer, the offer must be increased to not less than the highest price paid for the interest in shares so acquired.

An offeree company must appoint a competent independent adviser whose advice on the financial terms of the offer must be made known to all the shareholders, together with the opinion of the board of directors of the offeree company.

Special or favourable deals for selected shareholders are not permitted, except in certain circumstances where independent shareholder approval is given and the arrangements are regarded as fair and reasonable in the opinion of the financial adviser to the offeree.

All shareholders must be given the same information.
 
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Each document published in connection with an offer by or on behalf of the offeror or offeree must state that the directors of the offeror or the offeree, as the case may be, accept responsibility for the information contained therein.

Profit forecasts, quantified financial benefits statements and asset valuations must be made to specified standards and must be reported on by professional advisers.

Misleading, inaccurate or unsubstantiated statements made in documents or to the media must be publicly corrected immediately.

Actions during the course of an offer by the offeree company, which might frustrate the offer are generally prohibited unless shareholders approve these plans. Frustrating actions would include, for example, lengthening the notice period for directors under their service contract or agreeing to sell off material parts of the target group.

Stringent and detailed requirements are laid down for the disclosure of dealings in relevant securities during an offer, including the prompt disclosure of positions and dealing in relevant securities by the parties to an offer and any person who is interested (directly or indirectly) in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities.

Employees of both the offeror and the offeree company and the trustees of the offeree company’s pension scheme must be informed about an offer. In addition, the offeree company’s employee representatives and pension scheme trustees have the right to have a separate opinion on the effects of the offer on employment appended to the offeree board of directors’ circular or published on a website.
The rights of our shareholders may differ from the rights typically offered to shareholders of a U.S. corporation.
We are incorporated under English law. The rights of holders of ordinary shares and, therefore, certain of the rights of holders of ADSs, are governed by English law, including the provisions of the U.K. Companies Act 2006, or the Companies Act, and by our articles of association. These rights differ in certain respects from the rights of shareholders in typical U.S. corporations. See “Description of Share Capital and Articles of Association — Differences in Corporate Law” in this prospectus for a description of the principal differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and, for example, the Delaware General Corporation Law relating to shareholders’ rights and protections.
The principal differences include the following:

under our articles of association to be effective upon completion of this offering, any resolution put to the vote of a general meeting must be decided exclusively on a poll. Under English law, it would be possible for our articles of association to be amended such that each shareholder present at a meeting has only one vote unless demand is made for a vote on a poll, in which case each holder gets one vote per share owned. Under U.S. law, each shareholder typically is entitled to one vote per share at all meetings;

under English law, subject to certain exceptions and disapplications, each shareholder generally has preemptive rights to subscribe on a proportionate basis to any issuance of ordinary shares or rights to subscribe for, or to convert securities into, ordinary shares for cash. Under U.S. law, shareholders generally do not have preemptive rights unless specifically granted in the certificate of incorporation or otherwise;

under English law and our articles of association, certain matters require the approval of 75% of the shareholders who vote (in person or by proxy) on the relevant resolution (or on a poll of shareholders representing 75% of the ordinary shares voting (in person or by proxy)), including amendments to the articles of association. This may make it more difficult for us to complete corporate transactions deemed advisable by our board of directors. Under U.S. law, generally only majority shareholder approval is required to amend the certificate of incorporation or to approve other significant transactions;

in the United Kingdom, takeovers may be structured as takeover offers or as schemes of arrangement. Under English law, a bidder seeking to acquire us by means of a takeover offer
 
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would need to make an offer for all of our outstanding ordinary shares/ADSs. If acceptances are not received for 90% or more of the ordinary shares/ADSs under the offer, under English law, the bidder cannot complete a “squeeze out” to obtain 100% control of us. Accordingly, acceptances of 90% of our outstanding ordinary shares/ADSs will likely be a condition in any takeover offer to acquire us, not 50% as is more common in tender offers for corporations organised under Delaware law. By contrast, a scheme of arrangement, the successful completion of which would result in a bidder obtaining 100% control of us, requires the approval of a majority of shareholders voting at the meeting and representing 75% of the ordinary shares (including those represented by ADSs) voting for approval;

under English law and our articles of association, shareholders and other persons whom we know or have reasonable cause to believe are, or have been, interested in our shares may be required to disclose information regarding their interests in our shares upon our request, and the failure to provide the required information could result in the loss or restriction of rights attaching to the shares, including prohibitions on certain transfers of the shares, withholding of dividends and loss of voting rights. Comparable provisions generally do not exist under U.S. law; and

the quorum requirement for a shareholders’ meeting is a minimum of two shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting and present in person or by proxy or, in the case of a shareholder which is a corporation, represented by a duly authorised representative. Under U.S. law, a majority of the shares eligible to vote must generally be present (in person or by proxy) at a shareholders’ meeting to constitute a quorum. The minimum number of shares required for a quorum can be reduced pursuant to a provision in a company’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, but typically not below one-third of the shares entitled to vote at the meeting.
As an English public limited company, certain capital structure decisions will require shareholder approval, which may limit our flexibility to manage our capital structure.
On September 22, 2021, Exscientia Limited was re-registered as a public limited company with the name Exscientia plc. English law provides that a board of directors may only allot shares (or rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares) with the prior authorisation of shareholders, such authorisation stating the aggregate nominal amount of shares that it covers and being valid for a maximum period of five years, each as specified in the articles of association or relevant ordinary shareholder resolution passed by shareholders at a general meeting. We have obtained authority from our shareholders to allot additional shares for a period of five years from September 15, 2021, which authorisation will need to be renewed upon expiration (i.e., at least every five years) but may be sought more frequently for additional five-year terms (or any shorter period).
English law also generally provides shareholders with preemptive rights when new shares are issued for cash. However, it is possible for the articles of association, or for shareholders to pass a special resolution at a general meeting, being a resolution passed by at least 75% of the votes cast, to disapply preemptive rights. Such a disapplication of preemptive rights may be for a maximum period of up to five years from the date of adoption of the articles of association, if the disapplication is contained in the articles of association, or from the date of the shareholder special resolution, if the disapplication is by shareholder special resolution but not longer than the duration of the authority to allot shares to which the disapplication relates. In either case, this disapplication would need to be renewed by our shareholders upon its expiration (i.e., at least every five years). We have obtained authority from our shareholders to disapply preemptive rights for a period of five years from September 15, 2021 which disapplication will need to be renewed upon expiration (i.e., at least every five years), but may be sought more frequently for additional five-year terms (or any shorter period).
English law also generally prohibits a public company from repurchasing its own shares without the prior approval of shareholders by ordinary resolution, being a resolution passed by a simple majority of votes cast, and other formalities. Such approval may be for a maximum period of up to five years. See “Description of Share Capital and Articles of Association”.
 
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Our articles of association to be effective in connection with this offering will provide that the courts of England and Wales will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of all shareholder complaints other than complaints asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, and that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any shareholder complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.
Our articles of association to be effective in connection with this offering will provide that the courts of England and Wales will be the exclusive forum for resolving all shareholder complaints (i.e., any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us, any action or proceeding asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees, any action or proceeding asserting a claim arising out of any provision of the Companies Act or our articles of association or any action or proceeding asserting a claim or otherwise related to the affairs of our company) other than shareholder complaints asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, and that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will be the exclusive forum for resolving any shareholder complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, including applicable claims arising out of this offering. In addition, our articles of association will provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our shares is deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions.
This choice of forum provision may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favourable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits. The enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions (including exclusive federal forum provisions for actions, suits or proceedings asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act) in other companies’ organisational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and there is uncertainty as to whether courts would enforce the exclusive forum provisions in our articles of association. Additionally, our shareholders cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. If a court were to find either choice of forum provision contained in our articles of association to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. The courts of England and Wales and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York may also reach different judgements or results than would other courts, including courts where a shareholder considering bringing a claim may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the claim, and such judgements may be more or less favourable to us than our shareholders.
General Risks
If our estimates or judgements relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect or financial reporting standards or interpretations change, our results of operations could be adversely affected.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgements and Estimates”. The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgements about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our consolidated financial statements pertain to share-based payments provision, leases, recognition of revenue, loss-making contracts and deferred tax recoverability. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our ADSs.
Additionally, we regularly monitor our compliance with applicable financial reporting standards and review new pronouncements and drafts thereof that are relevant to us. As a result of new standards,
 
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changes to existing standards and changes in their interpretation, we might be required to change our accounting policies, alter our operational policies and implement new or enhance existing systems so that they reflect new or amended financial reporting standards, or we may be required to restate our published financial statements. Such changes to existing standards or changes in their interpretation may have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial position and profit.
If our security measures are breached or unauthorised access to customer data is otherwise obtained, our solutions may be perceived as not being secure, customers may reduce the use of or stop using our solutions, and we may incur significant liabilities.
Our solutions involve the collection, analysis and storage of our customers’ proprietary information and sensitive proprietary data related to the discovery efforts of our customers. As a result, unauthorised access or security breaches, as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance, or otherwise could result in the loss of information, litigation, indemnity obligations, damage to our reputation and other liability. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorised access or sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. In addition, if our employees fail to adhere to practices we have established to maintain a firewall between our internal drug discovery team and our teams that work with software customers, or if the technical solutions we have adopted to maintain the firewall malfunction, our customers and collaborators may lose confidence in our ability to maintain the confidentiality of their intellectual property, we may have trouble attracting new customers and collaborators, we may be subject to breach of contract claims by our customers and collaborators, and we may suffer reputational and other harm as a result. Any or all of these issues could adversely affect our ability to attract new customers, cause existing customers to elect to not renew their licences, result in reputational damage or subject us to third-party lawsuits or other action or liability, which could adversely affect our operating results. Our insurance may not be adequate to cover losses associated with such events, and in any case, such insurance may not cover all of the types of costs, expenses and losses we could incur to respond to and remediate a security breach.
 
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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the words “may”, “might”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “objective”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “predict”, “potential”, “continue” and “ongoing”, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology intended to identify statements about the future. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and opinions contained in this prospectus are based upon information available to us as of the date of this prospectus and, while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:

the potential advantages of our platform;

our research and development efforts for our internal drug discovery programmes;

the ability and willingness of our third-party strategic collaborators to continue research and development activities relating to our development candidates and investigational medicines;

the initiation, timing, progress, results and cost of our internal drug discovery programmes or the drug discovery programmes of our collaborators;

the initiation, timing, progress, results and cost of our current and future preclinical and clinical studies, including statements regarding design of, and the timing of initiation and completion of, studies or trials and related preparatory work;

the timing and plans for regulatory filings and approvals, including our ability to maintain any such approvals;

the potential advantages of our drug discovery programmes;

the rate and degree of market acceptance and clinical utility of our products;

the size of the market opportunity for our drug candidates, including our estimates of the number of patients who suffer from the diseases we are targeting;

our ability to identify viable new drug candidates for clinical development and the rate at which we expect to identify such candidates;

our business strategies and goals;

our plans to collaborate, or statements regarding the ongoing collaborations;

the effectiveness and profitability of our collaborations, our ability to maintain our current collaborations and our ability to enter into new collaborations;

our ability to meet our obligations under our various collaboration arrangements;

our marketing capabilities and strategy;

estimates of our expenses, capital requirements and need for additional financing;

the performance of our third-party suppliers and manufacturers;

our ability to obtain patent protection and the extension of existing patent terms, to the extent available;

the protection of our trade secrets;

the validity of intellectual property rights held by third parties, and our ability not to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any third-party intellectual property rights
 
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the impact of any current or future intellectual property litigation and our ability to defend against claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of any third-party intellectual property rights;