As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 19, 2020

Registration No. 333-249264

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Amendment No. 1

to

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Foghorn Therapeutics Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

500 Technology Square, Ste 700

Cambridge MA 02139

617-586-3100

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

Adrian Gottschalk

Chief Executive Officer

500 Technology Square, Ste 700

Cambridge, MA 02139

617-586-3100

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:

As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.  ☐

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

The registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Subject to completion, dated October 19, 2020

Preliminary prospectus

7,500,000 shares

Foghorn Therapeutics Inc.

Common stock

This is an initial public offering of shares of common stock of Foghorn Therapeutics Inc. We are selling 7,500,000 shares of our common stock. The initial public offering price is expected to be between $15.00 and $17.00 per share.

We have applied for listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “FHTX.”

We are an “emerging growth company” under federal securities laws and are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. See “Prospectus Summary—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company.”

We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to 1,125,000 additional shares of common stock from us at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 12 of this prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities, or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares to purchasers on or about                    , 2020.

                    , 2020.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized anyone to provide any information other than that contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We and the underwriters are not making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front cover of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of our common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

For investors outside of the United States: Neither we nor the underwriters have done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United States. Persons outside of the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.

Through and including                    , 2020 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This delivery requirement is in addition to the obligation of dealers to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

Industry Terms

Trademarks

We use Gene Traffic Control^TM, Foghorn^TM, and GTC^TM as trademarks in the United States and/or in other countries. This prospectus contains references to our trademarks and service marks and to those belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus, including logos, artwork and other visual displays, may appear without the ^® or TM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate in any way that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other entities’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other entity.

Market and Industry Data

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations, market position and market opportunity, is based on our management’s estimates and research, as well as industry and general publications and research, surveys and

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studies conducted by third parties. We believe that the information from these third-party publications, research, surveys and studies included in this prospectus is reliable. Management’s estimates are derived from publicly available information, their knowledge of our industry and their assumptions based on such information and knowledge, which we believe to be reasonable. This data involves a number of assumptions and limitations which are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause our future performance to differ materially from our assumptions and estimates.

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information contained in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing at the end of this prospectus, before deciding to invest in our common stock. Some of the following risks and uncertainties are, and will be, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (including any resurgences thereof) and any worsening of the global business and economic environment as a result. If any of the events or developments described below were to occur, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could suffer materially, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital

We have a limited operating history, have not initiated any clinical trials, and have no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for you to evaluate our current business and predict our future success and viability.

We are a development-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. We were incorporated in October 2015, and our operations to date have been focused on building our proprietary Gene Traffic Control platform, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, conducting discovery and research activities, protecting our trade secrets, filing patent applications, identifying potential product candidates, undertaking preclinical studies and establishing arrangements with third parties for the manufacture of initial quantities of our product candidates and component materials. All of our product candidates are still in preclinical development. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully initiate, conduct or 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 commercialization.

In addition, as a young business, 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.

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

We have incurred significant losses since inception. We expect to incur losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

Since inception, we have incurred significant operating losses. As of June 30, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $123.8 million. We have financed our operations primarily through private placements of our preferred stock as well as through our loan with Comerica Bank, or Comerica, and our collaboration agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., or Merck. See “Business—License Agreement with Merck.” We have devoted all of our efforts to research and development. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. The net losses we incur may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:

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We have not initiated clinical development of any product candidate and expect that it will be many years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization. To become and remain profitable, we must develop and, either directly or through collaborators, eventually commercialize a medicine or medicines with significant market potential. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including identifying product candidates, completing preclinical testing and clinical trials of product candidates, obtaining marketing approval for these product candidates, manufacturing, marketing, and selling those medicines for which we may obtain marketing approval, and satisfying any post-marketing requirements. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant or large enough to achieve profitability. We are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if at all. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

We will need substantial additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our research and product development programs or future commercialization efforts.

We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we identify, continue the research and development of, initiate clinical trials of, and seek marketing approval for, our product candidates. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our research and product development programs or future commercialization efforts.

As of June 30, 2020, our cash and cash equivalents were $36.6 million. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering will be approximately $107.8 million, assuming an initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Additional fundraising efforts, when needed, may divert our management’s attention from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to advance our product candidates or develop new product candidates. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of our product candidates or other research and development initiatives.

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If we are unable to obtain funding on a reasonable and timely basis, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or discontinue one or more of our research or development programs, clinical research, or the commercialization of any product candidate. We may be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any of the above events could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

There is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

As a result of our recurring operating losses and negative cash flows from operations combined with our anticipated use of cash to fund operations and debt service requirements, we have concluded that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern beyond the 12-month period from the issuance date of our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019. As a result, our independent registered public accounting firm included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 with respect to this uncertainty. Our future viability as an ongoing business is dependent on our ability to generate cash from our operating activities and to raise additional capital to finance our operations.

Without giving effect to the anticipated net proceeds from this offering, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will not be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses, capital expenditure and debt service requirements beyond one year from the issuance date of our consolidated financial statements. We believe that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments into the third quarter of 2022. We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on acceptable terms, we would be forced to delay, or discontinue the further development and commercialization efforts of one or more of our product candidates, or may be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

There is no assurance that we will succeed in obtaining sufficient funding on terms acceptable to us to fund continuing operations, if at all. The perception that we might be unable to continue as a going concern may also make it more difficult to obtain financing for the continuation of our operations on terms that are favorable to us, or at all, and could result in the loss of confidence by investors and employees. Our financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. If we are unable to continue as a going concern, we may have to liquidate our assets and may receive less than the value at which those assets are carried on our financial statements, and it is likely that our investors will lose all or a part of their investment.

We have never generated revenue from product sales and may never be profitable.

We are currently only in the preclinical testing stages for our most advanced product candidates and research programs and expect to submit INDs to the FDA for FHD-286 and FHD-609 in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first half of 2021, respectively. We expect that it will be many years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization. To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing, obtaining marketing approval for and commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical testing and clinical trials of our current or future product candidates, establishing and maintaining arrangements with third parties for the manufacture of clinical supplies of our product candidates, obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates and manufacturing, marketing, selling and obtaining reimbursement for any products for which we may obtain marketing approval. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant enough to achieve profitability.

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Our Loan Agreement with Comerica contains certain covenants that could adversely affect our operations and, if an event of default were to occur, we could be forced to repay the outstanding indebtedness sooner than planned and possibly at a time when we do not have sufficient capital to meet this obligation. The occurrence of any of these events could cause a significant adverse impact on our business, prospects and share price.

Pursuant to our secured loan agreement with Comerica we have agreed to certain affirmative and negative covenants that, among other things, restrict our ability to:

These covenants could prevent us from taking certain actions without the consent of our lender, which may limit our flexibility in operating our business and our ability to take actions that might be advantageous to us. The Comerica agreement also includes events of default, including, among other things, payment defaults; breaches of certain covenants or agreements; certain bankruptcy or insolvency events; the occurrence of certain events that could reasonably be expected to have a “material adverse effect;” and defaults in respect of certain other indebtedness.

If an event of default were to occur and Comerica declared all outstanding obligations immediately due and payable, we would be required to repay the outstanding indebtedness. If we are unable to repay this debt, Comerica would be able to take remedies permitted under the agreement. Even if we are able to repay the indebtedness on an event of default, the repayment of these sums may significantly reduce our working capital and impair our ability to operate as planned. The occurrence of any of these events could cause a significant adverse impact on our business, prospects and share price.

U.S. federal income tax reform could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The rules dealing with U.S. federal, state, and local income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department. Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect us or holders of our common stock. In recent years, many such changes have been made and changes are likely to continue to occur in the future. For example, on March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which included certain changes in tax law intended to stimulate the U.S. economy in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, including temporary beneficial changes to the treatment of net operating losses, interest deductibility limitations and payroll tax matters. Additionally, on December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the TCJA, which significantly reformed the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. The TCJA included significant changes to corporate and individual taxation, some of which could adversely impact an investment in our common stock. Future changes in tax laws could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition or results of operations. We urge investors to consult with their legal and tax advisers regarding the implications of potential changes in tax laws on an investment in our common stock.

Our future ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

We have incurred substantial losses during our history and we may never achieve profitability. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset a portion of future taxable

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income, if any, subject to expiration in the case of carryforwards generated prior to January 1, 2018 Additionally, we continue to generate business tax credits, including research and development tax credits, which generally may be carried forward to offset a portion of future taxable income, if any, subject to expiration of such credit carryforwards. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research and development tax credits) to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. Our prior equity offerings and other changes in our stock ownership may have resulted in such ownership changes. We may also experience ownership changes in the future as a result of this offering or subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change NOLs or other pre-change tax attributes to offset U.S. federal taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liability to us. Additionally, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, the deductibility of such U.S. federal NOLs is limited to 80% of our taxable income in any future taxable year. There is a risk that under existing tax laws, changes thereto, regulatory changes, or other unforeseen reasons, our existing NOLs or business tax credits could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. At the state level, there may also be periods during which the use of NOLs or business tax credits is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed. For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs or tax credits, even if we attain profitability.

Risks Related to Discovery and Development

We are heavily dependent on the success of our product candidates, which are in preclinical development. We may not be successful in our efforts to identify and develop potential product candidates. If these efforts are unsuccessful, or if we experience significant delays, we may never become a commercial stage company or generate any revenues, and our business will be materially harmed.

The success of our business depends primarily upon our ability to identify, develop, and commercialize product candidates based on our platform. All of our product development programs are still in the research or preclinical stage of development. Our research programs may fail to identify potential product candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons. Our research methodology may be unsuccessful in identifying potential product candidates, our potential product candidates may be shown to have harmful side effects in preclinical in vitro experiments or animal model studies, they may not show promising signals of therapeutic effect in such experiments or studies or they may have other characteristics that may make the product candidates impractical to administer or market.

If any of these events occur, we may be forced to abandon our research or development efforts for a program or programs, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. Research programs to identify new product candidates require substantial technical, financial, and human resources. We may focus our efforts and resources on potential programs or product candidates that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful, which would be costly and time-consuming.

The success of our product candidates will depend on several factors, including but not limited to the following:

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If we do not successfully achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner, or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which could materially harm our business. Moreover, if we do not receive regulatory approvals, we may not be able to continue our operations.

We may not be able to file INDs or IND amendments to commence clinical trials of FHD-286, FHD-609, or our other product candidates on the timelines we expect, and even if we are able to, the FDA may not permit us to proceed.

We have not yet initiated clinical trials of any of our product candidates. In order to commence a clinical trial in the United States, we are required to seek FDA acceptance of an IND for each of our product candidates. We cannot be sure any IND we submit to the FDA, or any similar clinical trial application we submit in other countries, will be accepted. We may also be required to conduct additional preclinical testing prior to filing or acceptance of an IND for any of our product candidates, and the results of any such testing may not be positive. We expect to file our IND for FHD-286 in the fourth quarter of 2020 and our IND for FHD-609 in the first half of 2021 with the goal of initiating Phase 1 clinical trials in the first quarter of 2021 for FHD-286, with preliminary proof-of-concept data by year-end 2021.

Further, we may experience manufacturing delays or other delays with IND-enabling studies. Moreover, we cannot be sure that even once clinical trials have begun, issues will not arise that suspend or terminate clinical trials. Additionally, even if the FDA agrees with the design and implementation of the clinical trials set forth in an IND, we cannot guarantee that the FDA will not change its requirements in the future. These considerations also apply to new clinical trials we may submit as amendments to existing INDs or to a new IND. Any failure to file INDs on the timelines we expect or to obtain regulatory authorizations for our trials to proceed may prevent us from completing our clinical trials or commercializing our product candidates on a timely basis, if at all.

There is substantial competition in our field, which may result in others developing or commercializing products before we do.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries utilize rapidly advancing technologies and are characterized by intense competition. While we believe that our scientific knowledge and platform development expertise provide us with competitive advantages, we face potential competition from many different sources, including major pharmaceuticals, specialty pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies, academic institutions and government agencies, and public and private research institutes that conduct research, development, manufacturing and commercialization. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, regulatory approvals and product marketing than we do, and have potential to advance products competitive with our product candidates or other programs addressing the chromatin regulatory system at a rapid pace. In addition, our competitors may compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and

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patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Our competitors may advance competing product candidates that have a more attractive product profile than our product candidates, make progress examining the chromatin regulatory system or bring a product to market before we can. Any of these developments could put us at a significant competitive disadvantage and have a material adverse effect on the prospects of our business.

Product candidates that we and our collaborators successfully develop and commercialize will compete with existing therapies and new therapies that may become available in the future. While we are not aware of other companies addressing the chromatin regulatory system at scale, in context and in an integrated way, we are aware of efforts to bring products to market that could be competitive with ours if our programs are successful. Specifically, we expect that our product candidates will compete against approved drugs, including Idhifa^® by Celgene Corporation, Tibsovo^® by Agios Pharmaceuticals, and Rydapt^® by Novartis International AG. If our drug candidates are approved for the indications for which we are currently planning clinical trials, they will likely compete with the competitor drugs mentioned above and with other drugs that are currently in development. Key product features that would affect our ability to effectively compete with other therapeutics include the efficacy, safety and convenience of our products. Our competitors may obtain patent protection or other intellectual property rights that limit our ability to develop or commercialize our product candidates. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. For additional information regarding our competition, see “Business—Competition.”

Product development is a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome. We may incur unexpected costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

All of our product candidates are in preclinical development and their risk of failure is high. We are unable to predict when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective or safe in humans or will receive marketing approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Before we can commence clinical trials for a product candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical testing and studies that support our planned INDs in the United States or similar applications in other jurisdictions. We cannot be certain of the timely completion or outcome of our preclinical testing and studies and cannot predict if the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States will accept our proposed clinical programs or if the outcome of our preclinical testing and studies ultimately will support the further development of our programs.

Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to the outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. We cannot guarantee that any of our ongoing and planned clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. Moreover, we may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials, that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidates, including:

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We could also encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, or the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, or recommended for suspension or termination by the data monitoring committee for such trial. A suspension or termination may be imposed 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 comparable foreign regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product or treatment, failure to establish or achieve clinically meaningful trial endpoints, 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 product candidates. Further, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval even after they have reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials.

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Our product development costs also will increase if we experience delays in preclinical studies or clinical trials or in obtaining marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our preclinical studies or clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant preclinical study or clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates, or could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which may harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Any favorable preclinical results may not be predictive of results that may be observed in clinical trials.

Data obtained from preclinical activities are subject to varying interpretations and analyses, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies have nonetheless failed to demonstrate results in clinical studies. As we generate preclinical results, such results will not ensure that later preclinical studies or clinical trials will demonstrate similar results. There is a high failure rate for drugs and biologics proceeding through clinical trials. Even if FHD-286 and FHD-609 reach the clinical trial stage, these product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in later stage of clinical development. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in later-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in the preclinical and early stage clinical trials.

Our product candidates utilize novel mechanisms of action, which may result in greater research and development expenses, regulatory issues that could delay or prevent approval, or discovery of unknown or unanticipated adverse effects.

Our lead product candidates utilize novel mechanisms of action, which may result in greater research and development expenses, regulatory issues that could delay or prevent approval, or discovery of unknown or unanticipated adverse effects. For example, FHD-609 is a protein degrader. Currently there are no approved medicines using this mechanism of action. Because FHD-609 in particular utilizes a novel mechanism of action that has not been the subject of extensive study compared to more well-known product candidates, there is also an increased risk that we may discover previously unknown or unanticipated adverse effects during our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Any such events could adversely impact our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, a novel mechanism of action may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to conduct additional studies or clinical trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of our product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. The novel mechanism of action also means that fewer people are trained in or experienced with product candidates of this type, which may make it more difficult to find, hire and retain personnel for research, development and manufacturing positions.

Our approach to the discovery of product candidates is unproven, and we may not be successful in our efforts to use and expand our platform to build a pipeline of product candidates with commercial value.

A key element of our strategy is to use and expand our Gene Traffic Control platform to build a pipeline of product candidates and progress these product candidates through clinical development for the treatment of various cancers and other therapeutic areas. Although our research and development efforts to date have resulted in our discovery and preclinical development of FHD-286 and FHD-609 for the treatment of cancer, FHD-286 and FHD-609 may not be safe or effective as cancer treatments, and we may not be able to develop any other product candidates. We may not be successful in identifying further targets in the chromatin regulatory system that are relevant in cancer, or other diseases, and which can be “basketed” into a group that is large enough to present a sufficient commercial opportunity or that is druggable with one chemical compound. Even if we are successful in building our pipeline of product candidates, the potential product candidates that we identify may

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not be suitable for clinical development or generate acceptable clinical data, including as a result of being shown to have unacceptable toxicity or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval from the FDA or other regulatory authorities or achieve market acceptance. If we do not successfully develop and commercialize product candidates, we will not be able to generate product revenue in the future, which likely would result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely affect our stock price.

Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate substantial evidence of the safety and efficacy of our product candidates, which would delay or prevent regulatory approval of the product candidates, limit the commercial potential, or result in significant negative consequences following any potential marketing approval.

To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to market and sell any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that such product candidates are safe and effective for use in each targeted indication. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical development process. Most product candidates that begin clinical trials are never approved by regulatory authorities for commercialization. We have not evaluated any product candidates in human clinical trials. Moreover, we are not aware of any clinical trials involving products that interact with BAF complexes to affect the chromatin regulatory system in a similar manner to our products. It is impossible to predict when or if any product candidates we may develop will prove safe in humans. Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate with substantial evidence from adequate and well-controlled trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, that such product candidates are safe and effective for their intended uses. There can be no assurance that our clinical trials will not cause undesirable side effects.

If any product candidates we develop are associated with or cause serious adverse events, undesirable side effects, or unexpected characteristics, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to certain uses or subpopulations in which the serious adverse events, undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe, or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. Many product candidates that initially showed promise in early stage testing for treating cancer or other diseases have later been found to cause side effects that prevented further clinical development of the product candidates. Additionally, any safety concerns observed in any one of our clinical trials in our targeted indications could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our product candidates in those and other indications.

Moreover, if our product candidates are associated with undesirable side effects in preclinical studies or clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may elect to abandon their development or limit their development to more narrow 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, which may limit the commercial expectations for the product candidate if approved.

Additionally, adverse developments in clinical trials of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other regulatory oversight bodies to suspend or terminate our clinical trials or to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates.

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of any product candidates we may identify and develop and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Even if our clinical trials are successfully completed, clinical data are often subject to varying interpretations and analyses, and we cannot guarantee that the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities will interpret the results as we do. Results acceptable to support approval in one jurisdiction may be deemed inadequate by another regulatory authority to support regulatory approval in that other jurisdiction. Even if regulatory is secured for a product candidate, the terms of such approval may also limit its commercial potential.

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We rely on third parties to manufacture our preclinical product supplies, and we will likely rely on third parties to produce and process clinical quantities of our product candidates and to assist with clinical trials

We currently rely on third parties to manufacture preclinical product supplies and expect to rely on outside vendors to manufacture clinical supplies of our product candidates. We will need to negotiate and maintain contractual arrangements with these outside vendors for the supply of our product candidates and we may not be able to do so on favorable terms. We have not yet caused any product candidates to be manufactured on a commercial scale and may not be able to do so for any of our product candidates.

The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates must be approved by the FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities following inspections that will be conducted after we submit an application to the FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities. We will be completely dependent on our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with cGMP and any other regulatory requirements of the FDA or other regulatory authorities for the manufacture of our product candidates. Beyond periodic audits, we have no control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates, if it withdraws any approval in the future, or if it otherwise identifies noncompliance with cGMPs at these facilities, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would require the incurrence of significant additional costs and significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved. Similarly, if any third-party manufacturers on which we will rely fail to manufacture quantities of our product candidates at quality levels necessary to meet regulatory requirements and at a scale sufficient to meet anticipated demand at a cost that allows us to achieve profitability, our business, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, we will rely on third-party clinical investigators, contract research organizations, or CROs, and consultants. Relying on third-party clinical investigators, CROs and consultants may force us to encounter delays that are outside of our control. We may be unable to identify and contract with a sufficient number of investigators, CROs and consultants on a timely basis or at all. There can be no assurance that we will be able to negotiate and enter into any additional master services agreement with other CROs, as necessary, on terms that are acceptable to us on a timely basis or at all.

Difficulty in enrolling patients could delay clinical trials of our product candidates.

Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical studies of our product candidates is critical to our success. The timing of completion of our clinical studies depends in part on the speed at which we can recruit patients to participate in testing our product candidates, and we may experience delays in our clinical trials if we encounter difficulties in enrollment. Because we are focused on patients with specific mutations, our ability to enroll eligible patients may be limited or may result in slower enrollment than we anticipate. We cannot be certain how many patients will have each of the genetic mutations that our platform is designed to target or that the number of patients enrolled for each mutation will suffice for regulatory approval and inclusion of each such mutation in the approved label. We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll 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 addition, some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that treat the same indications as our product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’ product candidates.

In addition to the potentially small populations, 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 disease is either severe enough or not too advanced to include them in a study. Additionally, the process of finding and diagnosing patients may prove costly. We also may not be able to identify, recruit and enroll a sufficient number of patients to complete our clinical studies because of the

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perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study, the availability and efficacy of competing therapies and clinical trials, the proximity and availability of clinical study sites for prospective patients, the availability of genetic sequencing information for patient tumors so that we can identify patients with the targeted genetic mutations, and the patient referral practices of physicians. If patients are unwilling to participate in our studies for any reason, the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting studies and obtaining regulatory approval of potential products may be delayed.

Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new or modified products from being developed, approved or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, the FDA’s ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and other events that may otherwise affect the FDA’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs or modifications to approved drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities.

Separately, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, on March 10, 2020 the FDA announced its intention to postpone most foreign inspections of manufacturing facilities and products, and subsequently, on March 18, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to temporarily postpone routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Employee Matters, Managing Growth and Information Technology

We are highly dependent on our key personnel. If we are not successful in attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy.

We are highly dependent on Adrian Gottschalk, our Chief Executive Officer. In addition, the loss of the services of any of our executive officers, other key employees and other scientific and medical advisors, and an inability to find suitable replacements could result in delays in product development and harm our business.

Despite our efforts to retain Mr. Gottschalk and other valuable employees, members of our management, scientific and development teams may terminate their employment with us on short notice. Although we have employment agreements with our key employees, these employment agreements provide for at-will employment, which means that any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice.

We will need to grow the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.

As of August 31, 2020, we had 85 full-time employees. We intend to hire new employees to assume activities and responsibilities within the company, including conducting our research and performing development activities in the future.

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Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified managerial, scientific and medical personnel. We conduct our operations at our facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts region is headquarters to many other biopharmaceutical companies and many academic and research institutions. Competition for skilled personnel in our market is intense and may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms or at all. Changes to U.S. immigration and work authorization laws and regulations, including those that restrain the flow of scientific and professional talent, can be significantly affected by political forces and levels of economic activity. Our business may be materially adversely affected if legislative or administrative changes to immigration or visa laws and regulations impair our hiring processes and goals or projects involving personnel who are not U.S. citizens.

Any delay or disruption in hiring such new employees could result in delays in our research and development activities and would harm our business. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop, and as we transition into operating as a public company, we expect to need additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other personnel, as well as additional facilities to expand our operations.

If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, or we are not able to effectively build out new facilities to accommodate this expansion, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

Our internal computer systems, or those used by our third-party CROs or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of the development programs of our product candidates.

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our current and future CROs and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, and telecommunication and electrical failures. While we have not experienced any such material system failure or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations. For example, the loss of data from completed or future preclinical studies and clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Likewise, we rely on third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and to conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed.

Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

We rely on multiple CROs to mitigate potential impacts that may affect any one of our CROs. However, CDMOs and other contractors and consultants, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, pandemics and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions, for which we are predominantly self-insured. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. We rely on third-party manufacturers to produce our product candidates. Our ability to obtain clinical supplies of our product candidates could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers are affected by a man-made or natural disaster or other business interruption.

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Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new or modified products from being developed, approved or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, the FDA’s ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and other events that may otherwise affect the FDA’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs or modifications to approved drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities.

Separately, in response to the global pandemic of COVID-19, on March 10, 2020 the FDA announced its intention to postpone most foreign inspections of manufacturing facilities and products, and subsequently, on March 18, 2020, the FDA announced its intention to temporarily postpone routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

The continuing outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States and other countries may adversely affect our business and the market price of our common stock.

The recent global pandemic of COVID-19 is impacting worldwide economic activity, particularly economic activity in the United States, and poses the risk that we or our employees, contractors, suppliers, or other partners may be prevented or delayed from conducting business activities for an indefinite period of time, including due to shutdowns that may be requested or mandated by governmental authorities. The continued prevalence of COVID-19 and the measures taken by the governments of countries affected could disrupt the supply chain and the manufacture or shipment of both drug substance and finished drug product for our product candidates for preclinical testing or clinical trials, cause diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of preclinical and clinical trial matters to focus on pandemic concerns, limit travel in a manner that interrupts key trial activities, such as trial site initiations and monitoring, delay regulatory filings with regulatory agencies in affected areas or adversely affect our ability to obtain regulatory approvals. These disruptions could also affect other facets of our business, including but not limited to:

The COVID-19 outbreak and mitigation measures also may have an adverse impact on global economic conditions, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in significant financial market volatility and uncertainty. A continuation or worsening of the levels of market disruption and volatility seen in the recent past as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak could have an adverse effect on our ability to access capital and on the market price of our common stock.

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Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to adequately protect our proprietary technology and platform or obtain and maintain patent protection for our technology and products or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our technology and products may be impaired.

Our commercial success will depend in part on our ability and the ability of our licensors to obtain and maintain proprietary or intellectual property protection in the United States and other countries for our product candidates, and our core technologies, including aspects of our Gene Traffic Control platform. We rely on trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our proprietary and intellectual property position. In particular, our Gene Traffic Control platform is not the subject of patent applications.

We seek to protect our proprietary product candidates by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our product candidates that are important to our business. If we or our licensors are unable to obtain or maintain patent protection with respect to our current and future product candidates, competitors and other third parties could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and other product candidates that we may pursue may be impaired. As a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.

Currently, our patent portfolio, including our portfolio related to our product candidates FHD-286 and FHD-609, is in its earliest stages, primarily consisting of provisional patent applications, which do not themselves issue as patents, and patent applications filed pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT. We have no issued patents related to FHD-286 or FHD-609. In order to continue to pursue protection based on provisional patent applications, we will need to file PCT, foreign applications and/or U.S. non-provisional patent applications prior to applicable deadlines. In order to continue to pursue protection based on PCT applications, we will need to file national phase applications in the U.S. and ex-U.S. jurisdictions prior to applicable deadlines. Even then, patents may never issue from our patent applications, or the scope of any patent may not be sufficient to provide a competitive advantage.

The degree of patent protection we require to successfully commercialize our product candidates may be unavailable or severely limited in some cases and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. We cannot provide any assurances that any of our pending patent applications will issue, or that any of our pending patent applications that mature into issued patents will include claims with a scope sufficient to protect FHD-286 or FHD-609 or our other current or future product candidates. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Furthermore, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally twenty years after it is filed. Various extensions may be available; however, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with adequate and continuing patent protection sufficient to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to our product candidates, including generic versions of such products.

Other parties have developed technologies that may be related or competitive to our own, and such parties may have filed or may file patent applications, or may have received or may receive patents, claiming inventions that may overlap or conflict with those claimed in our own patent applications, in either case that they may rely upon to dominate our patent position in the market. 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, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or licensed pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights cannot be predicted with any certainty.

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In addition, the patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Further, with respect to most of the pending patent applications covering our product candidates, prosecution has yet to commence. Patent prosecution is a lengthy process, during which the scope of the claims initially submitted for examination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, have been significantly narrowed by the time they issue, if at all. 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.

Even if we acquire patent protection that we expect should enable us to maintain such competitive advantage, third parties may challenge the validity, enforceability or scope thereof, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our owned and licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad. For example, we may be subject to a third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO challenging the priority of an invention claimed within one of our patents, which submissions may also be made prior to a patent’s issuance, precluding the granting of any of our pending patent applications. We may become involved in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter parties review, post-grant review or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others from whom we have obtained licenses to such rights. Competitors may claim that they invented the inventions claimed in our issued patents or patent applications prior to us, or may file patent applications before we do. Competitors may also claim that we are infringing on their patents and that we therefore cannot practice our technology as claimed under our patents, if issued. Competitors may also contest our patents, if issued, by showing the patent examiner that the invention was not original, was not novel or was obvious. In litigation, a competitor could claim that our patents, if issued, are not valid for a number of reasons. If a court agrees, we would lose our rights to those challenged patents.

In addition, we may in the future be subject to claims by our former employees or consultants asserting an ownership right in our patent applications or technologies, as a result of the work they performed on our behalf. Although we generally require all of our employees, consultants and advisors and any other third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information or technology to assign or grant similar rights to their inventions to us, we cannot be certain that we have executed such agreements with all parties who may have contributed to our intellectual property, nor can we be certain that our agreements with such parties will be upheld in the face of a potential challenge, or that they will not be breached, for which we may not have an adequate remedy.

An adverse determination in any such submission or proceeding may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, without payment to us, or could limit the duration of the patent protection covering our technology and product candidates. Such challenges may also result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize our product candidates without infringing third party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.

Even if our patent portfolio is unchallenged, it may not provide us with any meaningful protection or prevent competitors from designing around our patent claims to circumvent our owned or licensed patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner. For example, a third party may develop a competitive product that provides benefits similar to one or more of our product candidates but that has a different composition that falls outside the scope of our patent protection. If the patent protection provided by the patents and patent applications we hold or pursue with respect to our product candidates is not sufficiently broad to impede such competition, our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates could be negatively affected, which would harm our business.

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

In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we rely upon unpatented trade secret protection, unpatented know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. With respect to the various aspects of our Gene Traffic Control platform, including our proprietary libraries, we consider trade secrets and know-how to be our primary intellectual property. We seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with our collaborators, scientific advisors, employees and consultants, and invention assignment agreements with our consultants and employees. We may not be able to prevent the unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical know-how or other trade secrets by the parties to these agreements, however, despite the existence generally of confidentiality agreements and other contractual restrictions. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies will be effective. If any of the collaborators, scientific advisors, employees and consultants who are parties to these agreements breaches or violates the terms of any of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could lose our trade secrets as a result. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our confidential proprietary information by maintaining physical security on our premises, and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems, but it is possible that these security measures could be breached. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets, like patent litigation, is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States are sometimes less willing to protect trade secrets.

Our trade secrets could otherwise become known or be independently discovered by our competitors. Competitors could purchase our product candidates and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If our trade secrets are not adequately protected so as to protect our market against competitors’ products, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business.

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

The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In addition, periodic maintenance fees on issued patents often must be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies over the lifetime of the patent. While an unintentional lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. If we fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or procedures, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing products that are the same as or similar to our product candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

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The intellectual property landscape around our technology, including our Gene Traffic Control platform, is highly dynamic, and third parties may obtain intellectual property rights that could affect our ability to use our platform or otherwise develop and commercialize product candidates.

The field of protein modeling, especially in the area of targeting transcription factors, is still in its infancy. Due to the intense research and development that is taking place by several companies, including us and our competitors, in this field, the intellectual property landscape is evolving and in flux, and it may remain uncertain for the coming years. There may be significant intellectual property related litigation and proceedings relating to our owned and in-licensed, and other third party, intellectual property and proprietary rights in the future.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators and licensors to develop, manufacture, market, and sell any product candidates that we may develop and use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating the intellectual property and proprietary rights of third parties. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our Gene Traffic Control platform and related technology and product candidates may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. Moreover, it is not always clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of therapies, products or their methods of use or manufacture. There may be third-party patents of which we are currently unaware with claims to technologies, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. We may be unable to obtain a license to such patents held by third-parties on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In the event that we are unable to obtain licenses to such patents, our ability to develop and commercialize one or more product candidates may become severely limited. Even if we were able to obtain such a license, it could be granted on non-exclusive terms, thereby providing our competitors and other third parties access to the same technologies licensed to us.

We may initiate or become involved in legal proceedings involving allegations that we are infringing a third party’s 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 depends in part upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to develop, manufacture and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the propriety rights and intellectual property of third parties.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by extensive and frequent litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. We may in the future become party to, or threatened with, adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our product candidates and technology. Our competitors or other third parties may assert infringement claims against us, alleging that our products or technologies are covered by their patents. Given the vast number of patents in our field of technology, we cannot be certain that we do not infringe existing patents or that we will not infringe patents that may be granted in the future. If a patent holder believes our product or product candidate infringes on its patent, the patent holder may sue us even if we have received patent protection for our technology. Moreover, we may face patent infringement claims from non-practicing entities that have no relevant product revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may thus have no deterrent effect.

If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our product candidates and technology. We may choose to obtain a license, even in the absence of an action or finding of infringement. In either case, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain such a license, it could be granted on non-exclusive terms, thereby providing our competitors and other third

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parties access to the same technologies licensed to us. Without such a license, we could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing and commercializing the infringing technology or product candidates. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed such third-party patent rights. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. If we lose a foreign patent lawsuit, alleging our infringement of a competitor’s patents, we could be prevented from marketing our products in one or more foreign countries, which would have a materially adverse effect on our business.

We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that we or our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of our competitors or are in breach of non-competition or non-solicitation agreements with our competitors.

We could in the future also be subject to claims that we or our employees have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed alleged trade secrets or other proprietary information of former employers or competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees and consultants do not use the intellectual property, proprietary information, know-how or trade secrets of others in their work for us, we may in the future be subject to claims that we caused an employee to breach the terms of his or her non-competition or non-solicitation agreement, or that we or these individuals have, inadvertently or otherwise, used or disclosed the alleged trade secrets or other proprietary information of a former employer or competitor. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and could be a distraction to management. If our defenses to these claims fail, in addition to requiring us to pay monetary damages, a court could prohibit us from using technologies or features that are essential to our product candidates, if such technologies or features are found to incorporate or be derived from the trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. An inability to incorporate such technologies or features would have a material adverse effect on our business, and may prevent us from successfully commercializing our product candidates. In addition, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel as a result of such claims. Moreover, any such litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our ability to hire employees or contract with independent sales representatives. A loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize our product candidates, which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

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

Competitors and other third parties may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our patents, if obtained, and other intellectual property rights. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims. A court may disagree with our allegations, however, and may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the third-party technology in question. Further, such third parties could counterclaim that we infringe their intellectual property or that a patent we have asserted against them is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims challenging the validity, enforceability or scope of asserted patents are commonplace. In addition, third parties may initiate legal proceedings against us to assert such challenges to our intellectual property rights. The outcome of any such proceeding is generally unpredictable.

An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability of our patents covering one of our product candidates, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection covering such product candidate. Competing products may also be sold in other countries in which our patent coverage might not exist or be as strong.

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Intellectual property litigation could cause us to spend substantial resources and distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.

Litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims, with or without merit, is unpredictable and generally expensive and time consuming and is likely to divert significant resources from our core business, including distracting our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities.

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

We may not be able to effectively enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. The requirements for patentability may differ in certain countries, particularly in developing countries. Moreover, our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights may be adversely affected by unforeseen changes in foreign intellectual property laws. Additionally, the patent laws of some foreign countries do not afford intellectual property protection to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of some countries, particularly developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property rights. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. For example, many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, if our ability to enforce our patents to stop infringing activities is inadequate. These products may compete with our product candidates, and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions, whether or not successful, could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and resources from other aspects of our business. Furthermore, while we intend to protect our intellectual property rights in the major markets for our product candidates, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in which we may wish to market our product candidates. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.

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We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of any intellectual property, including any patents we may own or in-license in the future.

We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in any patents we may own or in-license in the future, trade secrets, or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. We may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our product candidates or other technologies. We generally enter into confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, and contractors. These agreements generally provide that inventions conceived by the party in the course of rendering services to us will be our exclusive property. However, those agreements may not be honored and may not effectively assign intellectual property rights to us. Moreover, there may be some circumstances where we are unable to negotiate for such ownership rights. Disputes regarding ownership or inventorship of intellectual property can also arise in other contexts, such as collaborations and sponsored research. If we are subject to an inventorship, such dispute may lead to litigation which could be expensive and time consuming. If we are unsuccessful, in addition to paying monetary damages, we could lose valuable rights in intellectual property that we regard as our own, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our product candidates and our Gene Traffic Control platform. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we do not obtain patent term extension and data exclusivity for any product candidates we may develop, our business may be materially harmed.

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of any product candidates we may develop, one or more of our U.S. patents, if obtained, may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Action of 1984, or Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent extension term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. For example:

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Should any of these events occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Changes to the patent law in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our product candidates.

As is the case with other biopharmaceutical companies, our success is heavily dependent on intellectual property, particularly patents. Obtaining and enforcing patents in the biopharmaceutical industry involve both technological and legal complexity and is therefore costly, time consuming and inherently uncertain. Recent patent reform legislation in the United States and other countries, including the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or Leahy-Smith Act, signed into law on September 16, 2011, could increase those uncertainties and costs. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art and provide more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents. In addition, the Leahy-Smith Act has transformed the U.S. patent system into a “first to file” system. The first-to-file provisions, however, only became effective on March 16, 2013. Accordingly, it is not yet clear what, if any, impact the Leahy-Smith Act will have on the operation of our business. However, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could make it more difficult to obtain patent protection for our inventions and increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. Additionally, there have been recent proposals for additional changes to the patent laws of the United States and other countries that, if adopted, could impact our ability to obtain patent protection for our proprietary technology or our ability to enforce rights in our proprietary technology. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. courts, the USPTO and the relevant law-making bodies in other countries, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce any patents that we may obtain in the future.

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Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties, including independent clinical investigators, CROs, and CDMOs to conduct certain aspects of our discovery and preclinical studies and development, and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with applicable regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.

We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third parties, including independent clinical investigators and third-party CROs and CDMOs, as well as potential collaboration partners to conduct certain aspects of our discovery, preclinical studies and development and clinical trials and to monitor and manage data for our ongoing preclinical and clinical programs. We rely on these parties for execution of our preclinical studies and planned clinical trials, and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies and trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on these third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our third-party contractors, CROs and CDMOs are required to comply with GCP requirements, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for all of our product candidates in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of these third parties, our CROs or our CDMOs 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. Moreover, our business may be adversely affected if any of these third parties violates federal or state fraud and abuse or false claims laws and regulations or healthcare privacy and security laws.

Further, these investigators, CROs and CDMOs are not our employees and we will not be able to control, other than by contract, the amount of resources, including time, which they devote to our product candidates and clinical trials. These third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other product development activities, which could affect their performance on our behalf. If independent investigators, CROs and CDMOs fail to devote sufficient resources to the development of our product candidates, or if CROs 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, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed or precluded entirely.

If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Additionally, CROs may lack the capacity to absorb higher workloads or take on additional capacity to support our needs. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter similar challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

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We currently rely and expect to rely in the future on the use of manufacturing suites in third-party facilities or third parties to manufacture our product candidates. Our business could be harmed if we are unable to use third-party manufacturing suites or if the third-party manufacturers fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of our product candidates or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.

We do not currently own any facility that may be used as our clinical-scale manufacturing and processing facility and must currently rely on outside vendors to manufacture our product candidates in clinical quantities.

Our reliance on third parties for clinical quantities exposes us to a number of risks, including:

Each of these risks could delay or prevent the completion of our clinical trials or the approval of any of our product candidates by the FDA or result in higher costs. In addition, we will rely on third parties to perform certain specification tests on our product candidates prior to delivery to patients. If these tests are not appropriately done and test data are not reliable, patients could be put at risk of serious harm and the FDA could place significant restrictions on our company until deficiencies are remedied.

If our third-party manufacturers use hazardous and biological materials in a manner that causes injury or violates applicable law, we may be liable for damages.

Our research and development activities involve the controlled use of potentially hazardous substances, including chemical and biological materials, by our third-party manufacturers. Our manufacturers are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of medical and hazardous materials. Although we believe that our manufacturers’ procedures for using, handling, storing and disposing of these materials comply with legally prescribed standards, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of contamination or injury resulting from medical or hazardous materials. As a result of any such contamination or injury, we may incur liability or local, city, state or federal authorities may curtail the use of these materials and interrupt our business operations. In the event of an accident, we could be held liable for damages or penalized with fines, and the liability could exceed our resources. We do not have any insurance for liabilities arising from medical or hazardous materials. Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations is expensive, and current or future environmental regulations may impair our research, development and production efforts, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations.

Risks Related to Regulatory and Other Legal Compliance Matters

Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate adequately the safety and efficacy of any of our product candidates, which would delay or prevent further clinical development of those candidates.

To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to market and sell any of our product candidates, including FHD-286 and FHD-609, and any other future product candidates, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our products are safe and effective in humans.

Clinical trials that we conduct may not demonstrate the efficacy and safety necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations,

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changes in and adherence to the clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. If the results of our ongoing or future clinical trials are inconclusive with respect to the efficacy of our product candidates, if we do not meet the clinical endpoints with statistical and clinically meaningful significance, or if there are safety concerns associated with our product candidates, we may be delayed in obtaining marketing approval, if at all.

Even if the trials are successfully completed, clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and we cannot guarantee that the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities will interpret the results as we do, and more trials could be required before we submit our product candidates for approval. We cannot guarantee that the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities will view our product candidates as having sufficient efficacy to support the indication studied in the clinical trial even if positive results are observed in early clinical trials. To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory to the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities for support of a marketing application, approval of our product candidates may be significantly delayed, or we may be required to expend significant additional resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates. Additionally, any safety or efficacy concerns observed in any tumor-specific subgroup of our clinical trials could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our product candidates for a tumor-agnostic indication, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may in the future seek orphan drug status for FHD-286 and FHD-609 and some of our other future product candidates, but we may be unable to obtain such designations or to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug status, including market exclusivity, which may cause our future revenue, if any, to be reduced.

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined as a disease or condition with a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States when there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available the drug or biologic in the United States will be recovered from sales in the United States for that drug or biologic. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an NDA. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the generic identity of the drug and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.

If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for a particular active ingredient for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan product exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including an NDA, to market the same drug for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or if the FDA finds that the holder of the orphan drug exclusivity has not shown that it can assure the availability of sufficient quantities of the orphan drug to meet the needs of patients with the disease or condition for which the drug was designated. As a result, even if one of our product candidates receives orphan exclusivity, the FDA can still approve other drugs that have a different active ingredient for use in treating the same indication or disease. Furthermore, the FDA can waive orphan exclusivity if we are unable to manufacture sufficient supply of our product.

We may seek orphan drug designation for some or all of our other future product candidates, where applicable, in addition to orphan indications in which there is a medically plausible basis for the use of these products. Even when we obtain orphan drug designation, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for an indication broader than the orphan designated indication and may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure

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sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. In addition, although we intend to seek orphan drug designation for other product candidates, we may never receive such designations. For example, the FDA has expressed concerns regarding the regulatory considerations for orphan drug designation as applied to tissue agnostic therapies, and the FDA may interpret the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as amended, or the FD&C Act, and regulations promulgated thereunder in a way that limits or blocks our ability to obtain orphan drug designation or orphan drug exclusivity, if our product candidates are approved, for our targeted indications.

A Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA, even if granted for any of our product candidates, may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process and it does not increase the likelihood that our product candidates will receive marketing approval.

We may seek Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA for FHD-286 and FHD-609, and for some or all of our future product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug or biologic that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life- threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug or biologic may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For product candidates that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for other expedited approval programs, including accelerated approval.

Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a Breakthrough Therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to candidate products considered for approval under non-expedited FDA review procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification. Thus, even though we intend to seek Breakthrough Therapy designation for some or all of our future product candidates for the treatment of various cancers, there can be no assurance that we will receive breakthrough therapy designation.

Our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians, and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, anti-bribery, physician payment transparency and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, and diminished profits and future earnings.

Our future arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we research, market, sell, and distribute our medicines for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations include the following:

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Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Given the breadth of the laws and regulations, limited guidance for certain laws and regulations and evolving government interpretations of the laws and regulations, governmental authorities may possibly conclude that our business practices may not comply with healthcare laws and regulations, including, without limitation, certain of our advisory board agreements with physicians who receive stock or stock options as compensation for services provided to us. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other government regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from participation in government health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, imprisonment, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Healthcare legislative reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The U.S. and many foreign jurisdictions have enacted or proposed legislative and regulatory changes affecting the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of our current or future product candidates or any future product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell a product for which we obtain marketing approval. In particular, in the U.S., there have been and continue to be a number of legislative initiatives at the federal and state level to contain healthcare costs. For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, of collectively, the ACA, was enacted, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both government and private payors. Since its enactment, there have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. It is unclear how any efforts to challenge, repeal, or replace the ACA will impact the ACA or our business.

Changes in regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (i) changes to our manufacturing arrangements, (ii) additions or modifications to product labeling, (iii) the recall or discontinuation of our products or (iv) additional record-keeping requirements. Further, healthcare reform may result in changes to payment methodologies, the implementation of pharmaceutical and biological product price controls, and reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business.

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The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which third-party payors establish coverage, adequate reimbursement levels and pricing policies.

Our ability to obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates by governmental healthcare programs, private health insurers, and other third-party payors will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for our product candidates or any product that we may develop, and any reimbursement that may become available may not be adequate or may be decreased or eliminated in the future. No uniform policy for coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our product candidates to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates, and may not be able to obtain a satisfactory financial return on our product candidates.

We are subject to U.S. and international restrictive regulations governing the use, processing and cross-border transfer of data and personal information.

The conduct of our clinical trials may be subject to privacy restrictions based on U.S. and non-U.S. regulations. For example, we may be subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA. As currently written, the CCPA may impact our business activities and exemplifies the vulnerability of our business to the evolving regulatory environment related to personal data and protected health information. Additionally, the collection, use, storage, disclosure, transfer, or other processing of personal data regarding individuals in the EU, including personal health data, is subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. See “Business—Government Regulation.” Compliance with the GDPR will be a rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of doing business or require us to change our business practices, and despite those efforts, there is a risk that we may be subject to fines and penalties, litigation, and reputational harm in connection with our European activities. Further, the United Kingdom’s vote in favor of exiting the EU, often referred to as Brexit, has created uncertainty with regard to data protection regulation in the United Kingdom. In particular, it is unclear how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated.

Compliance with U.S. and international data protection laws and regulations could require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, restrict our ability to collect, use and disclose data, or in some cases, impact our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions. Failure to comply with U.S. and international data protection laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation or adverse publicity and could negatively affect our operating results and business. Moreover, clinical trial subjects about whom we or our potential collaborators obtain information, as well as the providers who share this information with us, may contractually limit our ability to use and disclose the information. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights, failed to comply with data protection laws, or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business.

Risks related to this offering and ownership of our common stock

We do not know whether a market will develop for our common stock or what the market price of our common stock will be, and, as a result, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of our common stock.

Before this offering, there was no public trading market for our common stock. If a market for our common stock does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of common stock at an attractive price or at all. We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade. It is possible that in one or more future periods our results of operations may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors, and, as a result of these and other factors, the price of our common stock may fall.

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You will incur immediate and substantial dilution as a result of this offering.

If you purchase common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution of $11.25 per share, representing the difference between the assumed initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and our pro forma net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering and the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our preferred stock upon the closing of this offering. Moreover, we issued options in the past that allow the holders to acquire common stock at prices significantly below the assumed initial public offering price. As of August 31, 2020, there were 4,828,768 shares subject to outstanding options with a weighted-average exercise price of $4.22 per share. To the extent that these outstanding options are ultimately exercised or the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares, you will incur further dilution. For a further description of the dilution you will experience immediately after this offering, see “Dilution.”

The market price of our common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors purchasing shares in this offering.

The initial public offering price for our common stock was determined through negotiations with the underwriters. This initial public offering price may vary from the market price of our common stock after the offering. As a result, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above the initial public offering price. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

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In recent years, the stock market in general, and the market for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to changes in the operating performance of the companies whose stock is experiencing those price and volume fluctuations. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. These fluctuations may be even more pronounced in the trading market for our stock shortly following this offering. Following periods of such volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Because of the potential volatility of our stock price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future.

Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no or few analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our stock would likely decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares is restricted from immediate resale but may be sold into the market in the near future, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of common stock intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. After this offering and after giving effect to the conversion of all outstanding shares of our preferred stock into 21,958,588 shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering, we will have 35,694,802 shares of common stock outstanding, or 36,819,802 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, in each case based on the 6,236,214 shares of our common stock outstanding as of August 31, 2020. Of these shares, the 7,500,000 shares (or 8,625,000 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full) we are selling in this offering may be resold in the public market immediately, unless purchased by our affiliates. The remaining 28,194,802 shares are currently restricted under securities laws or as a result of lock-up or other agreements, but will be able to be sold after this offering as described in the “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” section of this prospectus. Moreover, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of 21,958,588 shares of our common stock 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 stockholders. We also plan to register all shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity compensation plans or that are issuable upon exercise of outstanding options. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and once vested, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates and the lock-up agreements described in the “Underwriting” section of this prospectus. If any of these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold, in the public market, the market price of our common stock could decline.

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Insiders will continue to have substantial influence over us after this offering, which could limit your ability to affect the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.

After this offering, our directors and executive officers and their affiliates will beneficially own shares representing approximately 56% of our outstanding common stock. As a result, these stockholders, if they act together, will be able to influence our management and affairs and all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company and might affect the market price of our common stock.

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

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company for up to five years. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and plan to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or SOX Section 404, not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, the information we provide stockholders will be different than the information that is available with respect to other public companies. In this prospectus, we have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock, and our stock price may be more volatile.

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected not to “opt out” of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we will adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard and will do so until such time that we either (i) irrevocably elect to “opt out” of such extended transition period or (ii) no longer qualify as an emerging growth company. Therefore, the reported results of operations contained in our consolidated financial statements may not be directly comparable to those of other public companies.

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

As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we will incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market, and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. 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, and our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time towards maintaining compliance with these requirements. These requirements will increase our legal and financial

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compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that the rules and regulations applicable to us as a public company may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, which could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors. We are currently evaluating these rules and regulations and cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. These rules and regulations are often subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices.

Pursuant to SOX Section 404, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting beginning with our second filing of an Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC after we become a public company. However, while we remain an emerging growth company, 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 SOX 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, adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented, and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that we will not be able to conclude, within the prescribed timeframe or at all, that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by SOX Section 404. If we identify one or more material weaknesses, it 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 broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

We cannot specify with certainty the particular uses of the net proceeds we will receive from this offering. Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds, including for any of the purposes described in “Use of Proceeds.” Accordingly, you will have to rely upon the judgment of our management with respect to the use of the proceeds, with only limited information concerning management’s specific intentions. Our management may spend a portion or all of the net proceeds from this offering in ways that our stockholders may not desire or that may not yield a favorable return. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value.

Unfavorable global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn, or additional global financial crises, could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our product candidates, if approved, or our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. For example, the global financial crisis caused extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. Similarly, the recent significant volatility associated with the COVID-19 outbreak has caused significant instability and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. A weak or declining economy could also strain our suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.

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Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated by-laws and Delaware law may have anti-takeover effects that could discourage an acquisition of us by others, even if an acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders, and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated by-laws and Delaware law contain provisions that may have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of us or changes in our management that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and by-laws, which will become effective upon the closing of this offering, include provisions that:

These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our management. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock.

In addition, because we are incorporated in the State of Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or the DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.

Any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated by-laws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the state or federal courts within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the state or federal courts (as appropriate) within the State of Delaware will be exclusive forums for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (3) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated by-laws, (4) action against us or any of our directors or officers involving a claim or defense arising pursuant to the Exchange Act or the Securities Act or (5) any other action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation described above. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this prospectus are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning:

The forward-looking statements in this prospectus are only predictions and are based largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described under the sections in this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere in this prospectus. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond our control, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risks and uncertainties. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds to us from the sale of the shares of common stock in this offering will be approximately $107.8 million, or approximately $124.5 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, based upon an assumed initial price to the public of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $16.00 per share would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $7.0 million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same. We may also increase or decrease the number of shares we are offering. Each increase (decrease) of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by approximately $14.9 million, assuming that the assumed initial public offering price remains the same, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We currently expect to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, as follows:

Based on our planned use of the net proceeds from this offering and our existing cash and cash equivalents, we estimate that such funds will be sufficient to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments into the third quarter of 2022. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we expect. The expected net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, will not be sufficient for us to fund any of our product candidates through regulatory approval, and we will need to raise additional capital to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

We may also use a portion of the net proceeds from this offering to acquire, in-license or invest in products, technologies or businesses that are complementary to our business. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures will depend on numerous factors, including the progress of our preclinical development efforts, our operating costs and other factors described under “Risk Factors” in this prospectus.

Our expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our current intentions based upon our present plans and business condition. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with complete certainty all of the particular uses for the net proceeds to be received upon the completion of this offering or the actual amounts that we will spend on the uses set forth above.

We may find it necessary or advisable to use the net proceeds for other purposes, and we will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds. Pending the uses described above, we plan to invest the net proceeds from this offering in short-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government.

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, pursuant to our loan and security agreement with Comerica Bank, or Comerica, we are prohibited from paying cash dividends without the prior written consent of Comerica and future debt instruments may materially restrict our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors after considering our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our board of directors deems relevant, and subject to the restrictions contained in our current and any future financing instruments. Our ability to pay cash dividends on our capital stock in the future may also be limited by the terms of any preferred securities we may issue or agreements governing any indebtedness we may incur.

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table summarizes our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of June 30, 2020:

You should read the information in this table together with the consolidated financial statements and related notes to those statements, as well as the information set forth under the headings “Selected Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

The pro forma as adjusted information above is illustrative only, and our capitalization following the closing of this offering will depend on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at

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pricing. Each $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease the pro forma as adjusted amount of each of cash and cash equivalents, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity (deficit), and total capitalization by $7.0 million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase or decrease of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase or decrease the pro forma as adjusted amount of each of cash and cash equivalents, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity (deficit), and total capitalization by $14.9 million, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The outstanding share information in the table above excludes as of June 30, 2020:

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution in the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value of your shares of common stock. Dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value represents the difference between the assumed initial price to the public per share of our common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) as of June 30, 2020 was $(116.5) million, or $(19.81) per share of common stock. Our historical net tangible book value (deficit) is the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities and the carrying value of our preferred stock, which is not included within stockholders’ equity (deficit). Historical net tangible book value (deficit) per share represents historical net tangible book value (deficit) divided by the 5,880,598 shares of common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020, which includes 445,949 shares of unvested restricted stock subject to repurchase by us.

Our pro forma net tangible book value as of June 30, 2020 was $60.0 million, or $2.16 per share of common stock. Pro forma net tangible book value represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities, after giving effect to (i) our issuance and sale in July and August 2020 of 5,600,000 shares of Series B preferred stock for gross proceeds of $42.0 million, (ii) the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our preferred stock into an aggregate of 21,958,588 shares of common stock upon the closing of this offering, and (iii) outstanding warrants to purchase shares of preferred stock becoming warrants to purchase shares of common stock upon the closing of this offering. Pro forma net tangible book value per share represents pro forma net tangible book value divided by the total number of shares outstanding as of June 30, 2020, after giving effect to the pro forma adjustments described above.

After giving further effect to (i) our issuance and sale of 7,500,000 shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus and (ii) payment of the final payment fee of $0.5 million related to our loan and security agreement, as amended, which amount is due and payable upon the closing of this offering, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of June 30, 2020 would have been $167.9 million, or $4.75 per share. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $2.59 to existing stockholders and immediate dilution of $11.25 in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering. Dilution per share to new investors is determined by subtracting pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the assumed initial public offering price per share paid by new investors.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis to new investors:

The dilution information discussed above is illustrative only and will change based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed

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initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $0.20 and dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $0.80, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. An increase of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $0.28 and decrease the dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $0.28, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. A decrease of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would decrease our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $0.29 and increase the dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $0.29, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering would be $5.06, representing an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $2.90 to existing stockholders and immediate dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $10.94 to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering, assuming an initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The following table summarizes, as of June 30, 2020, on the pro forma as adjusted basis described above, the total number of shares of common stock purchased from us on an as converted to common stock basis, the total consideration paid or to be paid and the average price per share paid or to be paid by existing stockholders and by new investors in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. As the table shows, new investors purchasing common stock in this offering will pay an average price per share substantially higher than our existing stockholders paid.

A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $16.00 per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the total consideration paid by new investors by $7.5 million and, in the case of an increase, would increase the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 1.5 percentage points and, in the case of a decrease, would decrease the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 1.5 percentage points, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same. An increase (decrease) of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the total consideration paid by new investors by $16.0 million and, in the case of an increase, would increase the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 3.1 percentage points and, in the case of a decrease, would decrease the percentage of total consideration paid by new investors by 3.4 percentage points, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price.

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The table above assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares in this offering. If the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares is exercised in full, the number of shares of our common stock held by existing stockholders would be reduced to 56.4% of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding after this offering, and the number of shares of common stock held by new investors purchasing common stock in this offering would be increased to 43.6% of the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding after this offering.

The tables and discussion above are based on the number of shares of our common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2020, and exclude:

To the extent that outstanding stock options or warrants are exercised, new stock options or warrants are issued, or we issue additional shares of common stock in the future, there will be further dilution to new investors. In addition, we may choose to raise additional capital because of market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. If we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the issuance of these securities could result in further dilution to our stockholders.

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SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables set forth our selected financial data for the periods indicated. We have derived the consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019, from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and the consolidated statements of operations data for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, and the consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2020, from our unaudited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that should be expected for any future period. You should read the following selected consolidated financial data together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section of this prospectus.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Some of the numbers included herein have been rounded for the convenience of presentation. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.

Overview

We are pioneering the discovery and development of a new class of medicines targeting genetically determined dependencies within the chromatin regulatory system, an untapped opportunity for therapeutic intervention. Our proprietary Gene Traffic Control platform gives us an integrated, mechanistic understanding of how the various components of the chromatin regulatory system interact, allowing us to identify, validate and potentially drug targets within the system. Breakdowns in the chromatin regulatory system are associated with over 50 percent of all cancers. Addressing these breakdowns could potentially provide therapies for over 2.5 million patients. Consequently we are initially focused in oncology. We are developing FHD-286, a selective, allosteric ATPase inhibitor, and FHD-609, a protein degrader, to treat hematologic cancers and solid tumors, for which we plan to file INDs in the fourth quarter of 2020 and in the first half of 2021, respectively. Our product candidates are in preclinical development, and so we currently do not have any products approved for commercial sale. Our vision is to use our Gene Traffic Control platform to discover and develop drugs in oncology and other therapeutic areas, including virology, autoimmune disease and neurology.

Since our inception in October 2015, we have focused substantially all of our resources on building our Gene Traffic Control platform, organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, conducting discovery and research activities, protecting our trade secrets, filing patent applications, identifying potential product candidates, undertaking preclinical studies and establishing arrangements with third parties for the manufacture of initial quantities of our product candidates and component materials. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales. To date, we have funded our operations with proceeds from sales of preferred stock, our $15.0 million term loans and an upfront payment of $15.0 million we received in July 2020 under our collaboration agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., or Merck. Through June 30, 2020, we had received gross proceeds of $134.8 million from sales of preferred stock. In July and August 2020, we received additional gross proceeds of $42.0 million from sales of Series B preferred stock.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we reported net losses of $51.1 million, and for the six months ended June 30, 2020, we reported net losses of $29.7 million. As of June 30, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $123.8 million. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for at least the next several years. Our ability to generate any product revenue or product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more product candidates we may develop.

We expect that our expenses and capital requirements will increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly if and as we:

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We will not generate revenue from product sales unless and until we successfully commercialize one of our product candidates, after completing clinical development and obtaining regulatory approval. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant expenses related to developing our commercialization capability to support product sales, marketing, and distribution. Further, following the completion of this offering, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.

As a result, we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and collaborations or licensing arrangements. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back our development or commercialization plans for one or more of our product candidates.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Even if we are able to generate product sales, we may not become profitable. If we fail to become profitable or are unable to sustain profitability on a continuing basis, then we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

COVID-19

In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization and to date, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present a substantial public health and economic challenge around the world. The length of time and full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will directly or indirectly impact our business, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain, subject to change and are difficult to predict. While we continue to conduct our research and development activities, the COVID-19 pandemic may cause disruptions that affect our ability to initiate and complete preclinical studies, future clinical trials or to procure items that are essential for our research and development activities.

We plan to continue to closely monitor the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our employees and our business operations. In an effort to provide a safe work environment for our employees, we have, among other things, increased the cadence of sanitization of our office and lab facilities, implemented various social distancing measures in our office and labs including replacing in-person meetings with virtual interactions, and are providing personal protective equipment for our employees present in our office and lab facilities. We expect to continue to take actions as may be required or recommended by government authorities or as we determine are in the best interests of our employees and other business partners in light of the pandemic.

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Components of Our Results of Operations

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses are comprised of research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for our research activities, including our discovery efforts, and progressing our programs, which include:

We track our direct external research and development expenses on a program-by-program basis. These consist of costs that include fees, reimbursed materials, and other costs paid to consultants, contractors, CDMOs, and CROs in connection with our preclinical and manufacturing activities. We do not allocate employee costs, costs associated with our discovery efforts, laboratory supplies, and facilities expenses, including depreciation or other indirect costs, to specific product development programs because these costs are deployed across multiple programs and our platform and, as such, are not separately classified.

We expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially as we advance our programs into clinical development and expand our discovery, research and preclinical activities in the near term and in the future. At this time, we cannot accurately estimate or know the nature, timing and costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the preclinical and clinical development of any product candidates we may develop. A change in the outcome of any number of variables with respect to product candidates we may develop could significantly change the costs and timing associated with the development of that product candidate. We may never succeed in obtaining regulatory approval for any product candidates we may develop.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel-related costs, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation, for employees engaged in executive, legal, finance and accounting and other administrative functions. General and administrative expenses also include professional fees for legal, patent, consulting, investor and public relations and accounting and audit services as well as direct and allocated facility-related costs.

We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future as we increase our headcount to support our continued research activities and development of our programs and platform. We also anticipate that we will incur increased accounting, audit, legal, regulatory, compliance, director and officer insurance costs and investor and public relations expenses associated with operating as a public company.

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Other Income (Expense)

Interest Expense

Interest expense consists of interest expense associated with outstanding borrowings under our existing loan agreement with Comerica Bank, or Comerica, as well as the amortization of debt discount associated with such agreement.

Interest Income and Other Expense, Net

Interest income consists of interest earned on our invested cash balances. Other expense consists of miscellaneous expense unrelated to our core operations.

Income Taxes

Since our inception, we have not recorded any income tax benefits for the net losses we have incurred or for the research and development tax credits earned in each period, as we believe, based upon the weight of available evidence, that it is more likely than not that all of our net operating loss carryforwards and tax credit carryforwards will not be realized.

As of December 31, 2019, we had federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $87.6 million and $84.9 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future taxable income. The federal net operating loss carryforwards include $12.5 million which expire at various dates beginning in 2035 and $75.1 million which carryforward indefinitely but in some circumstances may be limited to offset 80% of annual taxable income. The state net operating loss carryforwards expire at various dates beginning in 2036. As of December 31, 2019, we also had federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $1.5 million and $1.2 million, respectively, which may be available to reduce future tax liabilities and expire at various dates beginning in 2036 and 2031, respectively. Due to our history of cumulative net losses since inception and uncertainties surrounding our ability to generate future taxable income, we have recorded a full valuation allowance against our net deferred tax assets at each balance sheet date.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Six Months Ended June 30, 2019 and 2020

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

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Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

Research and development expenses were $25.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020, compared to $19.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019. The increase in our FHD-286 program costs of $0.2 million was due to an increase in preclinical and manufacturing costs, partially offset by a decrease in research costs as we progressed our candidate into IND-enabling studies. FHD-609 program costs decreased by $0.4 million as a result of a decrease in research costs, partially offset by an increase in preclinical and manufacturing costs as we progressed our candidate into IND-enabling studies. Platform and other early stage research external costs, which include our selective BRM and selective ARID 1B early-stage programs, increased by $0.9 million, primarily as a result of an increase in selective BRM costs as a result of our ongoing hit-to-lead efforts. Personnel-related costs increased by $2.6 million due to increased headcount in our research and development function. The increase in facility-related expenses and other of $2.2 million was due to the increased costs of supporting a larger group of research and development personnel and their research efforts, including increased rent expense related to our new facility lease, which commenced in January 2020.

General and Administrative Expenses

The following table summarizes our general and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

General and administrative expenses were $4.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020, compared to $3.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019. The increases in personnel-related costs of $0.8 million was a result of an increase in headcount in our general and administrative function to support our business.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest expense was $0.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020, compared to $0.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019. The increase was due to increased borrowings under our loan facility.

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Interest income and other expense, net was less than $0.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020, compared to $0.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and consisted primarily of interest earned on invested cash balances. Interest income decreased as a result of lower invested balances and lower interest rates on invested balances.

Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2018 and 2019

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019:

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019:

Research and development expenses were $44.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $21.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in our FHD-286 program costs of $2.9 million was due to an increase in research costs as our program advanced from hit-to-lead to lead optimization. Preclinical costs also increased as a result of initiating toxicology studies in 2019. The increase in our FHD-609 program costs of $4.4 million were due to an increase in research costs as our program advanced from hit-to-lead to lead optimization. Preclinical costs also increased as a result of initiating toxicology studies towards the end of 2019. Platform and other early stage research external costs, which includes our selective BRM and selective ARID1B early-stage research programs, increased by $7.3 million, as a result of our target validation, assay development and hit-validation efforts for our discovery programs. Personnel-related costs increased by

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$6.8 million due to increased headcount in our research and development function. The increase in facility-related expenses and other of $1.7 million was due to the increased costs of supporting a larger group of research and development personnel and their research efforts.

General and Administrative Expenses

The following table summarizes our general and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019:

General and administrative expenses were $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $4.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in personnel-related costs of $1.1 million was a result of an increase in headcount in our general and administrative function to support our business. Professional and consultant fees increased by $0.6 million due to increased patent costs and professional fees relating to accounting, audit and legal services as well as costs associated with ongoing business activities and our preparations to operate as a public company.

Other Income (Expense)

Interest expense was $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to $0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase was due to increased borrowings under our loan facility.

Interest income and other expense, net was $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $0.1 million and consisted primarily of interest earned on invested cash balances. Interest income increased primarily as a result of higher invested balances.

Other expense was not significant for either of the years ended December 31, 2019 or 2018.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since our inception in October 2015, we have incurred significant operating losses. We expect to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we support our continued research activities and development of our programs and platform. Through June 30, 2020, we have funded our operations with proceeds from sales of preferred stock and debt financing. Through June 30, 2020, we had received gross proceeds of $134.8 million from sales of preferred stock and gross proceeds of $15.0 million from our secured term loan facility with Comerica.

As of June 30, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $36.6 million. In July and August 2020, we received additional gross proceeds of $42.0 million from sales of Series B preferred stock. We also received an upfront payment of $15.0 million in July 2020 under our collaboration agreement with Merck.

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Cash Flows

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

Operating Activities

During the six months ended June 30, 2020, operating activities used $23.4 million of cash, resulting from our net loss of $29.7 million, partially offset by net non-cash charges of $3.3 million and net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $3.0 million. Net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the six months ended June 30, 2020 consisted primarily of a $3.3 million increase in operating lease liabilities resulting from our landlord incentives and an increase of $0.5 million in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities, both partially offset by an increase of $0.8 million in prepaid expenses and other current assets.

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, operating activities used $20.9 million of cash, resulting from our net loss of $22.7 million, partially offset by net non-cash charges of $1.5 million and net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $0.3 million. Net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the six months ended June 30, 2019 consisted primarily of a $0.9 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities, partially offset by a $0.5 million decrease in operating lease liabilities.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, operating activities used $46.3 million of cash, resulting from our net loss of $51.1 million, partially offset by net non-cash charges of $3.6 million and net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $1.2 million. Net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2019 consisted primarily of a $3.3 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities, partially offset by a $1.2 million decrease in operating lease liabilities and a $1.0 million increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, operating activities used $22.6 million of cash, resulting from our net loss of $26.3 million, partially offset by net non-cash charges of $1.3 million and net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $2.4 million. Net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2018 consisted primarily of a $2.4 million increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses and other current liabilities.

Changes in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities and prepaid expenses and other current assets in all periods were generally due to growth in our business, the advancement of our research programs and the timing of vendor invoicing and payments.

Investing Activities

During the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, net cash used in investing activities was $3.3 million and $0.8 million, respectively, due to the acquisition of property and equipment during the periods. Property and equipment purchases for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were primarily related to leasehold improvements for our new facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, net cash used by investing activities was $1.0 million and $1.5 million, respectively, due to the acquisition of property and equipment during the year.

Financing Activities

During the six months ended June 30, 2020, net cash provided by financing activities was $48.2 million, consisting of proceeds from the sale of our Series B preferred stock of $47.9 million and proceeds from the exercise of common stock options.

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, net cash provided by financing activities was $15.3 million, consisting of proceeds from the sale of our Series B preferred stock of $15.3 million and proceeds from the exercise of common stock options.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, net cash provided by financing activities was $24.0 million, consisting of proceeds from the sale of our Series B preferred stock of $15.3 million, proceeds from borrowings under our loan and security agreement of $8.0 million and proceeds from the exercise of common stock options.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, net cash provided by financing activities was $51.8 million, consisting of proceeds from the sale of our Series B preferred stock of $40.4 million, proceeds from convertible notes of $5.0 million, proceeds from borrowings under our loan and security agreement of $7.0 million and proceeds from the exercise of common stock options, all partially offset by repayments of notes payable of $0.8 million.

Loan and Security Agreement

In February 2018, we entered into a loan and security agreement with Comerica Bank, or Comerica, for up to $7.0 million in available debt financing to be used toward funding our operations, or the Loan, and an option for an additional $1.0 million pending receipt of a term sheet for a qualified financing as defined in the agreement.

In March 2019, we amended the Loan to increase the maximum borrowing capacity available to $15.0 million. Under the Loan, as amended, $7.0 million was drawn down as Term Loan A and $8.0 million was drawn down as Term Loan B. Borrowings under both Term Loan A and Term Loan B were repayable in monthly payments of interest-only through February 2020 to be followed by monthly payments of equal principal plus interest until the loan maturity date of February 1, 2023. Interest for Term Loan A is the greater of 1) Comerica’s Prime Rate or 2) LIBOR plus 2.5%, and for Term Loan B, 1.0% plus the greater of 1) Comerica’s Prime Rate or 2) LIBOR plus 2.5%. A final payment fee of 3.0% of the aggregate amounts drawn under Term Loan A and 4.0% under Term Loan B, which amounts to $0.5 million, is due upon the earlier of the maturity date, the repayment date if paid early, whether voluntary or upon acceleration due to default, the sale of substantially all of our assets, or our initial public offering, or IPO. In April 2020 and June 2020, we further amended the Loan to extend the interest-only period first to May 31, 2020 and then to August 31, 2020. Borrowings under both Term Loan A and Term Loan B are repayable in monthly payments of interest-only through August 31, 2020 to be followed by monthly payments of equal principal plus interest until the loan maturity date of February 1, 2023. As of June 30, 2020, the interest rate applicable to outstanding borrowings under the Loan, as amended, are 3.8%.

Borrowings under the Loan, as amended, are collateralized by substantially all of our assets, other than our intellectual property. There are no financial covenants associated with the Loan, as amended; however, we are subject to certain affirmative and negative covenants restricting our activities, including limitations on dispositions, mergers or acquisitions; encumbering our intellectual property; incurring indebtedness or liens; paying dividends; making certain investments; and engaging in certain other business transactions. The obligations under the Loan, as amended, are subject to acceleration upon the occurrence of specified events of default, including a material adverse change in our business, operations or financial or other condition. Upon the occurrence of an event of default and until such event of default is no longer continuing, the annual interest rate will be 5.0% above the otherwise applicable rate. We believe an event of default would be remote.

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Funding Requirements

We expect our expenses to increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we advance the preclinical activities and initiate clinical trials for our product candidates in development. We believe that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments into the third quarter of 2022. We have based our estimates as to how long we expect we will be able to fund our operations on assumptions that may prove to be wrong. We could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect, in which case we would be required to obtain additional financing, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategy. We will be required to obtain further funding through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements or other sources.

Without giving effect to the anticipated net proceeds from this offering, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will not be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses and capital expenditure and debt service requirements beyond one year from the issuance date of our consolidated financial statements. To finance our operations, we will need to raise additional capital, which cannot be assured. We have concluded that this circumstance raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. See Notes 1 to our consolidated financial statements and unaudited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for additional information on our assessment.

Similarly, in its report on our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019, our independent registered public accounting firm included an explanatory paragraph stating that our recurring losses from operations since inception and required additional funding to finance our operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

If we are unable to raise sufficient capital as and when needed, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or discontinue one or more of our research or development programs or the commercialization of any product candidate we may develop, or be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities. If we raise additional funds through collaborations or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to future revenue streams or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us.

See “Risk Factors” for additional risks associated with our substantial capital requirements.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of June 30, 2020 and the effects that such obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flows in future periods:

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We enter into contracts in the normal course of business with CROs, CDMOs and other third parties for preclinical research studies and manufacturing services. These contracts do not contain minimum purchase commitments and are cancelable by us upon prior written notice. Payments due upon cancellation consist only of payments for services provided or expenses incurred, including noncancelable obligations of our service providers, up to the date of cancellation. These payments are not included in the table of contractual obligations above as the amount and timing of such payments are not known.

We have also entered into license agreements under which we are obligated to make specified milestone and royalty payments. We have not included future payments under these agreements in the table of contractual obligations above since the payment obligations under these agreements are contingent upon future events such as regulatory milestones or generating product sales. We are unable to estimate the timing or likelihood of achieving these milestones or generating future product sales. For additional information about our licenses agreements and amounts that could become payable in the future under such agreements, see our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Accrued Research and Development Expenses

As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate certain accrued research and development expenses. This process involves estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of actual costs. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date in our consolidated financial statements based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of the estimates with the service providers and make adjustments if necessary. Examples of estimated accrued research and development expenses include those related to fees paid to:

We base the expense recorded related to contract research and manufacturing on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with multiple CROs and CDMOs that conduct

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services and produce and supply materials. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from the estimate, we adjust the accrual accordingly. Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, our understanding of the status and timing of services performed relative to the actual status and timing of services performed may vary and may result in reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. While the majority of our service providers invoice us in arrears for services performed, on a pre-determined schedule or when contractual milestones are met; some require advance payments. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the expense. We record these as prepaid expenses on our consolidated balance sheet.

Stock-based Compensation

We measure all stock-based awards granted to employees, non-employees and directors based on their fair value on the date of the grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model for options or the difference between the purchase price, if any, and the fair value of our common stock for restricted stock awards. Compensation expense for awards with service-based vesting is generally recognized over the vesting period of the award using the straight-line method to record the expense. We use the graded-vesting method to record the expense of awards with both service-based and performance-based vesting conditions, commencing once achievement of the performance condition becomes probable. We account for forfeitures of share-based awards as they occur. The Black-Scholes option-pricing model uses as inputs the fair value of our common stock and assumptions we make for the expected volatility of our common stock, the expected term of stock options, the risk-free interest rate for a period that approximates the expected term of our common stock options and our expected dividend yield.

Determination of fair value of common stock

As there has been no public market for our common stock to date, the estimated fair value of our common stock has been determined by our board of directors as of the date of each option grant, with input from management, considering our most recently available third-party valuations of common stock, and our board of directors’ assessment of additional objective and subjective factors that it believed were relevant and which may have changed from the date of the most recent valuation through the date of the grant. These third-party valuations were performed in accordance with the guidance outlined in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Accounting and Valuation Guide, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. Our common stock valuations were prepared using a hybrid method which used market approaches to estimate our enterprise value. The hybrid method is a probability-weighted expected return method, or PWERM, where the equity value in one or more scenarios is allocated using an option pricing method, or OPM. The OPM treats common stock and preferred stock as call options on the total equity value of a company, with exercise prices based on the value thresholds at which the allocation among the various holders of a company’s securities changes. Under this method, the common stock has value only if the funds available for distribution to stockholders exceeded the value of the preferred stock liquidation preferences at the time of the liquidity event, such as a strategic sale or a merger. A discount for lack of marketability of the common stock is then applied to arrive at an indication of value for the common stock. The PWERM is a scenario-based methodology that estimates the fair value of common stock based upon an analysis of future values for the company, assuming various outcomes. The common stock value is based on the probability-weighted present value of expected future investment returns considering each of the possible outcomes available as well as the rights of each class of stock. The future value of the common stock under each outcome is discounted back to the valuation date at an appropriate risk-adjusted discount rate and probability weighted to arrive at an indication of value for the common stock. These third-party valuations were performed at various dates, which resulted in valuations of our common stock of $3.72 per share as of December 15, 2018, $3.93 per share as of April 15, 2020, $8.77 per share as of August 4, 2020 and $10.38 per share as of August 31, 2020. In addition to considering the results of

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these third-party valuations, our board of directors considered various objective and subjective factors to determine the fair value of our common stock as of each grant date, including:

The assumptions underlying these valuations represented management’s best estimate, which involved inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. As a result, if we had used significantly different assumptions or estimates, the fair value of our common stock and our stock-based compensation expense could have been materially different.

Once a public trading market for our common stock has been established in connection with the completion of this offering, it will no longer be necessary for our board of directors to estimate the fair value of our common stock in connection with our accounting for granted stock options and other such awards we may grant, as the fair value of our common stock will be determined based on the quoted market price of our common stock.

Awards granted

The following table summarizes by grant date the number of stock-based awards, consisting of common stock options, granted between January 1, 2019 and October 19, 2020, the per share exercise price of options, the per share fair value of common stock on each grant date, and the per share estimated fair value of the options: