Information about our risk factors is contained in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 filed with the SEC on February 27, 2026. As a result of the Merger, which was completed on July 27, 2026, and the resulting change in our business, the risk factors set forth below supersede and replace in their entirety the risk factors disclosed in the Annual Report.
Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Position and Capital Requirements
We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company with a limited operating history as a combined company on which to assess our business; we have not completed any clinical trials, and have no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and likelihood of success and viability.
We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company with a limited operating history as a combined company. We completed the Merger on July 27, 2026 and, following the Merger, the pre-Merger business of Yarrow became our primary business. VYNE divested its commercial business in January 2022, and we do not intend to devote significant resources to the legacy VYNE product candidates, repibresib and VYN202, which we continue to evaluate for a potential sale, license, transfer, disposition, divestiture or other monetization transaction. Accordingly, VYNE’s historical operating results are not indicative of our future results of operations or prospects. Since Yarrow’s inception, Yarrow has incurred operating losses with no corresponding revenue and has utilized substantially all of its resources to identify, license and develop Yarrow’s lead product candidate, YB-101, to organize and staff the company and provide other general and administrative support for operations. Yarrow has no significant experience in initiating, conducting or completing preclinical studies or clinical trials, and none of Yarrow’s product candidates has completed a pivotal clinical trial or been approved for commercial sale. While the legacy VYNE business initiated and conducted clinical trials of its own product candidates, our management team and personnel following the Merger consist substantially of those of Yarrow prior to the Merger, and we do not expect to realize the full benefit of VYNE’s prior clinical development experience in advancing YB-101. In part because of this lack of experience, we cannot be certain that our clinical trials and any future preclinical studies will begin or be completed on time, if at all. In addition, we have not yet demonstrated an ability to obtain regulatory approvals for YB-101 or any future product candidate, 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. Consequently, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history as a combined company.
In addition, as our business grows, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, restrictions, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. We will need to transition at some point from a company with an early-stage clinical development focus to a company capable of supporting larger scale clinical trials and eventually commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition. We also have limited experience operating as a combined company, and the integration of Yarrow’s operations with the legacy VYNE organization, including operating as a public company, may take longer or cost more than we expect and may divert management’s attention from the development of YB-101 and any future product candidate.
We will require substantial additional capital to finance our operations in the future. If we are unable to raise such capital when needed, or on acceptable terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce and/or discontinue development of YB-101 or our future commercialization efforts.
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Developing biotechnology products is a long, time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we conduct clinical trials of, and seek regulatory approval for YB-101, conduct any future preclinical studies, advance discovery efforts with respect to future product candidates, and advance any future programs and product candidates that we may license. Even if one or more of the product candidates that we develop is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution activities to launch any such product. Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA or other regulatory agencies to perform preclinical studies or clinical trials in addition to or more expansive than those that we currently anticipate. Because the design and outcome of our planned and anticipated clinical trials are highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amount of funding that will be necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of any product candidate we develop. Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including but not limited to:
•the scope, design, progress, results and costs of clinical development for YB-101 and any discovery or preclinical and clinical development of future product candidates;
•the cost and timing of completion of clinical and commercial-scale manufacturing activities;
•the costs and timing of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining, defending and enforcing our intellectual property and proprietary rights, and defending intellectual property-related claims, including claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of third-party intellectual property;
•the costs, timing and outcome of the regulatory review of our product candidates and obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals;
•the costs of our future commercialization activities, either on our own or in collaboration with others, including product sales, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution for any product candidate for which we receive regulatory approval;
•the revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of product candidates for which we receive regulatory approval;
•the success of our current or future collaborations, including our collaboration with GenSci pursuant to the GenSci License Agreement;
•our ability to establish and maintain additional collaborations on favorable terms, if at all;
•the extent to which we acquire or in-license products, intellectual property and technologies;
•the costs of operational, financial and management information systems and associated personnel; and
•the costs of operating as a public company.
As a result, we will require substantial additional funding to continue our operations. As of June 30, 2026, we had $22.9 million of cash and cash equivalents. After giving effect to the consummation of the Merger, we expect our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into 2028. However, we will still need to raise additional capital to continue to fund our operations in the future. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed, that could raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
We may be required to seek additional funds sooner than planned through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements or other sources, and adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Such financing may dilute our stockholders or the failure to obtain such financing may restrict our operating activities. Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our business. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences and anti-dilution protections that adversely affect the rights of our stockholders. Debt financing may result in the imposition of debt covenants, increased fixed payment obligations or other restrictions that may affect our business. If we raise additional funds through upfront payments or milestone payments pursuant to current or future collaborations with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. Our ability to raise additional capital may be adversely impacted by global macroeconomic conditions and volatility in the credit and financial markets in the United States and worldwide. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed or on acceptable terms could have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategy, and we may have to delay, reduce the scope of, suspend or eliminate one or more of our product candidates, clinical trials or future commercialization efforts or cease our operations.
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We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future and may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future. We have no products approved for sale and may never generate meaningful revenue or become profitable.
Investment in biotechnology product development is a highly speculative undertaking and entails substantial upfront capital expenditures, with significant risks that any product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval and become commercially viable. Following the completion of the Merger, the Combined Company's business is primarily focused on the development of YB-101, our sole product candidate. We have no products approved for commercial sale, and we continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. Although the legacy VYNE business historically generated revenues under development and license agreements, including royalty payments from sales of Finacea foam under our license agreement with LEO Pharma, LEO Pharma has notified us of its decision to terminate the Finacea license agreement effective December 31, 2026 and we do not expect to recognize royalty revenue for periods after that date. Accordingly, we do not expect to generate meaningful revenue unless or until we successfully complete preclinical and clinical development and obtain regulatory approval of, and then successfully commercialize, YB-101 or any future product candidate.
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. If we are unable to raise sufficient additional capital to advance a product candidate to commercialization or generate sufficient revenue through the sale of any approved products, we may be unable to continue operations without additional funding.
As of June 30, 2026, we had an accumulated deficit of $764.2 million. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. Our operating expenses and net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:
•advance our existing and any future product candidates through preclinical and clinical development;
•seek to identify additional product candidates;
•maintain, expand, enforce, defend and protect our intellectual property portfolio;
•seek, obtain and maintain regulatory and marketing approvals for our product candidates;
•seek to identify, establish and maintain additional collaborations and license agreements;
•make milestone payments to GenSci under the GenSci License Agreement, and under any additional future collaboration or license agreements that we may enter into;
•ultimately establish a sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any drug products for which we may obtain regulatory approval, either on our own or in collaboration with others;
•generate revenue from commercial sales of product candidates for which we receive regulatory approval, if any;
•hire additional personnel including research and development, clinical and commercial personnel;
•add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development;
•acquire or in-license products, intellectual property and technologies;
•establish clinical and commercial-scale cGMP capabilities through a third-party or our own manufacturing facility; and
•operate as a public company.
In addition, our expenses will increase if, among other things, we are required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities to perform clinical trials or studies in addition to, or different than, those that we currently anticipate, there are any delays in completing our clinical trials or the development of any of our product candidates, or there are any third-party challenges to our intellectual property or we need to defend against any intellectual property-related claim.
Even if we obtain regulatory approval for, and are successful in commercializing, one or more of our product candidates, we expect to incur substantial additional research and development and other expenditures to develop and market additional product candidates and/or to expand the approved indications of any marketed product. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue.
Our failure to become profitable would decrease our value and could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our research and development efforts, expand our business and/or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our stock could also cause stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.
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Risks Related to Our Discovery, Development and Commercialization
We face competition from entities that have developed or may develop product candidates for the diseases addressed by our product candidates.
The development and commercialization of drugs is highly competitive, particularly in the treatment of GD and TED. YB-101, if approved, will face significant competition and our failure to effectively compete may prevent us from achieving significant market penetration. We compete with a variety of multinational biopharmaceutical companies, specialized biotechnology companies and emerging biotechnology companies, including Immunovant, Inc., Biohaven Ltd., Amgen, Inc. (“Amgen”), which acquired TEPEZZA® from Horizon Therapeutics plc in October 2023, Alumis Inc., Argenx SE, Sanofi, Merida Biosciences, H. Lundbeck A/S, Lassen Therapeutics, Roche, Sling Therapeutics, Inc., Novartis AG (which acquired Tourmaline Bio, Inc. in October 2025), and Viridian Therapeutics, Inc., as well as academic institutions, governmental agencies, and public and private research institutions, among others. Many of the companies with which we are currently competing or will compete against in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, and regulatory approved products than we do, and are further along in the clinical development and/or commercialization process. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. For example, in May 2025, Alumis Inc. and ACELYRIN, INC. completed a merger transaction and the combined company is advancing a subcutaneously delivered anti-IGF-1R antibody for the treatment of TED. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites, raising capital, patient registration for clinical trials, establishing and defending rights to intellectual property, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our product candidates.
Our competitors have developed or are developing, and may in the future develop, product candidates or products competitive with our product candidates. Competitive therapeutic treatments include those that have already been approved and accepted by the medical community and any potential new treatments, including those currently under clinical development. Our success will depend partially on our ability to develop and commercialize products that have a competitive safety, efficacy, dosing and/or presentation profile. Our commercial opportunity and success will be reduced or eliminated if competing products are safer, more effective, have a more attractive dosing profile or presentation or are less expensive than the products we develop, or if our competitors develop competing products or biosimilars that enter the market more quickly than we do and are able to gain market acceptance. Conversely, the lack of commercial success of other competing therapies may raise concerns about the financial viability of our product candidates.
In addition, because of the competitive landscape for thyroid autoimmune diseases, including GD and TED, we may also face competition for establishing trial sites and clinical trial enrollment. Patient enrollment will depend on many factors, including if potential clinical trial patients choose to undergo treatment with approved products or enroll in competitors’ ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that are under development for the same indications as our product candidates. An increase in the number of approved products for the indications we are targeting with our product candidates will likely further exacerbate this competition. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients could, among other impacts, delay our development timeline, which may further harm our competitive position.
YB-101 is in the clinical stages of development. YB-101 and our future product candidates may fail in development or suffer delays that materially and adversely affect our viability. If we or our current or future collaborators are unable to complete development of or commercialize our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We have no commercially approved products. YB-101 is in the clinical stages of development, and we have not completed any clinical trials. As a result, we expect it will be many years before we commercialize any product candidate, if ever. Our ability to achieve and sustain profitability depends on obtaining regulatory approvals for, and successfully commercializing, our product candidates, either alone or with third parties, and we cannot guarantee you that we will ever obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to complete any clinical trials, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Before obtaining regulatory approval for the commercial distribution of any product candidate, we or an existing or future collaborator must conduct extensive preclinical tests and clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy in humans of the product candidate.
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We or our collaborators may experience delays in initiating or completing preclinical studies or clinical trials. We or our collaborators also may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, any future preclinical studies or clinical trials that we could conduct that could delay or prevent our ability to receive regulatory approval or commercialize our product candidates, including:
•regulators, such as the FDA, IRBs or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;
•we may experience delays in reaching, or fail to reach, agreement on acceptable terms with prospective trial sites and prospective CROs, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;
•clinical trial sites may deviate from the trial protocol, fail to conduct trials in a compliant manner or drop out of a trial, which may require that we add new clinical trial sites or investigators or otherwise negatively impact the timing or integrity of our clinical trial(s);
•clinical trials of any product candidates may fail to show safety or efficacy, or may produce negative or inconclusive results and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials or we may decide to abandon a product candidate;
•the number of subjects required for clinical trials of any product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate or subjects may drop out of these clinical trials or fail to return for post-treatment follow-up at a higher rate than we anticipate;
•our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all, or may deviate from the clinical trial protocol or suffer other quality or performance issues that negatively impact the timing or integrity of our clinical trial(s);
•we may elect to, or regulators, IRBs or ethics committees may require that we or our investigators, suspend or terminate clinical research or trials for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants in our clinical trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;
•the cost of clinical trials of any of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate;
•the quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be inadequate to initiate or successfully complete a given clinical trial;
•we may be unable to manufacture sufficient quantities of our product candidates for use in clinical trials;
•reports from clinical testing of other therapies may raise safety or efficacy concerns about our product candidates;
•we may fail to establish an appropriate safety profile for a product candidate based on clinical or preclinical data for such product candidates as well as data emerging from other therapies in the same class as our product candidates; and
•the FDA or other regulatory authorities may require us to submit additional data, such as long-term toxicology studies, or impose other requirements before permitting us to initiate a clinical trial.
Commencing clinical trials in the United States is subject to acceptance by the FDA of an IND and finalizing the trial design based on discussions with the FDA. Commencing clinical trials in jurisdictions outside of the United States is similarly subject to acceptance by the applicable regulatory authority of clinical trial documentation following discussions with such authority. In the event that the FDA or other applicable regulatory authority requires us to complete additional preclinical studies or we are required to satisfy other FDA or foreign regulatory authority requests, respectively, prior to commencing clinical trials, the start of our first clinical trial for a product candidate may be delayed. Even after we receive and incorporate guidance from these regulatory authorities, the FDA or other regulatory authorities could disagree as to whether we have satisfied their requirements to commence any clinical trial or change their position on the acceptability of our trial design or the clinical endpoints selected, which may require us to complete additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, delay the enrollment of our clinical trials or impose stricter approval conditions than we currently expect. There are analogous processes and risks applicable to clinical trial applications in other countries.
We may not have the financial resources to continue development of our product candidates if we experience any issues that delay or prevent regulatory approval of, or our ability to commercialize, our product candidates. We or our current or future collaborators’ inability to complete development of or commercialize our product candidates, or significant delays in doing so, could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We are substantially dependent on the success of YB-101, and our anticipated future clinical trials of such product candidate may not be successful.
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Our future success is substantially dependent on our ability to timely obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize, YB-101. We are initially investing a majority of our efforts and financial resources into the research and development of this product candidate. We initiated a combined Phase 2a/Phase 2b trial of YB-101 in adult patients with GD who are well-controlled on oral anti-thyroid drugs (“ATDs”) in July 2026 and are exploring a clinical development plan for YB-101 in adult patients with TED in the United States and other territories outside of China. The success of YB-101 is dependent on observing YB-101 blocking the pathogenic activity of thyroid-stimulating autoantibodies that drive disease progression in GD and TED with an improved safety and tolerability profile compared to the current standard of care. To the extent we do not observe this blocking of pathogenic activity of thyroid-stimulating autoantibodies or improved safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties in our Phase 2a/Phase 2b clinical trial of YB-101 or in additional clinical trials, it would significantly and adversely affect the clinical and commercial potential of YB-101.
Our product candidates will require additional clinical development, evaluation of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote these product candidates, or any other product candidates, before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approvals.
The success of our product candidates will depend on a variety of factors. We do not have complete control over many of these factors, including certain aspects of clinical development and the regulatory submission process, potential threats to our intellectual property rights, potential threats from the intellectual property rights of third parties and the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales efforts of any current or future collaborator. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will ever be able to generate revenue through the sale of these product candidates, even if approved. If we are not successful in obtaining regulatory approval and commercializing YB-101 or future product candidates, or are significantly delayed in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
If we do not achieve our projected development objectives in the timeframes we announce and expect, the commercialization of our product candidates may be delayed, which may harm our reputation and prospects, increase our expenses and cause our stock price to decline.
From time to time, we estimate the timing of the anticipated accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development goals, which we sometimes refer to as milestones. These milestones may include the commencement or completion of scientific studies and clinical trials, such as the timing for receipt of clinical data from our clinical trials of YB-101 and the timing for the submission of regulatory filings. From time to time, we may publicly announce the expected timing of some of these milestones. All of these milestones are and will be based on numerous assumptions. The actual timing of these milestones can vary dramatically compared to our estimates, in many cases for reasons beyond our control. If we do not meet these milestones as publicly announced, or at all, our prospects and reputation may be adversely affected and our stock price may decline. Additionally, delays relative to our projected timelines are likely to cause overall expenses to increase, which may require us to raise additional capital sooner than expected and prior to achieving targeted development milestones.
Our projections regarding the market opportunities for our product candidates may not be accurate, and the actual market for our products may be smaller than we estimate.
The precise incidence and prevalence for all the conditions we aim to address with our product candidates are unknown. Our projections of both the number of people who have these diseases, as well as the subset of people with these diseases who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including sales of our competitors, scientific literature, surveys of clinics, patient foundations or market research, and may prove to be incorrect in general or as to their applicability to us. Further, new trials may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. The total addressable market across all of our product candidates will ultimately depend upon, among other things, the diagnosis criteria included in the final labeling for each of our product candidates approved for sale for these indications, the ability of our product candidates to improve on the safety, convenience, cost and efficacy of competing therapies or therapies in development, acceptance by the medical community and patients, drug pricing and reimbursement.
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We intend to initially seek regulatory approval of YB-101 as treatment for patients with GD and are exploring a clinical development plan for patients with TED. The number of patients in the United States and other major markets may turn out to be lower than expected, patients may not be otherwise amenable to treatment with our product candidates or new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, all of which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We may also be unable to penetrate the existing GD and TED markets and successfully commercialize our product candidates, even if approved. Further, even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because some of our potential target populations are very small, we may never achieve profitability despite obtaining such significant market share.
In addition, the market for GD and TED therapies may fail to continue its growth, or may shrink, which could affect the commercial viability of our product candidates and could negatively impact revenues from any approved products. For example, sales of TEPEZZA® may fall, and this could cause our business to be negatively impacted.
Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process that is subject to delays and with uncertain outcomes, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future clinical trial results. If our clinical trials and any future preclinical studies are not sufficient to support regulatory approval of any of our product candidates, we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development of such product candidate.
Before obtaining regulatory 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 candidate in humans. Our clinical trials may not be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all, and failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any time during the preclinical study or clinical trial process. The outcome of preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain regulatory approval of their product candidates.
We cannot be sure that the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities will agree with our clinical development plans. If the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities require us to conduct additional trials or enroll additional patients, our development timelines may be delayed. We cannot be sure that submission of an IND or similar foreign application will result in the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, as applicable, allowing clinical trials to begin in a timely manner, if at all. Moreover, even if these trials begin, issues may arise that could cause regulatory authorities to suspend or terminate such clinical trials. Events that may prevent successful or timely initiation or completion of clinical trials include: inability to generate sufficient preclinical, toxicology or other in vivo or in vitro data to support the initiation or continuation of clinical trials; delays in reaching a consensus with regulatory authorities on study design or implementation of the clinical trials; delays or failure in obtaining regulatory authorization to commence a trial; delays in reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and clinical trial sites; delays in identifying, recruiting and training suitable clinical investigators; delays in obtaining required IRB approval or positive ethics committee opinions at each clinical trial site; delays in manufacturing, testing, releasing, validating or importing/exporting sufficient stable quantities of our product candidates for use in clinical trials or the inability to do any of the foregoing; failure by our CROs, other third parties or us to adhere to clinical trial protocols; failure to perform in accordance with the FDA’s or any other regulatory authority’s good clinical practice (“GCP”) requirements or regulatory guidelines; changes to the clinical trial protocols; clinical sites deviating from trial protocol or dropping out of a trial; changes in regulatory requirements, guidance or clinical trial plans that require amending or submitting new clinical protocols; selection of clinical endpoints that require prolonged periods of observation or analyses of resulting data; transfer of manufacturing processes to new or larger-scale facilities and delays or failure by our CMOs or us to make any necessary changes to such manufacturing process; and third parties being unwilling or unable to satisfy their contractual obligations to us.
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We could also encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs or ethics committees of the institutions in which such clinical trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, if any, for such clinical trial, or by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Such authorities may suspend or terminate a clinical trial due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical trial 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 the product candidate, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our product candidates, if the results of these trials are not positive or are only moderately positive or if there are safety concerns, our business and results of operations would be adversely affected.
We may find it difficult to enroll and maintain patients in our clinical trials, in part due to the limited number of patients and significant competition for patients who have the diseases for which YB-101 is being developed. If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our expected clinical trial of YB-101 or other future clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our future clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the trial until its conclusion. In particular, because we are initially focused on developing product candidates for indications for which there is significant competition for recruiting patients, we may encounter challenges for patient enrollment when we commence clinical trials for our product candidates. Further, ATDs are the current treatment option for the treatment of GD, TEPEZZA® is approved for the treatment of TED, and additional products may gain approval in the future, and patients may decide, or physicians may recommend, to use such approved treatments instead of enrolling in clinical trials.
The enrollment of patients in future trials for any of our product candidates will depend on many factors, including:
•size and nature of the patient population;
•severity of the disease under investigation;
•availability and efficacy of approved drugs for the disease under investigation;
•patient eligibility and exclusion criteria for the trial in question;
•patients’ and clinicians’ perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;
•if patients choose to enroll in clinical trials, rather than using approved products, or if our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that are under development for the same indications as our product candidates, and patients instead enroll in such clinical trials;
•efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;
•patient referral practices of physicians;
•the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment;
•proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients; and
•continued enrollment of prospective patients by clinical trial sites.
Additionally, the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate. Even if we are able to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our future clinical trials, we may have difficulty maintaining patients in our clinical trials. Our inability to enroll or maintain a sufficient number of patients would result in significant delays in completing clinical trials or receipt of regulatory approvals and increased development costs or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether, which could cause our value to decline, limit our ability to obtain additional financing and otherwise harm our prospects.
Preliminary, “topline” or interim data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures.
From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary or topline data from our future preclinical studies and clinical trials, which are based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data. The results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of these data without the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate complete data. As a result, the preliminary or topline results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated or subsequently made subject to audit and verification procedures.
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Any preliminary or topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. From time to time, we may also disclose interim data from our future preclinical studies and clinical trials. Interim data are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available or as patients from our clinical trials continue other treatments. Further, others, including regulatory authorities, may not accept or agree with our assumptions, estimates, calculations, conclusions or analyses or may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently, which could impact the value of the particular product candidate, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate and of us as a company. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular preclinical study or clinical trial is based on what is typically extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure. As a result, you or others may have reached different conclusions based on such extensive information in comparison to our publicly disclosed conclusion regarding a particular preclinical study or clinical trial. If the preliminary, topline or interim data that we report differ from actual results, or if others, including regulatory authorities, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition.
Our future clinical trials or those of our current or future collaborators may reveal significant adverse events or undesirable side effects not observed in previously conducted preclinical studies or clinical trials and may result in a safety profile that could halt clinical development, inhibit regulatory approval or limit commercial potential or market acceptance of any of our product candidates.
Results of our clinical trials could reveal a high or unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects, adverse events or unexpected characteristics. We have not yet completed any clinical trials in humans. If significant adverse events or other side effects are observed in any of our future clinical trials, we may have difficulty recruiting patients to such trials, patients may drop out of our trials, or we may be required to abandon the trials or our development efforts of one or more product candidates altogether. For example, although YB-101 is not expected to be associated with the hepatotoxicity or agranulocytosis risks known to occur with ATDs based on GenSci’s preclinical studies, it is possible that patients in our future clinical trials could exhibit the same or similar adverse events. In another example, hearing impairment observed in TEPEZZA®, or other negative side effects of other products in development for the treatment of TED, may negatively affect clinical trials for our product candidates, delay regulatory approval or result in a restricted drug label, if approved. We, the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities, or an IRB or ethics committee, may suspend any clinical trials of any product candidate at any time for various reasons, including a belief that subjects or patients in such trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or adverse side effects. Some potential products developed in the biotechnology industry that initially showed therapeutic promise in early-stage studies and trials have later been found to cause side effects that prevented their further development. Other potential products have shown side effects in preclinical studies, which side effects do not present themselves in clinical trials in humans. Even if the side effects do not preclude the product candidate from obtaining or maintaining regulatory approval, undesirable side effects may inhibit market acceptance of the approved product due to its tolerability versus other therapies. Treatment-emergent adverse events could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled subjects to complete our clinical trials or could result in potential product liability claims. Potential side effects associated with our product candidates may not be appropriately recognized or managed by the treating medical staff, as toxicities resulting from our product candidates may not be normally encountered in the general patient population and by medical personnel. Any of these occurrences could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects significantly.
In addition, even if we successfully advance our product candidates or any future product candidate through clinical trials, such trials will only include a limited number of patients and limited duration of exposure to our product candidates. As a result, we cannot be assured that adverse effects of our product candidates will not be uncovered when a significantly larger number of patients are exposed to the product candidate after approval. Further, any clinical trials may not be sufficient to determine the effect and safety consequences of using our product candidates over a multi-year period.
If any of the foregoing events occur or if one or more of our product candidates prove to be unsafe, our entire pipeline could be affected, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate and fail to capitalize on product candidates that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
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Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we are focusing our research and development efforts on our lead product candidate, YB-101. As a result, we may forgo or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable product candidates. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate. In addition, we may select product candidates amongst a variety of potential product candidates, and the product candidates we select may fail to be viable commercial products or the product candidates we do not select may have a greater likelihood of success.
Even if YB-101 or any future product candidates are approved, such products may not achieve adequate market acceptance among clinicians, patients, healthcare third-party payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success and we may not generate any future revenue from the sale or licensing of such products.
Even if regulatory approval is obtained for YB-101 or one of our future product candidates, we may not gain market acceptance among physicians, healthcare professionals, patients, healthcare payors or the medical community. We may not generate or sustain revenue from sales of the product due to factors such as whether the product can be sold at a competitive cost and whether it will otherwise be accepted in the market. Market acceptance will depend on many factors, including factors that are not within our control. There are product candidates in the later stages of development for the treatment of GD, including Vyvgart®, IMVT-1402 and BHV-1300. TEPEZZA® was recently approved for TED, and there are multiple product candidates in later stages of development, for the treatment of TED, including Veligrotug, VRDN-003, Batoclimab and pacibekitug. However, YB-101 is designed to block the pathogenic activity of thyroid-stimulating autoantibodies that drive disease progression in GD and TED; to date, no such therapy that inhibits the biological pathway responsible for both hyperthyroidism and orbitopathy while avoiding systemic immunosuppression has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of both GD and TED, though several such agents are in advanced clinical development and close to approval. Market participants with significant influence over acceptance of new treatments, such as clinicians and third-party payors, may not adopt a biologic that incorporates TSHR targeting antibodies for our targeted indication, and we may not be able to convince the medical community and third-party payors to accept and use, or to provide favorable reimbursement for, any product candidates developed by us or our existing or future collaborators. Market acceptance of our product candidates may be negatively impacted by potential poor performance of our competitors, including the occurrence of serious adverse events in such competitors’ clinical trials or failure by such competitors to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for their product candidates. Additionally, although we believe that the improved dosing and convenience we expect our product candidates to provide will improve market acceptance of such product candidates and that our candidates will have a competitive efficacy profile, our predictions may not be accurate and other competitive products may instead gain and hold the applicable market. Sales of medical products also depend on the willingness of clinicians to prescribe the treatment. We cannot predict whether clinicians, clinicians’ organizations, hospitals, other healthcare providers, government agencies or private insurers will determine that our product is safe, therapeutically effective, cost effective or less burdensome as compared with competing treatments. If any current or future product candidate is approved but does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by such parties, we may not generate or derive sufficient revenue from that product candidate and may not become or remain profitable.
We plan to conduct clinical trials for product candidates at sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in such locations.
We plan to conduct our Phase 2a/2b clinical trial of YB-101 for the treatment of GD in the United States and other territories outside of China, and we may choose to conduct one or more of our future clinical trials outside the United States in whole or in part. Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of this data is subject to conditions imposed by the FDA. For example, the clinical trial must be well designed and conducted and performed by qualified investigators in accordance with ethical principles. The trial population must also adequately represent the U.S. population, and the data must be applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice in ways that the FDA deems clinically meaningful. In addition, while these clinical trials are subject to the applicable local laws, FDA acceptance of the data will depend on their determination that the trials also complied with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations. Many foreign regulatory authorities have similar requirements for clinical data gathered outside of their respective jurisdictions. In addition, such foreign trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States or the relevant jurisdiction, as applicable. If the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and would delay or permanently halt our development of the applicable product candidates or delay or prevent regulatory approval for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction. Even if the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority accepted
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such data, it could require us to modify our planned clinical trials to receive clearance to initiate such trials in the United States or the relevant jurisdiction, as applicable, or to continue such trials once initiated.
Further, conducting international clinical trials presents additional risks that may delay completion of our clinical trials. These risks include the failure of enrolled patients in foreign countries to adhere to clinical protocol as a result of differences in healthcare services or cultural customs that could restrict or limit our ability to conduct our clinical trials, the administrative burdens of conducting clinical trials under multiple sets of foreign regulations, foreign exchange fluctuations, diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries, as well as political and economic risks relevant to foreign countries.
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
We rely on collaborations and licensing arrangements with third parties, including GenSci. If we are unable to maintain these collaborations or licensing arrangements, or if these collaborations or licensing arrangements are not successful, our business could be negatively impacted.
We rely on our collaboration with a third party, GenSci, for the rights necessary to develop and commercialize YB-101 outside of China. In the future, we could also rely on additional licensing arrangements with third parties. For example, we have entered into the GenSci License Agreement. However, GenSci could terminate the GenSci License Agreement under certain circumstances, including our failure to make any payments owed to GenSci under the agreement or any uncured material breach of the agreement by us, in which event we may lose our intellectual property rights and may not be able to develop or commercialize YB-101.
Collaborations or licensing arrangements that we enter into may not be successful, and any success will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of such collaborators or licensors. If any of our collaborators or licensors experiences delays in performance of, or fails to perform, their obligations under their agreement with us, or disagrees with our interpretation of the terms of such agreement or terminates their agreement with us, our pipeline and product candidates and development timeline could be adversely affected. If we fail to comply with any of the obligations under our collaborations or license agreements, including payment terms and diligence terms, our collaborators or licensors may have the right to terminate such agreements, in which event we may lose our intellectual property rights and may not be able to develop, manufacture, market or sell the products covered by the agreements or may face other penalties under the agreements. Our collaborators and licensors may also fail to properly maintain or defend the intellectual property we have licensed from them, if required by our agreement with them, leading to the potential invalidation of our intellectual property, or they may even infringe upon our intellectual property rights, any of which could subject us to litigation or arbitration, which would be time-consuming and expensive and could harm our ability to commercialize our product candidates. In addition, collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our product candidates and products if the collaborators believe that the competitive products are more likely to be successfully developed or can be commercialized under terms that are more economically attractive than ours.
As part of our strategy, we plan to evaluate additional opportunities to enhance our capabilities and expand our development pipeline or add development or commercialization capabilities. We may not successfully realize the benefits of such collaborations, alliances or licensing arrangements. Any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders or disrupt our management and business.
We may face significant competition in attracting appropriate collaborators, and more established companies may also be pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we consider attractive. These companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, financial resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us, whether they perceive us to be a competitor or for other reasons. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate, document and execute. In addition, consolidation among large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies has reduced the number of potential future collaborators. We may not be able to negotiate additional collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms or at all. If we fail to enter into collaborations and do not have sufficient funds or expertise to undertake the necessary development and commercialization activities, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market.
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Risks associated with the in-licensing or acquisition of product candidates could cause substantial delays in the preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates.
We have relied and continue to rely on GenSci, and expect to rely on our future licensing partners, to (i) conduct research and development in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, (ii) accurately report the results of all preclinical and clinical trials conducted prior to our licensing or acquisition of the relevant product candidates and (iii) correctly collect and interpret the data from these trials. If the research and development processes or the results of the product candidates development prior to our licensing or acquisition of our product candidates prove to be unreliable, this could result in increased costs and delays in the development of our product candidates, which could adversely affect any future revenue from such product candidates, if approved.
We may also acquire or in-license additional product candidates for preclinical or clinical development in the future as we continue to build our pipeline. The risks associated with acquiring or in-licensing product candidates could result in delays in the commencement or completion of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, if they are ever commenced or completed, and our ability to generate revenues from our product candidates may be delayed. Please see the section titled “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property—If we are unable to obtain or maintain necessary rights to YB-101 or our future product candidates through acquisitions and in-licenses, our business may be materially harmed” below for additional information regarding such risks.
We currently rely, and plan to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct and support our future preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not properly and successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of or commercialize our product candidates.
We plan to utilize and depend upon independent investigators and collaborators, such as medical institutions, CROs, contract testing labs and strategic partners, to conduct and support our anticipated clinical trials and future preclinical studies. We will rely heavily on these third parties over the course of our future preclinical studies and clinical trials, and we control only certain aspects of their activities. As a result, we will have less direct control over the conduct, timing and completion of these preclinical studies and clinical trials and the management of data developed through preclinical studies and clinical trials than would be the case if we relied entirely upon our own staff. 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 and CROs are required to comply with GCP, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for all of our product candidates in clinical development. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable GCP regulations, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with products manufactured in accordance with cGMP. Our failure to comply with these requirements may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process. Moreover, our business may be implicated 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, and foreign equivalents.
Any third parties conducting our clinical trials will not be our employees and, except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such third parties, we cannot control whether they will devote sufficient time and resources to our future product candidates. These third parties may encounter challenges hiring and retaining sufficiently qualified personnel or they may be involved in mergers, acquisitions or similar transactions and may 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 negatively affect their performance on our behalf and the timing thereof and could lead to products that compete directly or indirectly with our current or future product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to complete development of, obtain regulatory approval of or successfully commercialize our product candidates. In addition, we rely on GenSci and expect to continue to rely on foreign CROs and CMOs for formulation and manufacturing of our Phase 2a/2b clinical trial materials, and will likely continue to rely on foreign CROs and CMOs in the future.
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The biopharmaceutical industry in China is strictly regulated by the Chinese government. Changes to Chinese regulations or government policies affecting biopharmaceutical companies are unpredictable and may have a material adverse effect on our collaborators in China which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, the United States government has imposed significant tariffs on imports from China and other countries and may impose more restrictions on goods, including biologically derived substances, manufactured in or imported from China or other countries or impose other restrictions on companies’ ability to work with Chinese or other foreign counterparties. Evolving changes in China’s public health, economic, political, and social conditions and uncertainty around China’s relationship with other governments, such as the United States and the UK, could also negatively impact our ability to manufacture our product candidates for our planned clinical trials or have an adverse effect on our ability to secure government funding, which could adversely affect our financial condition and cause us to delay our clinical development of YB-101 or our future product candidates. Furthermore, if one or more of our collaborators or vendors in China is named a biotechnology company of concern under the BIOSECURE Act, which was enacted into law on December 18, 2025, our operations and financial condition may be negatively impacted as a result of any delays or increased costs arising from the trade restrictions and other foreign regulatory requirements affecting such collaborators. In addition, while we have established relationships with CROs and CMOs outside of China, moving to those suppliers in the event of a geopolitical instability affecting our collaborators in China could introduce delays into the development of YB-101 or our future product candidates.
We rely on the use of third-party CMOs to manufacture our product candidates, and we expect to continue to rely on third-party CMOs to produce our products, if approved. Our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to use third-party manufacturing sites or if the third-party manufacturers encounter difficulties in production.
We do not currently own any facility that may be used as our clinical-scale manufacturing and processing facility and must rely on CMOs to manufacture our product candidates. We have not yet caused our product candidates to be manufactured on a commercial scale and may not be able to do so for any of our product candidates, if approved. We currently solely rely on GenSci to provide biological development and manufacturing services. If there is any disruption in such supply arrangement, including any adverse events affecting our sole supplier, or if we experience delays or difficulties in transferring, or are unable to successfully transfer, our manufacturing processes, it could have a negative effect on the clinical development of our product candidates and other operations while we work to identify and qualify an alternate supply source. We have limited control over the manufacturing process of, and may be dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with cGMP requirements and any other regulatory requirements of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for the manufacture of our product candidates. Beyond periodic audits, we have limited control over the ability of our CMOs to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or another applicable regulatory authority does not approve these facilities for the manufacturing of our product candidates or withdraws any approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would require the incurrence of significant additional costs and delays, and materially and adversely affect our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved. We, our future contract manufacturers or any current or future collaborators and their contract manufacturers could be subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA, competent authorities of member states of the European Union (“EU Member States”) or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, to monitor and ensure compliance with cGMP. Despite our efforts to audit and verify regulatory compliance, one or more of our third-party manufacturing vendors may be found on regulatory inspection by the FDA, competent authorities of EU Member States or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities to be noncompliant with cGMP regulations. Our failure, or the failure of our CMOs, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension, variation or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or drugs, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our product candidates or products, if approved, and harm our business and results of operations.
Moreover, our CMOs may experience manufacturing difficulties due to resource constraints, supply chain issues, intellectual property disputes or as a result of labor disputes or unstable political environments. If any CMOs 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 commercially reasonable cost, our business, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our CMOs are responsible for transporting temperature-controlled materials that can be inadvertently degraded during transport due to several factors, rendering certain batches unsuitable for trial use for failure to meet, among others, our integrity and purity specifications. We and any of our CMOs may also face product seizure or detention or refusal to permit the import or export of products. Our business could be materially and adversely affected by business disruptions to our third-party providers that could materially and adversely affect our anticipated timelines, potential future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. Each of these risks could delay or prevent the completion of our anticipated clinical trials and future preclinical studies or the approval of any of our product candidates by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, result in higher costs or adversely impact commercialization of our product candidates.
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Risks Related to Our Business and Operations
In order to successfully implement our plans and strategies, we will need to grow the size of our organization and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.
We expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of clinical drug development, technical operations, clinical operations and regulatory affairs. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial personnel and systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited financial resources and the limited experience of our management team working together in managing a company with such anticipated growth, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel.
We are highly dependent on our key personnel and anticipate hiring new 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.
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 are highly dependent on our managerial, scientific and medical personnel, including our Chief Executive Officer and other key members of our leadership team. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our executive officers, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key personnel may be difficult and may take an extended period of time. If we do not succeed in attracting and retaining qualified personnel, it could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We could in the future have difficulty attracting and retaining experienced personnel and may be required to expend significant financial resources in our employee recruitment and retention efforts.
Our future growth may depend, in part, on our ability to operate in foreign markets, where we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and other risks and uncertainties.
Our future growth may depend, in part, on our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates, if approved, in foreign markets for which we may rely on collaboration with third parties. Recent and ongoing changes in the United States trade policy with foreign countries, including the continued uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs and potential retaliatory measures by foreign governments, may disrupt the global supply chain for biopharmaceutical products. For example, in early April 2026, the U.S. Administration issued a proclamation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 determining that imports of certain pharmaceutical products, including patented pharmaceuticals, associated active pharmaceutical ingredients and related materials could threaten U.S. national security and authorized the imposition of tariffs of up to 100% on covered imports, beginning July 31, 2026 (the “Pharmaceutical Tariffs”). Imports of certain listed products from specific partner countries, including South Korea and the European Union, may be subject to reduced tariff rates. Certain tariff exemptions or zero-rate treatment may be available for products where all approved indications are designated as orphan, subject to applicable determinations, conditions and implementation guidance. There remains substantial uncertainty as to the implementation and potential impacts of such tariffs, the duration of existing tariffs, tariff levels, and whether additional tariffs or other retaliatory actions may be imposed, modified or suspended. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that certain tariffs imposed by the U.S. federal government under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act exceeded presidential authority and therefore are invalid. However, tariffs imposed under different statutes (including the Pharmaceutical Tariffs, if implemented) were not directly impacted by the decision and therefore remain in place. These actions and the related rising political tensions could negatively impact global macroeconomic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, including through increased supply chain costs. In addition, U.S. legislative and regulatory measures directed at foreign biotechnology providers, including the BIOSECURE Act, could further limit our ability to work with collaborators and vendors located outside the United States, including GenSci, on which we currently rely solely for biological development and manufacturing services, as described further under "Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties" above.
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We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the applicable foreign regulatory authority, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. To obtain separate regulatory approval in many other countries, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such countries regarding safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, clinical trials and commercial sales, pricing and distribution of our product candidates, if approved, and we cannot predict success in these jurisdictions. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and do not receive applicable regulatory approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed and our business will be adversely affected. Moreover, even if we obtain approval of our product candidates and ultimately commercialize our product candidates in foreign markets, we would be subject to risks and uncertainties, including the burden of complying with complex and changing foreign regulatory, tax, accounting and legal requirements and reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some foreign countries.
Our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial collaborators, principal investigators, CROs, CMOs, suppliers and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.
We are exposed to the risk that our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial collaborators, principal investigators, CROs, CMOs, suppliers and vendors acting for or on our behalf may engage in misconduct or other improper activities. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless or negligent conduct or disclosure of unauthorized activities to us that violates FDA regulations, including those laws requiring the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to the FDA, manufacturing standards, federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, and laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Misconduct by these parties could also involve the improper use of individually identifiable information, including, without limitation, information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. We have adopted a code of conduct, but it is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by these parties and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations.
Our internal information technology systems, or those of any of our CROs, manufacturers, other contractors or consultants, third party service providers, or existing or future collaborators, may fail or suffer security or data privacy breaches or other unauthorized or improper access to, use of, or destruction of our proprietary or confidential data, employee data or personal data, which could result in additional costs, loss of revenue, significant liabilities, harm to our brand and material disruption of our operations.
In the ordinary course of our business, we and the third parties upon which we rely collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, “Process”) proprietary, confidential, and sensitive data, including personal data, intellectual property, trade secrets, and other sensitive data (collectively, “Sensitive Information”).
Despite the implementation of security measures in an effort to protect systems that store our information, given their size and complexity and the increasing amounts of information maintained on our internal information technology systems and those of our third-party CROs, other contractors including sites performing our clinical trials, third party service providers and supply chain companies, and consultants, these systems are potentially vulnerable to breakdown or other damage or interruption from service interruptions, system malfunction, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures, as well as security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions by our employees, contractors, consultants, business partners and/or other third parties, or from cyber-attacks by malicious third parties, which may compromise our system infrastructure or lead to the loss, destruction, alteration or dissemination of, or damage to, our data.
Some actors currently engage and are expected to continue to engage in cyber-attacks, including without limitation nation-state actors for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military conflicts and defense activities. During times of war and other major conflicts, we, and the third parties upon which we rely, may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of these attacks, including retaliatory cyber-attacks, that could materially disrupt our systems and operations. In particular, severe ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and can lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of sensitive data and income, reputational harm and diversion of funds. Extortion payments may alleviate the negative impact of a ransomware attack, but we may be unwilling or unable to make such payments due to, for example, applicable laws or regulations prohibiting such payments.
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To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in loss, destruction, unavailability, alteration or dissemination of, or damage to, our data or applications, or for it to be believed or reported that any of these occurred, we could incur liability and reputational damage and the development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed. Further, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for the potential losses arising from any such disruption in, or failure or security breach of, our systems or third-party systems where information important to our business operations or commercial development is stored.
Our hybrid workforce may create additional risks for our information technology systems and data because some of our employees work remotely and utilize network connections, computers, and devices working at home, while in transit and in public locations. In addition, our current office in New Haven may create risks for our information technology systems and data because it is a shared space for which we do not have our own dedicated network. Additionally, business transactions such as acquisitions or integrations could expose us to additional cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities, as our systems could be negatively affected by vulnerabilities present in acquired or integrated entities’ systems and technologies.
While we have implemented security measures designed to protect against security incidents, there can be no assurance that these measures will be effective. We may be unable in the future to detect vulnerabilities in our information technology systems because such threats and techniques change frequently, are often sophisticated in nature, and may not be detected until after a security incident has occurred. Further, we may experience delays in developing and deploying remedial measures designed to address any such identified vulnerabilities. Applicable data privacy and security obligations may require us to notify relevant stakeholders of security incidents. Such disclosures are costly, and the disclosure or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences.
We rely on third-party service providers and technologies to operate critical business systems to Process Sensitive Information in a variety of contexts. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these third parties may not have adequate information security measures in place. If our third-party service providers experience a security incident or other interruption, we could experience adverse consequences. While we may be entitled to damages if our third-party service providers fail to satisfy their privacy or security-related obligations to us, any award may be insufficient to cover our damages, or we may be unable to recover such award. In addition, supply-chain attacks have increased in frequency and severity, and we cannot guarantee that third parties’ infrastructure in our supply chain or that our third-party partners’ supply chains have not been compromised.
If we, or a third party upon whom we rely, experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience adverse consequences, such as government enforcement actions such as investigations, fines, penalties, audits, and inspections; additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; restrictions on Processing Sensitive Information; litigation, including class claims; indemnification obligations; negative publicity; reputational harm; monetary fund diversions; interruptions in our operations, including availability of our data; financial loss and other similar harms. Security incidents and attendant consequences may cause stakeholders, including investors and potential customers to stop supporting our product candidates, deter new customers from products and negatively impact our ability to grow and operate our business.
Our contracts with third-party service providers may not contain limitations of liability, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that limitations of liability in our contracts are sufficient to protect us from liabilities, damages, or claims related to our data privacy and security obligations. We cannot be sure that our insurance coverage will be adequate or sufficient to protect us from or to mitigate liabilities arising out of our privacy and security practices, that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or that such coverage will pay future claims.
We are subject to stringent and changing laws, regulations and standards, and contractual obligations relating to privacy, data protection and data security. The actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could lead to government enforcement actions, which could include civil or criminal penalties, fines and sanctions, private litigation and/or adverse publicity and could negatively affect our operating results and business.
We, and the third parties we work with, are or may become subject to numerous domestic and foreign laws, regulations, and standards relating to privacy, data protection and data security, the scope of which is changing, subject to differing applications and interpretations, and may be inconsistent among countries, or conflict with other rules. In addition, we are and may become subject to the terms of contractual obligations related to privacy, data protection and data security. Our obligations may also change or expand as our business grows. The actual or perceived failure by us or third parties related to us to comply with such laws, regulations and obligations could increase our compliance and operational costs, expose us to regulatory scrutiny, actions,
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fines and penalties, result in reputational harm, lead to a loss of customers, result in litigation and liability and otherwise cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.
We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. Our operations may involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological and radioactive materials. In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or commercialization efforts. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.
We may be subject to adverse legislative or regulatory tax changes that could negatively impact our financial condition.
The rules governing 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 (“IRS”) and the U.S. Treasury Department. Changes to tax laws, which changes may have retroactive application, could adversely affect our stockholders or us. We assess the impact of various tax reform proposals and modifications to existing tax treaties in all jurisdictions where we have operations to determine the potential effect on our business and any assumptions we have made about our future taxable income. We cannot predict whether any specific proposals will be enacted, the terms of any such proposals or what effect, if any, such proposals would have on our business if they were to be enacted.
For example, the United States enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which implemented, among other changes, a 1% excise tax on certain stock buybacks. In addition, beginning in 2022, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”) eliminated the previously available option to deduct research and development expenditures and requires taxpayers to amortize them generally over five years for research activities conducted in the United States and over fifteen years for research activities conducted outside the United States. On July 4, 2025, the U.S. Congress enacted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes a provision restoring the immediate deductibility of domestic research and development expenditures. The impact of this newly enacted law on our tax position will depend on how the provision is implemented and interpreted by the IRS and other regulatory authorities. In addition, we have no assurance as to whether, when and how this provision may be subject to further amendment or repeal. Such changes, among others, may adversely affect our effective tax rate, results of operation and financial condition.
We may acquire businesses, product candidates or products, or form strategic alliances in the future, and may not realize the benefits of such acquisitions.
We may acquire additional businesses or products, form strategic alliances or create joint ventures with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our existing business. If we acquire businesses with promising markets or technologies, we may not be able to realize the benefit of acquiring such businesses if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture. We may encounter numerous difficulties in developing, manufacturing and marketing any new product candidates or products resulting from a strategic alliance or acquisition that delay or prevent us from realizing their expected benefits of enhancing our business. There is no assurance that, following any such acquisition, we will achieve the synergies expected in order to justify the transaction, which could result in a material adverse effect on our business and prospects.
We maintain our cash at financial institutions, often in balances that exceed federally-insured limits. The failure of financial institutions could adversely affect our ability to pay our operational expenses or make other payments.
Our cash held in non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing accounts exceeds the FDIC insurance limits. If such banking institutions were to fail, we could lose all or a portion of those amounts held in excess of such insurance limitations. For example, the FDIC took control of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023. The Federal Reserve subsequently announced that account holders would be made whole. However, the FDIC may not make all account holders whole in the event of future bank failures. In addition, even if account holders are ultimately made whole with respect to a future bank failure, account holders’ access to their accounts and assets held in their accounts may be substantially delayed. Any material loss that we may experience in the future or inability for a material time period to access our cash and cash equivalents could have an adverse effect on our ability to pay our operational expenses or make other payments, which could adversely affect our business.
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Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our intellectual property portfolio is at an early stage. We do not currently own any issued patents or pending non-provisional patent applications and we in-license intellectual property rights to YB-101 from GenSci. Therefore, our ability to obtain and protect our patent rights, and protect other proprietary rights, is uncertain, exposing us to the possible loss of competitive advantage.
We rely and will continue to rely upon a combination of patents, trademarks, trade secret protection, copyrights and confidentiality agreements and the GenSci License Agreement to protect the intellectual property related to YB-101 and technologies and to prevent third parties from competing unfairly with us. Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our product candidates and their uses, as well as our ability to operate without infringing on or violating the proprietary rights of others. If we are unable to obtain patent protection with respect to YB-101, or any future product candidates, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.
We do not currently own or in-license any issued patents, but have filed one U.S. provisional patent application related to methods of treating GD with YB-101. We intend to file one or more non-provisional patent applications claiming priority to this provisional patent application. However, we cannot provide assurances that such non-provisional patent application(s) will be filed, nor whether such non-provisional patent application(s), if filed, will issue, the breadth of any resulting issued patent(s), or whether any issued patent(s) will be found to be invalid, unenforceable, or will be challenged by third parties.
We license patent rights to three patent families from GenSci under the GenSci License Agreement. The three patent families include only pending patent applications, and no issued patents. The licensed patent families are directed to monoclonal antibodies targeting the TSHR, including YB-101, methods of treatment with YB-101 and formulations of YB-101. The licensed monoclonal antibodies patent applications are pending national-stage patent applications currently undergoing patent prosecution. We cannot provide assurances that these pending national-stage patent applications will issue, the breadth of any resulting issued patents or whether any issued patents will be found to be invalid, unenforceable or will be challenged by third parties. Both the licensed method of treatment and formulations patent families are pending Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) applications. We intend to file one or more national stage patent applications from each PCT application. However, we cannot provide assurances that such national stage patent application(s) will be filed, nor whether such patent application(s), if filed, will issue, the breadth of any resulting issued patent(s) or whether any issued patent(s) will be found to be invalid, unenforceable or will be challenged by third parties.
Our current patent portfolio is limited to owned or licensed pending patent applications. Our owned or currently licensed, or future optioned, in-licensed or owned patent applications may not result in patents being issued. Any issued patents may not afford sufficient protection of our product candidates or their intended uses against competitors, nor can there be any assurance that the patents issued will not be infringed, designed around, or invalidated by third parties, or effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies, products or product candidates. Even if these patents are granted, they may be difficult to enforce. Further, any issued patents that we may license or own covering our product candidates could be narrowed or found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, including the USPTO. If we do not obtain patent coverage for the work we are conducting, or if we obtain such rights but they are invalidated or rendered unenforceable, we may be unable to exclude competitors from pursuing and marketing the same or similar product candidates. Other risks we face if we are not able to obtain and maintain patent coverage for our product candidates are the reduction in valuation of our product candidates, and ultimately of us as a company, by potential investors, and our inability to assert claims for infringement against third parties or counterclaim against such third parties or negotiate more advantageous settlement parameters. Further, if we encounter delays in our clinical trials or delays in obtaining regulatory approval, the period of time during which we could market our product candidates under patent protection would be reduced. Thus, the patents that we may own or license may not afford us any meaningful exclusivity period or competitive advantage.
We may not be able to obtain or protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world and the legal systems in certain countries may not favor enforcement or protection of at least certain patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. Filing, prosecuting, maintaining and defending patents on product candidates and other related inventions worldwide would be expensive and our intellectual property rights in some foreign jurisdictions can be less extensive than those in the United States; the reverse may also occur. For example, we in-license from GenSci patent applications in the following foreign jurisdictions: Australia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, European Patent Organization, Japan, Korea, Russia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Government actions in certain jurisdictions, including those in which we have licensed patent rights, may allow exploitation of intellectual property without the patent owner’s consent. For example, government decrees may allow third parties to exploit patented inventions without authorization, effectively eliminating patent protection in those territories. These actions could result in abandonment or lapse of future patents in the affected jurisdictions. Geopolitical actions in the United States and in foreign countries could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution or maintenance of future patent
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applications and the maintenance, enforcement or defense of any future issued patents. As such, we may not have patents in all countries or all major markets and may not be able to obtain patents in all jurisdictions even if we or our licensor files patent applications to obtain such rights. Our competitors may operate in countries where we do not have patent protection and may be able to freely use our technologies and discoveries in such countries, at least to the extent not forbidden by law.
In addition to seeking patents for some of our technology and product candidates, we may also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. Any disclosure, either intentional or unintentional, by our employees, the employees of third parties with whom we share our facilities or third-party consultants and vendors that we engage to perform research, clinical trials or manufacturing activities, or misappropriation by third parties, such as through a cybersecurity breach, of our trade secrets or proprietary information could enable competitors to duplicate or surpass our technological achievements, thus eroding our competitive position in our market. In order to protect our proprietary technology and processes, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our collaborators, employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators and sponsored researchers and other advisors. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. We may need to share our proprietary information, including trade secrets, with future business partners, collaborators, contractors and others located in countries at heightened risk of theft of trade secrets, including through direct intrusion by private parties or state actors and those affiliated with or controlled by state actors. In addition, while we undertake reasonable efforts to protect our trade secrets and other confidential information from disclosure, others may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information, and in such cases, we may not be able to assert any trade secret rights against such party. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.
Lastly, if our trademarks and trade names are not registered or adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.
If we are unable to obtain or maintain necessary rights to YB-101 or our future product candidates through acquisitions and in-licenses, our business may be materially harmed.
Because YB-101 currently does, and our product candidates may also in the future, require the use of proprietary rights held by third parties, the growth of our business will depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license or use these third-party proprietary rights. We may be unable to acquire or in-license any compositions, methods of use, processes or other third-party intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our product candidates. The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and a number of more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third-party intellectual property rights or maintain intellectual property rights we obtain in the future, we may have to abandon development of our product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
While we have the right to control prosecution, defense, maintenance and enforcement of patents in-licensed under the GenSci License Agreement once the trigger for transfer of prosecution control is met, there may be times when rights for patents and patent applications relating to our product candidates are controlled by our future licensors or collaboration partners. If we, GenSci or any of our future licensors or collaboration partners fail to prosecute, defend, maintain and enforce such patents and patent applications in a manner consistent with our best interests, including by payment of all applicable fees for patents covering our product candidates, we could lose our rights to the intellectual property or our exclusivity with respect to those rights, our ability to develop and commercialize those product candidates may be adversely affected and we may not be able to prevent competitors from making, using and selling competing products. In addition, even if we have the right to control prosecution of patents and patent applications we have licensed to and from third parties, including under the GenSci License Agreement following the point at which such control is assumed, we may still be adversely affected or prejudiced by actions or inactions of GenSci, additional licensees, or licensors and their counsel prior to the date upon which we assume control over patent prosecution. For example, prior to entering into the GenSci License Agreement, GenSci was responsible for the prosecution, defense, maintenance and enforcement of patents related to YB-101. Subsequent to entering into such license agreement, subject to certain exceptions, we control patent prosecution over YB-101 following the trigger for transfer of prosecution control to us.
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Our future licensors may not be the sole and exclusive owners of all rights in the patents we may in-license. If other third parties have rights to our future in-licensed patents, they may be able to license such patents to our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
It is possible that we may be unable to obtain licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. In that event, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to redesign our product candidates, or the methods for manufacturing them or to develop or license replacement technology, all of which may not be feasible on a technical or commercial basis. If we are unable to do so, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected product candidates, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects significantly. We cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist which might be enforced against our product candidates, manufacturing methods or future products or methods resulting in either an injunction prohibiting our manufacture or future sales, or, with respect to our future sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation to third parties, which could be significant.
Disputes may arise between us and our future licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including, but not limited to: the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues; whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement; our right to sublicense patents and other rights to third parties; our right to transfer or assign the license; the inventorship and ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our future licensors and us and our partners and the priority of invention of patented technology. If we or our future licensors breach the terms of our license agreements, such breach may have a material adverse effect on our business and the commercialization efforts for our product candidates.
We may be subject to intellectual property lawsuits or may need to file lawsuits to protect our intellectual property, which could result in substantial costs and liability and prevent us from commercializing our product candidates.
Because the intellectual property landscape in the biotechnology industry is rapidly evolving and interdisciplinary, it is difficult to conclusively assess our freedom to operate and guarantee that we can operate without infringing on or violating third-party rights. If certain of our product candidates are ultimately granted regulatory approval, patent rights held by third parties could be alleged to render one or more of our product candidates infringing. If a third party successfully brings a claim against us, and our rights are not held invalid or unenforceable, we may be required to pay substantial damages, be forced to abandon any affected product candidate and/or seek a license from the patent holder. In addition, any intellectual property claims (e.g., patent infringement or trade secret misappropriation) brought against us, whether or not successful, may cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert the attention of our management and key personnel from other business concerns. We cannot be certain that future patents, if filed and issued, owned or licensed by us will not be challenged by others, whether in the course of litigation or in agencies like the USPTO. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise funds.
Competitors may infringe or otherwise violate our future patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or other violations, we may be required to file claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Any such claims could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us, including claims alleging that we infringed their patents or other intellectual property rights. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court or administrative body may decide that one or more of our future patents, if obtained and asserted, is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent’s claims narrowly or refuse to prevent the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology. Similarly, if we assert trademark infringement claims, a court or administrative body may determine that the trademarks we have asserted are invalid or unenforceable or that the party against whom we have asserted trademark infringement has superior rights to the trademarks in question. In such a case, we could ultimately be forced to cease use of such trademarks. In any intellectual property litigation, even if we are successful, any award of monetary damages or other remedy we receive may not be commercially valuable.
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Further, we may be required to protect our future patents, if filed and issued, through procedures created to attack the validity of a patent at the USPTO. An adverse determination in any such submission or proceeding could reduce the scope or enforceability of, or invalidate, our patent rights, which could adversely affect our competitive position. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action.
In addition, if our product candidates are found to infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties, these third parties may assert infringement claims against our future licensees or third-party servicers and other parties with whom we have business relationships and we may be required to indemnify those parties for any damages they suffer as a result of these claims, which may require us to initiate or defend protracted and costly litigation on behalf of licensees or other parties regardless of the merits of such claims. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages on behalf of those parties or may be required to obtain licenses for the products we use.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or other legal proceedings relating to our intellectual property rights, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation or other proceedings.
Our success will depend in part on our current and future licensors’ ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patent protection for our owned and licensed intellectual property.
Our success will depend in part on our current and future licensors’ (including GenSci’s) ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patent protection for our owned and licensed intellectual property. We may not successfully prosecute our current or future patent applications that cover our product candidates. Even if patents are issued that are owned by us, we may fail to maintain these patents, or may determine not to pursue litigation against other companies that are infringing these patents. After entry into the GenSci License Agreement, and once the trigger for transfer of prosecution control is met, we control the prosecution, maintenance, enforcement and defense of licensed patent rights regarding YB-101. Prior to entering into the GenSci License Agreement, GenSci held such rights. We, GenSci and our future licensors may not successfully prosecute the licensed patent applications that cover our product candidates. Even if patents are issued in respect of these patent applications, we and our future licensors (including GenSci) may fail to maintain these patents, may determine not to pursue litigation against other companies that are infringing these patents or may pursue such litigation less aggressively than we would. Without protection for any owned or in-licensed intellectual property, other companies might be able to offer substantially identical products for sale, which could adversely affect our competitive business position and harm our business prospects.
We may be subject to claims that we have wrongfully hired an employee from a competitor or that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties.
As is common in the biotechnology industry, in addition to our employees, we engage the services of consultants to assist us in the development of our product candidates. Many of these consultants, and many of our employees, were previously employed at, or may have previously provided or may be currently providing consulting services to, other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies including our competitors or potential competitors. We could in the future be subject to claims that we or our employees have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed alleged trade secrets or other confidential 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 become 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.
While we may litigate to defend against these claims, even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial costs and could be a distraction to management and other employees. 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. Moreover, any such litigation or the threat thereof may adversely affect our reputation, our ability to form strategic alliances or sublicense our rights to collaborators, engage with scientific advisors or hire employees or consultants, each of which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.
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Changes to patent laws in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.
Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of patent laws in the United States, including patent reform legislation such as the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the “Leahy-Smith Act”), could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned and in-licensed patent applications and the maintenance, enforcement or defense of our owned and in-licensed patent applications, if issued. The Leahy- Smith Act included a number of significant changes to United States patent law such as provisions that affected the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefined prior art, provided more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents, and enabled third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent at USPTO-administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings. Assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 2013, in the United States, the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the United States, the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. After March 2013, under the Leahy-Smith Act, the United States transitioned to a first-to-file system in which, assuming that the other statutory requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application would be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the claimed invention. As such, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation increased the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned and licensed patent applications and the enforcement or defense of any resulting issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Additionally, there have been proposals for additional changes to the patent laws of the United States and other countries that, if adopted, could impact our ability to enforce our proprietary technology.
In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations, including in the antibody arts. For example, the United States Supreme Court in Amgen, Inc. v. Sanofi held that Amgen’s patent claims to a class of antibodies functionally defined by their ability to bind a particular antigen were invalid for lack of enablement where the patent specification provided 26 exemplary antibodies, but the claimed class of antibodies covered a “vast number” of additional antibodies not disclosed in the specification. The Court stated that if patent claims are directed to an entire class of compositions of matter, then the patent specification must enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the entire class of compositions. This decision makes it unlikely that we will be granted U.S. patents with composition of matter claims as broad as Amgen’s directed to antibodies functionally defined by their ability to bind a particular antigen. Even if we are granted claims directed to functionally defined antibodies, it is possible that a third party may challenge our patents, when issued, relying on the reasoning in Amgen or other precedential court decisions. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents once obtained. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could have a material adverse effect on our patent rights and our ability to protect, defend and enforce our patent rights in the future.
In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision to overturn established case law giving deference to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutory language has introduced uncertainty regarding the extent to which the FDA’s regulations, policies and decisions may become subject to increasing legal challenges, delays and/or changes. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. Geopolitical instability in the United States and in foreign countries could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution or maintenance of patent applications and the maintenance, enforcement or defense of issued patents. In addition, the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) entered into force on June 1, 2023. The UPC is a common patent court that hears patent infringement and revocation proceedings effective for EU Member States. This could enable third parties to seek revocation of a European patent in a single proceeding at the UPC rather than through multiple proceedings in each of the jurisdictions in which the European patent is validated.
Although we do not currently own any European patents or applications, if we obtain or license such patents and applications in the future, any such revocation and loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business and our ability to commercialize or license our technology and products. Moreover, the controlling laws and regulations of the UPC will develop over time and may adversely affect our ability to enforce or defend the validity of any European patents we may obtain. We may decide to opt out from the UPC any future European patent applications that we may file and any patents we may obtain. If certain formalities and requirements are not met, however, such European patents and patent applications could be challenged for non-compliance and brought under the jurisdiction of the UPC. We cannot be certain that future European patents and patent applications will avoid falling under the jurisdiction of the UPC, if we decide to opt out of the UPC.
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Obtaining and maintaining patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submissions, 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.
Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuities fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or patent applications are due to be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent and/or patent application. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies also require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent 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 any future owned or licensed patents, if issued, or fail to maintain any current or future owned or licensed pending patent applications, covering our product candidates, our competitive position would be adversely affected.
We may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope or expiration of a third-party patent, which might adversely affect our ability to develop and market our products.
We cannot guarantee that any of our patent searches or analyses, including the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending application in the United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our product candidates in any jurisdiction. The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent, the patent’s prosecution history and in some cases certain extrinsic evidence of the meaning of terms in a claim. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect. For example, we may incorrectly determine that our products are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third-party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect. Our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our products.
In addition, because some patent applications in the United States may be maintained in secrecy until the patents are issued, patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, and publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications for technology covered by our current or future, owned or licensed patent applications or patents, if issued, or that we are the first to invent the technology. Our competitors may have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications covering our products or technology similar to ours. Any such patent application may have priority over our current or future, owned or licensed patent applications or patents, if issued, which could require us to obtain rights to issued patents covering such technologies.
We may become subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents, if issued, and other intellectual property.
We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our current pending patent application, or future patents, if filed and issued, or other intellectual property as an inventor or co- inventor. The failure to name the proper inventors on a patent application can result in the patents issuing thereon being invalid or unenforceable. Inventorship disputes may arise from conflicting views regarding the contributions of different individuals named as inventors, the effects of foreign laws where foreign nationals are involved in the development of the subject matter of the patent, conflicting obligations of third parties involved in developing our product candidates or as a result of questions regarding co-ownership of potential joint inventions. Litigation may be necessary to resolve these and other claims challenging inventorship and/or ownership. Alternatively, or additionally, we may enter into agreements to clarify the scope of our rights in such intellectual property.
If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. 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.
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Our current or future licensors may rely on third-party consultants or collaborators or on funds from third parties, such as the U.S. government, such that our licensors are not the sole and exclusive owners of the patents we in-licensed. If other third parties have ownership rights or other rights to our owned or in-licensed pending patent applications or future patents, if filed and issued, they may be able to license such patent applications or patents to our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position of our product candidates for an adequate amount of time.
Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from our earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering our product candidates are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from competitive products, including generics or biosimilars. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such product candidates might expire before or shortly after such product candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.
Our technology licensed from various third parties may be subject to retained rights.
Our future licensors may retain certain rights under the relevant agreements with us, including the right to use or license the licensed technology outside of the scope of our license, use the underlying technology for noncommercial academic and research use, to publish general scientific findings from research related to the technology, and to make customary scientific and scholarly disclosures of information relating to the technology. It is difficult to monitor whether our licensors limit their use of the technology to these uses, and we could incur substantial expenses to enforce our rights to our licensed technology in the event of misuse. In addition, while there are certain restrictions on GenSci’s ability to develop products that could be competitive with ours as more fully described in the section titled,“Yarrow’s Business—Yarrow’s License Agreement—GenSci License Agreement” included in our definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed on Form S-4 most recently amended on June 3, 2026, and, declared effective on June 15, 2026, these restrictions may not prevent the possible future license or development by GenSci of certain technology that could lead to product candidates competitive with ours. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to Government Regulation
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities are lengthy, time-consuming and inherently unpredictable. If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we will not be able to commercialize, or will be delayed in commercializing, our product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.
The process of obtaining regulatory approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is unpredictable, expensive and typically takes many years following commencement of clinical trials, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. We cannot commercialize product candidates in the United States without first obtaining regulatory approval from the FDA. Similarly, we cannot commercialize product candidates outside of the United States without obtaining regulatory approval from comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our product candidates, including YB-101, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for each targeted indication. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the drug manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the relevant regulatory authority. Further, our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective, may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics, or may fail to improve on the applicable standard of care, any of which may preclude us from obtaining regulatory approval. The FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities have discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other data. Our product candidates could be delayed in receiving, or fail to receive, regulatory approval for many reasons, including: the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials; we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for our proposed indication; the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for approval; serious and unexpected drug-related side effects may be experienced by
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participants in our clinical trials or by individuals using drugs similar to our product candidates; we may be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh our safety risks; the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials; the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be acceptable or sufficient to support the submission of a biologics license application (“BLA”) or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere, and we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials; the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory authority may disagree regarding the formulation, labeling and/or the specifications of our product candidates; the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.
Of the large number of drugs in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory approval processes and are commercialized. The lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in us failing to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.
If we were to obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, including failing to approve the most commercially promising indications; may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post- marketing clinical trials; or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate. If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we will not be able to commercialize, or will be delayed in commercializing, our product candidate, which could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities may undergo leadership changes, change their policies, issue additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions, such as those implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency, which may impact our clinical development plans or prevent or delay approval of our product candidates under development on a timely basis. Such policy or regulatory changes could impose additional requirements upon us that could delay our ability to obtain approvals and increase the costs of compliance. Since the start of President Trump’s administration in 2025, U.S. policy changes have been implemented at a rapid pace and additional changes are likely. It is difficult to predict how executive actions that may be taken under the current administration may affect the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If any actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in routine oversight and product review activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted. Additionally, the federal government could adopt legislation, regulations or policies that adversely affect our business or create a more challenging and costly environment to pursue the development, approval and commercialization of our product candidates.
We may not be able to meet requirements for the chemistry, manufacturing and control of our product candidates.
In order to receive approval of our products by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, we must show that we and our contract manufacturing partners are able to characterize, control and manufacture our drug products safely and in accordance with regulatory requirements. This includes manufacturing the active ingredient, developing an acceptable formulation, manufacturing the drug product, performing tests to adequately characterize the formulated product, documenting a repeatable manufacturing process and demonstrating that our drug products meet stability requirements. Meeting these chemistry, manufacturing and control requirements is a complex task that requires specialized expertise. If we are not able to meet the chemistry, manufacturing and control requirements, we may not be successful in getting our products approved.
Our product candidates for which we intend to seek approval as biologics may face competition from biosimilars sooner than anticipated.
The Affordable Care Act includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biological product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a highly similar or “biosimilar” product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first approved by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first approved. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of their product.
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We believe that any of our product candidates approved as biologics under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our product candidates to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for competition sooner than anticipated. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, will be substituted for any reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non- biological products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.
Even if we receive regulatory approval of our product candidates, we will be subject to extensive ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates.
Any regulatory approvals that we may receive for our product candidates will require the submission of reports to regulatory authorities and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate, may contain significant limitations related to use restrictions for specified age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, and may include burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. For example, the FDA may require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (“REMS”) in order to approve our product candidates, which could entail requirements for a medication guide, physician training and communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. Comparable foreign regulatory authorities may impose similar requirements. In addition, if the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities approve our product candidates, our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import and export will be subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable foreign regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as on-going compliance with cGMPs and GCPs for any clinical trials that we conduct following approval. In addition, manufacturers of drug products and their facilities are subject to continual review and periodic, unannounced inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMPs. If we or a regulatory authority discovers previously unknown problems with a product candidate, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facilities where the product candidate is manufactured, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions on that product candidate, the manufacturing facility or us, including requiring recall or withdrawal of the product candidate from the market or suspension of manufacturing, delays or restrictions on our ability to conduct clinical trials or delays or refusal to grant a marketing authorization, including full or partial clinical holds on ongoing or planned trials, restrictions on the manufacturing process, warning or untitled letters, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, product seizures, detentions or import bans, suspension, withdrawal or variation of any marketing authorization that has been granted, voluntary or mandatory publicity requirements and imposition of restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing requirements. Similar penalties may apply in case of failure by us or by any of our third-party partners, including suppliers, manufacturers and distributors, to comply with FDA and EU laws and the related national laws of individual EU Member States and other applicable regulatory authorities governing the conduct of clinical trials, manufacturing approval, marketing authorization of medicinal products and marketing of such products, both before and after grant of a marketing authorization, statutory health insurance, bribery and anti-corruption or other applicable regulatory requirements, including administrative, civil or criminal penalties. The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate revenue and could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity.
Disruptions at the FDA, the SEC and other government agencies and regulatory authorities caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review regulatory filings and our ability to commence human clinical trials can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the SEC, and other government agencies on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.
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Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may also slow the time necessary for the review and approval of applications for clinical trial or marketing authorization, which would adversely affect our business. For example, in recent years, including in 2018, 2019 and 2025, the U.S. government shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities. Additionally, action by the Trump administration to limit federal agency budgets or personnel may result in reductions to the FDA’s budget, employees and operations, which may lead to slower response times and longer review periods, potentially affecting our ability to progress development of our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, future government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.
If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns 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.
We may face difficulties from healthcare and regulatory legislative reform measures.
Existing regulatory policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, the Trump administration has discussed several changes to the reach and oversight of the FDA, which could affect its relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, transparency in decision making and ultimately the cost and availability of prescription drugs. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any regulatory approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.
Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations and customers will be subject to applicable healthcare regulatory laws, which could expose us to penalties.
Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations. These laws may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we conduct our operations, including how we research, market, sell and distribute our product candidates, if approved.
Ensuring that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental laws and regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from government-funded healthcare programs, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly and time-consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.
Even if we are able to commercialize any product candidates, due to unfavorable pricing regulations and/or third-party coverage and reimbursement policies, we may not be able to offer such product candidates at competitive prices, which would seriously harm our business.
We intend to seek approval to market our product candidates in both the United States and in selected foreign jurisdictions. If we obtain approval in one or more foreign jurisdictions for our product candidates, we will be subject to rules and regulations in those jurisdictions. Our ability to successfully commercialize any product candidates that we may develop will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement for these product candidates and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. Government authorities and other third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. Government authorities and other third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. These entities may create preferential access policies for
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a competitor’s product, including a branded or generic/biosimilar product, over our products in an attempt to reduce their costs, which may reduce our commercial opportunity.
We are subject to U.S. and certain foreign export and import controls, sanctions, embargoes, anti-corruption laws and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which can harm our business.
We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and other state and national anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Governmental regulation of the import or export of our drug candidates, or our failure to obtain any required import or export authorization for our candidates, when applicable, could harm international operations. Furthermore, export control laws and economic sanctions prohibit the provision of certain items, technology, and services to countries, governments, and persons targeted by sanctions programs. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, agents, contractors and other collaborators from authorizing, promising, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector. We may engage third parties to sell our products outside the United States, to conduct clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other regulatory approvals. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, contractors and other collaborators, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences.
Governments outside the United States tend to impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our revenue, if any.
In some countries, particularly EU Member States, the pricing of prescription drugs is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after receipt of regulatory approval for a therapeutic. In addition, there can be considerable pressure by governments and other stakeholders on prices and reimbursement levels, including as part of cost containment measures. Political, economic and regulatory developments may further complicate pricing negotiations, and pricing negotiations may continue after reimbursement has been obtained. Reference pricing used by various EU Member States and parallel distribution, or arbitrage between low-priced and high- priced EU Member States, can further reduce prices. To obtain coverage and reimbursement or pricing approvals in some countries, we or future collaborators may be required to conduct a clinical trial or other studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of our product candidates to other available therapies in order to obtain or maintain reimbursement or pricing approval. Publication of discounts by third-party payors or authorities may lead to further pressure on the prices or reimbursement levels within the country of publication and other countries. If reimbursement of any product candidate approved for marketing is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
While we have received Fast Track designation for YB-101 for the treatment of GD, such a designation may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.
The FDA may designate a product candidate for Fast Track review if it is intended, whether alone or in combination with one or more other products, for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and it demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for such a disease or condition (“Fast Track”). For Fast Track products, sponsors may have greater interactions with the FDA and the FDA may initiate review of sections of a Fast Track product’s application before the application is complete. This rolling review may be available if the FDA determines, after preliminary evaluation of clinical data submitted by the sponsor, that a Fast Track product may be effective. We submitted an application for Fast Track designation for YB-101 in GD to the FDA in March 2026 and received notice of Fast Track designation from the FDA on May 20, 2026.
The designation of a product for Fast Track review is within the discretion of the FDA. The receipt of Fast Track designation for a product candidate does not guarantee that there will be faster development or a faster or more streamlined regulatory review or approval process compared to products considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures. The receipt of Fast Track designation does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, the FDA may later decide that the product candidates no longer meet the conditions to qualify for the Fast Track designation, and we may not receive the benefits of the
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program for the relevant product candidate, or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened. Additionally, changes in the leadership of the FDA and other actions taken, including mass layoffs within the federal government, may impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in activities in the normal course and may result in reductions to the FDA’s budget, employees and operations, which may lead to slower response times and longer review periods, potentially affecting our ability to take advantage of the benefits of the Fast Track designation granted to YB-101, and progress the development of our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates may be delayed.
If we seek and are unable to obtain accelerated approval, the amount, size and duration of our clinical trials could be greater than planned, which could increase the expense, reduce the likelihood and/or delay the timing of obtaining necessary regulatory approvals. Even if we receive accelerated approval, if confirmatory trials do not verify clinical benefit, or if we do not comply with rigorous post-approval requirements, such authorities may withdraw accelerated approval.
We may seek accelerated approval, or other expedited development, review or approval status, for our product candidates. Even if granted, there is no guarantee that receiving an expedited development, review or approval status from the FDA will lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and such status does not increase the likelihood that our product candidates will ultimately receive marketing approval. The FDA may grant accelerated approval to a product designed to treat a serious or life-threatening condition that provides meaningful therapeutic advantage over available therapies and demonstrates an effect on a surrogate endpoint or intermediate clinical endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. If we choose to pursue accelerated approval, there can be no assurance that the FDA will agree that our proposed primary endpoint is an appropriate surrogate endpoint. Similarly, there can be no assurance that after subsequent FDA feedback that we will continue to pursue accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval, even if we initially decide to do so. Furthermore, if we submit an application for accelerated approval, there can be no assurance that such application will be accepted or that approval will be granted on a timely basis, or at all. The FDA also could require us to conduct further studies or trials prior to considering our application or granting approval of any type. We might not be able to fulfill the FDA’s requirements in a timely manner, which would cause delays, or approval might not be granted because our submission is deemed incomplete by the FDA. Accelerated approval may be contingent on the sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verify and describe the drug’s predicted effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. Under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022, the FDA may require, as appropriate, that such studies be underway prior to approval or within a specific time period after the date of approval for a product granted accelerated approval. The FDA may require that any such confirmatory study be initiated or substantially underway prior to the submission of an application for accelerated approval. Even if we receive accelerated approval from the FDA, we will be subject to rigorous post-approval requirements, including submission to the FDA of all promotional materials prior to their dissemination. The FDA could withdraw accelerated approval for multiple reasons, including our failure to conduct any required post-approval study with due diligence or the inability of such study to confirm the drug’s predicted clinical benefit relative to its risks. A failure to obtain accelerated approval or any other form of expedited review or approval for a product candidate could result in a longer time period prior to commercializing such product candidate, increase the cost of development of such product candidate, and harm our competitive position in the marketplace. Comparable considerations apply outside of the United States.
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