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CytomX Therapeutics (CTMX) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q2, 2026
Risk Change Over Time
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 1If we do not achieve our projected development and commercialization goals in our expected or our announced timeframes, the commercialization of any of our product candidates may be delayed, or never attained, and our business will be harmed.
For planning purposes, we sometimes estimate the timing of the accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development objectives. These milestones may include our expectations regarding the commencement or completion of scientific studies and clinical trials, the submission of regulatory filings, or commercialization objectives. From time to time, we may publicly announce the expected timing of some of these milestones, such as the completion of an ongoing clinical trial, the initiation of other clinical programs, receipt of marketing approval, or a commercial launch of a product. The achievement of many of these milestones may be outside of our control. All of these milestones are based on a variety of assumptions which may cause the timing of achievement of the milestones to vary considerably from our estimates, including: - our available capital resources or capital constraints we experience;- the rate of progress, costs and results of our clinical trials and research and development activities, including the extent of scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and collaborators;- our ability to identify and enroll patients who meet clinical trial eligibility criteria;- our receipt of approvals by the FDA and other regulatory authorities and the timing thereof;- other actions, decisions or rules issued by regulators;- our ability to access sufficient, reliable and affordable supplies of materials used in the manufacture of our product candidates;- our ability to manufacture and supply clinical trial materials to our clinical sites on a timely basis;- the efforts of our collaborators with respect to the commercialization of our products; and - the securing of, costs related to, and timing issues associated with, product manufacturing as well as sales and marketing activities. If we fail to achieve announced milestones in the timeframes we expect, the commercialization of any of our product candidates may be delayed or never attained, and our business and results of operations may be harmed.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 2Interim, "top-line," initial and preliminary data from our clinical trials, including the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials of Varseta-M and CX-801, that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary or top-line data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the top-line or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Top-line data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, top-line data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. For example, in May 2024, we disclosed initial data from our ongoing Phase 1a dose escalation clinical trial of CX-904. In March 2025, based on clinical observations to date and CytomX pipeline priorities, we and Amgen jointly decided to terminate the CX-904 program. From time to time, we may also disclose interim data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available or as patients from our clinical trials continue other treatments for their disease. Adverse differences between preliminary, top-line, or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects. Further, others, including regulatory agencies, 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 program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and our company in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular 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.
Risk Highlights Q2, 2026
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 74
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 1We may seek Orphan Drug Designation for some of our product candidates, and we may be unsuccessful or may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with Orphan Drug Designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.
As part of our business strategy, we may seek Orphan Drug Designation for our product candidates, and we may be unsuccessful. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs and therapeutic biologics for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug or therapeutic biologic as an orphan drug if the candidate is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug or therapeutic biologic will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, Orphan Drug Designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding toward clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. In addition, if a product that has Orphan Drug Designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease or condition for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full BLA, to market the same product for the same approved indication or use within such rare disease or condition for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity in the relevant indication or use or where the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity. Even if we obtain Orphan Drug Designation for our product candidates in specific indications, we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval of these product candidates for the orphan-designated disease or condition due to the uncertainties associated with developing pharmaceutical products. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for a disease or condition broader than the orphan-designated disease or condition or may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs relating to the approved indication or use of patients with the relevant rare disease or condition. Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different biologics can be approved for the same uses or indications within the same rare disease or condition. Even after an orphan product is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug or therapeutic biologic for the same indication or use within the relevant disease or condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug or therapeutic biologic is safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. Orphan Drug Designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug or therapeutic biologic nor gives the drug or therapeutic biologic any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. In addition, while we may seek Orphan Drug Designation for our product candidates, we may never receive such designations.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 2We may seek and fail to obtain fast track or breakthrough therapy designations for our current or future product candidates. If we are successful, these programs may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review process, and they do not guarantee we will receive approval for any product candidate.
If a product is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and preclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need for this condition, the product sponsor may apply for fast track designation. Fast track designation provides increased opportunities for sponsor meetings with the FDA during preclinical and clinical development, in addition to the potential for rolling review of a BLA, if the sponsor provides a schedule for the submission of the sections of the BLA, the FDA agrees to accept sections of the BLA and determines that the schedule is acceptable, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the BLA. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this designation, we cannot assure you that the FDA would decide to grant it. Even if we do receive fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may rescind the fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. We may also seek breakthrough therapy designation for any product candidate that we develop. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over currently approved therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. Like fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe a product candidate we develop meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if a product candidate we develop qualifies as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may later decide that the drug no longer meets the conditions for qualification and rescind the designation.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 3Our approach to the discovery and development of our therapeutic treatments is based on novel technologies that are unproven and may not result in marketable products.
We plan to continue to develop a pipeline of product candidates using our proprietary PROBODY platform. We believe that product candidates (including cancer immunotherapies, conditionally activated ADCs and bispecific antibodies) identified with our product discovery platform may offer an improved therapeutic approach by taking advantage of unique conditions in the tumor microenvironment, thereby reducing the dose-limiting toxic effects associated with traditional antibody products, which can also attack healthy tissue. However, the scientific research that forms the basis of our efforts to develop product candidates based on our PROBODY platform is ongoing, including the research resulting from our ongoing clinical trials for Varseta-M and CX-801. We may ultimately discover that our PROBODY platform and any product candidates resulting from it do not possess certain properties required for therapeutic effectiveness or protection from toxicity. For example, when PROBODY therapeutics are administered to human subjects, protease levels in tumors may not be sufficient and the peptide mask may not be cleaved, which would limit the potential efficacy of the antibody. In addition, if the peptide mask is inappropriately released, for example, due to an inflammatory disease, it may reduce the potential to limit toxicity of the anti-cancer agent or result in unforeseen events when administered in humans. Binding of the peptide mask to the antigen-binding domain of the PROBODY may not be constant, which could lead to intermittent periods when the antigen-binding domain or antibody portion is unmasked. Furthermore, PROBODY product candidates may not remain stable in the human body for the period of time required for the drug to reach and to bind to the target tissue. In addition, product candidates based on our PROBODY platform may demonstrate different chemical and pharmacological properties in patients than they do in laboratory studies. Although our PROBODY platform and certain product candidates have demonstrated successful results in animal studies, they may not demonstrate the same chemical and pharmacological properties in humans and may interact with human biological systems in unforeseen, ineffective, or harmful ways. Our understanding of the molecular pharmacology of PROBODY therapeutics, that is, the precise manner and sequence in which they are activated and behave in vivo, is incomplete. PROBODY therapeutics are complex biological molecules and we are evaluating the performance of this new technology in cancer patients for the first time. Many specific elements of PROBODY therapeutic function may contribute to their overall safety and efficacy profile including, but not limited to, the removal of only one mask from the dually-masked antibody, the removal of both masks from the dually-masked antibody, the binding strength of masks for the underlying antibody, and the binding strength of the underlying antibody for its target. We have limited structural evidence for how masks interact with antibodies. It may take many years before we develop a full understanding of PROBODY pharmacology, and we may never know precisely how they function in vivo. As with any new biologic or product developed on a novel platform, we have a limited understanding of the immunogenicity profile of PROBODY therapeutics. As a result, our PROBODY product candidates may trigger immune responses, such as anti-drug antibody ("ADA"), that may inhibit the ability of the antibody to reach the target tissue, inhibit the ability of the antibody to bind to its target, cause adverse side effects in humans or cause hypersensitivity reactions. However, we cannot provide assurance that it will not later limit drug exposure or cause severe adverse events for our other drug candidates. Problems that are specific to our PROBODY platform may have an unfavorable impact on all of our product candidates. As a result, we may never succeed in developing a marketable product and we may never become profitable, which would cause the value of our common stock to decline. In addition, the scientific evidence to support the feasibility of developing product candidates against novel, difficult to drug targets, is both preliminary and limited. For example, our understanding of the expression of our drug targets in both healthy and diseased tissues is still developing. As a result, we cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to successfully identify and advance any product candidates to target novel, difficult-to-drug targets. Additionally, we entered into a collaboration with Moderna for the development of mRNA based product candidates. We do not know whether our PROBODY platform will be able to successfully develop product candidates utilizing this mRNA technology. We believe that the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities have limited experience with conditionally activated therapeutics in oncology, such experience primarily coming from us with our prior development of CX-904, praluzatamab ravtansine, CX-2029, BMS-986249, BMS-986288, and pacmilimab, and more recently, with other competitors with early stage conditionally activated therapeutics. We believe that such limited experience may increase the complexity, uncertainty and length of the regulatory approval process for our product candidates and may keep us from commencing first-in-human trials in certain countries. As there is limited historical precedent for the regulatory approval of conditionally activated therapeutics in oncology, there is a higher degree of risk that the FDA or other regulatory authorities could disagree that we or our collaborators have satisfied their requirements to commence clinical trials for some product candidates or disagree with our study designs, which may require us to complete additional preclinical studies or amend our protocols or impose stricter conditions on the commencement of clinical trials. In addition, local clinical practice in other countries may affect whether we or our collaborators are able to initiate a clinical trial there. As a result, we and our collaborators may never receive approval to market and commercialize any product candidate. Even if we or our collaborators obtain regulatory approval, the approval may be for targets, disease indications or patient populations that are not as broad as we or they intended or desired or may require labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings. We or our collaborators may be required to perform additional or unanticipated clinical trials to obtain approval or be subject to post-marketing testing requirements to maintain regulatory approval. If one or more of our product candidates or our PROBODY technology generally prove to be ineffective, unsafe or commercially unviable, our entire platform and pipeline may have little, if any, value, which would have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 4ChangedIf we do not achieve our projected development and commercialization goals in our expected or our announced timeframes, the commercialization of any of our product candidates may be delayed, or never attained, and our business will be harmed.
For planning purposes, we sometimes estimate the timing of the accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development objectives. These milestones may include our expectations regarding the commencement or completion of scientific studies and clinical trials, the submission of regulatory filings, or commercialization objectives. From time to time, we may publicly announce the expected timing of some of these milestones, such as the completion of an ongoing clinical trial, the initiation of other clinical programs, receipt of marketing approval, or a commercial launch of a product. The achievement of many of these milestones may be outside of our control. All of these milestones are based on a variety of assumptions which may cause the timing of achievement of the milestones to vary considerably from our estimates, including: - our available capital resources or capital constraints we experience;- the rate of progress, costs and results of our clinical trials and research and development activities, including the extent of scheduling conflicts with participating clinicians and collaborators;- our ability to identify and enroll patients who meet clinical trial eligibility criteria;- our receipt of approvals by the FDA and other regulatory authorities and the timing thereof;- other actions, decisions or rules issued by regulators;- our ability to access sufficient, reliable and affordable supplies of materials used in the manufacture of our product candidates;- our ability to manufacture and supply clinical trial materials to our clinical sites on a timely basis;- the efforts of our collaborators with respect to the commercialization of our products; and - the securing of, costs related to, and timing issues associated with, product manufacturing as well as sales and marketing activities. If we fail to achieve announced milestones in the timeframes we expect, the commercialization of any of our product candidates may be delayed or never attained, and our business and results of operations may be harmed.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 5ChangedInterim, "top-line," initial and preliminary data from our clinical trials, including the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials of Varseta-M and CX-801, that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary or top-line data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data related to the particular study or trial. We also make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and we may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the top-line or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same studies, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Top-line data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, top-line data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. For example, in May 2024, we disclosed initial data from our ongoing Phase 1a dose escalation clinical trial of CX-904. In March 2025, based on clinical observations to date and CytomX pipeline priorities, we and Amgen jointly decided to terminate the CX-904 program. From time to time, we may also disclose interim data from our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available or as patients from our clinical trials continue other treatments for their disease. Adverse differences between preliminary, top-line, or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects. Further, others, including regulatory agencies, 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 program, the approvability or commercialization of the particular product candidate or product and our company in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular 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.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 6AddedOur product candidates are in early stages of development and may fail or suffer delays that materially and adversely affect their commercial viability. If we are unable to advance our product candidates through clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize such product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We are very early in our development efforts, including with Varseta-M and CX-801 currently continuing in early-stage clinical development. We have no products on the market and 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. Before obtaining regulatory approval for the commercial distribution of our product candidates, we or our collaborators must conduct extensive preclinical tests and clinical trials to demonstrate sufficient safety, purity and potency (or efficacy) of our product candidates in patients. As a result, we may not have the financial resources to continue development of, or to modify existing or enter into new collaborations for, a product candidate if we experience any issues that delay or prevent regulatory approval of, or our ability to commercialize, product candidates, including: - negative or inconclusive results from our clinical trials, the clinical trials of our collaborators or the clinical trials of others for product candidates similar to ours, leading to a decision or requirement to conduct additional preclinical testing or clinical trials or abandon a program;- product-related side effects experienced by participants in our clinical trials, the clinical trials of our collaborators or by individuals using drugs or therapeutic biologics similar to our product candidates;- delays in submitting INDs or comparable foreign applications or delays or failure in obtaining the necessary approvals or allowances from regulators to commence a clinical trial, or a suspension or termination of a clinical trial once commenced;- conditions imposed by the FDA or comparable foreign authorities regarding the scope or design of our clinical trials;- delays in enrolling research subjects in clinical trials;- high dropout rates of research subjects;- inadequate supply or quality of product candidate components or materials or other supplies necessary for the conduct of our or our collaborators' clinical trials;- greater than anticipated clinical trial costs;- delay in the development or approval of companion diagnostic tests for our product candidates;- delays or difficulties in the manufacturing of our product candidates;- unfavorable FDA or other regulatory agency inspection and review of a clinical trial site;- failure of our third-party contractors or investigators to comply with regulatory requirements or otherwise meet their contractual obligations in a timely manner, or at all;- delays and changes in regulatory requirements, policy and guidelines, including the imposition of additional regulatory oversight around clinical testing generally or with respect to our technology in particular; or - varying interpretations of data by the FDA and similar foreign regulatory agencies. We could find that the therapeutics we or our collaborators pursue are not safe, pure, potent (or efficacious). For example, in March 2025, based on clinical observations to date and CytomX pipeline priorities, we and Amgen jointly decided to terminate the CX-904 program. Further, a clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, our collaborators, the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, the Data Safety Monitoring Board for such trial or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug or therapeutic biologic, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Furthermore, we expect to rely on our collaborators, CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and while we expect to enter into agreements governing their committed activities, we have limited influence over their actual performance. If we or our collaborators experience delays in the completion of, or termination of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues or receive royalties from any of these product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Furthermore, if one or more of our product candidates or our PROBODY therapeutic technology generally prove to be ineffective, unsafe or commercially unviable, the development of our entire platform and pipeline could be delayed, potentially permanently. For example, in March 2023, AbbVie announced that it would not advance CX-2029 into additional clinical trials and terminated our 2016 CD71 License and Collaboration Agreement for CX-2029. In November 2023, we announced that we would not direct significant further investment in the development of CX-2029 and in the first quarter of 2025 terminated the program. Any similar occurrences may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 7If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Patient enrollment, a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials, is affected by many factors, including: - the size and nature of the target patient population;- the severity of the disease or condition under investigation;- the eligibility criteria for the clinical trial;- the design of the clinical trial;- the availability of an appropriate genomic screening test;- the perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;- the availability and efficacy of approved therapies for the disease or condition under investigation;- the efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;- the patient referral practices of physicians;- the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment;- the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of a trial; and - the proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients. In addition, competing clinical trials and clinicians' and patients' perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs or therapeutic biologics that may be approved for the indications we are investigating, could affect our ability to enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients in our clinical trials. There can be no assurance that new or further trials with our current or future drug candidates will not be adversely affected by a limited patient population. Our clinical trials of Varseta-M and CX-801 study patients who have one or a select number of specific tumor types rather than patients suffering from any cancer, which limits the rate of enrollment of the trial. In addition, some of our clinical trials may seek to treat indications with small population sizes which could be particularly difficult to enroll. The clinical trials for our molecules also compete with thousands of clinical trials with alternative anti-cancer drugs in similar classes (e.g. antibody-drug conjugates), and certain arms of the clinical trials may be difficult to enroll due to the emerging standard of care for such indications in certain jurisdictions, including the United States. Likewise, our clinical trials of Varseta-M and CX-801 are also competing with thousands of other anti-cancer clinical trials. Any clinical trials of our product candidates initiated by our collaborators will face similar and additional risks relating to enrollment. We or our collaborators could also encounter delays in the development of any of our product candidates if prescribing physicians encounter unresolved ethical issues associated with enrolling patients in clinical trials of our product candidates in lieu of prescribing existing treatments that have established safety and efficacy profiles. Any delays relating to patient enrollment could cause significant delays in the timing of our or our collaborators' clinical trials, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 8Our product candidates, including Varseta-M and CX-801, may cause undesirable side effects at any time during or after the clinical trial process that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any, including withdrawal from the market.
Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us, our collaborators or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. As is the case with all oncology drugs, there may be immediate or late side effects associated with the use of our product candidates, including Varseta-M and CX-801. Our lead program, Varseta-M, is an antibody-drug conjugate which is in a class of therapy known to drive potent anti-cancer activity, but that often has side effects or adverse events that need to be managed in order for patients to derive benefits from treatment. There can be no assurance that unexpected adverse events will not occur in our ongoing trials, including the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials of Varseta-M or CX-801, or in future trials involving our product candidates or the product candidates of our collaborators. Undesirable side effects may appear in later trials that were not observed in our earlier trials or may be more severe in later trials than earlier trials. The results of our or our collaborators' future clinical trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity of adverse side effects, including immune system related adverse events or increased toxicity, and it is possible that patients enrolled in such clinical trials could respond in unexpected ways or otherwise have unexpected adverse events. For example, in May 2025 and in March 2026, we announced positive interim data from our ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial with Varseta-M. While we believe interim data supports the potential to reach a favorable therapeutic index, we also reported treatment related adverse events, including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and anemia, and in August 2025, we announced that a single Grade 5 treatment-related acute kidney injury occurred in a patient with a complex medical history, including having a solitary kidney. We cannot provide assurance that we will reach an acceptable or tolerable dose for Varseta-M or CX-801. Furthermore, any ongoing or future clinical trials of our product candidates, including those for Varseta-M and CX-801, could face risks related to undesirable side effects, including unacceptable toxicity. In the event that our clinical trials or the clinical trials of our collaborators reveal severe adverse side effects, our or our collaborators' clinical trials could be suspended or terminated and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could impose a clinical hold, order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Such side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, any occurrences of side effects with respect to one of our product candidates could negatively affect our or any collaborator's ability to enroll patients and seek regulatory approval for other product candidates that we have developed using our PROBODY platform, which could also result in a collaborator terminating any program utilizing our PROBODY platform and the termination of such collaborative relationship. Any of these occurrences may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Further, clinical trials by their nature utilize a sample of the potential patient population. With a limited number of patients and limited duration of exposure, rare and severe side effects of our product candidates may only be uncovered with a significantly larger number of patients exposed to the product candidate. In the event that any of our product candidates receives regulatory approval and we, our collaborators or others identify undesirable side effects caused by such product or any other PROBODY therapeutics, any of the following adverse events could occur, which could result in the loss of significant revenue to us and materially and adversely affect our results of operations and business: - regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of the product or seize the product;- we or our collaborators may be required to recall the product or change the way the product is administered to patients;- additional restrictions may be imposed on the marketing of the particular product or the manufacturing processes for the product or any component thereof;- we may be subject to fines, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties;- regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, such as a "black box" warning or a contraindication;- we may be required to create a Medication Guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients, or to conduct post-marketing studies;- we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients;- the product may become less competitive; and - our reputation may suffer. In addition, adverse side effects caused by any drugs of other companies utilizing the same or similar therapeutic agents of our product candidates, or that are similar in nature to our product candidates could delay or prevent regulatory approval of our product candidates, limit the commercial profile of an approved label for our product candidates, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval. We believe that any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of our product candidates and could substantially increase the costs of commercializing our product candidates, if approved, and significantly impact our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and generate revenues.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 9Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results. We may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.
As is the case with all oncology drugs, our product candidates in clinical development or preclinical development go through a long process and have a high risk of failure, including termination for strategic reasons. It is impossible to predict when or if any of our or our partners' product candidates will prove safe, pure and potent (or effective) in humans or will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, we or our partners must complete extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency (or efficacy) of our product candidates in humans. Commencement of initial clinical trials for future programs is subject to finalizing the trial design and submission of an IND or similar submission to the FDA or similar global health authorities. In addition, even if we submit an IND or a comparable submission in other jurisdictions for our product candidates, the FDA or other regulatory authorities could disagree that we have satisfied their requirements to commence our clinical trials or disagree with our study design, which may require us to complete additional preclinical studies or amend our protocols or impose stricter conditions on the commencement of clinical trials and may delay our ability to begin clinical trials under such IND, causing an increase in the amount of time and expense required to develop our product candidates. As a result of the foregoing, the research and development, preclinical studies and clinical testing of any product candidate is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the development process. For example, in March 2025, based on clinical observations to date and CytomX pipeline priorities, we and Amgen jointly decided to terminate the CX-904 program. Further, we or our collaborators may also experience delays in completing ongoing clinical trials, completing preclinical studies or initiating further clinical trials of our product candidates. We do not know whether our or our collaborators' ongoing clinical trials or preclinical studies will be completed on schedule or at all, or whether planned clinical trials or preclinical studies will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. We or our collaborators may have insufficient internal resources to complete ongoing clinical trials or initiate clinical trials for our other product candidates. The development programs for our product candidates may also be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays related to: - recruiting suitable patients to participate in a clinical trial;- developing and validating any companion diagnostic to be used in a clinical trial;- the FDA or other regulatory authorities requiring us to submit additional data or imposing other requirements before permitting us to initiate a clinical trial;- obtaining regulatory authority clearance to commence a clinical trial;- reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective contract research organizations ("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;- obtaining institutional review board ("IRB") approval at each clinical trial site;- having patients complete a clinical trial or return for post-treatment follow-up;- clinical trial sites deviating from trial protocol or dropping out of a trial;- adding new clinical trial sites;- manufacturing our product candidates in sufficient quality and quantity for use in clinical trials; or - collaborators electing to not pursue development and commercialization of our product candidates. In addition, the results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 10We 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.
Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we focus on specific product candidates and indications. We may forgo or delay pursuit of opportunities with those products in other indications or 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 programs and 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.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 11If we are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostic tests for certain of our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, we may not realize the full commercial potential of our product candidates.
Because we are focused on precision medicine, in which predictive biomarkers will be used to identify the right patients for our product candidates, we believe that our success may depend, in part, on the development of companion diagnostic tests. To successfully develop a companion diagnostic test, we would need to address a number of scientific, technical and logistical challenges. However, we have little experience in the development of companion diagnostic tests and may not be successful in developing appropriate tests to pair with any of our product candidates. Companion diagnostic tests are developed in conjunction with clinical programs for the associated product candidate and are subject to regulation by the FDA and similar regulatory authorities outside the United States as medical devices and require separate regulatory approval prior to commercialization. Specifically, according to FDA guidance, if the FDA determines that a companion diagnostic device is essential to the safe and effective use of a novel therapeutic product or indication, the FDA generally will not approve the therapeutic product or new therapeutic product indication if the companion diagnostic is not also approved or cleared for that indication. The approval or clearance of a companion diagnostic as part of the therapeutic product's further labeling limits the use of the therapeutic product to only those patients who express the specific characteristic that the companion diagnostic was developed to detect. Given our limited experience in developing companion diagnostic tests, we could seek to rely on third parties to design, manufacture, and obtain regulatory approval for any companion diagnostic tests for our product candidates. However, we and such collaborators may encounter difficulties in developing and obtaining approval for the companion diagnostic tests, including issues relating to selectivity/specificity, analytical validation, reproducibility, or clinical validation. Any delay or failure by us or our collaborators to develop or obtain regulatory approval of the companion diagnostic tests could delay or prevent approval of our product candidates. As a result, our business would be harmed, possibly materially.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 12If any of our product candidates are approved for marketing and commercialization and we are unable to develop sales, marketing and distribution capabilities on our own or enter into agreements with third parties to perform these functions on acceptable terms, we will be unable to commercialize successfully any such future products.
We currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities or experience. If any of our product candidates is approved, we will need to develop internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities to commercialize such products, which would be expensive and time-consuming, or enter into collaborations with third parties to perform these services. If we decide to market our products directly, we will need to commit significant financial and managerial resources to develop a marketing and sales force with technical expertise and supporting distribution, administration and compliance capabilities. If we rely on third parties with such capabilities to market our products or decide to co-promote products with collaborators, we will need to establish and maintain marketing and distribution arrangements with third parties, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to enter into such arrangements on acceptable terms or at all. In entering into third-party marketing or distribution arrangements, any revenue we receive will depend upon the efforts of the third parties and there can be no assurance that such third parties will establish adequate sales and distribution capabilities or be successful in gaining market acceptance of any approved product. If we are not successful in commercializing any product approved in the future, either on our own or through third parties, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
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