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Xencor (XNCR) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q2, 2026
Source: the company's latest filing for the period ended Jun 30, 2026, filed Aug 05, 2026
Risk Change Over Time
- Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1Requirements associated with being a public reporting company will continue to increase our costs significantly, as well as divert significant company resources and management attention.
We have been subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and the other rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since December 2013. Effective for the year-ended December 31, 2016, we became a large accelerated filer and are subject to additional internal control and SEC reporting obligations. Compliance with the various reporting and other requirements applicable to public reporting companies requires considerable time, attention of management, and financial resources. Further, the listing requirements of The Nasdaq Global Market require that we satisfy certain corporate governance requirements relating to director independence, distributing annual and interim reports, stockholder meetings, approvals, and voting, soliciting proxies, conflicts of interest and a code of conduct. Our management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements. Moreover, the reporting requirements, rules and regulations increase our legal and financial compliance costs and also make some activities more time-consuming and costly. These reporting requirements, rules, and regulations, coupled with the increase in potential litigation exposure associated with being a public company, could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors or Board committees or to serve as executive officers, or to obtain certain types of insurance, including directors' and officers' insurance, on acceptable terms. In addition, being a public company could make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including directors' and officers' liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors, our Board committees, or as executive officers. Any changes we make to comply with these obligations may not be sufficient to allow us to satisfy our obligations as a public company on a timely basis, or at all.
- Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2If our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or file our periodic reports in a timely manner, which may cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and may lead to a decline in our stock price.
Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports in a timely manner. If we fail to adequately staff our accounting and finance function to address the additional demands that will be placed upon us as a public company, including the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or fail to maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting, it could prevent our management from concluding our internal control over financial reporting is effective and impair our ability to prevent material misstatements in our financial statements, which could cause our business to suffer. As a large accelerated filer, we are subject to additional internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Risk Highlights Q2, 2026
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 56
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 1Clinical trials are expensive and take years to conduct, the outcome of such clinical trials is uncertain and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results. Clinical trials may fail to prove our product candidates are safe and effective.
Each product candidate must receive regulatory approval and therefore must undergo rigorous and extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy in patients. Clinical trials at any stage in development may fail to demonstrate the safety, efficacy or pharmacologic properties needed to be a viable product candidate in patients. Early clinical trials are expensive and can take many years to complete and may fail to demonstrate the safety and pharmacokinetic characteristics needed to invest in larger later stage clinical studies. Alternatively, success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will generate the same results or otherwise provide adequate data to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a product candidate. Later clinical studies that are larger may not demonstrate the desired safety and efficacy profile needed to be of benefit to patients. Results from preclinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways. Even if we believe the preclinical or clinical data for our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Additionally, regulatory authorities may request additional data including additional clinical trials or reject product approval. In addition, the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may change their policies, issue additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions, which may prevent or delay approval of our future products under development on a timely basis. There remains substantial uncertainty as to how the current U.S. administration will seek or continue to modify or revise the requirements and policies of the FDA and other regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over our product candidates. This uncertainty could present new challenges or potential opportunities as we navigate the clinical development and approval process for our product candidates. Such policy or regulatory changes through, for example, executive orders or legislation could impose additional requirements upon us that could delay our ability to obtain approvals or increase the costs of compliance.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 2If 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. In addition, some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that treat the same indications as our product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors' product candidates. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for any of our clinical trials could result in significant delays and could require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates and in delays to commercially launching our product candidates, if approved, which would cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 3We have conducted, are currently conducting, and may in the future conduct clinical trials for our product candidates outside the United States, and the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such trials.
We have conducted, are currently conducting, and may in the future conduct one or more clinical trials of our current or future product candidates outside the United States. The acceptance of study data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States or another jurisdiction by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may be subject to certain conditions or may not be accepted at all. In cases where data from foreign clinical trials are intended to serve as the basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (i) the data are applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice; (ii) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence; and (iii) the data may be considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA or, if the FDA considers such an inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means. Additionally, the FDA's clinical trial requirements, including sufficient size of patient populations and statistical power, must be met. Many foreign regulatory authorities have similar approval requirements. In addition, such foreign trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States or the applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, we would need to conduct additional trials, which could be costly and time-consuming.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 4Delays in the commencement or completion of clinical trials could result in increased costs to us and delay our ability to establish strategic collaborations.
Delays in the commencement or completion of clinical trials could significantly impact our drug development costs. We do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement of clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, delays related to: - obtaining regulatory approval to commence one or more clinical trials;- reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical trial sites;- manufacturing sufficient quantities of a drug candidate or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials, as well as receiving the supplies and materials needed to conduct our clinical trials, including interruptions in global shipping that may affect the transport of clinical materials;- obtaining institutional review board approval to conduct one or more clinical trials at a prospective site;- recruiting and enrolling patients to participate in one or more clinical trials, especially as patients may be reluctant or unable to visit clinical sites, or may delay seeking treatment for chronic conditions;- the failure of our collaborators to adequately resource our drug candidates due to their focus on other programs or as a result of general market conditions;- recruiting clinical site investigators, clinical site staff and potential closure or defunding of clinical facilities; and - changes in regulations, which may require us to change the ways in which our clinical trials are conducted. In addition, once a clinical trial has begun, it may be suspended or terminated by us, our collaborators, the institutional review boards or data safety monitoring boards charged with overseeing our clinical trials, the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign authorities due to a number of factors, including: - failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or clinical protocols;- inspection of the clinical trial operations or clinical trial site by the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold;- unforeseen safety issues; or - lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. If we experience delays in the completion or termination of any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to commence product sales and generate product revenues from any of our product candidates will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs and slow down our product candidate development and approval process. Delays in completing our clinical trials could also allow our competitors to obtain marketing approval before we do or shorten the patent protection period during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. 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 5Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of uncertainty. We may never be profitable.
We have devoted substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to developing our proprietary XmAb technology platform, identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials. We are still in the early stages of developing our product candidates, and we have not completed development of any of our wholly-owned products. Our revenue to date has been primarily revenue from the license of our proprietary XmAb technology platform and drug candidates for the development of product candidates by others or revenue from our partners. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends in large part on our ability, alone or with partners, to achieve milestones and to successfully complete the development of, obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for, and commercialize and market, product candidates. We do not anticipate generating revenues from sales of our own products in the foreseeable future that will provide sufficient proceeds to fund our operations on an ongoing basis. Our ability to generate future revenues from licensing our proprietary XmAb technologies and drug candidates depends heavily on our and our partners' success in advancing drug candidates that they have licensed from us or developed using one of our technologies. Our partners face the same development, regulatory and market risk for advancing their drug candidates and their ability to successfully advance these partnered programs will affect potential milestones and royalties we could earn under our collaboration agreements. Further, our partners may decide not to pursue,or decide to deprioritize our programs due to changing priorities which could affect our future potential revenue from such arrangements. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with biologic product development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses and when we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability, if ever. In addition, our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA, or foreign regulatory agencies, to perform studies and trials in addition to those that we currently anticipate, or if there are any delays in our or our partners' completion of clinical trials or delays in the development of any of our product candidates. Even if we or our partners are able to generate revenues from the sale of any approved products, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations, which may not be available to us on favorable terms, if at all.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 6Our success depends on our ability to use and expand our XmAb technology platform to build a pipeline of product candidates and develop marketable products. We cannot be certain our candidates will receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized.
We use our proprietary XmAb technology platform to develop engineered antibodies, with an initial focus on four properties: immune inhibition, cytotoxicity, extended half-life and most recently, heterodimeric Fc domains enabling molecules with dual target binding. This platform has led to our current pipeline of candidates as well as the other programs that utilize our technology and that are being developed by our partners and licensees. While we believe our preclinical and clinical data to date, together with our established partnerships, has validated our platform to a degree, most of the programs are in early stages of development. Although drug candidates incorporating our Fc technology, or Fc candidates, have been approved by the FDA, other product candidates have not yet been, and may never lead to, approved or marketable therapeutic antibody products. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipeline, the potential candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development, including as a result of their harmful side effects, limited efficacy or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance. If we do not successfully develop and commercialize product candidates, we may not be able to obtain product or partnership revenues in future periods, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 7The clinical development stage of our operations may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
Our operations to date have been limited to raising capital, staffing our company, developing our proprietary XmAb technology platform, identifying potential product candidates, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, developing partnerships and business planning. We have conducted, or are currently conducting, early phase clinical trials for several product candidates, but have not completed any late stage clinical trials for these or any other product candidate. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete any pivotal 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. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we were further advanced in development of our product candidates. In addition, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. We believe we will need to transition from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in this transition. We expect our financial condition and operating results to continue to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, you should not rely upon the results of any quarterly or annual periods as indications of future operating performance.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 8Preliminary, interim, and topline data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish may change as more patient data become available that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we may publicly disclose preliminary, interim or topline data from our clinical trials. These updates are 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. Additionally, 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. Therefore, positive interim results in any ongoing clinical trial may not be predictive of such results in the completed 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 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. Preliminary 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, preliminary, interim or topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. In addition, we may report interim analyses of only certain endpoints rather than all endpoints. Adverse changes between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business and prospects. Further, additional disclosure of interim data by us or by our competitors in the future could result in volatility in the price of our common stock. See the description of risks under the heading "Risks Related to Our Financial Position, Capital Requirements and Ownership of Our Common Stock" for more disclosure related to the risk of volatility in our stock price. 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 typically selected from a more extensive amount of available information. You or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure, and any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product, product candidate or our business. If the preliminary or topline data that we report differ from late, final or 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, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
- Innovation / R&D - Risk 9We may seek Fast Track or other accelerated review designations for some or all of our product candidates. We may not receive such designation, and even for those product candidates for which we do, it may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and will not increase the likelihood that product candidates will receive marketing approval.
We may seek Fast Track or other accelerated review designations for some or all of our other product candidates. If a drug or biologic is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition or disease, and nonclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need, the product may qualify for FDA Fast Track designation, for which sponsors must apply. If granted, a Fast Track or other accelerated review designation makes a product candidate eligible for more frequent interactions with the FDA to discuss the development plan and clinical trial design, as well as rolling review of the application, which means that we can submit completed sections of our marketing application for review prior to completion of the entire submission. Marketing applications of product candidates with a Fast Track or other accelerated review designation may qualify for priority review under the policies and procedures offered by the FDA, but a Fast Track or other accelerated review designation does not assure any such qualification or ultimate marketing approval by the FDA. The FDA has broad discretion with respect to whether or not to grant this designation. Thus, even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this designation, the FDA may decide not to grant it. Moreover, even if we do receive a Fast Track or another accelerated review designation, we or our collaborators may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Access to an expedited program does not change the standards for approval. In addition, the FDA may withdraw a Fast Track or other accelerated review designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.
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