As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021.

Registration No. 333-          

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

VIGIL NEUROSCIENCE, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

1 Broadway, 7th Floor, Suite 07-300

Cambridge, MA 02142

(857) 254-4445

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

Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch

1 Broadway, 7th Floor, Suite 07-300

Cambridge, MA 02142

(857) 254-4445

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

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

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

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED                 , 2021

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

                Shares

Common Stock

We are offering                shares of our common stock. This is our initial public offering and no public market currently exists for our common stock. We expect the initial public offering price to be between $                and $                per share. We have applied to list our common stock on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “VIGL.”

We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements for this prospectus and future filings. See “Prospectus Summary—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Smaller Reporting Company.”

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Please see “Risk Factors” beginning on page 13 of this prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

At our request, the underwriters have reserved up to         % of common stock offered by this prospectus for sale, at the initial public offering price, to certain individuals identified by us. See “Underwriting—Directed Share Program.”

We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days from the date of this prospectus to purchase an additional                shares of common stock.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares of common stock against payment in New York, New York on or about                 , 2021.

Prospectus dated                , 2021.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

For investors outside of the United States: We have not, and the underwriters have not, done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United States. Persons outside of the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe, any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.

The market data and certain other statistical information used throughout this prospectus are based on independent industry publications, governmental publications, reports by market research firms, or other independent sources that we believe to be reliable sources. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys, and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. We are responsible for all of the disclosure contained in this prospectus, and we believe that these sources are reliable; however, we have not independently verified the information contained in such publications. While we are not aware of any misstatements regarding any third-party information presented in this prospectus, their estimates, in particular, as they relate to projections, involve numerous assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. Some data are also based on our good faith estimates.

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including our financial statements and related notes and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section, before making an investment decision. These risks may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect us. In that event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Business, and Financial Position

We have a limited operating history, have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We may never generate any revenue or become profitable, and, if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain it.

Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. We commenced operations in 2020, and, to date, we have focused primarily on organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, identifying therapeutic candidates, establishing our intellectual property portfolio and conducting research and preclinical studies. As an organization, we have not yet initiated or completed any clinical trials, obtained regulatory approvals, manufactured a clinical- or commercial-scale product, or arranged for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conducted sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, any predictions made about our future success or viability are speculative.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product revenue since our inception. If our therapeutic candidates are not successfully developed and approved, we may never generate any, or any significant revenue. Our net loss was $28.5 million for the year December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $28.5 million. Substantially all of our losses have resulted from expenses incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. All of our therapeutic candidates will require substantial additional development time and resources before we would be able to apply for or receive regulatory approvals and begin generating revenue from product sales. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase substantially as we continue our development of, seek regulatory approval for and potentially commercialize any of our therapeutic candidates.

To become and remain profitable, we must succeed in developing and eventually commercializing products that generate significant revenue. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including identifying lead therapeutic candidates, discovering additional therapeutic candidates, conducting preclinical studies prior to submitting an IND, obtaining clearance for an IND, completing additional preclinical studies and clinical trials of our therapeutic candidates, obtaining regulatory approval for therapeutic candidates and manufacturing, marketing and selling any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval. We are only in the preliminary stages of most of these activities. We may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, may never generate revenues that are significant enough to achieve profitability. In addition, we have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the biopharmaceutical industry. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with biopharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to achieve

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profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable may have an adverse effect on the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our therapeutic candidates or even continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

Our limited operating history may make it difficult to evaluate our technology and industry and predict our future performance. Though several companies have conducted or are conducting studies involving neurodegenerative diseases for which microglia deficiency is a key driver of disease pathology, the relevance of those studies to the evaluation of therapeutic candidates developed using our precision medicine approach may be difficult to ascertain. Our short history as an operating company and novel therapeutic approach make assessments of our future success or viability subject to significant uncertainty. We will encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by early-stage companies in rapidly evolving fields. Failure to address these risks successfully will cause our business to suffer. Similarly, we expect that our financial condition and operating results will fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. As a result, our stockholders should not rely upon the results of any quarterly or annual period as an indicator of future operating performance.

In addition, as an early-stage company, we will encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown circumstances. If we advance our therapeutic candidates, we will need to transition from a company with a research focus to a company capable of supporting clinical development and, if successful, commercial activities. We may fail in that transition.

We will require additional financing to achieve our goals, and failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our development programs, commercialization efforts or other operations.

The development of biopharmaceutical therapeutic candidates is capital-intensive. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing and planned activities, particularly as we conduct preclinical studies of our development programs, initiate clinical trials for our therapeutic candidates and seek regulatory approvals for our current therapeutic candidates and any future therapeutic candidates we may develop. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our therapeutic candidates, we also expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution. Because the outcome of any preclinical study or clinical trial is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our therapeutic candidates.

Furthermore, following the completion of this offering, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. Failing to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms could force us to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs or any future commercialization efforts.

We believe that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, will enable us to fund our operations through                 . We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Our operating plans and other demands on our cash resources may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings or other capital sources, including potentially collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. Attempting to secure additional financing may divert our management from our day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop our therapeutic candidates.

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Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or our guidance.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly in the future. From time to time, we may enter into license or collaboration agreements or strategic partnerships with other companies to gain access to new technologies, or to out-license our technologies. Any such agreement may include development funding and significant upfront and milestone payments and/or royalties, which may become an important source of our revenue. Under our exclusive license agreement with Amgen, for example, we are required to pay Amgen up to $80.0 million upon the achievement of specified regulatory milestones for the first mAb TREM2 agonist product, or mAb product, and first small molecule TREM2 agonist product, or small molecule product, upon achievement of specified regulatory milestones as well as aggregate milestone payments of up to $350.0 million upon achievement of specific commercial milestones across all such mAb products and small molecule products, and tiered royalties of low to mid single-digit percentages on annual net sales of the products covered by the license. These milestone payments may vary significantly from period to period and the variance could cause a significant fluctuation in our operating results from one period to the next.

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In addition, we measure compensation cost for stock-based awards made to employees at the grant date of the award, based on the fair value of the award as determined by our board of directors, and recognize the cost as an expense over the employee’s requisite service period. As the variables that we use as a basis for valuing these awards change over time, including, after the closing of this offering, our underlying stock price and stock price volatility, the magnitude of the expense that we must recognize may vary significantly.

Furthermore, our operating results may fluctuate due to a variety of other factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including, but not limited to:

The cumulative effect of these factors could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial

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analysts or investors for any period. If our operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, or if the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met any previously publicly stated guidance we may provide.

Our history of recurring losses and anticipated expenditures raises substantial doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern requires that we obtain sufficient funding to finance our operations.

We have incurred operating losses to date and it is possible we may never generate sufficient cash flow from operations to operate as a going concern. We have concluded, and the report from our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2020 includes an explanatory paragraph stating, that our recurring losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception and required additional funding to finance our operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to obtain sufficient funding, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate all of our research and development programs, product portfolio expansion or commercialization efforts, and our financial condition and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected and we may be unable to continue as a going concern. After the completion of this offering, future reports from our independent registered public accounting firm may also contain statements expressing substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we seek additional financing to fund our business activities in the future and there remains substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, investors or other financing sources may be unwilling to provide additional funding to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to remediate this material weakness, or if we identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect our business.

Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could cause us to fail to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations to meet our reporting obligations.

We identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The Company did not design and maintain effective controls over the cut-off of certain general and administrative and research and development expenses. This material weakness resulted in immaterial adjustments to general and administrative expenses, research and development expenses and accrued expenses as of and for the year ending December 31, 2020, and as of and for each of the interim periods ending June 30, 2020 and September 30, 2020, all of which were recorded prior to the issuance of the interim and annual consolidated financial statements. Additionally, this material weakness could result in misstatements of the aforementioned account balances or disclosures that would result in a material misstatement to the annual or interim consolidated financial statements that would not be prevented or detected. During fiscal year 2021, we are enhancing our internal controls over financial reporting to remediate the material weakness. As the revised and enhanced controls need to be in operation for a sufficient period of time to ensure that the controls are operating as designed, management has concluded that the material weakness cannot be considered remediated as of September 30, 2021.

We cannot assure that the measures we have taken to date, and actions we may take in the future, will be sufficient to remediate the control deficiency that led to this material weakness in our internal control over

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financial reporting or that they will prevent or avoid potential future material weaknesses. In addition, neither our management nor an independent registered public accounting firm has performed an evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting because no such evaluation has been required. Had we or our independent registered public accounting firm performed an evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting, additional material weaknesses may have been identified. If we are unable to successfully remediate our existing or any future material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, or we identify any additional material weaknesses, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected, potentially resulting in restatements of our consolidated financial statements; we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports and applicable Nasdaq listing requirements; investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting; and our stock price may decline as a result.

If we are unable to design and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock may decline.

Ensuring that we have adequate internal control over financial reporting in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. In connection with this offering, we intend to begin the process of documenting, reviewing and improving our internal control over financial reporting to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rules and regulations, which will require annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

Implementing any appropriate changes to our internal control over financial reporting may distract our officers and employees, entail substantial costs to modify our existing processes, and take significant time to complete. These changes may not, however, be effective in establishing and maintaining the adequacy of our internal controls, and any failure to maintain that adequacy, or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, could increase our operating costs and harm our business. If we fail to remediate our identified material weakness, or identify additional material weaknesses, in our internal control over financial reporting; if we are unable to comply with the requirements of the SEC’s rules and regulations in a timely manner; or if we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could also become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

Failure or security breaches of, loss or leakage of data from, or other disruptions in, our internal information technology systems, or those of our third-party CROs or other vendors, contractors or consultants, could result in a material disruption of our development programs, compromise sensitive information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information, potentially exposing us to liability or otherwise adversely affecting our business.

We are increasingly dependent upon information technology systems, infrastructure and data to operate our business. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store and transmit confidential information (including but not limited to intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information). We also have outsourced elements of our operations to third parties, and, as a result, we manage a number of third-party clinical research organizations (CROs), vendors, and other contractors and consultants who have access to our confidential information.

Despite the implementation of security measures, given their size and complexity and the increasing amounts of confidential information that they maintain, our internal information technology systems and those of

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our third-party CROs, vendors and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to breakdown or other damage or interruption from service interruptions, system malfunction, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures, as well as security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions by our employees, third-party CROs, vendors, contractors, consultants, business partners and/or other third parties, or from cyber-attacks by malicious third parties (including the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information), which may compromise our system infrastructure, or that of our third-party CROs, vendors and other contractors and consultants, or lead to data leakage. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments, and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. Also, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our employees are working remotely. As a result, we may have increased cyber security and data security risks, due to increased use of home wi-fi networks and virtual private networks, as well as increased disbursement of physical machines. While we implement IT controls to reduce the risk of a cyber security or data security breach, there is no guarantee that these measures will be adequate to safeguard all systems, especially with an increased number of employees working remotely. The techniques used by cyber criminals change frequently, may not be recognized until launched and can originate from a wide variety of sources, including outside groups such as external service providers, organized crime affiliates, terrorist organizations or hostile foreign governments or agencies. Disruptions or security breaches resulting in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or those of our third-party CROs, vendors and other contractors and consultants, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, could generate liability and reputational damage and the further development and commercialization, if approved, of VGL101 or any future therapeutic candidates could be delayed. The costs related to significant security breaches or disruptions could be material and exceed the limits of the cybersecurity insurance we maintain against such risks. We may have limited recourse for disruptions or breaches of the information technology systems of our third-party CROs, vendors and other contractors and consultants, and we may have to expend significant resources to mitigate the impact of such an event, and to develop and implement protections to prevent future events of this nature from occurring.

Our data protection efforts and our investment in information technology do not preclude significant breakdowns, data leakages, breaches in our systems, or those of our third-party CROs, vendors and other contractors and consultants, or other cyber incidents that could have a material adverse effect upon our reputation, business, operations or financial condition. The loss of clinical trial data for VGL101 or any other therapeutic candidates could result in delays in our marketing approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data.

Furthermore, security breaches or significant disruptions of our internal information technology systems or those of our third-party CROs, vendors and other contractors and consultants, could result in the loss, misappropriation and/or unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of, or the prevention of access to, confidential information (including trade secrets or other intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information), which could result in financial, legal, business and reputational harm to us. For example, any such event that leads to unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information, including personal information regarding our clinical trial subjects or employees, could harm our reputation directly, compel us to comply with federal and/or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to mandatory corrective action, and otherwise subject us to liability under laws and regulations that protect the privacy and security of personal information, which could result in significant legal and financial exposure and reputational damages that could potentially have an adverse effect on our business.

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A pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, may materially and adversely affect our business and could cause a disruption to the development of our therapeutic candidates.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has broadly affected the global economy, resulted in significant travel and work restrictions in many regions and has put a significant strain on healthcare resources. The ultimate extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, financial condition and results of operations is highly uncertain and will depend on continued developments and actions taken by government authorities and businesses to contain or prevent the further spread of ongoing COVID-19. The continuation of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic may affect our ability to initiate and complete preclinical studies, delay the initiation of our planned clinical trials, disrupt regulatory activities or have other adverse effects on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted economies worldwide and may cause substantial disruption in the financial markets, both of which could adversely affect our business, operations and ability to raise funds to support our operations.

To date, we have not experienced a material financial impact or significant business disruptions, including with our vendors, or impairments of any of our assets as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We are following, and plan to continue to follow, recommendations from federal, state and local governments regarding workplace policies, practices and procedures. We have taken temporary precautionary measures intended to help minimize the risk of the virus to our employees, including limiting on-site presence to essential employees, providing for social distancing, increased sanitization of our facilities and providing personal protective equipment for our employees. We expect to continue to take actions as may be required or recommended by government authorities or as we determine are in the best interests of our employees and other business partners. We are continuing to monitor the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but even though many states within the U.S. are easing COVID-19 related restrictions, we cannot be certain what the overall impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will be on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Risks Related to the Discovery, Development and Regulatory Approval of Our Therapeutic Candidates

We are early in our development efforts. We have never successfully completed any clinical trials, and if we are unable to identify and advance therapeutic candidates through preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtain marketing approval and ultimately commercialize them, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We are early in our development efforts, and we have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete any clinical trials, including large-scale, 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 commercialization. We have invested substantially all of our research efforts to date in identifying potential therapeutic candidates and conducting preclinical studies. As an organization, we have never conducted any interventional clinical trials, and we may be unable to do so for our therapeutic candidates. Our lead therapeutic candidate, VGL101, is our only product candidate in Phase 1 clinical development for ALSP. Following our submission of an IND to the FDA to evaluate VGL101 in a Phase 1 trial, we received notice from the FDA that our IND was cleared for dosing VGL101 in healthy volunteers at doses up to 20 mg/kg with a partial clinical hold that prohibits evaluation of VGL101 at doses higher than 20 mg/kg. We do not believe the partial clinical hold will have a material impact on our current clinical development plans and timelines for our clinical trial in ALSP. We expect to initiate our Phase 1 trial as planned, and pending safety results of the Phase 1 trial and discussions with the FDA, to later evaluate VGL101 in a Phase 2/3 trial at doses up to 20 mg/kg based on our current dosing rationale for VGL101. In addition, we have a small molecule program that is in an earlier stage of development, for which we have not yet initiated or completed IND-enabling studies. We may never advance these or any future therapeutic candidates through IND-enabling studies or receive clearance from the FDA to commence clinical trials for our therapeutic candidates. Our ability to generate product revenue, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of our therapeutic candidates, which may never occur. We currently generate no revenue from sales of any product, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product.

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Commencing clinical trials in the U.S. is subject to acceptance by the FDA of an IND and finalizing the trial design based on discussions with the FDA and other regulatory authorities. For the FDA to accept an IND, we must complete toxicology and other preclinical studies pursuant to Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs), which may not be successful or may take longer than we expect. The FDA may require us to complete additional preclinical studies or we may be required to satisfy other FDA requests prior to commencing clinical trials, and such requests may not currently be known or anticipated, which may cause the start of our first clinical trials to be delayed or prevent us from conducting clinical trials. Even after we receive and incorporate guidance from these regulatory authorities, the FDA or other regulatory authorities could disagree that 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, impose stricter conditions than we currently expect or may prevent us from conducting clinical trials. There are equivalent processes and risks applicable to clinical trial applications in other countries, including countries in the European Union (EU).

The success of therapeutic candidates we may identify and develop will depend on many factors, including:

If we do not succeed in one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize any therapeutic candidates we may develop,

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which would materially harm our business. If we are unable to advance our therapeutic candidates to clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our therapeutic candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular therapeutic candidate or indication, such as our initial focus on developing VGL101, and fail to capitalize on therapeutic candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success. As such, our business is highly dependent on the clinical advancement of our programs and is especially dependent on the success of our lead candidate, VGL101.

One of our strategies is to identify and pursue clinical development of additional therapeutic candidates. Given our limited human capital and financial resources, we must focus on research programs and therapeutic candidates that we identify for specific indications. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other therapeutic candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. We are highly dependent on the success of the future clinical trials of VGL101, our lead therapeutic candidate, the outcomes of which are uncertain, to further develop our pipeline candidates for common neurodegenerative disease starting from patient segments with known genetic variations associated with microglial dysfunction. Because VGL101 is our first therapeutic candidate, if it encounters safety, efficacy, supply or manufacturing problems, developmental delays, regulatory or commercialization issues or other problems, the value of our platform could be greatly diminished and our development plans could be curtailed and our business would be significantly harmed.

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 therapeutic candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable therapeutic candidates. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular therapeutic candidate or misread trends in the biopharmaceutical industry, in particular for neurodegenerative diseases, we may relinquish valuable rights to that therapeutic 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 therapeutic candidate.

At any time and for any reason, we may determine that one or more of our discovery programs or pre- clinical or clinical therapeutic candidates or programs does not have sufficient potential to warrant the allocation of resources toward such program or therapeutic candidate. Accordingly, we may choose not to develop a potential therapeutic candidate or elect to suspend, deprioritize or terminate one or more of our discovery programs or preclinical or clinical therapeutic candidates or programs. Suspending, deprioritizing or terminating a program or therapeutic candidate in which we have invested significant resources, means we will have expended resources on a program that will not provide a full return on our investment and may have missed the opportunity to have allocated those resources to potentially more productive uses, including existing or future programs or therapeutic candidates.

We have concentrated a substantial portion of our research and development efforts on the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, a field that has seen limited success in drug development. Further, our therapeutic candidates are based on new approaches and novel technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of therapeutic candidate development and subsequently obtaining regulatory approval.

We have focused our research and development efforts on therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases. Collectively, efforts by biopharmaceutical companies in the field of neurodegenerative diseases have seen limited success in drug development. No effective therapeutic options are available for patients with ALSP, and limited options exist for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Our future success is

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highly dependent on the successful development of our therapeutic candidates for treating neurodegenerative diseases. Developing our therapeutic candidates for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases subjects us to a number of challenges, including demonstrating safety and efficacy and obtaining regulatory approval from the FDA and other regulatory authorities who have only a limited set of precedents to rely on.

We are pursuing a precision medicine approach to developing a broad range of therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. By targeting rare genetically defined neurodegenerative microgliopathies, our strategy is to advance our pipeline by reducing downstream translational risk, efficiently generating clinical PoC and expanding into multiple neurodegenerative indications where microglia-based therapeutics may have meaningful impact on disease progression and patient lives. This strategy may not prove to be successful. We cannot be sure that our approach will yield satisfactory therapeutic products that are safe and effective, scalable, or profitable.

We may conduct clinical trials that utilize an “open-label” trial, which are subject to various limitations that may exaggerate any therapeutic effect as patients in open-label clinical trials are aware when they are receiving treatment.

We may conduct clinical trials that utilize an “open-label” trial design. An “open-label” clinical trial is one where both the patient and investigator know whether the patient is receiving the investigational therapeutic candidate or either an existing approved drug or placebo. Most typically, open-label clinical trials test only the investigational therapeutic candidate and sometimes may do so at different dose levels. Open-label clinical trials are subject to various limitations that may exaggerate any therapeutic effect as patients in open-label clinical trials are aware when they are receiving treatment. Open-label clinical trials may be subject to a “patient bias” where patients perceive their symptoms to have improved merely due to their awareness of receiving an experimental treatment. In addition, open-label clinical trials may be subject to an “investigator bias” where those assessing and reviewing the physiological outcomes of the clinical trials are aware of which patients have received treatment and may interpret the information of the treated group more favorably given this knowledge. The results from an open-label trial may not be predictive of future clinical trial results with any of our therapeutic candidates for which we include an open-label clinical trial when studied in a controlled environment with a placebo or active control.

We may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory authorities, which could prevent us from commercializing any therapeutic candidates we develop on a timely basis, if at all.

The risk of failure in developing therapeutic candidates is high. It is impossible to predict when or if any therapeutic candidate would prove effective or safe in humans or will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any therapeutic candidate, we must complete preclinical development, submit an IND or foreign equivalent to permit initiation of clinical studies, and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of therapeutic candidates in humans. We plan to initiate a first-in-human clinical trial for VGL101 in healthy volunteers in December 2021. We have identified a second rare microgliopathy, cALD, for which we plan to submit an IND amendment to our open IND to conduct a Phase 2 trial in the first half of 2023. We have not previously conducted any clinical trials of any therapeutic candidates, have limited experience as a company in preparing and submitting regulatory filings and have not previously submitted an IND, a new drug application (NDA), or a biologics license application (BLA), or other comparable foreign regulatory submission for any therapeutic candidate.

Before we can commence clinical trials for a therapeutic candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical testing and studies that support our INDs and other regulatory filings. We cannot be certain of the timely identification of a therapeutic candidate or the completion or outcome of our preclinical testing and studies and cannot predict whether the FDA will accept our proposed clinical programs or whether the

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outcome of our preclinical testing and studies will ultimately support the further development of any therapeutic candidates. Conducting preclinical testing is a lengthy, time-consuming and expensive process. The length of time may vary substantially according to the type, complexity and novelty of the program, and often can be several years or more per program. As a result, we cannot be sure that we will be able to submit INDs for our preclinical programs on the timelines we expect, if at all, and we cannot be sure that submission of INDs will result in the FDA allowing clinical trials to begin.

Clinical trials are expensive, difficult to design and implement and can take many years to complete, and their outcome is inherently uncertain. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing, which may result from a multitude of factors, including, but not limited to, flaws in trial design, dose selection issues, patient enrollment criteria and failure to demonstrate favorable safety or efficacy traits. No therapeutic has been approved for the treatment of ALSP and the regulatory pathway for approval of a therapeutic for ALSP is uncertain. Given the lack of precedent, we may encounter difficulties in identifying and establishing clinical endpoints that FDA would consider clinically meaningful. Moreover, we have had limited interactions with the FDA and cannot be certain how many clinical trials of VGL101 or any other therapeutic candidates will be required or how such trials should be designed. Even after the FDA has received and commented on the design for our clinical trials, the agency may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval. Consequently, despite future regulatory interactions and advice, we may be unable to successfully and efficiently execute and complete necessary clinical trials in a way that leads to regulatory submission and approval of any of our therapeutic candidates. Additionally, because our initial target indications are rare diseases, we may face challenges identifying patients and enrolling clinical trials, which may delay or prevent completion of such trials. Clinical trials also may fail to demonstrate that our therapeutic candidates are safe for humans and effective for indicated uses. Successful completion of clinical trials is a prerequisite to submitting an NDA or BLA to the FDA or similar marketing applications to other regulatory authorities for each therapeutic candidate. Even if the clinical trials are successful, changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment or promulgation of additional statutes, regulations or guidance or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application.

Other events that may prevent successful enrollment, initiation or timely completion of clinical development include:

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We may encounter substantial delays in the commencement, enrollment or completion of our planned clinical trials, which could prevent us from receiving necessary regulatory approvals or commercializing any therapeutic candidates we develop on a timely basis, if at all.

We could encounter delays in our development plans when a clinical trial is suspended, placed on clinical hold or terminated by us, the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, or the FDA or other regulatory authorities or recommended for suspension or termination by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for such trial. A suspension or termination may be imposed due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or 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 product candidate or treatment, failure to establish or achieve clinically meaningful trial endpoints, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Following our submission of an IND to the FDA to evaluate VGL101 in a Phase 1 trial, we received notice from the FDA that our IND was cleared for dosing VGL101 in healthy volunteers at doses up to 20 mg/kg with a partial clinical hold that prohibits evaluation of VGL101 at doses higher than 20 mg/kg. The partial clinical hold was placed based on the FDA’s review of non-clinical data and in the absence of dose limiting safety findings up to the highest dose tested of 200 mg/kg, which was identified as the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) in our non-human primate toxicology study. Following the receipt of the formal partial clinical hold letter, which will provide the written explanation of the basis for the partial clinical hold as well as any non-hold comments, we intend to submit a response to the FDA in the first quarter of 2022 to address their feedback on the imposed dosing limit with the intention of resolving the

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partial clinical hold. We do not believe the partial clinical hold will have a material impact on our current clinical development plans and timelines for our clinical trial in ALSP. We expect to initiate our Phase 1 trial as planned, and pending safety results of the Phase 1 trial and discussions with the FDA, to later evaluate VGL101 in a Phase 2/3 trial at doses up to 20 mg/kg based on our current dosing rationale for VGL101. However, if changes in our understanding of the therapeutic concentrations of VGL101 necessitate exploration of doses higher than 20 mg/kg, and we are unable to reach agreement with the FDA to lift the partial clinical hold, we may be unable to complete our clinical trials of VGL101 in ALSP patients, which would delay our clinical development plans and may require us to incur additional clinical development costs and could impair our ability to obtain U.S. regulatory approval for VGL101.

Additionally, if the results of future clinical trials are inconclusive, we may be required to perform additional clinical trials to support approval. 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 therapeutic candidates.

Failure to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in clinical trials as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may delay or prevent us from initiating or continuing clinical trials for our therapeutic candidates. Because the target patient populations for some of our therapeutic candidates, in particular for rare diseases such as the ones on which we are initially focused, are relatively small, it may be difficult to successfully identify patients for inclusion in clinical trials, especially for the natural history study we began in September 2021. This is especially important as we intend to offer to the volunteers of our natural history study enrollment in our planned interventional clinical trial in patients with ALSP and therefore any potential delays in enrollment could have adverse consequences for our planned clinical development program for VGL101.

In addition, we may experience delays or disruptions in the initiation of or enrollment in our planned clinical trials due to the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in local site or IRB policies availabilities of site staff, reprioritization of hospital resources, restricted access to healthcare professionals and testing sites and other containment measures or concerns among patients about participating in clinical trials during a pandemic. Furthermore, some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for therapeutic candidates that treat the same indications we plan to target with our therapeutic candidates, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’ therapeutic candidates. Patient enrollment and trial competition may be affected by other factors including:

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Our inability to identify patients appropriate for enrollment in our clinical trials, or to enroll a sufficient number of patients in our clinical trials, specifically our natural history study, would 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 therapeutic candidates, which would cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing. If we are unable to include symptomatic patients with the applicable genetic mutations and/or variations, this could limit our ability to seek participation in the FDA’s expedited development programs, including breakthrough therapy designation and fast track designation, or otherwise to seek to accelerate clinical development and regulatory timelines.

Even if we are able to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials, we may have difficulty retaining patients in our clinical trials. In our planned clinical trials that will include a placebo group, some of patients may perceive that they are not receiving the therapeutic candidate being tested, and they may decide to withdraw from our clinical trials to pursue other alternative therapies rather than continue the trial with the perception that they are receiving placebo. Difficulty enrolling or retaining a sufficient number of patients to conduct our clinical trials, may require us to delay, limit or terminate clinical trials, any of which would harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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

Use of our therapeutic candidates could be associated with side effects, adverse events or other properties or safety risks, which could delay or preclude approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon a therapeutic candidate, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in other significant negative consequences that could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

We have not evaluated any of our therapeutic candidates in human clinical trials and there may be serious adverse events or undesirable side effects related to our therapeutic candidates. To our knowledge, no approved products target TREM2 and no competitive TREM2 agonists are in clinical development for ALSP. Moreover, it is impossible to predict when or if any therapeutic candidates we may develop will prove safe in humans. As is the case with biopharmaceuticals generally, it is likely that there may be side effects and adverse events associated with use of our therapeutic candidates. Results of our clinical trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects or unexpected characteristics. Undesirable side effects caused by our therapeutic candidates could cause us 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 comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition 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 therapeutic candidates may only be uncovered with a significantly larger number of patients exposed to the therapeutic candidate. Any undesirable side effects or unexpected characteristics associated with our therapeutic candidates in clinical trials may lead us to elect to abandon their development or limit their development to more narrow uses or

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subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective, which may limit the commercial expectations for the therapeutic candidate, if approved. We may also be required to modify our trial plans based on findings after we commence our clinical trials. Many compounds that initially showed promise in early-stage testing have later been found to cause side effects that prevented further development of the compound. In addition, regulatory authorities may draw different conclusions or require additional testing to confirm these determinations.

As we test our therapeutic candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as the use of these therapeutic candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, may be reported. Any findings of such side effects later in development or following any approval may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

Patients treated with our therapeutics, if approved, may experience previously unreported adverse reactions, and the FDA or other regulatory authorities may ask for additional safety data as a condition of, or in connection with, our efforts to obtain approval of our therapeutic candidates.

If safety problems occur or are identified after our therapeutics reach the market, if any, we may make the decision or be required by regulatory authorities to amend the labeling of our therapeutics, recall our therapeutics or even withdraw approval for our therapeutics.

If there are safety concerns or serious adverse events associated with any therapeutic candidates we may develop, we may:

Our therapeutic candidates are subject to extensive regulation and compliance, which is costly and time-consuming, and such regulation may cause unanticipated delays or prevent the receipt of the required approvals to commercialize our therapeutic candidates.

The clinical research, development, manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, advertising, promotion, import, export, marketing, distribution and adverse event reporting, including the submission of safety and other information, of our therapeutic candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA in the U.S. and by comparable foreign regulatory authorities in foreign markets. In the U.S., we are not permitted to market our therapeutic candidates until we receive regulatory approval from the FDA. The process of obtaining regulatory approval is expensive, often takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the therapeutic candidates involved, as well as the target indications and patient population. Approval policies or regulations may change, and the FDA has substantial discretion in the drug approval process, including the ability to delay, limit or deny

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approval of a therapeutic candidate for many reasons. Despite the time and expense invested in clinical development of therapeutic candidates, regulatory approval is never guaranteed. Neither we nor any current or future collaborator is permitted to market any of our therapeutic candidates in the U.S. until we receive approval from the FDA.

The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities can delay, limit or deny approval of a therapeutic candidate for many reasons, including:

With respect to foreign markets, approval procedures vary among countries and, in addition to the foregoing risks, may involve additional product testing, administrative review periods and agreements with pricing authorities. In addition, events raising questions about the safety of certain marketed biopharmaceuticals may result in increased cautiousness by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in reviewing new drugs based on safety, efficacy or other regulatory considerations and may result in significant delays in obtaining regulatory approvals. Any delay in obtaining, or inability to obtain, applicable regulatory approvals would prevent us or any of our potential future collaborators from commercializing our therapeutic candidates.

The results of preclinical studies are not necessarily predictive of the results of later preclinical studies and any clinical trials of our therapeutic candidates, and interim, topline and preliminary data from our

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preclinical studies and planned clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

The results from preclinical studies of a therapeutic candidate may not predict the results of later preclinical studies and any clinical trials of the therapeutic candidate. Therapeutic candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy characteristics despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. In particular, while we have conducted certain preclinical studies of VGL101 and other potential therapeutic candidates, we do not know whether VGL101 or the other potential therapeutic candidates will perform in future clinical trials as they have performed in prior preclinical studies. The positive results we have observed for our therapeutic candidates in early, GLP and non-GLP preclinical studies, animal and in vitro models may not be predictive of our future clinical trials in humans. This may be a result of technical challenges unique to that program or due to biology risk, which is unique to every program. As we progress our programs through clinical development, there may be new technical challenges that arise that cause an entire program to fail. Furthermore, for some indications that we are pursuing there are no animal models that adequately mirror the human disease to predict any level of positive results. Unexpected observations or toxicities observed in these studies, or in IND-enabling studies for any of our other development programs, could delay clinical trials for VGL101 or our other development programs.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose interim, preliminary or topline data from our preclinical studies and planned clinical trials, which 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. 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. Topline data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Additionally, interim, topline or preliminary 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. Adverse differences between preliminary, topline 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 therapeutic candidate or product and the value of our company in general. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical development even after achieving promising results in earlier studies, and companies that have believed their therapeutic candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain FDA approval. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial will be based on what is typically extensive information, and 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, therapeutic candidate or our business. If the topline 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 therapeutic candidates may be harmed, which could harm our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition.

We may not be successful in our efforts to expand our pipeline of therapeutic candidates.

We believe the central role that microglia play in sensing and coordinating the response to tissue damage and disease provides therapeutic opportunities for many neurodegenerative diseases, either through TREM2 activation or potentially other microglia targets. Over time, we plan to expand our pipeline, either through

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internal discovery and development, or through strategic collaborations or alliances with academic organizations, pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies.

Although our research and development efforts to date have resulted in a pipeline of potential programs and therapeutic candidate, we may not be able to identify other microglia targets and develop therapeutic candidates. We may also pursue opportunities to acquire or in-license additional businesses, technologies or therapeutic candidates, form strategic alliances or create joint ventures with third parties to complement or augment our existing business. However, we may not be able to identify any therapeutic candidates for our pipeline through such acquisition or in-license.

Even if we are successful in continuing to build and expand our pipeline, the potential therapeutic candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development. For example, they may be shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be drugs that will be successful in clinical trials or receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance. If we do not successfully develop and commercialize therapeutic candidates, we will not be able to obtain drug revenues in future periods, which likely would result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely affect our stock price.

Clinical trial and product liability lawsuits against us could divert our resources, could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and could limit commercialization of any therapeutic candidates we may develop.

We will face an inherent risk of clinical trial and product liability exposure related to the testing of any therapeutic candidates we may develop in clinical trials, and we will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products that we may develop. While we currently have no therapeutic candidates in clinical trials or that have been approved for commercial sale, the future use of therapeutic candidates by us in clinical trials, and the sale of any approved products in the future, may expose us to liability claims. These claims might be made by patients that use the product, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling such products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our therapeutic candidates or products caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

We will need to increase our insurance coverage if we commence clinical trials or if we commence commercialization of any therapeutic candidates. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be

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able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise. If and when coverage is secured, our insurance policies may also have various exclusions and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage.

Even if our agreements with any future corporate collaborators entitle us to indemnification against losses, such indemnification may not be available or adequate should any claim arise, nor would such indemnity insulate us from potential reputational damage. If a successful clinical trial or product liability claim or series of claims is brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.

We may develop our current or future therapeutic candidates in combination with other therapies, which would expose us to additional risks.

We may develop our current or potential future therapeutic candidates in combination with one or more currently approved therapies or therapies in development. Even if any of our current or future therapeutic candidates were to receive marketing approval or be commercialized for use in combination with other existing therapies, we would continue to be subject to the risks that the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities could revoke approval of the therapy used in combination with any of our therapeutic candidates, or safety, efficacy, manufacturing or supply issues could arise with these existing therapies. In addition, it is possible that in the future, existing therapies with which our therapeutic candidates are then approved for use could themselves fall out of favor or be relegated to later lines of treatment. This could result in the need to identify other combination therapies for our therapeutic candidates or our own products being removed from the market or being less successful commercially.

We may also evaluate our current or future therapeutic candidates in combination with one or more other therapies that have not yet been approved for marketing by the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. We will not be able to market and sell any therapeutic candidate in combination with any such unapproved therapies that do not ultimately obtain marketing approval.

Furthermore, we cannot be certain that we will be able to obtain a steady supply of such therapies for use in developing combinations with our therapeutic candidates on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Any failure to obtain such therapies for use in clinical development and the expense of purchasing therapies in the market may delay our development timelines, increase our costs and jeopardize our ability to develop our therapeutic candidates as commercially viable therapies. If the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities do not approve or withdraw their approval of these other therapies, or if safety, efficacy, commercial adoption, manufacturing or supply issues arise with the therapies we choose to evaluate in combination with any of our current or future therapeutic candidates, we may be unable to obtain approval of or successfully market any one or all of the current or future therapeutic candidates we develop. Additionally, if the third-party providers of therapies or therapies in development used in combination with our current or future therapeutic candidates are unable to produce sufficient quantities for clinical trials or for commercialization of our current or future therapeutic candidates, or if the cost of combination therapies are prohibitive, our development and commercialization efforts would be impaired, which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

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Where appropriate, we plan to secure approval from the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities through the use of accelerated approval pathways. If we are unable to obtain such approval, we may be required to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials beyond those that we contemplate, which could increase the expense of obtaining, and delay the receipt of, necessary marketing approvals. Even if we receive accelerated approval from the FDA, EMA or comparable regulatory authorities, if our confirmatory trials do not verify clinical benefit, or if we do not comply with rigorous post-marketing requirements, the FDA, EMA or such other regulatory authorities may seek to withdraw the accelerated approval.

Where possible, we plan to pursue accelerated development strategies in areas of high unmet need. We may seek an accelerated approval pathway for our one or more of our therapeutic candidates from the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Under the accelerated approval provisions in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the FDA’s implementing regulations, the FDA may grant accelerated approval to a therapeutic candidate designed to treat a serious or life- threatening condition that provides meaningful therapeutic benefit over available therapies upon a determination that the therapeutic candidate has an effect on a surrogate endpoint or intermediate clinical endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. The FDA considers a clinical benefit to be a positive therapeutic effect that is clinically meaningful in the context of a given disease, such as irreversible morbidity or mortality. For the purposes of accelerated approval, a surrogate endpoint is a marker, such as a laboratory measurement, radiographic image, physical sign, or other measure that is thought to predict clinical benefit, but is not itself a measure of clinical benefit. An intermediate clinical endpoint is a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit. The accelerated approval pathway may be used in cases in which the advantage of a new drug over available therapy may not be a direct therapeutic advantage, but is a clinically important improvement from a patient and public health perspective. If granted, accelerated approval is usually contingent on the sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verify and describe the drug’s clinical benefit. If such post-approval studies fail to confirm the drug’s clinical benefit, the FDA may withdraw its approval of the drug.

Prior to seeking accelerated approval, we will seek feedback from the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities and will otherwise evaluate our ability to seek and receive such accelerated approval. There can be no assurance that after our evaluation of the feedback and other factors we will decide to pursue or submit an NDA or BLA for accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval. Similarly, there can be no assurance that after subsequent feedback from the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, we will continue to pursue or apply for accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval, even if we initially decide to do so. Furthermore, if we decide to submit an application for accelerated approval, there can be no assurance that such application will be accepted or that any approval will be granted on a timely basis, or at all. The FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities could also require us to conduct further studies prior to considering our application or granting approval of any type, including, for example, if other products are approved via the accelerated pathway and subsequently converted by FDA to full approval. A failure to obtain accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval for our therapeutic candidate would result in a longer time period to commercialization of such therapeutic candidate, could increase the cost of development of such therapeutic candidate and could harm our competitive position in the marketplace. Moreover, even if we are able to obtain accelerated approval for any of our therapeutic candidates, there is no guarantee that post-approval studies will be able to confirm the clinical benefit, which could cause FDA to withdraw our approval.

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We may seek fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation and/or orphan drug designation from the FDA or similar designations from other regulatory authorities for one or more of our therapeutic candidates. Even if one or more of our therapeutic candidates receive any of these designations, we may be unable to obtain or maintain the benefits associated with such designation.

The FDA has established various designations to facilitate more rapid and efficient development and approval of certain types of drugs. Such designations include fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation, and orphan drug designation. Fast track designation is designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of therapies for serious conditions that fill an unmet medical need. Programs with fast track designation may benefit from early and frequent communications with the FDA, potential priority review and the ability to submit a rolling application for regulatory review. Fast track designation applies to both the therapeutic candidate and the specific indication for which it is being studied. If any of our therapeutic candidates receive fast track designation but do not continue to meet the criteria for fast track designation, or if our clinical trials are delayed, suspended or terminated, or put on clinical hold due to unexpected adverse events or issues with clinical supply or due to other issues, we will not receive the benefits associated with the fast track program. Fast track designation alone does not guarantee qualification for the FDA’s priority review procedures.

A breakthrough therapy, on the other hand, is defined as a drug or biologic that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug or biologic may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints. For therapeutic candidates that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA, and drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for other expedited approval programs, including accelerated approval. Even if one or more of our therapeutic candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies pursuant to FDA standards, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification. Thus, even though we may seek breakthrough therapy designation for one or more of our current or future therapeutic candidates, there can be no assurance that we will receive breakthrough therapy designation.

Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the U.S. and the EU, may also designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a therapeutic candidate as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the U.S., or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the U.S. where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the U.S. In the EU, the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) evaluates orphan drug designation to promote the development of products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the EU. In the U.S., orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers, and it may entitle the therapeutic to exclusivity in the U.S. and the EU. Regulatory authorities may not grant our requests for orphan designation, or may require submission of additional data before making such determination. For example, we submitted a request for orphan drug designation of VGL101 in May 2021, and FDA has requested clinical or additional in vivo animal data to facilitate the agency’s review of this request. Even if we obtain orphan drug designation for a therapeutic candidate, we may not be able to obtain or maintain orphan drug exclusivity for that therapeutic candidate.

If any of our programs or therapeutic candidates receive fast track, breakthrough therapy or orphan drug designation by the FDA or similar designations by other regulatory authorities, there is no assurance that we will receive any benefits from such programs or that we will continue to meet the criteria to maintain such designation. Even if we obtain such designations, we may not experience a faster development process, review or

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approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. A fast track, breakthrough therapy, or orphan drug designation does not ensure that a therapeutic candidate will receive marketing approval or that approval will be granted within any particular timeframe. In addition, the FDA may withdraw any such designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We may be required to make significant payments under our license agreement with Amgen Inc. for certain TREM2 agonists, and, if we breach our license agreement with Amgen related to these TREM2 agonists, we could lose the ability to continue the development and commercialization of TREM2 agonists.

In July 2020, we acquired an exclusive, royalty-bearing license to certain intellectual property rights owned or controlled by Amgen, to commercially develop, manufacture, use, distribute and sell therapeutic products containing compounds that bind to TREM2 (the Amgen Agreement). Under the Amgen Agreement, in consideration for the license, we made an upfront payment of $500,000 and also issued 6,928,566 shares of our Series A preferred stock to Amgen at the time of the initial closing with a subsequent 1,963,093 shares of our Series A preferred stock issued at the time of the milestone closing. As additional consideration for the license, we are required to pay Amgen up to $80.0 million in the aggregate upon the achievement of specified regulatory milestones for the first monoclonal antibody TREM2 agonist (mAb) product and the first small molecule TREM2 agonist product and aggregate milestone payments of up to $350.0 million upon the achievement of specific commercial milestones across all such mAb products and small molecule products. No regulatory or commercial milestones have been achieved to date under the license agreement. We are also required to pay tiered royalties of low to mid single-digit percentages on annual net sales of the products covered by the license. If milestone or other non-royalty obligations become due, we may not have sufficient funds available to meet our obligations, which will materially adversely affect our business operations and financial condition. For more information on the terms of the license agreement with Amgen, see “Business—Exclusive License Agreement with Amgen Inc.”

We are dependent on patents, know-how and proprietary technology in-licensed from Amgen. Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our therapeutic candidate or any future therapeutic candidates and use our and our licensor’s proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. Amgen may have the right to terminate the license agreement in full in the event we materially breach or default in the performance of any of the obligations under the license agreement. A termination of the license agreement with Amgen could result in the loss of significant rights and could harm our ability to develop and commercialize our therapeutic candidates.

Disputes may also arise between us and Amgen, as well as any future potential licensors, regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:

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If disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected therapeutic candidates.

In addition, the Amgen Agreement under which we currently license intellectual property is complex, and certain provisions may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the Amgen Agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. For example, under the Amgen Agreement, Amgen shall have the right to terminate the agreement if we are deemed to have directly or indirectly conducted, enabled or participated in any distracting program (as defined in the Amgen Agreement), and do not elect to add the program to the agreement. There could be disagreements on whether a certain program would be considered as a distracting program. Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangement on commercially acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected therapeutic candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

We are generally also subject to all of the same risks with respect to protection of intellectual property that we license, as we are for intellectual property that we own, which are described below. If we or our licensors fail to adequately protect this intellectual property, our ability to commercialize products could suffer.

We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct some or all aspects of our product manufacturing, research and preclinical and clinical testing, and these third parties may not perform satisfactorily.

We do not expect to independently conduct all aspects of our product manufacturing, research and preclinical and clinical testing. We currently rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties with respect to many of these items, including contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) for the manufacturing of any therapeutic candidates we test in preclinical or clinical development, as well as CROs for the conduct of our preclinical testing and research and CROs for the conduct of our planned clinical trials. For instance, VGL101 is a monoclonal antibody and is produced from a recombinant cell line only by permitted CMOs as set forth in the Amgen Agreement, the replacement of which would need to be approved by Amgen. We have established non-exclusive relationships with these CMOs for the manufacturing of VGL101 drug substance and drug product, and other third parties for testing, fill finish, and packaging and labeling. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time. A need to enter into alternative arrangements could delay our product development activities. Delays in CMO production of VGL101 drug substance or drug product would delay our ability to conduct and complete clinical trials.

Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our responsibility to ensure compliance with all required regulations and study protocols. For example, for therapeutic candidates that we develop and commercialize on our own, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our IND-enabling studies and clinical trials are conducted in accordance with the study plan and protocols. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with GLPs for preclinical studies intended to support INDs and applications for marketing authorization, and with GCPs for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, clinical investigators and trial sites. We also are required to register ongoing clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov within specified timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions. If we or any of our CROs

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or other third parties, including trial sites, fail to comply with applicable GLPs or GCPs, the preclinical and clinical data generated in our preclinical studies and clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to suspend, place on clinical hold or terminate these trials or require us to perform additional preclinical studies or 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 complies with GCP regulations, or that applicable preclinical studies comply with GLPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under conditions that comply with the FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

Although we intend to design the clinical trials for any therapeutic candidates we may develop, CROs will conduct some or all of the clinical trials. As a result, many important aspects of our development programs, including their conduct and timing, will be outside of our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct future preclinical studies and clinical trials will also result in less direct control over the management of data developed through preclinical studies and clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff. Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties may:

These factors may materially adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. We expect to have to negotiate budgets and contracts with CROs and trial sites, which may result in delays to our development timelines and increased costs. In addition, 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 or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our clinical programs. If these CROs, and any other third parties we engage do not perform preclinical studies and future clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, or if they breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of any therapeutic candidates we may develop may be delayed, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our therapeutic candidates or our development programs may be materially and irreversibly harmed. If we are unable to rely on preclinical and clinical data collected by our CROs and other third parties, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of or increase the size of any preclinical studies or clinical trials we conduct and this could significantly delay commercialization and require greater expenditures.

These third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other product development activities, which could affect their performance on our behalf. If 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 therapeutic candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our therapeutic candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.

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Our failure or any failure by these third parties to comply with these regulations or to recruit a sufficient number of patients 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.

For any violations of laws and regulations during the conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, we could be subject to warning letters or enforcement action that may include civil penalties up to and including criminal prosecution.

If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs or others terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or other third parties or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO begins work. As a result, delays may occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter similar challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects. If third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our studies in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated study plans and protocols, we will not be able to complete, or may be delayed in completing, the preclinical studies and clinical trials required to support future IND submissions and approval of any therapeutic candidates we may develop.

We are dependent on third-party vendors to provide certain licenses, products and services and our business and operations, including clinical trials, could be disrupted by problems with or challenges faced by our significant third-party vendors.

We engage a number of third-party suppliers and service providers to supply critical goods and services, such as contract research services, contract manufacturing services and information technology services. Disruptions to the business, financial stability or operations of these suppliers and service providers, including due to strikes, labor disputes or other disruptions to the workforce, for instance, if, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are not able to come to work, or to their willingness and ability to produce or deliver such products or provide such services in a manner that satisfies the requirements put forth by the authorities, or in a manner that satisfies our own requirements, could affect our ability to develop and market our future therapeutic candidates on a timely basis. If these suppliers and service providers were unable or unwilling to continue to provide their products or services in the manner expected, or at all, we could encounter difficulty finding alternative suppliers. Even if we are able to secure appropriate alternative suppliers in a timely manner, costs for such products or services could increase significantly. Additionally, two vaccines for COVID-19 were granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA in late 2020 and early 2021, and one vaccine was approved in August 2021, and more may be authorized or approved in the future. The resultant demand for vaccines and potential for manufacturing facilities and materials to be commandeered under the Defense Production Act of 1950, or equivalent foreign legislation, may make it more difficult to obtain materials or manufacturing slots for the products needed for our clinical trials, which could lead to delays in these trials. Any of these events could adversely affect our results of operations and our business.

We depend, and may continue to depend on single-source suppliers for some of the components and materials used in the therapeutic candidates we are developing.

We depend, and may continue to depend, on single-source suppliers for some of the components and materials used in the therapeutic candidates we are developing. For example, we currently rely on a master services agreement with FUJIFILM (as defined in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”) pursuant to which FUJIFILM is the sole provider to us of certain research,

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development, testing and manufacturing services for certain of our product candidates, including VGL101 (the FUJIFILM Agreement). In the event the FUJIFILM Agreement is terminated, our ability to meet the desired clinical development timelines may be materially impacted and our business will be implicated. We cannot ensure that these suppliers or service providers will remain in business, have sufficient capacity or supply to meet our needs or that they will not be purchased by one of our competitors or another company that is not interested in continuing to work with us. Our use of single-source suppliers of raw materials, components, key processes and finished goods could expose us to several risks, including disruptions in supply, price increases or late deliveries. There are, in general, relatively few alternative sources of supply for substitute components. These vendors may be unable or unwilling to meet our future demands for our clinical trials or commercial sale. Establishing additional or replacement suppliers for these components, materials and processes could take a substantial amount of time and it may be difficult to establish replacement suppliers who meet regulatory requirements. Any disruption in supply from any single- source supplier or service provider could lead to supply delays or interruptions which would damage our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we have to switch to a replacement supplier, the manufacture and delivery of any therapeutic candidates we may develop could be interrupted for an extended period, which could adversely affect our business. Establishing additional or replacement suppliers, if required, may not be accomplished quickly. If we are able to find a replacement supplier, the replacement supplier would need to be qualified and may require additional regulatory authority approval, which could result in further delay. While we seek to maintain adequate inventory of the single source components and materials used in our therapeutics, any interruption or delay in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain components or materials from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand for our investigational medicines.

We may enter into collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements with third parties for the research, development and commercialization of certain of the therapeutic candidates we may develop. If any such arrangements are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of those therapeutic candidates.

We may seek third-party collaborators for the research, development and commercialization of certain of the therapeutic candidates we may develop. If we enter into any such arrangements with any third parties, we will likely have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our partners dedicate to the development or commercialization of any therapeutic candidates we may seek to develop with them. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on the ability of such collaborators to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. We cannot predict the success of any arrangement that we enter into.

Collaborations involving our research programs or any therapeutic candidates we may develop pose numerous risks to us, including the following:

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If our collaborations do not result in the successful development and commercialization of therapeutic candidates, or if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may not receive any future research funding or milestone or royalty payments pursuant to the collaboration arrangement. If we do not receive the funding we expect under these agreements, our development of therapeutic candidates could be delayed, and we may need additional resources to develop therapeutic candidates. In addition, if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to find a suitable replacement collaborator or attract new collaborators, and our development programs may be delayed or the perception of us in the business and financial communities could be adversely affected.

Furthermore, all of the risks relating to product development, regulatory approval and commercialization described in this prospectus apply to the activities of our collaborators.

These relationships, or those like them, 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. In addition, we could face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators, and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Our ability to reach a definitive collaboration agreement 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 several factors. If we license rights to any therapeutic candidates we or our collaborators may develop, we may

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not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we develop, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products and technology similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop may be adversely affected.

Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the U.S. and other countries with respect to our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop. In order to protect our proprietary position, we have filed and intend to file additional patent applications in the U.S. and abroad relating to our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop; however, there can be no assurance that any such patent applications will issue as granted patents or that a granted patent will provide sufficient coverage for our therapeutic programs. If we are unable to obtain or maintain patent protection with respect to our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.

The patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming and complex, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce, or license all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output in time to obtain patent protection. Although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, CROs, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose such output before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek patent protection. In addition, our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents depends on whether the differences between our inventions and the prior art allow our inventions to be patentable over the prior art. Furthermore, publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the U.S. and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in any of our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we or our licensors were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has been the subject of much litigation in recent years. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. In particular, our ability to stop third parties from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing products that infringe our intellectual property will depend in part on our success in obtaining and enforcing patent claims that cover our technology, inventions and improvements. We do not currently have issued patents in the U.S. or other major markets that cover our technology or therapeutic candidates. With respect to both licensed and company-owned intellectual property, we cannot be sure that patents will be granted with respect to any of our pending patent applications or with respect to any patent applications filed by us in the future. Moreover, even issued patents do not provide us with the right to practice our technology in relation to the commercialization of our therapeutics. The area of patent and other intellectual property rights in biotechnology is an evolving one with many risks and uncertainties, and third parties may have blocking patents that could be used to prevent us from commercializing our patented therapeutic candidates and practicing our proprietary technology. Patents that may issue in the future that we own or in-license may be challenged, invalidated, or

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circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing related products or limit the length of the term of patent protection that we may have for our therapeutic candidates. Furthermore, our competitors may independently develop similar technologies.

Additionally, issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity, or enforceability and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the U.S. and abroad. We may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or in other jurisdictions, or become involved in opposition, derivation, revocation, reexamination, post-grant and inter partes review, or other similar proceedings challenging our patent rights. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate or render unenforceable, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our scientists and management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us.

In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future therapeutic candidates.

Our rights to develop and commercialize our therapeutic candidates are subject in part to the terms and conditions of a license granted to us by a third party. If we fail to comply with our obligations under our intellectual property license agreement, license agreements that we enter into in the future, or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our current or any future licensors, we could lose intellectual property rights that are important to our business.

We are and expect to continue to be reliant upon third-party licensors for certain patent and other intellectual property rights that are important or necessary to the development of our therapeutic programs, eventual therapeutic candidates, and proprietary technologies. For example, we rely on the Amgen Agreement for a license to technologies necessary for our monoclonal antibody TREM2 agonist program, including VGL101 and related molecules, intellectual property and manufacturing know-how, and our small molecule agonist program, including a portfolio of approximately 1,000 compounds. The Amgen Agreement imposes, and we expect that any future license agreement will impose, specified diligence, milestone payment, royalty, commercialization, development and other obligations on us and require us to meet development timelines, or to exercise diligent or commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize licensed products, in order to maintain the licenses. For more information on the terms of the license agreement with Amgen, see “Business—Exclusive License Agreement with Amgen Inc.”

Furthermore, our licensors have, or may in the future have, the right to terminate a license if we materially breach the agreement and fail to cure such breach within a specified period or in the event we undergo certain bankruptcy events. In spite of our best efforts, our current or any future licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our license agreements and might therefore terminate the license agreements. If our license agreements are terminated, we may lose our rights to develop and commercialize therapeutic candidates and technology, lose patent protection, experience significant delays in the development and commercialization of our therapeutic candidates and technology, and incur liability for damages. If these in-licenses are terminated, or if the underlying intellectual property fails to provide the intended exclusivity, our competitors or other third parties could have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products and technologies identical or competitive to ours and we may be required to cease our development and commercialization of certain of our therapeutic candidates and technology. In addition, we may seek to obtain additional licenses from our licensors and, in connection with obtaining such licenses, we may agree to amend our existing licenses in a manner that may be more favorable to the licensors, including by agreeing to terms that could enable third parties

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, including our competitors, to receive licenses to a portion of the intellectual property that is subject to our existing licenses and to compete with any therapeutic candidates we may develop and our technology. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing agreement, including:

In addition, any current or future license agreements to which we are a party, including our license agreement with Amgen, are likely to be complex, and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our diligence, development, regulatory, commercialization, financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement. In addition, if disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed or any other dispute related to our license agreements prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current license agreements on commercially acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected therapeutic candidates and technology. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

License agreements we may enter into in the future may be non-exclusive. Accordingly, third parties may also obtain non-exclusive licenses from such licensors with respect to the intellectual property licensed to us under such license agreements. Accordingly, these license agreements may not provide us with exclusive rights to use such licensed patent and other intellectual property rights, or may not provide us with exclusive rights to use such patent and other intellectual property rights in all relevant fields of use and in all territories in which we may wish to develop or commercialize our technology and any therapeutic candidates we may develop in the future.

Moreover, if some of our in-licensed patent and other intellectual property rights in the future become subject to third party interests such as co-ownership and we are unable to obtain an exclusive license to such third-party co-owners’ interest, in such patent and other intellectual property rights, the third-party co-owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. Additionally, we or our licensors may need the cooperation of any such co-owners of our licensed patent and other intellectual property rights in order to enforce them against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us or our licensors.

Additionally, there could be instances where we may not have complete control over the preparation, filing, prosecution, maintenance, enforcement and defense of patents and patent applications that we license from third

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parties. In such instances, it is possible that our licensors’ filing, prosecution and maintenance of the licensed patents and patent applications, enforcement of patents against infringers or defense of such patents against challenges of validity or claims of enforceability may be less vigorous than if we had conducted them ourselves, and accordingly, we cannot be certain that these patents and patent applications will be prepared, filed, prosecuted, maintained, enforced and defended in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. If our licensors fail to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce and defend such patents and patent applications, or lose rights to those patents or patent applications, the rights we may license may be reduced or eliminated, our right to develop and commercialize any of our technology and any therapeutic candidates we may develop that are the subject of such licensed rights could be adversely affected and we may not be able to prevent competitors or other third parties from making, using and selling competing products.

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

Filing, prosecuting, maintaining, enforcing and defending patents and other intellectual property rights on our technology and any therapeutic candidates we may develop in all jurisdictions throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and accordingly, our intellectual property rights in some jurisdictions outside the U.S. could be less extensive than those in the U.S. In some cases, we or our licensors may not be able to obtain patent or other intellectual property protection for certain technology and therapeutic candidates outside the U.S. In addition, the laws of some foreign jurisdictions do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the U.S. Consequently, we and our licensors may not be able to obtain issued patents or other intellectual property rights covering any therapeutic candidates we may develop and our technology in all jurisdictions outside the U.S. and, as a result, may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our and our licensors’ inventions in all countries outside the U.S., or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the U.S. or other jurisdictions. For example, third parties may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we and our licensors have not pursued and obtained patent or other intellectual property protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing, misappropriating or violating products to territories where we have patent or other intellectual property protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the U.S.

Additionally, many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain jurisdictions, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology and pharmaceutical products, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement, misappropriation or other violation of our patent and other intellectual property rights or marketing of competing products in violation of our intellectual property rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our or our licensors’ patent and other intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patent and other intellectual property rights at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We or our licensors may not prevail in any lawsuits that we or our licensors initiate and, if we or our licensors prevail, the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

Many jurisdictions also have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties, and, many jurisdictions limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these jurisdictions, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patents. If we or any of our licensors is forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be adversely affected.

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Issued patents covering therapeutic candidates we may develop could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or before administrative bodies in the U.S. or abroad.

Our owned and licensed patent rights may be subject to priority, validity, inventorship and enforceability disputes. If we or our licensors are unsuccessful in any of these proceedings, such patent rights may be narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable. The foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

For example, if we or one of our licensors initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering any of our therapeutic candidates or our technology, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the U.S., defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, lack of written description or non- enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld information material to patentability from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties also may raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the U.S. or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, interference proceedings, derivation proceedings, post grant review, inter partes review and equivalent proceedings such as opposition, invalidation and revocation proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. Such proceedings could result in the revocation or cancellation of or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover one or more of our therapeutic candidates or our technology or no longer prevent third parties from competing with any therapeutic candidates we may develop or our technology. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a distraction to management and other employees. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which the patent examiner and we or our licensing partners were unaware during prosecution. If a third party were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we could lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on one or more of our therapeutic candidates or technology. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees, and various other government fees on patents and applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various government patent agencies outside of the U.S. over the lifetime of our owned or licensed patents and applications. The USPTO and various non-U.S. government agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In some cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. There are situations, however, in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in a partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, potential competitors might be able to enter the market with similar or identical products or technology, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Changes in patent law in the U.S. or worldwide could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect any therapeutic candidates we may develop and our technology.

Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of patent laws in the U.S. and worldwide, 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 any owned or in-licensed patent applications and the maintenance, enforcement or defense of any current in-licensed issued patents and issued patents we may own or

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in-license in the future. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These changes include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art, provide more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents, and enable third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent at USPTO- administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review, and derivation proceedings. Assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 2013, in the U.S., the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the U.S., the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. After March 2013, under the Leahy- Smith Act, the U.S. transitioned to a first-to-file system in which, assuming that the other statutory requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the claimed invention. As such, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of patents to issue based on our in-licensed patent applications and issued patents we may own or in-license in the future, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The Leahy-Smith Act also includes a number of significant changes that may affect patent litigation. These include additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review, and derivation proceedings. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in U.S. 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 unpatentable even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to review patentability of our patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party as a defendant in a district court action. Therefore, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned or in-licensed patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our owned or in-licensed issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. As one example, in the case Assoc. for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held that certain claims to DNA molecules are not patentable simply because they have been isolated from surrounding material. Moreover, in 2012, the USPTO issued a guidance memo to patent examiners indicating that process claims directed to a law of nature, a natural phenomenon or a naturally occurring relation or correlation that do not include additional elements or steps that integrate the natural principle into the claimed invention such that the natural principle is practically applied and the claim amounts to significantly more than the natural principle itself should be rejected as directed to patent-ineligible subject matter. 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.

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

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of any therapeutic candidates we may develop and our technology, one or more U.S. patents that may issue in the future based on a patent application that we license or may own may be eligible for limited patent term extension under Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent extension term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot

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extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. The application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent for which extension is sought and within 60 days of FDA approval. A patent that covers multiple products for which approval is sought can only be extended in connection with one of the approvals. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. In addition, to the extent we wish to pursue patent term extension based on a patent that we in-license from a third party, we would need the cooperation of that third party. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our revenue could be reduced. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patent and other intellectual property rights.

We or our licensors may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our owned or in-licensed patent rights, trade secrets or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we or our licensors may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our therapeutic candidates or technology. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or our or our licensors’ ownership of our owned or in-licensed patent rights, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we or our licensors 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 intellectual property that is important to any therapeutic candidates we may develop or our technology. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be successful in obtaining necessary rights to a therapeutic candidate we may develop through acquisitions and in-licenses.

We currently own or exclusively license intellectual property rights covering certain aspects of our therapeutic programs. Other pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions may also have filed or are planning to file patent applications potentially relevant to our business. In order to avoid infringing these third-party patents, we may find it necessary or prudent to obtain licenses to such patents from such third-party intellectual property holders. However, we may be unable to secure such licenses or otherwise acquire or in-license any compositions, methods of use, processes or other intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop. The licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and several 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 the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may have to abandon development of the relevant program or therapeutic candidate, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or advisors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

Some of our employees, consultants and advisors are currently or were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants and advisors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these individuals have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such individual’s current or former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our management.

In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Such claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violations against us or our collaborators may prevent or delay the development and commercialization of our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop.

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to avoid infringing, misappropriating and otherwise violating the patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of complex litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as administrative proceedings for challenging patents, including interference, derivation and reexamination proceedings before the USPTO or oppositions and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. As discussed above, recently, due to changes in U.S. law referred to as patent reform, new procedures including inter partes review and post-grant review have also been implemented. As stated above, this reform adds uncertainty to the possibility of challenge to our patents in the future.

Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications owned by third parties exist in the fields in which we are commercializing or plan to commercialize our therapeutic programs and in which we are developing other proprietary technologies. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our therapeutic programs and commercializing activities may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. We cannot assure you that our therapeutic programs and other proprietary technologies we may develop will not infringe existing or future patents owned by third parties. We may not be aware of patents that have already been issued and that a third party, for example, a competitor in the fields in which we are developing our therapeutic programs, might assert as infringed by us. It is also possible that patents owned by third parties of which we are aware or patents that may issue in the future from patent applications owned by third parties of which we are aware, but which we do not believe we infringe or that we believe we have valid defenses to any claims of patent infringement, could be found to be infringed by us, such as in connection with one or more of our therapeutic candidates. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue, and the scope of any patent claims that may ultimately issue are difficult to predict, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that we may infringe and that, as a result, could harm our business.

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In the event that any third party claims that we infringe their patents or that we are otherwise employing their proprietary technology without authorization and initiates litigation against us, even if we believe such claims are without merit, a court of competent jurisdiction could hold that such patents are valid, enforceable and infringed by us. In this case, the holders of such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize the infringing products or technologies unless we obtain a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire or are finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, the license would likely obligate us to pay license fees or royalties or both, and the rights granted to us might be nonexclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license to a third-party patent on commercially reasonable terms, we may be unable to commercialize the infringing products or technologies or such commercialization efforts may be significantly delayed, which could in turn significantly harm our business.

Defense of infringement claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of management and other employee resources from our business, and may impact our reputation. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may be enjoined from further developing or commercializing the infringing products or technologies. In addition, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties and/or redesign our infringing products or technologies, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize our therapeutic candidate or technologies, which could harm our business significantly. Further, we cannot predict whether any required license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms. We could be prevented from commercializing a product, or be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations, if, as a result of actual or threatened patent infringement claims, we are unable to enter into licenses on acceptable terms.

We may in the future pursue invalidity proceedings with respect to third-party patents. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity is unpredictable. Even if resolved in our favor, these legal proceedings may cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. If we do not prevail in the patent proceedings the third parties may assert a claim of patent infringement directed at our therapeutic candidates.

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

Third parties, such as a competitor, may infringe our patent rights. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent owned by us is invalid or unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the invention at issue on the grounds that the patent does not cover the technology in question. In addition, our patent rights may become involved in inventorship, priority or validity disputes. To counter or defend against such claims can be expensive and time-consuming. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put our patent rights at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a

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substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.

Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks.

We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors or other third parties may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade names, domain name or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to product components and processes for our development pipeline through acquisitions and in-licenses.

The growth of our business may depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license or use third-party proprietary rights. For example, our therapeutic candidates may require specific formulations to work effectively and efficiently, we may develop therapeutic candidates containing our compounds and pre- existing pharmaceutical compounds, or we may be required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to provide a companion diagnostic test or tests with our therapeutic candidates, any of which could require us to obtain rights to use intellectual property held by third parties. 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 or important to our business operations. In addition, we may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. Were that to happen, we may need to cease use of the compositions or methods covered by those third-party intellectual property rights, and may need to seek to develop alternative approaches that do not infringe on those intellectual property rights, which may entail additional costs and development delays, even if we were able to develop such alternatives, which may not be feasible.

We, our collaborators and our service providers may be subject to a variety of privacy and data security laws and contractual obligations, which could increase compliance costs and our failure to comply with them could subject us to potentially significant fines or penalties and otherwise harm our business.

We maintain a large quantity of sensitive information, including confidential business and patient health information in connection with our preclinical studies, and are subject to laws and regulations governing the privacy and security of such information. The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and we may be affected by or subject to new, amended or existing laws and regulations in the future, including as our operations continue to expand or if we operate in foreign jurisdictions. These laws and regulations may be subject to differing interpretations, which adds to the complexity of processing personal data. Guidance on implementation and compliance practices are often updated or otherwise revised.

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In the U.S., there are numerous federal and state privacy and data security laws and regulations governing the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal information, including health information privacy laws, security breach notification laws and consumer protection laws. Each of these laws is subject to varying interpretations and constantly evolving. By way of example, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, imposes privacy and security requirements and breach reporting obligations with respect to individually identifiable health information upon “covered entities” (health plans, health care clearinghouses and certain health care providers), and their respective business associates (individuals or entities that create, received, maintain or transmit protected health information in connection with providing a service for or on behalf of a covered entity). Entities that are found to be in violation of HIPAA may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative fines and penalties and/or additional reporting and oversight obligations. Even when HIPAA does not apply, failing to take appropriate steps to keep consumers’ personal information secure may constitute unfair acts or practices in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (the FTCA), 15 U.S.C § 45(a). The FTC expects a company’s data security measures to be reasonable and appropriate in light of the sensitivity and volume of consumer information it holds, the size and complexity of its business and the cost of available tools to improve security and reduce vulnerabilities. Individually identifiable health information is considered sensitive data that merits stronger safeguards.

In addition, certain state laws govern the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, some of which are more stringent than HIPAA and many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), which took effect on January 1, 2020 and became enforceable by the California Attorney General on July 1, 2020, and broadly defines personal information. The CCPA creates new individual privacy rights for consumers (as that term is broadly defined) and places increased privacy and security obligations on entities handling personal data of consumers or households. The CCPA requires covered companies to provide certain disclosures to California consumers about its data collection, use and sharing practices, provide such consumers with ways to opt-out of certain sales or transfers of personal information, provides for civil penalties for violations, and allows for a new private right of action for data breaches that has resulted in an increase in data breach litigation. Many aspects of the CCPA, including the expansion of the consumer rights granted therein under the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and its interpretation remain unclear. As such, its full impact on our business and operations remains uncertain. Additionally, comprehensive privacy laws akin to the CCPA have recently been passed in Virginia and Colorado, and it is quite possible that other U.S. states will follow suit. New privacy and data security laws have been proposed in more than half of the states in the U.S. and in the U.S. Congress. The existence of comprehensive privacy laws in different states in the country will make our compliance obligations more complex and costly.

As we conduct studies with subjects from outside of the U.S., we may be subject to additional, more stringent privacy laws in other jurisdictions. Most notably, in the EU, in May 2018, a new privacy regime, the General Data Protection Regulation, the GDPR, took effect in the European Economic Area, the EEA. The GDPR governs the collection, use, disclosure, transfer or other processing of personal data of European persons. Among other things, the GDPR imposes new requirements regarding the security of personal data and notification of data processing obligations to the competent national data processing authorities, changes the lawful bases on which personal data can be processed, expands the definition of personal data and requires changes to informed consent practices, as well as more detailed notices for clinical trial subjects and investigators. In addition, the GDPR increases the scrutiny of transfers of personal data from clinical trial sites located in the EEA to the U.S. and other jurisdictions that the European Commission does not recognize as having “adequate” data protection laws, and imposes substantial fines for breaches and violations (up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of our consolidated annual worldwide gross revenue).

Moreover, the United Kingdom leaving the EU could also lead to further legislative and regulatory changes. In addition, further to the U.K.’s exit from the EU on January 31, 2020, the GDPR ceased to apply in the U.K. at the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020. However, as of January 1, 2021, the U.K.’s European

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Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 incorporated the U.K. GDPR into U.K. law. The U.K. GDPR and the U.K. Data Protection Act 2018 set out the U.K.’s data protection regime. Non-compliance with the U.K. GDPR may result in monetary penalties of up to £17.5 million or 4% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher.

As these privacy, data protection and data security laws continue to evolve, we may be required to make changes to our business, including by taking on more onerous obligations in our contracts, limiting our storage, transfer and processing of data and, in some cases, limiting our activities in certain locations. Changes in these laws may also increase our potential exposure through significantly higher potential penalties for non-compliance. In addition, due to the uncertainty and potentially conflicting interpretations of these laws, it is possible that such laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable laws or satisfactorily protect personal information could result in governmental enforcement actions, litigation, or negative publicity, any of which could inhibit our ability to grow our business.

Organizations are also increasingly subject to a wide variety of sophisticated attacks on their networks, systems and endpoints, including the theft and subsequent misuse of employee credentials, denial-of-service attacks, ransomware attacks, business email compromises, malware, viruses, and social engineering (including phishing). The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems, networks, or physical facilities in which data is stored or through which data is transmitted change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target. We and our third party service providers may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.

Compromise of our data security or of third parties with whom we do business, failure to prevent or mitigate the loss of personal or business information and delays in detecting or providing prompt notice of any such compromise or loss could disrupt our operations, harm our reputation, subject us to litigation, government action or other additional costs and liabilities that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Any reputational damage resulting from breach of our security measures could create distrust of our company. In addition, our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover costs, expenses and losses associated with such events, and in any case, such insurance may not cover all of the types of costs, expenses and losses we could incur to investigate, respond to and remediate a security breach. As a result, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to protect against the threat of these disruptions and security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by such disruptions or breaches, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats.

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

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Risks Related to Government Regulation

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our therapeutic candidates, we will still face extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements and obligations, which may result in significant additional expense, and any therapeutic candidates, if approved, may face future development and regulatory difficulties.

Any therapeutic candidate for which we obtain marketing approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, recordkeeping, export, import, and advertising and promotional activities for such product, among other things, will be subject to extensive and ongoing requirements of and review by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, establishment registration and drug listing requirements, continued compliance with cGMP requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance, and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, compliance with applicable product tracking and tracing requirements, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping and GCP requirements for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval.

Even if marketing approval of a therapeutic candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the therapeutic candidate may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, including a requirement to implement a REMS. If a therapeutic candidate receives marketing approval, the accompanying label may limit the approved indicated use of the product, which could limit sales of the product. The FDA may also require costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of a product. The FDA closely regulates the post-approval marketing and promotion of drugs to ensure drugs are marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label use, and if we market our products for uses beyond their approved indications, we may be subject to enforcement action for off-label marketing. Violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, relating to the promotion of prescription drugs, may lead to FDA enforcement actions and investigations alleging violations of federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws.

In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, manufacturers, or manufacturing processes or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:

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Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval or commercialization of our therapeutic candidates in the U.S. does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining marketing approval of our therapeutic candidates in other jurisdictions. Failure to obtain marketing approval in foreign jurisdictions would prevent any therapeutic candidates we may develop from being marketed in such jurisdictions, which, in turn, would materially impair our ability to generate revenue.

In order to market and sell any therapeutic candidates we may develop in the EU and many other foreign jurisdictions, we must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain FDA approval. The regulatory approval process outside the U.S. generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, in many countries outside the U.S., it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country. We may not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside the U.S. on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside the U.S. does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. We may not be able to file for marketing approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our medicines in any jurisdiction, which would materially impair our ability to generate revenue.

Our relationships with healthcare providers, patients and third-party payors are subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to significant penalties, including criminal sanctions, civil penalties, exclusion from government healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Although we do not currently have any drugs on the market, our current and future operations are subject to additional healthcare statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by the federal government and the states and foreign governments in which we conduct our business. Healthcare providers and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of VGL101 and future therapeutic candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we research as well as market, sell and distribute VGL101 and future therapeutic candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include the following:

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Additionally, we are subject to state and foreign equivalents of each of the healthcare laws and regulations described above, among others, some of which may be broader in scope and may apply regardless of the payor. Many U.S. states have adopted laws similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, and may apply to our business practices, including, but not limited to, research, distribution, sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental payors, including private insurers. In addition, some states have passed laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the April 2003 Office of Inspector General Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and/or the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals. Several states also impose other marketing restrictions or require pharmaceutical companies to make marketing or price disclosures to the state and require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives. State and foreign laws, including for example the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, which became effective May 2018 also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts. There are ambiguities as to what is required to comply with these state requirements and if we fail to comply with an applicable state law requirement we could be subject to penalties. Finally, there are state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.

The scope and enforcement of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. Federal and state enforcement has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Ensuring that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental laws and regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, the exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs, reputational harm, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, as well as additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly and time consuming, and may require significant financial and 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. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to not be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs and individual imprisonment. If any of the above occur, our ability to operate our business and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

We are subject to certain U.S. and certain foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations. We can face serious consequences for violations.

U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations prohibit, among other things, companies and their employees, agents, CROs, legal counsel, accountants, consultants, contractors and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting or receiving directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to or from

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recipients in the public or private sector. Violations of these laws can result in substantial criminal fines and civil penalties, imprisonment, the loss of trade privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government- affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We also expect our non-U.S. activities to increase over time. We expect to rely on third parties for research, preclinical studies and clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other marketing approvals. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our personnel, agents or partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have prior 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.

Healthcare legislative reform discourse and potential or enacted measures may have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations and legislative or political discussions surrounding the desire for and implementation of pricing reforms may adversely impact our business.

Payors, whether domestic or foreign, or governmental or private, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs and those methods are not always specifically adapted for new technologies such as gene therapy and therapies addressing rare diseases such as those we are developing. In both the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could impact our ability to sell our products profitably. In particular, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or collectively, the ACA, was enacted, which, among other things, subjected biologic products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars; addressed a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected; increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations; subjected manufacturers to new annual fees and taxes for certain branded prescription drugs; created a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer 50% (increased to 70% pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, effective as of January 1, 2019) point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D; and provided incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research.

Since its enactment, there have been numerous judicial, administrative, executive, and legislative challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. On June 17, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the most recent judicial challenge to the ACA brought by several states without specifically ruling on the constitutionality of the ACA. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, President Biden issued an Executive Order to initiate a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021 through August 15, 2021 for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace. The Executive Order also instructed certain governmental agencies to review and reconsider their existing policies and rules that limit access to healthcare, including among others, reexamining Medicaid demonstration projects and waiver programs that include work requirements, and policies that create unnecessary barriers to obtaining access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the ACA. It is unclear how other healthcare reform measures of the Biden administrations or other efforts, if any, to challenge repeal or replace the ACA, will impact our business.

In addition, other legislative and regulatory changes have been proposed and adopted in the U.S. since the ACA was enacted:

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Additionally, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the U.S. with respect to drug pricing practices. Specifically, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, and review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs.

At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

We expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, lower reimbursement, and new payment methodologies. This could lower the price that we receive for our products. Any denial in coverage or reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government-funded programs may result in a similar denial or reduction in payments from private payors, which may prevent us from being able to generate sufficient revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our products. It is not clear how other future potential changes to the ACA will change the reimbursement model and market outlook for our current and future therapeutic candidates.

The commercial success of our therapeutic candidates will depend upon the degree of market acceptance of such therapeutic candidates by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community.

Our therapeutic candidates may not be commercially successful. Even if any of our therapeutic candidates receive regulatory approval, they may not gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors

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or the medical community. The commercial success of any of our current or future therapeutic candidates will depend significantly on the broad adoption and use of the resulting product by physicians and patients for approved indications. The degree of market acceptance of our therapeutics will depend on a number of factors, including:

If any therapeutic candidate is approved but does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, hospitals, healthcare payors or patients, we may not generate sufficient revenue from that product and may not become or remain profitable. Our efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payors regarding the benefits of our therapeutics may require significant resources and may never be successful.

Even if we are able to commercialize our therapeutic candidates, the products may not receive coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors in the U.S. and in other countries in which we seek to commercialize our products, which could harm our business.

In the U.S. and markets in other countries, patients generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their treatment. Adequate coverage and reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and commercial payors is critical to new product acceptance. Our ability to successfully commercialize our therapeutic candidates will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels.

There is also significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the medicine is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In the U.S., the principal decisions about reimbursement for new medicines are typically made by the CMS. CMS decides whether and to what extent a new medicine will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare and private payors tend to follow CMS to a substantial degree.

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Factors payors consider in determining reimbursement are based on whether the product is:

Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the U.S. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for any therapeutic candidate that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, the level of reimbursement. In addition, many pharmaceutical manufacturers must calculate and report certain price reporting metrics to the government, such as average sales price, or ASP, and best price. Penalties may apply in some cases when such metrics are not submitted accurately and timely. Further, these prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs.

In addition, in some foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing vary widely from country to country. For example, the European Union provides options for its Member States to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval, some of these countries may require the completion of clinical trials that compare the cost effectiveness of a particular therapeutic candidate to currently available therapies. A Member State may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our therapeutic candidates. Historically, products launched in the European Union do not follow price structures of the U.S. and generally prices tend to be significantly lower.

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 harm our business.

We are subject to numerous foreign, federal, state and local 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 involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources, including any available insurance.

In addition, our leasing and operation of real property may subject us to liability pursuant to certain of these laws or regulations. Under existing U.S. environmental laws and regulations, current or previous owners or operators of real property and entities that disposed or arranged for the disposal of hazardous substances may be held strictly, jointly and severally liable for the cost of investigating or remediating contamination caused by hazardous substance releases, even if they did not know of and were not responsible for the releases.

We could incur significant costs and liabilities which may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results for failure to comply with such laws and regulations, including, among other things, civil or

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criminal fines and penalties, property damage and personal injury claims, costs associated with upgrades to our facilities or changes to our operating procedures, or injunctions limiting or altering our operations. Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biological, hazardous or 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, which are becoming increasingly more stringent, may impair our research, development or production efforts. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

Legislation or other changes in U.S. tax law could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The rules dealing with U.S. federal, state, and local income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department. Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect us or holders of our common stock. In recent years, many changes have been made to applicable tax laws and changes are likely to continue to occur in the future. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA) was enacted in 2017 and made significant changes to corporate taxation, including the reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, the limitation of the tax deduction for net interest expense to 30% of adjusted taxable income (except for certain small businesses), the limitation of the deduction for net operating losses from taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 to 80% of current year taxable income and the elimination of net operating loss carrybacks (though any such net operating losses may be carried forward indefinitely) and the modification or repeal of many business deductions and credits, in each case, as modified by the CARES Act (as defined below). In addition, on March 27, 2020, former President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), which included certain changes in tax law intended to stimulate the U.S. economy in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, including temporary beneficial changes to the treatment of net operating losses, interest deductibility limitations and payroll tax matters. Under the CARES Act, the limitation of the tax deduction for net operating losses to 80% of taxable income applies only to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020 and net operating losses generated in 2018, 2019 and 2020 by a calendar-year taxpayer may be carried back five taxable years. Further, under the CARES Act, the limitation of the tax deduction for net interest expense to 30% of adjusted taxable income is increased to 50% of adjusted taxable income for taxable years beginning in 2019 and 2020.

Addition changes to U.S. federal income tax law are currently being contemplated. Future changes in tax laws could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition or results of operations. It cannot be predicted whether, when, in what form, or with what effective dates, new tax laws may be enacted, or regulations and rulings may be enacted, promulgated or issued under existing or new tax laws, which could result in an increase in our or our stockholders’ tax liability or require changes in the manner in which we operate in order to minimize or mitigate any adverse effects of changes in tax law or in the interpretation thereof. We urge investors to consult with their legal and tax advisers regarding the implications of potential changes in tax laws on an investment in our common stock.

Our ability to use our U.S. net operating loss carryforwards and certain other U.S. tax attributes may be limited.

Our ability to use our U.S. federal and state net operating losses to offset potential future taxable income and related income taxes that would otherwise be due is dependent upon our generation of future taxable income, and we cannot predict with certainty when, or whether, we will generate sufficient taxable income to use all of our net operating losses.

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Under the TCJA, as amended by the CARES Act, unused U.S. federal net operating losses generated for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 are not subject to expiration and may be carried forward indefinitely. Such U.S. federal net operating losses generally may not be carried back to prior taxable years, except that, net operating losses generated in 2018, 2019 and 2020 may be carried back to each of the five tax years preceding the tax years of such losses. Additionally, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, the deductibility of such U.S. federal net operating losses is limited to 80% of our taxable income in any future taxable year. In addition, both our current and our future unused U.S. federal net operating losses and tax credits may be subject to limitations under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), if we undergo an “ownership change,” generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage point change (by value) in a corporation’s equity ownership by certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period. We may have experienced such ownership changes in the past, and we may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of this offering or subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, some of which are outside our control. Our net operating losses and tax credits may also be impaired or restricted under state law. As of December 31, 2020, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $5.3 million and $5.2 million, respectively, and our ability to utilize those net operating loss carryforwards could be limited by an “ownership change” as described above, which could result in increased tax liability to us.

Risks Related to Employee Matters and Managing our Growth

Our future success depends on our ability to retain key employees and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.

We are highly dependent on the expertise of our executive officers. Although we have entered into employment agreements and/or offer letters with our executive officers, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. Our industry has experienced a high rate of turnover in recent years. Our ability to compete in the highly competitive pharmaceuticals industry depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled and experienced personnel with scientific, clinical, regulatory, manufacturing and management skills and experience. We conduct our operations in the Cambridge, MA area, a region that is home to many other pharmaceutical companies as well as many academic and research institutions, resulting in fierce competition for qualified personnel. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified personnel in the future due to the intense competition for a limited number of qualified personnel among pharmaceutical companies. Many of the other pharmaceutical companies against which we compete have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than we do. Our competitors may provide higher compensation, more diverse opportunities and/or better opportunities for career advancement. Any or all of these competing factors may limit our ability to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, which could negatively affect our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our therapeutic candidates and to grow our business and operations as currently contemplated.

To induce valuable employees to remain at our company, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided stock options that vest over time. The value to employees of stock options that vest over time may be significantly affected by movements in our stock price that are beyond our control and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of our management, scientific and development teams may terminate their employment with us on short notice. For example, employment of our key employees is at-will, which means that any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice.

In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating our research and development and commercialization strategy. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by employers other than us and may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to us.

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

As of October 31, 2021, we had 30 full-time employees. We expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the areas of clinical development, clinical operations, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and, if any of our therapeutic candidates receives marketing approval, sales, marketing and distribution. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited financial resources and the limited experience of our management team in managing a company with such anticipated growth and potentially with developing sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources.

If we are not able to effectively manage growth and expand our organization, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize VGL101, our other pipeline therapeutic candidates or any future therapeutic candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

Our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, CROs, consultants 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 and independent contractors, including principal investigators, CROs, consultants and vendors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or disclosure of unauthorized activities to us that violate: (i) the laws and regulations of the FDA and other similar regulatory requirements, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such authorities, (ii) manufacturing standards, including cGMP requirements, (iii) federal and state data privacy, security, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations in the U.S. and abroad or (iv) laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use or misrepresentation of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, the creation of fraudulent data in our preclinical studies or clinical trials or illegal misappropriation of drug product, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third 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 be in compliance with such laws or regulations. In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and financial results, including, without limitation, the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgements, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

We face significant competition, and if our competitors develop technologies or therapeutic candidates more rapidly than we do or their technologies are more effective, our business and our ability to develop and successfully commercialize products may be adversely affected.

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapidly changing technologies, significant competition and a strong emphasis on intellectual property. These characteristics also apply to the

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development and commercialization of treatments in neurodegenerative diseases, including AD. While we believe that our focus, expertise, scientific knowledge and intellectual property provide us with competitive advantages, we face competition from several different sources, including large and small biopharmaceutical companies, academic research institutions, government agencies and public and private research organizations, that conduct research, seek patent protection, and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization.

No products have been approved to treat ALSP, and we are not aware of any in clinical development other than VGL101. Academics have investigated the use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a small number of ALSP patients, however, we believe this modality has limited benefits and several key limitations.

We are aware of one company, bluebirdbio, Inc., which received marketing approval for SKYSONA^™ (elivaldogene autotemcel) in July 2021 in the European Union for a cALD treatment. In October 2021, the company announced it will withdraw its regulatory marketing authorization for SKYSONA^™ from the European Union. In the U.S., development of elivaldogene autotemcel was put on clinical hold in August 2021 following a report that one treated patient developed myelodysplastic syndrome, a type of blood cancer. Bluebirdbio has reported it is in active communication with the FDA to resolve the clinical hold. As of October 2021, a second company, Minoryx Therapeutics, Inc. is developing a small molecule therapeutic for the treatment of cALD in a Phase 2 trial.

Currently, there are two other companies that are in the early stages of developing TREM2 agonists for the treatment of AD. We consider our direct competitors to be Alector, Inc. and its corporate partner, AbbVie Inc., Denali Therapeutics, Inc. and its corporate partner, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Cognyxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Muna Therapeutics, Inc.

There are several existing treatments marketed today for the treatment of AD, which primarily provide symptomatic relief. Notably, Biogen Inc., recently received FDA accelerated approval for a product based on reduction of amyloid beta plaques, a biomarker that may predict a reduction in clinical decline; continued approval may require demonstration of disease-modifying benefits. Other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are pursuing disease-modifying treatments for AD and other common neurodegenerative disorders by seeking to modulate a range of targets. Companies pursuing microglia-targeted therapeutics include Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Alector Inc., Denali Therapeutics, Inc., Elixiron Therapeutics, Inc., Muna Therapeutics, Inc., Cognyxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and CAMP4 Therapeutics Corporation, Inc.

Many of our competitors have significant financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and supply resources or experience. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting qualified scientific and management personnel as well as establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, and in acquiring new technologies. If we successfully obtain approval for any therapeutic candidate, we will face competition based on many different factors, including the safety and effectiveness of our therapeutics, the ease with which our therapeutics can be administered, the timing and scope of regulatory approvals for these products, the availability and cost of manufacturing, marketing and sales capabilities, price, reimbursement coverage and patent position. Competing products could present superior treatment alternatives, including by being more effective, safer, more convenient, less expensive or marketed and sold more effectively than any products we may develop. Competitive products or technological approaches may make any products we develop obsolete or noncompetitive before we recover the expense of developing and commercializing our therapeutic candidates. If we are unable to compete effectively, our opportunity to generate revenue from the sale of the therapeutics we may develop could be adversely affected.

We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will devote substantial time to related compliance initiatives.

As a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, and these expenses may increase even more after we are no longer an “emerging growth

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company.” We will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, as well as rules adopted, and to be adopted, by the SEC and Nasdaq. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, we expect these rules and regulations to substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly, which will increase our operating expenses. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we may be required to incur substantial costs to maintain sufficient coverage, particularly in light of recent cost increases related to coverage. We cannot accurately predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to these requirements. The impact of these requirements 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.

In addition, as a public company we will be required to incur additional costs and obligations in order to comply with SEC rules that implement Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Under these rules, beginning with our second annual report on Form 10-K after we become a public company, we will be required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, and once we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaging in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are designed and operating effectively, and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting.

Risks Related to This Offering and Ownership of Our Common Stock

We do not know whether an active, liquid and orderly trading market will develop for our common stock or what the market price of our common stock will be and as a result it may be difficult for investors to sell their shares of our common stock.

Prior to this offering, no market for shares of our common stock existed and an active trading market for our shares may never develop or be sustained following this offering. We will determine the initial public offering price for our common stock through negotiations with the underwriters, and the negotiated price may not be indicative of the market price of our common stock after this offering. The market value of our common stock may decrease from the initial public offering price. As a result of these and other factors, investors may be unable to resell their shares of our common stock at or above the initial public offering price. The lack of an active market may impair investors’ ability to sell their shares at the time they wish to sell them or at a price that they consider reasonable. The lack of an active market may also reduce the fair market value of investors’ shares. Furthermore, an inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares of our common stock and may impair our ability to enter into strategic collaborations or acquire companies, technologies or other assets by using our shares of common stock as consideration.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile, and investors could lose all or part of their investment.

The trading price of our common stock following this offering is likely to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which we cannot control. The stock market in general, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies.

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Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this prospectus, these factors include:

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The realization of any of the above risks or any of a broad range of other risks, including those described in this “Risk Factors” section, could have a dramatic and adverse impact on the market price of our common stock. If the market price of our common stock after this offering does not exceed the public offering price, you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports, or if they publish adverse or misleading research or reports, regarding us, our business or our market, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business or our market. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by securities or industry analysts. If no or few securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, our stock price would be negatively impacted. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if any of the analysts who cover us issue adverse or misleading research or reports regarding us, our business model, our intellectual property, our stock performance or our market, or if our operating results fail to meet the expectations of analysts, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and stock price.

As widely reported, global credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions in the past several years, most recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates and uncertainty about economic stability. There can be no assurance that further deterioration in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions, whether due to the evolving effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, will not occur. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, volatile business environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. If the current equity and credit markets deteriorate, or do not improve, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly, and more dilutive.

Failure to secure necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse event on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to delay or abandon clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current service providers, manufacturers and other partners may not survive these difficult economic times, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget. After the completion of this offering, our stock price may decline due in part to the volatility of the stock market and the general economic downturn.

Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant control over matters subject to stockholder approval.

Prior to this offering, our executive officers, directors, holders of 5% or more of our capital stock and their respective affiliates beneficially owned approximately 25% of our outstanding voting stock and, upon the closing of this offering, that same group will beneficially own approximately      % of our outstanding voting stock (based on the number of shares of common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2021, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, no exercise of outstanding options and no purchases of shares in this offering by any of this group), in each case assuming the conversion of all outstanding shares of our Series A and Series B preferred stock into shares of our common stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering.

These stockholders, acting together, may be able to impact matters requiring stockholder approval. For example, they may be able to impact elections of directors, amendments of our organizational documents or

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approval of any merger, sale of assets or other major corporate transaction. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our common stock that investors may feel are in their best interest as one of our stockholders. The interests of this group of stockholders may not always coincide with each investor’s interests or the interests of other stockholders and they may act in a manner that advances their best interests and not necessarily those of other stockholders, including seeking a premium value for their common stock, and might affect the prevailing market price for our common stock.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to fall.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. After this offering, and without giving effect to any purchases that may be made through our directed share program, we will have outstanding                 shares of common stock, based on the number of shares outstanding as of September 30, 2021, assuming: (i) no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares and (ii) the conversion of all 54,179,688 outstanding shares of our Series A and Series B preferred stock into shares of common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering. This includes the shares that we sell in this offering, which may be resold in the public market immediately without restriction, unless purchased by our affiliates. Of the remaining shares,                 shares of our common stock are currently restricted as a result of securities laws or market stand-off or lock-up agreements but will be able to be sold after this offering as described in the section titled “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.” Moreover, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of shares of our common stock will have rights, subject to certain conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. We also intend to register all shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity incentive plans. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates and the lock-up agreements described in the section titled “Underwriting.”

Our executive officers, directors and the holders of substantially all of our capital stock and securities convertible into or exchangeable for our capital stock have entered into market stand-off agreements with us and lock-up agreements with the underwriters under which they have agreed, subject to specific exceptions described in the section titled “Underwriting,” not to, among other things, sell, directly or indirectly, any shares of common stock without the permission of Morgan Stanley and Jefferies for a period of 180 days following the date of this prospectus. We refer to such period as the lock-up period. When the lock-up period expires, we and our securityholders subject to a lock-up agreement or market stand-off agreement will be able to sell our shares in the public market. In addition, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies may, in their sole discretion, release all or some portion of the shares subject to lock-up agreements at any time and for any reason. See the description of the market stand-off agreement with us and the lock-up agreement with the underwriters in the section titled “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” for more information. Sales of a substantial number of such shares upon expiration of the lock-up and market stand-off agreements, the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of these agreements, could cause our market price to fall or make it more difficult for investors to sell their common stock at a time and price that they deem appropriate.

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

As of September 30, 2021, investors that purchase common stock in this offering will incur immediate and substantial dilution of approximately $                 per share, representing the difference between the assumed initial public offering price of $                per share, which is the midpoint of the estimated price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering and the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our Series A and Series B preferred stock immediately prior to the closing of this offering. As of September 30, 2021, there were 8,101,666 shares subject to

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outstanding options with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.38 per share. After September 30, 2021, an additional 964,000 shares are subject to outstanding options with a weighted-average exercise price of $3.45. To the extent that these outstanding options are ultimately exercised or the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares, investors will incur further dilution. See the section titled “Dilution” for a further description of the dilution investors will experience immediately after this offering.

Future sales and issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase common stock, including pursuant to our 2021 Plan, could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to fall.

We expect that significant additional capital may be needed in the future to continue our planned operations, including conducting clinical trials, commercialization efforts, expanded research and development activities and costs associated with operating a public company. To raise capital, we may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to the holders of our common stock. Pursuant to our 2021 Stock Option and Grant Plan (2021 Plan), our management is authorized to grant stock options to our employees, directors and consultants. If the number of shares reserved under our 2021 Plan is increased pursuant to the terms of the 2021 Plan, our stockholders may experience additional dilution, which could cause our stock price to fall. Any of the above events could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

The administrator of the 2021 Plan is authorized to exercise its discretion to effect the repricing of stock options and stock appreciation rights and there may be adverse consequences to our business if the administrator of the 2021 Plan exercises such discretion.

Pursuant to our 2021 Plan, we are authorized to grant equity awards, including stock options and stock appreciation rights, to our employees, directors and consultants. The administrator of the 2021 Plan (which we expect will be, as is customary, our compensation committee) is authorized to exercise its discretion to reduce the exercise price of stock options or stock appreciation rights or effect the repricing of such awards. Although we do not anticipate needing to exercise this discretion in the near term, or at all, if the administrator of the 2021 Plan were to exercise such discretion without seeking prior stockholder approval, certain proxy advisory firms or institutional investors may be unsupportive of such actions and publicly criticize our compensation practices, and proxy advisory firms may recommend an “against” or “withhold” vote for members of our compensation committee. In addition, if we are required to hold an advisory vote on named executive officer compensation (known as the “say-on-pay” vote) at the time of, or subsequent to, any such repricing, it is likely that proxy advisory firms would issue an “against” recommendation on our say on pay vote and institutional investors may not be supportive of our say-on-pay vote. If proxy advisory firms or institutional investors are successful in aligning their views with our broader stockholder base and we are required to make changes to the composition of our board and its committees, or if we need to make material changes to our compensation and corporate governance practices, our business might be disrupted and our stock price might be negatively impacted. Even if we are able to successfully rationalize the exercise of such discretionary power, defending against any “against” or “withhold” recommendation for members of our compensation committee, any “against” recommendation on our say on pay vote or public criticism could be distracting to management, and responding to such positions from such firms or investors, even if remedied, can be costly and time-consuming.

In addition, if the administrator of the 2021 Plan does determine to reprice stock options or stock appreciation rights, even absent negative reactions from proxy advisory firms and institutional investors, management attention may be diverted and we could incur significant costs, including accounting and administrative costs and attorneys’ fees. We may also be required to recognize incremental compensation expense as such result of a repricing. These actions could cause our stock price to decrease and experience periods of increased volatility, which could result in material adverse consequences to our business.

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Our leading syndicate of investors in our Series A and Series B rounds may not be indicative of our investor-base following our initial public offering.

Although we have identified a leading syndicate of investors in our Series A and Series B rounds, we have not disclosed each investor’s investment in total or on a per share basis, nor have we disclosed any investment strategies, or whether those investors will continue to hold their shares in the future. Furthermore, such investors may not be subject to the reporting requirements of Section 16 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise be required to make any publicly available reports of their actual or beneficial ownership pursuant to Section 16 or Section 13 of the Exchange Act and therefore you may never know the details of such investments. We cannot guarantee that our leading syndicate of investors in our Series A and B rounds is or will be indicative of our investor-base following our initial public offering and as such, we caution you not to place undue reliance on our leading syndicate of investors when making an investment decision in our initial public offering. For more information on certain of these investors, see the “Principal Stockholders” section elsewhere in this Registration Statement on Form S-1.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, including purchasers of common stock in this offering, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or therapeutic candidates.

We do not have any committed external source of funds or other support for our development and commercialization efforts, and we cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity offerings, debt financings, or other capital sources, including potential collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Any future debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, selling or licensing our assets, making capital expenditures, declaring dividends or encumbering our assets to secure future indebtedness. Such restrictions could adversely impact our ability to conduct our operations and execute our business plan.

As a result of our recurring losses from operations and recurring negative cash flows from operations, there is uncertainty regarding our ability to maintain liquidity sufficient to operate our business effectively. If we raise additional funds through future collaborations, licenses and other similar arrangements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our future revenue streams, research programs or therapeutic candidates, or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or that may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings or other arrangements when needed or on terms acceptable to us, we would be required to delay, limit, reduce, or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market therapeutic candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves. Any of the above events could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

We are an “emerging growth company” and a smaller reporting company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (JOBS Act). For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including:

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Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with the new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.07 billion in annual revenue; (ii) the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700.0 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period; and (iv) the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering.

Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company,” which would allow us to continue to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in this prospectus and our periodic reports and proxy statements. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions.

We will have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering, and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of these proceeds. Investors will not have the opportunity, as part of their investment decision, to assess whether we are using the proceeds appropriately. Our management might not apply the net proceeds in ways that ultimately increase the value of investors’ investment. If we do not invest or apply the net proceeds from this offering in ways that enhance stockholder value, we may fail to achieve expected financial results, which could cause our stock price to decline.

We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock so any returns will be limited to the value of our stock.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to any appreciation in the value of their stock.

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Anti-takeover provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as they will be in effect upon closing of this offering, and Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the market price of our common stock.

Our third amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, as they will be in effect upon closing of this offering, will contain provisions that could depress the market price of our common stock by acting to discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions, among other things:

In addition, Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (DGCL) prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person which together with its affiliates owns, or within the last three years has owned, 15% of our voting stock, for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner.

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

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

Upon the closing of this offering, we will become subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. We designed our disclosure controls and procedures to reasonably assure that information we must disclose in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, and recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well-conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

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These inherent limitations include the facts that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Our bylaws that will become effective upon the effectiveness of this registration statement designate certain courts as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.

Our bylaws that will become effective upon the completion of this offering provide that, unless we consent in writing to an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any state law claims for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of, or a claim based on, fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, officers, and employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws (including the interpretation, validity or enforceability thereof), or (iv) any action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in each case subject to the Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein (Delaware Forum Provision). The Delaware Forum Provision will not apply to any causes of action arising under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the U.S. shall be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause or causes of action arising under the Securities Act (Federal Forum Provision). In addition, our amended and restated bylaws provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our common stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions; provided, however, that stockholders cannot and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

The Delaware Forum Provision and the Federal Forum Provision in our amended and restated bylaws may impose additional litigation costs on stockholders in pursuing any such claims. Additionally, the forum selection clauses in our amended and restated bylaws may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. In addition, while the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in March 2020 that federal forum selection provisions purporting to require claims under the Securities Act be brought in federal court were “facially valid” under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether other courts will enforce our Federal Forum Provision. If the Federal Forum Provision is found to be unenforceable, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters. The Federal Forum Provision may also impose additional litigation costs on stockholders who assert that the provision is not enforceable or invalid. The Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the U.S. may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments may be more or less favorable to us than our stockholders.

We may be subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile and, in the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus, including the sections entitled “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Business,” contains express or implied forward-looking statements that are based on our management’s belief and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. These statements relate to future events or our future operational or financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus include, but are not limited to, statements about:

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In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could materially affect results. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or projected by forward-looking statements include, among other things, those listed under the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual events or results may vary significantly from those implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance. You should read this prospectus and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the SEC as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

While we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should therefore not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this prospectus.

This prospectus includes statistical and other industry and market data that we obtained from industry publications and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to

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be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information. We are responsible for all of the disclosure contained in this prospectus, and we believe that these sources are reliable; however, we have not independently verified the information contained in such publications.

In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this prospectus, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that our net proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $             million, or $             million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares, assuming an initial public offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our net proceeds from this offering by $             million, assuming the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each $1.0 million share increase (decrease) in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our net proceeds from this offering by $             million, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The principal purposes of this offering are to create a public market for our common stock and thereby facilitate future access to the public equity markets, increase our visibility in the marketplace and obtain additional capital. We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, for the following:

Based on our current plans, we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, together with the net proceeds from this offering, will be sufficient to enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements at least through             . We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. We do not have any committed external source of funds.

Our expected use of the net proceeds from this offering represents our intentions based upon our current plans and business conditions. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the net proceeds to be received upon the completion of this offering or the amounts that we will actually spend on the uses set forth above and we expect that we will require additional funds in order to fully accomplish the specified uses of the proceeds of this offering. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to in-license, acquire, or invest in complementary businesses or technologies to continue to build our pipeline, research and development capabilities and our intellectual property position, although we currently have no agreements, commitments, or understandings with respect to any such transaction.

Due to the many inherent uncertainties in the development of our product candidates, the amounts and timing of our actual expenditures may vary significantly depending on numerous factors, including the progress of our research and development, the timing of patient enrollment and evolving regulatory requirements, the

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timing and success of preclinical studies, our ongoing clinical studies or clinical studies we may commence in the future, the timing of regulatory submissions, any strategic alliances that we may enter into with third parties for our product candidates or strategic opportunities that become available to us, and any unforeseen cash needs.

Pending our use of the net proceeds from this offering, we intend to invest the net proceeds in a variety of capital preservation instruments, including short-term and long-term interest-bearing instruments, investment-grade securities, and direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government. We cannot predict whether the proceeds invested will yield a favorable return. Our management will retain broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds we receive from our initial public offering, and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds.

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the growth and development of our business. We do not intend to pay cash dividends to our stockholders in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and our capitalization as of September 30, 2021:

The pro forma as adjusted information below is illustrative only, and our capitalization following the completion of this offering will be adjusted based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. You should read the information in this table together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section of this prospectus.

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The number of shares of our common stock in the table above is based on 58,969,271 shares of our common stock (which includes 789,583 shares of restricted common stock) outstanding as of September 30, 2021, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all 54,179,688 outstanding shares of our Series A and Series B convertible preferred stock in the aggregate into the equivalent number of shares of our common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering, and excludes:

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be diluted immediately to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book (deficit) as of September 30, 2021 was $(58.2) million, or $(12.14) per share of our common stock. Our historical net tangible book deficit per share is the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities and the carrying values of our convertible preferred stock, which is not included within stockholders’ deficit. Our historical net tangible book deficit per share represents historical net tangible book deficit divided by the 4,789,583 shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2021.

Our pro forma net tangible book value as of September 30, 2021 was $103.8 million, or $1.76 per share of our common stock. Pro forma net tangible book value represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all 54,179,688 outstanding shares of our Series A and Series B convertible preferred stock in the aggregate into the equivalent number of shares of common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering. Pro forma net tangible book value per share represents pro forma net tangible book value divided by the total number of shares outstanding as of September 30, 2021, after giving effect to the pro forma adjustment described above.

After giving further effect to our issuance and sale of shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $             per share, the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of September 30, 2021 would have been $             million, or $             per share. This amount represents an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $             to our existing stockholders and immediate dilution of $             in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering.

Dilution per share to new investors is determined by subtracting pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the initial public offering price per share paid by new investors. The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis (without giving effect to any exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares):

The dilution information discussed above is illustrative only and will change based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing. Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $         per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $         and dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $         , assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and

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estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each increase of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $         and decrease dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $         , assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Each decrease of 1,000,000 shares in the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would decrease our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering by $         and increase dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering by $        , assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering would be $         , representing an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $         to existing stockholders and immediate dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $         to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering, based on the assumed initial public offering price of $         per share and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

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

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

The discussion and tables above are based on 58,969,271 shares of our common stock (which includes 789,583 shares of restricted common stock) outstanding as of September 30, 2021, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all 54,179,688 outstanding shares of our Series A and Series B convertible preferred stock in the aggregate into the equivalent number of shares of our common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering, and excludes:

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

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with the “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” section of this prospectus and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this prospectus, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Many factors, including those factors set forth in the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus, may materially and adversely affect our actual results, which may differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We are a microglia-focused company dedicated to improving the lives of patients, caregivers and families affected by rare and common neurodegenerative diseases by pursuing the development of disease-modifying therapeutics to restore the vigilance of microglia. Microglia are the sentinel immune cells of the brain and play a critical role in maintaining central nervous system, or CNS, health and responding to damage caused by disease. Leveraging recent research implicating microglial dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases, we utilize a precision medicine approach to develop a pipeline of therapeutic candidates, initially for genetically defined patient subpopulations, that we believe will activate and restore microglial function.

Our lead candidate, VGL101, is a fully human monoclonal antibody, or mAb, that is designed to activate Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2, or TREM2. In November 2021, the FDA cleared our Investigational New Drug application, or IND, for VGL101 in ALSP at doses up to 20 mg/kg. We plan to begin our first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial with VGL101 in healthy volunteers in December 2021 and expect to complete it in the second half of 2022.

Since our inception, we have devoted substantially all of our efforts to organizing and staffing our company, research and development activities, business planning, raising capital, building our intellectual property portfolio and providing general and administrative support for these operations. To date, we have funded our operations primarily through proceeds from the sale of shares of our convertible preferred stock and a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, or SAFE. As of September 30, 2021, we had $110.7 million of cash and cash equivalents. As of September 30, 2021, we raised aggregate gross proceeds of $140.0 million from the sale of equity securities as follows:

We have incurred significant operating losses since the commencement of our operations. Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more of our current therapeutic candidates or any future therapeutic candidates. Our accumulated deficit was $28.5 million at December 31, 2020 and $58.8 million at September 30, 2021, respectively. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future as we advance our

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current and future therapeutic candidates through preclinical and clinical development, continue to build our operations and transition to operating as a public company. Without additional funding, we believe that we will not have sufficient funds to meet our obligations within the next twelve months from the date of issuance of our consolidated financial statements. These factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Based on our current operating plan, we expect the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash, will be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through                 .

Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from period to period, depending on the timing of expenditures on our research and development activities. Our primary use of cash is to fund operating expenses, which consist primarily of research and development and general and administrative expenses. The timing of payment of these expenses has an effect on cash used to fund operating expenses, as reflected in the change in our outstanding accounts payable and accrued expenses.

We expect to continue to incur net operating losses for at least the next several years, and we expect our research and development expenses, general and administrative expenses, and capital expenditures will continue to increase. We expect our expenses and capital requirements will increase significantly in connection with our ongoing activities as we:

We will not generate revenue from product sales unless and until we successfully complete clinical development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more of our therapeutic candidates. If we obtain regulatory approval for any of our therapeutic candidates, we expect to incur significant expenses related to

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product sales, marketing and distribution to the extent that such sales, marketing and distribution are not the responsibility of potential collaborators. We may also require additional capital to pursue in-licenses or acquisitions of other drug candidates. Further, following the completion of this offering we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.

We also expect to increase the size of our administrative function to support the growth of our business. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, depending on the timing of our clinical trials and our expenses related to other research and development activities.

As a result, we will require substantial additional funding to develop our therapeutic candidates and support our continuing operations. Until such time that we can generate significant revenue from product sales or other sources, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity, debt financings or other capital sources, which could include proceeds from potential collaborations, strategic partnerships or marketing, distribution, licensing or other strategic arrangements with third parties. We may be unable to raise additional funds or to enter into such agreements or arrangements on favorable terms, or at all. Our ability to raise additional funds may be adversely impacted by potential worsening global economic conditions and the recent disruptions to, and volatility in, the credit and financial markets in the United States and worldwide resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and otherwise. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as, and when, needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of our therapeutic candidates or grant rights to develop and market therapeutic candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

Our failure to obtain sufficient funds with acceptable terms could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition, including requiring us to have to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development or future commercialization efforts. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the amount of increased expenses or timing, or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. If we fail to become profitable or are unable to sustain profitability on a continuing basis, then we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce or terminate our operations. We cannot provide assurance that we will ever be profitable or generate positive cash flow from operating activities. Without giving effect to the anticipated net proceeds from this offering, as of November 19, 2021, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the fourth quarter of 2022. Beyond that point, we will need to raise additional capital to finance our operations, which cannot be assured. We concluded as of October 8, 2021, the issuance date of our consolidated financial statements for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, and as of November 19, 2021, the issuance date of our interim consolidated financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, that this circumstance raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the issuance date of those consolidated financial statements. See Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus for additional information on our assessment.

Impact of COVID-19 on Our Operations

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. We are subject to a number of risks associated with the COVID-19 global pandemic, including potential delays associated with our ongoing preclinical studies and anticipated clinical trials. COVID-19 may have an adverse impact on our operations, supply chains and distribution systems or those of our third-party vendors and collaborators, and increase expenses, including as a result of impacts associated with preventive and precautionary measures that are being taken, such as restrictions on travel and border crossings, quarantine polices and social distancing. We and our third-party vendors and collaborators may experience disruptions in supply of items that are essential for our research and development activities. In addition, the spread of COVID-19 has disrupted global healthcare and healthcare regulatory systems which could divert healthcare

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resources away from, or materially delay, FDA approval and approval by other health authorities worldwide with respect to our therapeutic candidates. Furthermore, our anticipated clinical trials may be negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Site initiation, patient enrollment and patient follow-up visits may be delayed, for example, due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 outbreak, travel restrictions, the inability to access sites for initiation and monitoring, and difficulties recruiting or retaining patients in our planned clinical trials. We cannot at this time predict the specific extent, duration, or full impact that the COVID-19 outbreak will have on our financial condition and operations. If we do not successfully commercialize any of our therapeutic candidates, we will be unable to generate product revenue or achieve profitability.

Exclusive License Agreement with Amgen Inc.

In July 2020, we entered into an exclusive license agreement, or the Amgen Agreement, with Amgen Inc., or Amgen, pursuant to which we have been granted an exclusive, royalty-bearing license to certain intellectual property rights owned or controlled by Amgen, to commercially develop, manufacture, use, distribute and sell therapeutic products containing compounds that bind to TREM2. In addition, we are required to reimburse Amgen for amounts it paid to its contract manufacturers on our behalf. See “Business Section—Exclusive License Agreement with Amgen Inc.” and Note 12 to the consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus for more information on the Amgen Agreement.

As initial consideration for the license, we paid an upfront payment of $0.5 million and also recognized an obligation to issue shares of Series A convertible preferred stock with an antidilution provision, or the Related Party Antidilution Obligation. As of September 30, 2021, Amgen owned approximately 15.08% of our outstanding shares of capital stock. As additional consideration for the license, we are required to pay Amgen up to $80.0 million in the aggregate upon the achievement of specified regulatory milestones for the first monoclonal antibody TREM2 agonist (mAb) product and the first small molecule TREM2 agonist product and aggregate milestone payments of up to $350.0 million upon the achievement of specific commercial milestones across all mAb products and small molecule products. No regulatory or commercial milestones have been achieved to date under the Amgen Agreement. We are also required to pay tiered royalties of low to mid single-digit percentages on annual net sales of the products covered by the license. In the event that the exploitation of a product is not covered by a valid claim within the licensed patent rights, then the royalty rate with respect to the net sales shall be subject to a customary reduction by a certain percentage. The royalty term will terminate on a country-by-country basis on the later of (i) the expiration date of the last valid claim within the licensed patent rights and (ii) the tenth (10^th) anniversary of the first commercial sale of such product in such country.

In connection with the license agreement, Amgen entered into certain stockholder agreements related to this investment. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Series A Preferred Stock Financings.”

Components of Our Results of Operations

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses since inception have consisted solely of research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses.

Related Party Acquired In-process Research and Development

Related party acquired in-process research and development, or IPR&D, expenses consist primarily of the upfront costs to acquire the IPR&D assets at inception of the Amgen Agreement and the initial recognition of the fair value of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation. Upfront and milestone payments are accrued for and expensed as IPR&D expense when the achievement of the milestone is probable up to the point of regulatory

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approval. Milestone payments made upon regulatory approval will be capitalized and amortized over the remaining useful life of the related product. We did not incur related party IPR&D expenses during the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Research and Development

Research and development expenses consist of costs incurred for our research activities, including our discovery efforts and the development of our programs. These expenses include:

Research and development expenses account for a significant portion of our operating expenses. We expense research and development costs as incurred. Nonrefundable advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made. When third-party service providers’ billing terms do not coincide with our period-end, we are required to make estimates of our obligations to those third parties incurred in a given accounting period and record accruals at the end of the period. We base these estimates on our knowledge of the research and development programs, services performed for the period, past history for related activities and the expected duration of the third-party service contract, where applicable. If timelines or contracts are modified based upon changes in the scope of work to be performed, we modify our estimates of accrued expenses accordingly on a prospective basis. Actual results could differ from our estimates.

Our direct research and development expenses are tracked on a program-by-program basis and consist primarily of external costs, such as fees paid to CROs, CMOs, central laboratories and outside consultants in connection with our research and discovery, preclinical development, process development, manufacturing, clinical development, regulatory and quality activities. We do not allocate employee costs or facility expenses, including depreciation or other indirect costs, to specific programs because these costs are deployed across multiple programs. Our internal resources conduct our research and discovery activities and manage our preclinical development and process development, manufacturing and clinical development activities.

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The table below summarizes our research and development expenses incurred by program:

Research and development activities are central to our business model. Therapeutic candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. As a result, we expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially over the next several years as we expect to (i) advance VGL101 and our small molecule TREM2 agonist programs’ initial clinical trials, (ii) develop VGL101 for other indications, including other rare leukodystrophies, and leukoencephalopathies, and (iii) expand our modality agnostic product pipeline to other microglia targets beyond TREM2.

The successful development and commercialization of our therapeutic candidates is highly uncertain. At this time, we cannot reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing and costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete the preclinical and clinical development of any of our therapeutic candidates. This uncertainty is due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development and commercialization, including the uncertainty of:

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Any changes in the outcome of any of these variables with respect to the development of our therapeutic candidates in preclinical and clinical development could mean a significant change in the costs and timing associated with the development of these therapeutic candidates. For example, if the FDA or another regulatory authority were to delay our planned start of clinical trials or require us to conduct clinical trials or other testing beyond those that we currently expect, or if we experience significant delays in enrollment in any of our planned clinical trials, we could be required to expend significant additional financial resources and time to complete clinical development of that therapeutic candidate. We may never obtain regulatory approval for any of our therapeutic candidates, and, even if we do, drug commercialization takes several years and millions of dollars in development costs.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel expenses, including salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation expense, for personnel in executive, accounting, business development, legal, human resources and administrative functions. General and administrative expenses also include corporate facility costs not otherwise included in research and development expenses, depreciation and other expenses, which include direct or allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities and insurance, not otherwise included in research and development expenses, as well as professional fees for legal, consulting, investor and public relations, accounting and audit services.

We expect that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the foreseeable future as we increase our headcount to support the continued research and development of our programs and the growth of our business. We also anticipate incurring additional expenses associated with operating as a public company, including increased expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory, compliance, director and officer insurance, investor and public relations and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and standards applicable to companies listed on a national securities exchange, additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities and other administrative and professional services.

Other Income (Expense)

Change in Fair Value of Related Party Antidilution Obligation

Pursuant to the Amgen Agreement, we agreed to issue Amgen equity in an amount equal to 25% of our capital stock on a fully diluted basis until such time as we have raised an aggregate of $45.0 million in net cash

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proceeds from financing activities relating to dilutive transactions including the Related Party Antidilution Obligation. In September 2020, we completed the first closing pursuant to the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement, and as a result issued Amgen 6,928,566 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock such that Amgen’s ownership represented 25% of the post-closing capitalization on a fully diluted basis. The Related Party Antidilution Obligation was separately exercisable from the Amgen Agreement and was classified as a liability and recorded at fair value in the consolidated balance sheet with a corresponding charge to research and development at inception of the license agreement in July of 2020. The Related Party Antidilution Obligation was remeasured at fair value at each reporting period, with changes in fair value recorded in change in fair value of Related Party Antidilution Obligation in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss. In September 2020, the Related Party Antidilution Obligation was partially settled through the issuance of 6,928,566 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock with a fair value of $17.5 million. In May 2021, we settled the remaining Related Party Antidilution Obligation in full with the second closing pursuant to the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement. Amgen received an additional 1,963,093 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock with a fair value of $5.1 million.

Change in Fair Value of Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation

In September 2020, we entered into the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement and issued 9,815,467 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock at a purchase price of $2.547 per share, for gross cash proceeds of $25.0 million. The gross proceeds were offset by $0.2 million of issuance costs and $0.2 million related to the Series A Preferred Tranche Obligation, discussed below. Concurrently with this issuance, the SAFE converted to 1,963,093 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock. As part of the September 2020 Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement, the investors were contingently obligated to purchase 7,852,373 additional shares of Series A convertible preferred stock at $2.547 per share upon the satisfaction of specified research and development milestones, collectively, the Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation. The Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation was legally detachable and separately exercisable from the Series A convertible preferred stock. As such, we allocated the proceeds from the September 2020 issuance between the Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation and the Series A convertible preferred stock. As the Series A convertible preferred stock is redeemable upon a deemed liquidation event at the election of the holder controlled Board, and therefore outside of the control of our company, the Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation was classified as a liability and recorded at its fair value. The Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation was remeasured at fair value at each reporting period, with changes in fair value recorded in change in fair value of Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss.

Interest Income

Interest income consists of interest earned from our cash and cash equivalents. We expect our interest income will increase slightly as we invest the cash received from our sales of Series B preferred stock in August 2021 and the net proceeds from this offering. Interest income was immaterial during the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 and the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Other Expense, net

Other expense, net includes gains and losses from the remeasurement of foreign currency transactions into our functional currency. Other expense, net was immaterial during the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 and the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Income Taxes

Since our inception, we have not recorded any income tax benefits for the net losses we have incurred in each year or for our research and development tax credits, as we believe, based upon the weight of available

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evidence, that it is more likely than not that all of our net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards and tax credits will be realized. As of December 31, 2020, we had federal NOL carryforwards of approximately $5.3 million and state NOL carryforwards of approximately $5.2 million which may be available to offset future taxable income and begin to expire in 2036. The total federal NOL of $5.3 million are not subject to expiration. As of December 31, 2020, we also had state tax research and development credit carryforwards of approximately $78 thousand to offset future tax liabilities, which begin to expire in 2029. As of December 31, 2020, we had no federal tax research and development credit carryforwards. We have recorded a full valuation allowance against our net deferred tax assets at December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had no unrecognized tax benefits.

Results of Operations

Period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020:

The description of material changes from period to period required by Item 303 of Regulation S-K cannot be presented as no company-related activities were performed by any party before our company was formed on June 22, 2020 and there are no comparative earlier periods for purposes of this analysis. Accordingly, the following discussion presents the components of our expenses for the periods presented.

Related Party Acquired In-process Research and Development Expenses

Related party acquired IPR&D expenses were $20.9 million for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and consisted of the costs to acquire the IPR&D assets at inception of the Amgen Agreement, including (i) $20.4 million initial recognition of a Related Party Antidilution Obligation that obligates us to issue shares of the Series A convertible preferred stock equal to 25% of our capital stock until we have raised $45.0 million in net cash proceeds from equity financings and (ii) the upfront cash consideration for the license arrangement of $0.5 million.

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Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $4.5 million for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and consisted primarily of the following:

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses were $1.8 million for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and consisted primarily of the following:

Change in Fair Value of Related Party Antidilution Obligation

The change in fair value of Related Party Antidilution Obligation was $1.3 million for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and related to the remeasurement to fair value of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation at December 31, 2020.

Change in Fair Value of Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation

The change in fair value of Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation was $24 thousand for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and related to the remeasurement to fair value of the Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation at December 31, 2020.

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Period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 Compared with Nine Months Ended September 30, 2021

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 and the nine months ended September 30, 2021:

As the June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 period contained approximately three months of expenses whereas the nine months ended September 30, 2021 period contained nine months of expenses, expenses have generally increased as a result of the additional six months of activity and an increase in headcount in the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $1.3 million for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 as compared to $23.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increase of $21.9 million was primarily due to the following:

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General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative were $0.9 million for the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 as compared to $6.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increase of $5.3 million was primarily due to the following:

Change in Fair Value of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation

The change in fair value of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation was $1.2 million during the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020, as compared to $0.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. This decrease of $0.4 million was related to the remeasurement to fair value of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation associated with the Amgen Agreement as well as the partial settlement of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation which was fully settled in May 2021. On September 18, 2020, we completed the first closing pursuant to the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement which triggered the partial settlement of the Related Party Antidilution Obligation resulting in the issuance of 6,928,566 shares of its Series A convertible preferred stock to Amgen. On May 28, 2021, we completed the second closing pursuant to the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement which resulted in our raising of net cash proceeds from financing activities in excess of the $45.0 million Related Party Antidilution Obligation cap. The second closing triggered the settlement of the remaining Related Party Antidilution Obligation, resulting in the issuance of 1,963,093 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock to Amgen with a fair value of $5.1 million.

Change in Fair Value of Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation

The change in fair value of Series A Tranche Obligation was $3 thousand during the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020 as compared to $28 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. This increase of $25 thousand was related to the remeasurement to fair value of the Series A Preferred Stock Tranche Obligation associated with the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement. In May 2021, we settled the Series A Tranche Obligation with the issuance of 7,852,373 shares of our Series A Convertible Preferred Stock.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources of Liquidity

Since our inception, we have not generated any revenue from product sales and have incurred significant operating losses and negative cash flows from our operations. We expect to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we advance the clinical development of our therapeutic candidates. Since our inception through September 30, 2021, we have funded our operations with net proceeds from sales of our convertible preferred stock and SAFE of $139.5 million. As of September 30, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $110.7 million.

Without additional funding, we believe that we will not have sufficient funds to meet our obligations within the next twelve months from the date of issuance of our consolidated financial statements. These factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

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Based on our current operating plan, we expect the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash, will be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through                 .

Cash Flows

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

Operating Activities

During the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, operating activities consisted primarily of our net loss of $28.5 million, partially offset by (i) $20.9 million acquired IPR&D fee associated with the Amgen Agreement, (ii) $1.3 million change in Related Party Antidilution Obligation, (iii) $0.8 million of changes in operating assets and liabilities and (iv) $0.3 million stock-based compensation expense. The net loss consisted of $20.9 million of related party acquired IPR&D, $4.5 million of research and development expenses, $1.8 million of general and administrative expenses and a $1.3 million unfavorable change in fair value of Related Party Antidilution.

During the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020, operating activities consisted primarily of our net loss of $24.3 million, partially offset by (i) $20.9 million acquired IPR&D fee associated with the Amgen Agreement, (ii) $0.9 million of changes in operating assets and liabilities, (iii) $1.2 million change in Related Party Antidilution Obligation and (iv) $0.1 million stock-based compensation expense. The net loss consisted of $20.9 million of related party acquired in-process research and development, $1.3 million of research and development expenses, $0.9 million of general and administrative expenses and a $1.2 million unfavorable change in fair value of Related Party Antidilution Obligation.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, operating activities consisted primarily of our net loss of $30.3 million, partially offset by (i) $6.0 million of changes in operating assets and liabilities, (ii) $0.8 million change in Related Party Antidilution Obligation and (iii) $1.3 million stock-based compensation expense. The net loss primarily consisted of $23.2 million of research and development expenses, $6.2 million of general and administrative expenses and a $0.8 million unfavorable change in fair value of Related Party Antidilution Obligation.

Investing Activities

During the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, and the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020, net cash used by investing activities consisted of $0.5 million paid as part of the Amgen Agreement.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, net cash used by investing activities consisted of $0.2 million of capital expenditures.

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Financing Activities

During the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020, net cash provided by financing activities consisted primarily of $5.0 million in gross proceeds from the SAFE and $25.0 million gross proceeds from the issuance of 9,815,467 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock at a purchase price of $2.547 per share. The gross proceeds are partially offset by approximately $0.2 million and $0.1 million of issuance costs during the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and the period from June 22, 2020 (inception) to September 30, 2020, respectively.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, net cash provided by financing activities consisted primarily of $20.0 million gross proceeds from the issuance of 7,852,373 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock at a purchase price of $2.547 per share, and $90.0 million gross proceeds from the issuance of 25,657,096 shares of Series B convertible preferred stock at $3.5078 per share, offset by approximately $0.4 million of issuance costs.

Our primary uses of cash are to fund our research and development activities related to our VGL101 and small molecule TREM2 agonist program, hiring personnel, raising capital and providing general and administrative support for these operations.

We currently have no ongoing material financing commitments that are expected to affect our liquidity over the next five years, other than our lease obligations and a $0.9 million standby letter of credit we entered into in September 2021, in connection with a lease for laboratory and office space in Watertown, Massachusetts. The standby letter of credit expires in December 2032. See “—Contractual Obligations and Commitments”.

Funding Requirements

To date, we have not generated any revenue from product sales. We do not expect to generate revenue from product sales unless and until we successfully complete clinical development of, receive regulatory approval for, and commercialize, VGL101, and we do not know when, or if at all, that will occur. We expect our expenses and capital requirements to increase significantly in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue the research and development of, initiate clinical trials of, and seek marketing approval for our VGL101 and small molecule TREM2 agonist program. In addition, if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our therapeutic candidates, we expect to incur significant expenses related to product sales, marketing, and distribution to the extent that such sales, marketing and distribution are not the responsibility of potential collaborators. We may also require additional capital to pursue in-licenses or acquisitions of other drug candidates. Further, following the completion of this offering, we expect to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we will require substantial additional funding to develop our therapeutic candidates and support our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development or future commercialization efforts.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including: