10-Q
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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

 

 

☒

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2026

OR

☐

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from __________________ to __________________

Commission File Number: 001-39438

 

Disc Medicine, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Delaware

85-1612845

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)

321 Arsenal Street, Suite 101

Watertown, Massachusetts

02472

(Address of principal executive offices)

(Zip Code)

(617) 674-9274

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class

 

Trading

Symbol(s)

 

Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, $0.0001 Par Value

 

IRON

 

The Nasdaq Global Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

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.

Large accelerated filer

☒

Accelerated filer

☐

Non-accelerated filer

☐

Smaller reporting company

☐

 

 

 

 

Emerging growth company

 

☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of October 29, 2026 there were 45,540,842 shares of Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding.

 


 

Table of Contents

 

 

Page

 

 

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

1

RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

3

 

PART I.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

5

 

 

 

Item 1.

Financial Statements (Unaudited)

5

 

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

5

 

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss

6

 

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity

7

 

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

9

 

Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

10

Item 2.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

21

Item 3.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

30

Item 4.

Controls and Procedures

30

 

 

 

PART II.

OTHER INFORMATION

31

 

 

 

Item 1.

Legal Proceedings

31

Item 1A.

Risk Factors

31

Item 2.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

82

Item 3.

Defaults Upon Senior Securities

82

Item 4.

Mine Safety Disclosures

82

Item 5.

Other Information

82

Item 6.

Exhibits

84

Signatures

85

 

i


 

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, or Quarterly Report, of Disc Medicine, Inc., or the Company, contains or incorporates statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may include, for example, statements about:

•
the initiation, timing, progress, results, and cost of our research and development programs and our current and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, including statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of studies or trials and related preparatory work, the period during which the results of the trials will become available, and our research and development programs;
•
our ability to efficiently discover and develop product candidates;
•
our ability to successfully manufacture our drug substances and product candidates for preclinical use, for clinical trials and on a larger scale for commercial use, if approved;
•
our ability to obtain funding for our operations necessary to further develop and, if approved, commercialize our product candidates;
•
our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of bitopertin and any of our other product candidates, and the timing of any such potential approvals;
•
our ability to commercialize our products, if approved;
•
the pricing and reimbursement of our product candidates, if approved;
•
the implementation of our business model, and strategic plans for our business and product candidates;
•
the scope of protection we are able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering our product candidates;
•
estimates of our future expenses, revenues, capital requirements, and our needs for additional financing;
•
our ability to comply with our current and future debt obligations;
•
the potential benefits of strategic collaboration agreements, our ability to enter into strategic collaborations or arrangements, and our ability to attract collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise;
•
future agreements with third parties in connection with the commercialization of our product candidates, if approved;
•
the size and growth potential of the markets for our product candidates, and our ability to serve those markets;
•
our financial performance;
•
the rate and degree of market acceptance of our product candidates;
•
regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries;
•
our ability to contract with third-party suppliers and manufacturers and their ability to perform adequately;
•
our ability to produce our products or product candidates with advantages in turnaround times or manufacturing cost;
•
the success of competing therapies that are or may become available;
•
our ability to attract and retain key scientific or management personnel;
•
the impact of laws and regulations;
•
developments relating to our competitors and our industry;
•
the impact of global economic and political developments on our business, including rising inflation and capital market disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, economic sanctions and economic slowdowns or recessions that may result from such developments which could harm our research and development efforts as well as the value of our common stock and our ability to access capital markets;
•
the impacts of changes in the policies or regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, or comparable foreign regulatory authorities regarding development, approval, and marketing of products; and

1


 

•
other risks and uncertainties, including those listed under the caption “Risk Factors.”

These forward-looking statements are based on information available to us at the time of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, our actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included within Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

2


 

RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary and other risks that we believe are material to our investors can be found below under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, before making an investment decision regarding our common stock.

•
Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
•
We have incurred significant net losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future.
•
We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales.
•
Our existing and any future indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to operate our business.
•
We may need to raise substantial additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on terms acceptable to us, we may be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate some of our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
•
We have not yet progressed any product candidates other than bitopertin through a Phase 3 clinical trial and may be unable to successfully complete any additional clinical trials for any product candidates we develop. Certain of our programs are still in preclinical development and may never advance to clinical development.
•
Our programs are focused on the development of therapeutics for patients with hematologic diseases, which is a rapidly evolving area of science, and the approach we are taking to discover and develop product candidates is novel and may never lead to approved or marketable products.
•
Because we are developing some of our product candidates for the treatment of diseases in which there is little clinical experience and, in some cases, using new endpoints or methodologies, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may not consider the endpoints of our clinical trials to predict or provide clinically meaningful results.
•
Interim, top-line, initial and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to confirmation, audit, and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
•
If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
•
Results from early preclinical studies and clinical trials of our programs and product candidates are not necessarily predictive of the results of later preclinical studies and clinical trials of our programs and product candidates. If we cannot replicate the results from earlier preclinical studies and clinical trials of our programs and product candidates in our later preclinical studies and clinical trials, we may be unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize our product candidates.
•
Our clinical trials or those of our future collaborators may reveal significant adverse events not seen in prior preclinical studies or clinical trials and may result in a safety profile that could inhibit regulatory approval or market acceptance of any of our product candidates.
•
Some of our product candidates modulate pathways for which there are currently no approved or effective therapies, which may result in greater research and development expenses, regulatory issues that could delay or prevent approval, or discovery of unknown or unanticipated adverse effects on safety or efficacy.
•
We have conducted and are currently conducting clinical trials for bitopertin, and may in the future conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates, outside the United States, and the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such trials.
•
If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates, we will not be able to commercialize, or will be delayed in commercializing, such product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.
•
We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing, or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.
•
If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than we estimate or if any regulatory approval that we obtain is based on a narrower definition of the patient population, our revenue and ability to achieve profitability could be materially adversely affected.

3


 

•
If our current product candidates or any future product candidates do not achieve broad market acceptance, the revenue that we generate from our sales may be limited, and we may never become profitable.
•
We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials for our product candidates, as well as potential investigator-sponsored clinical trials of our product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements, or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.
•
We might not realize the anticipated benefits of our current collaborations with Mabwell or NIH, or any other collaborations we enter into in the future.
•
We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical development and clinical testing, and expect to continue to do so for commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent, or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
•
If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection for our technology and product candidates, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and drugs similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and drugs may be impaired, and we may not be able to compete effectively in our market.
•
We may not obtain licenses or sublicenses to intellectual property rights in all markets on equally or sufficiently favorable terms with third parties.
•
If we fail to comply with our obligations in any agreements under which we may license intellectual property rights from third parties or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.
•
Intellectual property rights do not guarantee commercial success of current or future product candidates or other business activities. Numerous factors may limit any potential competitive advantage provided by our intellectual property rights.
•
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.
•
Inadequate funding for the NIH, CMS, FDA, the SEC and other government agencies, including from government shut downs, or other disruptions to these agencies’ operations, including significant leadership, personnel, or policy changes, could prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.
•
Our future success depends on our ability to retain key executives and experienced scientists and to attract, retain, and motivate qualified personnel.
•
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect the Company’s current and projected business operations and its financial condition and results of operations.
•
Significant political, trade or regulatory developments, unfavorable global economic conditions, and other circumstances beyond our control, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
•
The market price of our common stock has been, and may continue, to be volatile.
•
We have incurred and will continue to incur increased costs and increased demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies.

This section contains forward-looking statements. You should refer to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations on forward-looking statements beginning on page 1.

4


 

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

 

September 30,
2026

 

 

December 31,
2025

 

Assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

89,983

 

 

$

91,145

 

Marketable securities

 

 

592,833

 

 

 

700,007

 

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

 

 

14,589

 

 

 

12,746

 

Total current assets

 

 

697,405

 

 

 

803,898

 

Property and equipment, net

 

 

890

 

 

 

1,159

 

Right-of-use assets, operating leases

 

 

697

 

 

 

1,096

 

Other assets

 

 

496

 

 

 

726

 

Total assets

 

$

699,488

 

 

$

806,879

 

Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable

 

$

6,074

 

 

$

9,018

 

Accrued external research and development expenses

 

 

16,321

 

 

 

11,451

 

Other accrued expenses

 

 

11,756

 

 

 

15,561

 

Operating lease liabilities, current

 

 

209

 

 

 

611

 

Total current liabilities

 

 

34,360

 

 

 

36,641

 

Long-term debt, net

 

 

59,745

 

 

 

29,159

 

Operating lease liabilities, non-current

 

 

1,133

 

 

 

1,253

 

Total liabilities

 

 

95,238

 

 

 

67,053

 

Commitments and contingencies (Note 14)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stockholders’ equity:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued or outstanding as of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized as of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025; 38,619,312 and 37,890,616 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively

 

 

4

 

 

 

4

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

 

1,299,773

 

 

 

1,249,043

 

Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income

 

 

(2,770

)

 

 

965

 

Accumulated deficit

 

 

(692,757

)

 

 

(510,186

)

Total stockholders’ equity

 

 

604,250

 

 

 

739,826

 

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

 

$

699,488

 

 

$

806,879

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

5


 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

$

44,080

 

 

$

50,334

 

 

$

136,917

 

$

124,416

 

Selling, general and administrative

 

 

20,081

 

 

 

17,362

 

 

 

61,843

 

 

 

44,636

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

64,161

 

 

 

67,696

 

 

 

198,760

 

 

 

169,052

 

Loss from operations

 

 

(64,161

)

 

 

(67,696

)

 

 

(198,760

)

 

 

(169,052

)

Other income (expense), net:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest income

 

 

6,454

 

 

 

6,412

 

 

 

19,879

 

 

20,349

 

Interest expense

 

 

(1,714

)

 

 

(917

)

 

 

(3,466

)

 

 

(2,724

)

Other (expense) income

 

 

(5

)

 

 

(18

)

 

 

5

 

 

47

 

Total other income (expense), net

 

 

4,735

 

 

5,477

 

 

 

16,418

 

 

17,672

 

Loss before income taxes

 

 

(59,426

)

 

(62,219

)

 

 

(182,342

)

 

(151,380

)

Income tax expense

 

 

(109

)

 

 

(102

)

 

 

(229

)

 

 

(273

)

Net loss

 

$

(59,535

)

$

(62,321

)

 

$

(182,571

)

$

(151,653

)

Net loss per share, basic and diluted

 

$

(1.53

)

$

(1.77

)

 

$

(4.72

)

$

(4.39

)

Weighted-average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted

 

 

38,904,676

 

 

 

35,178,691

 

 

 

38,695,405

 

 

 

34,516,134

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comprehensive loss:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(59,535

)

 

$

(62,321

)

 

$

(182,571

)

 

$

(151,653

)

Other comprehensive (loss) income:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

 

3

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(9

)

 

 

(1

)

Unrealized (loss) gain on marketable securities

 

 

(1,165

)

 

 

445

 

 

 

(3,726

)

 

 

430

 

Total other comprehensive (loss) income

 

 

(1,162

)

 

 

445

 

 

 

(3,735

)

 

 

429

 

Comprehensive loss

 

$

(60,697

)

 

$

(61,876

)

 

$

(186,306

)

 

$

(151,224

)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

6


 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

Common Stock
$0.0001 Par Value

 

 

Additional
Paid-In

 

 

Accumulated Other
Comprehensive

 

 

Accumulated

 

 

Total
Stockholders’

 

Shares

 

 

Amount

 

 

Capital

 

 

Income (Loss)

 

 

Deficit

 

 

Equity

 

Balance at December 31, 2025

 

37,890,616

 

 

 

4

 

 

 

1,249,043

 

 

 

965

 

 

 

(510,186

)

 

 

739,826

 

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

 

67,811

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

1,010

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

1,010

 

Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units

 

218,322

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Issuance of common stock under employee stock purchase plan

 

13,715

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

687

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

687

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

11,946

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

11,946

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(10

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(10

)

Unrealized loss on marketable securities

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1,526

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1,526

)

Net loss

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(63,504

)

 

 

(63,504

)

Balance at March 31, 2026

 

38,190,464

 

 

$

4

 

 

$

1,262,686

 

 

$

(571

)

 

$

(573,690

)

 

$

688,429

 

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

 

113,359

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

2,356

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

2,356

 

Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units

 

41,843

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

13,948

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

13,948

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(2

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(2

)

Unrealized loss on marketable securities

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1,035

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1,035

)

Net loss

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(59,532

)

 

 

(59,532

)

Balance at June 30, 2026

 

38,345,666

 

 

$

4

 

 

$

1,278,990

 

 

$

(1,608

)

 

$

(633,222

)

 

$

644,164

 

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

 

235,353

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

5,770

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

5,770

 

Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units

 

30,880

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Issuance of common stock under employee stock purchase plan

 

7,413

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

408

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

408

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

14,605

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

14,605

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

3

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

3

 

Unrealized loss on marketable securities

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1,165

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(1,165

)

Net loss

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(59,535

)

 

 

(59,535

)

Balance at September 30, 2026

 

38,619,312

 

 

$

4

 

 

$

1,299,773

 

 

$

(2,770

)

 

$

(692,757

)

 

$

604,250

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7


 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (Continued)

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

Common Stock
$0.0001 Par Value

 

 

Additional
Paid-In

 

 

Accumulated Other
Comprehensive

 

 

Accumulated

 

 

Total
Stockholders’

 

Shares

 

 

Amount

 

 

Capital

 

 

Income

 

 

Deficit

 

 

Equity

 

Balance at December 31, 2024

 

29,865,030

 

 

 

3

 

 

 

741,297

 

 

 

289

 

 

 

(298,002

)

 

$

443,587

 

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

 

91,524

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

575

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

575

 

Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units

 

83,672

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Issuance of common stock under employee stock purchase plan

 

7,814

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

287

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

287

 

Sale of common stock in underwritten offering,
   net of issuance costs of $
15,321

 

4,533,182

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

234,003

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

234,003

 

Sale of pre-funded warrants in underwritten offering,
   net of issuance costs of $
615

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,386

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,386

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

6,363

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

6,363

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

14

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

14

 

Unrealized gain on marketable securities

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

232

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

232

 

Net loss

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(34,085

)

 

 

(34,085

)

Balance at March 31, 2025

 

34,581,222

 

 

$

3

 

 

$

991,911

 

 

$

535

 

 

$

(332,087

)

 

$

660,362

 

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

 

110,230

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

892

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

892

 

Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units

 

3,430

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

8,420

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

8,420

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(15

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(15

)

Unrealized loss on marketable securities

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(247

)

 

 

—

 

 

 

(247

)

Net loss

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(55,247

)

 

 

(55,247

)

Balance at June 30, 2025

 

34,694,882

 

 

$

3

 

 

$

1,001,223

 

 

$

273

 

 

$

(387,334

)

 

$

614,165

 

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

 

128,482

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

1,531

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

1,531

 

Issuance of common stock upon vesting of restricted stock units

 

14,514

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Issuance of common stock under employee stock purchase plan

 

6,301

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

291

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

291

 

Sale of common stock in at-the-market offering,
   net of issuance costs of $
302

 

162,457

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

9,765

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,766

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,514

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,514

 

Foreign currency translation adjustments

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Unrealized gain on marketable securities

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

445

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

445

 

Net loss

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(62,321

)

 

 

(62,321

)

Balance at September 30, 2025

 

35,006,636

 

 

$

4

 

 

$

1,022,324

 

 

$

718

 

 

$

(449,655

)

 

$

573,391

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

8


 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In thousands)

(Unaudited)

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Cash flows from operating activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(182,571

)

 

$

(151,653

)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Depreciation and amortization

 

 

269

 

 

 

192

 

Stock-based compensation

 

 

40,499

 

 

 

24,297

 

Amortization/accretion of investment securities

 

 

(1,817

)

 

 

(6,887

)

Loss from initial consolidation of variable interest entity

 

 

—

 

 

 

852

 

Non-cash lease expense

 

 

399

 

 

 

349

 

Non-cash interest expense

 

 

832

 

 

 

626

 

Other non-cash items

 

 

(11

)

 

 

—

 

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

 

 

(1,838

)

 

 

(7,540

)

Accounts payable

 

 

(2,944

)

 

 

(680

)

Accrued external research and development expenses

 

 

4,870

 

 

 

564

 

Other accrued expenses

 

 

(3,805

)

 

 

2,436

 

Operating lease liabilities

 

 

(522

)

 

 

351

 

Net cash used in operating activities

 

 

(146,639

)

 

 

(137,093

)

Cash flows from investing activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purchases of marketable securities

 

 

(304,973

)

 

 

(491,312

)

Maturities of marketable securities

 

 

410,240

 

 

 

320,819

 

Purchases of property and equipment

 

 

—

 

 

 

(913

)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

 

 

105,267

 

 

 

(171,406

)

Cash flows from financing activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proceeds from sale of common stock in underwritten offering, net of issuance costs paid

 

 

—

 

 

 

234,003

 

Proceeds from sale of pre-funded warrants in underwritten offering, net of issuance costs paid

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,386

 

Proceeds from sale of common stock in at-the-market offerings, net of issuance costs paid

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,766

 

Proceeds from long-term debt, net of issuance costs paid

 

 

29,979

 

 

 

—

 

Proceeds from stock option exercises

 

 

9,136

 

 

 

2,998

 

Contributions from employee stock purchase plan

 

 

1,095

 

 

 

578

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

 

 

40,210

 

 

 

256,731

 

Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

 

 

(1,162

)

 

 

(51,768

)

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period

 

 

91,387

 

 

 

192,672

 

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period

 

$

90,225

 

 

$

140,904

 

 

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Supplemental cash flow information

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash paid for interest

 

$

2,425

 

 

$

2,116

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

9


 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

1. Organization and Nature of the Business

Disc Medicine, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel treatments for patients suffering from serious hematologic diseases. The Company has assembled a portfolio of clinical and preclinical product candidates that aim to modify fundamental biological pathways associated with the formation and function of red blood cells, specifically heme biosynthesis and iron homeostasis. The Company’s current pipeline includes bitopertin for the treatment of erythropoietic porphyrias (“EPs”) including erythropoietic protoporphyria (“EPP”) and X-linked protoporphyria (“XLP”); selcodebart (DISC-0974) for the treatment of anemia of myelofibrosis (“MF”) and anemia of inflammatory bowel disease ("IBD"); and DISC-3405 for the treatment of polycythemia vera (“PV”), sickle cell disease ("SCD"), and other hematologic disorders. In addition, the Company’s preclinical programs include DISC-0998 for the treatment of anemia associated with inflammatory diseases. The Company’s approach to product development leverages well-understood molecular mechanisms that have been validated in humans. The Company believes that each of its product candidates, if approved, has the potential to improve the lives of patients suffering from hematologic diseases. The Company was founded in October 2017. The Company’s principal offices are located in Watertown, Massachusetts.

The Company is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties common to the biotechnology industry, including, but not limited to, risks associated with completing preclinical studies and clinical trials, receiving regulatory approvals for product candidates, development by competitors of new biopharmaceutical products, dependence on key personnel, reliance on third-party organizations, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations and the ability to secure additional capital to fund operations. The Company’s research and development programs require significant additional research and development efforts, including preclinical and clinical testing and regulatory approval, prior to commercialization. Even if the Company’s product development efforts are successful, it is uncertain when, if ever, the Company will realize revenue from product sales.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the basis of the Company continuing as a going concern. The Company expects that its existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of September 30, 2026 of $682.8 million will enable the Company to fund its planned operating expense and capital expenditure requirements for at least twelve months from the date of issuance of these condensed consolidated financial statements. The Company has incurred recurring losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception. As of September 30, 2026, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $692.8 million. The Company expects its operating losses and negative operating cash flows to continue into the foreseeable future. The future viability of the Company is dependent on its ability to generate cash from operating activities or to raise additional capital to finance its operations. There can be no assurance that the Company will ever earn revenues or achieve profitability, or if achieved, that the revenues or profitability will be sustained on a continuing basis. In addition, the Company’s preclinical and clinical development activities, manufacturing and commercialization of the Company’s product candidates, if approved, may require significant additional financing.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

The significant accounting policies used in preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements are described in the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025 and the notes thereto, which are included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K. There have been no material changes to the significant accounting policies previously disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative accounting principles generally accepted in the United States as found in the Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) and Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”).

Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Information

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2026 and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 are unaudited. The financial data and other information contained in the notes hereto as of

10


 

September 30, 2026 and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 are also unaudited. The condensed consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2025 was derived from the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the audited annual consolidated financial statements, and in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments necessary for the fair presentation of the Company’s financial position as of September 30, 2026 and the results of its operations and cash flows for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2025, and the notes thereto, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for the full years, or any other interim periods, or any future year or period.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates and assumptions reflected in these condensed consolidated financial statements include, but are not limited to accrued research and development expenses; stock-based compensation expense; the fair value of the common stock prior to the effective date of the reverse merger with Gemini Therapeutics, Inc. ("Gemini") in December 2022; and income taxes. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience, known trends and other market-specific or other relevant factors that it has concluded to be reasonable under the circumstances. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates as there are changes in circumstances, facts and experience. Changes in estimates are recorded in the period in which they become known. Actual results may differ materially from those estimates or assumptions.

Concentration of Credit Risk and of Significant Suppliers

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The Company maintains deposits in federally insured financial institutions in excess of federally insured limits and limits its exposure to cash risk by placing its cash with high credit quality accredited financial institutions. The Company has concluded that it is not subject to unusual credit risk beyond the normal credit risk associated with commercial banking relationships.

The Company relies, and expects to continue to rely, on a small number of vendors to manufacture supplies and to process its product candidates for its development programs. These programs could be adversely affected by a significant interruption in the manufacturing process or supply chain.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

Other accounting standards that have been issued or proposed by the FASB or other standards-setting bodies that do not require adoption until a future date are not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements upon adoption.

3. Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

September 30,

 

 

December 31,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

89,983

 

 

$

91,145

 

Restricted cash

 

 

242

 

 

 

242

 

Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash as shown on the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows

 

$

90,225

 

 

$

91,387

 

The Company's restricted cash balance, which is classified within prepaid expenses and other current assets and other assets on the condensed consolidated balance sheets, consists of letters of credit related to leased and subleased office space in Watertown, Massachusetts. The Company is required to maintain a separate cash balance to secure its letters of credit.

 

11


 

4. Marketable Securities

Marketable securities as of September 30, 2026 consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

 

 

 

Gross Unrealized

 

 

 

 

 

Amortized Cost

 

 

Gains

 

 

Losses

 

 

Estimated Fair Value

 

Marketable securities available-for-sale:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 U.S. treasury securities

 

$

455,348

 

 

$

—

 

 

$

(1,912

)

 

$

453,436

 

 Corporate debt securities

 

 

60,045

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(147

)

 

 

59,898

 

 U.S. government agency securities

 

 

80,173

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

(674

)

 

 

79,499

 

Total available-for-sale securities

 

$

595,566

 

 

$

—

 

 

$

(2,733

)

 

$

592,833

 

Marketable securities as of December 31, 2025 consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

 

 

 

Gross Unrealized

 

 

 

 

 

Amortized Cost

 

 

Gains

 

 

Losses

 

 

Estimated Fair Value

 

Marketable securities available-for-sale:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 U.S. treasury securities

 

$

484,670

 

 

$

859

 

 

$

—

 

 

$

485,529

 

 Corporate debt securities

 

 

132,913

 

 

 

44

 

 

 

(16

)

 

 

132,941

 

 U.S. government agency securities

 

 

81,431

 

 

 

110

 

 

 

(4

)

 

 

81,537

 

Total available-for-sale securities

 

$

699,014

 

 

$

1,013

 

 

$

(20

)

 

$

700,007

 

As of September 30, 2026, all of the Company’s marketable securities are available to the Company for use in current operations. As a result, the Company has classified all of these securities as current assets even though the stated maturity of some individual securities may be one year or more beyond the balance sheet date. The following table shows the fair value of the Company’s marketable securities, by contractual maturity, as of September 30, 2026 (in thousands):

 

September 30, 2026

 

Due within one year

 

$

478,411

 

Due after one year through five years

 

 

114,422

 

Total available-for-sale securities

 

$

592,833

 

The aggregate fair value of marketable securities with unrealized losses was $592.8 million and $41.3 million as of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively. As of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, ninety-four investments and five investments were in an unrealized loss position, respectively. All such investments have been in an unrealized loss position for less than one year and these losses are considered temporary. The Company has the ability and intent to hold these investments until a recovery of their amortized cost, which may not occur until maturity. The Company expects that U.S. treasury, U.S. government agency, and corporate debt securities are subject to minimal credit risk. As a result, the Company did not record any charges for credit-related impairments for its available-for-sale securities for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025.

5. Fair Value Measurements

The following tables present information about the Company’s assets and liabilities that are measured and carried at fair value on a recurring basis and indicate the level within the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques the Company utilized to determine such fair value, which is described further within Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to the consolidated financial statements in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of September 30, 2026 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

 

 

September 30, 2026

 

 

Level 1

 

 

Level 2

 

 

Level 3

 

Assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash equivalents:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money market funds

 

$

66,488

 

$

—

 

 

$

—

 

Total cash equivalents

 

 

66,488

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Marketable securities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. treasury securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

453,436

 

 

 

—

 

Corporate debt securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

59,898

 

 

 

—

 

U.S. government agency securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

79,499

 

 

 

—

 

Total marketable securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

592,833

 

 

 

—

 

Total assets

 

$

66,488

 

 

$

592,833

 

 

$

—

 

 

12


 

Financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2025 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

 

December 31, 2025

 

 

Level 1

 

 

Level 2

 

 

Level 3

 

Assets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash equivalents:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money market funds

 

$

72,932

 

 

$

—

 

 

$

—

 

Corporate debt securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

9,981

 

 

 

—

 

Total cash equivalents

 

 

72,932

 

 

 

9,981

 

 

 

—

 

Marketable securities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. treasury securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

485,529

 

 

 

—

 

Corporate debt securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

132,941

 

 

 

—

 

U.S. government agency securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

81,537

 

 

 

—

 

Total marketable securities

 

 

—

 

 

 

700,007

 

 

 

—

 

Total assets

 

$

72,932

 

 

$

709,988

 

 

$

—

 

The fair value of the Company’s Level 1 cash equivalents, consisting of money market funds, is based on quoted market prices in active markets with no valuation adjustment. The fair value of the Company’s Level 2 cash equivalents consisting of corporate debt securities with original maturities of three months or less and marketable securities consisting of U.S. treasury, U.S. government agency, and corporate debt securities with original maturities 24 months or less, are determined through third-party pricing services.

There have been no impairments of the Company’s assets measured and carried at fair value during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025. There were no changes in valuation techniques or transfers between Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 financial assets during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025. The Company did not have any non-recurring fair value measurements on any assets or liabilities during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025.

6. Other Accrued Expenses

Other accrued expenses consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

September 30,

 

 

December 31,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Accrued employee-related expenses

 

$

9,153

 

 

$

12,642

 

Accrued professional fees

 

 

1,674

 

 

 

2,214

 

Accrued other

 

 

929

 

 

 

705

 

Total other accrued expenses

 

$

11,756

 

 

$

15,561

 

 

7. Licensing Activities and Business Development

License and Stock Purchase Agreement with AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG (“AbbVie”)

In September 2019, the Company entered into an agreement with AbbVie, pursuant to which AbbVie granted the Company an exclusive license, with the right to grant sublicenses, to certain AbbVie intellectual property.

Under this agreement, the Company paid a non-refundable, non-creditable upfront fee of $0.6 million. The Company is also obligated to make aggregate payments upon the achievement of certain development, commercialization and sales-based milestones up to $18.0 million, $45.0 million and $87.5 million, respectively on a licensed product-by-licensed product basis. In addition, the Company is also obligated to pay royalties based on net sales of the licensed products on a licensed product-by-licensed product and country-by-country basis.

The Company’s royalty obligation expires on a licensed product-by-licensed product and country-by-country basis upon the expiration of the last-to-expire valid claim under the licensed intellectual property rights in such country. Unless terminated earlier, the agreement expires upon the expiration of the Company’s royalty obligation for all licensed products. AbbVie can terminate the agreement if the Company fails to make any payments within a specified period after receiving written notice of such failure, or in the event of a material breach by the Company and failure to cure such breach within a certain period of time.

In January 2025, the Company made a milestone payment of $3.0 million upon the first administration to a patient in the Phase 2 clinical trial of selcodebart (DISC-0974) which was recorded within research and development in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. As of September 30, 2026, no additional milestones were deemed probable of achievement.

13


 

License Agreement with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (collectively “Roche”)

In connection with a license agreement with Roche, (the "Roche Agreement"), the Company paid Roche an upfront, non-refundable exclusivity payment of $0.5 million in March 2021. Upon execution of the Roche Agreement in May 2021, the Company paid Roche an additional upfront, non-refundable payment of $4.0 million.

The Company is obligated to make contingent payments to Roche up to an aggregate of $50.0 million in development and regulatory milestone payments for development and approval in a first indication and up to an aggregate of $35.0 million in development and regulatory milestone payments for development and approval in a second indication. The Company is also obligated to make contingent payments to Roche up to an aggregate of $120.0 million based on achievement of certain thresholds for annual net sales of licensed products. Roche is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales of commercialized products, at rates ranging from high single-digits to high teens. Pursuant to the terms of the Roche Agreement and in connection with the Company's reverse merger with Gemini, the Company issued 482,313 shares of the Company to Roche for no consideration.

In June 2025, the Company made a milestone payment of $10.0 million upon the initiation of the first Phase 3 clinical trial with a licensed product in a first indication which was recorded within research and development in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. The next potential milestone payment is $15.0 million due upon regulatory approval in the United States with a licensed product in a first indication. As of September 30, 2026, this milestone was not deemed probable of achievement.

License Agreement with Mabwell Therapeutics, Inc. ("Mabwell")

In January 2023, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with Mabwell pursuant to which Mabwell granted the Company an exclusive and sublicensable license to certain Mabwell intellectual property.

In connection with the agreement, the Company paid Mabwell an upfront payment of $10.0 million in March 2023. In addition, the Company is obligated to pay certain development and regulatory milestone payments for the licensed products, for up to three indications, up to a maximum aggregate amount of $127.5 million, as well as certain commercial milestone payments for certain licensed product net sales achievements, up to a maximum aggregate amount of $275.0 million. The Company is further obligated to pay a tiered percentage of revenue that the Company receives from its sublicensees ranging from a low third decile percentage to a low first decile percentage. In addition, the Company is obligated to pay Mabwell a royalty on annual net sales of all licensed products at a tiered rate ranging from low single-digits to high single-digits.

In October 2023, the Company made a milestone payment of $5.0 million upon the first administration to a patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial for DISC-3405. In September 2025, the Company made a milestone payment of $10.0 million upon the first administration to a patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial for DISC-3405 which was recorded within research and development in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025. In April 2026, the Company made a milestone payment of $5.0 million upon the first administration to a patient in a Phase 1b clinical trial with a licensed product in a second indication which was recorded within research and development in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2026. As of September 30, 2026, no additional milestones were deemed probable of achievement.

License Agreement with Oak Bay Biosciences, Inc. (“OBB”)

In December 2024, the Company entered into an out-license agreement with OBB pursuant to which the Company granted an exclusive license, with the right to grant sublicenses, to certain Gemini intellectual property. Under the terms of the agreement, the Company received an upfront payment of $0.2 million with additional consideration receivable upon the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and sales milestones up to $7.0 million, $35.0 million, and $160.0 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2026, none of the milestones had been achieved nor were they considered probable of achievement.

Merger Agreement

In May 2025, the Company acquired a privately held company with a clinic-ready program for myelodysplastic syndromes and similar hematologic conditions. The transaction included no upfront cash payment and up to $50.0 million in late-stage contingent development and sales-based milestone payments (“Contingent Consideration”). The acquired entity’s primary asset was in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) with no alternative future use.

The fair value of the Contingent Consideration was determined using Level 3 unobservable inputs including management's estimates of milestone achievement probabilities and the application of an appropriate discount rate. Because the milestone payments were not accounted for as derivatives under ASC Topic 815, they were initially measured at fair value as of the acquisition date and are not remeasured each reporting period. The Contingent Consideration will be adjusted when it is determined that achievement of the contingent milestone is probable, which is generally upon achievement of the milestone event.

As part of the transaction, the Company also obtained an exclusive license to certain intellectual property. Under the terms of the license, the Company is obligated to make certain development and sales-based milestone payments of up to $5.6 million and $20.0 million, respectively, for each compound. Additionally, the Company is required to pay royalties on net sales of licensed products

14


 

at rates in the low single-digits. As of September 30, 2026, none of the milestones had been achieved, nor were they considered probable of achievement.

8. Long-Term Debt

In November 2024, the Company entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Hercules Loan Agreement”), with the lenders party thereto (the “Lenders”) and Hercules Capital, Inc., as administrative agent and collateral agent (the “Agent”). The Hercules Loan Agreement provides for up to $200.0 million of senior secured term loans available to the Company in multiple tranches (the “Term Loan Facility”). Upon execution, the Company borrowed an initial amount of $30.0 million.

In June 2026, the Company entered into the first amendment to the Hercules Loan Agreement (the “Hercules First Amendment”) which modified certain terms of the agreement, including, among other things, extending the availability period for the remaining undrawn tranches and revising the minimum cash covenant requirements. Upon execution of the Hercules First Amendment, the Company drew an additional principal amount of $30.0 million, increasing the cumulative amount drawn to $60.0 million. The Company may, at its sole discretion, draw an additional $50.0 million on or prior to April 30, 2027. The Company may also access additional term loan advances in an aggregate principal amount of up to $65.0 million during the term of the Term Loan Facility subject to achievement of specified performance milestones, and one additional term loan advance up to an aggregate principal amount of $25.0 million subject to certain terms and conditions. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Term Loan Facility for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The Term Loan Facility will mature on December 1, 2029 (the “Maturity Date”). The outstanding principal balance of the Term Loan Facility bears cash interest at a floating annual rate equal to the greater of (i) 8.25% and (ii) the sum of the Prime Rate and 1.75%. Accrued interest is payable monthly following the funding of each term loan advance. Borrowings under the Hercules Loan Agreement are repayable in monthly interest-only payments through November 2028. At the end of the interest-only payment period, borrowings under the Hercules Loan Agreement are repayable in equal monthly payments of principal and accrued interest until the Maturity Date. At the Company's option, the Company may prepay all or a portion of the outstanding borrowings, subject to a prepayment fee of 3.0% of the principal amount if prepayment occurs during the 18 months following the Closing Date, 2.0% after 18 months following the Closing Date but prior to 36 months following the Closing Date, and 1.0% thereafter.

The obligations under the Hercules Loan Agreement are secured, subject to customary permitted liens and other agreed-upon exceptions, by a first-priority perfected security interest in all of the tangible and intangible assets of the Company, other than intellectual property. The Hercules Loan Agreement includes customary repayment and prepayment terms, events of default, affirmative and negative covenants and representations and warranties. Additionally, the Hercules Loan Agreement contains a minimum cash covenant that requires the Company to maintain certain levels of cash in accounts subject to a control agreement in favor of the Agent at all times beginning on the first day on or after July 1, 2028 (or July 1, 2029, if the Company achieves a certain milestone) on which the aggregate principal amount of the term loan advances is then more than $50.0 million; provided, however, the minimum cash covenant will be waived during all times that the Company's market capitalization is greater than or equal to $1.0 billion. The Hercules Loan Agreement also includes a subjective acceleration clause for circumstances which could be reasonably expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company.

The Hercules Loan Agreement provides for a final payment ("End of Term Charge"), payable upon maturity or the repayment of the obligations in full or in part (on a pro rata basis), equal to 6.75% of the aggregate principal amount of term loans advanced to the Company and repaid on such date, which is being accrued on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets.

The Company has recorded debt discount and debt issuance costs of $2.1 million related to borrowings under the Hercules Loan Agreement. Debt discount and unamortized debt issuance costs were recorded as a reduction of the carrying amount on the term loan and are amortized as interest expense using the effective-interest method. In addition, unamortized deferred financing costs of $0.4 million and $0.6 million were recorded in other assets as of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively, related to the Company's right to borrow additional amounts in the future.

Interest expense related to the Term Loan Facility for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 was $1.7 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Interest expense related to the Term Loan Facility for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 was $0.9 million and $2.7 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, the carrying value of the Term Loan Facility approximated its fair value.

The obligations under the Term Loan Facility as of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025 consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

September 30,

 

 

December 31,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Principal term loan balance

 

$

60,000

 

 

$

30,000

 

Unamortized debt discount and issuance costs

 

 

(1,280

)

 

 

(1,351

)

Accrued end of term fee

 

 

1,025

 

 

 

510

 

Long-term debt, net

 

$

59,745

 

 

$

29,159

 

 

15


 

The annual principal payments due under the Term Loan Facility as of September 30, 2026 were as follows (in thousands):

Remainder of 2026

 

$

—

 

2027

 

 

—

 

2028

 

 

4,417

 

2029

 

 

55,583

 

Total

 

$

60,000

 

The table of future principal payments excludes the End of Term Charge of $4.1 million, which is due upon the maturity of the loan.

9. Stockholders' Equity

Preferred Stock

The Company was authorized to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share. As of September 30, 2026, no shares of preferred stock were issued or outstanding.

Common Stock

The Company was authorized to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share. As of September 30, 2026, 38,619,312 shares of common stock were issued and outstanding.

Underwritten Offerings

October 2025 Offering

In October 2025, in connection with an underwriting agreement with Jefferies LLC, Leerink Partners LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the Company sold 2,619,049 shares of its common stock, at a public offering price of $84.00 per share. The Company also sold pre-funded warrants to purchase an aggregate of 59,523 shares of common stock at a price of $83.9999 per pre-funded warrant. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of $211.0 million, after deducting offering expenses of $14.0 million. As of September 30, 2026, none of the 59,523 pre-funded warrants had been exercised.

January 2025 Offering

In January 2025, in connection with an underwriting agreement with Jeffries LLC, Leerink Partners LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the Company sold 4,533,182 shares of its common stock, which included the exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to 615,000 additional shares of common stock, at a public offering price of $55.00 per share. The Company also sold pre-funded warrants to purchase an aggregate of 181,818 shares of common stock at a price of $54.9999 per pre-funded warrant. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of $243.4 million, after deducting offering expenses of $15.9 million. As of September 30, 2026, none of the 181,818 pre-funded warrants had been exercised.

June 2024 Offering

In June 2024, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement with Leerink Partners LLC related to an underwritten offering. Pursuant to the agreement, the Company sold 4,944,000 shares of common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share, at a price to the public of $36.00 per share. The Company received net proceeds of $172.5 million, after deducting the underwriting discount and offering expenses of $5.5 million.

June 2023 Offering

In June 2023, the Company sold 3,015,919 shares of its common stock upon the completion of its public follow-on offering, which included the exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to 420,000 additional shares of common stock, at a public offering price of $49.00 per share. The Company also sold, in lieu of shares of the Company’s common stock, pre-funded warrants to purchase an aggregate of 204,081 shares of common stock at a price of $48.9999 per pre-funded warrant. The Company received aggregate net proceeds of $147.9 million, after deducting offering expenses of $9.9 million. As of September 30, 2026, none of the 204,081 pre-funded warrants had been exercised.

February 2023 Offering

In February 2023, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement, with certain investors. Pursuant to the securities purchase agreement, the Company sold an aggregate of 1,488,166 shares of the Company’s common stock, at a purchase price of $23.00 per share, and with respect to a certain investor, in lieu of shares of the Company’s common stock, pre-funded warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,229,224 shares of the Company’s common stock, at a purchase price of $22.9999 per pre-funded warrant, for aggregate net proceeds of $62.4 million, after deducting offering expenses of $0.1 million. In September 2023, all of the pre-funded warrants were exercised in a cashless transaction which resulted in 1,229,221 shares of common stock being issued to the investor.

16


 

At-the-Market ("ATM") Program

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”)

On November 15, 2024, the Company entered into a Controlled Equity Offering Sales Agreement (the “Cantor ATM Agreement”) with Cantor, pursuant to which the Company may, from time to time in its sole discretion, issue and sell to or through Cantor, acting as sales agent, shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share having an aggregate offering price of up to $200.0 million. This offering was made pursuant to the Company's effective registration statement on Form S-3 filed in August 2024 (the "August 2024 Shelf").

During the three months ended September 30, 2025, the Company sold an aggregate of 162,457 shares of common stock under the August 2024 Shelf and pursuant to the Cantor ATM Agreement. Aggregate gross proceeds from the transaction were $10.1 million and the Company received $9.8 million in net proceeds, after deducting placement agent fees and offering expenses. There were no sales under the Cantor ATM Agreement during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026. As of September 30, 2026, $189.9 million of common stock remained available for issuance and sale under the Cantor ATM Agreement.

10. Stock-Based Compensation

Equity Plans

The Company grants stock-based awards under its 2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”), which was approved by its stockholders in February 2021 and amended and restated in January 2023. The Company also has outstanding stock option awards under its 2017 Stock Option and Grant Plan (the “Private Disc Plan”) but is no longer granting awards under this plan or its 2021 Inducement Plan. The Company also grants awards under its 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “2021 ESPP”), which was approved by the Company's stockholders in July 2021 and amended and restated in January 2023.

Out-of-Plan Inducement Grants

From time to time, the Company grants equity awards to newly hired executives as a material inducement to enter into employment with the Company. These grants are made in accordance with Rule 5635(c)(4) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules and are issued outside the 2021 Plan, the 2021 Inducement Plan and each of the other stock incentive plans described above.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

Total stock-based compensation expense recorded as research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses, respectively, for employees, directors and non-employees was as follows (in thousands):

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Research and development

 

$

7,295

 

 

$

4,423

 

 

$

20,081

 

 

$

11,244

 

Selling, general and administrative

 

 

7,310

 

 

 

5,091

 

 

 

20,418

 

 

 

13,053

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

 

$

14,605

 

 

$

9,514

 

 

$

40,499

 

 

$

24,297

 

 

11. Income Taxes

The Company did not record a provision or benefit for federal income taxes during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025. The Company recorded state income tax expense of $0.2 million and $0.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively, due to interest income. The Company continues to maintain a full valuation allowance against all of its deferred tax assets.

The Company has evaluated the positive and negative evidence involving its ability to realize its deferred tax assets and has considered its history of cumulative net losses incurred since inception and its lack of any commercially ready products. The Company has concluded that it is more likely than not that it will not realize the benefits of its deferred tax assets. The Company reevaluates the positive and negative evidence at each reporting period.

The Company has never been examined by the Internal Revenue Service or any other jurisdiction for any tax years and, as such, all years within the applicable statutes of limitations are potentially subject to audit.

12. Net Loss Per Share

Basic and diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average common shares outstanding. The weighted-average common shares outstanding used in the basic and diluted net loss per share calculation includes pre-funded

17


 

warrants issued in connection with the Company’s underwritten offerings. As of September 30, 2026 and September 30, 2025, 445,422 and 385,899 pre-funded warrants were outstanding, respectively.

The following table sets forth the computation of the Company’s basic and diluted net loss per share (in thousands, except share and per share data):

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Numerator:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(59,535

)

 

$

(62,321

)

 

$

(182,571

)

 

$

(151,653

)

Denominator:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weighted-average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted

 

 

38,904,676

 

 

 

35,178,691

 

 

 

38,695,405

 

 

 

34,516,134

 

Net loss per share, basic and diluted

 

$

(1.53

)

 

$

(1.77

)

 

$

(4.72

)

 

$

(4.39

)

The Company has generated a net loss in all periods presented, so the basic and diluted net loss per share are the same, as the inclusion of the potentially dilutive securities would be anti-dilutive. As of September 30, 2026 and September 30, 2025, the Company excluded the following potential common shares from the computation of diluted net loss per share because including them would have had an anti-dilutive effect:

 

As of September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Options to purchase common stock

 

 

3,487,422

 

 

 

3,433,481

 

Restricted stock units

 

 

1,351,975

 

 

 

1,096,595

 

Employee stock purchase program

 

 

12,639

 

 

 

13,944

 

 

13. Segment Information

The Company manages its operations as a single operating segment for the purposes of assessing performance and making operating decisions, resulting in a single reportable segment. The Company has determined that its Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") is its Chief Executive Officer. The Company’s CODM reviews the Company’s financial information on a consolidated basis for the purpose of allocating resources and assessing financial performance.

The key measure of segment profit or loss that the CODM uses to allocate resources and assess performance is the Company’s consolidated net loss, as reported on the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. In addition, the CODM is regularly provided the significant segment expense categories included in the table below (in thousands), which are reviewed against budgeted expectations to assist in resource allocation decision-making.

 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Bitopertin program external expense

 

$

(6,992

)

 

$

(11,833

)

 

$

(24,998

)

 

$

(43,954

)

Selcodebart (DISC-0974) program external expense

 

 

(8,422

)

 

 

(7,369

)

 

 

(28,885

)

 

 

(18,105

)

DISC-3405 program external expense

 

 

(4,880

)

 

 

(11,910

)

 

 

(19,027

)

 

 

(15,486

)

Other external research and development expense

 

 

(4,643

)

 

 

(4,095

)

 

 

(9,505

)

 

 

(9,030

)

Internal and other research and development expense

 

 

(11,848

)

 

 

(10,704

)

 

 

(34,421

)

 

 

(26,597

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial expense

 

$

(4,117

)

 

$

(3,928

)

 

$

(15,634

)

 

$

(8,509

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General and administrative expense

 

$

(8,654

)

 

$

(8,343

)

 

$

(25,791

)

 

$

(23,074

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

$

(14,605

)

 

$

(9,514

)

 

$

(40,499

)

 

$

(24,297

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other segment items*

 

$

4,626

 

 

$

5,375

 

 

$

16,189

 

 

$

17,399

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(59,535

)

 

$

(62,321

)

 

$

(182,571

)

 

$

(151,653

)

 

18


 

*Other segment items include interest income, interest expense, other (expense) income, and income tax expense as reported on the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

Assets regularly provided to the CODM are consistent with those reported on the condensed consolidated balance sheets with particular emphasis on the Company’s available liquidity, including its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances. All of the Company’s tangible assets are held in the United States.

14. Commitments and Contingencies

Indemnification Agreements

In the ordinary course of business, the Company may provide indemnification of varying scope and terms to its vendors, lessors, contract research organizations, business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters including, but not limited to, losses arising out of breach of such agreements or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, the Company has entered into indemnification agreements with members of its Board that will require the Company, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is, in many cases, unlimited. The Company has not incurred any material costs as a result of such indemnifications and is not currently aware of any indemnification claims.

Legal Proceedings

The Company, from time to time, may be party to litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company was not subject to any material legal proceedings during the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 and, to the best of its knowledge, no material legal proceedings are currently pending or threatened.

Payments Upon Termination

The Company enters into contracts in the normal course of business with contract research organizations ("CROs"), contract development and manufacturing organizations ("CDMOs") and other third parties for preclinical studies, clinical trials and manufacturing services. These contracts typically do not contain minimum purchase commitments and are generally cancelable by the Company upon written notice. Payments due upon cancellation consist of payments for services provided or expenses incurred, including noncancelable obligations of the Company’s service providers, up to the date of cancellation and, in the case of certain arrangements with CROs and CDMOs, may include noncancelable fees. Under such agreements, the exact amounts owed by the Company in the event of termination will be based on the timing of the termination and the exact terms of the agreement. As of September 30, 2026, the Company has not recognized any amounts related to these contingencies as the amount and timing of such payments are not fixed and estimable.

15. Related Party Transactions

In October 2025 and January 2025, certain existing investors participated in the Company's underwritten offerings (see Note 9 - Stockholders' Equity).

16. Subsequent Events

Underwritten Offering

On October 20, 2026, the Company entered into an Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with Jefferies LLC, Leerink Partners LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, and Cantor as representatives of the several underwriters listed on Schedule I thereto (the “Underwriters”) related to an underwritten offering of 6,000,000 shares of common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share, at a price to the public of $75.00 per share. In addition, the Company granted the Underwriters an option exercisable for 30 days from the date of the Underwriting Agreement to purchase, at the public offering price less any underwriting discounts and commissions, up to an additional 900,000 shares of the Company's common stock, which option the Underwriters exercised in full on October 26, 2026.

The net proceeds from the offering are expected to be approximately $485.9 million, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses. Certain existing investors and affiliates of the Company participated in the offering.

ATM Program

On November 4, 2026, Cantor acknowledged and accepted the Company’s written notice to terminate the Cantor ATM Agreement, which termination became effective on November 4, 2026. As a result of such termination, the Company will not offer or sell any additional shares of its common stock under the Cantor ATM Agreement.

On November 5, 2026, the Company entered into a Sales Agreement (the “TD Cowen ATM Agreement”), with TD Securities (USA) LLC (“TD Cowen”), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell shares of its common stock having aggregate gross proceeds of up to approximately $189.9 million from time to time in “at-the-market” offerings through TD Cowen, as sales agent.

19


 

The Company agreed to pay TD Cowen a commission of up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any shares sold by TD Cowen under the TD Cowen ATM Agreement. As of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the Company has not sold any shares of common stock under the TD Cowen ATM Agreement.

20


 

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing at the beginning of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing at the end of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth in the “Risk Factors” section of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our actual results could 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 clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel treatments for patients suffering from serious hematologic diseases. We have assembled a portfolio of clinical and preclinical product candidates that aim to modify fundamental biological pathways associated with the formation and function of red blood cells, specifically heme biosynthesis and iron homeostasis. Our current pipeline includes bitopertin for the treatment of erythropoietic porphyrias, or EPs, including erythropoietic protoporphyria, or EPP, and X-linked protoporphyria, or XLP; selcodebart (DISC-0974) for the treatment of anemia of myelofibrosis, or MF, and anemia of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD; and DISC-3405 for the treatment of polycythemia vera, or PV, sickle cell disease, or SCD, and other hematologic disorders. In addition, our preclinical programs include DISC-0998 for the treatment of anemia associated with inflammatory diseases. Our approach to product candidate development leverages well-understood molecular mechanisms that have been validated in humans. We believe that each of our product candidates, if approved, has the potential to improve the lives of patients suffering from hematologic diseases.

Heme Biosynthesis: Bitopertin

Bitopertin is the lead product candidate in our heme biosynthesis modulation portfolio. Bitopertin was previously evaluated by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., or collectively, Roche, in a comprehensive clinical program in over 4,000 individuals in other indications which demonstrated the activity of bitopertin as a glycine transporter 1, or GlyT1, inhibitor and its effect on heme biosynthesis. We are initially developing bitopertin for the treatment of EPs, including EPP and XLP, which are part of a group of severe diseases, known as porphyrias, caused by defects in the heme biosynthesis pathway that cause an accumulation of toxic metabolites referred to as porphyrins, resulting in skin hypersensitivity to sunlight and some types of artificial light.

In October 2026, we announced positive topline results from APOLLO, a randomized, double-blind, pivotal Phase 3 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of bitopertin versus placebo in adults and adolescents aged 12 or older with EPP or XLP. Bitopertin achieved statistical significance on both co-primary endpoints versus placebo, with reduction in whole-blood metal-free protoporphyrin IX, or PPIX, from baseline (-41.4% vs. placebo, p<0.0001) and increase in average monthly total time in light without pain during month 6 (+12.2 hours vs. placebo, p=0.0010). Bitopertin also achieved statistical significance on all secondary endpoints versus placebo, including reduction in incidence rate of phototoxic reactions over the 6-month treatment period (p<0.0001), increase in cumulative total time in light without pain over the 6-month treatment period (p<0.0001), and increase in change from baseline in average daily sunlight exposure time to prodrome (p=0.0077, adults only). In addition, bitopertin demonstrated additional quality of life benefits versus placebo, including improved Patient Global Impression of Change, or PGIC, score (p<0.0001) and Patient Global Impression of Severity, or PGIS, score (p<0.0001). Bitopertin was generally well-tolerated. Consistent with prior studies, dizziness was the most commonly reported treatment emergent adverse event, or TEAE, in the bitopertin group (50%) and was mild or moderate and generally transient. There were no TEAEs above Grade 3.

We have also completed two Phase 2 clinical trials of bitopertin: BEACON, an open-label, parallel-dose clinical trial in EPP and XLP patients conducted at sites in Australia, and AURORA, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in EPP patients conducted at sites in the United States. In both trials, bitopertin significantly reduced PPIX and was associated with improvements in measures of time spent in sunlight and quality of life. In addition, bitopertin was generally well-tolerated. All participants in AURORA and BEACON were eligible to participate in HELIOS, an ongoing open-label, long-term extension study of bitopertin in EPP and XLP patients. Interim data from HELIOS, presented in June 2025 and June 2026, demonstrated that longer term treatment of bitopertin was associated with sustained reductions in PPIX, as well as improvements in quality of life and liver biomarkers.

In September 2025 we submitted a New Drug Application, or NDA, for accelerated approval of bitopertin in EPP and XLP in the United States based on our Phase 2 data. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, accepted our NDA for review in November 2025 and in February 2026 issued a complete response letter, or CRL. The FDA concluded that the AURORA and BEACON trials did not show evidence of association between percent change in PPIX and sunlight exposure-based endpoints as measured in the trials, resulting in uncertainty regarding whether bitopertin’s effect on PPIX is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, despite the strong mechanistic and biological plausibility supporting the use of the PPIX biomarker in protoporphyria. In our Type A meeting during the second quarter of 2026, the FDA indicated that results of the Phase 3 APOLLO trial, if successful,

21


 

could serve as the basis for a response to the CRL and could potentially support a traditional approval. With the positive topline results from APOLLO, we plan to engage with the FDA and resubmit an NDA by the end of 2026, with an FDA decision anticipated by mid-2027.

Our APOLLO clinical trial is also intended to serve as a registrational trial with respect to any potential future marketing applications for bitopertin in EPP and XLP outside the United States. We continue to evaluate potential additional trials of bitopertin in other indications.

Iron Homeostasis: Selcodebart (DISC-0974) and DISC-3405

Selcodebart is the lead product candidate in our iron homeostasis portfolio and was licensed from AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, or AbbVie. Selcodebart is designed to suppress hepcidin production and increase serum iron levels. We completed a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers in the United States in June 2022, with results showing an acceptable tolerability profile and evidence of target engagement, iron mobilization and augmented erythropoiesis. We initiated a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial in June 2022 in patients with anemia of MF, with results from the Phase 1b portion of this clinical trial showing substantial and sustained reductions in hepcidin levels and increases in iron alongside strong hematologic responses across patient types and an acceptable tolerability profile. We initiated RALLY-MF, the open-label Phase 2 portion of this clinical trial, in December 2024 and reported initial data in December 2025 and interim data in June 2026, with results demonstrating meaningful overall anemia responses across all patient subgroups, regardless of baseline transfusion status and independent of concomitant Janus Kinase, or JAK, inhibitor therapy use. We expect to share additional data and hold an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA for selcodebart in anemia of MF by the end of 2026. We anticipate initiating a Phase 3 clinical program for selcodebart in anemia of MF in the first half of 2027, subject to the outcome of our end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA. We also initiated RALLY-IBD, a Phase 2 clinical trial of selcodebart in patients with IBD and anemia in the first quarter of 2026, with initial data anticipated in 2027, and we are planning exploratory studies in additional patient populations with anemia of chronic disease. We are also developing a preclinical anti-hemojuvelin, or HJV, monoclonal antibody, DISC-0998, which also targets hepcidin suppression and was licensed from AbbVie. DISC-0998 is designed to increase serum iron levels and has an extended serum half-life as compared to selcodebart. We believe this profile may be desirable in certain subsets of patients with anemia associated with inflammatory diseases.

In addition, we are developing DISC-3405, a monoclonal antibody against Transmembrane Serine Protease 6, or TMPRSS6, that we licensed from Mabwell Therapeutics, Inc., or Mabwell. DISC-3405 is part of our iron homeostasis portfolio and is designed to induce hepcidin production and reduce serum iron levels. We initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial of DISC-3405 in healthy adult volunteers in October 2023, with results showing an acceptable tolerability profile and evidence of target engagement, including dose-related increases in serum hepcidin and corresponding reductions in serum iron across all dose levels. We are developing DISC-3405 for the treatment of PV, SCD, and other hematologic disorders. We initiated RESTORE-PV, an open-label Phase 2 clinical trial of DISC-3405 in patients with PV, in June 2025, and reported initial efficacy data from Cohort A of this trial in September 2026, with results demonstrating that treatment with DISC-3405 increased hepcidin and lowered serum iron, translating to reduction in phlebotomy events, controlled hematocrit, and improved symptom burden in patients with PV. In this initial data, DISC-3405 was generally well-tolerated in participants in Cohort A and Cohort B, with adverse events that were consistent with underlying disease and a low rate of injection site reactions, which were mild and self-limited. We expect to report additional data from our RESTORE-PV clinical trial by the end of 2026 and topline data in 2027. If positive, and subject to engagement with the FDA, we anticipate initiating a Phase 3 clinical program for DISC-3405 in PV in 2027. We also initiated a Phase 1b, open-label clinical trial of DISC-3405 in patients with SCD in October 2025, with initial data expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, and plan to explore the role of therapeutic iron restriction in other indications.

Funding

As of September 30, 2026, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $682.8 million. In October 2026, we completed an underwritten public offering of shares of our common stock for net proceeds of approximately $485.9 million, after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us. We believe that our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, including the net proceeds of our October 2026 underwritten public offering, will be sufficient to fund our current operating and capital expenditure plans and our debt service obligations into 2030, without taking into account any potential net cash inflows from bitopertin or any other marketed product, if approved during such period. We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. See "Liquidity and Capital Resources" for additional details.

Financial Operations Overview

Revenue

We have not generated any revenue since our inception and do not expect to generate any revenue from the sale of products in the near future, if at all. If our development efforts are successful and result in commercialization of one or more product candidates or if we enter into collaboration or license agreements with third parties, we may generate revenue in the future from product sales, payments from such collaboration or license agreements or a combination thereof.

22


 

Operating Expenses

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred in connection with the research and development of our product candidates. These expenses include:

•
employee-related expenses, including salaries, benefits, and stock-based compensation expense, for personnel engaged in research and development functions;
•
expenses incurred in connection with our research and development activities, including under agreements with third parties such as consultants, contractors and contract research organizations, or CROs;
•
costs related to contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CDMOs, that are primarily engaged to provide drug substance and product for our preclinical studies, clinical trials and research and development programs, as well as investigative sites and consultants that conduct our clinical trials, preclinical studies and other scientific development services;
•
the costs of acquiring and manufacturing preclinical study and clinical trial materials, including manufacturing registration and validation batches;
•
costs related to compliance with quality and regulatory requirements; and
•
payments made under third-party licensing agreements.

We expense research and development costs as incurred. Costs incurred for external development activities are recognized based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using information provided to us by our vendors. Payments for these activities are based on the terms of the individual agreements, which may differ from the pattern of costs incurred, and may be reflected in our condensed consolidated financial statements as prepaid or accrued expenses. Nonrefundable advance payments for goods or services to be received in the future for use in research and development activities are recorded as prepaid expenses and expensed as the related goods are delivered or the services are performed or when it is no longer expected that the goods will be delivered or the services rendered.

We typically use our employee and infrastructure resources across product candidates and development programs. We track external development costs by product candidate or development program, but we do not allocate personnel costs or other internal costs to specific product candidates or development programs.

We expect that our research and development expenses will increase substantially as we advance our programs into and through clinical development. At this time, we cannot accurately estimate or know the nature, timing or costs of the efforts that will be necessary to complete their preclinical and clinical development. Changes in the outcome of any number of variables with respect to these programs could significantly affect the costs and timing associated with their development. We may never succeed in obtaining regulatory approval for any product candidates that have not yet been approved. The successful development of any product candidate is highly uncertain due to the numerous risks and uncertainties inherent in product development, including the following:

•
the timing and progress of preclinical and clinical development activities;
•
the number and scope of preclinical and clinical programs we decide to pursue;
•
our ability to raise additional funds to the extent necessary to complete clinical development of and commercialize our product candidates;
•
our ability to establish new licensing or collaboration arrangements and the progress of the development efforts of third parties with whom we may enter into such arrangements;
•
our ability to maintain our current research and development programs and to establish new programs;
•
the successful initiation, enrollment and completion of clinical trials with safety, tolerability and efficacy profiles that are satisfactory to the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority;
•
the receipt and related terms of regulatory approvals from applicable regulatory authorities for any product candidates;
•
the availability of raw materials for use in production of our product candidates;
•
our ability to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers for supply of product candidate components for our clinical trials;
•
our ability to obtain and maintain patents, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;

23


 

•
our ability to protect our other rights in our intellectual property portfolio;
•
our ability to commercialize product candidates, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and
•
our ability to obtain and maintain third-party insurance coverage and adequate reimbursement for any approved products.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related costs for personnel in executive, finance, commercial, corporate and business development, and administrative functions. Selling, general and administrative expenses also include legal fees relating to patent and corporate matters, including noncapitalizable transaction costs; professional fees for accounting, auditing, tax compliance and administrative consulting services; investor and public relations expenses; commercial planning and market research; director and officer insurance costs and other insurance costs; and facility related expenses including maintenance and allocated expenses for rent and other operating costs.

We anticipate that our selling, general and administrative expenses will increase substantially in the future as we increase our headcount to support our continued research and development and potential commercialization activities, including establishing the infrastructure to commercialize any product candidates for which we may obtain marketing approval.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Interest Income

Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on cash equivalents, consisting of money market funds and corporate debt securities, as well as marketable securities, consisting of U.S. treasury securities, U.S. government agency securities and corporate debt securities.

Interest Expense

Interest expense primarily consists of amortization of debt issuance costs and discount and interest expense under the Hercules Loan Agreement.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2026 and 2025

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 (in thousands):

 

Three months ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

Change

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

Change

 

Operating expenses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research and development

 

$

44,080

 

 

$

50,334

 

 

$

(6,254

)

 

$

136,917

 

 

$

124,416

 

 

$

12,501

 

Selling, general and administrative

 

 

20,081

 

 

 

17,362

 

 

 

2,719

 

 

 

61,843

 

 

 

44,636

 

 

 

17,207

 

Total operating expenses

 

 

64,161

 

 

 

67,696

 

 

 

(3,535

)

 

 

198,760

 

 

 

169,052

 

 

 

29,708

 

Loss from operations

 

 

(64,161

)

 

 

(67,696

)

 

 

3,535

 

 

 

(198,760

)

 

 

(169,052

)

 

 

(29,708

)

Other income (expense), net:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interest income

 

 

6,454

 

 

 

6,412

 

 

 

42

 

 

 

19,879

 

 

 

20,349

 

 

 

(470

)

Interest expense

 

 

(1,714

)

 

 

(917

)

 

 

(797

)

 

 

(3,466

)

 

 

(2,724

)

 

 

(742

)

Other (expense) income

 

 

(5

)

 

 

(18

)

 

 

13

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

47

 

 

 

(42

)

Total other income (expense), net

 

 

4,735

 

 

 

5,477

 

 

 

(742

)

 

 

16,418

 

 

 

17,672

 

 

 

(1,254

)

Loss before income taxes

 

 

(59,426

)

 

 

(62,219

)

 

 

2,793

 

 

 

(182,342

)

 

 

(151,380

)

 

 

(30,962

)

Income tax expense

 

 

(109

)

 

 

(102

)

 

 

(7

)

 

 

(229

)

 

 

(273

)

 

 

44

 

Net loss

 

$

(59,535

)

 

$

(62,321

)

 

$

2,786

 

 

$

(182,571

)

 

$

(151,653

)

 

$

(30,918

)

 

24


 

Research and Development Expenses

The following table summarizes our research and development expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 (in thousands):

 

Three months ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

Change

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

Change

 

Bitopertin

 

$

6,992

 

 

$

11,833

 

 

$

(4,841

)

 

$

24,998

 

 

$

43,954

 

 

$

(18,956

)

Selcodebart (DISC-0974)

 

 

8,422

 

 

 

7,369

 

 

 

1,053

 

 

 

28,885

 

 

 

18,105

 

 

 

10,780

 

DISC-3405

 

 

4,880

 

 

 

11,910

 

 

 

(7,030

)

 

 

19,027

 

 

 

15,486

 

 

 

3,541

 

Other research programs and expenses

 

 

6,185

 

 

 

5,386

 

 

 

799

 

 

 

13,792

 

 

 

13,491

 

 

 

301

 

Personnel-related (including equity-based compensation)

 

 

17,601

 

 

 

13,836

 

 

 

3,765

 

 

 

50,215

 

 

 

33,380

 

 

 

16,835

 

Total research and development expenses

 

$

44,080

 

 

$

50,334

 

 

$

(6,254

)

 

$

136,917

 

 

$

124,416

 

 

$

12,501

 

Research and development expenses were $44.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared to $50.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025. The decrease of $6.3 million was driven by a $7.0 million reduction in expenses related to DISC-3405, primarily related to a $10.0 million milestone payment incurred during the comparative period. There was also a decrease of $4.8 million in bitopertin development expenses, primarily related to drug manufacturing activities in the comparative period that did not recur in the current period. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in personnel related costs of $3.8 million related to higher research and development headcount, including an increase of $2.9 million in stock-based compensation driven by awards granted under our equity compensation plans. Selcodebart development expenses increased $1.1 million, primarily related to drug manufacturing activities. Other research programs and expenses also increased $0.8 million.

Research and development expenses were $136.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, compared to $124.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. The increase of $12.5 million was primarily due to an increase of $16.8 million in personnel-related costs related to higher research and development headcount, including an increase of $8.8 million in stock-based compensation driven by awards granted under our equity compensation plans. Selcodebart development expenses increased $10.8 million primarily related to clinical trial advancement and drug manufacturing activities. DISC-3405 development expenses increased $3.5 million primarily driven by increased clinical trial and drug manufacturing activities of $8.5 million which were partially offset by lower milestone payments of $5.0 million. Bitopertin development expenses decreased $19.0 million primarily driven by a $10.0 million milestone payment and drug manufacturing activities in the comparative period that did not recur in the current period.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

The following table summarizes our selling, general and administrative expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 (in thousands):

 

Three months ended
September 30,

 

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

Change

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

Change

 

Personnel-related (including equity-based compensation)

 

$

12,903

 

 

$

10,587

 

 

$

2,316

 

 

$

40,618

 

 

$

25,715

 

 

$

14,903

 

Legal, consulting and professional fees

 

 

5,796

 

 

 

5,432

 

 

 

364

 

 

 

16,091

 

 

 

14,866

 

 

 

1,225

 

Other expenses

 

 

1,382

 

 

 

1,343

 

 

 

39

 

 

 

5,134

 

 

 

4,055

 

 

 

1,079

 

Total selling, general and administrative expenses

 

$

20,081

 

 

$

17,362

 

 

$

2,719

 

 

$

61,843

 

 

$

44,636

 

 

$

17,207

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $20.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared to $17.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025. The increase of $2.7 million was primarily due to an increase of $2.3 million in personnel-related costs due to increased selling, general and administrative headcount, including an increase of $2.2 million in stock-based compensation driven by awards granted under our equity compensation plans.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $61.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, compared to $44.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. The increase of $17.2 million was primarily due to an increase of $14.9 million in personnel-related costs due to increased selling, general and administrative headcount, including an increase of $7.4 million in stock-based compensation driven by awards granted under our equity compensation plans and an increase of $1.6 million related to an organizational restructuring. There were also increases of $1.1 million and $1.2 million in other expenses and legal, consulting, and professional fees, respectively, primarily related to developing our commercialization capabilities.

25


 

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net was $4.7 million and $16.4 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026, respectively, compared to $5.5 million and $17.7 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively. Other income (expense), net consists primarily of interest income from our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, partially offset by interest expense associated with our term loan.

Income Tax Expense

Income tax expense was $0.1 million and $0.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026, respectively, compared to $0.1 million and $0.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively. This expense primarily relates to state income tax resulting from interest income.

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. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses in the foreseeable future as we advance the clinical development of our product candidates. We expect that our research and development and selling, general and administrative costs will continue to increase significantly, including in connection with conducting clinical trials and manufacturing for our product candidates to support commercialization and providing selling, general and administrative support for our operations, including the costs associated with operating as a public company. As a result, we may need additional capital to fund our operations, which we may obtain from additional equity or debt financings, collaborations, licensing arrangements or other sources. See “Risk Factors” included within Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional risks associated with our substantial capital requirements.

To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from the sale of our convertible preferred stock and common stock, the proceeds from the merger with Gemini, proceeds from various private and public sales of our equity securities and proceeds from borrowings under the Hercules Loan Agreement. Through September 30, 2026, we have received net proceeds of $144.5 million from sales of our Series Seed, Series A and Series B convertible preferred stock, $89.5 million from the merger with Gemini, $941.8 million from various private and public sales of our equity securities, and $57.6 million from net borrowings under the Hercules Loan Agreement. As of September 30, 2026, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $682.8 million.

In October 2026, we completed an underwritten public offering of shares of our common stock for net proceeds of approximately $485.9 million, after deducting estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We have incurred significant operating losses since inception and, as of September 30, 2026, had an accumulated deficit of $692.8 million. In addition, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future. We believe that our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, including the net proceeds of our October 2026 underwritten public offering, will be sufficient to fund our current operating and capital expenditure plans and our debt service obligations into 2030, without taking into account any potential net cash inflows from bitopertin or any other marketed product, if approved during such period. We have based these estimates on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than we expect. We may also pursue additional cash resources through public or private equity offerings, collaborations or additional debt financing.

Cash Flows

The following table provides information regarding our cash flows for each period presented (in thousands):

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Net cash (used in) provided by:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operating activities

 

$

(146,639

)

 

$

(137,093

)

Investing activities

 

 

105,267

 

 

 

(171,406

)

Financing activities

 

 

40,210

 

 

 

256,731

 

Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

 

$

(1,162

)

 

$

(51,768

)

Operating Activities

Our cash flows from operating activities are greatly influenced by our use of cash for operating expenses and working capital requirements to support our business. We have historically experienced negative cash flows from operating activities as we invested in developing our portfolio, drug discovery efforts, conducting clinical trials and manufacturing, and related infrastructure. The cash used in operating activities resulted primarily from our net losses adjusted for non-cash charges and changes in components of operating assets and liabilities, which are primarily the result of increased expenses and timing of vendor payments.

26


 

During the nine months ended September 30, 2026, net cash used in operating activities of $146.6 million was primarily due to our net loss of $182.6 million. This was partially offset by non-cash expenses of $40.2 million, which included $40.5 million in stock-based compensation, and the change in operating assets and liabilities of $4.2 million.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2025, net cash used in operating activities of $137.1 million was primarily due to our net loss of $151.7 million and the change in operating assets and liabilities of $4.9 million. These were partially offset by non-cash expenses of $19.4 million which included $24.3 million in stock-based compensation, reduced by $6.9 million from amortization and accretion of investment securities.

Investing Activities

During the nine months ended September 30, 2026, net cash provided by investing activities was primarily due to maturities of marketable securities of $410.2 million, partially offset by purchases of marketable securities of $305.0 million.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2025, net cash used in investing activities was primarily due to purchases of marketable securities of $491.3 million, partially offset by maturities of marketable securities of $320.8 million.

Financing Activities

During the nine months ended September 30, 2026, net cash provided by financing activities of $40.2 million consisted primarily of net proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt of $30.0 million and proceeds from stock option exercises of $9.1 million.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2025, net cash provided by financing activities of $256.7 million consisted primarily of aggregate net proceeds of $243.4 million and $9.8 million from our underwritten offering in January 2025 and sales of shares of common stock pursuant to our Controlled Equity Offering Sales Agreement, or the Cantor ATM Agreement, with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or Cantor, respectively.

Future Funding Requirements

We expect our expenses to continue to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue the research and development of, initiate and complete clinical trials of, and seek regulatory approval for, our product candidates. In addition, depending on the status of regulatory approval, or if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. We may also need to raise additional funds sooner if we choose to pursue additional indications and/or geographies for our current or future product candidates or otherwise expand more rapidly than presently anticipated. Furthermore, we expect to continue to incur costs associated

27


 

with operating as a public company. Our future capital requirements will depend on and could increase significantly as a result of many factors, including:

•
the timing and progress of preclinical and clinical development activities;
•
the number and scope of preclinical and clinical programs we decide to pursue;
•
our ability to raise additional funds to the extent necessary to complete clinical development of and commercialize our product candidates;
•
our ability to establish new and maintain existing licensing or collaboration arrangements and the progress of the development efforts of third parties with whom we may enter into such arrangements;
•
our ability to maintain our current research and development programs and to establish new programs;
•
the successful initiation, enrollment and completion of clinical trials with safety, tolerability and efficacy profiles that are satisfactory to the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority;
•
the receipt and related terms of regulatory approvals from applicable regulatory authorities for any product candidates;
•
the availability of raw materials for use in production of our product candidates;
•
the terms of agreements with third-party manufacturers for supply of product candidate components for our clinical trials;
•
our ability to obtain and maintain patents, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;
•
our ability to protect our other rights in our intellectual property portfolio;
•
commercializing product candidates, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and
•
obtaining and maintaining third-party insurance coverage and adequate reimbursement for any approved products.

Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials is a time consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain marketing approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of products that may take longer than we anticipate to become commercially available, if they become commercially available at all. Accordingly, we may need to obtain substantial additional funds to achieve our business objectives.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances, and marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties. However, we may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our existing stockholders may be materially diluted, and the terms of such securities could include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include restrictive covenants that limit our ability to take specified actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings or other arrangements when needed, we may be required to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development or future commercialization efforts, or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

Contractual Obligations and Other Commitments

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of September 30, 2026 and the effects that such obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flows in future periods (in thousands):

 

Payments Due by Period

 

 

Total

 

 

Less Than
1 Year

 

 

1 to 3
Years

 

 

3 to 5
Years

 

 

More Than
5 Years

 

Operating lease commitments(1)

 

$

2,505

 

 

$

534

 

 

$

1,745

 

 

$

226

 

 

$

—

 

Total

 

$

2,505

 

 

$

534

 

 

$

1,745

 

 

$

226

 

 

$

—

 

(1) Amounts reflect contractual rent payments due for our leased and subleased office spaces in Watertown, Massachusetts as of September 30, 2026 and include contractual payments due under our forward-starting lease which is expected to commence in December 2026. The term date for our existing lease is December 31, 2029 and the term date for our existing sublease is November 30, 2026.

28


 

We enter into contracts in the normal course of business with CROs, CDMOs and other third parties for preclinical studies, clinical trials and manufacturing services. These contracts typically do not contain minimum purchase commitments and are generally cancelable by us upon written notice. Payments due upon cancellation consist of payments for services provided or expenses incurred, including noncancelable obligations of our service providers, up to the date of cancellation and, in the case of certain arrangements with CROs and CDMOs, may include non-cancelable fees. These payments are not included in the table above as the amount and timing of such payments are not fixed and estimable.

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

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our condensed consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The preparation of our condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, and costs and expenses. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. See our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 for more information about critical accounting policies as well as a description of our other significant accounting policies.

There have been no material changes to our critical accounting estimates from those described in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

A description of recently issued and certain recently adopted accounting pronouncements that have or may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is included in Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to our consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

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ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISKS

As of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $682.8 million and $791.2 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, our cash equivalents consisted of money market funds and corporate debt securities with original maturities of three months or less and our marketable securities consisted of U.S. treasury, U.S. government agency, and corporate debt securities which were classified as available-for-sale securities. Our primary investment objectives are the preservation of capital and the maintenance of liquidity, and our investment policy defines allowable investments based on quality of the institutions and financial instruments designed to minimize risk exposure. Our exposure to interest rate sensitivity is affected by changes in the general level of U.S. interest rates. Our marketable securities are subject to interest rate risk and will fall in value if market interest rates increase. Due to the short-term maturities and low risk profiles of our investments, we do not anticipate a significant exposure to interest rate risk. If market interest rates were to increase immediately and uniformly by one percentage point from levels as of September 30, 2026, the net fair value of our marketable securities would decrease by approximately $3.6 million.

Our employees and operations are primarily located in the United States. We have, from time to time, engaged in contracts with contractors or other vendors in a currency other than the U.S. dollar. To date, we have had minimal exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates as the time period between the date that transactions are initiated, and the date of payment or receipt of payment is generally of short duration. Accordingly, we believe we do not have a material exposure to foreign currency risk.

Inflation generally affects us by increasing our cost of labor and contract research. We do not believe that inflation had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025.

ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Principal Executive Officer (our Chief Executive Officer) and Principal Financial Officer (our Chief Financial Officer), has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2026. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, means controls and other procedures of a company that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by a company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the company’s management, including its principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management recognizes that any disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. Based on such evaluation, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer have concluded that as of September 30, 2026, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Except as described above, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that occurred during the quarter ended September 30, 2026 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II—OTHER INFORMATION

From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business. We are not currently aware of any such proceedings or claims that we believe will have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Set forth below are the risks that we believe are material to our investors and they should be carefully considered. If any of the following risks and uncertainties actually occurs, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. The risks described below are not intended to be exhaustive and other factors not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations if they occur. This section contains forward-looking statements. You should refer to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations on forward-looking statements beginning on page 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Position and Capital Requirements

Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We commenced operations in 2017 and are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. Since our inception in October 2017, we have devoted substantially all of our efforts to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, capital raising, establishing and maintaining our intellectual property portfolio, building our pipeline of product candidates, conducting drug discovery activities, undertaking preclinical studies, conducting clinical trials, preparing for the potential commercialization of bitopertin, if approved, and providing general and administrative support for these operations. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully develop any product candidate, obtain regulatory approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, any predictions you make about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing and commercializing products.

In addition, as our business grows, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. We will need to transition at some point from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.

We have incurred significant net losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future.

Our net losses were $182.6 million and $151.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively. We had an accumulated deficit of $692.8 million as of September 30, 2026. Substantially all of our net losses have resulted from costs incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from selling, general and administrative costs associated with our operations. We expect our research and development expenses to continue to increase significantly in connection with the commencement and continuation of clinical trials of our product candidates. In addition, if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will incur significant sales, marketing and manufacturing expenses. We also will continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company and expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses over the next several years and for the foreseeable future. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing pharmaceutical products, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when we will become profitable, if at all. Even if we do become profitable, we may not be able to sustain or increase our profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

The amount of our future losses is uncertain and our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including the following:

•
the timing and success or failure of preclinical studies and clinical trials for our product candidates or competing product candidates, or any other change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including consolidation among our competitors or partners;
•
our ability to successfully open clinical trial sites and recruit and retain subjects for clinical trials and any delays caused by difficulties in such efforts;
•
our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, and the timing and scope of any such approvals we may receive;

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•
the timing and cost of, and level of investment in, research and development activities relating to our product candidates, which may change from time to time;
•
the cost of manufacturing our product candidates and products, should they receive regulatory approval, which may vary depending on the quantity of production and the terms of our agreements with manufacturers;
•
our ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel;
•
expenditures that we will or may incur to develop additional product candidates;
•
the level of demand for our products should they receive regulatory approval, which may vary significantly;
•
the risk/benefit profile, cost and reimbursement policies with respect to our product candidates, if approved, and existing and potential future therapeutics that compete with our product candidates;
•
the changing and volatile U.S. and global economic environments; and
•
future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies.

The cumulative effects 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. This variability and unpredictability could also result in us failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or 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 if we have met any previously publicly stated guidance we may provide.

We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales.

Our ability to become profitable depends upon our ability to generate revenue. To date, we have not generated collaborative revenue from our product candidates and have not generated revenue from product sales. We do not expect to generate significant revenue unless and until we obtain regulatory approval of, and begin to sell, one or more of our product candidates, which may take longer than we anticipate, or may not occur at all. Our ability to generate revenue depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to:

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successfully complete our ongoing and planned preclinical studies for our current and future product candidates;
•
timely file and receive acceptance of our Investigational New Drug applications, or INDs, in order to commence our planned clinical trials or future clinical trials;
•
successfully enroll subjects in and complete our ongoing and planned clinical trials;
•
initiate and successfully complete all safety and efficacy studies necessary to obtain U.S. and foreign regulatory approval for our product candidates;
•
successfully address the prevalence, duration and severity of potential side effects or other safety issues experienced with our product candidates, if any;
•
timely file New Drug Applications, or NDAs, and Biologics License Applications, or BLAs, and receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, and comparable foreign regulatory authorities;
•
establish and maintain clinical and commercial manufacturing capabilities or make arrangements with third-party manufacturers for clinical supply and commercial manufacturing;
•
obtain and maintain patent and trade secret protection or regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates;
•
launch commercial sales of our products, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others;
•
obtain and maintain acceptance of our products, if and when approved, by patients, the medical community and third-party payors;
•
position our product candidates to effectively compete with other therapies;
•
obtain and maintain healthcare coverage and adequate reimbursement, if and when our product candidates are approved;
•
enforce and defend intellectual property rights and claims; and
•
maintain a continued acceptable safety profile of our products following approval.

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

Our existing and any future indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to operate our business.

In November 2024, we entered into a Loan and Security Agreement, as amended in June 2026, or the Hercules Loan Agreement, with the lenders party thereto, or the Lenders, and Hercules Capital, Inc., as administrative agent and collateral agent, or the Agent. The Hercules Loan Agreement provides for up to $200.0 million of senior secured term loans, or the Term Loan, available to us in multiple tranches. The Term Loan will mature on December 1, 2029. Our obligations under the Hercules Loan Agreement are secured, subject to customary permitted liens and other agreed-upon exceptions, by a first-priority perfected security interest in all of our tangible and intangible assets, other than intellectual property.

The Hercules Loan Agreement contains customary affirmative and negative covenants that could prevent us from taking certain actions without the consent of the Lenders. These covenants may limit our flexibility in operating our business and our ability to take actions that might be advantageous to us and our stockholders. Affirmative covenants include, among others, a financial covenant requiring us to maintain a minimum amount of qualified cash. Negative covenants include, among others: restrictions on transferring any part of our business or intellectual property; incurring additional indebtedness; engaging in mergers or acquisitions; paying dividends or making other distributions; making investments; and creating other liens on our assets, in each case subject to customary exceptions.

The Hercules Loan Agreement also contains customary events of default, including the occurrence of a Material Adverse Effect (as defined in the Hercules Loan Agreement), and failure to make payments when due or comply with other covenants therein. We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our then-existing cash and cash equivalents. However, we may not have sufficient funds, and may be unable to arrange for additional financing, to pay the amounts due under Hercules Loan Agreement or any other debt instruments. Upon the occurrence and continuance of an event of default, the Lenders may accelerate all of our repayment obligations and take control of our pledged assets, potentially requiring us to renegotiate our agreement on terms less favorable to us or to immediately cease operations. Any declaration by the Lenders of an event of default would therefore significantly harm our business and prospects and could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

If we raise any additional debt financing, the terms of such additional debt could further restrict our operating and financial flexibility.

We may need to raise substantial additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on terms acceptable to us, we may be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate some of our product development programs or commercialization efforts.

The development of pharmaceutical products is capital-intensive. We are currently advancing our hematologic disease programs through preclinical and clinical development. We expect our expenses to significantly increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue the research and development of, initiate and complete clinical trials of, and seek regulatory approval for, our product candidates. In addition, if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. We may also need to raise additional funds sooner if we choose to pursue additional indications and/or geographies for our current or future product candidates or otherwise expand more rapidly than presently anticipated. Furthermore, we expect to continue to incur costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, we may need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate certain of our research and development programs or future commercialization efforts.

We believe that our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, including the net proceeds of our October 2026 underwritten public offering, will be sufficient to fund our current operating and capital expenditure plans and our debt service obligations into 2030, without taking into account any potential net cash inflows from bitopertin or any other marketed product, if approved during such period. However, we have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our available capital resources sooner than expected. Our future capital requirements will depend on and could increase significantly as a result of many factors, including:

•
the timing and progress of preclinical and clinical development activities;
•
the number and scope of preclinical and clinical programs we decide to pursue;
•
our ability to raise additional funds to the extent necessary to complete clinical development of and commercialize our product candidates;
•
our ability to establish new and maintain existing licensing or collaboration arrangements and the progress of the development efforts of third parties with whom we may enter into such arrangements;
•
our ability to maintain our current research and development programs and to establish new programs;

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•
the successful initiation, enrollment and completion of clinical trials with safety, tolerability and efficacy profiles that are satisfactory to the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority;
•
the receipt and related terms of regulatory approvals from applicable regulatory authorities for any product candidates;
•
the availability of raw materials for use in production of our product candidates;
•
the terms of agreements with third-party manufacturers for supply of product candidate components for our clinical trials;
•
our ability to obtain and maintain patents, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;
•
our ability to protect our other rights in our intellectual property portfolio;
•
commercializing product candidates, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and
•
obtaining and maintaining third-party insurance coverage and adequate reimbursement for any approved products.

Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical development testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain regulatory approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenue, if any, will be derived from sales of products that may take longer than we anticipate to become commercially available, if they become commercially available at all. Accordingly, we may need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives.

Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. Disruptions in the financial markets in general may make equity and debt financing more difficult to obtain and may have a material adverse effect on our ability to meet our fundraising needs. We cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

If we are unable to obtain funding on a timely basis or on acceptable terms, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or discontinue one or more of our research or development programs or the commercialization of any product that has received regulatory approval or be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities as desired, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.

Until such time, if ever, we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of private and public equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements. Other than up to $50.0 million of additional advances that may be drawn at our option until April 30, 2027 under the Hercules Loan Agreement, we do not have any committed external source of funds. The terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by us, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our shares to decline. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of common stock or securities convertible or exchangeable into common stock, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of those securities may include liquidation or other preferences that may materially adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Additional debt financing, if available, would increase our fixed payment obligations and may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, acquiring, selling or licensing intellectual property rights, and making capital expenditures, declaring dividends or other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. We could also be required to meet certain milestones in connection with debt financing and the failure to achieve such milestones by certain dates may force us to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or product candidates or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects.

We also could be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborators or otherwise at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable. If we raise funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our intellectual property, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourself, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects.

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Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of Our Product Candidates

We have not yet progressed any product candidates other than bitopertin through a Phase 3 clinical trial and may be unable to successfully complete any additional clinical trials for any product candidates we develop. Certain of our programs are still in preclinical development and may never advance to clinical development.

We currently have three product candidates in clinical development, only one of which has progressed through a Phase 3 clinical trial to the point of producing topline results. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully complete a large-scale, pivotal clinical trial to the point of producing a final clinical study report, 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. The majority of our programs are still in preclinical and early to mid-stage clinical development. Our clinical programs may not advance to the next stage of clinical development, and our preclinical programs may never advance to clinical development or through clinical development, as applicable. We may not initiate any clinical trial of our product candidates until we have submitted an IND to the FDA or comparable submissions with equivalent regulatory authorities and received regulatory clearance. We may not be able to submit INDs or other regulatory filings for any of our product candidates on the timelines we expect, if at all. For example, we may experience manufacturing delays or other delays with IND-enabling studies. Moreover, we cannot be sure that submission of regulatory filings with the FDA or other regulatory authorities will result in such regulatory authorities allowing clinical trials to begin on a timely basis or at all, or that, once begun, such trials will be completed on schedule, if at all, or that issues will not arise that require us to revise, postpone, suspend or terminate our clinical trials. For example, we filed an IND in April 2022 with the FDA to initiate the AURORA Phase 2 trial of bitopertin in EPP patients, but the FDA initially placed the initiation of this trial on clinical hold; we received clearance to initiate the study in July 2022 after the study design was finalized with the FDA, and we initiated the study in October 2022. Commencing any of our clinical trials is subject to finalizing the trial design based on discussions with the FDA and other regulatory authorities. Any guidance we receive from the FDA or other regulatory authorities is subject to change. The outcomes of our interactions with these regulatory authorities, including interactions critical to successfully advancing through the different phases of clinical development, such as end-of-phase 2 meetings with the FDA, may be difficult to predict ahead of time. In particular, regulatory authorities could change their position, including on the acceptability of our trial designs or the clinical endpoints selected, which may require us to complete additional clinical trials or result in the composition of stricter approval conditions than currently expected. Our ability to successfully advance from preclinical studies through the different phases of clinical development is therefore subject to significant uncertainty. Successful completion of our clinical trials is a prerequisite to submitting an NDA or a BLA to the FDA, a Marketing Authorisation Application, or MAA, to the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, or other marketing applications to regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions, for each product candidate and, consequently, the regulatory approval of each product candidate.

A single well-controlled clinical trial may not be sufficient for approval. While the FDA recently indicated that its default position will be that one well-controlled clinical trial, combined with confirmatory evidence, will serve as the basis of marketing authorization of novel products, the FDA and other regulators may nonetheless require additional clinical trials to support regulatory approval.

If we are required to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that are currently contemplated, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive or if there are safety concerns, we may:

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be delayed in obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates;
•
not obtain regulatory approval at all;
•
obtain regulatory approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;
•
continue to be subject to post-marketing testing requirements; or
•
experience having the product removed from the market after obtaining regulatory approval.

Our programs are focused on the development of therapeutics for patients with hematologic diseases, which is a rapidly evolving area of science, and the approach we are taking to discover and develop product candidates is novel and may never lead to approved or marketable products.

The discovery and development of therapeutics for patients with hematologic diseases is an emerging field, and the scientific discoveries that form the basis for our efforts to discover and develop product candidates are relatively new. The scientific evidence to support the feasibility of developing product candidates based on these discoveries is both preliminary and limited. Although we believe, based on our preclinical work and clinical results to date, that our programs have the potential to provide disease-modifying therapies, future clinical results may not confirm this hypothesis or may only confirm it for certain alterations or certain indications. The patient populations for our product candidates are limited to those with specific hematologic diseases. We cannot be certain that the patient populations for each specific disease will be large enough to allow us to successfully obtain approval for and commercialize our product candidates and achieve profitability.

Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome.

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Our preclinical studies and future and ongoing clinical trials may not be successful. Currently, the majority of our programs are in preclinical and early to mid-stage clinical development. It is impossible to know when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective and safe in humans or will receive regulatory approval. Before obtaining regulatory approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, we must complete preclinical studies and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates or the safety, purity and potency of our biological product candidates in humans. There is no guarantee that our product candidates will advance in accordance with the timelines we anticipate, if at all. Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and outcomes are uncertain. Although we design our clinical trials with the intent of mitigating potential risks, a failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. The outcome of preclinical development testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim, top-line, initial or preliminary results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain regulatory approval of their product candidates. Our preclinical studies and future and ongoing clinical trials may not be successful.

Additionally, some of the clinical trials we conduct, such as our completed BEACON Phase 2 clinical trial of bitopertin, our ongoing RALLY-MF Phase 2 clinical trial of selcodebart (DISC-0974), and our ongoing clinical trials of DISC-3405, may be open-label in study design and may be conducted at a limited number of clinical sites on a limited number of patients. An “open-label” clinical trial is one where both the patient and investigator know whether the patient is receiving the investigational product candidate or either an existing approved drug or placebo. Most typically, open-label clinical trials test only the investigational product 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 clinical trial may not be predictive of future clinical trial results when studied in a controlled environment with a placebo or active control.

In May 2021, we entered into a license agreement with Roche, or the Roche Agreement, pursuant to which, among other things, Roche granted us an exclusive and sublicensable (subject to Roche’s consent, except with respect to affiliates) worldwide license under certain of Roche’s patent rights and know-how to develop and commercialize bitopertin. Although bitopertin was originally evaluated by Roche in over 4,000 individuals, Roche did not evaluate bitopertin in EPP or XLP, so the safety data generated from Roche’s clinical trials of bitopertin may not be predictive or indicative of the results of our clinical trials. We may face similar challenges with respect to our other product candidates, for which preclinical results or prior clinical trial results may not be indicative or predictive of future clinical trial results.

Because we are developing some of our product candidates for the treatment of diseases in which there is little clinical experience and, in some cases, using new endpoints or methodologies, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may not consider the endpoints of our clinical trials to predict or provide clinically meaningful results.

Many of our product candidates are designed to treat diseases for which there are few available therapeutic options. For example, in the United States there are currently no therapies approved to treat anemia of MF and there is only one approved therapy to treat EPP. As a result, the design and conduct of clinical trials of product candidates for the treatment of these diseases may take longer, be more costly or be less effective as part of the novelty of development in these diseases. In some cases, we may use new or novel endpoints or methodologies. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may not consider the endpoints of our clinical trials to be validated or clinically meaningful and we may need to conduct proof-of-concept studies or additional work to refine our endpoints and inform the design of future studies before initiating pivotal studies of our product candidates. Even if applicable regulatory authorities do not object to our proposed endpoints in an earlier stage clinical trial, such regulatory authorities may require evaluation of additional or different clinical endpoints in later-stage clinical trials.

Even if the FDA does find our clinical trial success criteria to be sufficiently supported and clinically meaningful at the time, we may not achieve the pre-specified endpoint to a degree of statistical significance in any pivotal or other clinical trials we may conduct for our product candidates. Further, even if we do achieve the pre-specified criteria, our trials may produce results that are unpredictable or inconsistent with the results of the more traditional efficacy endpoints in the trial. For example, in the Complete Response Letter, or CRL, that the FDA issued in February 2026 with respect to our NDA for accelerated approval of bitopertin in EPP and XLP, the FDA agreed that clinical data from our AURORA and BEACON clinical trials provided sufficient evidence that bitopertin significantly lowers whole blood metal-free PPIX, but concluded that the trials did not show evidence of association between percent change in PPIX and sunlight exposure-based endpoints as measured in the trials. As such, the FDA determined that there is uncertainty regarding whether bitopertin’s effect on PPIX is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, despite the strong mechanistic and biological plausibility supporting the use of the PPIX biomarker in protoporphyria. As a result, the FDA did not approve our NDA and indicated instead that we would need to provide evidence of clinical benefit from an additional trial, such as our Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled APOLLO clinical trial of bitopertin in EPP and XLP patients, to support a potential traditional approval. We reported positive topline results from APOLLO in October 2026, and plan to engage with the FDA and resubmit an NDA by the end of 2026. The FDA also could change its view or give overriding weight to other

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efficacy endpoints over a primary endpoint, even if we achieve statistically significant results on that primary endpoint, if for example we do not do so on our secondary efficacy endpoints. The FDA also weighs the benefits of a product candidate against its risks and the FDA may view the efficacy results in the context of safety as not being supportive of approval. Other regulatory authorities in Europe and other countries may make similar findings with respect to these endpoints.

Interim, top-line, initial and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to confirmation, audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publicly disclose interim, top-line, initial or preliminary data from our clinical trials, which is based on a preliminary analysis of then-available data, and the results and related findings and conclusions are subject to change following a more comprehensive review of the data. For example, we announced initial data from our RALLY-MF Phase 2 selcodebart trial in patients with anemia of MF in December 2025 and additional interim data from this trial in June 2026, and announced initial data from our RESTORE-PV Phase 2 DISC-3405 trial in patients with PV in September 2026. We also may make assumptions, estimations, calculations and conclusions as part of our analyses of data, and may not have received or had the opportunity to fully and carefully evaluate all data. As a result, the interim, top-line, initial or preliminary results that we report may differ from future results of the same trials, or different conclusions or considerations may qualify such results, once additional data have been received and fully evaluated. Interim, top-line, initial and preliminary data from clinical trials 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. Interim, top-line, initial and preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the interim, top-line, initial or preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim, top-line, initial and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Adverse differences between interim, top-line, initial or preliminary data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects and may cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate or decline.

Further, regulatory agencies and others, 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 adversely impact the potential of the particular program, the likelihood of obtaining regulatory approval of the particular product candidate, commercialization of any approved product and the business prospects of the company in general. In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is derived from information that is typically extensive, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure.

If the interim, top-line, initial or preliminary data that we report differs from actual results, or if regulatory authorities or others, disagree with the conclusions reached, our ability to obtain approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates may be significantly impaired, which could materially harm our business, operating results, prospects or financial condition.

We may incur additional costs or experience delays in initiating or completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

We may experience delays in initiating or completing our preclinical studies or clinical trials, including as a result of delays in obtaining, or failure to obtain, the FDA’s authorization to initiate clinical trials under future INDs. Additionally, we cannot be certain that preclinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidates will not require redesign, will enroll an adequate number of subjects on time, or will be completed on schedule, if at all. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, preclinical studies and clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive regulatory authorizations, regulatory approval or commercialize our product candidates, including:

•
we may receive feedback from regulatory authorities that requires us to modify the design or implementation of our preclinical studies or clinical trials or to delay or terminate a clinical trial;
•
regulators or institutional review boards, or IRBs, or ethics committees may delay or may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;
•
we may experience delays in reaching, or fail to reach, agreement on acceptable terms with prospective trial sites and prospective clinical research organizations, or CROs, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;
•
preclinical studies or clinical trials of our product candidates may fail to show safety or efficacy or otherwise produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, or we may decide to abandon product research or development programs;
•
preclinical studies or clinical trials of our product candidates may not produce differentiated or clinically significant results across indications;

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•
the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than anticipated, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than anticipated or participants may drop out of these clinical trials or fail to return for post-treatment follow-up at a higher rate than anticipated;
•
our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements, fail to maintain adequate quality controls, be unable to provide us with sufficient product supply to conduct or complete preclinical studies or clinical trials, fail to meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all, or may deviate from the clinical trial protocol or drop out of the trial, which may require that we add new clinical trial sites or investigators;
•
we may elect to, or regulators or IRBs or ethics committees may require us or our investigators to, suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements or a finding that the participants in our clinical trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;
•
the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than anticipated;
•
the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate, and any transfer of manufacturing activities may require unforeseen manufacturing or formulation changes;
•
our product candidates may have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, causing us, regulators or IRBs or ethics committees to suspend or terminate the trials, or reports may arise from preclinical or clinical testing of other hematologic disease therapies that raise safety or efficacy concerns about our product candidates;
•
any future collaborators may conduct clinical trials in ways they view as advantageous to them but that are suboptimal for us; and
•
regulators may revise the requirements for approving our product candidates, or such requirements may not be as anticipated.

We could encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the IRBs or ethics committees of the institutions at which such trials are being conducted or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, or if the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trial recommends suspension or termination of the trial. Such authorities may impose or recommend such a suspension or termination or clinical hold due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, adverse findings upon an inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. For example, we filed an IND in April 2022 with the FDA to initiate the AURORA Phase 2 trial of bitopertin in EPP patients, but the FDA initially placed the initiation of this trial on clinical hold; we received clearance to initiate the study in July 2022 after the study design was finalized with the FDA and initiated the study in October 2022. Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates. Further, the FDA may disagree with our clinical trial design or our interpretation of data from clinical trials or may change the requirements for approval even after it has reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials.

Moreover, principal investigators for our current and future clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected the interpretation of the trial. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site, and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of one or more of our product candidates.

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

If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.

We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, or as needed to provide appropriate statistical power for a given trial. In particular, because we are focused on patients with specific rare

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hematologic diseases for the development of our product candidates, our ability to enroll eligible patients may be limited or may result in slower enrollment than we anticipate.

We may experience difficulties with identifying specific patient populations for any defined trial cohorts. The patient eligibility criteria defined in our trial protocols may limit the patient populations eligible for our clinical trials. We will also rely on the willingness and ability of clinicians to screen their patients, such as for specific genetic hematologic conditions, to indicate which patients may be eligible for enrollment in our clinical trials.

In addition, some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that are intended to treat the same indications as our product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may choose instead to enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’ product candidates.

Additionally, the process of finding patients may prove costly. We also may not be able to identify, recruit or enroll a sufficient number of patients to complete our clinical trials because of the small patient populations with rare hematologic diseases, the perceived risks and benefits of the product candidates under study, the availability and efficacy of competing therapies and clinical trials, the proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients, and the patient referral practices of physicians. If patients are unwilling to participate in our studies for any reason, the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting studies and obtaining regulatory approval of potential products may be delayed.

Patient enrollment may be affected by other factors, including:

•
the severity of the disease under investigation;
•
the efforts to obtain and maintain patient consents and facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;
•
the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment;
•
the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the clinical trials before clinical trial completion;
•
the ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;
•
reporting of the preliminary results of any of our clinical trials; and
•
factors we may not be able to control, including the impacts of any public health crises, that may limit patients, principal investigators or staff or clinical site availability.

Results from early preclinical studies and clinical trials of our programs and product candidates are not necessarily predictive of the results of later preclinical studies and clinical trials of our programs and product candidates. If we cannot replicate the results from earlier preclinical studies and clinical trials of our programs and product candidates in our later preclinical studies and clinical trials, we may be unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize our product candidates.

Any results from early preclinical studies and clinical trials of bitopertin, selcodebart, DISC-0998, DISC-3405 or our other product candidates or programs may not necessarily be predictive of the results from later preclinical studies and clinical trials. For example, we previously announced positive initial data from our RALLY-MF Phase 2 clinical trial of selcodebart in patients with anemia of MF and from our RESTORE-PV Phase 2 clinical trial of DISC-3405 in patients with PV. However, there can be no assurance that selcodebart or DISC-3405 will achieve the desired effects in the respective indication. Similarly, even if we are able to complete our planned preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates according to our current development timeline, the results from such preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates may not be replicated in subsequent preclinical studies or clinical trial results.

Many companies in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early-stage development, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical findings made while clinical trials were underway, or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical trials, including previously unreported adverse events. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses and many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials nonetheless failed to obtain regulatory approval.

Our clinical trials or those of our future collaborators may reveal significant adverse events not seen in prior preclinical studies or clinical trials and may result in a safety profile that could inhibit regulatory approval or market acceptance of any of our product candidates.

Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any products, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates regulated as drugs are safe and effective and our product candidates regulated as biologics are safe, pure and potent for use in each target indication. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in

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and adherence to the clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. Many product candidates that initially showed promise in early-stage testing have later been found to cause side effects that prevented further development. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects. In such an event, our trials could be suspended or terminated, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Treatment-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims.

Further, our product candidates could cause undesirable side effects in clinical trials related to on-target toxicity. If on-target toxicity is observed, or if our product candidates have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. In addition, our product candidates could cause undesirable side effects that have not yet been observed. For example, bitopertin may demonstrate toxicities in patients with hematologic diseases not previously observed by Roche when it was studied in different indications. If significant adverse events or other side effects are observed in any of our current or future clinical trials, we may have difficulty recruiting patients to our clinical trials, patients may drop out of our trials, or we may be required to abandon the trials or development efforts of one or more product candidates altogether. We, the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities, or an IRB may suspend or terminate clinical trials of a product candidate at any time for various reasons, including a belief that subjects in such trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or adverse side effects. Further, undesirable side effects in one of our clinical trials for a product candidate in one indication could adversely affect enrollment in clinical trials, regulatory approval and commercialization of such product candidate in other indications. Even if the side effects do not preclude the product from obtaining or maintaining regulatory approval, undesirable side effects may inhibit market acceptance of the approved product due to its tolerability versus other therapies. Any of these developments could materially harm our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

Some of our product candidates modulate pathways for which there are currently no approved or effective therapies, which may result in greater research and development expenses, regulatory issues that could delay or prevent approval or discovery of unknown or unanticipated adverse effects on safety or efficacy.

Some of our product candidates modulate pathways for which there are currently no approved or effective therapies, which may result in uncertainty. We select programs for targets based on compelling biological rationale, including evidence of expected biological effects in humans. We explore new programs based on extensive preclinical data analysis which sometimes cannot predict efficacy or safety in humans. Regulatory approval of novel product candidates such as ours can be more expensive, riskier and take longer than for other, more well-known or extensively studied pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical product candidates due to our and regulatory agencies’ lack of experience with them. The novelty of the mechanism of action of any of our product candidates may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to conduct additional studies or clinical trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of our product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. The novel mechanism of action also means that fewer people are trained in or experienced with product candidates of this type, which may make it more difficult to find, hire and retain personnel for research, development and manufacturing positions. If our product candidates utilize a novel mechanism of action that has not been the subject of extensive study compared to more well-known product candidates, there is also an increased risk that we may discover previously unknown or unanticipated adverse effects during our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Our product candidates may achieve lower efficacy in patients than expected. Any such events could adversely impact our business prospects, operating results and financial condition.

We have conducted and are currently conducting clinical trials for bitopertin, and may in the future conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates, outside the United States, and the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such trials.

We conducted BEACON, our Phase 2 open-label, parallel-dose clinical trial of bitopertin in EPP and XLP patients, at sites in Australia. All participants who completed BEACON were eligible to participate in HELIOS, an open-label, long-term extension study of bitopertin in EPP and XLP patients, that we are also conducting in Australia, as well as the United States. We also conducted our Phase 3 APOLLO clinical trial in Canada, Europe and Australia, as well as the United States. We may in the future choose to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates outside the United States, including in Europe, Australia, or other foreign jurisdictions. The acceptance of trial data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States by the FDA may be subject to certain conditions. In cases where data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States are intended to serve as the sole basis for regulatory approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (i) the data are applicable to the United States population and United States medical practices, (ii) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence and (iii) the data may be considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA or, if the FDA considers such an inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means. Additionally, the FDA’s clinical trial requirements, including sufficient size of patient populations and statistical powering, must be met. Many foreign regulatory bodies have similar approval requirements. In addition, such foreign trials will be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority, will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States or the applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it

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would result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay aspects of our business plan, and which may result in our product candidates not receiving regulatory approval or clearance for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction.

Although we intend to explore other therapeutic opportunities in addition to the programs and product candidates that we are currently developing, we may fail to identify viable new product candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons. If we fail to identify additional product candidates, our business could be materially harmed.

Research programs to pursue the development of our existing and planned product candidates for additional indications and to identify new product candidates and disease targets require substantial technical, financial and human resources whether or not they are ultimately successful. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential indications and/or product candidates, yet fail to yield results for clinical development for a number of reasons, including:

•
the research methodology used may not be successful in identifying potential indications and/or product candidates;
•
potential product candidates may, after further study, be shown to have harmful adverse effects or other characteristics that indicate they are unlikely to be effective products; or
•
it may take greater human and financial resources than we will possess to identify additional therapeutic opportunities for our product candidates or to develop suitable potential product candidates through internal research programs, thereby limiting our ability to develop, diversify and expand our product portfolio.

Because we have limited financial and human resources, we intend to initially focus on research programs and product candidates for a limited set of indications. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential or a greater likelihood of success. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities.

Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will ever be able to identify additional therapeutic opportunities for our product candidates or to develop suitable product candidates through internal research programs, which could materially adversely affect our future growth and prospects. We may focus our efforts and resources on potential product candidates or other potential programs that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful.

If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates, we will not be able to commercialize, or will be delayed in commercializing, such product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import and export are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Before we can commercialize any of our product candidates, we must obtain regulatory approval. Currently, all of our product candidates are in discovery, preclinical or clinical development, and we have not received approval to market any of our product candidates from regulatory authorities in any jurisdiction. It is possible that our product candidates, including any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future, will never obtain regulatory approval. We have limited experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain regulatory approvals and rely on third-party CROs and/or regulatory consultants to assist us in this process. Securing regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to the various regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the relevant regulatory authority. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude us from obtaining regulatory approval or prevent or limit commercial use. In addition, regulatory authorities may find fault with our manufacturing process or facilities or that of third-party contract manufacturers. We may also face greater than expected difficulty in manufacturing our product candidates.

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The process of obtaining regulatory approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive and often takes many years. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority requires that we perform additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, approval may be delayed, if obtained at all. The length of such a delay varies substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidate involved. Changes in regulatory approval policies during the development period, changes in or enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review policies for each submitted NDA, BLA, or equivalent application types, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. The FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application for review. Even if the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority accepts an application for review, we can provide no assurance that an accepted application will ultimately result in an approval. Any guidance we receive from the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities during the development or marketing application review processes is subject to change. As such, the outcomes of our interactions with such regulatory authorities during such review processes, such as pre-NDA or Type A meetings with the FDA, and the ultimate approval decision, are subject to significant uncertainty. Among other things, the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority may decide that our data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. Our product candidates could be delayed in receiving, or fail to receive, regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

•
the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials;
•
we may not be able to enroll a sufficient number of patients in our clinical trials;
•
we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication;
•
the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for approval;
•
we may be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate’s clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks;
•
the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;
•
the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of an NDA, BLA or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere;
•
the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may find deficiencies with or fail to approve the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and
•
the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change such that our clinical data are insufficient for approval.

For example, we submitted an NDA for accelerated approval of bitopertin in EPP and XLP in the United States in September 2025. In February 2026, the FDA issued a CRL. Although the FDA agreed that clinical data from our AURORA and BEACON clinical trials provided sufficient evidence that bitopertin significantly lowers whole blood metal-free PPIX, the FDA concluded that the trials did not show evidence of association between percent change in PPIX and sunlight exposure-based endpoints as measured in the trials. As such, the FDA determined that there is uncertainty regarding whether bitopertin’s effect in PPIX is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit despite the strong mechanistic and biological plausibility supporting the use of the PPIX biomarker in protoporphyria. As a result, the FDA did not approve our NDA and indicated instead that we would need to provide evidence of a clinical benefit from an additional clinical trial, such as our APOLLO trial, to support a potential traditional approval. With the positive topline results from APOLLO, we plan to engage with the FDA and resubmit an NDA by the end of 2026 and would then anticipate an FDA decision on our NDA by mid-2027.

Even if we were to obtain regulatory approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, thereby narrowing the commercial potential of the product candidate. In addition, regulatory authorities may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials, or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates.

If we experience delays in obtaining, or if we fail to obtain, approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

A public health crisis, pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak of an infectious or highly contagious disease, may materially and adversely affect our business and financial results and could cause a disruption to the development of our product candidates.

Public health crises such as pandemics or similar outbreaks could adversely impact our business. The extent to which an outbreak of highly infectious or contagious diseases impacts our operations or those of our third-party partners, including our preclinical studies or clinical trial operations, will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with

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confidence, including the scope, severity and duration of the outbreak, actions taken to contain the outbreak or mitigate its impact, and the direct and indirect economic effects of the outbreak and containment measures, among others.

In addition, the patient populations that our product candidates target may be particularly susceptible to highly infectious or contagious diseases, which may make it more difficult for us to identify patients able to enroll in our current and future clinical trials and may impact the ability of enrolled patients to complete any such trials.

Risks Related to Commercialization

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.

The development and commercialization of new products in the biopharmaceutical and related industries is highly competitive. We compete in the segments of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other related markets that develop therapies in the field of hematologic diseases. There are other companies focusing on developing therapies in the field of hematologic diseases. We also compete more broadly across the market for cost-effective and reimbursable treatments. Some of these competitive products and therapies are based on scientific approaches that are the same as or similar to our approach, and others are based on entirely different approaches. These companies include divisions of large pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies of various sizes. We face competition with respect to our current product candidates, and will face competition with respect to any product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization. See the “Business—Competition” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 for examples of the competition that our product candidates face.

Any product candidates that we successfully develop and commercialize will compete with currently approved therapies and new therapies that may become available in the future from segments of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other related markets. Key product features that would affect our ability to effectively compete with other therapeutics include the efficacy, safety and convenience of our products. We believe principal competitive factors to our business include, among other things, our ability to successfully transition research programs into clinical development, ability to raise capital and the scalability of the platform, pipeline and business.

Many of the companies that we compete against or which we may compete against in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical and clinical testing, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. If these or other barriers to entry do not remain in place, other companies may be able to more directly or effectively compete with us.

Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we or our collaborators may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products sooner than we may obtain approval for our product candidates, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we or our collaborators are able to enter the market. The key competitive factors affecting the success of all of our product candidates, if approved, are likely to be their efficacy, safety, convenience, price, level of generic competition and availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payors.

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If the market opportunities for our programs and product candidates are smaller than we estimate or if any regulatory approval that we obtain is based on a narrower definition of the patient population, our revenue and ability to achieve profitability could be materially adversely affected.

The incidence and prevalence for the target patient populations of our programs and product candidates have not been established with precision. Our lead heme biosynthesis modulation product candidate, bitopertin, is an oral, selective inhibitor of GlyT1. We are initially focused on developing bitopertin for the treatment of EPP and XLP, which are both diseases marked by severe photosensitivity and damage to the hepatobiliary system caused by the accumulation of PPIX. We are initially focused on developing selcodebart for anemia of MF and anemia of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD. We are initially focused on developing DISC-3405 for the treatment of PV and sickle cell disease, or SCD. Our projections of both the number of people who have these diseases, as well as the subset of people with these diseases who have the potential to benefit from treatment with our programs and product candidates, are based on our estimates.

The total addressable market opportunity will ultimately depend upon, among other things, the diagnosis criteria included in the final label, the indications for which our product candidates are approved for sale, acceptance by the medical community and patient access, product pricing and reimbursement. The number of patients with EPP, XLP, anemias of MF or IBD, PV, SCD, or other indications for which our product candidates may be approved as treatment may turn out to be lower than expected, patients may not be otherwise amenable to treatment with our products, or new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, all of which would adversely affect our results of operations and our business. We may not be successful in our efforts to identify additional product candidates. Due to our limited resources and access to capital, we must prioritize development of certain product candidates, which may prove to be the wrong choice and may adversely affect our business.

We cannot be certain that the patient populations for each specific disease will be large enough to allow us to successfully obtain approval for our product candidates, or successfully commercialize any of our product candidates, if approved, and achieve profitability.

If our current product candidates or any future product candidates do not achieve broad market acceptance, the revenue that we generate from our sales may be limited, and we may never become profitable.

We have never commercialized a product candidate for any indication. Even if our current product candidates and any future product candidates are approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities for marketing and sale, they may not gain acceptance among physicians, patients, third-party payors, and others in the medical community. If any product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval do not gain an adequate level of market acceptance, we may not generate significant revenue and may not become profitable or may be significantly delayed in achieving profitability. Market acceptance of our current product candidates and any future product candidates by the medical community, patients and third-party payors will depend on a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, physicians are often reluctant to switch their patients, and patients may be reluctant to switch, from existing therapies even when new and potentially more effective or safer treatments enter the market. If public perception is influenced by claims that the use of heme biosynthesis modulation therapies or hepcidin-targeted agents is unsafe, whether related to our or our competitors’ products, our products may not be accepted by the general public or the medical community. Future adverse events in the hematologic diseases or the biopharmaceutical industry could also result in greater governmental regulation, stricter labeling requirements and potential regulatory delays in the testing or approvals of our product candidates.

In the United States 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 product 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.

Efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payors on the benefits of our current product candidates and any future product candidates may require significant resources and may not be successful. If our current product candidates or any future product candidates are approved but do not achieve an adequate level of market acceptance, we could be prevented from or significantly delayed in achieving profitability. The degree of market acceptance of any of our current product candidates and any future product candidates will depend on a number of factors, including:

•
the efficacy of our current product candidates and any future product candidates;
•
the prevalence and severity of adverse events associated with our current product candidates and any future product candidates;
•
the clinical indications for which our product candidates are approved and the approved claims that we may make for the products;

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•
limitations or warnings contained in the product’s FDA-approved labeling or those of comparable foreign regulatory authorities, including potential limitations or warnings for our current product candidates and any future product candidates that may be more restrictive than other competitive products;
•
changes in the standard of care for the targeted indications for our current product candidates and any future product candidates, which could reduce the marketing impact of any claims that we could make following FDA approval or approval by comparable foreign regulatory authorities, if obtained;
•
the relative convenience and ease of administration of our current product candidates and any future product candidates;
•
the cost of treatment compared with the economic and clinical benefit of alternative treatments or therapies;
•
the availability of adequate coverage or reimbursement by third-party payors, including government healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and other healthcare payors;
•
the price concessions required by third-party payors to obtain coverage;
•
the willingness of patients to pay out-of-pocket in the absence of adequate coverage and reimbursement;
•
the extent and strength of our marketing and distribution of our current product candidates and any future product candidates;
•
the safety, efficacy, and other potential advantages over, and availability of, alternative treatments already used or that may later be approved;
•
distribution and use restrictions imposed by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities with respect to our current product candidates and any future product candidates or to which we agree as part of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, or voluntary risk management plan;
•
the timing of market introduction of our current product candidates and any future product candidates, as well as competitive products;
•
our ability to offer our current product candidates and any future product candidates for sale at competitive prices;
•
the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies;
•
the extent and strength of our third-party manufacturer and supplier support;
•
the approval of other new products;
•
adverse publicity about our current product candidates and any future product candidates or favorable publicity about competitive products; and
•
potential product liability claims.

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 United States, the principal decisions about reimbursement for new medicines are typically made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. 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.

We may not be successful in addressing these or other factors that might affect the market acceptance of our product candidates. Failure to achieve widespread market acceptance of our product candidates would materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if we receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to post-market study requirements, marketing and labeling restrictions and even recall or market withdrawal if unanticipated safety issues are discovered following approval. In addition, we may be subject to penalties or other enforcement action if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements.

If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves any of our product candidates, the manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, import, export, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, monitoring and recordkeeping for the product will be subject to extensive and ongoing regulatory requirements. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, establishment registration and listing, as well as continued compliance with cGMPs and GCPs for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may also be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing studies, including Phase 4 clinical

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trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product. The FDA may also require a REMS in order to approve our product candidates, which could entail requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. For certain commercial prescription drug and biological products, manufacturers and other parties involved in the supply chain must also meet chain of distribution requirements and build electronic, interoperable systems for product tracking and tracing and for notifying the FDA of counterfeit, diverted, stolen and intentionally adulterated products or other products that are otherwise unfit for distribution in the United States. Additionally, under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022, or FDORA, sponsors of approved drugs and biologics must provide 6 months’ notice to the FDA of any changes in marketing status, such as the withdrawal of a drug, and failure to do so could result in the FDA placing the product on a list of discontinued products, which would revoke the product’s ability to be marketed. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:

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restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product, withdrawal of the product from the market or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;
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manufacturing delays and supply disruptions where regulatory inspections identify observations of noncompliance requiring remediation;
•
revisions to the labeling, including limitation on approved uses or the addition of additional warnings, contraindications or other safety information, including boxed warnings;
•
imposition of a REMS which may include distribution or use restrictions;
•
requirements to conduct additional post-market clinical trials to assess the safety of the product;
•
clinical trial holds;
•
fines, warning letters or other regulatory enforcement action;
•
refusal by the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us or suspension or revocation of approvals;
•
product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; and
•
injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision to overturn established case law giving deference to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutory language has introduced uncertainty regarding the extent to which the FDA’s regulations, policies and decisions may become subject to increasing legal challenges, delays, and/or changes. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any regulatory approval that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.

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Product liability lawsuits brought against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and could limit commercialization of any product candidates that we may develop.

We face an inherent risk of product liability lawsuits related to the testing of any product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell such product candidates. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against any such claims, we may incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

•
decreased demand for our product candidates;
•
injury to our reputation;
•
withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
•
termination of clinical trial sites or entire trial programs;
•
significant litigation costs;
•
substantial monetary awards to or costly settlements with patients or other claimants;
•
product recalls or a change in the indications for which products may be used;
•
loss of revenue;
•
diversion of management and scientific resources from our business operations; and
•
the inability to commercialize our product candidates.

We are highly dependent upon consumer perceptions of us and the safety and quality of any product candidate we commercialize. We could be adversely affected if we are subject to negative publicity. We could also be adversely affected if any of our future products or any similar products distributed by other companies prove to be, or are asserted to be, harmful to patients. Although we maintain product liability insurance coverage, it may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We anticipate that we may need to further increase our insurance coverage as we begin additional clinical trials or if we successfully commercialize additional product candidates. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials for our product candidates, as well as potential investigator-sponsored clinical trials of our product candidates. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements, or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.

We do not have the ability to independently conduct clinical trials. We have relied on and expect to continue to rely on medical institutions, clinical investigators, contract laboratories and other third parties, such as CROs, to conduct or otherwise support the Phase 3 APOLLO clinical trial of bitopertin in EPP and XLP, as well as clinical trials for our other product candidates. As a result, many important aspects of our development programs, including their conduct and timing, are outside of our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct future clinical trials also results in less direct control over the management of data developed through clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own staff.

Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements and scientific standards, and our reliance on CROs or other third parties will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For any violations of laws and regulations during the conduct of our clinical trials, we could be subject to warning letters or enforcement action that may include civil penalties up to and including criminal prosecution. For example, we, our principal investigators and our CROs are required to comply with regulations, including GCPs, for conducting, monitoring, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to ensure that the data and results are scientifically credible and accurate, and that the trial patients are adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical trials and their rights are protected. These regulations are enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area, or the EEA, and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for any products in clinical development. The FDA enforces GCP regulations through periodic inspections of clinical trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we, our principal investigators or our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that, upon inspection, the FDA will determine that any of our future clinical trials will comply with GCPs. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product candidates produced under current Good Manufacturing Practice, or cGMP, regulations. Our failure or the failure of our principal investigators or CROs to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process, significantly increase our expenditures and could also subject us to enforcement action. We also are required to register ongoing

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clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.

Communicating with outside parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Outside parties may:

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have staffing difficulties;
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fail to comply with contractual obligations;
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experience regulatory compliance issues;
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undergo changes in priorities or become financially distressed; or
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form relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors.

These factors may materially adversely affect the willingness or ability of third parties to conduct our clinical trials and may subject us to unexpected cost increases that are beyond our control. If the principal investigators or CROs do not perform clinical trials in a satisfactory manner, breach their obligations to us or fail to comply with regulatory requirements, or if any of our relationships with these third-party principal investigators or CROs terminate, the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our product candidates may be delayed, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our product candidates or our development program may be materially and irreversibly harmed. If we are unable to rely on clinical data collected by our principal investigators or CROs, we could be required to repeat, extend the duration of, or increase the size of any clinical trials we conduct and this could significantly delay commercialization and require significantly greater expenditures.

We may also rely on academic and private non-academic institutions to conduct and sponsor clinical trials relating to our product candidates, such as the clinical trial of bitopertin in DBA, which is being conducted by NIH under a collaborative research and development agreement. We will not control the design or conduct of any investigator-sponsored trials, and it is possible that the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities will not view these investigator-sponsored trials as providing adequate support for future clinical trials, whether controlled by us or third parties, for any one or more reasons, including elements of the design or execution of the trials or safety concerns or other trial results. Such arrangements will likely provide us certain information rights with respect to the investigator-sponsored trials, including access to and the ability to use and reference the data, including for our own regulatory filings, resulting from the investigator-sponsored trials. However, we would not have control over the timing and reporting of the data from investigator-sponsored trials, nor would we own the data from the investigator-sponsored trials. If we are unable to confirm or replicate the results from the investigator-sponsored trials or if negative results are obtained, we would likely be further delayed or prevented from advancing further clinical development of our product candidates. Further, if investigators or institutions breach their obligations with respect to the clinical development of our product candidates, or if the data proves to be inadequate compared to the first-hand knowledge we might have gained had the investigator-sponsored trials been sponsored and conducted by us, then our ability to design and conduct any future clinical trials ourself may be adversely affected.

We might not realize the anticipated benefits of our current collaborations with Mabwell or NIH, or any other collaborations we enter into in the future.

Research, development, commercialization and/or strategic collaborations, including those that we have with Mabwell and NIH, are subject to numerous risks, which include the following:

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collaborators may have significant control or discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to a collaboration, and might not commit sufficient efforts and resources or might misapply those efforts and resources;
•
we may have limited influence or control over the approaches to research, development and/or commercialization of product candidates in the territories in which our collaboration partners lead research, development and/or commercialization;
•
collaborators might not pursue research, development and/or commercialization of collaboration product candidates or might elect not to continue or renew research, development and/or commercialization programs based on preclinical studies and/or clinical trial results, changes in their strategic focus, availability of funding or other factors, such as a business combination that diverts resources or creates competing priorities;
•
collaborators might delay, provide insufficient resources to, or modify or stop research or clinical development for collaboration product candidates or require a new formulation of a product candidate for clinical testing;
•
collaborators with sales, marketing and distribution rights to one or more product candidates might not commit sufficient resources to sales, marketing and distribution or might otherwise fail to successfully commercialize those product candidates;
•
collaborators might not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or might use our intellectual property improperly or in a way that jeopardizes our intellectual property or exposes us to potential liability;

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•
collaboration activities might result in the collaborator having intellectual property covering our activities or product candidates, which could limit our rights or ability to research, develop and/or commercialize our product candidates;
•
collaborators might not be in compliance with laws applicable to their activities under the collaboration, which could impact the collaboration and us;
•
disputes might arise between a collaborator and us that could cause a delay or termination of the collaboration or result in costly litigation that diverts management attention and resources; and
•
collaborations might be terminated, which could result in a need for additional capital to pursue further research, development and/or commercialization of our product candidates.

In addition, funding provided by a collaborator might not be sufficient to advance product candidates under the collaboration. If a collaborator terminates a collaboration or a program under a collaboration, including by failing to exercise a license or other option under the collaboration, whether because we fail to meet a milestone or otherwise, any potential revenue from the collaboration would be significantly reduced or eliminated. In addition, we will likely need to either secure other funding to advance research, development and/or commercialization of the relevant product candidate or abandon that program, the development of the relevant product candidate could be significantly delayed, and our cash expenditures could increase significantly if we are to continue research, development and/or commercialization of the relevant product candidates.

Any one or more of these risks, if realized, could reduce or eliminate future revenue from product candidates under our collaborations, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or growth prospects.

We have established collaborations with Mabwell and NIH and may seek to establish additional collaborations, and, if we are not able to establish them on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, we may have to alter our development and commercialization plans.

Our product development programs and the potential commercialization of our product candidates will require substantial additional cash to fund expenses. For some of our product candidates, we may decide to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, such as our collaborations with Mabwell and NIH, for the development and potential commercialization of those product candidates.

We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s own evaluation of a potential collaboration. Such factors a potential collaborator will use to evaluate a collaboration may include the design or results of clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, the potential market for the subject product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such product candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative product candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our product candidate. The terms of any additional collaborations or other arrangements that we may establish may not be favorable to us.

We are also restricted by Roche’s right of first negotiation under our current license agreement with them and may in the future be restricted under other license or collaboration agreements from entering into future agreements on certain terms with potential collaborators. Collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. In addition, there have been a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators.

We may not be able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of the product candidate for which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay our development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay our potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.

In addition, any future collaborations that we enter into may not be successful. The success of our collaboration arrangements will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators. Collaborators generally have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations. Disagreements between parties to a collaboration arrangement regarding clinical development and commercialization matters can lead to delays in the development process or commercializing the applicable product candidate and, in some cases, termination of the collaboration arrangement. These disagreements can be difficult to resolve if neither of the parties has final decision-making authority. Collaborations with pharmaceutical or biotechnology

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companies and other third parties often are terminated or allowed to expire by the other party. Any such termination or expiration would adversely affect us financially and could harm our business reputation.

We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical development and clinical testing and expect to continue to do so for commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent, or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

We do not currently own or operate, nor do we have any plans to establish in the future, any manufacturing facilities. As such, we rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties such as contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CDMOs, for the manufacture of our product candidates for preclinical development and clinical testing. We also expect to rely on third parties for the commercial manufacture of our products if any of our product candidates receive regulatory approval. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable time, cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

The facilities used by our CDMOs to manufacture our product candidates must be inspected by the FDA pursuant to pre-approval inspections that will be conducted after we submit our marketing applications to the FDA. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and will be completely dependent on, our CDMOs for compliance with cGMPs in connection with the manufacture of our product candidates. If our CDMOs cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, they will not be able to pass regulatory inspections and/or maintain regulatory compliance. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our CDMOs to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority finds deficiencies with or does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it finds deficiencies or withdraws any such approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates, if approved.

If any CDMO with whom we contract fails to perform its obligations, we may be forced to enter into an agreement with a different CDMO, which we may not be able to do on reasonable terms, if at all. In such a scenario, our clinical trials supply could be delayed significantly as we establish alternative supply sources. In some cases, the technical skills required to manufacture our product candidates may be unique or proprietary to the original CDMO and we may have difficulty, or there may be contractual restrictions prohibiting us from, transferring such skills to a back-up or alternate supplier, or we may be unable to transfer such skills at all. In addition, if we are required to change CDMOs for any reason, we will be required to verify that the new CDMO maintains facilities and procedures that comply with quality standards and with all applicable regulations. We will also need to verify, such as through a manufacturing comparability study, that any new manufacturing process will produce our product candidate according to the specifications previously submitted to the FDA or another regulatory authority. The delays associated with the verification of a new CDMO could negatively affect our ability to develop product candidates or commercialize our products in a timely manner or within budget. In addition, changes in manufacturers often involve changes in manufacturing procedures and processes, which could require that we conduct bridging studies between our prior supply used in our clinical trials and that of any new manufacturer. We may be unsuccessful in demonstrating the comparability of clinical supplies which could require the conduct of additional clinical trials.

Further, our failure, or the failure of our CDMOs, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, if approved, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect our business and supplies of our product candidates.

We may be unable to establish any additional agreements with CDMOs or do so on acceptable terms. Reliance on CDMOs entails additional risks, including:

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reliance on the third party for regulatory compliance and quality assurance;
•
the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party;
•
the possible misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how; and
•
the possible termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by the third party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us.

Our product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and approved products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a limited number of CDMOs that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us.

Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development or regulatory approval. If our current CDMOs cannot perform as agreed, we may be required to replace such CDMOs. In addition, there has been increased governmental focus in the U.S. on contracting with Chinese companies for the development or manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. For example, Section 851 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, enacted in December 2025 and commonly referred to as the BIOSECURE Act, establishes restrictions on federal procurement of biotechnology equipment and services from designated “biotechnology companies of concern,” federal contracting with entities that use, or enter into contracts

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they know will require the use of, such equipment or services in performing federal contracts, and certain uses of federal loan and grant funds involving such equipment or services. Covered companies are designated through an interagency process incorporating the Department of Defense’s Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies and specified foreign adversary and national security criteria. The Office of Management and Budget is required to publish an initial list by December 18, 2026. The prohibitions take effect in phases following implementing amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, subject to exceptions and a five-year transition period for certain existing arrangements In addition, in 2025, the United States imposed substantial tariffs on imports from China as well as on other trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and the EU. We currently rely on certain foreign or foreign-owned third-party vendors to manufacture certain materials used in clinical trials of our product candidates or to provide services in connection with certain clinical trials or certain discovery activities. Our engagement with these foreign and foreign-owned vendors may be subject to additional U.S. legislation, investigations, sanctions, further escalation of tariffs, trade restrictions and other foreign regulatory requirements, which could cause us to need to identify alternate service providers, increase the cost or reduce the supply of materials available to us, delay the procurement or supply of these materials, delay or impact clinical trials, or have an adverse effect on our ability to secure significant commitments from governments to purchase our potential therapies, any of which could adversely affect our financial condition and business prospects. We continue to assess the legislation and the tariffs as they develop to determine the effect, if any, on our contractual relationships.

Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates or products may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive regulatory approval on a timely and competitive basis.

The third parties upon whom we rely for the supply of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used in our product candidates are our sole sources of supply, and the loss of any of these suppliers could significantly harm our business.

The active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, used in certain of our product candidates are supplied to us from single-source suppliers. Our ability to successfully develop such product candidates, and to ultimately supply any resulting commercial products in quantities sufficient to meet the market demand, depends in part on our ability to obtain the API for these products in accordance with regulatory requirements and in sufficient quantities for clinical testing and commercialization. We do not currently have arrangements in place for a redundant or second-source supply of any such API in the event any of our current suppliers of such API cease their operations for any reason. We are also unable to predict how changing global economic conditions or potential global health concerns or crises will affect our third-party suppliers and manufacturers. Regional issues may in some cases accentuate these risks. For example, the pharmaceutical industry generally, and in some instances we or other third parties on which we rely, depend on China-based suppliers or service providers for certain raw materials, products and services, or other activities. Our ability or the ability of our collaborators or such other third parties to continue to engage these China-based suppliers or service providers for certain preclinical research programs and clinical development programs could be restricted due to geopolitical developments between the United States and China, including as a result of the further escalation of tariffs or other trade restrictions or if the proposed federal legislation that would prohibit U.S. federal funding in connection with biotechnology equipment or services produced or provided by certain named Chinese “biotechnology companies of concern” or a similar law were to be enacted. Any negative impact of such matters on our third-party suppliers and manufacturers may also have an adverse impact on our results of operations or financial condition.

For all of our product candidates, we intend to identify and qualify additional manufacturers to provide such API. We are not certain, however, that our single-source suppliers will be able to meet our demand for their products, either because of the nature of our agreements with those suppliers, our limited experience with those suppliers or our relative importance as a customer to those suppliers. It may be difficult for us to assess our ability to timely meet our demand in the future based on past performance. While our suppliers have generally met our demand for their products on a timely basis in the past, they may subordinate our needs in the future to their other customers.

Establishing additional or replacement suppliers for the API used in our product candidates, if required, may not be accomplished quickly. If we are able to find a replacement supplier, such replacement supplier would need to be qualified and may require additional regulatory inspection or approval, which could result in further delay. While we seek to maintain adequate inventory of the API used in our product candidates, any interruption or delay in the supply of components or materials, or our inability to obtain such API from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner could impede, delay, limit or prevent our development and commercialization efforts, which could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

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The manufacture of biologics is complex and our third-party manufacturers may encounter difficulties in production. If any of our third-party manufacturers encounter such difficulties, our ability to provide supply of product candidates for clinical trials or products for patients, if approved, could be delayed or prevented.

Selcodebart, DISC-0998, and DISC-3405 are monoclonal antibodies. Manufacturing biologics, like monoclonal antibodies, especially in large quantities, is often complex and may require the use of innovative technologies to handle living cells. Each lot of an approved biologic must undergo thorough testing for identity, strength, quality, purity and potency. Manufacturing biologics requires facilities specifically designed for and validated for this purpose, and sophisticated quality assurance and quality control procedures are necessary. Slight deviations anywhere in the manufacturing process, including filling, labeling, packaging, storage and shipping and quality control and testing, may result in lot failures, product recalls or spoilage. When changes are made to the manufacturing process, we may be required to provide preclinical and clinical data showing the comparable identity, strength, quality, purity or potency of the products before and after such changes. If microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered at the facilities of our manufacturers, such facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination, which could delay clinical trials and adversely harm our business.

If any third-party manufacturer of any of our product candidates is unable to increase the scale of its production of such product candidates or increase the product yield of its manufacturing, then our costs to manufacture such product or product candidate may increase and any commercialization may be delayed.

There are risks associated with large scale manufacturing for clinical trials or commercial scale including, among others, cost overruns, potential problems with process scale-up, process reproducibility, stability issues, compliance with good manufacturing practices, lot consistency and timely availability of components and raw materials. Even if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our current product candidates or any future product candidates, there is no assurance that our manufacturers will be able to manufacture the approved product to specifications acceptable to the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, to produce it in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the potential commercial launch of such product or to meet potential future demand. If our manufacturers are unable to produce sufficient quantities for clinical trials or for commercialization, 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.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection for our technology and product candidates, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and drugs similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and drugs may be impaired, and we may not be able to compete effectively in our market.

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary or intellectual property protection in the U.S. and other countries for our current or future product candidates, including our current lead product candidates, bitopertin, selcodebart and DISC-3405, and our other current or future programs, including DISC-0998, as well as for their respective compositions, formulations, methods used to manufacture them and methods of treatment, in addition to successfully defending these patents against third-party challenges. We seek to protect our proprietary and intellectual property position by, among other methods, filing patent applications in the U.S. and abroad related to our proprietary technology, inventions, and improvements that are important to the development and implementation of our business. Our ability to stop unauthorized third parties from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing our product candidates is dependent upon the extent to which we have rights under valid and enforceable patents or trade secrets that cover these activities. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our proprietary and intellectual property position.

We have in-licensed, and may in the future in-license, a portion of our intellectual property, and, if we fail to comply with our obligations under these license arrangements, we could lose such intellectual property rights or owe damages to the licensor of such intellectual property. In particular, we have exclusively licensed intellectual property rights from Roche to develop and commercialize bitopertin, including certain back-up compounds and derivatives, for all prophylactic and therapeutic uses. The Roche license covers know-how, and certain specified Roche patent rights, including a composition of matter patent for bitopertin that expires in 2026. We also have exclusively licensed intellectual property rights from AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, or AbbVie, to develop and commercialize selcodebart and DISC-0998. The AbbVie license covers know-how, and certain specified AbbVie patent rights, including composition of matter and methods of use patents and patent applications for selcodebart and DISC-0998. We also have exclusively licensed intellectual property rights from Mabwell to develop and commercialize antibody products containing Mabwell’s MWTX-001, MWTX-002, and MWTX-003 antibodies. The Mabwell license covers know-how and certain specified Mabwell patent rights, including composition of matter and methods of use patents and patent applications for MWTX-001, MWTX-002 and MWTX-003.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. The degree of patent protection we require to successfully commercialize our current or future product candidates may be unavailable or severely limited in some cases and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. We cannot provide any assurances that any of our patents have, or that any of our pending patent applications that mature into issued patents will include, claims with a

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scope sufficient to protect bitopertin, selcodebart, DISC-3405 or our other current or future product candidates. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patent applications or any patents we may own or in-license is threatened, we could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.

In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. For example, in jurisdictions outside the U.S., a license may not be enforceable unless all the owners of the intellectual property agree or consent to the license. Accordingly, any actual or purported co-owner of our patent rights could seek monetary or equitable relief requiring us to pay it compensation for, or refrain from, exploiting these patents due to such co-ownership. Furthermore, patents have a limited lifespan. In the U.S., and most other jurisdictions in which we have undertaken patent filings, the natural expiration of a patent is generally twenty years after it is filed, assuming all maintenance fees are paid. Various extensions may be available, on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis; however, the life of a patent, and thus the protection it affords, is limited. Additionally, our product candidates may or may not be eligible for such extensions or we may not be able to obtain such protections due to procedural or other reasons. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, patents we may own or in-license may not provide us with adequate and continuing patent protection sufficient to exclude others from commercializing drugs similar or identical to our current or future product candidates, including generic versions of such drugs.

Other parties have developed technologies that may be related or competitive to our own, and such parties may have filed or may file patent applications, or may have received or may receive patents, claiming inventions that may overlap or conflict with those claimed in our own patent applications or issued patents, with respect to either the same compounds, methods, formulations or other subject matter, in either case that we may rely upon to dominate our patent position in the market. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the U.S. and other jurisdictions are typically not published until at least 18 months after the earliest priority date of the patent filing, or, in some cases, not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in patents we may own or in-license patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights cannot be predicted with any certainty.

In addition, the patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Further, with respect to certain pending patent applications covering our current or future product candidates, prosecution has yet to commence. Patent prosecution is a lengthy process, during which the scope of the claims initially submitted for examination by the relevant patent office(s) may be significantly narrowed by the time they issue, if they ever do. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Prosecution could require that claim scope narrow such that a clinical or product candidate or program is not adequately protected by the patent. Moreover, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from or to third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.

Even if we acquire patent protection that we expect should enable us to establish and/or maintain a competitive advantage, third parties may challenge the validity, enforceability or scope thereof, which may result in such patents being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable. The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, and our patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the U.S. and abroad. We may become involved in post-grant proceedings such as opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review, invalidation, or interference proceedings challenging our patent rights or the patent rights of others from whom we may in the future obtain licenses to such rights, in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, the European Patent Office, or EPO, or in other countries. In addition, we may be subject to a third-party submission to the USPTO, the EPO, or elsewhere, that may reduce the scope or preclude the granting of claims from our pending patent applications. Competitors may allege that they invented the inventions claimed in our issued patents or patent applications prior to us, or may file patent applications before we do. Competitors may also claim that we are infringing their patents and that we therefore cannot practice our technology as claimed under our patents or patent applications. Competitors may also contest our patents by claiming to an administrative patent authority or judge that the invention was not patent-eligible, was not original, was not novel, was obvious, and/or lacked inventive step, and/or that the patent application filing failed to meet relevant requirements relating to description, basis, enablement, clarity, and/or support; in litigation, a competitor could claim that our patents, if issued, are not valid or are unenforceable for a number of reasons. If a court or administrative patent authority agrees, we would lose our protection of those challenged patents.

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

An adverse determination in any such submission or proceeding may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and drugs, without payment to it, or could limit the duration of the patent

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protection covering our technology and current or future product candidates. Such challenges may also result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize our current or future product candidates without infringing third-party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.

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

Furthermore, even if we are able to issue patents with claims of valuable scope in one or more jurisdictions, we may not be able to secure such claims in all relevant jurisdictions, or in a sufficient number to meaningfully reduce competition. Our competitors may be able to develop and commercialize their products, including products identical to ours, in any jurisdiction in which we are unable to obtain, maintain or enforce such patent claims. Furthermore, generic manufacturers may develop, seek approval for and launch generic versions of our products, and may challenge the scope, validity or enforceability of our patents, requiring us to engage in complex, lengthy and costly litigation or other proceedings.

We also intend to rely on regulatory exclusivity for protection of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale. Implementation and enforcement of regulatory exclusivity, which may consist of regulatory data protection and market protection, varies widely from country to country. Failure to qualify for regulatory exclusivity or failure to obtain or to maintain the extent or duration of such protections that we expect for our product candidates, if approved, could affect our decision on whether to market the products in a particular country or countries or could otherwise have an adverse impact on our revenue or results of operations.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, deadlines, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated if we fail to comply with these requirements. We may miss a filing deadline for patent protection on these inventions.

The USPTO and foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process and after issuance of any patent. In addition, periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and/or various other government fees are required to be paid periodically. While an inadvertent lapse can, in some cases, be cured by payment of a late fee, or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market with similar or identical products or platforms, which could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects and financial condition.

If our trademarks and trade names for our products or company name are not adequately protected in one or more countries where we intend to market our products, we may delay the launch of product brand names, use different trademarks or tradenames in different countries, or face other potentially adverse consequences to building our product brand recognition.

Our trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, diluted, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We intend to rely on both registration and common law protection for our trademarks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names or may be forced to stop using these names, which we need for name recognition by potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. During the trademark registration process, we may receive Office Actions from the USPTO or from comparable agencies in foreign jurisdictions objecting to the registration of our trademark. Although we would be given an opportunity to respond to those objections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, in the USPTO and in comparable agencies in many foreign jurisdictions, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and/or to seek the cancellation of registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademark applications or registrations, and our trademark applications or registrations may not survive such proceedings. If we are unable to obtain a registered trademark or establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected.

If we are unable to adequately protect and enforce our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

In addition to the protection afforded by patents we may own or in-license, we seek to rely on trade secret protection, confidentiality agreements, and license agreements to protect proprietary know-how that may not be patentable, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of our product discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that may not be covered by patents. Although we require all of our employees, consultants, advisors and

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any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information, or technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, trade secrets can be difficult to protect and we have limited control over the protection of trade secrets used by our collaborators and suppliers. We cannot be certain that we have or will obtain these agreements in all circumstances and we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our trade secrets or proprietary information.

Moreover, any of these parties might breach the agreements and intentionally or inadvertently disclose our trade secret information and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. In addition, competitors may otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. Furthermore, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights and trade secrets to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the U.S. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property both in the U.S. and abroad. If we are unable to prevent unauthorized material disclosure of our intellectual property to third parties, we will not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects.

Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. If we choose to go to court to stop a third party from using any of our trade secrets, we may incur substantial costs. These lawsuits may consume our time and other resources even if we are successful. Although we take steps to protect our proprietary information and trade secrets, including through contractual means with our employees and consultants, third parties may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or disclose our technology. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us.

Thus, we may not be able to meaningfully protect our trade secrets. It is our policy to require our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of employment or consulting relationships with us. These agreements provide that all confidential information concerning our business or financial affairs developed or made known to the individual or entity during the course of the party’s relationship with us is to be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties except in specific circumstances. In addition, we take other appropriate precautions, such as physical and technological security measures, to guard against misappropriation of our proprietary technology by third parties. In the case of employees, the agreements provide that all inventions conceived by the individual, and which are related to our current or planned business or research and development or made during normal working hours, on our premises or using our equipment or proprietary information, are our exclusive property. Although we require all of our employees to assign their inventions 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 ineffective or 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.

We may initiate, become a defendant in or otherwise become party to lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time-consuming, and unsuccessful.

Competitors may infringe any patents we may own or in-license. In addition, any patents we may own or in-license also may become involved in inventorship, priority, validity or unenforceability disputes. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that one or more of any patents we may own or in-license is not valid or is unenforceable or that the other party’s use of our technology that may be patented falls under the safe harbor to patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1). There is also the risk that, even if the validity of these patents is upheld, the court may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that any patents we may own or in-license do not cover the technology in question or that such third-party’s activities do not infringe our patent applications or any patents we may own or in-license. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of any patents we may own or in-license at risk of being invalidated, held unenforceable, or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing, patient support 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 its 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.

Post-grant proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by or before the USPTO or other patent granting authority may be necessary to determine the validity or priority of inventions with respect to our patent applications or any patents we may own or in-license. These proceedings are expensive and an unfavorable outcome could result in a loss of our current patent rights and could

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require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to us from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms. In addition to potential USPTO post-grant proceedings, we may become a party to patent opposition proceedings in the EPO, or similar proceedings in other foreign patent offices or courts where our patents may be challenged. The costs of these proceedings could be substantial, and may result in a loss of scope of some claims or a loss of the entire patent. An unfavorable result in a post-grant challenge proceeding may result in the loss of our right to exclude others from practicing one or more of our inventions in the relevant country or jurisdiction, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Litigation or post-grant proceedings within patent offices may result in a decision adverse to our interests and, even if we are successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. We may not be able to prevent, misappropriation of our trade secrets or confidential information, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the U.S.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. 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.

We may not be able to detect infringement against any patents we may own or in-license. Even if we detect infringement by a third party of any patents we may own or in-license, we may choose not to pursue litigation against or settlement with the third party. If we later sue such third-party for patent infringement, the third-party may have certain legal defenses available to it, which otherwise would not be available except for the delay between when the infringement was first detected and when the suit was brought. Such legal defenses may make it impossible for us to enforce any patents we may own or in-license against such third party.

Intellectual property litigation and administrative patent office patent validity challenges in one or more countries could cause us to spend substantial resources and distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities.

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 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 litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing, patient support or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. As noted above, 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. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could compromise our ability to compete in the marketplace, including compromising our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our clinical trials, continue our research programs, license necessary technology from third parties, or enter into development collaborations that would help us commercialize our current or future product candidates, if approved. Any of the foregoing events would harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to damages or settlement costs resulting from claims that we or our employees have violated the intellectual property rights of third parties, or are in breach of our agreements. We may be accused of, allege or otherwise become party to lawsuits or disputes alleging wrongful disclosure of third-party confidential information by us or by another party, including current or former employees, contractors or consultants. In addition to diverting attention and resources to such disputes, such disputes could adversely impact our business reputation and/or protection of our proprietary technology.

The intellectual property landscape relevant to our product candidates and programs is crowded, and third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business. Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our current and future product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as administrative proceedings for challenging patents, including derivation, interference, reexamination, inter partes review and post grant review proceedings before the USPTO or oppositions and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. We or any of our current or future licensors or strategic partners may be party to, exposed to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation by third parties having patent or other intellectual property rights alleging that our current or future product candidates and/or proprietary technologies infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that our current or future product candidates and other technologies that we have developed, are developing or may develop in the future do not or will not infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate existing or future patents or other valid intellectual property rights owned by third parties. For example, many of our employees were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. 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

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individual’s former employer. We may also be subject to claims that patents and applications we have filed to protect inventions of our employees, consultants and advisors, even those related to one or more of our current or future product candidates, are rightfully owned by their former or concurrent employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims.

While certain activities related to development and clinical testing of our current or future product candidates may be subject to safe harbor of patent infringement, such as under 35 U.S.C. §271(e)(1), upon receiving regulatory approval for such candidates we or any of our current or future licensors or strategic partners may immediately become party to, exposed to or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation by third parties having patent or other intellectual property rights alleging that such product candidates infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing our current or future product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our current or future product candidates may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. Moreover, it is not always clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of drugs, products or their methods of use or manufacture. Thus, because of the large number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our fields, there may be a risk that third parties may allege they have patent rights encompassing our current or future product candidates, technologies or methods.

If a third party claims that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate its intellectual property rights, we may face a number of issues, including, but not limited to:

•
infringement, misappropriation and other intellectual property claims which, regardless of merit, may be expensive and time-consuming to litigate and may divert our management’s attention from our core business and may impact our reputation;
•
substantial damages for infringement, misappropriation or other violations, which we may have to pay if a court decides that the product candidate or technology at issue infringes, misappropriates or violates the third party’s rights, and, if the court finds that the infringement was willful, we could be ordered to pay treble damages and the patent owner’s attorneys’ fees;
•
a court prohibiting us from developing, manufacturing, marketing or selling our current product candidates, including bitopertin, selcodebart and DISC-3405, or future product candidates, or from using our proprietary technologies, unless the third-party licenses its product rights to us, which we are not required to do, on commercially reasonable terms or at all;
•
if a license is available from a third party, we may have to pay substantial royalties, upfront fees and other amounts, and/or grant cross-licenses to intellectual property rights for our products, or the license to us may be non-exclusive, which would permit third parties to use the same intellectual property to compete with us;
•
redesigning our current or future product candidates or processes so they do not infringe, misappropriate or violate third-party intellectual property rights, which may not be possible or may require substantial monetary expenditures and time; and
•
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.

Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

We may choose to challenge the patentability of claims in a third party’s U.S. patent by requesting that the USPTO review the patent claims in an ex-parte re-exam, inter partes review or post-grant review proceedings. These proceedings are expensive and may consume our time or other resources. We may choose to challenge a third party’s patent in patent opposition proceedings in the EPO, or other foreign patent office. The costs of these opposition proceedings could be substantial, and may consume our time or other resources. If we fail to obtain a favorable result at the USPTO, EPO or other patent office then we may be exposed to litigation by a third party alleging that the patent may be infringed by our current or future product candidates or proprietary technologies.

Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. Patents issued in the U.S. by law enjoy a presumption of validity that can be rebutted in U.S. courts only with evidence that is “clear and convincing,” a heightened standard of proof. There may be issued third-party patents of which we are currently unaware with claims to compositions, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our current or future product candidates. Patent applications can take many years to issue. In addition, because some patent applications in the U.S. may be maintained in secrecy until the patents are issued, patent applications in the U.S. and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after their earliest priority filing date, and publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual

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discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications covering our current or future product candidates or technology. If any such patent applications issue as patents, and if such patents have priority over our patent applications or patents we may own or in-license, we may be required to obtain rights to such patents owned by third parties which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may only be available on a non-exclusive basis. There may be currently pending third-party patent applications which may later result in issued patents that our current or future product candidates may infringe. It is also possible that patents owned by third parties of which we are aware, but which we do not believe are relevant to our current or future product candidates or other technologies, could be found to be infringed by our current or future product candidates or other technologies. In addition, third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents. Moreover, we may fail to identify relevant patents or incorrectly conclude that a patent is invalid, not enforceable, exhausted or not infringed by our activities. If any third-party patents were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover the manufacturing process of our current or future product candidates, molecules used in or formed during the manufacturing process, or any final product itself, the holders of any such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize the product candidate unless we obtained a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire or they are finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. Similarly, if any third-party patent were held by a court of competent jurisdiction to cover aspects of our formulations, processes for manufacture or methods of use, including patient selection methods, the holders of any such patent may be able to block our ability to develop and commercialize the product candidate unless we obtained a license or until such patent expires or is finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. In either case, such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license to a third-party patent on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, our ability to commercialize our current or future product candidates may be impaired or delayed, which could in turn significantly harm our business. Even if we obtain a license, it may be nonexclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us.

Parties making claims against us may seek and obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize our current or future product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, could involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement, misappropriation or other violation against us, 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 or redesign our infringing products, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. We cannot predict whether any such license would be available at all or whether it would be available on commercially reasonable terms. Furthermore, even in the absence of litigation, we may need or may choose to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our current or future product candidates. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize our current or future product candidates, which could harm our business significantly.

We may be unable to obtain patent or other intellectual property protection for our current or future product candidates or our future products, if any, in all jurisdictions throughout the world, and we may not be able to adequately enforce our intellectual property rights even in the jurisdictions where we seek protection.

We may not be able to pursue patent coverage of our current or future product candidates in all countries. Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on current or future product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and intellectual property rights in some countries outside the U.S. can be less extensive than those in the U.S. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the U.S. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our 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. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but where enforcement is not as strong as that in the U.S. These products may compete with our current or future product candidates and in jurisdictions where we do not have any issued patents, our patent applications or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. Much of our patent portfolio is at an early stage. We will need to decide whether and in which jurisdictions to pursue protection for the various inventions in our portfolio prior to applicable deadlines.

Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biopharmaceutical products and/or methods of using biopharmaceutical products, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of any patents we may own or in-license or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce any rights we may have in our patent applications or any patents we may own or in-license in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put any patents we may own or in-license 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 may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and 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.

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

We may not obtain licenses or sublicenses to intellectual property rights in all markets on equally or sufficiently favorable terms with third parties.

It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties. The licensing of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. More 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 license such technology, or if we are forced to license such technology on unfavorable terms, our business could be materially harmed. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected current or future product candidates, which could materially harm our business, and the third parties owning such intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties or other forms of compensation. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. Any of the foregoing could harm our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we fail to comply with our obligations in any agreements under which we may license intellectual property rights from third parties or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

We are party to license agreements with Roche, AbbVie and Mabwell and we may from time to time in the future be party to other license and collaboration agreements with third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of current or future product candidates. Such agreements may impose numerous obligations, such as development, diligence, payment, commercialization, funding, milestone, royalty, sublicensing, insurance, patent prosecution, enforcement and other obligations on us and may require us to meet development timelines, or to exercise commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize licensed products, in order to maintain the licenses. See “Business-Collaborations and License Agreement” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 for more information regarding our license agreements with Roche, AbbVie and Mabwell. In spite of our best efforts, our licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our license agreements and might therefore terminate the license agreements, thereby removing or limiting our ability to develop and commercialize products and technologies covered by these license agreements.

Any termination of these licenses, or if the underlying patents fail to provide the intended exclusivity, could result in the loss of significant rights and could harm our ability to commercialize our current or future product candidates, and competitors or other third parties would have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products identical to ours and we may be required to cease our development and commercialization of certain of our current or future product candidates. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

Disputes may also arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:

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the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;
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whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate intellectual property rights of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;
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our right to sublicense patent and other rights to third parties under collaborative development relationships;
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our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development and commercialization of our current or future product candidates, and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;
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the priority of invention of any patented technology; and
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the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our current or future licensors and us and our partners.

In addition, the agreements under which we may license intellectual property or technology from third parties 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 financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of

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which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we may license prevent or impair our ability to maintain future licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected current or future product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects.

Any granted patents we may own or in-license covering our current or future product candidates or other valuable technology could be narrowed or found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or before administrative bodies in the U.S. or abroad, including the USPTO and the EPO. A patent asserted in a judicial court could be found invalid or unenforceable during the enforcement proceeding. Administrative or judicial proceedings challenging the validity of our patents or individual patent claims could take months or years to resolve.

If we or our licensors or strategic partners initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering one of our current or future product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that such patent, as applicable, is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the U.S., defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace, and there are numerous grounds upon which a third party can assert invalidity or unenforceability of a patent. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory or judicial requirements, including lack of patentable subject matter, lack of written description, lack of novelty, obviousness, non-enablement, or double patenting. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO that was material to patentability, or made a misleading statement, with an intent to deceive the USPTO, in the process of obtaining the patent during patent prosecution. Third parties may also raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the U.S. or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, inter partes review, post grant review and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (such as opposition proceedings). Such proceedings could result in revocation or amendment to our patent applications or any patents we may own or in-license in such a way that they no longer cover our current or future product candidates. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate or render unenforceable, any rights we may have from our patent applications or any patents we may own or in-license, allow third parties to commercialize our current or future product candidates or other technologies 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. Moreover, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention or in post-grant challenge proceedings, such as oppositions in a foreign patent office, that challenge our or our current or future licensors’ priority of invention or other features of patentability with respect to our patent applications and any patents we may own or in-license. Such challenges may result in loss of patent rights, loss of exclusivity, or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our current or future product candidates and other technologies. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we or our current or future licensing partners and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, or if we are otherwise unable to adequately protect our rights, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on our current or future product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business and our ability to commercialize or license our technology and current or future product candidates.

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. If we are unsuccessful in any such proceeding or other priority or inventorship dispute, we may be required to obtain and maintain licenses from third parties, including parties involved in any such interference proceedings or other priority or inventorship disputes. Such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may be non-exclusive. If we are unable to obtain and maintain such licenses, we may need to cease the development, manufacture, and commercialization of one or more of the current or future product candidates we may develop. The loss of exclusivity or the narrowing of our patent application claims could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

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Changes in patent law could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our current or future product candidates.

As is the case with other biopharmaceutical companies, our success is heavily dependent on intellectual property, particularly patents. Obtaining and enforcing patents in the biopharmaceutical industry involve both technological and legal complexity and is therefore costly, time consuming and inherently uncertain. Patent reform legislation in the U.S. and other countries, including the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or Leahy-Smith Act, signed into law on September 16, 2011, could increase those uncertainties and costs. The Leahy-Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to U.S. patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art and provide more efficient and cost-effective avenues for competitors to challenge the validity of patents. In addition, the Leahy-Smith Act has transformed the U.S. patent system into a “first inventor to file” system. The Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation could make it more difficult to obtain patent protection for our inventions and increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

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

We may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope or expiration of a third-party patent, which might subject us to infringement claims or adversely affect our ability to develop and market our current or future product candidates.

We cannot guarantee that any of our or our licensors’ patent searches or analyses, including the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending patent application in the U.S. and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our current or future product candidates in any jurisdiction. For example, U.S. patent applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain U.S. patent applications filed after that date that will not be filed outside the U.S. remain confidential until patents issue. As mentioned above, patent applications in the U.S. and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing for which priority is claimed, with such earliest filing date being commonly referred to as the priority date. Therefore, patent applications covering our current or future product candidates could have been filed by third parties without our knowledge. Additionally, pending patent applications that have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our current or future product candidates or the use of our current or future product candidates. The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent and the patent’s prosecution history. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope and/or validity of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to market our current or future product candidates. We may incorrectly determine that our current or future product candidates are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the U.S. or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our current or future product candidates. Our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our current or future product candidates.

If we fail to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents, we may be subject to infringement claims. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully settle or otherwise resolve such infringement claims. If we fail in any such dispute, in addition to being forced to pay damages, which may be significant, we may be temporarily or permanently prohibited from commercializing any of our current or future product candidates that are held to be infringing. We might, if possible, also be forced to redesign current or future product candidates so that we no longer infringe the third-party intellectual property rights. Any of these events, even if we were ultimately to prevail, could require us to divert substantial financial and management resources that we would otherwise be able to devote to our business and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Intellectual property rights do not guarantee commercial success of current or future product candidates or other business activities. Numerous factors may limit any potential competitive advantage provided by our intellectual property rights.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights, whether owned or in-licensed, is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, provide a barrier to entry against our competitors or potential competitors, or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. Moreover, if a third party has intellectual property rights that cover the practice of our technology, we may not be able to fully exercise or extract value from our intellectual property rights. The following examples are illustrative:

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patent applications that we own or may in-license may not lead to issued patents;

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patents, should they issue, that we may own or in-license, may not provide us with any competitive advantages, may be narrowed in scope, or may be challenged and held invalid or unenforceable;
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others may be able to develop and/or practice technology, including compounds that are similar to the chemical compositions of our current or future product candidates, that is similar to our technology or aspects of our technology but that is not covered by the claims of any patents we may own or in-license, should any patents issue;
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third parties may compete with us in jurisdictions where we do not pursue and obtain patent protection;
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we, or our current or future licensors or collaborators, might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by a patent application that we own or may in-license;
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we, or our current or future licensors or collaborators, might not have been the first to file patent applications covering a particular invention;
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others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating our intellectual property rights;
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our competitors might conduct research and development activities in the U.S. and other countries that provide a safe harbor from patent infringement claims for certain research and development activities, as well as in countries where we do not have patent rights, and may then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;
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we may not be able to obtain and/or maintain necessary licenses on reasonable terms or at all;
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third parties may assert an ownership interest in our intellectual property and, if successful, such disputes may preclude us from exercising exclusive rights, or any rights at all, over that intellectual property;
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we may choose not to file a patent in order to maintain certain trade secrets or know-how, and a third-party may subsequently file a patent covering such trade secrets or know-how;
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we may not be able to maintain the confidentiality of our trade secrets or other proprietary information;
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we may not develop or in-license additional proprietary technologies that are patentable; and
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the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.

Should any of these events occur, they could significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants regulatory approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In short, the foreign regulatory approval process involves all of the risks associated with FDA approval. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we may intend to charge for our products will also be subject to approval.

We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or receive applicable regulatory approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.

We may seek priority review designation for one or more of our product candidates, but we might not receive such designation, and even if we do, such designation may not lead to a faster regulatory review or approval process.

If the FDA determines that a product candidate offers a treatment for a serious condition and, if approved, the product would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness, the FDA may designate the product candidate for priority review. A priority review designation means that the goal for the FDA to review an application is six months, rather than the standard review period

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of ten months. We previously requested and received priority review for our NDA for bitopertin for EPP and XLP, and may request priority review of applications for our other product candidates. The FDA has broad discretion with respect to whether or not to grant priority review status to a product candidate, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for such designation or status, the FDA may decide not to grant it. Moreover, a priority review designation does not necessarily result in an expedited regulatory review or approval process or necessarily confer any advantage with respect to approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Receiving priority review from the FDA does not guarantee approval within the six-month review cycle or at all.

We may seek orphan drug designation for certain of our product candidates, and we may be unsuccessful or may be unable to maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug designation, including the potential for market exclusivity.

We have received orphan drug designation from the FDA for bitopertin for the treatment of EPP and for DISC-3405 for the treatment of PV. As part of our business strategy, we may seek orphan drug designation for certain of our product candidates and indications, as appropriate. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug or biologic as an orphan drug if it is a product intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States, or a patient population of 200,000 or more in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the product will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers.

Similarly, in the European Union, the European Commission, upon the recommendation of the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, grants orphan designation in respect of products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting no more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the European Union. Additionally, designation may be granted for products intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the product in the European Union would generate sufficient return to justify the necessary investment in developing the product. In each case, there must be no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of the applicable condition which is authorized for marketing in the European Union (or, if such a method exists, the applicable product would be of significant benefit to those affected by the condition). In the European Union, orphan designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers. The European Commission has granted orphan designation for bitopertin for treatment of EPP and for selcodebart for treatment of myelofibrosis.

Generally, if a product with an orphan designation subsequently receives the first regulatory approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA or the EMA from approving another marketing application for the same product and indication for that time period, except in limited circumstances. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in the European Union. The European Union market exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is determined that a product no longer meets the criteria for orphan designation, including if the product is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified.

Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for one of our product candidates, that exclusivity may not effectively protect our product candidate from competition because different products can be approved for the same condition. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation. Moreover, orphan drug exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition or if another product with the same active moiety is determined to be safer, more effective, or represents a major contribution to patient care. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a product nor gives the product any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. While we may seek orphan drug designation for our product candidates, we may never receive such designations. Even if we do receive such designations, there is no guarantee that we will enjoy the benefits of those designations.

The FDA may further reevaluate its regulations and policies under the Orphan Drug Act. We do not know if, when or how the FDA may change its orphan drug regulations and policies in the future, and it is uncertain how any changes might affect our business. Depending on what changes the FDA may make to its orphan drug regulations and policies, our business could be adversely impacted.

We have received rare pediatric disease designation for bitopertin. However, a marketing application for bitopertin, if approved, may not meet the eligibility criteria for a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher.

In May 2024, we received rare pediatric disease designation for bitopertin in patients with EPP and XLP. The FDA defines “rare pediatric disease” as a (i) serious or life-threatening disease in which the serious or life-threatening manifestations primarily affect ages from birth to 18 years, including age groups often called neonates, infants, children and adolescents; and (ii) a rare disease or condition within the meaning of the Orphan Drug Act. Vouchers for rare pediatric disease drugs are awarded for qualifying applications when the drug receives approval. However, designation of a product candidate as a product for a rare pediatric disease does not guarantee that a marketing application for such product candidate will meet the eligibility criteria for a rare pediatric disease

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priority review voucher at the time the application is approved. In September 2025, we submitted an NDA for accelerated approval of bitopertin in EPP and XLP in the United States and we requested a rare pediatric disease review voucher. In February 2026, the FDA issued a CRL indicating that, while accelerated approval was not warranted, results from an additional clinical trial, such as our APOLLO clinical trial, could serve as evidence to support a potential traditional approval. With the positive topline results from APOLLO, we plan to engage with the FDA and resubmit an NDA by the end of 2026 and would then anticipate an FDA decision on our NDA by mid-2027. However, even if the FDA ultimately approves our NDA for bitopertin, the FDA may determine that the NDA does not meet the eligibility criteria for a priority review voucher.

Under current law, after September 30, 2029, the FDA may not award any rare pediatric disease priority review vouchers. However, it is possible that the FDA's authority to do so may be extended by Congress in the future.

A breakthrough therapy designation and fast track designation by the FDA, even if granted for any of our product candidates, may not lead to a faster development, regulatory review or approval process, and each designation does not increase the likelihood that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval in the United States.

We may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for certain of our product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug or biologic that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug or biologic may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For product candidates that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Products designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for priority review and accelerated approval. Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a breakthrough therapy designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to therapies considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates are designated as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later withdraw the designation if it determines that such product candidates no longer meet the conditions for such designation.

We were granted fast track designation by the FDA for DISC-3405 for the treatment of PV in September 2023 and for selcodebart for the treatment of anemia in non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease in February 2024, and we may seek fast track designation for certain of our product candidates. If a drug or biologic is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and the drug or biologic demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the sponsor may apply for fast track designation. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this designation, the FDA may disagree and instead decide not to grant it. Even if we do receive fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation no longer meets the conditions for such designation. Fast track designation alone does not guarantee qualification for the FDA’s priority review procedures.

We sought approval from the FDA for bitopertin for EPP and XLP, and we may seek approval for any of our other product candidates, under the Accelerated Approval Program. If we are not able to use such program, we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials beyond those that are contemplated, which would increase the expense of obtaining, and delay the receipt of, necessary marketing approvals, if we receive them at all. In addition, even if the Accelerated Approval Program is available to us, it may not lead to expedited approval of our product candidates, or approval at all.

We sought accelerated approval of bitopertin for EPP and XLP, and we may seek accelerated approval for our other product candidates, as appropriate. A product may be eligible for accelerated approval if it treats a serious or life-threatening condition and generally provides a meaningful advantage over available therapies. In addition, it must demonstrate an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, or IMM, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on IMM or other clinical benefit. It is possible that at the time of submission of a marketing application or as a result of the FDA's review of the marketing application, the FDA may determine that our product candidate is not eligible for accelerated approval or that accelerated approval is not warranted. For example, in February 2026, the FDA issued a CRL in response to our NDA for accelerated approval of bitopertin for EPP and XLP. Although the FDA agreed that clinical data from AURORA and BEACON provided sufficient evidence that bitopertin significantly lowers whole blood metal-free PPIX, the FDA concluded that the trials did not show evidence of association between percent change in PPIX and sunlight exposure-based endpoints as measured in the trials. As such, the FDA determined that there is uncertainty regarding whether bitopertin’s effect on PPIX is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, despite the strong mechanistic and biological plausibility supporting the use of the PPIX biomarker in protoporphyria, and therefore decided that accelerated approval was not warranted. Moreover, FDA may revise how it implements accelerated approval, which could negatively affect the development of our current or future product candidates.

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As a condition of approval, the FDA generally requires that a sponsor of a drug or biologic receiving accelerated approval perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical trials. These confirmatory trials must be completed with due diligence. Under FDORA, the FDA is permitted to require that a post-approval confirmatory trial or trials be underway prior to approval or within a specified time period after the date accelerated approval is granted. FDORA also requires sponsors to send updates to the FDA every 180 days on the status of such trials, including progress toward enrollment targets, and the FDA must promptly post this information publicly. FDORA also gives the FDA increased authority to withdraw approval of a drug or biologic granted accelerated approval on an expedited basis if the sponsor fails to conduct confirmatory studies in a timely manner, send the necessary updates to the FDA, or if such post-approval trials fail to verify the product’s predicted clinical benefit. Under FDORA, the FDA is empowered to take action, such as issuing fines, against companies that fail to conduct with due diligence any post-approval confirmatory trial or submit timely reports to the agency on their progress. In addition, the FDA currently requires, unless the sponsor is otherwise informed by the agency, submission of launch promotional materials during the pre-approval period, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product.

If we are not able to obtain accelerated approval for a product candidate, we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials beyond those that are contemplated, which would increase the expense of obtaining, and delay the receipt of, traditional FDA approval, if received at all. For example, as we were not able to obtain accelerated approval for bitopertin in EPP or XLP, we will need to successfully complete at least one additional clinical trial, such as our Phase 3 APOLLO trial, before responding to the FDA's CRL in support of a potential traditional approval. With the positive topline results from APOLLO, we plan to engage with the FDA and resubmit an NDA by the end of 2026 and would then anticipate an FDA decision on our NDA by mid-2027.

If our drug product candidates or any of our future drug product candidates obtain regulatory approval, additional competitors could enter the market with generic versions of such products, which may result in a material decline in sales of our competing products.

Under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDCA, a company may file an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, seeking approval of a generic version of an approved innovator product. Under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, a company may also submit an NDA under section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA that references the FDA’s prior approval of the innovator product or preclinical studies and/or clinical trials that were not conducted by, or for, the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. A 505(b)(2) NDA product may be for a new or improved version of the original innovator product. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments also provide for certain periods of regulatory exclusivity, which preclude FDA approval (or in some circumstances, FDA filing and review) of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA. In addition to the benefits of regulatory exclusivity, an innovator NDA holder may have patents claiming the active ingredient, product formulation or an approved use of the drug, which would be listed with the product in the FDA publication “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” known as the Orange Book. If there are patents listed in the Orange Book for the applicable, approved innovator product, a generic or 505(b)(2) applicant that seeks to market our product before expiration of the patents must include in their applications what is known as a “Paragraph IV” certification, challenging the validity or enforceability, or claiming non-infringement, of the listed patent or patents. Notice of the certification must be given to the patent owner and NDA holder and if, within 45 days of receiving notice, either the patent owner or NDA holder sues for patent infringement, approval of the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA is stayed for up to 30 months.

Accordingly, if any of our product candidates that are regulated as drugs are approved, competitors could file ANDAs for generic versions of these products or 505(b)(2) NDAs that reference our products. If there are patents listed for such drug products in the Orange Book, those ANDAs and 505(b)(2) NDAs would be required to include a certification as to each listed patent indicating whether the ANDA applicant does or does not intend to challenge the patent. We cannot predict which, if any, patents in our current portfolio or patents we may obtain in the future will be eligible for listing in the Orange Book, how any generic competitor would address such patents, whether we would sue on any such patents or the outcome of any such suit.

We may not be successful in securing or maintaining proprietary patent protection for products and technologies we develop or licenses, despite expending a significant amount of resources that could have been focused on other areas of our business. Moreover, if any of our owned or in-licensed patents that are listed in the Orange Book are successfully challenged by way of a Paragraph IV certification and subsequent litigation, the affected product could immediately face generic competition and our sales would likely decline rapidly and materially.

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If approved, our investigational products regulated as biologics may face competition from biosimilars or interchangeable products approved through an abbreviated regulatory pathway.

The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, created an abbreviated approval pathway for biologic products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biologic product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar or interchangeable product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity, and potency of the other company’s product. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation, and meaning are subject to uncertainty.

We believe that any of our product candidates approved as a biologic product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our investigational medicines to be reference products, potentially creating the opportunity for biosimilar competition sooner than anticipated. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of litigation. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar or interchangeable product, once licensed, will be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biologic products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing. If competitors are able to obtain regulatory approval for biosimilars or interchangeable products referencing our products, our products may become subject to competition from such biosimilars or interchangeable products, with the attendant competitive pressure and consequences.

The FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities may implement additional regulations or restrictions on the development and commercialization of our product candidates, and such changes can be difficult to predict.

The FDA, the EMA and regulatory authorities in other countries have each expressed interest in further regulating biotechnology products. Agencies at both the federal and state level in the United States, as well as the U.S. Congressional committees and other governments or governing agencies, have also expressed interest in further regulating the biotechnology industry. Such action may delay or prevent commercialization of some or all of our product candidates. Adverse developments in clinical trials of products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other oversight bodies to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates. These regulatory review agencies and committees and the new requirements or guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies or trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of our product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we continue to advance our product candidates, we will be required to consult with these regulatory agencies and comply with applicable requirements and guidelines. If we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of such product candidates. These additional processes may result in a review and approval process that is longer than we otherwise would have expected. Delays as a result of an increased or lengthier regulatory approval process or further restrictions on the development of our product candidates can be costly and could negatively impact our ability to complete clinical trials and commercialize our current and future product candidates in a timely manner, if at all.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses.

If any of our product candidates are approved and we are found to have improperly promoted off-label uses of those products, we may become subject to significant liability. The FDA and other regulatory agencies strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products, if approved. In particular, while the FDA permits the dissemination of truthful and non-misleading information about an approved product, a manufacturer may not promote a product for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion of off-label use and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. The FDA has also requested that companies enter into consent decrees, corporate integrity agreements or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct must be changed or curtailed. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion of our product candidates, if approved, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Inadequate funding for the NIH, CMS, FDA, the SEC and other government agencies, including from government shut downs, or other disruptions to these agencies’ operations, including significant leadership, personnel, or policy changes, could prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products, NIH’s ability to conduct and partner with industry on important research, and CMS’s ability to operate efficiently can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding

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levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result.

For example, over the last several years the U.S. government has shut down several times, including in October 2025, and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical FDA, SEC and other government employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown or a widespread freeze on federal funding occurs in the future, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, NIH to conduct research or provide grants, or other agencies to slow their work, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, future government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations. In addition, the current administration has previously sought to reduce the NIH budget and bar disbursements for funding of medical research, and may seek to do so in the future, which could decrease the ability of facilities that rely on NIH funding to enroll and conduct clinical trials or increase the costs to us of conducting clinical trials.

Other disruptions at the FDA and other federal agencies, including substantial leadership departures, personnel cuts, and policy changes, could result in delays in the FDA’s responsiveness or in its ability to review and/or approve new drug submissions or applications, issue regulations or guidance, or implement or enforce regulatory requirements in a timely fashion, any of which could adversely affect our business. For example, during 2025, certain federal agencies, including the FDA, conducted significant layoffs and it is currently unclear whether and how such staff reductions may impact our business.

In addition, there is substantial uncertainty as how the current administration's modifications to the requirements and policies of the FDA and other relevant regulatory agencies may affect our product candidates and any products for which we obtain approval. This uncertainty could present new challenges as we navigate development and approval of our product candidates. The current administration could also issue or promulgate executive orders, regulations, policies or guidance that adversely affect us or create a more challenging or costly environment to pursue the development of new therapeutic candidates.

Current and future healthcare reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The United States and many foreign jurisdictions have enacted and/or proposed legislative and regulatory changes affecting the healthcare system that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates or any future product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect our ability to profitably sell a product for which we obtain regulatory approval. Changes in laws, regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing laws and regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (i) changes to our manufacturing arrangements, (ii) additions or modifications to product labeling, (iii) the recall or discontinuation of our products or (iv) additional record-keeping requirements. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business. For more information, see “Business—Government Regulation—Current and Future U.S. Healthcare Reform Legislation” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

In the United States, there have been, and continue to be, a significant number of legislative initiatives to contain healthcare costs, including at the state level where individual states are increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological 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. In addition, regional health care authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other health care programs. These measures could reduce the ultimate demand for our products, once approved, or put pressure on our product pricing.

We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our current or future product candidates or additional pricing pressures. In particular, any policy changes through CMS as well as local state Medicaid programs, could have a significant impact on our business. For example, CMS may develop new payment and delivery models, including most-favored nation proposals, bundled payment models, or other drug pricing reforms, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our revenue prospects could be affected by changes in healthcare spending and policy in the United States and abroad. We operate in a highly regulated industry and new laws, regulations or judicial decisions, or new interpretations of existing laws, regulations or decisions, related to healthcare availability, the method of delivery or payment for healthcare products and services could negatively impact our business, operations and financial condition. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payors of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare and/or impose price controls may adversely affect the demand for our current or future product candidates, if we obtain regulatory approval; our ability to set a price that we believe is fair for our products; our ability to obtain coverage and reimbursement approval for a product; our ability to generate revenue and achieve or maintain profitability; the level of taxes that we are required to pay; and the availability of capital.

We expect that these existing laws and 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, new payment methodologies and additional

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downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors, which may adversely affect our future profitability.

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

Although we do not currently have any products on the market, once we begin commercializing our product candidates, we will be 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, physicians and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval. Our future arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute our product candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include the following:

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the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service, for which payment may be made under federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. Violations are subject to civil and criminal fines and penalties for each violation, plus up to three times the remuneration involved, imprisonment of up to ten years, and exclusion from government healthcare programs. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal False Claims Act or federal civil money penalties. The Anti-Kickback Statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers, on the one hand, and prescribers, purchasers and formulary managers, on the other. The HHS, Office of Inspector General, or OIG, heavily scrutinizes relationships between pharmaceutical companies and persons in a position to generate referrals for or the purchase of their products, such as physicians, other healthcare providers, and pharmacy benefit managers, among others. However, there are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting some common activities from prosecution;
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the federal civil and criminal false claims and civil monetary penalties laws, including the federal False Claims Act, or FCA, which imposes criminal and civil penalties, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government. Manufacturers can be held liable under the FCA even when they do not submit claims directly to government payors if they are deemed to “cause” the submission of false or fraudulent claims. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items and services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false of fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. The federal False Claims Act also permits a private individual acting as a “whistleblower” to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act and to share in any monetary recovery;
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the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, which imposes criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program (e.g. public or private), or knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services; similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation;
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the federal physician payment transparency requirements, sometimes referred to as the “Sunshine Act” under the ACA, which require manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies that are reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to report to HHS information related to transfers of value made to physicians, nurse practitioners, certified nurse anesthetists, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, and certified nurse midwives as well as teaching hospitals. Manufacturers are also required to disclose ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members;

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•
federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers; and
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federal price reporting laws, which require manufacturers to calculate and report complex pricing metrics to government programs, where such reported prices may be used in the calculation of reimbursement and/or discounts on approved products.

We may also be 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, also govern 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. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with an applicable legal requirement could result in penalties and reputational harm.

In the United States, to help patients afford our approved product, we may utilize programs to assist them, including patient assistance programs and co-pay coupon programs for eligible patients. Government enforcement agencies have shown increased interest in pharmaceutical companies’ product and patient assistance programs, including reimbursement support services, and a number of investigations into these programs have resulted in significant civil and criminal settlements. In addition, at least one insurer has directed its network pharmacies to no longer accept co-pay coupons for certain specialty drugs the insurer identified. Our co-pay coupon programs could become the target of similar insurer actions. In addition, in November 2013, the CMS issued guidance to the issuers of qualified health plans sold through the ACA’s marketplaces encouraging such plans to reject patient cost-sharing support from third parties and indicating that the CMS intends to monitor the provision of such support and may take regulatory action to limit it in the future. The CMS subsequently issued a rule requiring individual market qualified health plans to accept third-party premium and cost-sharing payments from certain government-related entities. In September 2014, the OIG of the HHS issued a Special Advisory Bulletin warning manufacturers that they may be subject to sanctions under the federal anti-kickback statute and/or civil monetary penalty laws if they do not take appropriate steps to exclude Part D beneficiaries from using co-pay coupons. Accordingly, companies exclude these Part D beneficiaries from using co-pay coupons. It is possible that changes in insurer policies regarding co-pay coupons and/or the introduction and enactment of new legislation or regulatory action could restrict or otherwise negatively affect these patient support programs, which could result in fewer patients using affected products, and therefore could have a material adverse effect on our sales, business, and financial condition.

Third party patient assistance programs that receive financial support from companies have become the subject of enhanced government and regulatory scrutiny. The OIG has established guidelines that suggest that it is lawful for pharmaceutical manufacturers to make donations to charitable organizations who provide co-pay assistance to Medicare patients, provided that such organizations, among other things, are bona fide charities, are entirely independent of and not controlled by the manufacturer, provide aid to applicants on a first-come basis according to consistent financial criteria and do not link aid to use of a donor’s product. However, donations to patient assistance programs have received some negative publicity and have been the subject of multiple government enforcement actions, related to allegations regarding their use to promote branded pharmaceutical products over other less costly alternatives. Specifically, in recent years, there have been multiple settlements resulting out of government claims challenging the legality of their patient assistance programs under a variety of federal and state laws. It is possible that we may make grants to independent charitable foundations that help financially needy patients with their premium, co-pay, and co-insurance obligations. If we choose to do so, and if we or our vendors or donation recipients are deemed to fail to comply with relevant laws, regulations or evolving government guidance in the operation of these programs, we could be subject to damages, fines, penalties, or other criminal, civil or administrative sanctions or enforcement actions. We cannot ensure that our compliance controls, policies, and procedures will be sufficient to protect against acts of our employees, business partners or vendors that may violate the laws or regulations of the jurisdictions in which we operate. Regardless of whether we have complied with the law, a government investigation could impact our business practices, harm our reputation, divert the attention of management, increase our expenses and reduce the availability of foundation support for our patients who need assistance.

The scope and enforcement of each 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 bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry.

Ensuring that our future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations could involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If

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our operations, including anticipated activities to be conducted by our sales team, were to be found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, the exclusion from participation in federal and state government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, reputational harm, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. It may also subject us to additional reporting obligations and oversight, if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement, deferred prosecution agreement, or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to similar criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological and radioactive 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. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties.

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. Current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, development and production efforts, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations.

Compliance with U.S. and global privacy and security requirements could result in additional costs and liabilities to us or inhibit our ability to collect and process data globally, and the failure to comply with such requirements could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, administrative burdens and diminished profits and future earnings.

The regulatory framework for the collection, use, safeguarding, sharing, transfer and other processing of personal information worldwide is rapidly evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. We possess and process sensitive information, including patient health information. 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. These federal and state laws, in many cases, are not preempted by HIPAA and may be subject to varying interpretations by the courts and government agencies. These varying interpretations can create complex compliance issues for us and our partners and potentially expose us to additional expense, adverse publicity and liability, any of which could adversely affect our business. There is ongoing concern from privacy advocates, regulators and others regarding data privacy and security issues, and the number of jurisdictions with data privacy and security laws has been increasing. Also, there are ongoing public policy discussions regarding whether the standards for de-identification, anonymization or pseudonymization of health information are sufficient, and the risk of re-identification sufficiently small, to adequately protect patient privacy. We expect that there will continue to be new proposed and amended laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security in the United States. For example, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, is a comprehensive privacy law that broadly defines personal information, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, and places stringent privacy and security obligations on businesses covered by the law, including obligations to provide detailed disclosures to California consumers about their data collection, use and sharing practices, and to provide such consumers with ways to opt out of certain sales or transfers of personal information. A state agency was created to regulate the implementation and enforcement of the CCPA which may increase the risk of regulatory fines and penalties. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties, and allows for a private right of action for certain types of data breaches, which may lead to increased data breach litigation risk.

Comprehensive laws similar to the CCPA have been passed in numerous other states outside of California. These laws are substantially similar in scope and contain many of the same requirements and exceptions as the CCPA, including a general exemption for clinical trial data and limited obligations for entities regulated by HIPAA. We cannot yet determine the full impact these laws or other such future laws, regulations and standards may have on our current or future business. Any of these laws may broaden their scope in the future, and similar laws have been proposed on both federal and state levels. Such proposed legislation, if enacted, may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional

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investment of resources in compliance programs, impact strategies and the availability of previously useful data and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in our business practices and policies.

In addition to comprehensive consumer privacy laws, certain states have enacted privacy laws with more limited focus. For example, the state of Washington passed the “My Health My Data Act” to protect medical and health information not subject to HIPAA. This law has a private right of action, which increases the relevant compliance risk. A small number of states have also passed similar laws regulating consumer health data. Other states have proposed and/or passed legislation that regulates the privacy and/or security of certain specific types of information. For example, a small number of states have passed laws that regulate biometric information. The existence of comprehensive privacy laws in different states in the country make our compliance obligations more complex and costly and may increase the likelihood that we may be subject to enforcement actions or otherwise incur liability for noncompliance. These various privacy and security laws may impact our business activities, including our identification of research subjects, relationships with business partners and ultimately the marketing and distribution of our products.

The collection, use, storage, disclosure, transfer or other processing of personal data regarding individuals in the EEA and UK, including personal health data, is subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, or EU GDPR, with respect to individuals in the EEA and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (following the incorporation of the EU GDPR into UK law), or UK GDPR, with respect to individuals in the UK, and together with the EU GDPR, GDPR. The GDPR is wide-ranging in scope and imposes numerous requirements on companies that process personal data, including requirements relating to having a legal basis or condition for processing personal data, stricter requirements relating to processing sensitive data (including health data), where required by GDPR obtaining consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, providing information to individuals regarding data processing activities, implementing safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data, providing notification of data breaches, requiring data protection impact assessments for high risk processing and taking certain measures when engaging third-party processors. The GDPR permits data protection authorities to impose large penalties for violations of the GDPR, including potential fines of up to €20 million (£17.5 million for the UK) or 4% of annual global revenues, whichever is greater. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies, and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR. The GDPR increased our responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process where such processing is subject to the GDPR, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the GDPR, including as implemented by individual countries. Compliance with the GDPR is a rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of doing business or require us to change our business practices, and despite those efforts, there is a risk that we may be subject to fines and penalties, litigation, and reputational harm in connection with our European activities.

The GDPR provides that EEA Member States may make their own further laws and regulations in relation to the processing of genetic, biometric or health data, which could result in differences between Member States, limit our ability to use and share personal data or could cause our costs to increase, and harm our business and financial condition.

The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EEA and UK not deemed adequate for the transfer of such personal data by competent data protection authorities, or third countries, including the United States in certain circumstances unless a derogation exists or we may need to incorporate a GDPR transfer mechanism (such as the European Commission approved standard contractual clauses, or SCCs or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or IDTA) into our agreements with third parties to govern such transfers of personal data and carry out transfer impact assessments. Further, the European Union and United States have adopted its adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, or the Framework, which entered into force on July 11, 2023. This Framework provides that the protection of personal data transferred between the European Union and the United States is comparable to that offered in the European Union. This provides a further avenue to ensuring transfers to the United States are carried out in line with GDPR. There has been an extension to the Framework to cover UK transfers to the United States. The Framework could be challenged like its predecessor frameworks. The international transfer obligations under the EEA and UK data protection regimes will require effort and cost and may result in us needing to make strategic considerations around where EEA/UK personal data is located and which service providers we can utilize for the processing of EEA/UK personal data.

Although the UK is regarded as a third country under the EU GDPR, the European Commission has issued an “Adequacy Decision” recognizing the UK as providing adequate protection under the EU GDPR and, therefore, transfers of personal data subject to the EU GDPR to the UK remain unrestricted. The UK government has confirmed that personal data transfers from the UK to the EEA remain free flowing.

Despite Brexit, the UK and EEA data protection regimes remain largely aligned. However, going forward, there is increasing risk for divergence in application, interpretation and enforcement of the data protection laws as between the UK and EEA, creating additional regulatory uncertainty. For example, the UK Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, or the UK Act, now in force, further differentiates the UK’s data protection regime. In December 2025, the European Commission adopted a decision determining that the UK continues to provide a level of data protection that is “essentially equivalent” to the EU standards and extended the validity of the UK adequacy decision for six years, through December 2031. While this renewal reduces immediate adequacy concerns, uncertainty remains regarding how UK data protection laws will evolve in the medium to longer term. The lack of clarity on future UK laws and regulations and their interaction with EU laws and regulations may affect our efforts to maintain a harmonized

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approach to processing European personal data and expose us to two parallel regimes where the UK GDPR and EU GDPR both apply with differing interpretation and enforcement approaches. This could increase our legal risk, uncertainty, complexity and compliance cost associated with the handling of European personal data, and may require us to adapt our privacy and data security compliance programs to account for legal and regulatory divergence between the UK and EEA. The European Commission has also proposed reforms under the “Digital Omnibus” package which, if adopted, may further modify GDPR-related requirements, including by clarifying the scope of “personal data” and the treatment of coded or de-identified data, potentially requiring further adjustments to our European privacy compliance framework. In the EEA, the NIS 2 Directive, or NIS 2, is replacing the cybersecurity legal framework under the current NIS framework, aiming to ensure a high level of cybersecurity in the region. NIS 2 expands on the scope of the current NIS framework, extending to additional sectors and expanding the list of in-scope healthcare organizations providing services in the EEA, including to certain providers engaged in research and development of medicinal products. To the extent applicable, the new regime imposes direct obligations on management regarding compliance with NIS 2, requiring covered organizations to put in place certain cyber risk management measures, and strengthens incident reporting requirements and provides supervisory authorities with greater oversight. The majority of these obligations will not come into force until national legislation implementing NIS 2 becomes effective in the relevant EU Member State. EU Member States had until October 17, 2024 to transpose NIS 2 into national legislation, although many countries have still not completed this process. As such, the cybersecurity regulatory landscape in the EU is currently fragmented and uncertain. To the extent we become subject to NIS 2, we may need to increase investment in our cybersecurity compliance programs. Under NIS 2, companies may be subject to administrative fines of up to the higher amount of €10 million or 2% of worldwide annual revenue.

European law further regulates our digital activities through the ePrivacy Directive in the EU and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations in the UK, each of which establishes obligations concerning our deployment of cookies and tracking technologies on our website and imposes requirements applicable to direct marketing communications. Failure to adhere to these obligations could subject us to regulatory fines, the magnitude of which varies by jurisdiction. Compliance with these requirements may affect our business operations and give rise to additional compliance burdens.

All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose potentially significant costs, such as costs related to organizational changes, implementing additional protection technologies, training employees and engaging consultants and legal advisors, which are likely to increase over time. In addition, such requirements may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, utilize management’s time and/or divert resources from other initiatives and projects. If we or third-party CDMOs, CROs or other contractors or consultants fail to comply with U.S. and international data protection laws and regulations, it could result in government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation, and/or adverse publicity and could negatively affect our operating results and business. Moreover, clinical trial subjects about whom we or our potential collaborators obtain information, as well as the providers who share this information with us, may contractually limit our ability to use and disclose the information. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights, failed to comply with data protection laws, or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The use of new and evolving technologies, such as artificial intelligence, in our business may result in spending material resources and presents risks and challenges that can impact our business including by posing security and other risks to our confidential and/or proprietary information, including personal information, and as a result we may be exposed to reputational harm and liability.

We may use and integrate artificial intelligence, or AI, into our business processes, and this innovation presents risks and challenges that could affect its adoption, and therefore our business. If we enable or offer solutions that draw controversy due to perceived or actual negative societal impact, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm or legal liability. The use of certain AI technology can give rise to cybersecurity and intellectual property risks, including compromises to personal or other confidential information, proprietary intellectual property and intellectual property infringement. To the extent we develop our own AI systems, then the risk of intellectual property infringement could arise from third party data sources being used to train our AI models, and from the output of AI systems reproducing or incorporating third party intellectual property rights, in each case without the right to do so. Further, a risk of our proprietary intellectual property rights being compromised through the use of AI could arise through third party vendors using our data to train their models and/or to generate output for other users of their systems. If our third party vendors use our data (which includes personal data) to train their AI models and/or to generate output for other users of their systems, this could also give rise to regulatory risks. Additionally, we expect to see increasing government and supranational regulation related to AI use and ethics, which may also significantly increase the burden and cost of research, development and compliance in this area. For example, the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, or the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive AI law, is currently in effect with respect to most of its provisions. As currently enacted, the AI Act, which may be amended as part of the EU’s Digital Omnibus, imposes significant obligations on providers and deployers of high risk AI systems, and encourages providers and deployers of AI systems to account for European Union ethical principles in their development and use of these systems. If we develop or use AI systems that are governed by the AI Act, it may necessitate ensuring higher standards of data quality, transparency, and human oversight, as well as adhering to specific and potentially burdensome and costly ethical, accountability, and administrative requirements.

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In the United States, the AI regulatory environment is complex and uncertain. States have advanced numerous AI-focused laws, such as the Colorado ADMT Act and CCPA regulations on automated decision-making, including on deployment of AI in healthcare settings, creating a fragmented compliance landscape that may heighten regulatory scrutiny and legal exposure. Certain privacy laws further regulate automated decision-making and confer individual rights, such as data deletion, that may be difficult to reconcile with AI-driven processes. At the federal level, the current Administration has endorsed a federal moratorium on the enforcement of state AI laws, including through a December 11, 2025, executive order on “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.” So far, these efforts have not been successful at curtailing state action on AI regulation, contributing to a complicated legislative patchwork, which may be litigated in state and federal courts.

The rapid evolution of AI will require the application of significant resources to design, develop, test and maintain our products and services to help ensure that AI is implemented in accordance with applicable law and regulation and in a socially responsible manner and to minimize any real or perceived unintended harmful impacts. Our vendors may in turn incorporate AI tools into their offerings, and the providers of these AI tools may not meet existing or rapidly evolving regulatory or industry standards, including with respect to privacy and data security. Further, bad actors around the world use increasingly sophisticated methods, including the use of AI, to engage in illegal activities involving the theft and misuse of personal information, confidential information and intellectual property. Any of these effects could damage our reputation, result in the loss of valuable property and information, cause us to breach applicable laws and regulations, and adversely impact our business.

Laws and regulations governing any international operations we may have in the future may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain products outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.

If we expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.

Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.

Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain products and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.

The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.

Risks Related to Employee Matters and Managing Growth

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

We are highly dependent on many of our key employees and members of our executive management team as well as the other principal members of our management, scientific and clinical teams. Although we have entered into employment letter agreements with certain of our executive officers, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain “key person” insurance for any of our executives or other employees. 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. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.

Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing and sales and marketing personnel will also be critical to our success. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees, including temporary loss due to illness, could impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to

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successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of and commercialize products. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. Failure to succeed in clinical trials may make it more challenging to recruit and retain qualified scientific personnel.

In particular, we have experienced a very competitive hiring environment in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts, where we are headquartered. Many of the other pharmaceutical companies that we compete against for qualified personnel have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than we do. They also may provide more diverse opportunities and better chances for career advancement. Some of these characteristics may be more appealing to high-quality candidates than what we have to offer. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, the rate and success with which we can discover and develop product candidates and our business will be limited.

We may be unable to adequately protect our information systems and infrastructure from cyberattacks or security compromises, cybersecurity incidents or data breaches, which could result in the disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, including personal data, damage our reputation, and subject us to significant financial and legal exposure.

We rely on information technology systems and infrastructure that we or our third-party providers operate to process, transmit and store electronic information in our day-to-day operations. In connection with our product discovery efforts, we may collect and use a variety of personal data and other confidential and/or proprietary data, such as names, mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and clinical trial information. A successful cyberattack could result in the theft, destruction or misuse of intellectual property, data, or other misappropriation of assets, or otherwise compromise our confidential or proprietary information and disrupt our operations. Cyberattacks generally are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, including in relation to the proliferation of artificial intelligence-enabled systems, and have become increasingly difficult to detect. Cyberattacks could include wrongful conduct by hostile foreign governments, insiders such as employees, contractors or other third-parties and industrial espionage, wire fraud and other forms of cyber fraud, the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, denial-of-service, social engineering fraud (including phishing attacks) or other means to threaten or compromise the security, confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and information. A successful cyberattack could cause serious negative consequences for us, including, without limitation, the disruption of operations, the misappropriation of protected information or confidential business information, including personal data, financial information, trade secrets, financial loss and the disclosure of corporate strategic plans.

Like other companies in our industry, we, and our third party vendors, have experienced, and will continue to experience, cybersecurity threats and incidents relating to our information technology systems and infrastructure. Although we devote resources designed to protect our information systems and infrastructure, we realize that cyberattacks are a threat, and there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent or adequately address information security compromises, incidents or breaches that would result in business, legal, financial or reputational harm to it, or would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Any failure to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents, data breaches, compromises or other improper access to, use of, or disclosure of protected information, including our clinical data or patients’ personal data could require us to notify impacted stakeholders (including affected individuals, regulators and investors) and result in significant liability through litigation and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, including under state (e.g., state breach notification and consumer protection laws), federal (e.g., HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, or HITECH), and international law (e.g., the GDPR), and may cause a material adverse impact to our reputation, affect our ability to conduct new studies and potentially disrupt our business.

We rely on our third-party providers to implement effective security measures and identify and correct for any such failures, deficiencies, vulnerabilities, compromises, cybersecurity incidents or data breaches. We also rely on our employees and consultants to safeguard their security credentials and follow our policies and procedures regarding use and access of computers and other devices that may contain protected information and our sensitive information. If we or our third-party providers fail to maintain or protect our information technology systems, infrastructure and data integrity effectively or fail to anticipate, plan for or manage significant disruptions to our information technology systems and infrastructure, we or our third-party providers could have difficulty preventing, detecting and controlling such cyber-attacks, and any such attacks could result in the losses described above as well as disputes with physicians, patients and our partners, regulatory sanctions or penalties, increases in operating expenses, expenses or lost revenue or other adverse consequences, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, prospects and cash flows. Any failure by such third parties to prevent or adequately mitigate cybersecurity incidents, data breaches, compromises or other improper access to or disclosure of such information could have similarly adverse consequences for us. If we are unable to prevent or adequately mitigate the impact of such cybersecurity incidents, compromises or data breaches, we could be exposed to litigation and governmental investigations, inquiries, orders, penalties or fines, which could lead to a potential disruption to our business and financial penalties or losses. By way of example, the CCPA creates individual privacy rights for California consumers and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal data. The CCPA provides for civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation, as well as a private right of action for certain types of data breaches that has, and is expected to continue to, increase the volume of data breach related litigation filed in

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California. Our contracts may not contain limitations of liability for data breaches we experience, and even where they do, there can be no assurance that such limits are sufficient to protect us from material damages or claims related to our privacy and data security obligations. Further, although we maintain cyber liability insurance, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities related to cybersecurity incidents or data breaches we may experience.

Technological developments, including advances in frontier artificial intelligence models, may increase the sophistication and speed of cybersecurity incidents and other malicious attacks that we experience. These technologies may enable threat actors to better identify vulnerabilities, develop targeted exploits, conduct phishing or social engineering campaigns, or otherwise compromise or breach our information systems more efficiently. Vulnerabilities that affect us or our third-party service providers may be exploited more rapidly, and although we maintain cybersecurity risk management processes designed to address cybersecurity threats, evolving artificial intelligence capabilities may reduce these safeguards’ effectiveness and require additional investments and resources.

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

As of September 30, 2026, we had 173 full-time employees and no part-time employees. We expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly as we mature as a public company and in the areas of product development, regulatory affairs and, in anticipation of the potential regulatory approval of bitopertin, 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, 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. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.

We have acquired, and in the future may acquire additional, businesses or products, and we may form strategic alliances or create joint ventures with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our existing business. If we acquire businesses with promising markets or technologies, we may not be able to realize the benefit of acquiring such businesses if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture. We may encounter numerous difficulties in developing, manufacturing and marketing any new products resulting from a strategic alliance or acquisition that delay or prevent us from realizing their expected benefits or enhancing our business. We cannot assure you that, following any such acquisition, we will achieve the expected synergies to justify the transaction.

General Risk Factors

Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect the Company’s current and projected business operations and its financial condition and results of operations.

Events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each placed into receivership. Although a statement by the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC indicated that all depositors of SVB (such as our Company) would have access to all of their money after only one business day of closure, including funds held in uninsured deposit accounts, borrowers under credit agreements, letters of credit and certain other financial instruments with SVB, Signature Bank or any other financial institution that is placed into receivership by the FDIC may be unable to access undrawn amounts thereunder. Subsequent to these events, additional financial institutions have experienced similar failures and have been placed into receivership. It is possible that other banks will face similar difficulty in the future.

Although we assess our banking relationships as we believe necessary or appropriate, our access to funding sources and other credit arrangements in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize our current and projected future business operations could be significantly impaired by factors that affect the Company, the financial institutions with which the Company has credit agreements or arrangements directly, such as Hercules Capital, or the financial services industry or economy in general. These factors could include, among others, events such as liquidity constraints or failures, the ability to perform obligations under various types of financial, credit or liquidity agreements or arrangements, disruptions or instability in the financial services industry or financial markets, or concerns or negative expectations about the prospects for companies in the financial services industry. These factors could involve financial institutions or financial services industry companies with which the Company has financial or business relationships, but could also include factors involving financial markets or the financial services industry generally.

In addition, investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic limitations on

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access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for us to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any decline in available funding or access to our cash and liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, financial obligations or fulfill our other obligations, result in breaches of our financial and/or contractual obligations or result in violations of federal or state wage and hour laws. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting from the factors described above or other related or similar factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts on our liquidity and our current and/or projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in tax law may adversely affect us or our investors.

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, or IRS, and the U.S. Treasury Department. Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect us or holders of our common stock. In recent years, many such changes have been made and changes are likely to continue to occur in the future. For example, on July 4, 2025, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” or OBBBA, was signed into law, which is considered the enactment date under U.S. GAAP. Key corporate tax provisions include the restoration of 100% bonus depreciation, immediate expensing for domestic research and experimental expenditures, changes to Section 163(j) interest limitations, updates to GILTI and FDII rules, amendments to energy credits, and expanded Section 162(m) aggregation requirements. In accordance with ASC Topic 740, the effects of the new tax law will be recognized in the period of enactment. The Company has evaluated the impact of the OBBBA, and although we do not expect the legislation to have a material financial statement effect, it cannot be predicted whether, when, in what form or with what effective dates other tax laws, regulations and rulings may be enacted, promulgated or issued, 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. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations, rulings or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the potential consequences of changes in tax law on our business and on the ownership and disposition of our common stock.

Our future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

As of December 31, 2025, we had federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $342.9 million and $331.8 million, respectively. Substantially all of the federal net operating loss carryforwards are not subject to expiration and the state net operating loss carryforwards begin to expire in 2037. As of December 31, 2025, we also had federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $32.1 million and $4.3 million, respectively, which begin to expire in 2037. These net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards could expire unused and be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. Under current law, unused U.S. federal and certain state 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. For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, the deductibility of U.S. federal net operating losses generated for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 is limited to 80% of our taxable income in any future taxable year. In addition, in general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change net operating losses or tax credits, or NOLs or credits, to offset future taxable income or taxes. For these purposes, an ownership change generally occurs when one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who each owns at least 5% of a corporation’s stock increase their aggregate stock ownership by more than 50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage (by value) within a specified testing period. Our existing NOLs or credits may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if we undergo an ownership change, our ability to utilize NOLs or credits could be further limited by Sections 382 and 383 of the Code. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, many of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code. Our NOLs or credits may also be impaired under state law. Accordingly, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of our NOLs or credits.

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

Among other matters, U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions and other trade laws and regulations, which are collectively referred to as Trade Laws, prohibit 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 recipients in the public or private sector. Violations of Trade 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 in time. We currently engage, and expect to continue to engage, third parties for clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other regulatory approvals and 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.

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Significant political, trade or regulatory developments, unfavorable global economic conditions, and other circumstances beyond our control, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. For example, in 2008, the global financial crisis caused extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets and the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant volatility and uncertainty in U.S. and international markets. See “Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of Our Product Candidates-A public health crisis, pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak of an infectious or highly contagious disease may materially and adversely affect our business and financial results and could cause a disruption to the development of our product candidates.” In addition, the impact of geopolitical tension, such as a deterioration in the bilateral relationship between the United States and China or an escalation in conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States and Iran, and in the Middle East, including any resulting sanctions, export controls or other restrictive actions, also could lead to disruption, instability and volatility in the global markets. For example, in 2025, the United States imposed tariffs on imports on its trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, the EU and China. Historically, tariffs have led to increased political and trade tensions. In response to tariffs, other countries have implemented retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Political tensions as a result of trade policies could reduce trade volume, investment, technological exchange and other economic activities between major international economies, resulting in a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including, weakened demand for our product candidates and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could also strain our suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption, or cause our customers to delay making payments for our products.

In addition, other circumstances beyond our control could cause business disruptions that could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. Our operations, and those of our vendors and suppliers, could be subject to power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, civil unrest, labor disputes, violence, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions or other circumstances beyond our control could adversely impact our business.

Our employees, principal investigators, CROs and consultants may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements or insider trading.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees, principal investigators, CROs and consultants may engage in fraudulent conduct 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 the regulations of the FDA and other regulatory authorities, including those laws requiring the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such authorities; healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations in the United States and abroad; or laws that require the reporting of financial information or data accurately. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. Other activities subject to these laws include the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials or creating fraudulent data in our preclinical studies or clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. We have adopted a code of conduct applicable to all of our employees, but 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 comply with these laws or regulations. Additionally, we are subject to the risk that a person 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 ourself or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.

The market price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile.

Historically, the market price of our common stock has fluctuated over a wide range, and it is likely that the price of our common stock will continue to be volatile in the future. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

•
results of clinical trials and preclinical studies of our product candidates, or those of our competitors or our existing or future collaborators;

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•
failure to meet or exceed financial and development projections we may provide to the public;
•
failure to meet or exceed the financial and development projections of the investment community;
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announcements of significant acquisitions, strategic collaborations, joint ventures or capital commitments by us or our competitors;
•
actions taken by regulatory agencies with respect to our product candidates, clinical studies, and manufacturing processes, our ability to receive regulatory approval for product candidates, and the terms of such approvals;
•
disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters, and our ability to obtain patent protection for our technologies;
•
additions or departures of key personnel;
•
significant lawsuits, including patent or stockholder litigation;
•
if securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they issue adverse or misleading opinions regarding our business and stock;
•
changes in the market valuations of similar companies;
•
general market or macroeconomic conditions or market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors;
•
sales of securities by us or our security holders in the future;
•
if we fail to raise an adequate amount of capital to fund our operations and continued development of our product candidates;
•
trading volume of our common stock;
•
announcements by competitors of new commercial products, clinical progress or lack thereof, significant contracts, commercial relationships or capital commitments;
•
adverse publicity relating to our hematology-focused product candidates;
•
the introduction of technological innovations or new therapies that compete with our products and services; and
•
period-to-period fluctuations in our financial results.

Moreover, the stock markets in general have experienced substantial volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may also adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. In addition, a recession, depression or other sustained adverse market event could materially and adversely affect our business and the value of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, stockholders have often instituted class action securities litigation against such companies. Furthermore, market volatility may lead to increased shareholder activism if we experience a market valuation that activists believe is not reflective of our intrinsic value. Activist campaigns that contest or conflict with our strategic direction or seek changes in the composition of our board of directors could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We have incurred and will continue to incur increased costs and increased demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies.

We will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses as a public company that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel devote and will need to continue to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations have increased and will continue to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. Any changes we make to comply with these obligations may not be sufficient to allow us to satisfy our obligations as a public company on a timely basis, or at all. These reporting requirements, rules and regulations, coupled with the increase in potential litigation exposure associated with being a public company, could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the board of directors or on board committees or to serve as executive officers, or to obtain certain types of insurance, including directors’ and officers’ insurance, on acceptable terms.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our common stock.

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Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, is designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. As described further below, we have previously identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. Any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404, or any testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal additional deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement.

Pursuant to Section 404, we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting. To continue to achieve and maintain compliance with Section 404, we engage in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, from time to time we may not be able to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404.

In addition, as we no longer qualify as a non-accelerated filer or an emerging growth company, we are required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may not have adequate, accurate or timely financial information, and our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse. A material weakness could result in a restatement of our financial statements, failure to meet our reporting obligations in a timely manner, the imposition of sanctions, including the inability of registered broker dealers to make a market in our common stock, or investigation by regulatory authorities. Any such action or other negative results caused by our inability to meet our reporting requirements or comply with legal and regulatory requirements or by disclosure of an accounting, reporting or control issue could adversely affect the trading price of our securities and our business. Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could also reduce our ability to obtain financing or could increase the cost of any financing we obtain. Any of these could, in turn, result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

We have previously identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting and may identify additional material weaknesses in the future or otherwise fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, which may result in material misstatements of our consolidated financial statements or cause us to fail to meet our periodic reporting obligations.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As disclosed under Item 9A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, we previously identified a material weakness in internal controls related to a lack of design and maintenance of effective Information Technology General Controls, or ITGCs, over certain key financial IT systems. As a result, the related business process controls (specifically, the IT application controls and IT-dependent manual controls) that are dependent on the ineffective ITGCs, or that use information produced from the systems impacted by the ineffective ITGCs, were also ineffective. Although the material weakness did not result in any material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements for the periods presented and there were no changes to previously released financial results, our management concluded that these control deficiencies constituted a material weakness and that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2024.

As a result of the material weakness, we (i) developed and implemented additional training and awareness programs addressing ITGCs and policies, including educating control owners concerning the principles and requirements of each control, with a focus on user access; (ii) increased the extent of oversight and verification checks included in the operation of user access and program change management controls and processes; (iii) deployed additional tools to support administration of user access and program change management; and (iv) enhanced quarterly management reporting on the remediation measures to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. As of December 31, 2025, the material weakness had been remediated.

Although we have remediated this material weakness, investor perceptions of our company may suffer as a result of this previous material weakness or any future material weakness in our internal controls and cause a decline in the price of our common stock.

Provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us more difficult and may discourage any takeover attempts our stockholders may consider favorable, and may lead to entrenchment of management.

Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could delay or prevent changes in control or changes in management without the consent of the board of directors. These provisions will include the following:

•
a board of directors divided into three classes serving staggered three-year terms, such that not all members of the board will be elected at one time;
•
no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;

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•
a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which means that all stockholder action must be taken at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders;
•
a requirement that special meetings of stockholders be called only by the chairman of the board of directors, the Chief Executive Officer or by a majority of the total number of authorized directors;
•
advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and nominations for election to the board of directors;
•
a requirement that no member of the board of directors may be removed from office by stockholders except for cause and, in addition to any other vote required by law, upon the approval of not less than two-thirds of all outstanding shares of voting stock then entitled to vote in the election of directors;
•
a requirement of approval of not less than two-thirds of all outstanding shares of voting stock to amend any bylaws by stockholder action or to amend specific provisions of the certificate of incorporation; and
•
the authority of the board of directors to issue preferred stock on terms determined by the board of directors without stockholder approval and which preferred stock may include rights superior to the rights of the holders of common stock.

In addition, these provisions would apply even if we were to receive an offer that some stockholders may consider beneficial.

We will also be subject to the anti-takeover provisions contained in Section 203 of the DGCL, or Section 203. Under Section 203, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 15% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for three years or, among other exceptions, the board of directors has approved the transaction.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against it arising pursuant to any provisions of the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The exclusive forum provision does not apply to actions arising under the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act. The provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in the certificate of incorporation and bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We do not anticipate that we will pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

The current expectation is that we will retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the growth of our business as opposed to paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain, if any, for the foreseeable future.

Sales of a significant number of shares by existing stockholders could cause our stock price to decline.

If our existing securityholders sell, or indicate an intention to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the trading price of our common stock could decline. As of September 30, 2026, we had 38,619,312 shares of common stock outstanding. All outstanding shares of common stock, other than shares held by our affiliates are freely tradable, without restriction, in the public market. In addition, shares of common stock that are subject to outstanding options of ours are or will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting agreements and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. If these shares are sold, the trading price of our common stock could decline.

Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders have the ability to significantly influence all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval.

As of September 30, 2026, our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders, in the aggregate, beneficially owned approximately 30% of our outstanding shares of common stock. As a result, if these stockholders were to choose to act together, they would be able to significantly influence all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they choose to act together, would significantly influence the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of voting power could delay or prevent an acquisition of us on terms that other stockholders may desire.

If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish unfavorable research or reports, about us, our business or our market, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

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The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. Equity research analysts may elect not to provide research coverage of our common stock, and such lack of research coverage may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. In the event we do have equity research analyst coverage, we will not have any control over the analysts or the content and opinions included in their reports. The price of our common stock could decline if one or more equity research analysts downgrade our stock or issue other unfavorable commentary or research. If one or more equity research analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

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ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

(a) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

(b) Use of Proceeds from Initial Public Offering

Not applicable.

(c) Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

None.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION

(a)

Termination of Cantor ATM Agreement

On November 4, 2026, Cantor acknowledged and accepted our prior written notice to terminate the Cantor ATM Agreement, effective November 4, 2026.

Entry into TD Cowen Sales Agreement

On November 5, 2026, we entered into a Sales Agreement, or the TD Cowen ATM Agreement, with TD Securities (USA) LLC, or TD Cowen, with respect to an “at-the-market” offering program under which we may issue and sell, from time to time at our sole discretion, shares of our common stock, having an aggregate offering price of up to approximately $189.9 million, or the Shares, through TD Cowen. The issuance and sale, if any, of the Shares may be by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415 of the Securities Act, including, without limitation, sales made directly on Nasdaq.

We are not obligated to sell any of the Shares, and TD Cowen is not required to sell any specific number or dollar amount of the Shares under the TD Cowen ATM Agreement. We or TD Cowen may suspend or terminate the offering of the Shares upon notice to the other party and subject to other conditions.

Subject to our request to sell the Shares, TD Cowen will act on a best efforts basis and use commercially reasonable efforts to sell the Shares on our behalf, from time to time consistent with its normal sales practices and applicable state and federal laws, rules and regulations and Nasdaq rules, based upon instructions from us (including any price, time or size limits or other customary parameters or conditions we may impose). We will pay TD Cowen a commission of up to 3.0 percent (3.0%) of the gross proceeds of any of the Shares sold through TD Cowen under the TD Cowen ATM Agreement. Pursuant to the TD Cowen ATM Agreement we have also provided TD Cowen with customary indemnification and contribution rights.

The foregoing description of the TD Cowen ATM Agreement is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of such agreement, a copy of which is filed herewith as Exhibit 10.6 and incorporated herein by reference. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities discussed herein, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation, or sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

(b)

None.

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(c)

The following table discloses any officer (as defined in Rule 16a-1(f) under the Exchange Act) or director who entered into, modified or terminated a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement or non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement (as such terms are defined in Item 408 of Regulation S-K) during the three months ended September 30, 2026:

Name and Title

 

Type of Trading Arrangement

 

Action Taken
(Date of Action)

 

Duration or End Date

 

Aggregate Number of Securities to be Sold

 

Description of Trading Arrangement

William Savage, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer

 

Trading plan intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Securities Exchange Act Rule 10b5-1(c)

 

Adoption
(
September 15, 2026)

 

End Date
(
March 19, 2027)

 

Up to 23,8861

 

Sale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1) The aggregate number of shares available for sale cannot yet be determined, as it will be reduced by the number of shares sold to cover tax withholding obligations upon the vesting of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). For disclosure purposes, the figures in this table reflect the maximum number of shares underlying the RSUs, without deducting shares that may be sold to cover taxes.

 

 

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ITEM 6. EXHIBITS.

The exhibits filed as part of this Quarterly Report are set forth on the Exhibit Index, which is incorporated herein by reference.

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit Number

 

Description

2.1†

 

Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization, dated as of August 9, 2022, by and among Gemini Therapeutics, Inc. Gemstone Merger Sub, Inc. and Disc Medicine, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Annex A to the Registrant’s Proxy Statement/Prospectus on Form S-4 filed on September 2, 2022).

3.1

 

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Disc Medicine, Inc., dated February 5, 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 11, 2021).

3.2

 

Certificate of Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Disc Medicine, Inc., dated December 28, 2022 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 29, 2022).

3.3

 

Certificate of Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Disc Medicine, Inc., dated December 29, 2022 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 29, 2022).

3.4

 

Amended and Restated By-laws of Disc Medicine, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Annex C to the Registrant's Proxy Statement/Prospectus on Form S-4/A filed on January 19, 2021 (Registration No. 333-249785)).

10.1*#

 

Amended and Restated Employment Agreement, dated as of July 29, 2026, by and between Disc Medicine, Inc. and John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D.

10.2*#

 

Amended and Restated Employment Agreement, dated as of July 29, 2026, by and between Disc Medicine, Inc. and Jean Franchi.

10.3*#

 

Amended and Restated Employment Agreement, dated as of July 29, 2026, by and between Disc Medicine, Inc. and Pamela Stephenson, M.P.H.

10.4*#

 

Amended and Restated Employment Agreement, dated as of July 29, 2026, by and between Disc Medicine, Inc. and William Savage, M.D., Ph.D.

10.5*#

 

Amended and Restated Employment Agreement, dated as of July 29, 2026, by and between Disc Medicine, Inc. and Jonathan Yu, M.B.A.

10.6*

 

Sales Agreement, dated as of November 5, 2026, by and between Disc Medicine, Inc. and TD Securities (USA) LLC.

31.1*

 

Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

31.2*

 

Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

32.1**

 

Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

101.INS

 

Inline XBRL Instance Document

101.SCH

 

Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema With Embedded Linkbase Documents

104

 

Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document)

 

* Filed herewith.

** The certifications furnished in Exhibit 32.1 hereto are deemed to be furnished with this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and will not be deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, except to the extent that the Registrant specifically incorporates it by reference.

† The annexes, schedules, and certain exhibits to the Merger Agreement have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. The Registrant hereby agrees to furnish supplementally a copy of any omitted annex, schedule or exhibit to the Commission upon request.

# Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan.

 

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

Date: November 5, 2026

By:

/s/ John Quisel

John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

(Principal Executive Officer)

Date: November 5, 2026

By:

/s/ Jean Franchi

Jean Franchi

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

 

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EX-10.1

 

Exhibit 10.1

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Amended and Restated Employment Agreement (“Agreement”) is made between Disc Medicine, Inc., (the “Company”), and John D. Quisel, J.D., Ph.D. (“You”) and is effective as of July 29, 2026 (the “Effective Date”). Except with respect to the Restrictive Covenants Agreements and the Equity Documents (each as defined below), this Agreement supersedes in all respects all prior agreements between you and the Company regarding the subject matter herein, including without limitation the prior employment agreement between you and the Company, executed on or about December 29, 2022 (the “Prior Agreement”).

WHEREAS, the Company desires to continue to employ you and you desire to continue to be employed by the Company on the new terms and conditions contained herein.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1.
Employment.
(a)
Term. The Company shall employ you and you shall be employed by the Company pursuant to this Agreement commencing as of the Effective Date and continuing until such employment is terminated in accordance with the provisions hereof (the “Term”). Your employment with the Company will continue to be “at will,” meaning that your employment may be terminated by the Company or you at any time and for any reason subject to the terms of this Agreement.
(b)
Position and Duties. You shall serve as the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Company and shall report directly to the Board of Directors (including any committee thereof, the “Board”). You shall have supervision and control over, and responsibility for, the day-to-day business and affairs of the Company, and you shall have such other powers and duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the Board which are

 


 

consistent with your position as CEO. In addition, you shall have the Board’s recommendation to the Company’s stockholders to continue to serve on the Board as long as you remain the CEO of the Company. You shall devote your full working time and efforts to the business and affairs of the Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may serve on other boards of directors, with the approval of the Board, which approval shall not unreasonably be withheld by the Board, or engage in religious, charitable or other community activities as long as such services and activities are disclosed to the Board and do not interfere with your performance of your duties to the Company. Your service as a board member of each of Gossamer Therapeutics, Inc., Lask Pharma, Inc., Spolia Therapeutics, Inc. and Calytrix Bio, Inc. remain approved. To the extent applicable, you shall be deemed to have resigned from all officer and board member positions that you hold with the Company or any of its respective subsidiaries and affiliates upon the termination of your employment for any reason. You shall execute any documents in reasonable form as may be requested to confirm or effectuate any such resignations.
2.
Compensation and Related Matters.
(a)
Base Salary. Your initial base salary shall be paid at the rate of $735,000 per year. Your base salary shall be subject to periodic review and increase (but not decrease, except for an across-the-board reduction of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company) by the Board or the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”). The base salary in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Base Salary.” The Base Salary shall be payable in a manner that is consistent with the Company’s usual payroll practices for executive officers.
(b)
Incentive Compensation. You shall be eligible to receive cash incentive compensation as determined by the Board or the Compensation Committee from time to time. Your target annual incentive compensation shall be sixty percent (60%) of your Base Salary. The target annual incentive compensation in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Target Bonus.” The actual amount of your annual incentive compensation, if any, shall be determined in the sole discretion of the Board or the Compensation Committee, subject to the terms of any applicable incentive compensation plan that may be in effect from time to time (the “Bonus”). Except as otherwise provided herein, to earn incentive compensation, you must be employed by the Company on the day such incentive

2


 

compensation is paid. The incentive compensation for each fiscal year will be paid no later than two and a half months following such fiscal year.
(c)
Expenses. You shall be entitled to receive prompt reimbursement for all reasonable expenses incurred by you during the Term in performing services hereunder, in accordance with the policies and procedures then in effect and established by the Company for its executive officers.
(d)
Other Benefits. You shall be eligible to participate in or receive benefits under the Company’s employee benefit plans in effect from time to time, subject to the terms of such plans.
(e)
Paid Time Off. You shall be entitled to take paid time off in accordance with the Company’s applicable paid time off policy for executives, as may be in effect from time to time. You shall also be entitled to all paid holidays given by the Company to its employees.
(f)
Equity. The equity awards held by you shall continue to be governed by the terms and conditions of the Company’s applicable equity incentive plan(s) and the applicable award agreement(s) governing the terms of such equity awards held by you (collectively, the “Equity Documents”); provided, however, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Equity Documents, Section 5(d) of this Agreement shall apply in the event of termination by the Company without Cause or by you for Good Reason, in either event outside of the Change of Control Period, and Section 6(a)(ii) of this Agreement shall apply in the event of a termination by the Company without Cause or by you for Good Reason in either event within the Change in Control Period (as such terms are defined below).
3.
Termination. Your employment hereunder may be terminated without any breach of this Agreement under the following circumstances:
(a)
Death. Your employment hereunder shall terminate upon your death.
(b)
Disability. The Company may terminate your employment due to your “Disability” if you are unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions under this Agreement with or without reasonable accommodation for a period of 180 days (which need not be consecutive) in any 12-month period. If any question shall arise as to whether during any period you are disabled so as to be unable to perform the essential

3


 

functions of your then existing position or positions with or without reasonable accommodation, you may, and at the request of the Company shall, submit to the Company a certification in reasonable detail by a physician selected by the Company who is board certified in the specialty relevant to your medical condition to whom you or your guardian has no reasonable objection as to whether you are disabled or how long such disability is expected to continue, and such certification shall for the purposes of this Agreement be conclusive of the issue. You shall cooperate with any reasonable request of the physician in connection with such certification. If such question shall arise and you shall fail to submit such certification, the Company’s reasonable determination of such issue shall be binding on you. Nothing in this Section 3(b) shall be construed to waive your rights, if any, under existing law including, without limitation, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq. and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
(c)
Termination by Company for Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder for Cause. For purposes of this Agreement, “Cause” shall mean any of the following:
(i)
conduct by you constituting a material act of intentional misconduct in connection with the performance of your duties, including, without limitation, (A) willful failure or willful refusal to perform material responsibilities that have been lawfully requested by the Board; (B) intentional dishonesty to the Board with respect to any material matter; or (C) intentional misappropriation of funds or property of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates other than the occasional, customary and de minimis use of Company property for personal purposes;
(ii)
the commission by you of (A) any felony or (B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, deceit, dishonesty or fraud;
(iii)
any intentional misconduct by you, regardless of whether or not in the course of your employment, that results in material injury or material reputational harm to the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates if you were to continue to be employed in the same position;
(iv)
your continued willful non-performance by you of your duties hereunder (other than by reason of your physical or mental illness, incapacity or Disability) which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such non-performance from the Board;

4


 

(v)
a material breach by you of any of the provisions contained in Section 8 of this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreements and, if such breach is curable, has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such material breach (as defined below); or
(vi)
your willful failure to reasonably cooperate with a bona fide internal investigation or an investigation by regulatory or law enforcement authorities, after being reasonably instructed by the Company to cooperate, or the willful destruction or failure to preserve documents or other materials known to be relevant to such investigation or the willful inducement of others to fail to cooperate or to produce documents or other materials in connection with such investigation.
(d)
Termination by the Company without Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder at any time without Cause. Any termination by the Company of your employment under this Agreement which does not constitute a termination for Cause under Section 3(c) and does not result from the death or Disability of you under Section 3(a) or (b) shall be deemed a termination without Cause.
(e)
Termination by You. You may terminate employment hereunder at any time for any reason, including but not limited to, Good Reason. For purposes of this Agreement, “Good Reason” shall mean that you have completed all steps of the Good Reason Process (hereinafter defined) following the occurrence of any of the following events without your written consent (each, a “Good Reason Condition”):
(i)
a material diminution in your responsibilities, authority or duties
(ii)
a material diminution in your Base Salary except for across-the-board salary reductions of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company;
(iii)
a material change of at least thirty (30) miles of the location of the physical Company office to which you report (which to avoid doubt does not include any home office you may have);
(iv)
a breach by the Company of the material terms of this Agreement or any other written agreement between the Company and you; or

5


 

(v)
the Company’s requiring you to report to someone other than the Board.

The “Good Reason Process” consists of the following steps:

(vi)
you reasonably determine in good faith that a Good Reason Condition has occurred;
(vii)
you notify the Company in writing of the first occurrence of the Good Reason Condition within 60 days of the first occurrence of such condition;
(viii)
you cooperate in good faith with the Company’s efforts, for a period of not less than 30 days following such notice (the “Cure Period”), to remedy the Good Reason Condition;
(ix)
notwithstanding such Cure Period, the Good Reason Condition continues to exist; and
(x)
you terminate employment within 60 days after the end of the Cure Period.

If the Company cures the Good Reason Condition during the Cure Period, Good Reason shall be deemed not to have occurred.

If your employment with the Company is terminated for any reason, the Company shall pay or provide to you (or your authorized representative or estate) (i) any Base Salary earned through the Date of Termination; (ii) unpaid expense reimbursements (subject to, and in accordance with, Section 2(c) of this Agreement); (iii) any vested benefits you may have under any employee benefit plan of the Company through the Date of Termination, which vested benefits shall be paid and/or provided in accordance with the terms of such employee benefit plans; and (iv) if your employment is terminated by the Company because of your death or Disability, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year your employment is terminated because of your death or Disability (collectively, the “Accrued Obligations”). The earned but unpaid Bonus in subsection (v) will be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

6


 

4.
Notice and Date of Termination.
(a)
Notice of Termination. Except for termination as specified in Section 3(a), any termination of your employment by the Company or any such termination by you shall be communicated by written Notice of Termination to the other party hereto. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Notice of Termination” shall mean a notice which shall indicate the specific termination provision in this Agreement relied upon.
(b)
Date of Termination. “Date of Termination” shall mean: (i) if your employment is terminated by death, the date of death; (ii) if your employment is terminated on account of Disability under Section 3(b) or by the Company for Cause under Section 3(c), the date on which Notice of Termination is given; (iii) if your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause under Section 3(d), the date on which a Notice of Termination is given or the date otherwise specified by the Company in the Notice of Termination; (iv) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) other than for Good Reason, 14 days after the date on which a Notice of Termination is given, and (v) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) for Good Reason, the date on which a Notice of Termination is given after the end of the Cure Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that you give a Notice of Termination to the Company, the Company may unilaterally accelerate the Date of Termination and such acceleration shall not result in a termination by the Company for purposes of this Agreement. However, the Company will continue paying you your Base Salary until the original Date of Termination.
5.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason Outside the Change in Control Period. If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), each outside of the Change in Control Period (as defined below), then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to (i) your signing a separation agreement and release in a form and manner reasonably satisfactory to the Company, which shall include, without limitation, a general release of claims against the Company and all related persons and entities, a reaffirmation of all of your Continuing Obligations (as defined below), and shall provide that if you materially breach any of the Continuing Obligations, and if such breach is curable, which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such breach, all payments of the Severance Amount shall immediately cease (the “Separation Agreement and Release”), and (ii) the Separation Agreement and Release becoming irrevocable, all within 60 days

7


 

after the Date of Termination (or such shorter period as set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release), which shall include a seven (7) business day revocation period:
(a)
the Company shall pay you an amount equal to twelve (12) months of your Base Salary (the “Severance Amount”); provided in the event you are entitled to any payments pursuant to the Restrictive Covenants Agreements, as a condition of such receipt of the Severance Amount, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Severance Amount will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreements;
(b)
the Company shall pay you, if applicable, a lump sum payment of: (i) a pro-rata share of your Target Bonus for the then-current fiscal year (based on the Date of Termination); and (ii) any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination with such earned, but unpaid Bonus to be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs;
(c)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended (“COBRA”), the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the twelve (12) month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates; and
(d)
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any applicable option agreement or other stock-based award agreement, twenty-five percent (25%) of all then-unvested time-based and other stock-based awards

8


 

subject to time-based vesting held by you (the “Time-Based Equity Awards”) shall immediately accelerate and become fully exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the later of (i) the Date of Termination or (ii) the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release (the “Accelerated Vesting Date”); provided that any termination or forfeiture of the unvested portion of such Time-Based Equity Awards that would otherwise occur on the Date of Termination in the absence of this Agreement will be delayed until the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release and will only occur if the vesting pursuant to this subsection does not occur due to the absence of the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective within the time period set forth therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no additional vesting of the Time-Based Equity Awards shall occur during the period between your Date of Termination and the Accelerated Vesting Date.

The amounts payable under Sections 5(a) and (c), to the extent taxable, shall be paid out in substantially equal installments in accordance with the Company’s payroll practice over twelve (12) months commencing within 60 days after the Date of Termination, and the amount payable under Section 5(b)(i), to the extent taxable, shall be paid within 60 days of the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, the Severance Amount, to the extent it qualifies as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), shall begin to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period; provided, further, that the initial payment shall include a catch-up payment to cover amounts retroactive to the day immediately following the Date of Termination. Each payment pursuant to this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2).

6.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason within the Change in Control Period. The provisions of this Section 6 shall apply in lieu of, and expressly supersede, the provisions of Section 5 if (i) your employment is terminated either (a) by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or (b) by you for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), and (ii) the Date of Termination is within 3 months prior to, or within 12 months after, the occurrence of the first event constituting a Change in Control (as defined below) (such period, the “Change in Control Period”). These provisions of Section 6 shall terminate and be of no further force or effect after a Change in Control Period.

9


 

(a)
If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d) or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e) and in either case the Date of Termination occurs during the Change in Control Period, then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to the signing of the Separation Agreement and Release by you and the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective, all within the time frame set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release but in no event more than 60 days after the Date of Termination:
(i)
the Company shall pay you a lump sum in cash in an amount equal to the sum of (A) twenty-one (21) months of your then current Base Salary (or your Base Salary in effect immediately prior to the Change in Control, if higher), (B) 1.75x your Target Bonus for the then-current fiscal year; and (C) any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, (the “Change in Control Payment”) provided that, if applicable and as a condition of such receipt of the Change in Control Payment, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Change in Control Payment will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreements; and
(ii)
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any applicable option agreement or other stock-based award agreement, all time-based stock options and other stock-based awards subject to time-based vesting held by you (the “Time-Based Equity Awards”) shall immediately accelerate and become fully exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the later of (i) the Date of Termination or (ii) the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release (the “Accelerated Vesting Date”); provided that any termination or forfeiture of the unvested portion of such Time-Based Equity Awards that would otherwise occur on the Date of Termination in the absence of this Agreement will be delayed until the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release and will only occur if the vesting pursuant to this subsection does not occur due to the absence of the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective within the time period set forth therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no additional vesting of the Time-Based Equity Awards shall occur during the period between your Date of Termination and the Accelerated Vesting Date; and
(iii)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under COBRA, the Company shall pay to the

10


 

group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the 18-month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under this Section 6(a) (other than 6(a)(i)(C)), to the extent taxable, shall be paid or commence to be paid within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, such payments to the extent they qualify as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, shall be paid or commence to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period. The amount payable under Section 6(a)(i)(C) shall be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

(b)
Additional Limitation.
(i)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, in the event that the amount of any compensation, payment or distribution by the Company to or for the benefit of you, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise, calculated in a manner consistent with Section 280G of the Code, and the applicable regulations thereunder (the “Aggregate Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code, then the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced (but not below zero) so that the sum of all of the Aggregate Payments shall be $1.00 less than the amount at which you became the subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code; provided that such reduction shall only occur if it would result in you receiving a higher After Tax Amount (as defined below) than you would receive if the Aggregate Payments were not subject to

11


 

such reduction. In such event, the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced in the following order, in each case, in reverse chronological order beginning with the Aggregate Payments that are to be paid the furthest in time from consummation of the transaction that is subject to Section 280G of the Code: (1) cash payments not subject to Section 409A of the Code; (2) cash payments subject to Section 409A of the Code; (3) equity-based payments and acceleration; and (4) non-cash forms of benefits; provided that in the case of all the foregoing Aggregate Payments all amounts or payments that are not subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c) shall be reduced before any amounts that are subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c).
(ii)
For purposes of this Section 6(b), the “After Tax Amount” means the amount of the Aggregate Payments less all federal, state, and local income, excise and employment taxes imposed on you as a result of your receipt of the Aggregate Payments. For purposes of determining the After Tax Amount, you shall be deemed to pay federal income taxes at the highest marginal rate of federal income taxation applicable to individuals for the calendar year in which the determination is to be made, and state and local income taxes at the highest marginal rates of individual taxation in each applicable state and locality, net of the maximum reduction in federal income taxes which could be obtained from deduction of such state and local taxes.
(iii)
The determination as to whether a reduction in the Aggregate Payments shall be made pursuant to Section 6(b)(i) shall be made by a nationally recognized accounting firm selected by the Company (the “Accounting Firm”), which shall provide detailed supporting calculations both to the Company and you within 15 business days of the Date of Termination, if applicable, or at such earlier time as is reasonably requested by the Company or you. Any determination by the Accounting Firm shall be binding upon the Company and you.
(iv)
Definitions. For the purposes of this Section 6, a “Change in Control” shall be deemed to have occurred upon the occurrence of any one of the following events: (a) the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company (i.e., >50% of the value) on a consolidated basis to one or more unrelated persons or entities, (b) a merger, reorganization or consolidation pursuant to which the holders of the Company’s outstanding voting power and outstanding stock immediately prior to such

12


 

transaction do not own a majority of the outstanding voting power or fair market value of the stock or other equity interests of the resulting or successor entity (or its ultimate parent, if applicable) immediately upon completion of such transaction, (c) the sale of all or substantially all of the stock of the Company to an unrelated person, entity or group thereof acting in concert, (d) any other transaction in which the owners of the Company’s outstanding voting power immediately prior to such transaction do not own at least a majority of the outstanding voting power of the Company or any successor entity immediately upon completion of the transaction other than as a result of the acquisition of securities directly from the Company, or (e) the date a majority of the members of the Board is replaced during any 12-month period by directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board before the date of the appointment or election provided that with respect to any of the clauses (a) through (e) any capital raising transaction of the Company (including the Company’s IPO) shall not be treated as a “Change in Control.” Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (other than the foregoing proviso), “Change in Control” shall be interpreted, administered and applied in a manner consistent and in compliance with a “change in control event” as set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-3(i)(5) (“Change in Control Event”).
7.
Section 409A.
(a)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, if at the time of your separation from service within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, the Company determines that you are a “specified employee” within the meaning of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, then to the extent any payment or benefit that you become entitled to under this Agreement or otherwise on account of your separation from service would be considered deferred compensation otherwise subject to the 20 percent additional tax imposed pursuant to Section 409A(a) of the Code as a result of the application of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, such payment shall not be payable and such benefit shall not be provided until the date that is the earlier of (A) six months and one day after your separation from service, or (B) your death. If any such delayed cash payment is otherwise payable on an installment basis, the first payment shall include a catch-up payment covering amounts that would otherwise have been paid during the six-month period but for the application of this provision, and the balance of the installments shall be payable in accordance with their original schedule.

13


 

(b)
All in-kind benefits provided and expenses eligible for reimbursement under this Agreement shall be provided by the Company or incurred by you during the time periods set forth in this Agreement. All reimbursements shall be paid as soon as administratively practicable, but in no event shall any reimbursement be paid after the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the expense was incurred. The amount of in-kind benefits provided or reimbursable expenses incurred in one taxable year shall not affect the in-kind benefits to be provided or the expenses eligible for reimbursement in any other taxable year (except for any lifetime or other aggregate limitation applicable to medical expenses). Such right to reimbursement or in-kind benefits is not subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit.
(c)
To the extent that any payment or benefit described in this Agreement constitutes “non-qualified deferred compensation” under Section 409A of the Code, and to the extent that such payment or benefit is payable upon your termination of employment, then such payments or benefits shall be payable only upon your “separation from service.” The determination of whether and when a separation from service has occurred shall be made in accordance with the presumptions set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑1(h).
(d)
The parties intend that this Agreement will be administered in accordance with Section 409A of the Code. To the extent that any provision of this Agreement is ambiguous as to its compliance with Section 409A of the Code, the provision shall be read in such a manner so that all payments hereunder comply with Section 409A of the Code. Each payment pursuant to this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreements is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑2(b)(2). The parties agree that this Agreement may be amended, as reasonably requested by either party, and as may be necessary to fully comply with Section 409A of the Code and all related rules and regulations in order to preserve the payments and benefits provided hereunder without additional cost to either party.
(e)
The Company makes no representation or warranty and shall have no liability to you or any other person if any provisions of this Agreement are determined to constitute deferred compensation subject to Section 409A of the Code but do not satisfy an exemption from, or the conditions of, such Section.

14


 

8.
Continuing Obligations.
(a)
Restrictive Covenants Agreement. The Disc Medicine, Inc. Employee Confidentiality, Assignment, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement effective as of November 1, 2019, the First Amendment to Offer Letter, dated January 29, 2020 and the Disc Medicine Employee Confidentiality, Assignment, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement dated January 29, 2020, each between the Company and you (the “Restrictive Covenants Agreements”), attached hereto as Exhibit A, continue to be in full force and effect. You acknowledge and agree that your eligibility for enhanced severance benefits provided by this Agreement constitutes additional, fair and reasonable consideration independent from the continuation of your employment, for the Restrictive Covenants Agreements. For purposes of this Agreement, the obligations in this Section 8 and those that arise in the Restrictive Covenants Agreements shall collectively be referred to as the “Continuing Obligations.”
(b)
Third-Party Agreements and Rights. You hereby confirm that you are not bound by the terms of any agreement with any previous employer or other party which restricts in any way your use or disclosure of information, other than confidentiality restrictions (if any), or your engagement in any business. You represent to the Company that your execution of this Agreement, your employment with the Company and the performance of your proposed duties for the Company will not violate any obligations you may have to any such previous employer or other party. In your work for the Company, you will not disclose or make use of any information in violation of any agreements with or rights of any such previous employer or other party, and you will not bring to the premises of the Company any copies or other tangible embodiments of non-public information belonging to or obtained from any such previous employment or other party.
(c)
Litigation and Regulatory Cooperation. During and after your employment, you shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in (i) the defense or prosecution of any claims or actions now in existence or which may be brought in the future against or on behalf of the Company which relate to events or occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company, and (ii) the investigation, whether internal or external, of any matters about which the Company believes you may have knowledge or information. Your full reasonable cooperation in connection with such claims, actions or investigations shall include, but not be limited to, being available to meet with counsel to answer questions or to prepare for discovery or trial and to act as a witness on behalf of the Company at mutually convenient times. During and after your employment, you also shall reasonably

15


 

cooperate fully with the Company in connection with any investigation or review of any federal, state or local regulatory authority as any such investigation or review relates to events or occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company. The Company shall reimburse you for any reasonable out‑of‑pocket expenses incurred in connection with your performance of obligations pursuant to this Section 8(c). The Company agrees that if you have provided fifteen (15) hours of cooperation to the Company after your Date of Termination, the Company shall pay you an hourly rate of $450 for any additional hours of cooperation, over the initial fifteen (15) hours, except for your testimony pursuant to a lawfully issued summons or subpoena. The Company further agrees that it will pay/reimburse your reasonable out-of-pocket expenses and fees within thirty (30) days of your submission of receipts and invoices to the Company.
(d)
Relief. You agree that it may be difficult to measure any damages caused to the Company which might result from any breach by you of the Continuing Obligations, and that in any event money damages may be an inadequate remedy for any such breach. Accordingly, you agree that if you breach, or propose to breach, any portion of the Continuing Obligations, the Company shall be entitled, in addition to all other remedies that it may have, to seek an injunction or other appropriate equitable relief to restrain any such breach without showing or proving any actual damage to the Company.
(e)
Protected Activities; Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. Nothing contained in this Agreement, any other agreement with the Company or any Company policy limits your ability, with or without notice to the Company, to: (i) file a charge or complaint with any federal, state or local governmental agency or commission (a “Government Agency”), including without limitation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission; (ii) communicate with any Government Agency or otherwise participate in any investigation or proceeding that may be conducted by an Government Agency, including by providing non-privileged documents or information; (iii) exercise any rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which are available to non-supervisory employees, including assisting co-workers with or discussing any employment issue as part of engaging in concerted activities for purpose of mutual aid or protection; (iv) discuss or disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have to believe is unlawful; or (v) testify truthfully in a legal proceeding. Any such communications and disclosures must not violate applicable law and the information disclosed must not have been

16


 

obtained through a communication that was subject to the attorney-client privilege (unless disclosure of that information would otherwise be permitted consistent with such privilege or applicable law). In addition, pursuant to the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, you shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law or under this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreements for the disclosure of a trade secret that (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
9.
Arbitration of Disputes.
(a)
Arbitration Generally. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof or otherwise arising out of your employment or the termination of that employment (including, without limitation, any claims of unlawful employment discrimination or retaliation, whether based on race, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class under applicable law, including without limitation Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be settled by arbitration in any forum and form agreed upon by the parties or, in the absence of such an agreement, under the auspices of JAMS in Boston, Massachusetts in accordance with the JAMS Employment Arbitration Rules, including, but not limited to, the rules and procedures applicable to the selection of arbitrators. You understand that you may only bring such claims in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class proceeding or any purported representative proceeding. You further understand that, by signing this Agreement, the Company and you are giving up any right they may have to a jury trial on all claims they may have against each other. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. This Section 9 shall be specifically enforceable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 9 shall not preclude either party from pursuing a court action for the sole purpose of obtaining a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction in circumstances in which such relief is appropriate, including without limitation relief sought under the Restrictive Covenants Agreements; provided that any other relief shall be pursued through an arbitration proceeding pursuant to this Section 9.
(b)
Arbitration Fees and Costs. You shall be required to pay an arbitration fee to initiate any arbitration equal to what you would be charged as a first appearance fee in court. The Company shall pay the

17


 

remaining fees and costs of the arbitrator. Each party shall pay its own costs and attorneys’ fees, if any. If, however, any party prevails on a statutory or contractual claim that entitles the prevailing party to attorneys’ fees (including pursuant to this Agreement), the arbitrator will award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party to the extent permitted by law.
10.
Consent to Jurisdiction. To the extent that any court action is permitted consistent with or to enforce Section 9 of this Agreement, the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accordingly, with respect to any such court action, you (a) submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts; (b) consent to service of process; (c) waive any other requirement (whether imposed by statute, rule of court, or otherwise) with respect to personal jurisdiction or service of process and (d) you and the Company waive any right to a jury in connection with any such court action.
11.
Indemnification. The “Indemnification Agreement” between the Company and you, dated December 29, 2022 (the “Indemnification Agreement”) is hereby incorporated by reference.
12.
No Mitigation. The Company agrees that if your employment by the Company is terminated during the term of this Agreement, you are not required to seek other employment or to attempt in any way to reduce any amounts payable to you by the Company pursuant to Sections 5 or 6 hereof. Further, the amount of any payment provided for in this Agreement shall not be reduced by any compensation earned by you.
13.
Integration. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements between the parties concerning such subject matter, including the Prior Agreement, provided that the Restrictive Covenants Agreements, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents remain in full force and effect.
14.
Withholding; Tax Effect. All payments made by the Company to you under this Agreement shall be net of any tax or other amounts required to be withheld by the Company under applicable law. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require the Company to make any payments to compensate you for any adverse tax effect associated with any payments or benefits or for any deduction or withholding from any payment or benefit.

18


 

15.
Assignment. Neither you nor the Company may make any assignment of this Agreement or any interest in it, by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other; provided, however, that the Company may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including the Restrictive Covenants Agreements) without your consent to any affiliate or to any person or entity with whom the Company shall hereafter effect a reorganization, consolidate with, or merge into or to whom it transfers all or substantially all of its properties or assets, but only on the condition that it assigns both its rights and obligations. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon you and the Company, and each of yours and the Company’s respective successors, executors, administrators, heirs, personal representatives, and permitted assigns. In the event of your death prior to the completion by the Company of any payments due to you under Sections 5 or 6 of this Agreement, the Company shall continue such payments to the beneficiary you designated in writing to the Company prior to your death, or to your estate, heirs, executors or personal representatives if you failed to make such designation.
16.
Enforceability. If any portion or provision of this Agreement (including, without limitation, any portion or provision of any section of this Agreement) shall to any extent be declared illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such portion or provision in circumstances other than those as to which it is so declared illegal or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each portion and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
17.
Survival. The provisions of this Agreement shall survive the termination of this Agreement and/or the termination of your employment to the extent necessary to effectuate the terms contained herein.
18.
Waiver. No waiver of any provision hereof shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by the waiving party. The failure of any party to require the performance of any term or obligation of this Agreement, or the waiver by any party of any breach of this Agreement, shall not prevent any subsequent enforcement of such term or obligation or be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach.
19.
Notices. Any notices, requests, demands and other communications provided for by this Agreement shall be sufficient if in writing and delivered in person or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service or by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, to you at the last address you have on file in writing with the Company or, in the case of the Company, at its main offices, attention of the Board.

19


 

20.
Amendment. This Agreement may be amended or modified only by a written instrument signed by you and by a duly authorized representative of the Company.
21.
Effect on Other Plans and Agreements. An election by you to resign for Good Reason under the provisions of this Agreement shall not be deemed a voluntary termination of employment by you for the purpose of interpreting the provisions of any of the Company's benefit plans, programs or policies. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to limit the rights of you under the Company’s benefit plans, programs or policies except as otherwise provided in Section 8 hereof, and except that you shall have no rights to any severance benefits under any Company severance pay plan, offer letter or otherwise. In the event that you are a party to an agreement with the Company providing for payments or benefits under such plan or agreement and under this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall govern and you may receive payment under this Agreement only and not both. Further, Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement are mutually exclusive and in no event shall you be entitled to payments or benefits pursuant to both Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement.
22.
Governing Law. This is a Massachusetts contract and shall be construed under and be governed in all respects by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without giving effect to the conflict of laws principles thereof. With respect to any disputes concerning federal law, such disputes shall be determined in accordance with the law as it would be interpreted and applied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
23.
Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when so executed and delivered shall be taken to be an original; but such counterparts shall together constitute one and the same document.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement effective on the Effective Date.

 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Donald Nicholson

 

Its:

Chairman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/s/

John D. Quisel, J.D., Ph.D.

 

John D. Quisel, J.D., Ph.D.

 

21


 

Exhibit A

 

Restrictive Covenants Agreements

 


EX-10.2

 

Exhibit 10.2

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Amended and Restated Employment Agreement (“Agreement”) is made between Disc Medicine, Inc., (the “Company”), and Jean Franchi (“You”) and is effective as of July 29, 2026 (the “Effective Date”). Except with respect to the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents (each as defined below), this Agreement supersedes in all respects all prior agreements between you and the Company regarding the subject matter herein, including without limitation the employment agreement between you and the Company (the “Prior Agreement”).

WHEREAS, the Company desires to continue to employ you and you desire to continue to be employed by the Company on the new terms and conditions contained herein.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1.
Employment.
(a)
Term. The Company shall employ you and you shall be employed by the Company pursuant to this Agreement commencing as of the Effective Date and continuing until such employment is terminated in accordance with the provisions hereof (the “Term”). Your employment with the Company will continue to be “at will,” meaning that your employment may be terminated by the Company or you at any time and for any reason subject to the terms of this Agreement.
(b)
Position and Duties. You shall serve as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company and shall report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). You shall have such powers and duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the CEO or other duly authorized executive which are consistent with your position as Chief Financial Officer. You shall devote your full working time and efforts to the business and affairs of the

 


 

Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may serve on other boards of directors, with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Company (including any committee thereof, the “Board”), which approval shall not unreasonably be withheld by the Board, or engage in religious, charitable or other community activities as long as such services and activities are disclosed to the Board and do not interfere with your performance of your duties to the Company. Your service as a board member of Biodesix, Inc. remains approved. To the extent applicable, you shall be deemed to have resigned from all officer and, if applicable, board member positions that you hold with the Company or any of its respective subsidiaries and affiliates upon the termination of your employment for any reason. You shall execute any documents in reasonable form as may be requested to confirm or effectuate any such resignations.
2.
Compensation and Related Matters.
(a)
Base Salary. Your initial base salary shall be paid at the rate of $550,000 per year. Your base salary shall be subject to periodic review and increase (but not decrease, except for an across-the-board reduction of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company) by the Board or the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”). The base salary in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Base Salary.” The Base Salary shall be payable in a manner that is consistent with the Company’s usual payroll practices for executive officers.
(b)
Incentive Compensation. You shall be eligible to receive cash incentive compensation as determined by the Board or the Compensation Committee from time to time. Your target annual incentive compensation shall be forty-five percent (45%) of your Base Salary. The target annual incentive compensation in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Target Bonus.” The actual amount of your annual incentive compensation, if any, shall be determined in the sole discretion of the Board or the Compensation Committee, subject to the terms of any applicable incentive compensation plan that may be in effect from time to time (the “Bonus”). Except as otherwise provided herein, to earn incentive compensation, you must be employed by the Company on the day such incentive compensation is paid. The incentive compensation for each fiscal year will be paid no later than two and a half months following such fiscal year.

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(c)
Expenses. You shall be entitled to receive prompt reimbursement for all reasonable expenses incurred by you during the Term in performing services hereunder, in accordance with the policies and procedures then in effect and established by the Company for its executive officers.
(d)
Other Benefits. You shall be eligible to participate in or receive benefits under the Company’s employee benefit plans in effect from time to time, subject to the terms of such plans.
(e)
Paid Time Off. You shall be entitled to take paid time off in accordance with the Company’s applicable paid time off policy for executives, as may be in effect from time to time. You shall also be entitled to all paid holidays given by the Company to its employees.
(f)
Equity. The equity awards held by you shall continue to be governed by the terms and conditions of the Company’s applicable equity incentive plan(s) and the applicable award agreement(s) governing the terms of such equity awards held by you (collectively, the “Equity Documents”); provided, however, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Equity Documents, Section 6(a)(ii) of this Agreement shall apply in the event of a termination by the Company without Cause or by you for Good Reason in either event within the Change in Control Period (as such terms are defined below).
3.
Termination. Your employment hereunder may be terminated without any breach of this Agreement under the following circumstances:
(a)
Death. Your employment hereunder shall terminate upon your death.
(b)
Disability. The Company may terminate your employment due to your “Disability” if you are unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions under this Agreement with or without reasonable accommodation for a period of 180 days (which need not be consecutive) in any 12-month period. If any question shall arise as to whether during any period you are disabled so as to be unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions with or without reasonable accommodation, you may, and at the request of the Company shall, submit to the Company a certification in reasonable detail by a physician selected by the Company who is board certified in the specialty relevant to your medical condition to whom you or your guardian has no reasonable objection as to whether you are disabled or how long such disability is expected to continue, and

3


 

such certification shall for the purposes of this Agreement be conclusive of the issue. You shall cooperate with any reasonable request of the physician in connection with such certification. If such question shall arise and you shall fail to submit such certification, the Company’s reasonable determination of such issue shall be binding on you. Nothing in this Section 3(b) shall be construed to waive your rights, if any, under existing law including, without limitation, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq. and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
(c)
Termination by Company for Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder for Cause. For purposes of this Agreement, “Cause” shall mean any of the following:
(i)
conduct by you constituting a material act of intentional misconduct in connection with the performance of your duties, including, without limitation, (A) willful failure or willful refusal to perform material responsibilities that have been lawfully requested by the CEO; (B) intentional dishonesty to the CEO with respect to any material matter; or (C) intentional misappropriation of funds or property of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates other than the occasional, customary and de minimis use of Company property for personal purposes;
(ii)
the commission by you of (A) any felony or (B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, deceit, dishonesty or fraud;
(iii)
any intentional misconduct by you, regardless of whether or not in the course of your employment, that results in material injury or material reputational harm to the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates if you were to continue to be employed in the same position;
(iv)
your continued willful non-performance by you of your duties hereunder (other than by reason of your physical or mental illness, incapacity or Disability) which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such non-performance from the CEO;
(v)
a material breach by you of any of the provisions contained in Section 8 of this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement and, if such breach is curable, has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such material breach (as defined below); or

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(vi)
your willful failure to reasonably cooperate with a bona fide internal investigation or an investigation by regulatory or law enforcement authorities, after being reasonably instructed by the Company to cooperate, or the willful destruction or failure to preserve documents or other materials known to be relevant to such investigation or the willful inducement of others to fail to cooperate or to produce documents or other materials in connection with such investigation.
(d)
Termination by the Company without Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder at any time without Cause. Any termination by the Company of your employment under this Agreement which does not constitute a termination for Cause under Section 3(c) and does not result from the death or Disability of you under Section 3(a) or (b) shall be deemed a termination without Cause.
(e)
Termination by You. You may terminate employment hereunder at any time for any reason, including but not limited to, Good Reason. For purposes of this Agreement, “Good Reason” shall mean that you have completed all steps of the Good Reason Process (hereinafter defined) following the occurrence of any of the following events without your written consent (each, a “Good Reason Condition”):
(i)
a material diminution in your responsibilities, authority or duties
(ii)
a material diminution in your Base Salary except for across-the-board salary reductions of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company;
(iii)
a material change of at least thirty (30) miles of the location of the physical Company office to which you report (which to avoid doubt does not include any home office you may have); or
(iv)
a breach by the Company of the material terms of this Agreement or any other written agreement between the Company and you.

The “Good Reason Process” consists of the following steps:

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(v)
you reasonably determine in good faith that a Good Reason Condition has occurred;
(vi)
you notify the Company in writing of the first occurrence of the Good Reason Condition within 60 days of the first occurrence of such condition;
(vii)
you cooperate in good faith with the Company’s efforts, for a period of not less than 30 days following such notice (the “Cure Period”), to remedy the Good Reason Condition;
(viii)
notwithstanding such Cure Period, the Good Reason Condition continues to exist; and
(ix)
you terminate employment within 60 days after the end of the Cure Period.

If the Company cures the Good Reason Condition during the Cure Period, Good Reason shall be deemed not to have occurred.

If your employment with the Company is terminated for any reason, the Company shall pay or provide to you (or your authorized representative or estate) (i) any Base Salary earned through the Date of Termination; (ii) unpaid expense reimbursements (subject to, and in accordance with, Section 2(c) of this Agreement); (iii) any vested benefits you may have under any employee benefit plan of the Company through the Date of Termination, which vested benefits shall be paid and/or provided in accordance with the terms of such employee benefit plans; and (iv) if your employment is terminated by the Company because of your death or Disability, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year your employment is terminated because of your death or Disability (collectively, the “Accrued Obligations”). The earned but unpaid Bonus in subsection (iv) will be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

4.
Notice and Date of Termination.
(a)
Notice of Termination. Except for termination as specified in Section 3(a), any termination of your employment by the Company or any such termination by you shall be communicated by written Notice of

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Termination to the other party hereto. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Notice of Termination” shall mean a notice which shall indicate the specific termination provision in this Agreement relied upon.
(b)
Date of Termination. “Date of Termination” shall mean: (i) if your employment is terminated by death, the date of death; (ii) if your employment is terminated on account of Disability under Section 3(b) or by the Company for Cause under Section 3(c), the date on which Notice of Termination is given; (iii) if your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause under Section 3(d), the date on which a Notice of Termination is given or the date otherwise specified by the Company in the Notice of Termination; (iv) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) other than for Good Reason, 14 days after the date on which a Notice of Termination is given, and (v) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) for Good Reason, the date on which a Notice of Termination is given after the end of the Cure Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that you give a Notice of Termination to the Company, the Company may unilaterally accelerate the Date of Termination and such acceleration shall not result in a termination by the Company for purposes of this Agreement. However, the Company will continue paying you your Base Salary until the original Date of Termination.
5.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason Outside the Change in Control Period. If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), each outside of the Change in Control Period (as defined below), then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to (i) your signing a separation agreement and release in a form and manner reasonably satisfactory to the Company, which shall include, without limitation, a general release of claims against the Company and all related persons and entities, a reaffirmation of all of your Continuing Obligations (as defined below), and shall provide that if you materially breach any of the Continuing Obligations, and if such breach is curable, which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such breach, all payments of the Severance Amount shall immediately cease (the “Separation Agreement and Release”), and (ii) the Separation Agreement and Release becoming irrevocable, all within 60 days after the Date of Termination (or such shorter period as set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release), which shall include a seven (7) business day revocation period:
(a)
the Company shall pay you an amount equal to nine (9) months of your Base Salary (the “Severance Amount”); provided in the event you are entitled to any payments pursuant to the Restrictive Covenants

7


 

Agreement, as a condition of such receipt of the Severance Amount, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Severance Amount will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement;
(b)
the Company shall pay you, if applicable, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, to be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs; and
(c)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended (“COBRA”), the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the nine (9) month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under Sections 5(a) and (c), to the extent taxable, shall be paid out in substantially equal installments in accordance with the Company’s payroll practice over nine (9) months commencing within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, the Severance Amount, to the extent it qualifies as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), shall begin to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period; provided, further, that the initial payment shall include a catch-up payment to cover amounts retroactive to the day immediately following the Date of Termination.

8


 

Each payment pursuant to this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2).

6.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason within the Change in Control Period. The provisions of this Section 6 shall apply in lieu of, and expressly supersede, the provisions of Section 5 if (i) your employment is terminated either (a) by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or (b) by you for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), and (ii) the Date of Termination is within 3 months prior to, or within 12 months after, the occurrence of the first event constituting a Change in Control (as defined below) (such period, the “Change in Control Period”). These provisions of Section 6 shall terminate and be of no further force or effect after a Change in Control Period.
(a)
If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d) or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e) and in either case the Date of Termination occurs during the Change in Control Period, then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to the signing of the Separation Agreement and Release by you and the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective, all within the time frame set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release but in no event more than 60 days after the Date of Termination:
(i)
the Company shall pay you a lump sum in cash in an amount equal to the sum of (A) fifteen (15) months of your then current Base Salary (or your Base Salary in effect immediately prior to the Change in Control, if higher), (B) 1.25x your Target Bonus for the then-current fiscal year; and (C) any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, (the “Change in Control Payment”) provided that, if applicable and as a condition of such receipt of the Change in Control Payment, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Change in Control Payment will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; and
(ii)
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any applicable option agreement or other stock-based award agreement, all time-based stock options and other stock-based awards subject to time-based vesting held by you (the “Time-Based Equity Awards”) shall immediately accelerate and become fully exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the later of (i) the Date of Termination or (ii) the effective date of the

9


 

Separation Agreement and Release (the “Accelerated Vesting Date”); provided that any termination or forfeiture of the unvested portion of such Time-Based Equity Awards that would otherwise occur on the Date of Termination in the absence of this Agreement will be delayed until the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release and will only occur if the vesting pursuant to this subsection does not occur due to the absence of the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective within the time period set forth therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no additional vesting of the Time-Based Equity Awards shall occur during the period between your Date of Termination and the Accelerated Vesting Date; and
(iii)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under COBRA, the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the 15-month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under this Section 6(a) (other than 6(a)(i)(C)), to the extent taxable, shall be paid or commence to be paid within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, such payments to the extent they qualify as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, shall be paid or commence to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period. The amount payable under Section 6(a)(i)(C) shall be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

(b)
Additional Limitation.

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(i)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, in the event that the amount of any compensation, payment or distribution by the Company to or for the benefit of you, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise, calculated in a manner consistent with Section 280G of the Code, and the applicable regulations thereunder (the “Aggregate Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code, then the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced (but not below zero) so that the sum of all of the Aggregate Payments shall be $1.00 less than the amount at which you became the subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code; provided that such reduction shall only occur if it would result in you receiving a higher After Tax Amount (as defined below) than you would receive if the Aggregate Payments were not subject to such reduction. In such event, the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced in the following order, in each case, in reverse chronological order beginning with the Aggregate Payments that are to be paid the furthest in time from consummation of the transaction that is subject to Section 280G of the Code: (1) cash payments not subject to Section 409A of the Code; (2) cash payments subject to Section 409A of the Code; (3) equity-based payments and acceleration; and (4) non-cash forms of benefits; provided that in the case of all the foregoing Aggregate Payments all amounts or payments that are not subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c) shall be reduced before any amounts that are subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c).
(ii)
For purposes of this Section 6(b), the “After Tax Amount” means the amount of the Aggregate Payments less all federal, state, and local income, excise and employment taxes imposed on you as a result of your receipt of the Aggregate Payments. For purposes of determining the After Tax Amount, you shall be deemed to pay federal income taxes at the highest marginal rate of federal income taxation applicable to individuals for the calendar year in which the determination is to be made, and state and local income taxes at the highest marginal rates of individual taxation in each applicable state and locality, net of the maximum reduction in federal income taxes which could be obtained from deduction of such state and local taxes.
(iii)
The determination as to whether a reduction in the Aggregate Payments shall be made pursuant to Section 6(b)(i) shall be made by a nationally recognized accounting firm selected by the

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Company (the “Accounting Firm”), which shall provide detailed supporting calculations both to the Company and you within 15 business days of the Date of Termination, if applicable, or at such earlier time as is reasonably requested by the Company or you. Any determination by the Accounting Firm shall be binding upon the Company and you.
(iv)
Definitions. For the purposes of this Section 6, a “Change in Control” shall be deemed to have occurred upon the occurrence of any one of the following events: (a) the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company (i.e., >50% of the value) on a consolidated basis to one or more unrelated persons or entities, (b) a merger, reorganization or consolidation pursuant to which the holders of the Company’s outstanding voting power and outstanding stock immediately prior to such transaction do not own a majority of the outstanding voting power or fair market value of the stock or other equity interests of the resulting or successor entity (or its ultimate parent, if applicable) immediately upon completion of such transaction, (c) the sale of all or substantially all of the stock of the Company to an unrelated person, entity or group thereof acting in concert, (d) any other transaction in which the owners of the Company’s outstanding voting power immediately prior to such transaction do not own at least a majority of the outstanding voting power of the Company or any successor entity immediately upon completion of the transaction other than as a result of the acquisition of securities directly from the Company, or (e) the date a majority of the members of the Board is replaced during any 12-month period by directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board before the date of the appointment or election provided that with respect to any of the clauses (a) through (e) any capital raising transaction of the Company (including the Company’s IPO) shall not be treated as a “Change in Control.” Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (other than the foregoing proviso), “Change in Control” shall be interpreted, administered and applied in a manner consistent and in compliance with a “change in control event” as set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-3(i)(5) (“Change in Control Event”).
7.
Section 409A.
(a)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, if at the time of your separation from service within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, the Company determines that you are a

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“specified employee” within the meaning of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, then to the extent any payment or benefit that you become entitled to under this Agreement or otherwise on account of your separation from service would be considered deferred compensation otherwise subject to the 20 percent additional tax imposed pursuant to Section 409A(a) of the Code as a result of the application of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, such payment shall not be payable and such benefit shall not be provided until the date that is the earlier of (A) six months and one day after your separation from service, or (B) your death. If any such delayed cash payment is otherwise payable on an installment basis, the first payment shall include a catch-up payment covering amounts that would otherwise have been paid during the six-month period but for the application of this provision, and the balance of the installments shall be payable in accordance with their original schedule.
(b)
All in-kind benefits provided and expenses eligible for reimbursement under this Agreement shall be provided by the Company or incurred by you during the time periods set forth in this Agreement. All reimbursements shall be paid as soon as administratively practicable, but in no event shall any reimbursement be paid after the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the expense was incurred. The amount of in-kind benefits provided or reimbursable expenses incurred in one taxable year shall not affect the in-kind benefits to be provided or the expenses eligible for reimbursement in any other taxable year (except for any lifetime or other aggregate limitation applicable to medical expenses). Such right to reimbursement or in-kind benefits is not subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit.
(c)
To the extent that any payment or benefit described in this Agreement constitutes “non-qualified deferred compensation” under Section 409A of the Code, and to the extent that such payment or benefit is payable upon your termination of employment, then such payments or benefits shall be payable only upon your “separation from service.” The determination of whether and when a separation from service has occurred shall be made in accordance with the presumptions set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑1(h).
(d)
The parties intend that this Agreement will be administered in accordance with Section 409A of the Code. To the extent that any provision of this Agreement is ambiguous as to its compliance with Section 409A of the Code, the provision shall be read in such a manner so that all payments hereunder comply with Section 409A of the Code. Each payment pursuant to this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑2(b)(2). The parties agree that this

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Agreement may be amended, as reasonably requested by either party, and as may be necessary to fully comply with Section 409A of the Code and all related rules and regulations in order to preserve the payments and benefits provided hereunder without additional cost to either party.
(e)
The Company makes no representation or warranty and shall have no liability to you or any other person if any provisions of this Agreement are determined to constitute deferred compensation subject to Section 409A of the Code but do not satisfy an exemption from, or the conditions of, such Section.
8.
Continuing Obligations.
(a)
Restrictive Covenants Agreement. The Disc Medicine, Inc. Employee Confidentiality, Assignment, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement between the Company and you (the “Restrictive Covenants Agreement”), attached hereto as Exhibit A, continues to be in full force and effect. You acknowledge and agree that your eligibility for enhanced severance benefits provided by this Agreement constitutes additional, fair and reasonable consideration independent from the continuation of your employment, for the Restrictive Covenants Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, the obligations in this Section 8 and those that arise in the Restrictive Covenants Agreement shall collectively be referred to as the “Continuing Obligations.”
(b)
Third-Party Agreements and Rights. You hereby confirm that you are not bound by the terms of any agreement with any previous employer or other party which restricts in any way your use or disclosure of information, other than confidentiality restrictions (if any), or your engagement in any business. You represent to the Company that your execution of this Agreement, your employment with the Company and the performance of your proposed duties for the Company will not violate any obligations you may have to any such previous employer or other party. In your work for the Company, you will not disclose or make use of any information in violation of any agreements with or rights of any such previous employer or other party, and you will not bring to the premises of the Company any copies or other tangible embodiments of non-public information belonging to or obtained from any such previous employment or other party.
(c)
Litigation and Regulatory Cooperation. During and after your employment, you shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in (i) the defense or prosecution of any claims or actions now in existence or which may be brought in the future against or on behalf of the Company which relate to events or

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occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company, and (ii) the investigation, whether internal or external, of any matters about which the Company believes you may have knowledge or information. Your full reasonable cooperation in connection with such claims, actions or investigations shall include, but not be limited to, being available to meet with counsel to answer questions or to prepare for discovery or trial and to act as a witness on behalf of the Company at mutually convenient times. During and after your employment, you also shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in connection with any investigation or review of any federal, state or local regulatory authority as any such investigation or review relates to events or occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company. The Company shall reimburse you for any reasonable out‑of‑pocket expenses incurred in connection with your performance of obligations pursuant to this Section 8(c). The Company agrees that if you have provided fifteen (15) hours of cooperation to the Company after your Date of Termination, the Company shall pay you an hourly rate of $400 for any additional hours of cooperation, over the initial fifteen (15) hours, except for your testimony pursuant to a lawfully issued summons or subpoena. The Company further agrees that it will pay/reimburse your reasonable out-of-pocket expenses and fees within thirty (30) days of your submission of receipts and invoices to the Company.
(d)
Relief. You agree that it may be difficult to measure any damages caused to the Company which might result from any breach by you of the Continuing Obligations, and that in any event money damages may be an inadequate remedy for any such breach. Accordingly, you agree that if you breach, or propose to breach, any portion of the Continuing Obligations, the Company shall be entitled, in addition to all other remedies that it may have, to seek an injunction or other appropriate equitable relief to restrain any such breach without showing or proving any actual damage to the Company.
(e)
Protected Activities; Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. Nothing contained in this Agreement, any other agreement with the Company or any Company policy limits your ability, with or without notice to the Company, to: (i) file a charge or complaint with any federal, state or local governmental agency or commission (a “Government Agency”), including without limitation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission; (ii) communicate with any Government Agency or otherwise participate in any investigation or proceeding that may be conducted by an Government Agency, including by providing non-privileged documents or information; (iii) exercise any rights under Section 7 of the

15


 

National Labor Relations Act, which are available to non-supervisory employees, including assisting co-workers with or discussing any employment issue as part of engaging in concerted activities for purpose of mutual aid or protection; (iv) discuss or disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful; or (v) testify truthfully in a legal proceeding. Any such communications and disclosures must not violate applicable law and the information disclosed must not have been obtained through a communication that was subject to the attorney-client privilege (unless disclosure of that information would otherwise be permitted consistent with such privilege or applicable law). In addition, pursuant to the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, you shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law or under this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement for the disclosure of a trade secret that (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
9.
Arbitration of Disputes.
(a)
Arbitration Generally. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof or otherwise arising out of your employment or the termination of that employment (including, without limitation, any claims of unlawful employment discrimination or retaliation, whether based on race, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class under applicable law, including without limitation Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be settled by arbitration in any forum and form agreed upon by the parties or, in the absence of such an agreement, under the auspices of JAMS in Boston, Massachusetts in accordance with the JAMS Employment Arbitration Rules, including, but not limited to, the rules and procedures applicable to the selection of arbitrators. You understand that you may only bring such claims in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class proceeding or any purported representative proceeding. You further understand that, by signing this Agreement, the Company and you are giving up any right they may have to a jury trial on all claims they may have against each other. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. This Section 9 shall be specifically enforceable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 9 shall not preclude either party from pursuing a court action for the sole purpose of obtaining a temporary restraining

16


 

order or a preliminary injunction in circumstances in which such relief is appropriate, including without limitation relief sought under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; provided that any other relief shall be pursued through an arbitration proceeding pursuant to this Section 9.
(b)
Arbitration Fees and Costs. You shall be required to pay an arbitration fee to initiate any arbitration equal to what you would be charged as a first appearance fee in court. The Company shall pay the remaining fees and costs of the arbitrator. Each party shall pay its own costs and attorneys’ fees, if any. If, however, any party prevails on a statutory or contractual claim that entitles the prevailing party to attorneys’ fees (including pursuant to this Agreement), the arbitrator will award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party to the extent permitted by law.
10.
Consent to Jurisdiction. To the extent that any court action is permitted consistent with or to enforce Section 9 of this Agreement, the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accordingly, with respect to any such court action, you (a) submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts; (b) consent to service of process; (c) waive any other requirement (whether imposed by statute, rule of court, or otherwise) with respect to personal jurisdiction or service of process and (d) you and the Company waive any right to a jury in connection with any such court action.
11.
Indemnification. The “Indemnification Agreement” between the Company and you, dated January 26, 2024 (the “Indemnification Agreement”) is hereby incorporated by reference.
12.
No Mitigation. The Company agrees that if your employment by the Company is terminated during the term of this Agreement, you are not required to seek other employment or to attempt in any way to reduce any amounts payable to you by the Company pursuant to Sections 5 or 6 hereof. Further, the amount of any payment provided for in this Agreement shall not be reduced by any compensation earned by you.
13.
Integration. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements between the parties concerning such subject matter, including the Prior Agreement, provided that the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents remain in full force and effect.

17


 

14.
Withholding; Tax Effect. All payments made by the Company to you under this Agreement shall be net of any tax or other amounts required to be withheld by the Company under applicable law. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require the Company to make any payments to compensate you for any adverse tax effect associated with any payments or benefits or for any deduction or withholding from any payment or benefit.
15.
Assignment. Neither you nor the Company may make any assignment of this Agreement or any interest in it, by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other; provided, however, that the Company may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including the Restrictive Covenants Agreement) without your consent to any affiliate or to any person or entity with whom the Company shall hereafter effect a reorganization, consolidate with, or merge into or to whom it transfers all or substantially all of its properties or assets, but only on the condition that it assigns both its rights and obligations. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon you and the Company, and each of yours and the Company’s respective successors, executors, administrators, heirs, personal representatives, and permitted assigns. In the event of your death prior to the completion by the Company of any payments due to you under Sections 5 or 6 of this Agreement, the Company shall continue such payments to the beneficiary you designated in writing to the Company prior to your death, or to your estate, heirs, executors or personal representatives if you failed to make such designation.
16.
Enforceability. If any portion or provision of this Agreement (including, without limitation, any portion or provision of any section of this Agreement) shall to any extent be declared illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such portion or provision in circumstances other than those as to which it is so declared illegal or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each portion and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
17.
Survival. The provisions of this Agreement shall survive the termination of this Agreement and/or the termination of your employment to the extent necessary to effectuate the terms contained herein.
18.
Waiver. No waiver of any provision hereof shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by the waiving party. The failure of any party to require the performance of any term or obligation of this Agreement, or the waiver by any party of any breach of this Agreement, shall not prevent any subsequent enforcement of such term or obligation or be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach.

18


 

19.
Notices. Any notices, requests, demands and other communications provided for by this Agreement shall be sufficient if in writing and delivered in person or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service or by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, to you at the last address you have on file in writing with the Company or, in the case of the Company, at its main offices, attention of the Board.
20.
Amendment. This Agreement may be amended or modified only by a written instrument signed by you and by a duly authorized representative of the Company.
21.
Effect on Other Plans and Agreements. An election by you to resign for Good Reason under the provisions of this Agreement shall not be deemed a voluntary termination of employment by you for the purpose of interpreting the provisions of any of the Company's benefit plans, programs or policies. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to limit the rights of you under the Company’s benefit plans, programs or policies except as otherwise provided in Section 8 hereof, and except that you shall have no rights to any severance benefits under any Company severance pay plan, offer letter or otherwise. In the event that you are a party to an agreement with the Company providing for payments or benefits under such plan or agreement and under this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall govern and you may receive payment under this Agreement only and not both. Further, Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement are mutually exclusive and in no event shall you be entitled to payments or benefits pursuant to both Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement.
22.
Governing Law. This is a Massachusetts contract and shall be construed under and be governed in all respects by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without giving effect to the conflict of laws principles thereof. With respect to any disputes concerning federal law, such disputes shall be determined in accordance with the law as it would be interpreted and applied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
23.
Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when so executed and delivered shall be taken to be an original; but such counterparts shall together constitute one and the same document.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement effective on the Effective Date.

 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ John Quisel

 

Its:

President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/s/

Jean Franchi

 

Jean Franchi

 

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Exhibit A

 

Restrictive Covenants Agreement

 


EX-10.3

 

Exhibit 10.3

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Amended and Restated Employment Agreement (“Agreement”) is made between Disc Medicine, Inc., (the “Company”), and Pamela Stephenson (“You”) and is effective as of July 29, 2026 (the “Effective Date”). Except with respect to the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents (each as defined below), this Agreement supersedes in all respects all prior agreements between you and the Company regarding the subject matter herein, including without limitation the employment agreement between you and the Company, (the “Prior Agreement”).

WHEREAS, the Company desires to continue to employ you and you desire to continue to be employed by the Company on the new terms and conditions contained herein.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1.
Employment.
(a)
Term. The Company shall employ you and you shall be employed by the Company pursuant to this Agreement commencing as of the Effective Date and continuing until such employment is terminated in accordance with the provisions hereof (the “Term”). Your employment with the Company will continue to be “at will,” meaning that your employment may be terminated by the Company or you at any time and for any reason subject to the terms of this Agreement.
(b)
Position and Duties. You shall serve as the Chief Commercial Officer of the Company and shall report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). You shall have such powers and duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the CEO or other duly authorized executive which are consistent with your position as Chief Commercial Officer. You shall devote your full working time and efforts to the business and affairs of the

 


 

Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may serve on other boards of directors, with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Company (including any committee thereof, the “Board”), which approval shall not unreasonably be withheld by the Board, or engage in religious, charitable or other community activities as long as such services and activities are disclosed to the Board and do not interfere with your performance of your duties to the Company. Your service on the Alagille Syndrome Alliance (ALGSA) Scientific Advisory Council remains approved. To the extent applicable, you shall be deemed to have resigned from all officer and, if applicable, board member positions that you hold with the Company or any of its respective subsidiaries and affiliates upon the termination of your employment for any reason. You shall execute any documents in reasonable form as may be requested to confirm or effectuate any such resignations.
2.
Compensation and Related Matters.
(a)
Base Salary. Your initial base salary shall be paid at the rate of $538,000 per year. Your base salary shall be subject to periodic review and increase (but not decrease, except for an across-the-board reduction of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company) by the Board or the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”). The base salary in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Base Salary.” The Base Salary shall be payable in a manner that is consistent with the Company’s usual payroll practices for executive officers.
(b)
Incentive Compensation. You shall be eligible to receive cash incentive compensation as determined by the Board or the Compensation Committee from time to time. Your target annual incentive compensation shall be forty-five percent (45%) of your Base Salary. The target annual incentive compensation in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Target Bonus.” The actual amount of your annual incentive compensation, if any, shall be determined in the sole discretion of the Board or the Compensation Committee, subject to the terms of any applicable incentive compensation plan that may be in effect from time to time (the “Bonus”). Except as otherwise provided herein, to earn incentive compensation, you must be employed by the Company on the day such incentive compensation is paid. The incentive compensation for each fiscal year will be paid no later than two and a half months following such fiscal year.

2


 

(c)
Expenses. You shall be entitled to receive prompt reimbursement for all reasonable expenses incurred by you during the Term in performing services hereunder, in accordance with the policies and procedures then in effect and established by the Company for its executive officers.
(d)
Other Benefits. You shall be eligible to participate in or receive benefits under the Company’s employee benefit plans in effect from time to time, subject to the terms of such plans.
(e)
Paid Time Off. You shall be entitled to take paid time off in accordance with the Company’s applicable paid time off policy for executives, as may be in effect from time to time. You shall also be entitled to all paid holidays given by the Company to its employees.
(f)
Equity. The equity awards held by you shall continue to be governed by the terms and conditions of the Company’s applicable equity incentive plan(s) and the applicable award agreement(s) governing the terms of such equity awards held by you (collectively, the “Equity Documents”); provided, however, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Equity Documents, Section 6(a)(ii) of this Agreement shall apply in the event of a termination by the Company without Cause or by you for Good Reason in either event within the Change in Control Period (as such terms are defined below).
3.
Termination. Your employment hereunder may be terminated without any breach of this Agreement under the following circumstances:
(a)
Death. Your employment hereunder shall terminate upon your death.
(b)
Disability. The Company may terminate your employment due to your “Disability” if you are unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions under this Agreement with or without reasonable accommodation for a period of 180 days (which need not be consecutive) in any 12-month period. If any question shall arise as to whether during any period you are disabled so as to be unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions with or without reasonable accommodation, you may, and at the request of the Company shall, submit to the Company a certification in reasonable detail by a physician selected by the Company who is board certified in the specialty relevant to your medical condition to whom you or your guardian has no reasonable objection as to whether you are disabled or how long such disability is expected to continue, and

3


 

such certification shall for the purposes of this Agreement be conclusive of the issue. You shall cooperate with any reasonable request of the physician in connection with such certification. If such question shall arise and you shall fail to submit such certification, the Company’s reasonable determination of such issue shall be binding on you. Nothing in this Section 3(b) shall be construed to waive your rights, if any, under existing law including, without limitation, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq. and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
(c)
Termination by Company for Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder for Cause. For purposes of this Agreement, “Cause” shall mean any of the following:
(i)
conduct by you constituting a material act of intentional misconduct in connection with the performance of your duties, including, without limitation, (A) willful failure or willful refusal to perform material responsibilities that have been lawfully requested by the CEO; (B) intentional dishonesty to the CEO with respect to any material matter; or (C) intentional misappropriation of funds or property of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates other than the occasional, customary and de minimis use of Company property for personal purposes;
(ii)
the commission by you of (A) any felony or (B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, deceit, dishonesty or fraud;
(iii)
any intentional misconduct by you, regardless of whether or not in the course of your employment, that results in material injury or material reputational harm to the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates if you were to continue to be employed in the same position;
(iv)
your continued willful non-performance by you of your duties hereunder (other than by reason of your physical or mental illness, incapacity or Disability) which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such non-performance from the CEO;
(v)
a material breach by you of any of the provisions contained in Section 8 of this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement and, if such breach is curable, has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such material breach (as defined below); or

4


 

(vi)
your willful failure to reasonably cooperate with a bona fide internal investigation or an investigation by regulatory or law enforcement authorities, after being reasonably instructed by the Company to cooperate, or the willful destruction or failure to preserve documents or other materials known to be relevant to such investigation or the willful inducement of others to fail to cooperate or to produce documents or other materials in connection with such investigation.
(d)
Termination by the Company without Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder at any time without Cause. Any termination by the Company of your employment under this Agreement which does not constitute a termination for Cause under Section 3(c) and does not result from the death or Disability of you under Section 3(a) or (b) shall be deemed a termination without Cause.
(e)
Termination by You. You may terminate employment hereunder at any time for any reason, including but not limited to, Good Reason. For purposes of this Agreement, “Good Reason” shall mean that you have completed all steps of the Good Reason Process (hereinafter defined) following the occurrence of any of the following events without your written consent (each, a “Good Reason Condition”):
(i)
a material diminution in your responsibilities, authority or duties
(ii)
a material diminution in your Base Salary except for across-the-board salary reductions of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company;
(iii)
a material change of at least thirty (30) miles of the location of the physical Company office to which you report (which to avoid doubt does not include any home office you may have); or
(iv)
a breach by the Company of the material terms of this Agreement or any other written agreement between the Company and you.

The “Good Reason Process” consists of the following steps:

5


 

(v)
you reasonably determine in good faith that a Good Reason Condition has occurred;
(vi)
you notify the Company in writing of the first occurrence of the Good Reason Condition within 60 days of the first occurrence of such condition;
(vii)
you cooperate in good faith with the Company’s efforts, for a period of not less than 30 days following such notice (the “Cure Period”), to remedy the Good Reason Condition;
(viii)
notwithstanding such Cure Period, the Good Reason Condition continues to exist; and
(ix)
you terminate employment within 60 days after the end of the Cure Period.

If the Company cures the Good Reason Condition during the Cure Period, Good Reason shall be deemed not to have occurred.

If your employment with the Company is terminated for any reason, the Company shall pay or provide to you (or your authorized representative or estate) (i) any Base Salary earned through the Date of Termination; (ii) unpaid expense reimbursements (subject to, and in accordance with, Section 2(c) of this Agreement); (iii) any vested benefits you may have under any employee benefit plan of the Company through the Date of Termination, which vested benefits shall be paid and/or provided in accordance with the terms of such employee benefit plans; and (iv) if your employment is terminated by the Company because of your death or Disability, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year your employment is terminated because of your death or Disability (collectively, the “Accrued Obligations”). The earned but unpaid Bonus in subsection (iv) will be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

4.
Notice and Date of Termination.
(a)
Notice of Termination. Except for termination as specified in Section 3(a), any termination of your employment by the Company or any such termination by you shall be communicated by written Notice of

6


 

Termination to the other party hereto. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Notice of Termination” shall mean a notice which shall indicate the specific termination provision in this Agreement relied upon.
(b)
Date of Termination. “Date of Termination” shall mean: (i) if your employment is terminated by death, the date of death; (ii) if your employment is terminated on account of Disability under Section 3(b) or by the Company for Cause under Section 3(c), the date on which Notice of Termination is given; (iii) if your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause under Section 3(d), the date on which a Notice of Termination is given or the date otherwise specified by the Company in the Notice of Termination; (iv) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) other than for Good Reason, 14 days after the date on which a Notice of Termination is given, and (v) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) for Good Reason, the date on which a Notice of Termination is given after the end of the Cure Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that you give a Notice of Termination to the Company, the Company may unilaterally accelerate the Date of Termination and such acceleration shall not result in a termination by the Company for purposes of this Agreement. However, the Company will continue paying you your Base Salary until the original Date of Termination.
5.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason Outside the Change in Control Period. If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), each outside of the Change in Control Period (as defined below), then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to (i) your signing a separation agreement and release in a form and manner reasonably satisfactory to the Company, which shall include, without limitation, a general release of claims against the Company and all related persons and entities, a reaffirmation of all of your Continuing Obligations (as defined below), and shall provide that if you materially breach any of the Continuing Obligations, and if such breach is curable, which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such breach, all payments of the Severance Amount shall immediately cease (the “Separation Agreement and Release”), and (ii) the Separation Agreement and Release becoming irrevocable, all within 60 days after the Date of Termination (or such shorter period as set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release), which shall include a seven (7) business day revocation period:
(a)
the Company shall pay you an amount equal to nine (9) months of your Base Salary (the “Severance Amount”); provided in the event you are entitled to any payments pursuant to the Restrictive Covenants

7


 

Agreement, as a condition of such receipt of the Severance Amount, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Severance Amount will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement;
(b)
the Company shall pay you, if applicable, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, to be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs; and
(c)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended (“COBRA”), the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the nine (9) month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under Sections 5(a) and (c), to the extent taxable, shall be paid out in substantially equal installments in accordance with the Company’s payroll practice over nine (9) months commencing within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, the Severance Amount, to the extent it qualifies as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), shall begin to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period; provided, further, that the initial payment shall include a catch-up payment to cover amounts retroactive to the day immediately following the Date of Termination.

8


 

Each payment pursuant to this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2).

6.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason within the Change in Control Period. The provisions of this Section 6 shall apply in lieu of, and expressly supersede, the provisions of Section 5 if (i) your employment is terminated either (a) by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or (b) by you for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), and (ii) the Date of Termination is within 3 months prior to, or within 12 months after, the occurrence of the first event constituting a Change in Control (as defined below) (such period, the “Change in Control Period”). These provisions of Section 6 shall terminate and be of no further force or effect after a Change in Control Period.
(a)
If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d) or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e) and in either case the Date of Termination occurs during the Change in Control Period, then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to the signing of the Separation Agreement and Release by you and the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective, all within the time frame set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release but in no event more than 60 days after the Date of Termination:
(i)
the Company shall pay you a lump sum in cash in an amount equal to the sum of (A) fifteen (15) months of your then current Base Salary (or your Base Salary in effect immediately prior to the Change in Control, if higher), (B) 1.25x your Target Bonus for the then-current fiscal year; and (C) any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, (the “Change in Control Payment”) provided that, if applicable and as a condition of such receipt of the Change in Control Payment, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Change in Control Payment will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; and
(ii)
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any applicable option agreement or other stock-based award agreement, all time-based stock options and other stock-based awards subject to time-based vesting held by you (the “Time-Based Equity Awards”) shall immediately accelerate and become fully exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the later of (i) the Date of Termination or (ii) the effective date of the

9


 

Separation Agreement and Release (the “Accelerated Vesting Date”); provided that any termination or forfeiture of the unvested portion of such Time-Based Equity Awards that would otherwise occur on the Date of Termination in the absence of this Agreement will be delayed until the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release and will only occur if the vesting pursuant to this subsection does not occur due to the absence of the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective within the time period set forth therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no additional vesting of the Time-Based Equity Awards shall occur during the period between your Date of Termination and the Accelerated Vesting Date; and
(iii)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under COBRA, the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the 15-month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under this Section 6(a) (other than 6(a)(i)(C)), to the extent taxable, shall be paid or commence to be paid within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, such payments to the extent they qualify as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, shall be paid or commence to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period. The amount payable under Section 6(a)(i)(C) shall be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

(b)
Additional Limitation.

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(i)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, in the event that the amount of any compensation, payment or distribution by the Company to or for the benefit of you, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise, calculated in a manner consistent with Section 280G of the Code, and the applicable regulations thereunder (the “Aggregate Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code, then the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced (but not below zero) so that the sum of all of the Aggregate Payments shall be $1.00 less than the amount at which you became the subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code; provided that such reduction shall only occur if it would result in you receiving a higher After Tax Amount (as defined below) than you would receive if the Aggregate Payments were not subject to such reduction. In such event, the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced in the following order, in each case, in reverse chronological order beginning with the Aggregate Payments that are to be paid the furthest in time from consummation of the transaction that is subject to Section 280G of the Code: (1) cash payments not subject to Section 409A of the Code; (2) cash payments subject to Section 409A of the Code; (3) equity-based payments and acceleration; and (4) non-cash forms of benefits; provided that in the case of all the foregoing Aggregate Payments all amounts or payments that are not subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c) shall be reduced before any amounts that are subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c).
(ii)
For purposes of this Section 6(b), the “After Tax Amount” means the amount of the Aggregate Payments less all federal, state, and local income, excise and employment taxes imposed on you as a result of your receipt of the Aggregate Payments. For purposes of determining the After Tax Amount, you shall be deemed to pay federal income taxes at the highest marginal rate of federal income taxation applicable to individuals for the calendar year in which the determination is to be made, and state and local income taxes at the highest marginal rates of individual taxation in each applicable state and locality, net of the maximum reduction in federal income taxes which could be obtained from deduction of such state and local taxes.
(iii)
The determination as to whether a reduction in the Aggregate Payments shall be made pursuant to Section 6(b)(i) shall be made by a nationally recognized accounting firm selected by the

11


 

Company (the “Accounting Firm”), which shall provide detailed supporting calculations both to the Company and you within 15 business days of the Date of Termination, if applicable, or at such earlier time as is reasonably requested by the Company or you. Any determination by the Accounting Firm shall be binding upon the Company and you.
(iv)
Definitions. For the purposes of this Section 6, a “Change in Control” shall be deemed to have occurred upon the occurrence of any one of the following events: (a) the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company (i.e., >50% of the value) on a consolidated basis to one or more unrelated persons or entities, (b) a merger, reorganization or consolidation pursuant to which the holders of the Company’s outstanding voting power and outstanding stock immediately prior to such transaction do not own a majority of the outstanding voting power or fair market value of the stock or other equity interests of the resulting or successor entity (or its ultimate parent, if applicable) immediately upon completion of such transaction, (c) the sale of all or substantially all of the stock of the Company to an unrelated person, entity or group thereof acting in concert, (d) any other transaction in which the owners of the Company’s outstanding voting power immediately prior to such transaction do not own at least a majority of the outstanding voting power of the Company or any successor entity immediately upon completion of the transaction other than as a result of the acquisition of securities directly from the Company, or (e) the date a majority of the members of the Board is replaced during any 12-month period by directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board before the date of the appointment or election provided that with respect to any of the clauses (a) through (e) any capital raising transaction of the Company (including the Company’s IPO) shall not be treated as a “Change in Control.” Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (other than the foregoing proviso), “Change in Control” shall be interpreted, administered and applied in a manner consistent and in compliance with a “change in control event” as set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-3(i)(5) (“Change in Control Event”).
7.
Section 409A.
(a)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, if at the time of your separation from service within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, the Company determines that you are a

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“specified employee” within the meaning of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, then to the extent any payment or benefit that you become entitled to under this Agreement or otherwise on account of your separation from service would be considered deferred compensation otherwise subject to the 20 percent additional tax imposed pursuant to Section 409A(a) of the Code as a result of the application of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, such payment shall not be payable and such benefit shall not be provided until the date that is the earlier of (A) six months and one day after your separation from service, or (B) your death. If any such delayed cash payment is otherwise payable on an installment basis, the first payment shall include a catch-up payment covering amounts that would otherwise have been paid during the six-month period but for the application of this provision, and the balance of the installments shall be payable in accordance with their original schedule.
(b)
All in-kind benefits provided and expenses eligible for reimbursement under this Agreement shall be provided by the Company or incurred by you during the time periods set forth in this Agreement. All reimbursements shall be paid as soon as administratively practicable, but in no event shall any reimbursement be paid after the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the expense was incurred. The amount of in-kind benefits provided or reimbursable expenses incurred in one taxable year shall not affect the in-kind benefits to be provided or the expenses eligible for reimbursement in any other taxable year (except for any lifetime or other aggregate limitation applicable to medical expenses). Such right to reimbursement or in-kind benefits is not subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit.
(c)
To the extent that any payment or benefit described in this Agreement constitutes “non-qualified deferred compensation” under Section 409A of the Code, and to the extent that such payment or benefit is payable upon your termination of employment, then such payments or benefits shall be payable only upon your “separation from service.” The determination of whether and when a separation from service has occurred shall be made in accordance with the presumptions set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑1(h).
(d)
The parties intend that this Agreement will be administered in accordance with Section 409A of the Code. To the extent that any provision of this Agreement is ambiguous as to its compliance with Section 409A of the Code, the provision shall be read in such a manner so that all payments hereunder comply with Section 409A of the Code. Each payment pursuant to this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑2(b)(2). The parties agree that this

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Agreement may be amended, as reasonably requested by either party, and as may be necessary to fully comply with Section 409A of the Code and all related rules and regulations in order to preserve the payments and benefits provided hereunder without additional cost to either party.
(e)
The Company makes no representation or warranty and shall have no liability to you or any other person if any provisions of this Agreement are determined to constitute deferred compensation subject to Section 409A of the Code but do not satisfy an exemption from, or the conditions of, such Section.
8.
Continuing Obligations.
(a)
Restrictive Covenants Agreement. The Disc Medicine, Inc. Employee Confidentiality, Assignment, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement between the Company and you (the “Restrictive Covenants Agreement”), attached hereto as Exhibit A, continues to be in full force and effect. You acknowledge and agree that your eligibility for enhanced severance benefits provided by this Agreement constitutes additional, fair and reasonable consideration independent from the continuation of your employment, for the Restrictive Covenants Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, the obligations in this Section 8 and those that arise in the Restrictive Covenants Agreement shall collectively be referred to as the “Continuing Obligations.”
(b)
Third-Party Agreements and Rights. You hereby confirm that you are not bound by the terms of any agreement with any previous employer or other party which restricts in any way your use or disclosure of information, other than confidentiality restrictions (if any), or your engagement in any business. You represent to the Company that your execution of this Agreement, your employment with the Company and the performance of your proposed duties for the Company will not violate any obligations you may have to any such previous employer or other party. In your work for the Company, you will not disclose or make use of any information in violation of any agreements with or rights of any such previous employer or other party, and you will not bring to the premises of the Company any copies or other tangible embodiments of non-public information belonging to or obtained from any such previous employment or other party.
(c)
Litigation and Regulatory Cooperation. During and after your employment, you shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in (i) the defense or prosecution of any claims or actions now in existence or which may be brought in the future against or on behalf of the Company which relate to events or

14


 

occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company, and (ii) the investigation, whether internal or external, of any matters about which the Company believes you may have knowledge or information. Your full reasonable cooperation in connection with such claims, actions or investigations shall include, but not be limited to, being available to meet with counsel to answer questions or to prepare for discovery or trial and to act as a witness on behalf of the Company at mutually convenient times. During and after your employment, you also shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in connection with any investigation or review of any federal, state or local regulatory authority as any such investigation or review relates to events or occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company. The Company shall reimburse you for any reasonable out‑of‑pocket expenses incurred in connection with your performance of obligations pursuant to this Section 8(c). The Company agrees that if you have provided fifteen (15) hours of cooperation to the Company after your Date of Termination, the Company shall pay you an hourly rate of $400 for any additional hours of cooperation, over the initial fifteen (15) hours, except for your testimony pursuant to a lawfully issued summons or subpoena. The Company further agrees that it will pay/reimburse your reasonable out-of-pocket expenses and fees within thirty (30) days of your submission of receipts and invoices to the Company.
(d)
Relief. You agree that it may be difficult to measure any damages caused to the Company which might result from any breach by you of the Continuing Obligations, and that in any event money damages may be an inadequate remedy for any such breach. Accordingly, you agree that if you breach, or propose to breach, any portion of the Continuing Obligations, the Company shall be entitled, in addition to all other remedies that it may have, to seek an injunction or other appropriate equitable relief to restrain any such breach without showing or proving any actual damage to the Company.
(e)
Protected Activities; Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. Nothing contained in this Agreement, any other agreement with the Company or any Company policy limits your ability, with or without notice to the Company, to: (i) file a charge or complaint with any federal, state or local governmental agency or commission (a “Government Agency”), including without limitation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission; (ii) communicate with any Government Agency or otherwise participate in any investigation or proceeding that may be conducted by an Government Agency, including by providing non-privileged documents or information; (iii) exercise any rights under Section 7 of the

15


 

National Labor Relations Act, which are available to non-supervisory employees, including assisting co-workers with or discussing any employment issue as part of engaging in concerted activities for purpose of mutual aid or protection; (iv) discuss or disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful; or (v) testify truthfully in a legal proceeding. Any such communications and disclosures must not violate applicable law and the information disclosed must not have been obtained through a communication that was subject to the attorney-client privilege (unless disclosure of that information would otherwise be permitted consistent with such privilege or applicable law). In addition, pursuant to the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, you shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law or under this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement for the disclosure of a trade secret that (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
9.
Arbitration of Disputes.
(a)
Arbitration Generally. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof or otherwise arising out of your employment or the termination of that employment (including, without limitation, any claims of unlawful employment discrimination or retaliation, whether based on race, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class under applicable law, including without limitation Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be settled by arbitration in any forum and form agreed upon by the parties or, in the absence of such an agreement, under the auspices of JAMS in Boston, Massachusetts in accordance with the JAMS Employment Arbitration Rules, including, but not limited to, the rules and procedures applicable to the selection of arbitrators. You understand that you may only bring such claims in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class proceeding or any purported representative proceeding. You further understand that, by signing this Agreement, the Company and you are giving up any right they may have to a jury trial on all claims they may have against each other. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. This Section 9 shall be specifically enforceable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 9 shall not preclude either party from pursuing a court action for the sole purpose of obtaining a temporary restraining

16


 

order or a preliminary injunction in circumstances in which such relief is appropriate, including without limitation relief sought under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; provided that any other relief shall be pursued through an arbitration proceeding pursuant to this Section 9.
(b)
Arbitration Fees and Costs. You shall be required to pay an arbitration fee to initiate any arbitration equal to what you would be charged as a first appearance fee in court. The Company shall pay the remaining fees and costs of the arbitrator. Each party shall pay its own costs and attorneys’ fees, if any. If, however, any party prevails on a statutory or contractual claim that entitles the prevailing party to attorneys’ fees (including pursuant to this Agreement), the arbitrator will award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party to the extent permitted by law.
10.
Consent to Jurisdiction. To the extent that any court action is permitted consistent with or to enforce Section 9 of this Agreement, the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accordingly, with respect to any such court action, you (a) submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts; (b) consent to service of process; (c) waive any other requirement (whether imposed by statute, rule of court, or otherwise) with respect to personal jurisdiction or service of process and (d) you and the Company waive any right to a jury in connection with any such court action.
11.
Indemnification. The “Indemnification Agreement” between the Company and you, dated February 26, 2024 (the “Indemnification Agreement”) is hereby incorporated by reference.
12.
No Mitigation. The Company agrees that if your employment by the Company is terminated during the term of this Agreement, you are not required to seek other employment or to attempt in any way to reduce any amounts payable to you by the Company pursuant to Sections 5 or 6 hereof. Further, the amount of any payment provided for in this Agreement shall not be reduced by any compensation earned by you.
13.
Integration. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements between the parties concerning such subject matter, including the Prior Agreement, provided that the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents remain in full force and effect.

17


 

14.
Withholding; Tax Effect. All payments made by the Company to you under this Agreement shall be net of any tax or other amounts required to be withheld by the Company under applicable law. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require the Company to make any payments to compensate you for any adverse tax effect associated with any payments or benefits or for any deduction or withholding from any payment or benefit.
15.
Assignment. Neither you nor the Company may make any assignment of this Agreement or any interest in it, by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other; provided, however, that the Company may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including the Restrictive Covenants Agreement) without your consent to any affiliate or to any person or entity with whom the Company shall hereafter effect a reorganization, consolidate with, or merge into or to whom it transfers all or substantially all of its properties or assets, but only on the condition that it assigns both its rights and obligations. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon you and the Company, and each of yours and the Company’s respective successors, executors, administrators, heirs, personal representatives, and permitted assigns. In the event of your death prior to the completion by the Company of any payments due to you under Sections 5 or 6 of this Agreement, the Company shall continue such payments to the beneficiary you designated in writing to the Company prior to your death, or to your estate, heirs, executors or personal representatives if you failed to make such designation.
16.
Enforceability. If any portion or provision of this Agreement (including, without limitation, any portion or provision of any section of this Agreement) shall to any extent be declared illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such portion or provision in circumstances other than those as to which it is so declared illegal or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each portion and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
17.
Survival. The provisions of this Agreement shall survive the termination of this Agreement and/or the termination of your employment to the extent necessary to effectuate the terms contained herein.
18.
Waiver. No waiver of any provision hereof shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by the waiving party. The failure of any party to require the performance of any term or obligation of this Agreement, or the waiver by any party of any breach of this Agreement, shall not prevent any subsequent enforcement of such term or obligation or be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach.

18


 

19.
Notices. Any notices, requests, demands and other communications provided for by this Agreement shall be sufficient if in writing and delivered in person or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service or by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, to you at the last address you have on file in writing with the Company or, in the case of the Company, at its main offices, attention of the Board.
20.
Amendment. This Agreement may be amended or modified only by a written instrument signed by you and by a duly authorized representative of the Company.
21.
Effect on Other Plans and Agreements. An election by you to resign for Good Reason under the provisions of this Agreement shall not be deemed a voluntary termination of employment by you for the purpose of interpreting the provisions of any of the Company's benefit plans, programs or policies. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to limit the rights of you under the Company’s benefit plans, programs or policies except as otherwise provided in Section 8 hereof, and except that you shall have no rights to any severance benefits under any Company severance pay plan, offer letter or otherwise. In the event that you are a party to an agreement with the Company providing for payments or benefits under such plan or agreement and under this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall govern and you may receive payment under this Agreement only and not both. Further, Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement are mutually exclusive and in no event shall you be entitled to payments or benefits pursuant to both Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement.
22.
Governing Law. This is a Massachusetts contract and shall be construed under and be governed in all respects by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without giving effect to the conflict of laws principles thereof. With respect to any disputes concerning federal law, such disputes shall be determined in accordance with the law as it would be interpreted and applied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
23.
Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when so executed and delivered shall be taken to be an original; but such counterparts shall together constitute one and the same document.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement effective on the Effective Date.

 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ John Quisel

 

Its:

President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/s/

Pamela Stephenson

 

Pamela Stephenson

 

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Exhibit A

 

Restrictive Covenants Agreement

 


EX-10.4

 

Exhibit 10.4

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Amended and Restated Employment Agreement (“Agreement”) is made between Disc Medicine, Inc., (the “Company”), and William Savage, MD, PhD (“You”) and is effective as of July 29, 2026 (the “Effective Date”). Except with respect to the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents (each as defined below), this Agreement supersedes in all respects all prior agreements between you and the Company regarding the subject matter herein, including without limitation the employment agreement between you and the Company, executed on or about December 29, 2022 (the “Prior Agreement”).

WHEREAS, the Company desires to continue to employ you and you desire to continue to be employed by the Company on the new terms and conditions contained herein.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1.
Employment.
(a)
Term. The Company shall employ you and you shall be employed by the Company pursuant to this Agreement commencing as of the Effective Date and continuing until such employment is terminated in accordance with the provisions hereof (the “Term”). Your employment with the Company will continue to be “at will,” meaning that your employment may be terminated by the Company or you at any time and for any reason subject to the terms of this Agreement.
(b)
Position and Duties. You shall serve as the Chief Medical Officer of the Company and shall report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). You shall have such powers and duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the CEO or other duly authorized executive which are consistent with your position as Chief Medical Officer. You shall devote your full working time and efforts to the business and affairs of the

 


 

Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may serve on other boards of directors, with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Company (including any committee thereof, the “Board”), which approval shall not unreasonably be withheld by the Board, or engage in religious, charitable or other community activities as long as such services and activities are disclosed to the Board and do not interfere with your performance of your duties to the Company. To the extent applicable, you shall be deemed to have resigned from all officer and, if applicable, board member positions that you hold with the Company or any of its respective subsidiaries and affiliates upon the termination of your employment for any reason. You shall execute any documents in reasonable form as may be requested to confirm or effectuate any such resignations.
2.
Compensation and Related Matters.
(a)
Base Salary. Your initial base salary shall be paid at the rate of $556,000 per year. Your base salary shall be subject to periodic review and increase (but not decrease, except for an across-the-board reduction of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company) by the Board or the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”). The base salary in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Base Salary.” The Base Salary shall be payable in a manner that is consistent with the Company’s usual payroll practices for executive officers.
(b)
Incentive Compensation. You shall be eligible to receive cash incentive compensation as determined by the Board or the Compensation Committee from time to time. Your target annual incentive compensation shall be forty-five percent (45%) of your Base Salary. The target annual incentive compensation in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Target Bonus.” The actual amount of your annual incentive compensation, if any, shall be determined in the sole discretion of the Board or the Compensation Committee, subject to the terms of any applicable incentive compensation plan that may be in effect from time to time (the “Bonus”). Except as otherwise provided herein, to earn incentive compensation, you must be employed by the Company on the day such incentive compensation is paid. The incentive compensation for each fiscal year will be paid no later than two and a half months following such fiscal year.

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(c)
Expenses. You shall be entitled to receive prompt reimbursement for all reasonable expenses incurred by you during the Term in performing services hereunder, in accordance with the policies and procedures then in effect and established by the Company for its executive officers.
(d)
Other Benefits. You shall be eligible to participate in or receive benefits under the Company’s employee benefit plans in effect from time to time, subject to the terms of such plans.
(e)
Paid Time Off. You shall be entitled to take paid time off in accordance with the Company’s applicable paid time off policy for executives, as may be in effect from time to time. You shall also be entitled to all paid holidays given by the Company to its employees.
(f)
Equity. The equity awards held by you shall continue to be governed by the terms and conditions of the Company’s applicable equity incentive plan(s) and the applicable award agreement(s) governing the terms of such equity awards held by you (collectively, the “Equity Documents”); provided, however, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Equity Documents, Section 6(a)(ii) of this Agreement shall apply in the event of a termination by the Company without Cause or by you for Good Reason in either event within the Change in Control Period (as such terms are defined below).
3.
Termination. Your employment hereunder may be terminated without any breach of this Agreement under the following circumstances:
(a)
Death. Your employment hereunder shall terminate upon your death.
(b)
Disability. The Company may terminate your employment due to your “Disability” if you are unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions under this Agreement with or without reasonable accommodation for a period of 180 days (which need not be consecutive) in any 12-month period. If any question shall arise as to whether during any period you are disabled so as to be unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions with or without reasonable accommodation, you may, and at the request of the Company shall, submit to the Company a certification in reasonable detail by a physician selected by the Company who is board certified in the specialty relevant to your medical condition to whom you or your guardian has no reasonable objection as to whether you are disabled or how long such disability is expected to continue, and

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such certification shall for the purposes of this Agreement be conclusive of the issue. You shall cooperate with any reasonable request of the physician in connection with such certification. If such question shall arise and you shall fail to submit such certification, the Company’s reasonable determination of such issue shall be binding on you. Nothing in this Section 3(b) shall be construed to waive your rights, if any, under existing law including, without limitation, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq. and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
(c)
Termination by Company for Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder for Cause. For purposes of this Agreement, “Cause” shall mean any of the following:
(i)
conduct by you constituting a material act of intentional misconduct in connection with the performance of your duties, including, without limitation, (A) willful failure or willful refusal to perform material responsibilities that have been lawfully requested by the CEO; (B) intentional dishonesty to the CEO with respect to any material matter; or (C) intentional misappropriation of funds or property of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates other than the occasional, customary and de minimis use of Company property for personal purposes;
(ii)
the commission by you of (A) any felony or (B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, deceit, dishonesty or fraud;
(iii)
any intentional misconduct by you, regardless of whether or not in the course of your employment, that results in material injury or material reputational harm to the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates if you were to continue to be employed in the same position;
(iv)
your continued willful non-performance by you of your duties hereunder (other than by reason of your physical or mental illness, incapacity or Disability) which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such non-performance from the CEO;
(v)
a material breach by you of any of the provisions contained in Section 8 of this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement and, if such breach is curable, has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such material breach (as defined below); or

4


 

(vi)
your willful failure to reasonably cooperate with a bona fide internal investigation or an investigation by regulatory or law enforcement authorities, after being reasonably instructed by the Company to cooperate, or the willful destruction or failure to preserve documents or other materials known to be relevant to such investigation or the willful inducement of others to fail to cooperate or to produce documents or other materials in connection with such investigation.
(d)
Termination by the Company without Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder at any time without Cause. Any termination by the Company of your employment under this Agreement which does not constitute a termination for Cause under Section 3(c) and does not result from the death or Disability of you under Section 3(a) or (b) shall be deemed a termination without Cause.
(e)
Termination by You. You may terminate employment hereunder at any time for any reason, including but not limited to, Good Reason. For purposes of this Agreement, “Good Reason” shall mean that you have completed all steps of the Good Reason Process (hereinafter defined) following the occurrence of any of the following events without your written consent (each, a “Good Reason Condition”):
(i)
a material diminution in your responsibilities, authority or duties
(ii)
a material diminution in your Base Salary except for across-the-board salary reductions of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company;
(iii)
a material change of at least thirty (30) miles of the location of the physical Company office to which you report (which to avoid doubt does not include any home office you may have); or
(iv)
a breach by the Company of the material terms of this Agreement or any other written agreement between the Company and you.

The “Good Reason Process” consists of the following steps:

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(v)
you reasonably determine in good faith that a Good Reason Condition has occurred;
(vi)
you notify the Company in writing of the first occurrence of the Good Reason Condition within 60 days of the first occurrence of such condition;
(vii)
you cooperate in good faith with the Company’s efforts, for a period of not less than 30 days following such notice (the “Cure Period”), to remedy the Good Reason Condition;
(viii)
notwithstanding such Cure Period, the Good Reason Condition continues to exist; and
(ix)
you terminate employment within 60 days after the end of the Cure Period.

If the Company cures the Good Reason Condition during the Cure Period, Good Reason shall be deemed not to have occurred.

If your employment with the Company is terminated for any reason, the Company shall pay or provide to you (or your authorized representative or estate) (i) any Base Salary earned through the Date of Termination; (ii) unpaid expense reimbursements (subject to, and in accordance with, Section 2(c) of this Agreement); (iii) any vested benefits you may have under any employee benefit plan of the Company through the Date of Termination, which vested benefits shall be paid and/or provided in accordance with the terms of such employee benefit plans; and (iv) if your employment is terminated by the Company because of your death or Disability, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year your employment is terminated because of your death or Disability (collectively, the “Accrued Obligations”). The earned but unpaid Bonus in subsection (iv) will be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

4.
Notice and Date of Termination.
(a)
Notice of Termination. Except for termination as specified in Section 3(a), any termination of your employment by the Company or any such termination by you shall be communicated by written Notice of

6


 

Termination to the other party hereto. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Notice of Termination” shall mean a notice which shall indicate the specific termination provision in this Agreement relied upon.
(b)
Date of Termination. “Date of Termination” shall mean: (i) if your employment is terminated by death, the date of death; (ii) if your employment is terminated on account of Disability under Section 3(b) or by the Company for Cause under Section 3(c), the date on which Notice of Termination is given; (iii) if your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause under Section 3(d), the date on which a Notice of Termination is given or the date otherwise specified by the Company in the Notice of Termination; (iv) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) other than for Good Reason, 14 days after the date on which a Notice of Termination is given, and (v) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) for Good Reason, the date on which a Notice of Termination is given after the end of the Cure Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that you give a Notice of Termination to the Company, the Company may unilaterally accelerate the Date of Termination and such acceleration shall not result in a termination by the Company for purposes of this Agreement. However, the Company will continue paying you your Base Salary until the original Date of Termination.
5.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason Outside the Change in Control Period. If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), each outside of the Change in Control Period (as defined below), then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to (i) your signing a separation agreement and release in a form and manner reasonably satisfactory to the Company, which shall include, without limitation, a general release of claims against the Company and all related persons and entities, a reaffirmation of all of your Continuing Obligations (as defined below), and shall provide that if you materially breach any of the Continuing Obligations, and if such breach is curable, which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such breach, all payments of the Severance Amount shall immediately cease (the “Separation Agreement and Release”), and (ii) the Separation Agreement and Release becoming irrevocable, all within 60 days after the Date of Termination (or such shorter period as set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release), which shall include a seven (7) business day revocation period:
(a)
the Company shall pay you an amount equal to nine (9) months of your Base Salary (the “Severance Amount”); provided in the event you are entitled to any payments pursuant to the Restrictive Covenants

7


 

Agreement, as a condition of such receipt of the Severance Amount, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Severance Amount will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement;
(b)
the Company shall pay you, if applicable, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, to be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs; and
(c)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended (“COBRA”), the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the nine (9) month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under Sections 5(a) and (c), to the extent taxable, shall be paid out in substantially equal installments in accordance with the Company’s payroll practice over nine (9) months commencing within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, the Severance Amount, to the extent it qualifies as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), shall begin to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period; provided, further, that the initial payment shall include a catch-up payment to cover amounts retroactive to the day immediately following the Date of Termination.

8


 

Each payment pursuant to this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2).

6.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason within the Change in Control Period. The provisions of this Section 6 shall apply in lieu of, and expressly supersede, the provisions of Section 5 if (i) your employment is terminated either (a) by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or (b) by you for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), and (ii) the Date of Termination is within 3 months prior to, or within 12 months after, the occurrence of the first event constituting a Change in Control (as defined below) (such period, the “Change in Control Period”). These provisions of Section 6 shall terminate and be of no further force or effect after a Change in Control Period.
(a)
If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d) or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e) and in either case the Date of Termination occurs during the Change in Control Period, then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to the signing of the Separation Agreement and Release by you and the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective, all within the time frame set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release but in no event more than 60 days after the Date of Termination:
(i)
the Company shall pay you a lump sum in cash in an amount equal to the sum of (A) fifteen (15) months of your then current Base Salary (or your Base Salary in effect immediately prior to the Change in Control, if higher), (B) 1.25x your Target Bonus for the then-current fiscal year; and (C) any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, (the “Change in Control Payment”) provided that, if applicable and as a condition of such receipt of the Change in Control Payment, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Change in Control Payment will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; and
(ii)
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any applicable option agreement or other stock-based award agreement, all time-based stock options and other stock-based awards subject to time-based vesting held by you (the “Time-Based Equity Awards”) shall immediately accelerate and become fully exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the later of (i) the Date of Termination or (ii) the effective date of the

9


 

Separation Agreement and Release (the “Accelerated Vesting Date”); provided that any termination or forfeiture of the unvested portion of such Time-Based Equity Awards that would otherwise occur on the Date of Termination in the absence of this Agreement will be delayed until the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release and will only occur if the vesting pursuant to this subsection does not occur due to the absence of the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective within the time period set forth therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no additional vesting of the Time-Based Equity Awards shall occur during the period between your Date of Termination and the Accelerated Vesting Date; and
(iii)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under COBRA, the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the 15-month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under this Section 6(a) (other than 6(a)(i)(C)), to the extent taxable, shall be paid or commence to be paid within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, such payments to the extent they qualify as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, shall be paid or commence to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period. The amount payable under Section 6(a)(i)(C) shall be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

(b)
Additional Limitation.

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(i)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, in the event that the amount of any compensation, payment or distribution by the Company to or for the benefit of you, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise, calculated in a manner consistent with Section 280G of the Code, and the applicable regulations thereunder (the “Aggregate Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code, then the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced (but not below zero) so that the sum of all of the Aggregate Payments shall be $1.00 less than the amount at which you became the subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code; provided that such reduction shall only occur if it would result in you receiving a higher After Tax Amount (as defined below) than you would receive if the Aggregate Payments were not subject to such reduction. In such event, the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced in the following order, in each case, in reverse chronological order beginning with the Aggregate Payments that are to be paid the furthest in time from consummation of the transaction that is subject to Section 280G of the Code: (1) cash payments not subject to Section 409A of the Code; (2) cash payments subject to Section 409A of the Code; (3) equity-based payments and acceleration; and (4) non-cash forms of benefits; provided that in the case of all the foregoing Aggregate Payments all amounts or payments that are not subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c) shall be reduced before any amounts that are subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c).
(ii)
For purposes of this Section 6(b), the “After Tax Amount” means the amount of the Aggregate Payments less all federal, state, and local income, excise and employment taxes imposed on you as a result of your receipt of the Aggregate Payments. For purposes of determining the After Tax Amount, you shall be deemed to pay federal income taxes at the highest marginal rate of federal income taxation applicable to individuals for the calendar year in which the determination is to be made, and state and local income taxes at the highest marginal rates of individual taxation in each applicable state and locality, net of the maximum reduction in federal income taxes which could be obtained from deduction of such state and local taxes.
(iii)
The determination as to whether a reduction in the Aggregate Payments shall be made pursuant to Section 6(b)(i) shall be made by a nationally recognized accounting firm selected by the

11


 

Company (the “Accounting Firm”), which shall provide detailed supporting calculations both to the Company and you within 15 business days of the Date of Termination, if applicable, or at such earlier time as is reasonably requested by the Company or you. Any determination by the Accounting Firm shall be binding upon the Company and you.
(iv)
Definitions. For the purposes of this Section 6, a “Change in Control” shall be deemed to have occurred upon the occurrence of any one of the following events: (a) the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company (i.e., >50% of the value) on a consolidated basis to one or more unrelated persons or entities, (b) a merger, reorganization or consolidation pursuant to which the holders of the Company’s outstanding voting power and outstanding stock immediately prior to such transaction do not own a majority of the outstanding voting power or fair market value of the stock or other equity interests of the resulting or successor entity (or its ultimate parent, if applicable) immediately upon completion of such transaction, (c) the sale of all or substantially all of the stock of the Company to an unrelated person, entity or group thereof acting in concert, (d) any other transaction in which the owners of the Company’s outstanding voting power immediately prior to such transaction do not own at least a majority of the outstanding voting power of the Company or any successor entity immediately upon completion of the transaction other than as a result of the acquisition of securities directly from the Company, or (e) the date a majority of the members of the Board is replaced during any 12-month period by directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board before the date of the appointment or election provided that with respect to any of the clauses (a) through (e) any capital raising transaction of the Company (including the Company’s IPO) shall not be treated as a “Change in Control.” Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (other than the foregoing proviso), “Change in Control” shall be interpreted, administered and applied in a manner consistent and in compliance with a “change in control event” as set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-3(i)(5) (“Change in Control Event”).
7.
Section 409A.
(a)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, if at the time of your separation from service within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, the Company determines that you are a

12


 

“specified employee” within the meaning of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, then to the extent any payment or benefit that you become entitled to under this Agreement or otherwise on account of your separation from service would be considered deferred compensation otherwise subject to the 20 percent additional tax imposed pursuant to Section 409A(a) of the Code as a result of the application of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, such payment shall not be payable and such benefit shall not be provided until the date that is the earlier of (A) six months and one day after your separation from service, or (B) your death. If any such delayed cash payment is otherwise payable on an installment basis, the first payment shall include a catch-up payment covering amounts that would otherwise have been paid during the six-month period but for the application of this provision, and the balance of the installments shall be payable in accordance with their original schedule.
(b)
All in-kind benefits provided and expenses eligible for reimbursement under this Agreement shall be provided by the Company or incurred by you during the time periods set forth in this Agreement. All reimbursements shall be paid as soon as administratively practicable, but in no event shall any reimbursement be paid after the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the expense was incurred. The amount of in-kind benefits provided or reimbursable expenses incurred in one taxable year shall not affect the in-kind benefits to be provided or the expenses eligible for reimbursement in any other taxable year (except for any lifetime or other aggregate limitation applicable to medical expenses). Such right to reimbursement or in-kind benefits is not subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit.
(c)
To the extent that any payment or benefit described in this Agreement constitutes “non-qualified deferred compensation” under Section 409A of the Code, and to the extent that such payment or benefit is payable upon your termination of employment, then such payments or benefits shall be payable only upon your “separation from service.” The determination of whether and when a separation from service has occurred shall be made in accordance with the presumptions set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑1(h).
(d)
The parties intend that this Agreement will be administered in accordance with Section 409A of the Code. To the extent that any provision of this Agreement is ambiguous as to its compliance with Section 409A of the Code, the provision shall be read in such a manner so that all payments hereunder comply with Section 409A of the Code. Each payment pursuant to this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑2(b)(2). The parties agree that this

13


 

Agreement may be amended, as reasonably requested by either party, and as may be necessary to fully comply with Section 409A of the Code and all related rules and regulations in order to preserve the payments and benefits provided hereunder without additional cost to either party.
(e)
The Company makes no representation or warranty and shall have no liability to you or any other person if any provisions of this Agreement are determined to constitute deferred compensation subject to Section 409A of the Code but do not satisfy an exemption from, or the conditions of, such Section.
8.
Continuing Obligations.
(a)
Restrictive Covenants Agreement. The Disc Medicine, Inc. Employee Confidentiality, Assignment, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement between the Company and you (the “Restrictive Covenants Agreement”), attached hereto as Exhibit A, continues to be in full force and effect. You acknowledge and agree that your eligibility for enhanced severance benefits provided by this Agreement constitutes additional, fair and reasonable consideration independent from the continuation of your employment, for the Restrictive Covenants Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, the obligations in this Section 8 and those that arise in the Restrictive Covenants Agreement shall collectively be referred to as the “Continuing Obligations.”
(b)
Third-Party Agreements and Rights. You hereby confirm that you are not bound by the terms of any agreement with any previous employer or other party which restricts in any way your use or disclosure of information, other than confidentiality restrictions (if any), or your engagement in any business. You represent to the Company that your execution of this Agreement, your employment with the Company and the performance of your proposed duties for the Company will not violate any obligations you may have to any such previous employer or other party. In your work for the Company, you will not disclose or make use of any information in violation of any agreements with or rights of any such previous employer or other party, and you will not bring to the premises of the Company any copies or other tangible embodiments of non-public information belonging to or obtained from any such previous employment or other party.
(c)
Litigation and Regulatory Cooperation. During and after your employment, you shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in (i) the defense or prosecution of any claims or actions now in existence or which may be brought in the future against or on behalf of the Company which relate to events or

14


 

occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company, and (ii) the investigation, whether internal or external, of any matters about which the Company believes you may have knowledge or information. Your full reasonable cooperation in connection with such claims, actions or investigations shall include, but not be limited to, being available to meet with counsel to answer questions or to prepare for discovery or trial and to act as a witness on behalf of the Company at mutually convenient times. During and after your employment, you also shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in connection with any investigation or review of any federal, state or local regulatory authority as any such investigation or review relates to events or occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company. The Company shall reimburse you for any reasonable out‑of‑pocket expenses incurred in connection with your performance of obligations pursuant to this Section 8(c). The Company agrees that if you have provided fifteen (15) hours of cooperation to the Company after your Date of Termination, the Company shall pay you an hourly rate of $400 for any additional hours of cooperation, over the initial fifteen (15) hours, except for your testimony pursuant to a lawfully issued summons or subpoena. The Company further agrees that it will pay/reimburse your reasonable out-of-pocket expenses and fees within thirty (30) days of your submission of receipts and invoices to the Company.
(d)
Relief. You agree that it may be difficult to measure any damages caused to the Company which might result from any breach by you of the Continuing Obligations, and that in any event money damages may be an inadequate remedy for any such breach. Accordingly, you agree that if you breach, or propose to breach, any portion of the Continuing Obligations, the Company shall be entitled, in addition to all other remedies that it may have, to seek an injunction or other appropriate equitable relief to restrain any such breach without showing or proving any actual damage to the Company.
(e)
Protected Activities; Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. Nothing contained in this Agreement, any other agreement with the Company or any Company policy limits your ability, with or without notice to the Company, to: (i) file a charge or complaint with any federal, state or local governmental agency or commission (a “Government Agency”), including without limitation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission; (ii) communicate with any Government Agency or otherwise participate in any investigation or proceeding that may be conducted by an Government Agency, including by providing non-privileged documents or information; (iii) exercise any rights under Section 7 of the

15


 

National Labor Relations Act, which are available to non-supervisory employees, including assisting co-workers with or discussing any employment issue as part of engaging in concerted activities for purpose of mutual aid or protection; (iv) discuss or disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful; or (v) testify truthfully in a legal proceeding. Any such communications and disclosures must not violate applicable law and the information disclosed must not have been obtained through a communication that was subject to the attorney-client privilege (unless disclosure of that information would otherwise be permitted consistent with such privilege or applicable law). In addition, pursuant to the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, you shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law or under this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement for the disclosure of a trade secret that (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
9.
Arbitration of Disputes.
(a)
Arbitration Generally. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof or otherwise arising out of your employment or the termination of that employment (including, without limitation, any claims of unlawful employment discrimination or retaliation, whether based on race, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class under applicable law, including without limitation Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be settled by arbitration in any forum and form agreed upon by the parties or, in the absence of such an agreement, under the auspices of JAMS in Boston, Massachusetts in accordance with the JAMS Employment Arbitration Rules, including, but not limited to, the rules and procedures applicable to the selection of arbitrators. You understand that you may only bring such claims in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class proceeding or any purported representative proceeding. You further understand that, by signing this Agreement, the Company and you are giving up any right they may have to a jury trial on all claims they may have against each other. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. This Section 9 shall be specifically enforceable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 9 shall not preclude either party from pursuing a court action for the sole purpose of obtaining a temporary restraining

16


 

order or a preliminary injunction in circumstances in which such relief is appropriate, including without limitation relief sought under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; provided that any other relief shall be pursued through an arbitration proceeding pursuant to this Section 9.
(b)
Arbitration Fees and Costs. You shall be required to pay an arbitration fee to initiate any arbitration equal to what you would be charged as a first appearance fee in court. The Company shall pay the remaining fees and costs of the arbitrator. Each party shall pay its own costs and attorneys’ fees, if any. If, however, any party prevails on a statutory or contractual claim that entitles the prevailing party to attorneys’ fees (including pursuant to this Agreement), the arbitrator will award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party to the extent permitted by law.
10.
Consent to Jurisdiction. To the extent that any court action is permitted consistent with or to enforce Section 9 of this Agreement, the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accordingly, with respect to any such court action, you (a) submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts; (b) consent to service of process; (c) waive any other requirement (whether imposed by statute, rule of court, or otherwise) with respect to personal jurisdiction or service of process and (d) you and the Company waive any right to a jury in connection with any such court action.
11.
Indemnification. The “Indemnification Agreement” between the Company and you, dated December 29, 2022 (the “Indemnification Agreement”) is hereby incorporated by reference.
12.
No Mitigation. The Company agrees that if your employment by the Company is terminated during the term of this Agreement, you are not required to seek other employment or to attempt in any way to reduce any amounts payable to you by the Company pursuant to Sections 5 or 6 hereof. Further, the amount of any payment provided for in this Agreement shall not be reduced by any compensation earned by you.
13.
Integration. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements between the parties concerning such subject matter, including the Prior Agreement, provided that the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents remain in full force and effect.

17


 

14.
Withholding; Tax Effect. All payments made by the Company to you under this Agreement shall be net of any tax or other amounts required to be withheld by the Company under applicable law. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require the Company to make any payments to compensate you for any adverse tax effect associated with any payments or benefits or for any deduction or withholding from any payment or benefit.
15.
Assignment. Neither you nor the Company may make any assignment of this Agreement or any interest in it, by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other; provided, however, that the Company may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including the Restrictive Covenants Agreement) without your consent to any affiliate or to any person or entity with whom the Company shall hereafter effect a reorganization, consolidate with, or merge into or to whom it transfers all or substantially all of its properties or assets, but only on the condition that it assigns both its rights and obligations. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon you and the Company, and each of yours and the Company’s respective successors, executors, administrators, heirs, personal representatives, and permitted assigns. In the event of your death prior to the completion by the Company of any payments due to you under Sections 5 or 6 of this Agreement, the Company shall continue such payments to the beneficiary you designated in writing to the Company prior to your death, or to your estate, heirs, executors or personal representatives if you failed to make such designation.
16.
Enforceability. If any portion or provision of this Agreement (including, without limitation, any portion or provision of any section of this Agreement) shall to any extent be declared illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such portion or provision in circumstances other than those as to which it is so declared illegal or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each portion and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
17.
Survival. The provisions of this Agreement shall survive the termination of this Agreement and/or the termination of your employment to the extent necessary to effectuate the terms contained herein.
18.
Waiver. No waiver of any provision hereof shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by the waiving party. The failure of any party to require the performance of any term or obligation of this Agreement, or the waiver by any party of any breach of this Agreement, shall not prevent any subsequent enforcement of such term or obligation or be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach.

18


 

19.
Notices. Any notices, requests, demands and other communications provided for by this Agreement shall be sufficient if in writing and delivered in person or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service or by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, to you at the last address you have on file in writing with the Company or, in the case of the Company, at its main offices, attention of the Board.
20.
Amendment. This Agreement may be amended or modified only by a written instrument signed by you and by a duly authorized representative of the Company.
21.
Effect on Other Plans and Agreements. An election by you to resign for Good Reason under the provisions of this Agreement shall not be deemed a voluntary termination of employment by you for the purpose of interpreting the provisions of any of the Company's benefit plans, programs or policies. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to limit the rights of you under the Company’s benefit plans, programs or policies except as otherwise provided in Section 8 hereof, and except that you shall have no rights to any severance benefits under any Company severance pay plan, offer letter or otherwise. In the event that you are a party to an agreement with the Company providing for payments or benefits under such plan or agreement and under this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall govern and you may receive payment under this Agreement only and not both. Further, Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement are mutually exclusive and in no event shall you be entitled to payments or benefits pursuant to both Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement.
22.
Governing Law. This is a Massachusetts contract and shall be construed under and be governed in all respects by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without giving effect to the conflict of laws principles thereof. With respect to any disputes concerning federal law, such disputes shall be determined in accordance with the law as it would be interpreted and applied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
23.
Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when so executed and delivered shall be taken to be an original; but such counterparts shall together constitute one and the same document.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement effective on the Effective Date.

 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ John Quisel

 

Its:

President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/s/

William Savage, MD, PhD

 

William Savage, MD, PhD

 

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Exhibit A

 

Restrictive Covenants Agreement

 


EX-10.5

 

Exhibit 10.5

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

AMENDED AND RESTATED EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

This Amended and Restated Employment Agreement (“Agreement”) is made between Disc Medicine, Inc., (the “Company”), and Jonathan Yu (“You”) and is effective as of July 29, 2026 (the “Effective Date”). Except with respect to the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents (each as defined below), this Agreement supersedes in all respects all prior agreements between you and the Company regarding the subject matter herein, including without limitation the employment agreement between you and the Company, December 29, 2022 (the “Prior Agreement”).

WHEREAS, the Company desires to continue to employ you and you desire to continue to be employed by the Company on the new terms and conditions contained herein.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1.
Employment.
(a)
Term. The Company shall employ you and you shall be employed by the Company pursuant to this Agreement commencing as of the Effective Date and continuing until such employment is terminated in accordance with the provisions hereof (the “Term”). Your employment with the Company will continue to be “at will,” meaning that your employment may be terminated by the Company or you at any time and for any reason subject to the terms of this Agreement.
(b)
Position and Duties. You shall serve as the Chief Operating Officer of the Company and shall report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). You shall have such powers and duties as may from time to time be prescribed by the CEO or other duly authorized executive which are consistent with your position as Chief Business Officer. You shall devote your full working time and efforts to the business and affairs of the

 


 

Company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may serve on other boards of directors, with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Company (including any committee thereof, the “Board”), which approval shall not unreasonably be withheld by the Board, or engage in religious, charitable or other community activities as long as such services and activities are disclosed to the Board and do not interfere with your performance of your duties to the Company. To the extent applicable, you shall be deemed to have resigned from all officer and, if applicable, board member positions that you hold with the Company or any of its respective subsidiaries and affiliates upon the termination of your employment for any reason. You shall execute any documents in reasonable form as may be requested to confirm or effectuate any such resignations.
2.
Compensation and Related Matters.
(a)
Base Salary. Your initial base salary shall be paid at the rate of $530,000 per year. Your base salary shall be subject to periodic review and increase (but not decrease, except for an across-the-board reduction of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company) by the Board or the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”). The base salary in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Base Salary.” The Base Salary shall be payable in a manner that is consistent with the Company’s usual payroll practices for executive officers.
(b)
Incentive Compensation. You shall be eligible to receive cash incentive compensation as determined by the Board or the Compensation Committee from time to time. Your target annual incentive compensation shall be forty-five percent (45%) of your Base Salary. The target annual incentive compensation in effect at any given time is referred to herein as “Target Bonus.” The actual amount of your annual incentive compensation, if any, shall be determined in the sole discretion of the Board or the Compensation Committee, subject to the terms of any applicable incentive compensation plan that may be in effect from time to time (the “Bonus”). Except as otherwise provided herein, to earn incentive compensation, you must be employed by the Company on the day such incentive compensation is paid. The incentive compensation for each fiscal year will be paid no later than two and a half months following such fiscal year.

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(c)
Expenses. You shall be entitled to receive prompt reimbursement for all reasonable expenses incurred by you during the Term in performing services hereunder, in accordance with the policies and procedures then in effect and established by the Company for its executive officers.
(d)
Other Benefits. You shall be eligible to participate in or receive benefits under the Company’s employee benefit plans in effect from time to time, subject to the terms of such plans.
(e)
Paid Time Off. You shall be entitled to take paid time off in accordance with the Company’s applicable paid time off policy for executives, as may be in effect from time to time. You shall also be entitled to all paid holidays given by the Company to its employees.
(f)
Equity. The equity awards held by you shall continue to be governed by the terms and conditions of the Company’s applicable equity incentive plan(s) and the applicable award agreement(s) governing the terms of such equity awards held by you (collectively, the “Equity Documents”); provided, however, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Equity Documents, Section 6(a)(ii) of this Agreement shall apply in the event of a termination by the Company without Cause or by you for Good Reason in either event within the Change in Control Period (as such terms are defined below).
3.
Termination. Your employment hereunder may be terminated without any breach of this Agreement under the following circumstances:
(a)
Death. Your employment hereunder shall terminate upon your death.
(b)
Disability. The Company may terminate your employment due to your “Disability” if you are unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions under this Agreement with or without reasonable accommodation for a period of 180 days (which need not be consecutive) in any 12-month period. If any question shall arise as to whether during any period you are disabled so as to be unable to perform the essential functions of your then existing position or positions with or without reasonable accommodation, you may, and at the request of the Company shall, submit to the Company a certification in reasonable detail by a physician selected by the Company who is board certified in the specialty relevant to your medical condition to whom you or your guardian has no reasonable objection as to whether you are disabled or how long such disability is expected to continue, and

3


 

such certification shall for the purposes of this Agreement be conclusive of the issue. You shall cooperate with any reasonable request of the physician in connection with such certification. If such question shall arise and you shall fail to submit such certification, the Company’s reasonable determination of such issue shall be binding on you. Nothing in this Section 3(b) shall be construed to waive your rights, if any, under existing law including, without limitation, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq. and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
(c)
Termination by Company for Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder for Cause. For purposes of this Agreement, “Cause” shall mean any of the following:
(i)
conduct by you constituting a material act of intentional misconduct in connection with the performance of your duties, including, without limitation, (A) willful failure or willful refusal to perform material responsibilities that have been lawfully requested by the CEO; (B) intentional dishonesty to the CEO with respect to any material matter; or (C) intentional misappropriation of funds or property of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates other than the occasional, customary and de minimis use of Company property for personal purposes;
(ii)
the commission by you of (A) any felony or (B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, deceit, dishonesty or fraud;
(iii)
any intentional misconduct by you, regardless of whether or not in the course of your employment, that results in material injury or material reputational harm to the Company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates if you were to continue to be employed in the same position;
(iv)
your continued willful non-performance by you of your duties hereunder (other than by reason of your physical or mental illness, incapacity or Disability) which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such non-performance from the CEO;
(v)
a material breach by you of any of the provisions contained in Section 8 of this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement and, if such breach is curable, has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such material breach (as defined below); or

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(vi)
your willful failure to reasonably cooperate with a bona fide internal investigation or an investigation by regulatory or law enforcement authorities, after being reasonably instructed by the Company to cooperate, or the willful destruction or failure to preserve documents or other materials known to be relevant to such investigation or the willful inducement of others to fail to cooperate or to produce documents or other materials in connection with such investigation.
(d)
Termination by the Company without Cause. The Company may terminate your employment hereunder at any time without Cause. Any termination by the Company of your employment under this Agreement which does not constitute a termination for Cause under Section 3(c) and does not result from the death or Disability of you under Section 3(a) or (b) shall be deemed a termination without Cause.
(e)
Termination by You. You may terminate employment hereunder at any time for any reason, including but not limited to, Good Reason. For purposes of this Agreement, “Good Reason” shall mean that you have completed all steps of the Good Reason Process (hereinafter defined) following the occurrence of any of the following events without your written consent (each, a “Good Reason Condition”):
(i)
a material diminution in your responsibilities, authority or duties
(ii)
a material diminution in your Base Salary except for across-the-board salary reductions of no greater than 10% based on the Company’s financial performance similarly affecting all or substantially all senior management employees of the Company;
(iii)
a material change of at least thirty (30) miles of the location of the physical Company office to which you report (which to avoid doubt does not include any home office you may have); or
(iv)
a breach by the Company of the material terms of this Agreement or any other written agreement between the Company and you.

The “Good Reason Process” consists of the following steps:

5


 

(v)
you reasonably determine in good faith that a Good Reason Condition has occurred;
(vi)
you notify the Company in writing of the first occurrence of the Good Reason Condition within 60 days of the first occurrence of such condition;
(vii)
you cooperate in good faith with the Company’s efforts, for a period of not less than 30 days following such notice (the “Cure Period”), to remedy the Good Reason Condition;
(viii)
notwithstanding such Cure Period, the Good Reason Condition continues to exist; and
(ix)
you terminate employment within 60 days after the end of the Cure Period.

If the Company cures the Good Reason Condition during the Cure Period, Good Reason shall be deemed not to have occurred.

If your employment with the Company is terminated for any reason, the Company shall pay or provide to you (or your authorized representative or estate) (i) any Base Salary earned through the Date of Termination; (ii) unpaid expense reimbursements (subject to, and in accordance with, Section 2(c) of this Agreement); (iii) any vested benefits you may have under any employee benefit plan of the Company through the Date of Termination, which vested benefits shall be paid and/or provided in accordance with the terms of such employee benefit plans; and (iv) if your employment is terminated by the Company because of your death or Disability, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year your employment is terminated because of your death or Disability (collectively, the “Accrued Obligations”). The earned but unpaid Bonus in subsection (iv) will be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

4.
Notice and Date of Termination.
(a)
Notice of Termination. Except for termination as specified in Section 3(a), any termination of your employment by the Company or any such termination by you shall be communicated by written Notice of

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Termination to the other party hereto. For purposes of this Agreement, a “Notice of Termination” shall mean a notice which shall indicate the specific termination provision in this Agreement relied upon.
(b)
Date of Termination. “Date of Termination” shall mean: (i) if your employment is terminated by death, the date of death; (ii) if your employment is terminated on account of Disability under Section 3(b) or by the Company for Cause under Section 3(c), the date on which Notice of Termination is given; (iii) if your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause under Section 3(d), the date on which a Notice of Termination is given or the date otherwise specified by the Company in the Notice of Termination; (iv) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) other than for Good Reason, 14 days after the date on which a Notice of Termination is given, and (v) if your employment is terminated by you under Section 3(e) for Good Reason, the date on which a Notice of Termination is given after the end of the Cure Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that you give a Notice of Termination to the Company, the Company may unilaterally accelerate the Date of Termination and such acceleration shall not result in a termination by the Company for purposes of this Agreement. However, the Company will continue paying you your Base Salary until the original Date of Termination.
5.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason Outside the Change in Control Period. If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), each outside of the Change in Control Period (as defined below), then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to (i) your signing a separation agreement and release in a form and manner reasonably satisfactory to the Company, which shall include, without limitation, a general release of claims against the Company and all related persons and entities, a reaffirmation of all of your Continuing Obligations (as defined below), and shall provide that if you materially breach any of the Continuing Obligations, and if such breach is curable, which has continued for more than 30 days following written notice of such breach, all payments of the Severance Amount shall immediately cease (the “Separation Agreement and Release”), and (ii) the Separation Agreement and Release becoming irrevocable, all within 60 days after the Date of Termination (or such shorter period as set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release), which shall include a seven (7) business day revocation period:
(a)
the Company shall pay you an amount equal to nine (9) months of your Base Salary (the “Severance Amount”); provided in the event you are entitled to any payments pursuant to the Restrictive Covenants

7


 

Agreement, as a condition of such receipt of the Severance Amount, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Severance Amount will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement;
(b)
the Company shall pay you, if applicable, a lump sum payment of any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, to be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs; and
(c)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, as amended (“COBRA”), the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the nine (9) month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under Sections 5(a) and (c), to the extent taxable, shall be paid out in substantially equal installments in accordance with the Company’s payroll practice over nine (9) months commencing within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, the Severance Amount, to the extent it qualifies as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), shall begin to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period; provided, further, that the initial payment shall include a catch-up payment to cover amounts retroactive to the day immediately following the Date of Termination.

8


 

Each payment pursuant to this Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-2(b)(2).

6.
Severance Pay and Benefits Upon Termination by the Company without Cause or by You for Good Reason within the Change in Control Period. The provisions of this Section 6 shall apply in lieu of, and expressly supersede, the provisions of Section 5 if (i) your employment is terminated either (a) by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d), or (b) by you for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e), and (ii) the Date of Termination is within 3 months prior to, or within 12 months after, the occurrence of the first event constituting a Change in Control (as defined below) (such period, the “Change in Control Period”). These provisions of Section 6 shall terminate and be of no further force or effect after a Change in Control Period.
(a)
If your employment is terminated by the Company without Cause as provided in Section 3(d) or you terminate employment for Good Reason as provided in Section 3(e) and in either case the Date of Termination occurs during the Change in Control Period, then, in addition to the Accrued Obligations, and subject to the signing of the Separation Agreement and Release by you and the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective, all within the time frame set forth in the Separation Agreement and Release but in no event more than 60 days after the Date of Termination:
(i)
the Company shall pay you a lump sum in cash in an amount equal to the sum of (A) fifteen (15) months of your then current Base Salary (or your Base Salary in effect immediately prior to the Change in Control, if higher), (B) 1.25x your Target Bonus for the then-current fiscal year; and (C) any earned, but unpaid Bonus for the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year of your Date of Termination, (the “Change in Control Payment”) provided that, if applicable and as a condition of such receipt of the Change in Control Payment, you shall acknowledge and agree in the Separation Agreement and Release that such Change in Control Payment will be in lieu of any garden leave pay under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; and
(ii)
notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any applicable option agreement or other stock-based award agreement, all time-based stock options and other stock-based awards subject to time-based vesting held by you (the “Time-Based Equity Awards”) shall immediately accelerate and become fully exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the later of (i) the Date of Termination or (ii) the effective date of the

9


 

Separation Agreement and Release (the “Accelerated Vesting Date”); provided that any termination or forfeiture of the unvested portion of such Time-Based Equity Awards that would otherwise occur on the Date of Termination in the absence of this Agreement will be delayed until the effective date of the Separation Agreement and Release and will only occur if the vesting pursuant to this subsection does not occur due to the absence of the Separation Agreement and Release becoming fully effective within the time period set forth therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no additional vesting of the Time-Based Equity Awards shall occur during the period between your Date of Termination and the Accelerated Vesting Date; and
(iii)
subject to your copayment of premium amounts at the applicable active employees’ rate and your proper election to receive benefits under COBRA, the Company shall pay to the group health plan provider, the COBRA provider or you a monthly payment equal to the monthly employer contribution that the Company would have made to provide health insurance to you if you had remained employed by the Company until the earliest of (A) the 15-month anniversary of the Date of Termination; (B) your eligibility for group medical plan benefits under any other employer’s group medical plan; or (C) the cessation of your continuation rights under COBRA; provided, however, if the Company determines that it cannot pay such amounts to the group health plan provider or the COBRA provider (if applicable) without potentially violating applicable law (including, without limitation, Section 2716 of the Public Health Service Act), then the Company shall convert such payments to payroll payments directly to you for the time period specified above. Such payments shall be subject to tax-related deductions and withholdings and paid on the Company’s regular payroll dates.

The amounts payable under this Section 6(a) (other than 6(a)(i)(C)), to the extent taxable, shall be paid or commence to be paid within 60 days after the Date of Termination; provided, however, that if the 60-day period begins in one calendar year and ends in a second calendar year, such payments to the extent they qualify as “non-qualified deferred compensation” within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, shall be paid or commence to be paid in the second calendar year by the last day of such 60-day period. The amount payable under Section 6(a)(i)(C) shall be paid at the same time as the Company pays bonuses to similarly situated executives, but in no event later than the end of the taxable year in which the Date of Termination occurs.

(b)
Additional Limitation.

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(i)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, in the event that the amount of any compensation, payment or distribution by the Company to or for the benefit of you, whether paid or payable or distributed or distributable pursuant to the terms of this Agreement or otherwise, calculated in a manner consistent with Section 280G of the Code, and the applicable regulations thereunder (the “Aggregate Payments”), would be subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code, then the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced (but not below zero) so that the sum of all of the Aggregate Payments shall be $1.00 less than the amount at which you became the subject to the excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code; provided that such reduction shall only occur if it would result in you receiving a higher After Tax Amount (as defined below) than you would receive if the Aggregate Payments were not subject to such reduction. In such event, the Aggregate Payments shall be reduced in the following order, in each case, in reverse chronological order beginning with the Aggregate Payments that are to be paid the furthest in time from consummation of the transaction that is subject to Section 280G of the Code: (1) cash payments not subject to Section 409A of the Code; (2) cash payments subject to Section 409A of the Code; (3) equity-based payments and acceleration; and (4) non-cash forms of benefits; provided that in the case of all the foregoing Aggregate Payments all amounts or payments that are not subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c) shall be reduced before any amounts that are subject to calculation under Treas. Reg. §1.280G-1, Q&A-24(b) or (c).
(ii)
For purposes of this Section 6(b), the “After Tax Amount” means the amount of the Aggregate Payments less all federal, state, and local income, excise and employment taxes imposed on you as a result of your receipt of the Aggregate Payments. For purposes of determining the After Tax Amount, you shall be deemed to pay federal income taxes at the highest marginal rate of federal income taxation applicable to individuals for the calendar year in which the determination is to be made, and state and local income taxes at the highest marginal rates of individual taxation in each applicable state and locality, net of the maximum reduction in federal income taxes which could be obtained from deduction of such state and local taxes.
(iii)
The determination as to whether a reduction in the Aggregate Payments shall be made pursuant to Section 6(b)(i) shall be made by a nationally recognized accounting firm selected by the

11


 

Company (the “Accounting Firm”), which shall provide detailed supporting calculations both to the Company and you within 15 business days of the Date of Termination, if applicable, or at such earlier time as is reasonably requested by the Company or you. Any determination by the Accounting Firm shall be binding upon the Company and you.
(iv)
Definitions. For the purposes of this Section 6, a “Change in Control” shall be deemed to have occurred upon the occurrence of any one of the following events: (a) the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company (i.e., >50% of the value) on a consolidated basis to one or more unrelated persons or entities, (b) a merger, reorganization or consolidation pursuant to which the holders of the Company’s outstanding voting power and outstanding stock immediately prior to such transaction do not own a majority of the outstanding voting power or fair market value of the stock or other equity interests of the resulting or successor entity (or its ultimate parent, if applicable) immediately upon completion of such transaction, (c) the sale of all or substantially all of the stock of the Company to an unrelated person, entity or group thereof acting in concert, (d) any other transaction in which the owners of the Company’s outstanding voting power immediately prior to such transaction do not own at least a majority of the outstanding voting power of the Company or any successor entity immediately upon completion of the transaction other than as a result of the acquisition of securities directly from the Company, or (e) the date a majority of the members of the Board is replaced during any 12-month period by directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board before the date of the appointment or election provided that with respect to any of the clauses (a) through (e) any capital raising transaction of the Company (including the Company’s IPO) shall not be treated as a “Change in Control.” Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (other than the foregoing proviso), “Change in Control” shall be interpreted, administered and applied in a manner consistent and in compliance with a “change in control event” as set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A-3(i)(5) (“Change in Control Event”).
7.
Section 409A.
(a)
Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, if at the time of your separation from service within the meaning of Section 409A of the Code, the Company determines that you are a

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“specified employee” within the meaning of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, then to the extent any payment or benefit that you become entitled to under this Agreement or otherwise on account of your separation from service would be considered deferred compensation otherwise subject to the 20 percent additional tax imposed pursuant to Section 409A(a) of the Code as a result of the application of Section 409A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Code, such payment shall not be payable and such benefit shall not be provided until the date that is the earlier of (A) six months and one day after your separation from service, or (B) your death. If any such delayed cash payment is otherwise payable on an installment basis, the first payment shall include a catch-up payment covering amounts that would otherwise have been paid during the six-month period but for the application of this provision, and the balance of the installments shall be payable in accordance with their original schedule.
(b)
All in-kind benefits provided and expenses eligible for reimbursement under this Agreement shall be provided by the Company or incurred by you during the time periods set forth in this Agreement. All reimbursements shall be paid as soon as administratively practicable, but in no event shall any reimbursement be paid after the last day of the taxable year following the taxable year in which the expense was incurred. The amount of in-kind benefits provided or reimbursable expenses incurred in one taxable year shall not affect the in-kind benefits to be provided or the expenses eligible for reimbursement in any other taxable year (except for any lifetime or other aggregate limitation applicable to medical expenses). Such right to reimbursement or in-kind benefits is not subject to liquidation or exchange for another benefit.
(c)
To the extent that any payment or benefit described in this Agreement constitutes “non-qualified deferred compensation” under Section 409A of the Code, and to the extent that such payment or benefit is payable upon your termination of employment, then such payments or benefits shall be payable only upon your “separation from service.” The determination of whether and when a separation from service has occurred shall be made in accordance with the presumptions set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑1(h).
(d)
The parties intend that this Agreement will be administered in accordance with Section 409A of the Code. To the extent that any provision of this Agreement is ambiguous as to its compliance with Section 409A of the Code, the provision shall be read in such a manner so that all payments hereunder comply with Section 409A of the Code. Each payment pursuant to this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement is intended to constitute a separate payment for purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.409A‑2(b)(2). The parties agree that this

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Agreement may be amended, as reasonably requested by either party, and as may be necessary to fully comply with Section 409A of the Code and all related rules and regulations in order to preserve the payments and benefits provided hereunder without additional cost to either party.
(e)
The Company makes no representation or warranty and shall have no liability to you or any other person if any provisions of this Agreement are determined to constitute deferred compensation subject to Section 409A of the Code but do not satisfy an exemption from, or the conditions of, such Section.
8.
Continuing Obligations.
(a)
Restrictive Covenants Agreement. The Disc Medicine, Inc. Employee Confidentiality, Assignment, Nonsolicitation and Noncompetition Agreement between the Company and you (the “Restrictive Covenants Agreement”), attached hereto as Exhibit A, continues to be in full force and effect. You acknowledge and agree that your eligibility for enhanced severance benefits provided by this Agreement constitutes additional, fair and reasonable consideration independent from the continuation of your employment, for the Restrictive Covenants Agreement. For purposes of this Agreement, the obligations in this Section 8 and those that arise in the Restrictive Covenants Agreement shall collectively be referred to as the “Continuing Obligations.”
(b)
Third-Party Agreements and Rights. You hereby confirm that you are not bound by the terms of any agreement with any previous employer or other party which restricts in any way your use or disclosure of information, other than confidentiality restrictions (if any), or your engagement in any business. You represent to the Company that your execution of this Agreement, your employment with the Company and the performance of your proposed duties for the Company will not violate any obligations you may have to any such previous employer or other party. In your work for the Company, you will not disclose or make use of any information in violation of any agreements with or rights of any such previous employer or other party, and you will not bring to the premises of the Company any copies or other tangible embodiments of non-public information belonging to or obtained from any such previous employment or other party.
(c)
Litigation and Regulatory Cooperation. During and after your employment, you shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in (i) the defense or prosecution of any claims or actions now in existence or which may be brought in the future against or on behalf of the Company which relate to events or

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occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company, and (ii) the investigation, whether internal or external, of any matters about which the Company believes you may have knowledge or information. Your full reasonable cooperation in connection with such claims, actions or investigations shall include, but not be limited to, being available to meet with counsel to answer questions or to prepare for discovery or trial and to act as a witness on behalf of the Company at mutually convenient times. During and after your employment, you also shall reasonably cooperate fully with the Company in connection with any investigation or review of any federal, state or local regulatory authority as any such investigation or review relates to events or occurrences that transpired while you were employed by the Company. The Company shall reimburse you for any reasonable out‑of‑pocket expenses incurred in connection with your performance of obligations pursuant to this Section 8(c). The Company agrees that if you have provided fifteen (15) hours of cooperation to the Company after your Date of Termination, the Company shall pay you an hourly rate of $400 for any additional hours of cooperation, over the initial fifteen (15) hours, except for your testimony pursuant to a lawfully issued summons or subpoena. The Company further agrees that it will pay/reimburse your reasonable out-of-pocket expenses and fees within thirty (30) days of your submission of receipts and invoices to the Company.
(d)
Relief. You agree that it may be difficult to measure any damages caused to the Company which might result from any breach by you of the Continuing Obligations, and that in any event money damages may be an inadequate remedy for any such breach. Accordingly, you agree that if you breach, or propose to breach, any portion of the Continuing Obligations, the Company shall be entitled, in addition to all other remedies that it may have, to seek an injunction or other appropriate equitable relief to restrain any such breach without showing or proving any actual damage to the Company.
(e)
Protected Activities; Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. Nothing contained in this Agreement, any other agreement with the Company or any Company policy limits your ability, with or without notice to the Company, to: (i) file a charge or complaint with any federal, state or local governmental agency or commission (a “Government Agency”), including without limitation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission; (ii) communicate with any Government Agency or otherwise participate in any investigation or proceeding that may be conducted by an Government Agency, including by providing non-privileged documents or information; (iii) exercise any rights under Section 7 of the

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National Labor Relations Act, which are available to non-supervisory employees, including assisting co-workers with or discussing any employment issue as part of engaging in concerted activities for purpose of mutual aid or protection; (iv) discuss or disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful; or (v) testify truthfully in a legal proceeding. Any such communications and disclosures must not violate applicable law and the information disclosed must not have been obtained through a communication that was subject to the attorney-client privilege (unless disclosure of that information would otherwise be permitted consistent with such privilege or applicable law). In addition, pursuant to the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, you shall not be held criminally or civilly liable under any federal or state trade secret law or under this Agreement or the Restrictive Covenants Agreement for the disclosure of a trade secret that (a) is made (i) in confidence to a federal, state, or local government official, either directly or indirectly, or to an attorney; and (ii) solely for the purpose of reporting or investigating a suspected violation of law; or (b) is made in a complaint or other document filed in a lawsuit or other proceeding, if such filing is made under seal.
9.
Arbitration of Disputes.
(a)
Arbitration Generally. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the breach thereof or otherwise arising out of your employment or the termination of that employment (including, without limitation, any claims of unlawful employment discrimination or retaliation, whether based on race, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class under applicable law, including without limitation Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B) shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be settled by arbitration in any forum and form agreed upon by the parties or, in the absence of such an agreement, under the auspices of JAMS in Boston, Massachusetts in accordance with the JAMS Employment Arbitration Rules, including, but not limited to, the rules and procedures applicable to the selection of arbitrators. You understand that you may only bring such claims in your individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class proceeding or any purported representative proceeding. You further understand that, by signing this Agreement, the Company and you are giving up any right they may have to a jury trial on all claims they may have against each other. Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. This Section 9 shall be specifically enforceable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 9 shall not preclude either party from pursuing a court action for the sole purpose of obtaining a temporary restraining

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order or a preliminary injunction in circumstances in which such relief is appropriate, including without limitation relief sought under the Restrictive Covenants Agreement; provided that any other relief shall be pursued through an arbitration proceeding pursuant to this Section 9.
(b)
Arbitration Fees and Costs. You shall be required to pay an arbitration fee to initiate any arbitration equal to what you would be charged as a first appearance fee in court. The Company shall pay the remaining fees and costs of the arbitrator. Each party shall pay its own costs and attorneys’ fees, if any. If, however, any party prevails on a statutory or contractual claim that entitles the prevailing party to attorneys’ fees (including pursuant to this Agreement), the arbitrator will award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party to the extent permitted by law.
10.
Consent to Jurisdiction. To the extent that any court action is permitted consistent with or to enforce Section 9 of this Agreement, the parties hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accordingly, with respect to any such court action, you (a) submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts; (b) consent to service of process; (c) waive any other requirement (whether imposed by statute, rule of court, or otherwise) with respect to personal jurisdiction or service of process and (d) you and the Company waive any right to a jury in connection with any such court action.
11.
Indemnification. The “Indemnification Agreement” between the Company and you, dated December 29, 2022 (the “Indemnification Agreement”) is hereby incorporated by reference.
12.
No Mitigation. The Company agrees that if your employment by the Company is terminated during the term of this Agreement, you are not required to seek other employment or to attempt in any way to reduce any amounts payable to you by the Company pursuant to Sections 5 or 6 hereof. Further, the amount of any payment provided for in this Agreement shall not be reduced by any compensation earned by you.
13.
Integration. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements between the parties concerning such subject matter, including the Prior Agreement, provided that the Restrictive Covenants Agreement, the Indemnification Agreement and the Equity Documents remain in full force and effect.

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14.
Withholding; Tax Effect. All payments made by the Company to you under this Agreement shall be net of any tax or other amounts required to be withheld by the Company under applicable law. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require the Company to make any payments to compensate you for any adverse tax effect associated with any payments or benefits or for any deduction or withholding from any payment or benefit.
15.
Assignment. Neither you nor the Company may make any assignment of this Agreement or any interest in it, by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other; provided, however, that the Company may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including the Restrictive Covenants Agreement) without your consent to any affiliate or to any person or entity with whom the Company shall hereafter effect a reorganization, consolidate with, or merge into or to whom it transfers all or substantially all of its properties or assets, but only on the condition that it assigns both its rights and obligations. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon you and the Company, and each of yours and the Company’s respective successors, executors, administrators, heirs, personal representatives, and permitted assigns. In the event of your death prior to the completion by the Company of any payments due to you under Sections 5 or 6 of this Agreement, the Company shall continue such payments to the beneficiary you designated in writing to the Company prior to your death, or to your estate, heirs, executors or personal representatives if you failed to make such designation.
16.
Enforceability. If any portion or provision of this Agreement (including, without limitation, any portion or provision of any section of this Agreement) shall to any extent be declared illegal or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such portion or provision in circumstances other than those as to which it is so declared illegal or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each portion and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
17.
Survival. The provisions of this Agreement shall survive the termination of this Agreement and/or the termination of your employment to the extent necessary to effectuate the terms contained herein.
18.
Waiver. No waiver of any provision hereof shall be effective unless made in writing and signed by the waiving party. The failure of any party to require the performance of any term or obligation of this Agreement, or the waiver by any party of any breach of this Agreement, shall not prevent any subsequent enforcement of such term or obligation or be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach.

18


 

19.
Notices. Any notices, requests, demands and other communications provided for by this Agreement shall be sufficient if in writing and delivered in person or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service or by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, to you at the last address you have on file in writing with the Company or, in the case of the Company, at its main offices, attention of the Board.
20.
Amendment. This Agreement may be amended or modified only by a written instrument signed by you and by a duly authorized representative of the Company.
21.
Effect on Other Plans and Agreements. An election by you to resign for Good Reason under the provisions of this Agreement shall not be deemed a voluntary termination of employment by you for the purpose of interpreting the provisions of any of the Company's benefit plans, programs or policies. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to limit the rights of you under the Company’s benefit plans, programs or policies except as otherwise provided in Section 8 hereof, and except that you shall have no rights to any severance benefits under any Company severance pay plan, offer letter or otherwise. In the event that you are a party to an agreement with the Company providing for payments or benefits under such plan or agreement and under this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall govern and you may receive payment under this Agreement only and not both. Further, Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement are mutually exclusive and in no event shall you be entitled to payments or benefits pursuant to both Section 5 and Section 6 of this Agreement.
22.
Governing Law. This is a Massachusetts contract and shall be construed under and be governed in all respects by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without giving effect to the conflict of laws principles thereof. With respect to any disputes concerning federal law, such disputes shall be determined in accordance with the law as it would be interpreted and applied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
23.
Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when so executed and delivered shall be taken to be an original; but such counterparts shall together constitute one and the same document.

19


 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement effective on the Effective Date.

 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ John Quisel

 

Its:

President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXECUTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/s/

Jonathan Yu

 

Jonathan Yu

 

20


 

Exhibit A

 

Restrictive Covenants Agreement

 


EX-10.6

 

Exhibit 10.6

DISC MEDICINE, INC.


$189,925,765

 

COMMON STOCK

 

SALES AGREEMENT

November 5, 2026

TD Securities (USA) LLC

1 Vanderbilt Avenue

New York, New York 10017

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Disc Medicine, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), confirms its agreement (this “Agreement”) with TD Securities (USA) LLC (the “Agent”), as follows:

1.
Issuance and Sale of Shares. The Company agrees that, from time to time during the term of this Agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein, it may issue and sell to or through the Agent, as sales agent and/or principal, shares of common stock (the “Placement Shares”) of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), having an aggregate offering price of up to $189,925,765 (the “Maximum Amount”). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the parties hereto agree that compliance with the limitation set forth in this Section 1 on the amount of Placement Shares issued and sold under this Agreement shall be the sole responsibility of the Company and that the Agent shall have no obligation in connection with such compliance. The offer and sale of Placement Shares through the Agent will be effected pursuant to the Registration Statement (as defined below) filed by the Company, which became effective upon filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”), although nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as requiring the Company to use the Registration Statement to issue any Placement Shares. The Company acknowledges and agrees that sales of Placement Shares under this Agreement may be made through affiliates of the Agent, and that the Agent may otherwise fulfill its obligations pursuant to this Agreement to or through an affiliated broker-dealer.

The Company has filed, in accordance with the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations thereunder (collectively, the “Securities Act”), with the Commission an “automatic shelf registration statement,” as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act, on Form S-3 (File No. 333-281359), including a base prospectus, relating to certain securities, including the Placement Shares to be issued from time to time by the Company, and which incorporates by reference documents that the Company has filed or will file in accordance with the provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations thereunder (collectively, the “Exchange Act”). The Company has prepared a prospectus or a prospectus supplement to the base prospectus included as part of the registration statement, which prospectus or prospectus supplement relates to the Placement Shares to be issued from time to time by the Company (the “Prospectus Supplement”). The Company will furnish to the Agent, for use by the Agent, copies of the prospectus included as part of such registration statement, as supplemented by the Prospectus Supplement, relating to the Placement Shares to be issued from time to time by the Company. Except where the context otherwise requires, such registration statement(s), including all documents filed as part thereof or incorporated by reference therein, and including any information contained in a Prospectus (as defined below) subsequently filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act or deemed to be a part of such registration statement pursuant to Rule 430B of the Securities Act, and any one or more additional effective registration statements on Form S-3 from time to time that will contain a base prospectus and related prospectus or prospectus supplement, if applicable (which shall be a Prospectus Supplement), with respect to the Placement Shares, is herein called the “Registration Statement.” The base prospectus or base prospectuses, including all documents incorporated therein by reference, included in the Registration Statement, as it may be supplemented, if necessary, by the Prospectus Supplement, in the form in which such prospectus or prospectuses and/or Prospectus

 


 

Supplement have most recently been filed by the Company with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act, together with the then issued Issuer Free Writing Prospectus(es) (as defined below), is herein called the “Prospectus.”

Any reference herein to the Registration Statement, any Prospectus Supplement, the Prospectus or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus shall be deemed to refer to and include the documents, if any, incorporated by reference therein (the “Incorporated Documents”), including, unless the context otherwise requires, the documents, if any, filed as exhibits to such Incorporated Documents. Any reference herein to the terms “amend,” “amendment” or “supplement” with respect to the Registration Statement, any Prospectus Supplement, the Prospectus or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus shall be deemed to refer to and include the filing of any document under the Exchange Act on or after the most-recent effective date of the Registration Statement, or the date of the Prospectus Supplement, Prospectus or such Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, as the case may be, and incorporated therein by reference. For purposes of this Agreement, all references to the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or to any amendment or supplement thereto shall be deemed to include the most recent copy filed with the Commission pursuant to the Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval System, or if applicable, the Interactive Data Electronic Application system when used by the Commission (collectively, “EDGAR”). The Company’s obligations under this Agreement to furnish, provide, deliver or make available (and all other references of like import) copies of any filing, report or statement shall be deemed satisfied if the same is filed with the Commission through EDGAR or any successor system.

2.
Placements. Each time that the Company wishes to issue and sell Placement Shares hereunder (each, a “Placement”), it will notify the Agent by email notice (or other method mutually agreed to by the parties) of the number of Placement Shares to be issued, the time period during which sales are requested to be made, any limitation on the number of Placement Shares that may be sold in any one day and any minimum price below which sales may not be made (a “Placement Notice”), the form of which is attached hereto as Schedule 1. The Placement Notice shall originate from any of the individuals from the Company set forth on Schedule 3 (with a copy to each of the other individuals from the Company listed on such schedule), and shall be addressed to each of the individuals from the Agent set forth on Schedule 3, as such Schedule 3 may be amended from time to time. The Placement Notice shall be effective upon receipt by the Agent unless and until (i) the Agent declines to accept the terms contained therein for any reason, in its sole discretion, (ii) the entire amount of the Placement Shares thereunder have been sold, (iii) the Company suspends or terminates the Placement Notice, (iv) the Company issues a subsequent Placement Notice with parameters superseding those on the earlier dated Placement Notice, or (v) this Agreement has been terminated under the provisions of Section 12. The amount of any discount, commission or other compensation to be paid by the Company to the Agent in connection with the sale of the Placement Shares shall be calculated in accordance with the terms set forth in Schedule 2. It is expressly acknowledged and agreed that neither the Company nor the Agent will have any obligation whatsoever with respect to a Placement or any Placement Shares unless and until the Company delivers a Placement Notice to the Agent and the Agent does not decline such Placement Notice pursuant to the terms set forth above, and then only upon the terms specified therein and herein. In the event of a conflict between the terms of this Agreement and the terms of a Placement Notice, the terms of the Placement Notice will control.
3.
Sale of Placement Shares by the Agent. Subject to the provisions of Section 5(a), the Agent, for the period specified in the Placement Notice, will use its commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices and applicable state and federal laws, rules and regulations and the rules of the Nasdaq Global Market (the “Exchange”), to sell the Placement Shares up to the amount specified in, and otherwise in accordance with the terms of, such Placement Notice. The Agent will provide written confirmation to the Company no later than the opening of the Trading Day (as defined below) immediately following the Trading Day on which it has made sales of Placement Shares hereunder setting forth the number of Placement Shares sold on such day, the compensation payable by the Company to the Agent pursuant to Section 2 with respect to such sales, and the Net Proceeds (as defined below) payable to the Company, with an itemization of the deductions made by the Agent (as set forth in Section 5(b)) from the gross proceeds that it receives from such sales. In the event the Company engages the Agent for a sale of Placement Shares that would constitute a “block” within the meaning of Rule 10b-18(a)(5) under the Exchange Act (a “Block Sale”), the Company will provide the Agent, at the Agent’s request and upon reasonable advance notice to the Company, on or prior to the Settlement Date (as defined below), the opinions of counsel, accountant’s letter and officers’ certificates set forth in Section 7 hereof, each dated the Settlement Date, and such other documents and information as the Agent shall reasonably request. The Agent

 


 

may sell Placement Shares in negotiated transactions, including block trades or Block Sales, or by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at the market” offering as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) of the Securities Act, including without limitation sales made through the Exchange or on any other existing trading market for the Common Stock, or by any other method permitted by law. The Agent shall not purchase Placement Shares for its own account as principal unless expressly authorized to do so by the Company in a Placement Notice. “Trading Day” means any day on which Common Stock is traded on the Exchange.
4.
Suspension of Sales.
(a)
The Company or the Agent may, upon notice to the other party in writing (including by email correspondence to each of the individuals of the other party set forth on Schedule 3, if receipt of such correspondence is actually acknowledged by any of the individuals to whom the notice is sent, other than via auto-reply) or by telephone (confirmed immediately by verifiable facsimile transmission or email correspondence to each of the individuals of the other party set forth on Schedule 3), suspend any sale of Placement Shares (a “Suspension”); provided, however, that such Suspension shall not affect or impair any party’s obligations with respect to any Placement Shares sold hereunder prior to the receipt of such notice. While a Suspension is in effect any obligation under Sections 7(l), 7(m), and 7(n) with respect to the delivery of certificates, opinions, or comfort letters to the Agent, shall be waived. Each of the parties agrees that no such notice under this Section 4 shall be effective against any other party unless it is made to one of the individuals named on Schedule 3 hereto, as such Schedule may be amended from time to time. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, (i) during any period in which the Company is in possession of material non-public information, or (ii) at any time from and including the date on which the Company shall issue a press release containing, or shall otherwise publicly announce, its earnings, revenues or other results of operations (an “Earnings Announcement”) through and including the time that the Company files a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or an Annual Report on Form 10-K that includes consolidated financial statements as of and for the same period or periods, as the case may be, covered by such Earnings Announcement, the Company and the Agent agree that (x) no sale of Placement Shares will take place, (y) the Company shall not request the sale of any Placement Shares, and (z) the Agent shall not be obligated to sell or offer to sell any Placement Shares.
(b)
The Registration Statement automatically became effective upon filing on August 8, 2024. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, during any period in which the Registration Statement is no longer effective under the Securities Act, the Company shall promptly notify the Agent, the Company shall not request the sale of any Placement Shares, and the Agent shall not be obligated to sell or offer to sell any Placement Shares.
5.
Sale and Delivery to the Agent; Settlement.
(a)
Sale of Placement Shares. On the basis of the representations and warranties herein contained and subject to the terms and conditions herein set forth, upon the Agent’s acceptance of the terms of a Placement Notice, and unless the sale of the Placement Shares described therein has been declined, suspended, or otherwise terminated in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, the Agent, for the period specified in the Placement Notice, will use its commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices to sell such Placement Shares up to the amount specified, and otherwise in accordance with the terms of such Placement Notice. The Company acknowledges and agrees that (i) there can be no assurance that the Agent will be successful in selling Placement Shares, (ii) the Agent will incur no liability or obligation to the Company or any other person or entity if it does not sell Placement Shares for any reason other than a failure by the Agent to use its commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices and applicable law and regulations to sell such Placement Shares as required under this Agreement and (iii) the Agent shall be under no obligation to purchase Placement Shares on a principal basis pursuant to this Agreement, except as otherwise agreed by the Agent and the Company.
(b)
Settlement of Placement Shares. Unless otherwise specified in the applicable Placement Notice, settlement for sales of Placement Shares will occur on the first (1st) Trading Day (or such earlier day as is industry practice for regular-way trading) following the date on which such sales are made (each, a “Settlement Date”). The Agent shall notify the Company of each sale of Placement Shares no later than the opening of the Trading Day immediately following the Trading Day on which it has made sales of Placement Shares hereunder. The amount of proceeds to be delivered to the Company on a Settlement Date against receipt of the Placement Shares sold

 


 

(the “Net Proceeds”) will be equal to the aggregate sales price received by the Agent, after deduction for (i) the Agent’s commission, discount or other compensation for such sales payable by the Company pursuant to Section 2 hereof, and (ii) any transaction fees imposed by any Governmental Authority in respect of such sales.
(c)
Delivery of Placement Shares. On or before each Settlement Date, the Company will, or will cause its transfer agent to, electronically transfer the Placement Shares being sold by crediting the Agent’s or its designee’s account (provided the Agent shall have given the Company written notice of such designee at least one Trading Day prior to the Settlement Date) at The Depository Trust Company through its Deposit and Withdrawal at Custodian System or by such other means of delivery as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties hereto which in all cases shall be freely tradable, transferable, registered shares in good deliverable form. On each Settlement Date, the Agent will deliver the related Net Proceeds in same day funds to an account designated by the Company on, or prior to, the Settlement Date. The Company agrees that if the Company, or its transfer agent (if applicable), defaults in its obligation to deliver Placement Shares on a Settlement Date, that the Company, in addition to and in no way limiting the rights and obligations set forth in Section 10(a) hereto, will (i) hold the Agent harmless against any loss, claim, damage, or reasonable and documented expense (including reasonable and documented legal fees and expenses), as incurred, arising out of or in connection with such default by the Company or its transfer agent (as applicable) and (ii) pay to the Agent any commission, discount, or other compensation to which it would otherwise have been entitled absent such default.
(d)
Denominations; Registration. Certificates for the Placement Shares, if any, shall be in such denominations and registered in such names as the Agent may request in writing at least one full Business Day (as defined below) before the applicable Settlement Date. The certificates for the Placement Shares, if any, will be made available by the Company for examination and packaging by the Agent in The City of New York not later than noon (New York time) on the Business Day prior to the applicable Settlement Date.
(e)
Limitations on Offering Size. Under no circumstances shall the Company cause or request the offer or sale of any Placement Shares if, after giving effect to the sale of such Placement Shares, the aggregate gross sales proceeds of Placement Shares sold pursuant to this Agreement would exceed the lesser of (A) together with all sales of Placement Shares under this Agreement, the Maximum Amount and (B) the amount authorized from time to time to be issued and sold under this Agreement by the Company’s board of directors, a duly authorized committee thereof or a duly authorized executive committee (such entity, the “Company Authorization Body”). Under no circumstances shall the Company cause or request the offer or sale of any Placement Shares pursuant to this Agreement at a price lower than the minimum price authorized from time to time by the Company Authorization Body. Further, under no circumstances shall the Company cause or permit the aggregate offering amount of Placement Shares sold pursuant to this Agreement to exceed the Maximum Amount.
6.
Representations and Warranties of the Company. The Company represents and warrants to, and agrees with the Agent that as of the date of this Agreement and as of each Applicable Time (as defined below), unless such representation, warranty or agreement specifies a different time:
(a)
Registration Statement and Prospectus. The Company and the transactions contemplated by this Agreement meet the requirements for and comply with the applicable conditions set forth in Form S-3 (including General Instructions I.A and I.B) under the Securities Act. At the time the Registration Statement became effective and at the time the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K was filed with the Commission, if later, the Company was, or will be, a “well known seasoned issuer” as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act. The Registration Statement is an “automatic shelf registration statement,” as defined in Rule 405 the Securities Act, and became effective upon filing. The Company has not received from the Commission any notice pursuant to Rule 401(g)(2) under the Securities Act objecting to the Company’s use of the automatic shelf registration form. The Prospectus Supplement will name the Agent as the agent in the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.” The Company has not received, and has no notice of, any order of the Commission preventing or suspending the use of the Registration Statement, or threatening or instituting proceedings for that purpose. The Registration Statement and the offer and sale of Placement Shares as contemplated hereby meet the requirements of Rule 415 under the Securities Act and comply in all material respects with said Rule. Any statutes, regulations, contracts or other documents that are required to be described in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus or to be filed as exhibits to the Registration Statement have been so described in all material respects or filed. Copies of the Registration Statement, the Prospectus, and any such amendments or supplements and all documents incorporated

 


 

by reference therein that were filed with the Commission on or prior to the date of this Agreement have been delivered, or are available through EDGAR or any successor system, to the Agent and its counsel. The Company has not distributed and, prior to the later to occur of each Settlement Date and completion of the distribution of the Placement Shares, will not distribute any offering material in connection with the offering or sale of the Placement Shares other than the Registration Statement and the Prospectus and any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus to which the Agent has consented.
(b)
No Misstatement or Omission. The Registration Statement, when it became or becomes effective, did not, and will not, contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading. The Prospectus and any amendment and supplement thereto, on the date thereof and at each Applicable Time (defined below), did not or will not include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. The documents incorporated by reference in the Prospectus or any Prospectus Supplement did not, and any further documents filed and incorporated by reference therein will not, when filed with the Commission, contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated in such document or necessary to make the statements in such document, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. The foregoing shall not apply to statements in, or omissions from, any such document made in reliance upon, and in conformity with, information furnished to the Company by the Agent in writing specifically for use in the preparation thereof, it being understood and agreed that the only such information furnished by the Agent to the Company consists of “Agent Information” as defined below.
(c)
Conformity with the Securities Act and Exchange Act. The Registration Statement, the Prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or any amendment or supplement thereto, and the documents incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or any amendment or supplement thereto, when such documents were or are filed with the Commission under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or became or become effective under the Securities Act, as the case may be, conformed or will conform in all material respects with the requirements of the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, as applicable.
(d)
Emerging Growth Company Status. From the time of initial confidential submission of the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-240098) to the Commission through December 31, 2024, the Company was an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act.
(e)
Not an Ineligible Issuer. The Company currently is not an “ineligible issuer,” as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act. The Company agrees to notify the Agent promptly upon the Company becoming an “ineligible issuer.”
(f)
eXtensible Business Reporting Language. The interactive data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus fairly presents the information called for in all material respects and has been prepared in accordance with the Commission’s rules and guidelines applicable thereto.
(g)
Nasdaq Matters. The Company is subject to and in compliance in all material respects with the reporting requirements of Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. The Common Stock is registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act and is listed on the Exchange, and the Company has taken no action designed to, or reasonably likely to have the effect of, terminating the registration of the Common Stock under the Exchange Act or delisting the Common Stock from the Exchange, nor has the Company received any notification that the Commission or the Exchange is contemplating terminating such registration or listing. The Company is in compliance with the current listing standards of the Exchange. The Company has filed a Notification of Listing of Additional Shares with the Exchange with respect to the Placement Shares.
(h)
No Preferential Rights. No person (as such term is defined in Rule 1-02 of Regulation S-X promulgated under the Securities Act) has the right to act as an underwriter or as a financial advisor to the Company in connection with the offer and sale of the Placement Shares hereunder, whether as a result of the filing or effectiveness of the Registration Statement or the sale of the Placement Shares as contemplated hereby or otherwise. Except for the Agent, there is no broker, finder or other party that is entitled to receive from the Company or any of its

 


 

Subsidiaries (as defined below) any brokerage or finder’s fee or other fee or commission as a result of any transactions contemplated by this Agreement.
(i)
Organization. The Company has been duly incorporated, is validly existing as a corporation in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its incorporation, has the corporate power and authority to own, lease and operate its property and to conduct its business as described in each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus and to enter into and perform its obligations under this Agreement. The Company is duly qualified to transact business and is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which the conduct of its business or its ownership or leasing of property requires such qualification, except to the extent that the failure to be so qualified or be in good standing would not reasonably be expected to, singly or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on the condition (financial or otherwise), earnings, results of operations, business, prospects, properties, operations, assets or liabilities of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, whether or not arising from transactions in the ordinary course of business (a “Material Adverse Effect”).
(j)
Subsidiaries. Each of the Company’s “subsidiaries” (for purposes of this Agreement, as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act) (each, a “Subsidiary” and collectively, the “Subsidiaries”) has been duly incorporated, organized or formed and is validly existing in good standing (where such concept exists) under the laws of the jurisdiction of its incorporation or organization and has full power and authority to acquire, own, lease and operate its properties, and to conduct its business as described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus. Each Subsidiary is duly qualified to transact business and is in good standing (where such concept exists) under the laws of each jurisdiction that requires such qualification, whether by reason of the ownership or leasing of property or the conduct of business, except to the extent that the failure to be so qualified or in good standing could not reasonably be expected, individually or in the aggregate, to have a Material Adverse Effect. All of the issued and outstanding share capital or other equity or ownership interests of each Subsidiary has been duly authorized and validly issued, is fully paid and nonassessable, has been issued in compliance with federal state and securities laws and is owned by the Company, directly or through other wholly-owned Subsidiaries, free and clear of any security interest, mortgage, pledge, lien, encumbrance or adverse claim, other than a security interest held by Hercules Capital, Inc. as described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus. Except for Disc Medicine Opco, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Disc Medicine B.V., a Netherlands private limited company, Disc Medicine Securities Corp., a Massachusetts corporation, Disc Medicine Pty Ltd, an Australian proprietary limited company, Kurome Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware corporation and KuromeTx Australia Pty Ltd, an Australian proprietary limited company, the Company does not own or control, directly or indirectly, any corporation, association or other entity. Only Disc Medicine Opco, Inc. and Disc Medicine Securities Corp. each constitutes a “significant subsidiary” within the meaning of Rule 1-02 of Regulation S-X. No Subsidiary is prohibited or restricted, directly or indirectly, from paying dividends to the Company, from making any other distribution with respect to such Subsidiary’s equity securities, from repaying to the Company or any other Subsidiary any amounts that may from time to time become due under any loans or advances to such Subsidiary from the Company or from transferring any property or assets to the Company or to any other Subsidiary.
(k)
Capitalization. The authorized capital stock of the Company conforms as to legal matters to the description thereof contained in each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus. The Common Stock conforms in all material respects to the description thereof contained in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, including under the heading “Description of Capital Stock.” All of the issued and outstanding share capital or other equity or ownership interest of the Company (including the Common Stock) has been duly authorized and validly issued and is fully paid and nonassessable, has been issued in compliance with all federal, state and local securities laws and is free and clear of any security interest, mortgage, pledge, lien, encumbrance or adverse claim. None of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company were issued in violation of any preemptive rights, rights of first refusal or other similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities of the Company. The descriptions of the Company’s equity incentive plan, stock option plans and other stock plans or arrangements described in the Prospectus and in effect as of the date hereof (collectively, the “Stock Plans”) and the options or other rights granted thereunder, set forth in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus accurately and fairly present the information required to be shown with respect to such Stock Plans and the options or other rights granted thereunder.
(l)
Authorization of Placement Shares. The Placement Shares have been duly authorized and, when issued, delivered and paid for in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, will be validly issued, fully paid and non‑assessable,

 


 

and the issuance of the Placement Shares will not be subject to any preemptive or similar rights that have not been validly waived. This Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company.
(m)
Investment Company Act. The Company is not, and after giving effect to the offering and sale of the Placement Shares and the application of the proceeds thereof as described in each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus will not be, required to register as an “investment company” as such term is defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
(n)
Non-Contravention. The execution and delivery by the Company of, and the performance by the Company of its obligations under, this Agreement will not contravene any provision of (i) applicable law, (ii) the certificate of incorporation or by laws of the Company, (iii) any agreement or other instrument binding upon the Company or its Subsidiaries that is material to the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or (iv) any judgment, order or decree of any governmental body, agency or court having jurisdiction over the Company or its Subsidiaries, except that, in the case of clause (i) and (iii), as would not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company or on the power and ability of the Company to perform its obligations under this Agreement, and no consent, approval, authorization or order of, or qualification with, any governmental body, agency or court is required for the performance by the Company of its obligations under this Agreement, except such as may be required by the securities or Blue Sky laws of the various states in connection with the offer and sale of the Placement Shares.
(o)
No Material Adverse Effect. There has not occurred any Material Adverse Effect, or any development involving a prospective Material Adverse Effect, in the condition, financial or otherwise, or in the earnings, business or operations of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, from that set forth in the Prospectus.
(p)
Waiver. There are no contracts, agreements or understandings between the Company and any person granting such person the right to require the Company to file a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to any securities of the Company or to require the Company to include such securities with the Placement Shares registered pursuant to the Registration Statement except as have been validly waived or complied with in connection with the issuance and sale of the Placement Shares contemplated hereby.
(q)
Financial Information. The consolidated financial statements included in or incorporated by reference into each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, together with the related schedules and notes thereto, comply as to form in all material respects with the applicable accounting requirements of the Securities Act and present fairly in all material respects the consolidated financial position of the Company and its Subsidiaries as of the dates shown and its results of operations and cash flows for the periods shown, and such financial statements have been prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) applied on a consistent basis throughout the periods covered thereby except for any normal year-end adjustments in the Company’s quarterly financial statements. The other financial information included in or incorporated by refence into each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus comply with the requirements of Regulation S-X of the Securities Act, including, without limitation, Article 11 thereof, fairly present the information set forth herein, and the assumptions used in the preparation of such pro forma financial statements and data are reasonable, the pro forma adjustments used therein are appropriate to give effect to the circumstances referred to therein and the pro forma adjustments have been properly applied to the historical amounts in the compilation of those statements and data. There are no financial statements (historical or pro forma) that are required to be included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus that are not included or incorporated by reference therein as required. The Company and the Subsidiaries do not have any material liabilities or obligations, direct or contingent (including any off-balance sheet obligations), not disclosed in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus. All disclosures contained in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus that contain “non-GAAP financial measures” (as such term is defined by the rules and regulations of the Commission) comply, in all material respects, with Regulation G under the Exchange Act and Item 10 of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act, to the extent applicable. The statistical, industry-related and market-related data included in each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus are based on or derived from sources which the Company reasonably and in good faith believes are reliable and accurate and such data is consistent with the sources from which they are derived, in each case in all material respects and the Company has obtained the written consent to the use of such data from such sources to the extent required. To the Company’s knowledge, no person who has been suspended or barred from being associated with a registered public accounting firm, or who has failed to

 


 

comply with any sanction pursuant to Rule 5300 promulgated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”), has participated in or otherwise aided the preparation of, or audited, the financial statements, supporting schedules or other financial data filed with the Commission as a part of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus.
(r)
No Litigation. There are no legal or governmental proceedings pending or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened to which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is a party or to which any of the properties of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is subject (i) other than proceedings accurately described in all material respects in each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus and proceedings that would not reasonably be expected to, singly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or on the power or ability of the Company to perform its obligations under this Agreement or to consummate the transactions contemplated by each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus or (ii) that are required to be described in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus and are not so described in all material respects; and there are no statutes, regulations, contracts or other documents that are required to be described in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus or to be filed as exhibits to the Registration Statement that are not described in all material respects or filed as required.
(s)
Independent Public Accounting Firm. Ernst & Young LLP, who have certified certain financial statements of the Company and its Subsidiaries and delivered its report with respect to the audited consolidated financial statements and schedules filed with the Commission as part of the Registration Statement and included in each of the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, is an independent registered public accounting firm with respect to the Company within the meaning of the Securities Act and the applicable rules and regulations thereunder adopted by the Commission and the PCAOB. Ernst & Young LLP has not been engaged by the Company to perform any “prohibited activities” or provided to the Company any “non-audit services” (as defined in Section 10A of the Exchange Act).
(t)
Transfer Taxes. There are no transfer taxes or other similar fees or charges under federal law, the laws of any state, any foreign law, or any political subdivision thereof, required to be paid in connection with the execution and delivery of this Agreement or the issuance by the Company or sale by the Company of the Placement Shares.
(u)
Labor Disputes. No material labor dispute with the employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries exists or, to the knowledge of the Company, is imminent; and the Company is not aware of any existing, threatened or imminent labor disturbance by the employees of any of its principal suppliers, manufacturers or contractors that could, singly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(v)
Insurance. The Company and its Subsidiaries are insured by insurers of recognized financial responsibility against such losses and risks and in such amounts as are prudent and customary in the businesses in which they are engaged; neither the Company nor its Subsidiaries has been refused any insurance coverage sought or applied for; and neither the Company nor its Subsidiaries has any reason to believe that it will not be able to renew its existing insurance coverage as and when such coverage expires or to obtain similar coverage from similar insurers as may be necessary to continue its business at a cost that would not reasonably be expected to, singly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(w)
Title to Real and Personal Property. The Company and its Subsidiaries have good and marketable title in fee simple to all real property and good and marketable title to all personal property owned by them which is material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, in each case free and clear of all liens, encumbrances and defects except such as do not materially affect the value of such property and do not interfere in any material respect with the use made and proposed to be made of such property by the Company and its Subsidiaries; and any real property and buildings held under lease by the Company and its Subsidiaries are held by them under valid, subsisting and enforceable leases with such exceptions as are not material and do not interfere in any material respect with the use made and proposed to be made of such property and buildings by the Company and its Subsidiaries.
(x)
Consents and Permits. The Company and its Subsidiaries possess and are operating in material compliance with all certificates, authorizations and permits issued by the appropriate federal, state or foreign regulatory authorities

 


 

necessary to conduct their respective businesses as described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, and neither the Company nor its Subsidiaries has received any written notice of proceedings relating to the revocation or modification of, or material non-compliance with, any such material certificate, authorization or permit which, singly or in the aggregate, if the subject of an unfavorable decision, ruling or finding, would have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(y)
Disclosure Controls. The Company and each of its Subsidiaries maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that: (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations; (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain asset accountability; (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization; and (iv) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences. Except as disclosed in the Registration Statement, and the Prospectus, since the end of the Company’s most recent audited fiscal year, there has been (x) no material weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (whether or not remediated) and (y) no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
(z)
Market Activities; Compliance with Regulation M. Neither the Company, nor any of its Subsidiaries, nor to the knowledge of the Company, any of its or their respective directors, officers or controlling persons has taken, directly or indirectly, without giving effect to any actions taken by the Agent, (i) any action designed to or that might constitute or reasonably be expected to cause or result in, under the Exchange Act or otherwise, stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company to facilitate the sale or resale of the Placement Shares or (ii) any action designed to or that might constitute or reasonably be expected to cause or result in a violation of Regulation M under the Exchange Act (“Regulation M”).
(aa)
Environmental Laws. The Company and its Subsidiaries (i) are in compliance with any and all applicable foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the protection of human health and safety, the environment or hazardous or toxic substances or wastes, pollutants or contaminants (“Environmental Laws”), (ii) have received all permits, licenses or other approvals required of them under applicable Environmental Laws to conduct their respective businesses and (iii) are in compliance with all terms and conditions of any such permit, license or approval, except where such noncompliance with Environmental Laws, failure to receive required permits, licenses or other approvals or failure to comply with the terms and conditions of such permits, licenses or approvals would not, singly or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole. There are no costs or liabilities associated with Environmental Laws (including, without limitation, any capital or operating expenditures required for clean up, closure of properties or compliance with Environmental Laws or any permit, license or approval, any related constraints on operating activities and any potential liabilities to third parties) which would, singly or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(bb)
ERISA. None of the following events has occurred or exists: (i) a failure to fulfill the obligations, if any, under the minimum funding standards of Section 302 of the United States Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), and the regulations and published interpretations thereunder with respect to a Plan that is required to be funded, determined without regard to any waiver of such obligations or extension of any amortization period that would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect; (ii) an audit or investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation or any other federal or state governmental agency or any foreign regulatory agency with respect to the employment or compensation of employees by any of the Company or its Subsidiaries that would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect; (iii) any breach of any contractual obligation, or any violation of law or applicable qualification standards, with respect to the employment or compensation of employees by the Company or its Subsidiaries that would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. None of the following events has occurred or is reasonably likely to occur: (i) a material increase in the aggregate amount of contributions required to be made to all Plans in the current fiscal year of the Company and its Subsidiaries compared to the amount of such contributions made in the most recently completed fiscal year of the Company and its Subsidiaries; (ii) a material increase in the “accumulated post-retirement benefit obligations” (within the meaning of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 106) of the Company and its Subsidiaries compared to

 


 

the amount of such obligations in the most recently completed fiscal year of the Company and its Subsidiaries; (iii) any event or condition giving rise to a liability under Title IV of ERISA that would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect; or (iv) the filing of a claim by one or more employees or former employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries related to their employment that would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “Plan” means a plan (within the meaning of Section 3(3) of ERISA) subject to Title IV of ERISA with respect to which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries may have any liability.
(cc)
Sarbanes-Oxley. The Company has taken all necessary actions to ensure that it is in compliance with all applicable provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations promulgated in connection therewith (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) that are currently in effect and with which the Company is required to comply. There is and has been no material failure on the part of the Company or, to the knowledge of the Company, any of the Company’s directors or officers, in their capacities as such, to comply with any applicable provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including Section 402 related to loans and Sections 302 and 906 related to certifications.
(dd)
No Improper Practices. (i) None of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or affiliates, or any director, officer, or employee thereof, or, to the Company’s knowledge, any agent or representative of the Company or of any of its Subsidiaries or affiliates, has taken or will take any action in furtherance of an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization or approval of the payment, giving or receipt of money, property, gifts or anything else of value, directly or indirectly, to any government official (including any officer or employee of a government or government-owned or controlled entity or of a public international organization, or any person acting in an official capacity for or on behalf of any of the foregoing, or any political party or party official or candidate for political office) (“Government Official”) in order to influence official action, or to any person in violation of any applicable anti-corruption laws; (ii) the Company and each of its Subsidiaries and affiliates have conducted their businesses in compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws and have instituted and maintained and will continue to maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to promote and achieve compliance with such laws and with the representations and warranties contained herein; and (iii) neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries will use, directly or indirectly, the proceeds of the offering in furtherance of an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment or giving of money, or anything else of value, to any person in violation of any applicable anti-corruption laws.
(ee)
Operations. The operations of the Company and each of its Subsidiaries are and have been conducted at all times in compliance with all applicable financial recordkeeping and reporting requirements, including those of the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), and the applicable anti-money laundering statutes of jurisdictions where the Company and each of its Subsidiaries conduct business, the rules and regulations thereunder and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by any governmental agency (collectively, the “Anti-Money Laundering Laws”), and no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body or any arbitrator involving the Company or any of its Subsidiaries with respect to the Anti-Money Laundering Laws is pending or, to the best knowledge of the Company, threatened.
(ff)
Sanctions. (i) None of the Company, any of its Subsidiaries, or any director, officer, or employee thereof, or, to the Company’s knowledge, any agent, affiliate or representative of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, is an individual or entity (“Person”) that is, or is owned or, where relevant under applicable Sanctions, controlled by one or more Persons that are:
(A)
the subject of any sanctions administered or enforced by the United States Government (including the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Department of State), the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, His Majesty’s Treasury, or other relevant sanctions authority (collectively, “Sanctions”), or
(B)
located, organized or resident in a country or territory that is the subject of Sanctions (including, without limitation, Crimea, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, the so-called

 


 

Luhansk People’s Republic, the non-government controlled areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine, Cuba, Iran and North Korea).
(ii)
The Company will not, directly or indirectly, use the proceeds of the offering, or lend, contribute or otherwise make available such proceeds to any subsidiary, joint venture partner or other Person:
(A)
to fund or facilitate any activities or business of or with any Person or in any country or territory that, at the time of such funding or facilitation, is, or whose government is, the subject of Sanctions, except to the extent permitted for a Person required to comply with Sanctions;
(B)
to knowingly fund or facilitate any money laundering or terrorist financing activities; or
(C)
in any other manner that will result in or reasonably cause a violation of any applicable anti-corruption laws, Anti-Money Laundering Laws or Sanctions by any Person (including any Person participating in the offering, whether as underwriter, advisor, investor or otherwise).
(iii)
The Company and each of its Subsidiaries have not knowingly engaged in, are not now knowingly engaged in, and will not engage in, any dealings or transactions with any Person, or in any country or territory, that at the time of the dealing or transaction is or was the subject of Sanctions, except to the extent permitted under applicable Sanctions.
(gg)
Intellectual Property. (i) The Company and its Subsidiaries own or have a license to all patents, inventions, copyrights, know how (including trade secrets and other unpatented and/or unpatentable proprietary or confidential information, systems or procedures), trademarks, service marks and trade names (collectively, “Intellectual Property Rights”) used in or reasonably necessary to the conduct of their businesses; (ii) to the Company’s knowledge, the Intellectual Property Rights owned by the Company and its Subsidiaries and the Intellectual Property Rights licensed to the Company and its Subsidiaries, are valid, subsisting and enforceable, and there is no pending or, to the knowledge of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, threatened action, suit, proceeding or claim by others challenging the validity, scope or enforceability of any such Intellectual Property Rights; (iii) neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries has received any notice alleging any infringement, misappropriation or other violation of Intellectual Property Rights which, singly or in the aggregate, if the subject of an unfavorable decision, ruling or finding, would have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole; (iv) to the Company’s knowledge, no third party is infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating, or has infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated, any Intellectual Property Rights owned by the Company; (v) to the Company’s knowledge, the Company’s or any of its Subsidiaries’ products do not infringe or have not infringed any Intellectual Property Rights of a third party; to the Company’s knowledge, neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries misappropriates or otherwise violates, or has misappropriated or otherwise violated, any Intellectual Property Rights of a third party; (vi) all employees or contractors engaged in the development of Intellectual Property Rights on behalf of the Company or its Subsidiaries have executed or have an obligation to execute an invention assignment agreement whereby such employees or contractors presently assign all of their right, title and interest in and to such Intellectual Property Rights to the Company or the applicable subsidiary, and to the Company’s knowledge no such agreement has been breached or violated; and (vii) the Company and its Subsidiaries use, and have used, commercially reasonable efforts to appropriately maintain all information intended to be maintained as a trade secret.
(hh)
Open Source. (i) The Company and its Subsidiaries use and have used any and all software and other materials distributed under a “free,” “open source,” or similar licensing model (including but not limited to the MIT License, Apache License, GNU General Public License, GNU Lesser General Public License and GNU Affero General Public License) (“Open Source Software”) in compliance with all license terms applicable to such Open Source Software; and (ii) neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries uses or distributes or has used or distributed any Open Source Software in any manner that requires or has required (A) the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to permit reverse engineering of any software code or other technology owned by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or (B) any software code or other technology owned by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to be

 


 

(1) disclosed or distributed in source code form, (2) licensed for the purpose of making derivative works or (3) redistributed at no charge.
(ii)
Compliance with Data Privacy Laws. The Company and its Subsidiaries have complied and are presently in compliance in all material respects with their respective published privacy policies, contractual obligations, and applicable laws relating to the collection, use, transfer, import, export, storage, protection, disposal and disclosure by the Company or its Subsidiaries of personal, personally identifiable, or household regulated data (“Data Security Obligations,” and such data, “Data”); (ii) the Company has not received any notification of or complaint regarding any material non-compliance with any Data Security Obligations; and (iii) there is no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body pending or, to the Company’s knowledge, threatened alleging non-compliance with any Data Security Obligations.
(jj)
Data Breaches. The Company and its Subsidiaries have taken all reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect the information technology systems and Data under the Company’s and any of its Subsidiaries’ control used in connection with the operation of the Company’s and its Subsidiaries’ businesses. Without limiting the foregoing, the Company and its Subsidiaries have used reasonable efforts to establish and maintain, and have established, maintained, implemented and complied with, reasonable information technology, information security, cyber security and data protection controls, policies and procedures that are designed to protect against and prevent breach, destruction, loss, unauthorized distribution, use, access, disablement, misappropriation or modification, or other compromise or misuse of or relating to any information technology system or Data used in connection with the operation of the Company’s and its Subsidiaries’ businesses (“Breach”). To the Company’s knowledge, there has been no such Breach, and the Company and its Subsidiaries have not been notified of and have no knowledge of any event or condition that would reasonably be expected to result in, any such Breach.
(kk)
Clinical Studies. The preclinical studies and tests and clinical trials conducted by or on behalf of the Company that are described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus (the “Company Studies and Trials”) were and, if still pending, are being, conducted in all material respects in accordance with applicable laws, including, without limitation, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 301 et seq.) and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder; the descriptions of the results of the Company Studies and Trials contained in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus are accurate in all material respects; the Company has no knowledge of any other studies or trials not described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, the results of which are inconsistent with or reasonably call into question the results described or referred to in such documents when viewed in the context in which such results are described and the stage of development; and the Company has not received any written notices, correspondence or other written communication from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) or any foreign, state or local governmental body exercising comparable authority requiring the termination, suspension or material modification of any Company Studies and Trials, where such termination, suspension or material modification would reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect and, to the Company’s knowledge, there are no reasonable grounds for the same. To the Company’s knowledge, none of the Company Studies and Trials involved any investigator who has been disqualified as a clinical investigator by the FDA. To the Company’s knowledge, the manufacturing facilities and operations of its suppliers are operated in compliance in all material respects with all applicable statutes, rules, regulations and policies of the FDA and comparable regulatory agencies outside of the United States to which the Company is subject.
(ll)
Compliance with Health Regulations. Except as described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, as applicable, the Company (i) is and at all times has been in material compliance with all local, state, federal, national and supranational statutes, rules and regulations applicable to the ownership, testing, development, manufacture, packaging, processing, use, storage, import, export or disposal of any product manufactured or distributed by the Company, including, without limitation, the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 301 et seq.), and the federal Anti-kickback Statute (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)), the regulations promulgated pursuant to such laws, and any successor government programs, and comparable state laws (collectively, the “Applicable Laws”), except for such non-compliance as would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect; (ii) has not received any written notice from any court or arbitrator or governmental or regulatory authority alleging or asserting non-compliance with any Applicable Laws or any licenses, exemptions, certificates, approvals, clearances, authorizations, permits and registrations required by any such Applicable Laws (“Authorizations”), except for such non-compliance as would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a

 


 

Material Adverse Effect; (iii) possesses all material Authorizations and such Authorizations are valid and in full force and effect and is not in violation of any term of any such Authorizations, except for such violations as would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect; (iv) has not received written notice of any claim, action, suit, proceeding, hearing, enforcement, investigation, arbitration or other action from any court or arbitrator or governmental or regulatory authority alleging that any product operation or activity is in violation of any Applicable Laws or Authorizations nor, to the Company’s knowledge, is any such claim, action, suit, proceeding, hearing, enforcement, investigation, arbitration or other action threatened, except such as would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect; (v) has not received written notice that any court or arbitrator or governmental or regulatory authority has taken, is taking or intends to take action to materially limit, suspend, materially modify or revoke any Authorizations nor, to the Company’s knowledge, is any such limitation, suspension, modification or revocation threatened, except such as would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect; (vi) has filed, obtained, maintained or submitted all material reports, documents, forms, notices, applications, records and claims as required by any Applicable Laws or Authorizations and that all such reports, documents, forms, notices, applications, records and claims, and to the Company’s knowledge, were complete and accurate on the date filed in all material respects (or were corrected or supplemented by a subsequent submission); and (vii) to the Company’s knowledge, is not a party to any corporate integrity agreements, monitoring agreements, consent decrees, settlement orders, or similar agreements with or imposed by any governmental or regulatory authority.
(mm)
FINRA Matters. The Company is not required to register as a “broker” or “dealer” in accordance with the provisions of the Exchange Act and does not, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, control or have any other association with (within the meaning of Article I of the By-laws of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”)) any member firm of FINRA. To the Company’s knowledge, no relationship, direct or indirect, exists between or among the Company, on the one hand, and the directors, officers or shareholders of the Company, on the other hand, which is required by the rules of FINRA to be described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, which is not so described. All of the information (including, but not limited to, information regarding affiliations, security ownership and trading activity) provided to the Agent or its counsel by the Company in connection with the filing to be made and other supplemental information to be provided to FINRA pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110 in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement is true, complete and correct.
(nn)
Margin Rules. Neither the issuance, sale and delivery of the Placement Shares nor the application of the proceeds thereof by the Company as described in the Registration Statement and the Prospectus will violate Regulation T, U or X of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or any other regulation of such Board of Governors.
(oo)
Director Independence. Each of the independent directors (or independent director nominees, once appointed, if applicable) named in the Registration Statement and Prospectus satisfies the independence standards established by the Exchange and, with respect to members of the Company’s audit committee, the enhanced independence standards contained in Rule 10A-3(b)(1) promulgated by the Commission under the Exchange Act.
(pp)
Forward-Looking Statements. Each financial or operational projection or other “forward-looking statement” (as defined by Section 27A of the Securities Act or Section 21E of the Exchange Act) contained in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus (i) was so included by the Company in good faith and with reasonable basis after due consideration by the Company of the underlying assumptions, estimates and other applicable facts and circumstances and (ii) as required, is accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying those factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statement. No such statement was made with the knowledge of a director or senior manager of the Company that was false or misleading.
(qq)
Related-Party Transactions. There are no relationships, direct or indirect, or related party transactions involving the Company or any of its Subsidiaries or any other person (including any director, officer, stockholder, customer or supplier of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries) required to be described in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus that have not been described as required. There are no material outstanding loans, advances (except normal advances for business expenses in the ordinary course of business) or guarantees of indebtedness

 


 

by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to or for the benefit of any of the officers or directors of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, or any of the family members of any of such persons.
(rr)
Bankruptcy. The Company is not in or subject to a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding in any jurisdiction.
(ss)
Taxes. All United States federal income tax returns of the Company and its Subsidiaries required by law to be filed have been filed or extensions thereof have been requested, and all taxes shown by such returns or otherwise assessed, which are due and payable, have been paid, except assessments that are being contested in good faith and as to which adequate reserves have been provided under GAAP. The Company has no knowledge of any material tax deficiency which has been or is likely to be threatened or asserted against the Company or its Subsidiaries. Each of the Company and its Subsidiaries has filed all foreign, state, provincial, local or other tax returns that are required to have been filed pursuant to applicable foreign, state, provincial, local or other law except insofar as the failure to file such returns would not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect, and paid all taxes due pursuant to such returns or pursuant to any assessment received by the Company and its Subsidiaries, except for such taxes, if any, as are being contested in good faith and as to which adequate reserves have been provided and except for such taxes or assessments the nonpayment of which would not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect. The charges, accruals and reserves on the books of the Company and its Subsidiaries in respect of any income or other tax liability for any years not finally determined are adequate to meet any assessments or re-assessments for additional tax for any years not finally determined, except to the extent of any inadequacy that would not reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.
(tt)
Outbound Investment Security Program. Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is a “covered foreign person,” as that term is defined in 31 C.F.R. § 850.209. Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries currently engages, or has plans to engage, directly or indirectly, in a “covered activity,” as that term is defined in 31 C.F.R. § 850.208 (“Covered Activity”). The Company does not have any joint ventures that engage in or plan to engage in any Covered Activity. The Company also does not, directly or indirectly, hold a board seat on, have a voting or equity interest in, or have any contractual power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of any person or persons that engages or plans to engage in any Covered Activity.
(uu)
Export and Import Laws. Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is the subject of any pending or threatened enforcement action, administrative proceeding, denial order, debarment, or other restriction under Export Controls (meaning all export control laws and regulations administered or enforced by (a) the United States Government (including by the U.S. Department of Commerce or the U.S. Department of State), including the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. § 2778), the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. §§ 4801-4861), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 C.F.R. Parts 120–130), and the Export Administration Regulations (15 C.F.R. Parts 730-774), and (b) any other relevant governmental authority, including (to the extent applicable) EU Regulation 2021/821 (as amended), the Export Control Order 2008, or any other applicable export control legislation or regulation of the United States, European Union, or United Kingdom). Except as would not be material to the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, the Company and each of its Subsidiaries (a) have not, since 5 years prior to the date of the Agreement, engaged in, (b) are not now engaged in, and (c) will not engage in, any unauthorized dealings or transactions involving any Person or item that, at the time of such dealing or transaction, was subject to restrictions under Export Controls, including any Person identified on a restricted party list maintained pursuant to Export Controls, or any other lists or regulations administered or enforced by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Any certificate signed by an officer of the Company and delivered to the Agent or to counsel for the Agent pursuant to or in connection with this Agreement shall be deemed to be a representation and warranty by the Company, as applicable, to the Agent as to the matters set forth therein.

The Company acknowledges that the Agent and, for purposes of the opinions to be delivered pursuant to Section 7 hereof, counsel to the Company and counsel to the Agent, will rely upon the accuracy and truthfulness of the foregoing representations and hereby consents to such reliance.

7.
Covenants of the Company. The Company covenants and agrees with the Agent that:

 


 

(a)
Registration Statement Amendments. After the date of this Agreement and during any period in which a Prospectus relating to any Placement Shares is required to be delivered by the Agent under the Securities Act (including in circumstances where such requirement may be satisfied pursuant to Rule 172 under the Securities Act or similar rule under the Securities Act), (i) the Company will notify the Agent promptly of the time when any subsequent amendment to the Registration Statement, other than documents incorporated therein by reference, has been filed with the Commission and/or has become effective or any subsequent supplement to the Prospectus related to the Placement Shares has been filed and of any request by the Commission for any amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement (insofar as it relates to the transactions contemplated hereby) or Prospectus or for additional information, (ii) the Company will prepare and file with the Commission, promptly upon the Agent’s request, any amendments or supplements to the Registration Statement or Prospectus that, in the Agent’s reasonable opinion, may be necessary or advisable in connection with the distribution of the Placement Shares by the Agent (provided, however, that the failure of the Agent to make such request shall not relieve the Company of any obligation or liability hereunder, or affect the Agent’s right to rely on the representations and warranties made by the Company in this Agreement and provided, further, that the only remedy the Agent shall have with respect to the failure to make such filing shall be to cease making sales under this Agreement until such amendment or supplement is filed); (iii) the Company will not file any amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement or Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares unless a copy thereof has been submitted to Agent within a reasonable period of time before the filing and the Agent has not reasonably objected thereto (provided, however, that (A) the failure of the Agent to make such objection shall not relieve the Company of any obligation or liability hereunder, or affect the Agent’s right to rely on the representations and warranties made by the Company in this Agreement, (B) the Company has no obligation to provide the Agent any advance copy of such filing or to provide the Agent an opportunity to object to such filing if the filing does not name the Agent or does not relate to a Placement or other transaction contemplated hereunder, and (C) the only remedy the Agent shall have with respect to the failure by the Company to obtain such consent shall be to cease making sales under this Agreement) and the Company will furnish to the Agent at the time of filing thereof a copy of any document that upon filing is deemed to be incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement or Prospectus, except for those documents available via EDGAR or any successor system; and (iv) the Company will cause each amendment or supplement to the Prospectus to be filed with the Commission as required pursuant to the applicable paragraph of Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act or, in the case of any document to be incorporated therein by reference, to be filed with the Commission as required pursuant to the Exchange Act, within the time period prescribed (the determination to file or not file any amendment or supplement with the Commission under this Section 7(a), based on the Company’s reasonable opinion or reasonable objections, shall be made exclusively by the Company).
(b)
Notice of Commission Stop Orders. The Company will advise the Agent, promptly after it receives notice or obtains knowledge thereof, of the issuance or threatened issuance by the Commission of any stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement, of the suspension of the qualification of the Placement Shares for offering or sale in any jurisdiction, or of the initiation or threatening of any proceeding for any such purpose; and it will promptly use its commercially reasonable efforts to prevent the issuance of any stop order or to obtain its withdrawal if such a stop order should be issued. The Company will advise the Agent promptly after it receives any request by the Commission for any amendments to the Registration Statement or any amendment or supplements to the Prospectus or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or for additional information related to the offering of the Placement Shares or for additional information related to the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus.
(c)
Delivery of Prospectus; Subsequent Changes. During any period in which a Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares is required to be delivered by the Agent under the Securities Act with respect to the offer and sale of the Placement Shares, (including in circumstances where such requirement may be satisfied pursuant to Rule 172 under the Securities Act or similar rule), the Company will use commercially reasonable efforts to comply in all material respects with all requirements imposed upon it by the Securities Act, as from time to time in force, and to file on or before their respective due dates all reports (taking into account any extensions available under the Exchange Act) and any definitive proxy or information statements required to be filed by the Company with the Commission pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14, 15(d) or any other provision of or under the Exchange Act. If the Company has omitted any information from the Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 430B under the Securities Act, it will use its best efforts to comply with the provisions of and make all requisite filings with the Commission pursuant to said Rule 430B and to notify the Agent promptly of all such filings. If during such

 


 

period any event occurs as a result of which the Prospectus as then amended or supplemented would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances then existing, not misleading, or if during such period it is necessary to amend or supplement the Registration Statement or Prospectus to comply with the Securities Act, the Company will promptly notify the Agent to suspend the offering of Placement Shares during such period and the Company will promptly amend or supplement the Registration Statement or Prospectus (at the expense of the Company) so as to correct such statement or omission or effect such compliance (it being acknowledged that the Company may delay the filing of any amendment or supplement, if, in the judgment of the Company, it is in the best interest of the Company).
(d)
Listing of Placement Shares. During any period in which the Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares is required to be delivered by the Agent under the Securities Act with respect to a pending sale of the Placement Shares (including in circumstances where such requirement may be satisfied pursuant to Rule 172 under the Securities Act), the Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause the Placement Shares to be listed on the Exchange.
(e)
Delivery of Registration Statement and Prospectus. The Company will furnish to the Agent and its counsel (at the expense of the Company) copies of the Registration Statement, the Prospectus (including all documents incorporated by reference therein) and all amendments and supplements to the Registration Statement or Prospectus that are filed with the Commission during any period in which a Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares is required to be delivered under the Securities Act (including all documents filed with the Commission during such period that are deemed to be incorporated by reference therein), in each case as soon as reasonably practicable and in such quantities as the Agent may from time to time reasonably request and, at the Agent’s request, will also furnish copies of the Prospectus to each exchange or market on which sales of the Placement Shares may be made; provided, however, that the Company shall not be required to furnish any document (other than the Prospectus) to the Agent to the extent such document is available on EDGAR or any successor system.
(f)
Earnings Statement. The Company will make generally available to its security holders as soon as practicable, but in any event not later than 15 months after the end of the Company’s current fiscal quarter, an earnings statement (which need not be audited) covering a 12-month period that satisfies the provisions of Section 11(a) and Rule 158 of the Securities Act; provided that the Company will be deemed to have made available such statement to its security holders at the time and to the extent it is available on EDGAR or any successor system.
(g)
Use of Proceeds. The Company will use the Net Proceeds as described in the Prospectus in the section entitled “Use of Proceeds.”
(h)
Notice of Other Sales. Without the prior written consent of the Agent, the Company will not, directly or indirectly, offer to sell, sell, contract to sell, grant any option to sell or otherwise dispose of any Common Stock (other than the Placement Shares offered pursuant to this Agreement) or securities convertible into or exchangeable for Common Stock, warrants or any rights to purchase or acquire, Common Stock during the period beginning on the fifth (5th) Trading Day immediately prior to the date on which any Placement Notice is delivered to Agent hereunder and ending on the fifth (5th) Trading Day immediately following the final Settlement Date with respect to Placement Shares sold pursuant to such Placement Notice (or, if the Placement Notice has been terminated or suspended prior to the sale of all Placement Shares covered by a Placement Notice, the date of such suspension or termination); and will not directly or indirectly in any other “at the market” or continuous equity transaction offer to sell, sell, contract to sell, grant any option to sell or otherwise dispose of any Common Stock (other than the Placement Shares offered pursuant to this Agreement) or securities convertible into or exchangeable for Common Stock, warrants or any rights to purchase or acquire, Common Stock prior to the sixtieth (60th) day immediately following the termination of this Agreement; provided, however, that such restrictions will not be required in connection with the Company’s issuance or sale of (i) Common Stock, options to purchase Common Stock or other equity awards for Common Stock, or Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of options or vesting and settlement of any equity awards, pursuant to any employee or director stock option or benefits plan, stock ownership plan or dividend reinvestment plan (but not Common Stock subject to a waiver to exceed plan limits in its dividend reinvestment plan) or other compensation plan of the Company whether now in effect or hereafter implemented (including any amendments or modifications to the foregoing), (ii) Common Stock issuable upon conversion of securities or the exercise of warrants, options or other rights in effect or outstanding,

 


 

and disclosed in filings by the Company available on EDGAR or any successor system or otherwise in writing to the Agent and (iii) Common Stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock as consideration for mergers, acquisitions, other business combinations, joint ventures or strategic alliances, marketing or distribution arrangements, collaboration agreements, co-promotion agreements or intellectual property license agreements occurring after the date of this Agreement which are not issued for capital raising purposes.
(i)
Change of Circumstances. The Company will, at any time during the pendency of a Placement Notice, advise the Agent promptly after it shall have received notice or obtained knowledge thereof, of any information or fact that would alter or affect in any material respect any opinion, certificate, letter or other document required to be provided to the Agent pursuant to this Agreement.
(j)
Due Diligence Cooperation. During the term of this Agreement, the Company will reasonably cooperate with any reasonable due diligence review conducted by the Agent or its representatives in connection with the transactions contemplated hereby, including, without limitation, providing information and making available documents and senior corporate officers, during regular business hours and at the Company’s principal offices or remote digital access, as the Agent may reasonably request.
(k)
Required Filings Relating to Placement of Placement Shares. The Company shall disclose, in its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in its Annual Report on Form 10-K to be filed by the Company with the Commission from time to time, the number of the Placement Shares sold through the Agent under this Agreement, and the Net Proceeds to the Company from the sale of the Placement Shares pursuant to this Agreement during the relevant quarter or, in the case of an Annual Report on Form 10-K, during the fiscal year covered by such Annual Report and the fourth quarter of such fiscal year. The Company agrees that on such dates as the Securities Act shall require, the Company will (i) file a prospectus supplement with the Commission under the applicable paragraph of Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act (each and every filing date under Rule 424(b), a “Filing Date”), which prospectus supplement will set forth, within the relevant period, the amount of Placement Shares sold through the Agent and the Net Proceeds to the Company with respect to such Placement Shares, and (ii) deliver such number of copies of each such prospectus supplement to each exchange or market on which such sales were effected as may be required by the rules or regulations of such exchange or market.
(l)
Representation Dates; Certificate. (1) Prior to the date of the first Placement Notice and (2) following the first Placement Notice, each time the Company:
(i)
files the Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares or amends or supplements (other than a prospectus supplement relating solely to an offering of securities other than the Placement Shares) the Registration Statement or the Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares by means of a post-effective amendment, sticker, or supplement but not by means of incorporation of documents by reference into the Registration Statement or the Prospectus relating to the Placement Shares;
(ii)
files an Annual Report on Form 10-K under the Exchange Act (including any Form 10-K/A containing amended financial information or a material amendment to the previously filed Form 10-K);
(iii)
files its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the Exchange Act; or
(iv)
files a current report on Form 8-K containing amended financial information (other than information “furnished” pursuant to Items 2.02 or 7.01 of Form 8-K or to provide disclosure pursuant to Item 8.01 of Form 8-K relating to the reclassification of certain properties as discontinued operations in accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 144) under the Exchange Act (each date of filing of one or more of the documents referred to in clauses (i) through (iv) shall be a “Representation Date”);

the Company shall furnish the Agent with a certificate dated the Representation Date, in the form and substance satisfactory to the Agent and its counsel, substantially similar to the form previously provided to the Agent and its counsel, modified, as necessary, to relate to the Registration Statement and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented. The requirement to provide a certificate under this Section 7(l) shall be automatically waived for

 


 

any Representation Date occurring at a time at which no Placement Notice is outstanding or Suspension is in effect, which waiver shall continue until the earlier to occur of the date the Company delivers a Placement Notice hereunder (which for such calendar quarter shall be considered a Representation Date) and the next occurring Representation Date. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Company subsequently decides to sell Placement Shares following a Representation Date when the Company relied on such waiver or a Suspension was in effect and did not provide the Agent with a certificate under this Section 7(l), then before the Company delivers the Placement Notice or the Agent sells any Placement Shares pursuant to such Placement Notice, the Company shall provide the Agent with a certificate in conformity with this Section 7(l) dated the date of the Placement Notice.

(m)
Legal Opinion. (1) Prior to the date of the first Placement Notice and (2) within five (5) Trading Days of each Representation Date with respect to which the Company is obligated to deliver a certificate pursuant to Section 7(l) for which no waiver is applicable and excluding the date of this Agreement, the Company shall cause to be furnished to the Agent (a) a written opinion and negative assurance letter of Goodwin Procter LLP, or other counsel satisfactory to the Agent, and (b) a written opinion of White & Case LLP, intellectual property counsel for the Company, or other counsel satisfactory to the Agent, and (c) a written opinion of Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C., intellectual property counsel for the Company, or other counsel satisfactory to the Agent, in each case in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Agent and its counsel, substantially similar to the form previously provided to the Agent and its counsel, modified, as necessary, to relate to the Registration Statement and the Prospectus as then amended or supplemented; provided, that in lieu of such opinions for subsequent periodic filings under the Exchange Act, counsel may furnish the Agent with a letter (a “Reliance Letter”) to the effect that the Agent may rely on a prior opinion delivered under this Section 7(m) to the same extent as if it were dated the date of such letter (except that statements in such prior opinion shall be deemed to relate to the Registration Statement and the Prospectus as amended or supplemented as of the date of the Reliance Letter).
(n)
Comfort Letter. (1) Prior to the date of the first Placement Notice and (2) within five (5) Trading Days of each Representation Date with respect to which the Company is obligated to deliver a certificate pursuant to Section 7(l) for which no waiver is applicable and excluding the date of this Agreement, the Company shall cause its independent registered public accounting firm to furnish the Agent letters (the “Comfort Letters”), dated the date the Comfort Letter is delivered, which shall meet the requirements set forth in this Section 7(n); provided, that if requested by the Agent, the Company shall cause a Comfort Letter to be furnished to the Agent within ten (10) Trading Days of the date of occurrence of any material transaction or event requiring the filing of a Current Report on Form 8-K containing financial information ( including the restatement of the Company’s financial statements). The Comfort Letter from the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm shall be in a form and substance satisfactory to the Agent, (i) confirming that they are an independent registered public accounting firm within the meaning of the Securities Act and the PCAOB, (ii) stating, as of such date, the conclusions and findings of such firm with respect to the financial information and other matters ordinarily covered by accountants’ “comfort letters” to the Agent in connection with registered public offerings (the first such letter, the “Initial Comfort Letter”) and (iii) updating the Initial Comfort Letter with any information that would have been included in the Initial Comfort Letter had it been given on such date and modified as necessary to relate to the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, as amended and supplemented to the date of such letter.
(o)
Market Activities; Compliance with Regulation M. The Company will not, directly or indirectly, (i) take any action designed to cause or result in, or that constitutes or would reasonably be expected to constitute, the stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company to facilitate the sale or resale of the Placement Shares or (ii) sell, bid for, or purchase Common Stock in violation of Regulation M, or pay anyone any compensation for soliciting purchases of the Placement Shares other than the Agent; provided, however, that the Company may bid for and purchase shares of its Common Stock in accordance with Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act.
(p)
Compliance with Laws. The Company and each of its Subsidiaries shall maintain, or cause to be maintained, all material environmental permits, licenses and other authorizations required by federal, state and local law in order to conduct their businesses as described in the Prospectus, and the Company and each of its Subsidiaries shall conduct their businesses, or cause their businesses to be conducted, in substantial compliance with such permits, licenses and authorizations and with applicable Environmental Laws, except where the failure to maintain or be in compliance with such permits, licenses and authorizations could not reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.

 


 

(q)
Investment Company Act. The Company will conduct its affairs in such a manner so as to reasonably ensure that neither it nor any of its Subsidiaries will be or become, at any time prior to the termination of this Agreement, required to register as an “investment company,” as such term is defined in the Investment Company Act.
(r)
Securities Act and Exchange Act. The Company will use its best efforts to comply with all requirements imposed upon it by the Securities Act and the Exchange Act as from time to time in force, so far as necessary to permit the continuance of sales of, or dealings in, the Placement Shares as contemplated by the provisions hereof and the Prospectus.
(s)
No Offer to Sell. Other than an Issuer Free Writing Prospectus approved in advance by the Company and the Agent in its capacity as agent hereunder, neither the Agent nor the Company (including its agents and representatives, other than the Agent in its capacity as such) will make, use, prepare, authorize, approve or refer to any written communication (as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act), required to be filed with the Commission, that constitutes an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy Placement Shares hereunder.
(t)
Blue Sky and Other Qualifications. The Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts, in cooperation with the Agent, to qualify the Placement Shares for offering and sale, or to obtain an exemption for the Placement Shares to be offered and sold, under the applicable securities laws of such states and other jurisdictions (domestic or foreign) as the Agent may reasonably designate and to maintain such qualifications and exemptions in effect for so long as reasonably required for the distribution of the Placement Shares (but in no event for less than one year from the date of this Agreement); provided, however, that the Company shall not be obligated to file any general consent to service of process or to qualify as a foreign corporation or as a dealer in securities in any jurisdiction in which it is not so qualified or to subject itself to taxation in respect of doing business in any jurisdiction in which it is not otherwise so subject. In each jurisdiction in which the Placement Shares have been so qualified or exempt, the Company will file such statements and reports as may be required by the laws of such jurisdiction to continue such qualification or exemption, as the case may be, in effect for so long as reasonably required for the distribution of the Placement Shares (but in no event for less than one year from the date of this Agreement).
(u)
Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Company and the Subsidiaries will maintain and keep accurate books and records reflecting their assets and maintain internal accounting controls in a manner designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP and including those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company, (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit the preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, (iii) that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with management’s and the Company’s directors’ authorization, and (iv) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on its financial statements. The Company and the Subsidiaries will maintain such controls and other procedures, including, without limitation, those required by Sections 302 and 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the applicable regulations thereunder that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the Commission’s rules and forms, including, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its principal executive officer and principal financial officer, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure and to ensure that material information relating to the Company or the Subsidiaries is made known to them by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which such periodic reports are being prepared.
(v)
Secretary’s Certificate; Further Documentation. Prior to the date of the first Placement Notice, the Company shall deliver to the Agent a certificate of the Secretary of the Company and attested to by an executive officer of the Company, dated as of such date, certifying as to (i) the Certificate of Incorporation of the Company, (ii) the By-laws of the Company, (iii) the resolutions of the Board of Directors of the Company and any other authorized committee authorizing the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the issuance of the

 


 

Placement Shares and (iv) the incumbency of the officers duly authorized to execute this Agreement and the other documents contemplated by this Agreement. Within five (5) Trading Days of each Representation Date, the Company shall have furnished to the Agent such further information, certificates and documents as the Agent may reasonably request.
(w)
Affirmation. Each Placement Notice delivered by the Company to the Agent shall be deemed to be (i) an affirmation that the representations, warranties and agreements of the Company herein contained and contained in any certificate delivered to the Agent pursuant hereto are true and correct at the time of delivery of such Placement Notice, and (ii) an undertaking that such representations, warranties and agreements will be true and correct at the time of each sale of any Placement Shares pursuant to this Agreement and on any applicable Settlement Date, as though made at and as of each such time (it being understood that such representations, warranties and agreements shall relate to the Registration Statement and the Prospectus as amended and supplemented to the time of such Placement Notice acceptance).
(x)
Renewal. If immediately prior to the third anniversary (the “Renewal Deadline”) of the initial effective date of the Registration Statement, the aggregate gross sales price of Placement Shares sold by the Company is less than the Maximum Amount and this Agreement has not expired or been terminated, the Company will, prior to the Renewal Deadline, file, if it has not already done so and is eligible to do so, a new shelf registration statement relating to the Placement Shares, in a form satisfactory to the Agent, and, if not automatically effective, will use its best efforts to cause such registration statement to be declared effective within 60 days after the Renewal Deadline. The Company will take all other action necessary or appropriate to permit the issuance and sale of the Placement Shares to continue as contemplated in the expired registration statement relating to the Placement Shares. References herein to the Registration Statement shall include such new shelf registration statement.
8.
Payment of Expenses. The Company will pay all expenses incident to the performance of its obligations under this Agreement, including (i) the preparation and filing of the Registration Statement, including any fees required by the Commission, and the printing or electronic delivery of the Prospectus as originally filed and of each amendment and supplement thereto, in such number as the Agent shall deem necessary, (ii) the printing and delivery to the Agent of this Agreement and such other documents as may be required in connection with the offering, purchase, sale, issuance or delivery of the Placement Shares, (iii) the preparation, issuance and delivery of the certificates, if any, for the Placement Shares to the Agent, including any stock or other transfer taxes and any capital duties, stamp duties or other duties or taxes payable upon the sale, issuance or delivery of the Placement Shares to the Agent, (iv) the fees and disbursements of the counsel, accountants and other advisors to the Company, (v) the reasonable and documented fees and expenses of Agent including but not limited to the fees and expenses of the counsel to the Agent, payable upon the execution of this Agreement, (a) in an amount not to exceed $100,000 in connection with the execution of this Agreement, (b) in an amount not to exceed $25,000 per calendar quarter thereafter payable in connection with each Representation Date with respect to which the Company is obligated to deliver a certificate pursuant to Section 7(l) for which no waiver is applicable and excluding the date of this Agreement, and (c) in an amount not to exceed $75,000 for each program “refresh” (filing of a new registration statement, prospectus or prospectus supplement relating to the Placement Shares and/or an amendment of this Agreement) executed pursuant to this Agreement, (vi) the qualification or exemption of the Placement Shares under state securities laws in accordance with the provisions of Section 7(r) hereof, including filing fees, but excluding fees of the Agent’s counsel, (vii) the printing and delivery to the Agent of copies of any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus and the Prospectus and any amendments or supplements thereto in such number as the Agent shall deem necessary, (viii) the preparation, printing and delivery to the Agent of copies of the blue sky survey, (ix) the fees and expenses of the transfer agent and registrar for the Common Stock, (x) the filing and other fees incident to any review by FINRA of the terms of the sale of the Placement Shares including the reasonable and documented fees of the Agent’s counsel; provided, however, that the reasonable and documented fees and associated expenses of the counsel for the Agent in connection with the Company’s filings with the FINRA shall not exceed $10,000 (subject to the cap, set forth in clause (v) above), and (xi) the fees and expenses incurred in connection with the listing of the Placement Shares on the Exchange. The Company agrees to pay the reasonable and documented fees and expenses of counsel to the Agent set forth in clause (v) above by wire transfer of immediately available funds directly to such counsel upon presentation of an invoice containing the requisite payment information prepared by such counsel.

 


 

9.
Conditions to Agent’s Obligations. The obligations of the Agent hereunder with respect to a Placement will be subject to the continuing accuracy and completeness of the representations and warranties made by the Company herein, to the due performance by the Company of its obligations hereunder, to the completion by the Agent of a due diligence review satisfactory to it in its reasonable judgment, and to the continuing satisfaction (or waiver by the Agent in its sole discretion) of the following additional conditions:
(a)
Registration Statement Effective. The Registration Statement shall have become effective and shall be available for the (i) sale of all Placement Shares issued to the Agent and not yet sold by the Agent and (ii) sale of all Placement Shares contemplated to be issued pursuant to any Placement Notice.
(b)
No Material Notices. None of the following events shall have occurred and be continuing: (i) receipt by the Company of any request for additional information from the Commission or any other federal or state Governmental Authority during the period of effectiveness of the Registration Statement, the response to which would require any post-effective amendments or supplements to the Registration Statement or the Prospectus; (ii) the issuance by the Commission or any other federal or state Governmental Authority of any stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement or the initiation of any proceedings for that purpose; (iii) receipt by the Company of any notification with respect to the suspension of the qualification or exemption from qualification of any of the Placement Shares for sale in any jurisdiction or the initiation or threatening of any proceeding for such purpose; or (iv) the occurrence of any event that makes any statement of a material fact made in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus or any document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated therein by reference untrue or that requires the making of any changes in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or documents so that, in the case of the Registration Statement, it will not contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading and, that in the case of the Prospectus, it will not contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.
(c)
No Misstatement or Material Omission. The Agent shall not have advised the Company that the Registration Statement or Prospectus, or any amendment or supplement thereto, contains an untrue statement of fact that in the Agent’s reasonable opinion is material, or omits to state a fact that in the Agent’s reasonable opinion is material and is required to be stated therein or is necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.
(d)
Material Changes. Except as contemplated in the Prospectus, or disclosed in the Company’s reports filed with the Commission, there shall not have been any material adverse change in the authorized capital stock of the Company or any Material Adverse Effect or any development that would cause a Material Adverse Effect, or a downgrading in or withdrawal of the rating assigned to any of the Company’s securities (other than asset backed securities) by any rating organization or a public announcement by any rating organization that it has under surveillance or review its rating of any of the Company’s securities (other than asset backed securities), the effect of which, in the case of any such action by a rating organization described above, in the reasonable judgment of the Agent (without relieving the Company of any obligation or liability it may otherwise have), is so material as to make it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the offering of the Placement Shares on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the Prospectus.
(e)
Company Counsel Legal Opinions. The Agent shall have received the opinions and negative assurance letters required to be delivered pursuant to Section 7(m) on or before the date on which such delivery of such opinions is required pursuant to Section 7(m).
(f)
Agent Counsel Legal Opinion. The Agent shall have received from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, counsel for the Agent, such opinion or opinions, on or before the date on which the delivery of the opinions and negative assurance letters required to be delivered pursuant to Section 7(m), with respect to such matters as the Agent may reasonably require, and the Company shall have furnished to such counsel such documents as they request for enabling them to pass upon such matters.
(g)
Comfort Letter. The Agent shall have received the Comfort Letter required to be delivered pursuant to Section 7(n) on or before the date on which such delivery of such Comfort Letter is required pursuant to Section 7(n).

 


 

(h)
Representation Certificate. The Agent shall have received the certificate required to be delivered pursuant to Section 7(l) on or before the date on which delivery of such certificate is required pursuant to Section 7(l).
(i)
Secretary’s Certificate. The Agent shall have received the certificate required to be delivered pursuant to Section 7(t) on or before the date on which delivery of such certificate is required pursuant to Section 7(t).
(j)
No Suspension. Trading in the Common Stock shall not have been suspended on the Exchange and the Common Stock shall not have been delisted from the Exchange.
(k)
Other Materials. On each date on which the Company is required to deliver a certificate pursuant to Section 7(l), the Company shall have furnished to the Agent such appropriate further information, opinions, certificates, letters and other documents as the Agent may reasonably request. All such opinions, certificates, letters and other documents will be in compliance with the provisions hereof.
(l)
Securities Act Filings Made. All filings with the Commission required by Rule 424 under the Securities Act to have been filed prior to the issuance of any Placement Notice hereunder shall have been made within the applicable time period prescribed for such filing by Rule 424.
(m)
Approval for Listing. The Placement Shares shall either have been (i) approved for listing on the Exchange, subject only to notice of issuance, or (ii) the Company shall have filed an application for listing of the Placement Shares on the Exchange at, or prior to, the issuance of any Placement Notice and the Exchange shall have reviewed such application and not provided any objections thereto.
(n)
FINRA. If applicable, FINRA shall have raised no objection to the terms of this offering and the amount of compensation allowable or payable to the Agent as described in the Prospectus.
(o)
No Termination Event. There shall not have occurred any event that would permit the Agent to terminate this Agreement pursuant to Section 12(a).
10.
Indemnification and Contribution.
(a)
Company Indemnification. The Company agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Agent, its affiliates and their respective partners, members, directors, officers, employees and agents and each person, if any, who (i) controls the Agent or any affiliate within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act or (ii) is controlled by or is under common control with the Agent as follows:
(i)
against any and all loss, liability, claim, damage and reasonable and documented expense, as incurred, joint or several, arising out of or based upon any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement (or any amendment thereto), or the omission or alleged omission therefrom of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, or arising out of any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact included in any related Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or the Prospectus (or any amendment or supplement thereto), or the omission or alleged omission therefrom of a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading;
(ii)
against any and all loss, liability, claim, damage and reasonable and documented expense, as incurred, joint or several, to the extent of the aggregate amount paid in settlement of any litigation, or any investigation or proceeding by any Governmental Authority, commenced or threatened, or of any claim whatsoever based upon any such untrue statement or omission, or any such alleged untrue statement or omission; provided that (subject to Section 10(d) below) any such settlement is effected with the written consent of the Company, which consent shall not unreasonably be delayed or withheld; and
(iii)
against any and all reasonable and documented expense, as incurred (including the reasonable and documented fees and disbursements of counsel), reasonably incurred in investigating, preparing or defending against any litigation, or any investigation or proceeding by any Governmental Authority, commenced or threatened, or any claim whatsoever based upon any such untrue statement or omission, or any

 


 

such alleged untrue statement or omission (whether or not a party), to the extent that any such expense is not paid under (i) or (ii) above,

provided, however, that this indemnity agreement shall not apply to any loss, liability, claim, damage or expense to the extent arising out of any untrue statement or omission or alleged untrue statement or omission made solely in reliance upon and in conformity with the Agent Information (as defined below).

(b)
Agent Indemnification. Agent agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Company and its directors and each officer of the Company who signed the Registration Statement, and each person, if any, who controls the Company within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act against any and all loss, liability, claim, damage and expense described in the indemnity contained in Section 10(a), as incurred, but only with respect to untrue statements or omissions, or alleged untrue statements or omissions, made in the Registration Statement (or any amendments thereto), the Prospectus (or any amendment or supplement thereto) or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus (or any amendment or supplement thereto) in reliance upon and in conformity with information relating to the Agent and furnished to the Company in writing by the Agent expressly for use therein. The Company hereby acknowledges that the only information that the Agent has furnished to the Company expressly for use in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus, any Prospectus Supplement or any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus (or any amendment or supplement thereto) is the third sentence in the eighth paragraph under the caption “Plan of Distribution” in the Prospectus (the “Agent Information”).
(c)
Procedure. Any party that proposes to assert the right to be indemnified under this Section 10 will, promptly after receipt of notice of commencement of any action against such party in respect of which a claim is to be made against an indemnifying party or parties under this Section 10, notify each such indemnifying party of the commencement of such action, enclosing a copy of all papers served, but the omission so to notify such indemnifying party will not relieve the indemnifying party from (i) any liability that it might have to any indemnified party otherwise than under this Section 10 and (ii) any liability that it may have to any indemnified party under the foregoing provision of this Section 10 unless, and only to the extent that, such omission results in the forfeiture of substantive rights or defenses by the indemnifying party. If any such action is brought against any indemnified party and it notifies the indemnifying party of its commencement, the indemnifying party will be entitled to participate in and, to the extent that it elects by delivering written notice to the indemnified party promptly after receiving notice of the commencement of the action from the indemnified party, jointly with any other indemnifying party similarly notified, to assume the defense of the action, with counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party, and after notice from the indemnifying party to the indemnified party of its election to assume the defense, the indemnifying party will not be liable to the indemnified party for any other legal expenses except as provided below and except for the reasonable costs of investigation subsequently incurred by the indemnified party in connection with the defense. The indemnified party will have the right to employ its own counsel in any such action, but the fees, expenses and other charges of such counsel will be at the expense of such indemnified party unless (1) the employment of counsel by the indemnified party has been authorized in writing by the indemnifying party, (2) the indemnified party has reasonably concluded (based on advice of counsel) that there may be legal defenses available to it or other indemnified parties that are different from or in addition to those available to the indemnifying party, (3) a conflict or potential conflict exists (based on advice of counsel to the indemnified party) between the indemnified party and the indemnifying party (in which case the indemnifying party will not have the right to direct the defense of such action on behalf of the indemnified party) or (4) the indemnifying party has not in fact employed counsel to assume the defense of such action or counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party, in each case, within a reasonable time after receiving notice of the commencement of the action; in each of which cases the reasonable fees, disbursements and other charges of counsel will be at the expense of the indemnifying party or parties. It is understood that the indemnifying party or parties shall not, in connection with any proceeding or related proceedings in the same jurisdiction, be liable for the reasonable fees, disbursements and other charges of more than one separate firm (plus local counsel) admitted to practice in such jurisdiction at any one time for all such indemnified party or parties. All such reasonable and documented fees, disbursements and other charges will be reimbursed by the indemnifying party promptly as they are incurred after the indemnifying party receives a written invoice related to such fees, disbursement and other charges in reasonable detail. An indemnifying party will not, in any event, be liable for any settlement of any action or claim effected without its written consent. No indemnifying party shall, without the prior written consent of each indemnified party, settle or compromise or consent to the entry of any judgment in any pending or threatened claim, action or proceeding relating to the matters contemplated by

 


 

this Section 10 (whether or not any indemnified party is a party thereto), unless such settlement, compromise or consent (1) includes an express and unconditional release of each indemnified party, in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to such indemnified party, from all liability arising out of such litigation, investigation, proceeding or claim and (2) does not include a statement as to or an admission of fault, culpability or a failure to act by or on behalf of any indemnified party.
(d)
Settlement Without Consent if Failure to Reimburse. If an indemnified party shall have requested an indemnifying party to reimburse the indemnified party for reasonable fees and expenses of counsel, such indemnifying party agrees that it shall be liable for any settlement of the nature contemplated by Section 10(a)(ii) effected without its written consent if (1) such settlement is entered into more than 45 days after receipt by such indemnifying party of the aforesaid request, (2) such indemnifying party shall have received notice of the terms of such settlement at least 30 days prior to such settlement being entered into and (3) such indemnifying party shall not have reimbursed such indemnified party in accordance with such request prior to the date of such settlement.
(e)
Contribution. In order to provide for just and equitable contribution in circumstances in which the indemnification provided for in the foregoing paragraphs of this Section 10 is applicable in accordance with its terms but for any reason is held to be unavailable or insufficient from the Company or the Agent, the Company and the Agent will contribute to the total losses, claims, liabilities, reasonable and documented expenses and damages (including any investigative, legal and other expenses reasonably incurred in connection with, and any amount paid in settlement of, any action, suit or proceeding or any claim asserted, but after deducting any contribution received by the Company from persons other than the Agent, such as persons who control the Company within the meaning of the Securities Act, officers of the Company who signed the Registration Statement and directors of the Company, who also may be liable for contribution) to which the Company and the Agent may be subject in such proportion as shall be appropriate to reflect the relative benefits received by the Company on the one hand and the Agent on the other hand. The relative benefits received by the Company on the one hand and the Agent on the other hand shall be deemed to be in the same proportion as the total Net Proceeds from the sale of the Placement Shares (before deducting expenses) received by the Company bear to the total compensation received by the Agent from the sale of Placement Shares on behalf of the Company. If, but only if, the allocation provided by the foregoing sentence is not permitted by applicable law, the allocation of contribution shall be made in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the relative benefits referred to in the foregoing sentence but also the relative fault of the Company, on the one hand, and the Agent, on the other hand, with respect to the statements or omission that resulted in such loss, claim, liability, expense or damage, or action in respect thereof, as well as any other relevant equitable considerations with respect to such offering. Such relative fault shall be determined by reference to, among other things, whether the untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact or omission or alleged omission to state a material fact relates to information supplied by the Company or the Agent, the intent of the parties and their relative knowledge, access to information and opportunity to correct or prevent such statement or omission. The Company and the Agent agree that it would not be just and equitable if contributions pursuant to this Section 10(e) were to be determined by pro rata allocation or by any other method of allocation that does not take into account the equitable considerations referred to herein. The amount paid or payable by an indemnified party as a result of the loss, claim, liability, expense, or damage, or action in respect thereof, referred to above in this Section 10(e) shall be deemed to include, for the purpose of this Section 10(e), any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by such indemnified party in connection with investigating or defending any such action or claim to the extent consistent with Section 10(c) hereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this Section 10(e), the Agent shall not be required to contribute any amount in excess of the commissions received by it under this Agreement and no person found guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation (within the meaning of Section 11(f) of the Securities Act) will be entitled to contribution from any person who was not guilty of such fraudulent misrepresentation. For purposes of this Section 10(e), any person who controls a party to this Agreement within the meaning of the Securities Act, any affiliates of the Agent and any officers, directors, partners, employees or agents of the Agent or any of its affiliates, will have the same rights to contribution as that party, and each director of the Company and each officer of the Company who signed the Registration Statement will have the same rights to contribution as the Company, subject in each case to the provisions hereof. Any party entitled to contribution, promptly after receipt of notice of commencement of any action against such party in respect of which a claim for contribution may be made under this Section 10(e), will notify any such party or parties from whom contribution may be sought, but the omission to so notify will not relieve that party or parties from whom contribution may be sought from any other obligation it or they may have under this Section 10(e)

 


 

except to the extent that the failure to so notify such other party materially prejudiced the substantive rights or defenses of the party from whom contribution is sought. Except for a settlement entered into pursuant to the last sentence of Section 10(c) hereof, no party will be liable for contribution with respect to any action or claim settled without its written consent if such consent is required pursuant to Section 10(c) hereof.
11.
Representations and Agreements to Survive Delivery. The indemnity and contribution agreements contained in Section 10 of this Agreement and all representations and warranties of the Company herein or in certificates delivered pursuant hereto shall survive, as of their respective dates, regardless of (i) any investigation made by or on behalf of the Agent, any controlling persons, or the Company (or any of their respective officers, directors, employees or controlling persons), (ii) delivery and acceptance of the Placement Shares and payment therefor or (iii) any termination of this Agreement.
12.
Termination.
(a)
The Agent may terminate this Agreement, by notice to the Company, as hereinafter specified at any time (1) if there has been, since the time of execution of this Agreement or since the date as of which information is given in the Prospectus, any change, or any development or event involving a prospective change, in the condition, financial or otherwise, or in the business, properties, earnings, results of operations or prospects of the Company and its Subsidiaries considered as one enterprise, whether or not arising in the ordinary course of business, which individually or in the aggregate, in the reasonable judgment of the Agent is material and adverse and makes it impractical or inadvisable to market the Placement Shares or to enforce contracts for the sale of the Placement Shares, (2) if there has occurred any material adverse change in the financial markets in the United States or the international financial markets, any outbreak of hostilities or escalation thereof or other calamity or crisis or any change or development involving a prospective change in national or international political, financial or economic conditions, in each case the effect of which is such as to make it, in the judgment of the Agent, impracticable or inadvisable to market the Placement Shares or to enforce contracts for the sale of the Placement Shares, (3) if trading in the Common Stock has been suspended or limited by the Commission or the Exchange, or if trading generally on the Exchange has been suspended or limited, or minimum prices for trading have been fixed on the Exchange, (4) if any suspension of trading of any securities of the Company on any exchange or in the over-the-counter market shall have occurred and be continuing, (5) if a major disruption of securities settlements or clearance services in the United States shall have occurred and be continuing, or (6) if a banking moratorium has been declared by either U.S. Federal or New York authorities. Any such termination shall be without liability of any party to any other party except that the provisions of Section 8 (Payment of Expenses), Section 10 (Indemnification and Contribution), Section 11 (Representations and Agreements to Survive Delivery), Section 17 (Governing Law and Time; Waiver of Jury Trial) and Section 18 (Consent to Jurisdiction) hereof shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding such termination. If the Agent elects to terminate this Agreement as provided in this Section 12(a), the Agent shall provide the required notice as specified in Section 13 (Notices).
(b)
The Company shall have the right, by giving ten (10) days’ notice as hereinafter specified to terminate this Agreement in its sole discretion at any time after the date of this Agreement. Any such termination shall be without liability of any party to any other party except that the provisions of Section 8, Section 10, Section 11, Section 17 and Section 18 hereof shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding such termination.
(c)
The Agent shall have the right, by giving ten (10) days’ notice as hereinafter specified to terminate this Agreement in its sole discretion at any time after the date of this Agreement. Any such termination shall be without liability of any party to any other party except that the provisions of Section 8, Section 10, Section 11, Section 17 and Section 18 hereof shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding such termination.
(d)
This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect unless terminated pursuant to Sections 12(a), (b), or (c) above or otherwise by mutual agreement of the parties; provided, however, that this Agreement shall automatically terminate upon the issuance and sale of all of the Placement Shares through the Agent on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein; provided, however, that any such termination by mutual agreement or automatic termination shall in all cases be deemed to provide that Section 8, Section 10, Section 11, Section 17 and Section 18 shall remain in full force and effect.

 


 

(e)
Any termination of this Agreement shall be effective on the date specified in such notice of termination; provided, however, that such termination shall not be effective until the close of business on the date of receipt of such notice by the Agent or the Company, as the case may be. If such termination shall occur prior to the Settlement Date for any sale of Placement Shares, such Placement Shares shall settle in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.
13.
Notices. All notices or other communications required or permitted to be given by any party to any other party pursuant to the terms of this Agreement shall be in writing, unless otherwise specified in this Agreement, and if sent to the Agent, shall be delivered to:

TD Securities (USA) LLC

1 Vanderbilt Avenue

New York, New York 10017

Attention: ECM ATM Execution Team

 

with a copy to:

 

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

7 World Trade Center

250 Greenwich Street

New York, New York 10007

Attention: Lisa Firenze

and if to the Company, shall be delivered to:

Disc Medicine, Inc.

321 Arsenal St, Suite 101

Watertown, Massachusetts 02472

Attention: Rahul Khara, General Counsel

 

with a copy to:

Goodwin Procter LLP

100 Northern Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02210

Attention: William D. Collins

 

Each party to this Agreement may change such address for notices by sending to the parties to this Agreement written notice of a new address for such purpose. Each such notice or other communication shall be deemed given (i) when delivered personally or by verifiable facsimile transmission (with an original to follow) on or before 4:30 p.m., New York City time, on a Business Day or, if such day is not a Business Day, on the next succeeding Business Day, (ii) by Electronic Notice, as set forth below, (iii) on the next Business Day after timely delivery to a nationally-recognized overnight courier and (iv) on the Business Day actually received if deposited in the U.S. mail (certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid). For purposes of this Agreement, “Business Day” shall mean any day on which the Exchange and commercial banks in the City of New York are open for business.

An electronic communication (“Electronic Notice”) shall be deemed written notice for purposes of this Section 13 if sent to the electronic mail address specified by the receiving party under separate cover. Electronic Notice shall be deemed received at the time the party sending Electronic Notice receives verification of receipt by the receiving party. Any party receiving Electronic Notice may request and shall be entitled to receive the notice on paper, in a nonelectronic form (“Nonelectronic Notice”) which shall be sent to the requesting party within ten (10) days of receipt of the written request for Nonelectronic Notice.

 


 

14.
Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the Company and the Agent and their respective successors and the parties referred to in Section 10 hereof. References to any of the parties contained in this Agreement shall be deemed to include the successors and permitted assigns of such party. Nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, is intended to confer upon any party other than the parties hereto or their respective successors and permitted assigns any rights, remedies, obligations or liabilities under or by reason of this Agreement, except as expressly provided in this Agreement. Neither party may assign its rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the other party; provided, however, that the Agent may assign its rights and obligations hereunder to an affiliate thereof without obtaining the Company’s consent.
15.
Adjustments for Stock Splits. The parties acknowledge and agree that all share-related numbers contained in this Agreement shall be adjusted to take into account any stock split, stock dividend or similar event effected with respect to the Common Stock.
16.
Entire Agreement; Amendment; Severability; Waiver. This Agreement (including all schedules and exhibits attached hereto and Placement Notices issued pursuant hereto) constitutes the entire agreement and supersedes all other prior and contemporaneous agreements and undertakings, both written and oral, among the parties hereto with regard to the subject matter hereof. Neither this Agreement nor any term hereof may be amended except pursuant to a written instrument executed by the Company and the Agent. In the event that any one or more of the provisions contained herein, or the application thereof in any circumstance, is held invalid, illegal or unenforceable as written by a court of competent jurisdiction, then such provision shall be given full force and effect to the fullest possible extent that it is valid, legal and enforceable, and the remainder of the terms and provisions herein shall be construed as if such invalid, illegal or unenforceable term or provision was not contained herein, but only to the extent that giving effect to such provision and the remainder of the terms and provisions hereof shall be in accordance with the intent of the parties as reflected in this Agreement. No implied waiver by a party shall arise in the absence of a waiver in writing signed by such party. No failure or delay in exercising any right, power, or privilege hereunder shall operate as a waiver thereof, nor shall any single or partial exercise thereof preclude any other or further exercise thereof or the exercise of any right, power, or privilege hereunder.
17.
GOVERNING LAW AND TIME; WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL. THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK WITHOUT REGARD TO THE PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICTS OF LAWS. SPECIFIED TIMES OF DAY REFER TO NEW YORK CITY TIME. EACH PARTY HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANY AND ALL RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LEGAL PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED HEREBY.
18.
CONSENT TO JURISDICTION. EACH PARTY HEREBY IRREVOCABLY SUBMITS TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF THE STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS SITTING IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN, FOR THE ADJUDICATION OF ANY DISPUTE HEREUNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY TRANSACTION CONTEMPLATED HEREBY, AND HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES, AND AGREES NOT TO ASSERT IN ANY SUIT, ACTION OR PROCEEDING, ANY CLAIM THAT IT IS NOT PERSONALLY SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF ANY SUCH COURT, THAT SUCH SUIT, ACTION OR PROCEEDING IS BROUGHT IN AN INCONVENIENT FORUM OR THAT THE VENUE OF SUCH SUIT, ACTION OR PROCEEDING IS IMPROPER. EACH PARTY HEREBY IRREVOCABLY WAIVES PERSONAL SERVICE OF PROCESS AND CONSENTS TO PROCESS BEING SERVED IN ANY SUCH SUIT, ACTION OR PROCEEDING BY MAILING A COPY THEREOF (CERTIFIED OR REGISTERED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED) TO SUCH PARTY AT THE ADDRESS IN EFFECT FOR NOTICES TO IT UNDER THIS AGREEMENT AND AGREES THAT SUCH SERVICE SHALL CONSTITUTE GOOD AND SUFFICIENT SERVICE OF PROCESS AND NOTICE THEREOF. NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN SHALL BE DEEMED TO LIMIT IN ANY WAY ANY RIGHT TO SERVE PROCESS IN ANY MANNER PERMITTED BY LAW.
19.
Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument. Delivery of an executed

 


 

Agreement by one party to the other may be made by facsimile, electronic mail (including any electronic signature covered by the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the Electronic Signatures and Records Act or other applicable law, e.g., www.docusign.com) or other transmission method and any counterpart so delivered shall be deemed to have been duly and validly delivered and be valid and effective for all purposes.
20.
Construction. The section and exhibit headings herein are for convenience only and shall not affect the construction hereof. References herein to any law, statute, ordinance, code, regulation, rule or other requirement of any Governmental Authority shall be deemed to refer to such law, statute, ordinance, code, regulation, rule or other requirement of any Governmental Authority as amended, reenacted, supplemented or superseded in whole or in part and in effect from time to time and also to all rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
21.
Absence of Fiduciary Relationship. The Company acknowledges and agrees that:
(a)
the Agent is acting solely as agent in connection with the public offering of the Placement Shares and in connection with each transaction contemplated by this Agreement and the process leading to such transactions, and no fiduciary or advisory relationship between the Company or any of its respective affiliates, stockholders (or other equity holders), creditors or employees or any other party, on the one hand, and the Agent, on the other hand, has been or will be created in respect of any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, irrespective of whether or not the Agent has advised or is advising the Company on other matters, and the Agent has no obligation to the Company with respect to the transactions contemplated by this Agreement except the obligations expressly set forth in this Agreement;
(b)
it is capable of evaluating and understanding, and understands and accepts, the terms, risks and conditions of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement;
(c)
neither the Agent nor its affiliates have provided any legal, accounting, regulatory or tax advice with respect to the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and it has consulted its own legal, accounting, regulatory and tax advisors to the extent it has deemed appropriate;
(d)
it is aware that the Agent and its affiliates are engaged in a broad range of transactions which may involve interests that differ from those of the Company and the Agent and its affiliates have no obligation to disclose such interests and transactions to the Company by virtue of any fiduciary, advisory or agency relationship or otherwise; and
(e)
it waives, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any claims it may have against the Agent or its affiliates for breach of fiduciary duty or alleged breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the sale of Placement Shares under this Agreement and agrees that the Agent and its affiliates shall not have any liability (whether direct or indirect, in contract, tort or otherwise) to it in respect of such a fiduciary duty claim or to any person asserting a fiduciary duty claim on its behalf or in right of it or the Company, employees or creditors of Company.
22.
Recognition of the U.S. Special Resolution Regimes.
(a)
In the event that the Agent is a Covered Entity and becomes subject to a proceeding under a U.S. Special Resolution Regime, the transfer from the Agent of this Agreement, and any interest and obligation in or under this Agreement, will be effective to the same extent as the transfer would be effective under the U.S. Special Resolution Regime if this Agreement, and any such interest and obligation, were governed by the laws of the United States or a state of the United States.
(b)
In the event that the Agent is a Covered Entity and the Agent or a BHC Act Affiliate of the Agent becomes subject to a proceeding under a U.S. Special Resolution Regime, Default Rights under this Agreement that may be exercised against the Agent are permitted to be exercised to no greater extent than such Default Rights could be exercised under the U.S. Special Resolution Regime if this Agreement were governed by the laws of the United States or a state of the United States.
(c)
For purposes of this Section 23, (a) “BHC Act Affiliate” has the meaning assigned to the term “affiliate” in, and shall be interpreted in accordance with, 12 U.S.C. § 1841(k), (b) “Covered Entity” means any of the following:

 


 

(i) a “covered entity” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 252.82(b); (ii) a “covered bank” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 47.3(b); or (iii) a “covered FSI” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 382.2(b), (c) “Default Rights” has the meaning assigned to that term in, and shall be interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. §§ 252.81, 47.2 or 382.1, as applicable, and (d) “U.S. Special Resolution Regime” means each of (i) the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
23.
Definitions. As used in this Agreement, the following terms have the respective meanings set forth below:

“Applicable Time” means (i) each Representation Date, (ii) the time of each sale of any Placement Shares pursuant to this Agreement and (iii) each Settlement Date.

“Governmental Authority” means (i) any federal, provincial, state, local, municipal, national or international government or governmental authority, regulatory or administrative agency, governmental commission, department, board, bureau, agency or instrumentality, court, tribunal, arbitrator or arbitral body (public or private); (ii) any self-regulatory organization; or (iii) any political subdivision of any of the foregoing, in each case, having jurisdiction over the Company or any of its properties.

“Issuer Free Writing Prospectus” means any “issuer free writing prospectus,” as defined in Rule 433, relating to the Placement Shares that (1) is required to be filed with the Commission by the Company, (2) is a “road show” that is a “written communication” within the meaning of Rule 433(d)(8)(i) whether or not required to be filed with the Commission, or (3) is exempt from filing pursuant to Rule 433(d)(5)(i) because it contains a description of the Placement Shares or of the offering that does not reflect the final terms, in each case in the form filed or required to be filed with the Commission or, if not required to be filed, in the form retained in the Company’s records pursuant to Rule 433(g) under the Securities Act.

“Rule 172,” “Rule 405,” “Rule 415,” “Rule 424,” “Rule 424(b),” “Rule 430B,” and “Rule 433” refer to such rules under the Securities Act.

All references in this Agreement to financial statements and schedules and other information that is “contained,” “included” or “stated” in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus (and all other references of like import) shall be deemed to mean and include all such financial statements and schedules and other information that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, as the case may be.

All references in this Agreement to the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or any amendment or supplement to any of the foregoing shall be deemed to include the copy filed with the Commission pursuant to EDGAR or any successor system; all references in this Agreement to any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus (other than any Issuer Free Writing Prospectuses that, pursuant to Rule 433, are not required to be filed with the Commission) shall be deemed to include the copy thereof filed with the Commission pursuant to EDGAR or any successor system; and all references in this Agreement to “supplements” to the Prospectus shall include, without limitation, any supplements, “wrappers” or similar materials prepared in connection with any offering, sale or private placement of any Placement Shares by the Agent outside of the United States.

[Signature Page Follows]

 


 

If the foregoing correctly sets forth the understanding between the Company and the Agent, please so indicate in the space provided below for that purpose, whereupon this letter shall constitute a binding agreement between the Company and the Agent.

Very truly yours,

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

 

 

 

By:

/s/ John Quisel

 

Name: John Quisel

 

Title: President and Chief Executive Officer

 

ACCEPTED as of the date first-above written:

 

TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Michael Murphy

 

Name: Michael Murphy

 

Title: Managing Director

 

 


 

SCHEDULE 1

 

__________________________

Form of Placement Notice

__________________________

 

From: [ ]

Cc: [ ]

To: [ ]

Subject: TD Cowen At the Market Offering—Placement Notice

Date: [•], 202[•]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions contained in the Sales Agreement between Disc Medicine, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and TD Securities (USA) LLC (“Agent”), dated November 5, 2026, the Company hereby requests that the Agent sell up to [•] of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at a minimum market price of $[•] per share, during the time period beginning [month, day, time] and ending [month, day, time].

 

 

 


 

SCHEDULE 2

 

__________________________

Compensation

__________________________

 

The Company shall pay to the Agent in cash, upon each sale of Placement Shares pursuant to this Agreement, an amount up to 3.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds from each sale of Placement Shares.

 

 

 


 

SCHEDULE 3

 

__________________________

Notice Parties

__________________________

 

The Company

Rahul Khara

Chief Legal Officer

 

 

Jean Franchi

Chief Financial Officer

 

 

The Agent

Michael J. Murphy

Managing Director

 

 

William Follis

Managing Director

 

 

Adriano Pierroz

Director

 

 

Megan Sanford

Associate

 

 

 


 

Form of Representation Date Certificate Pursuant to Section 7(l)

The undersigned, the duly qualified and elected Chief Executive Officer, of Disc Medicine, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), does hereby certify in such capacity and on behalf of the Company, pursuant to Section 7(l) of the Sales Agreement, dated November 5, 2026 (the “Sales Agreement”), between the Company and TD Securities (USA) LLC, that to the best of the knowledge of the undersigned:
 

(i)
The representations and warranties of the Company in Section 6 of the Sales Agreement are true and correct on and as of the date hereof with the same force and effect as if expressly made on and as of the date hereof, except for those representations and warranties that speak solely as of a specific date and which were true and correct as of such date; provided, however, that such representations and warranties also shall be qualified by the disclosure included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement and Prospectus; and
(ii)
The Company has complied with all agreements and satisfied all conditions on its part to be performed or satisfied pursuant to the Sales Agreement at or prior to the date hereof.

 

Capitalized terms used herein without definition shall have the meanings given to such terms in the Sales Agreement.

 

DISC MEDICINE, INC.

By:

Name:

Title:

 

Date: [•]


EX-31.1

Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER PURSUANT TO

RULE 13A-14(A) / RULE 15D-14(A) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

I, John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D., certify that:

1.
I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Disc Medicine, Inc.;
2.
Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.
Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.
The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
a.
Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
b.
Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, 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;
c.
Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
d.
Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
5.
The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
a.
All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
b.
Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Date: November 5, 2026

/s/ John Quisel

John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

(Principal Executive Officer)

 

 


EX-31.2

 

Exhibit 31.2

CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL OFFICER PURSUANT TO

RULE 13A-14(A) / RULE 15D-14(A) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

I, Jean Franchi, certify that:

1.
I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Disc Medicine, Inc.;
2.
Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.
Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.
The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
a.
Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
b.
Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, 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;
c.
Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
d.
Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
5.
The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
a.
All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
b.
Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Date: November 5, 2026

/s/ Jean Franchi

Jean Franchi

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

 


EX-32.1

Exhibit 32.1

CERTIFICATIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND PRINCIPAL

FINANCIAL OFFICER PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,

AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO

SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

In connection with this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Disc Medicine, Inc. (the “Company”) for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), each of the undersigned officers hereby certifies, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that to the best of his or her knowledge:

1.
the Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
2.
the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

Dated: November 5, 2026

 

/s/ John Quisel

John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

(Principal Executive Officer)

 

/s/ Jean Franchi

Jean Franchi

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)