We are also investing early in building our capabilities in key areas of manufacturing sciences and operations, including development of our iPSC cell therapy platforms, product characterization, and process analytics from the time product candidates are in early research phases. Our investments also include scaled research solutions, scaled infrastructure, and novel technologies intended to improve efficiency, characterization, and scalability of manufacturing.
We anticipate that we will need to raise additional financing in the future to fund our operations, including funding for preclinical studies, clinical trials and the commercialization of any approved product candidates. We intend to use the proceeds from such financings to, among other uses, fund research and development of our product candidates and development programs, including our pre-clinical and clinical development of CNTY-101, CNTY-103, and CNTY-102, and as well as CNTY-104 and CNTY-106 in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Until such time, if ever, as we can generate significant product revenue, we expect to finance our operations with our existing cash and cash equivalents, investments, any future equity or debt financings, and upfront and milestone and royalties payments, if any, received under future licenses or collaborations. We may not be able to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital when desired, our business, results of operations, and financial condition would be adversely affected. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability.
The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve rapidly, and we will continue to monitor it closely. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, operations, and clinical development timelines and plans remains uncertain and will depend on certain developments, including the duration and spread of the outbreak, including as a result of the emergence of new variants of COVID-19, and its impact on our clinical trial enrollment, trial sites, CROs, contract manufacturing organizations, and other third parties with whom we do business, as well as its impact on regulatory authorities and our key scientific and management personnel. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced modest delays in our discovery and development activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily due to temporary and partial shutdowns at certain of our CROs and academic institutions that have since resumed operations, and due to governmental responses to the pandemic. The ongoing pandemic has led to the implementation of various responses, including travel restrictions, mask mandates, social distancing requirements and other public health safety measures. Although many countries have re-opened, rises in new cases, including as the result of newly identified COVID-19 variants, have caused certain countries, states, and localities to re-initiate restrictions. In response, and in compliance with rapidly changing local and state regulations, we have implemented a mandatory vaccination policy for all employees and have taken other precautionary measures, including testing of any employees displaying symptoms of COVID-19. While the vaccines have proven effective in reducing the severity and mortality of COVID-19 including the variants that have evolved to date, the overall vaccination rate in the United States may have not reached the level required for herd immunity. Certain variants of COVID-19 have proven to be more easily spread than earlier variants. The incomplete vaccination rate, and the emergence of new variants, which could prove resistant to existing vaccines, could again result in major disruptions to businesses and markets worldwide. We will continue to actively monitor the situation related to COVID-19 and may take further actions that alter our operations, including those that may be required by federal, state, or local authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees and other third parties with whom we do business. The extent to which the ongoing pandemic may affect our preclinical studies, clinical trials, supply chain, labor force, business, financial condition, and results of operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.
Bristol-Myers Squibb
On January 7, 2022, we entered into the Research, Collaboration and License Agreement, with Bristol-Myers Squibb, or the Collaboration Agreement, to collaborate on the research, development and commercialization of iNK and iT cell programs for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, or the Collaboration Program, and each product candidate, a Development Candidate. We and Bristol-Myers Squibb will initially collaborate on