AHPA Avista Public Acquisition Corporation II

RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and the other information in this prospectus before making an investment in our Common Stock or Warrants. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, or prospects could be materially and adversely affected if any of these risks occurs, and as a result, the market price of our Common Stock and Warrants could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. This prospectus also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth below.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have incurred losses on an as-reported basis for the last three years, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve and maintain profitability.

Historically, we have incurred net losses, as reported on a combined basis. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, our revenue was $34.7 million, $23.3 million and $18.3 million, respectively. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 our revenue was $6.9 million and $23.7 million, respectively, and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $6.3 million and $19.5 million, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, our net loss was $(27.0 million), $(17.6 million) and $(13.6 million), respectively. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 our net loss was $(12.6) million and $(29.2) million, respectively, and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $(7.9) million and $(24.0) million, respectively. We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we anticipate these losses will increase substantially as we invest in research and development activities to improve our OmniAb technology platform, market and sell our technologies to existing and new partners, add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel to support our operations and incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company.

Our expenses could increase beyond expectations for a variety of reasons, including as a result of our growth strategy and the expansion of our operations. We will need to generate significant additional revenue to achieve and sustain profitability and even if we achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. We may never be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve or sustain profitability and our recent and historical growth should not be considered indicative of our future performance. Our failure to become and remain profitable may have an adverse effect on the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business and maintain our research and development efforts. A decline in the value of our company could also cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

Our revenue has fluctuated from period to period, and our revenue for any historical period may not be indicative of results that may be expected for any future period.

Service and license revenue are generated by research activities that we perform for our partners and technology access fees, the timing and nature of which are dictated by the commencement of discovery campaigns selected by our partners. We also generate milestone payments upon the achievement of development milestones by our partners with respect to the antibodies discovered using our platform and royalties based on the net sales of any products commercialized by our partners. As a result, we will be prone to fluctuations in our revenue depending on the timing of our entry into license agreements with our partners, our partners initiating discovery programs, and our partners achieving development milestones or commercial sales with respect to therapeutic candidates utilizing antibodies discovered using our platform. The timing and likelihood of payments to us under these agreements is dependent on our partners’ successful utilization of the antibodies discovered using our platform, which is outside of our control. Because of these factors, our revenue could vary materially from quarter to quarter from our forecasts.

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

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes it difficult for us to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to:

The cumulative effects of these factors could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results and revenues. This variability and unpredictability could result in our 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 when we have met any previously publicly stated revenue or earnings guidance we may provide.

Our commercial success depends on the quality of our antibody discovery platform and technological capabilities and their acceptance by new and existing partners in our market.

We utilize our OmniAb technology platform to discover antibodies for further development and potential commercialization by our partners. As a result, the quality and sophistication of our platform is critical to our ability to conduct our research discovery activities and to deliver more promising antibodies and other drugs and to accelerate and lower the costs of discovery as compared to traditional methods for our partnerships. In particular, our business depends, among other things, on:

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There can be no assurance that we will successfully address any of these or other factors that may affect the market acceptance of our platform. Failure of antibodies discovered using our platform can occur at any stage of discovery, preclinical or clinical development, and any such failures may reduce our partners’ confidence in our platform. We also believe that pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are likely to be particularly sensitive to defects and errors in the use of our platform, including if our platform fails to deliver meaningful acceleration of certain research timelines accompanied by results at least as good as the results generated using legacy or other alternative technologies. There can be no guarantee that our platform will meet the expectations of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. If we are unsuccessful in achieving and maintaining market acceptance of our platform, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

Our future success is dependent on the eventual approval and commercialization of products developed by our partners for which we have no control over the clinical development plan, regulatory strategy or commercialization efforts.

Our business model is dependent on the eventual progression of therapeutic candidates discovered or initially developed utilizing our platform into clinical trials and commercialization. This requires us to attract partners and enter into agreements with them that contain obligations for the partners to pay us milestone payments as well as royalties on sales of approved products for the therapeutic candidates they develop that are generated utilizing our platform. Given the nature of our relationships with our partners, we do not control the progression, clinical development, regulatory strategy or eventual commercialization, if approved, of these therapeutic candidates. As a result, our future success and the potential to receive milestones and royalties are entirely dependent on our partners’ efforts over which we have no control. Additionally, unless publicly disclosed by our partners, we do not have access to information related to our partners’ clinical trial results, including serious adverse events, or ongoing communications with the FDA regarding our partners’ current clinical programs, which limits our visibility into how such programs may be progressing. If our partners determine not to proceed with the future development of a drug candidate discovered or initially developed utilizing our platform, or if they implement clinical or regulatory strategies that ultimately do not result in the further development or approval of the therapeutic candidates, we will not receive the benefits of our partnerships, which may have a material and adverse effect on our operations.

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In addition, biopharmaceutical development is inherently uncertain and very few therapeutic candidates ultimately progress through clinical development and receive approval for commercialization. If our partners do not receive regulatory approval for a sufficient number of therapeutic candidates originating from our partnerships, we may not be able to sustain our business model. Further, we have little control over how diversified our portfolio of potential milestone payments or royalties will end up being.

In addition, we do not control the timing of disclosure by our partners of any milestones or other information related to any therapeutic candidates generated using our platform. Any disclosure by us or our partners of data or other information regarding any such therapeutic candidates that is perceived as negative may have a material adverse impact on our stock price or overall valuation. Our stock price may also decline as a result of negative clinical trial results, including adverse safety events involving any drug candidate that is subject to one of our partnerships.

We may need to raise additional capital to fund our existing operations and achieve our goals. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms or generate cash flows necessary to maintain or expand our operations, we may not be able to compete successfully, which would harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Based on our current business plan, we believe our cash and cash equivalents following the Business Combination, together with our anticipated cash flows from operations, will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs over at least the next 12 months following the date of this proxy statement/prospectus/information statement. If such cash and cash equivalents, together with our anticipated cash flow from operations, are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements including because of increased expenditures or lower demand for our platform, or the realization of other risks described in this proxy statement/prospectus/information statement, we may be required to raise additional capital prior to such time through issuances of public or private equity or debt financings or other capital sources. Such additional financing may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all.

In any event, we may consider raising additional capital in the future to expand our business, to pursue strategic investments or acquisitions, to take advantage of favorable market conditions or financing opportunities or for other reasons, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.

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

The various ways we could raise additional capital carry potential risks. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, your ownership interest may be

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diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a common stockholder. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Such restrictions could adversely impact our ability to conduct our operations and execute our business plan.

If we are unable to obtain adequate financing, if we require it, when needed or on terms acceptable to us, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and to respond to business opportunities, challenges, or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we cannot maintain and expand current partnerships and enter into new partnerships, our future operating results would be adversely affected.

We primarily focus our efforts on the discovery of antibodies for our partners, who can select a target and define the antibody properties needed for therapeutic development or use our technology directly in their own labs. As a result, our success depends on our ability to maintain and expand the number and scope of our partnerships. Many factors may impact the success of these partnerships, including our ability to perform our obligations, our partners’ satisfaction with our solutions and technologies, our partners’ ability to successfully develop, secure regulatory approval for and commercialize therapeutic candidates using antibodies discovered using our platform, our partners’ internal priorities (including fluctuations in research and developments budgets), our partners’ resource allocation decisions and competitive opportunities, disagreements with partners, the costs required of either party to the partnerships and related financing needs, and operating, legal and other risks in any relevant jurisdiction. Our existing partners may cease to use our technologies depending on their own technological developments, availability of other competing technologies and internal decisions regarding allocation of time and resources to the discovery and development of therapeutic candidates, over which we have no control. Our existing and future partners may have limited bandwidth to initiate new programs, which could limit their adoption or scale of application of our technologies.

We engage in conversations with companies regarding potential partnerships on an ongoing basis. These conversations may not result in a commercial agreement. Even if an agreement is reached, the resulting relationship may not be successful, including due to our inability to discover any usable antibodies for the selected targets or the antibodies that we do discover may not be successfully developed or commercialized by our partners. In such circumstances, we would not generate any substantial revenues from such a partnership in the form of technology access fees, service fees, milestone payments, royalties or otherwise. Speculation in the industry about our existing or potential partnerships may be a catalyst for adverse speculation about us, or our platform, which can adversely affect our reputation and our business.

We cannot assure investors that we will be able to maintain or expand our existing partnerships or that our technologies will achieve adequate market adoption among new partners. Any failure to increase penetration in our existing markets or new markets would adversely affect our ability to improve our operating results.

In recent periods, we have depended on a limited number of partners for our revenue, the loss of any of which could have an adverse impact on our business.

In recent periods, a limited number of partners accounted for a significant portion of our revenue. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, three of our partners accounted for 29%, 20% and 13% and 28%, 24% and 11%, respectively, of our revenue, and 33 and 28 partners accounted for the remaining 38% and 37%, respectively, of our revenue. While moving forward we expect to diversify the number of partners and programs, in the near term these partners represent a large portion of potential revenue. Our license agreements are typically terminable by our partners without penalty with specified notice, which would terminate their access to our technology platform, although we would retain downstream economics on

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any OmniAb-derived antibody. As a result, if we fail to maintain our relationships with these partners or if these partners discontinue their programs, our future results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Biopharmaceutical development is inherently uncertain, and it is possible that none of the therapeutic candidates discovered using our platform that are further developed by our partners will become viable commercial products, on a timely basis or at all.

We use our platform to offer antibody drug-discovery programs to partners who are engaged in drug discovery and development. These partners include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies of all sizes. While we receive upfront payments generated through our receipt of service revenue and technology access fees, we expect that the vast majority of the economic value of the agreements we enter into with our partners is in the downstream payments that we may receive upon achievement of development milestones and royalties on sales of any approved products. As a result, our future growth is dependent on the ability of our partners to successfully develop and commercialize therapies based on antibodies discovered using our platform. Due to our reliance on our partners, the risks relating to product development, regulatory clearance, authorization or approval and commercialization apply to us derivatively through the activities of our partners. While we believe our platform is capable of identifying high quality antibodies, there can be no assurance that our partners will successfully develop, secure marketing approvals for and commercialize any therapeutic candidates based on the antibodies discovered using our platform. As a result, we may not realize the intended benefits of our partnerships.

Neither we nor our partners are permitted to market any therapeutic candidate in the United States until we or they receive regulatory approval of a New Drug Application (“NDA”) or Biologics License Application (“BLA”) from the FDA or until we or they receive regulatory approval from foreign regulatory authorities. The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a therapeutic candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions.

For instance, the regulatory landscape related to clinical trials in the European Union (the “EU”) recently evolved. The EU Clinical Trials Regulation (“CTR”) which was adopted in April 2014 and repeals the EU Clinical Trials Directive, became applicable on January 31, 2022. While the Clinical Trials Directive required a separate clinical trial application (“CTA”) to be submitted in each member state, to both the competent national health authority and an independent ethics committee, the CTR introduces a centralized process and only requires the submission of a single application to all member states concerned. The CTR allows sponsors to make a single submission to both the competent authority and an ethics committee in each member state, leading to a single decision per member state. The assessment procedure of the CTA has been harmonized as well, including a joint assessment by all member states concerned, and a separate assessment by each member state with respect to specific requirements related to its own territory, including ethics rules. Each member state’s decision is communicated to the sponsor via the centralized EU portal. Once the CTA is approved, clinical study development may proceed. The CTR foresees a three-year transition period. The extent to which ongoing and new clinical trials will be governed by the CTR varies. For clinical trials whose CTA was made under the Clinical Trials Directive before January 31, 2022, the Clinical Trials Directive will continue to apply on a transitional basis for three years. Additionally, sponsors may still choose to submit a CTA under either the Clinical Trials Directive or the CTR until January 31, 2023 and, if authorized, those will be governed by the Clinical Trials Directive until January 31, 2025. By that date, all ongoing trials will become subject to the provisions of the CTR.

It is currently unclear to what extent the United Kingdom (the “UK”) will seek to align its regulations with the EU. The UK regulatory framework in relation to clinical trials is derived from existing EU legislation (as implemented into UK law, through secondary legislation). On January 17, 2022, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) launched an eight-week consultation on reframing the UK

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legislation for clinical trials. The consultation closed on March 14, 2022 and aims to streamline clinical trials approvals, enable innovation, enhance clinical trials transparency, enable greater risk proportionality, and promote patient and public involvement in clinical trials. The outcome of the consultation will be closely watched and will determine whether the UK chooses to align with the regulation or diverge from it to maintain regulatory flexibility. A decision by the UK not to closely align its regulations with the new approach that will be adopted in the EU may have an effect on the cost of conducting clinical trials in the UK as opposed to other countries and/or make it harder to seek a marketing authorization in the EU for our product candidates on the basis of clinical trials conducted in the UK.

If we or our partners are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies governing clinical trials, development plans may be impacted.

Prior to obtaining approval to commercialize a therapeutic candidate in the United States or abroad, our partners must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory agencies, that such therapeutic candidates are safe and effective, or in the case of biologics in the U.S., safe, pure, and potent, for their intended uses. Results from nonclinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways. Even if we or our partners believe the nonclinical or clinical data for any therapeutic candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and other comparable regulatory authorities.

The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory bodies can delay, limit or deny approval of therapeutic candidates or could require our partners to conduct additional nonclinical or clinical testing or abandon a program for a number of reasons. Due to the uncertain, time-consuming and costly clinical development and regulatory approval process, our partners may not successfully develop any therapeutic candidates with the antibodies discovered using our platform, or our partners may choose to discontinue the development of these therapeutic candidates for a variety of reasons, including due to safety, risk versus benefit profile, exclusivity, competitive landscape, commercialization potential, production limitations or prioritization of their resources. It is possible that substantially all of these therapeutic candidates will never receive regulatory approval and, even if approved, such therapeutic candidates may never be successfully commercialized.

In addition, even if these therapeutic candidates receive regulatory approval in the United States, our partners may never obtain approval or commercialize such therapeutic candidates outside of the United States, which would limit their full market potential and therefore our ability to realize their potential downstream value. Furthermore, approved therapeutic candidates may not achieve broad market acceptance among physicians, patients, the medical community and third-party payors, in which case revenue generated from their sales would be limited. Likewise, our partners have to make decisions about which clinical stage and preclinical therapeutic candidates to develop and advance, and our partners may not have the resources to invest in all of the therapeutic candidates that contain antibodies discovered using our platform, or clinical data and other development considerations may not support the advancement of one or more therapeutic candidates. Decision-making about which therapeutic candidates to prioritize involves inherent uncertainty, and our partners’ development program decision-making and resource prioritization decisions, which are outside of our control, may adversely affect the potential value of those partnerships. Additionally, subject to its contractual obligations to us, if one more of our partners is involved in a business combination, the partner might deemphasize or terminate the development or commercialization of any drug candidate that utilizes an OmniAb-derived antibody. If one of our strategic partners terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to attract new partners.

We are also subject to industry-wide FDA and other regulatory risk. The number of BLAs and NDAs approved by the FDA varies significantly over time and if there were to be an extended reduction in the number of BLAs or NDAs approved by the FDA, the industry would contract and our business would be materially harmed.

Our partners’ failure to effectively advance, market and sell suitable therapeutic candidates with the antibodies that discovered using our platform could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial

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condition, results of operations and prospects, and cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In addition to the inherent uncertainty in drug development addresses above, our ability to forecast our future revenues may be limited.

The failure of our partners to meet their contractual obligations to us could adversely affect our business.

Our reliance on our partners poses a number of additional risks, including the risk that they may not perform their contractual obligations to us, in compliance with applicable legal or contractual requirements, in a timely manner or at all; they may not maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary information; and disagreements or disputes could arise that could cause delays in, or termination of, the research, development or commercialization of products using our antibodies or result in litigation or arbitration.

In addition, certain of our partners are large, multinational organizations that run many programs concurrently, and we are dependent on their ability to accurately track and make milestone payments to us pursuant to the terms of our agreements with them. Any failure by them to inform us when milestones are reached and make related payments to us could adversely affect our results of operations.

Moreover, some of our partners are located in markets subject to political and social risk, corruption, infrastructure problems and natural disasters, and are often subject to country-specific privacy and data security risk, as well as burdensome legal and regulatory requirements. Any of these factors could adversely impact their financial condition and results of operations, which could impair their ability to meet their contractual obligations to us, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our partners have significant discretion in determining when and whether to make announcements, if any, about the status of our partnerships, including about clinical developments and timelines for advancing collaborative programs, and the price of our common stock may decline as a result of announcements of unexpected results or developments.

Our partners have significant discretion in determining when and whether to make announcements about the status of our partnerships, including about preclinical and clinical developments and timelines for advancing antibodies discovered using our platform. We do not plan to disclose the development status and progress of individual therapeutic candidates of our partners, unless and until those partners do so first. Our partners may wish to report such information more or less frequently than we desire to or may not wish to report such information at all, in which case we would not report that information either. In addition, if partners choose to announce a collaboration with us, there is no guarantee that we will recognize research discovery fees in that quarter or even the following quarter, as such fees are not payable to us until our partner begins discovery activities. The price of our common stock may decline as a result of the public announcement of unexpected results or developments in our partnerships, or as a result of our partners withholding such information.

Our partners may not achieve projected discovery and development milestones and other anticipated key events in the expected timelines or at all, which could have an adverse impact on our business and could cause the price of our common stock to decline.

From time to time, we may make public statements regarding the expected timing of certain milestones and key events, as well as regarding developments and milestones under our partnerships, to the extent that our partners have publicly disclosed such information or permit us to make such disclosures. Our partners may from time to time make statements about their goals and expectations for partnerships with us. The actual timing of these events can vary dramatically due to a number of factors such as delays or failures in our or our current and future partners’ discovery and development programs, the amount of time, effort, and resources committed by us and our current and future partners, and the numerous uncertainties inherent in the development of therapeutics. As a result, there can be no assurance that our partners’ current and future programs will advance or be completed in the time frames we or they expect. If our partners fail to achieve one or more of these milestones or other key events as planned, our business could be materially and adversely affected and the price of our common stock could decline.

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We may be unable to manage our current and future growth effectively, which could make it difficult to execute our business strategy.

As we continue to execute on our business strategy, we anticipate further growth in our business operations. This growth requires managing complexities across all aspects of our business, including complexities associated with increased research and development and business development and marketing operations. As we seek to increase the number of our partnered programs, expand the scope of our existing partnerships and further develop our technological capabilities, we may need to incorporate new equipment, implement new technology systems and laboratory processes and hire new personnel with specialized qualifications. Failure to manage this growth or transition could result in turnaround time delays, higher technology development costs, declining technology development quality, deteriorating program management success, and slower responses to competitive challenges. A failure in any one of these areas could make it difficult for us to meet market expectations for our platform, and could damage our reputation and the prospects for our business.

To manage our anticipated 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. Also, our management team may need to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from its day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing our growth. If our management is unable to effectively manage our expected growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate or increase our revenue could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance, and our ability to develop and commercialize our platform and compete effectively, will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage increased program demand and the growth in our operations.

Our platform utilizes various species of animals that could contract disease or die and could otherwise subject us to controversy and adverse publicity, which may interrupt our business operations or harm our reputation.

Our platform utilizes animals to discover and produce antibodies. We cannot completely eliminate the risks of animals contracting disease, which from time to time has occurred, or a natural or man-made disaster that could cause death to valuable production animals, in our vivarium facilities, which house our chickens, or those of the contract research organizations (“CROs”) that maintain our mouse and rat colonies. We cannot make any assurance that we or our CROs will be able to contain or reverse any such instance of disease. Although we maintain backup colonies of our animals, disease or death on a broad scale could materially interrupt business operations as animals are a key part of our antibody discovery programs, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Further, genetic engineering and testing of animals has been the subject of controversy and adverse publicity. Animal rights groups and other organizations and individuals in the United States, the EU and other jurisdictions have attempted to stop animal testing activities by pressing for legislation and regulation in these areas and by disrupting these activities through protests and other means. To the extent the activities of these groups are successful, our research and development activities and the ability for us and our partners to use our technology platform could be interrupted or delayed, our costs could increase and our reputation could be harmed.

We have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in research and development efforts that further enhance our antibody discovery platform. Such investments in technology are inherently risky and may affect our operating results. If the return on these investments is lower or develops more slowly than we expect, our revenue and operating results may suffer.

We have historically dedicated a substantial portion of our resources on the development of our platform and the technology that it incorporates. These investments may involve significant time, risks, and uncertainties, including the risk that the expenses associated with these investments may affect operating results and that such investments may not generate sufficient technological advantage relative to alternatives in the market which would, in turn, impact revenues to offset liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these new investments.

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The industry in which we operate changes rapidly as a result of technological and drug developments, which may render our solutions less desirable. We believe that we must continue to invest a significant amount of time and resources in our platform and technology to maintain and improve our competitive position. If we do not achieve the benefits anticipated from these investments, if the achievement of these benefits is delayed, or if our technology platform is not able to accelerate the process of antibody drug discovery as quickly as we anticipate, our revenue and operating results may be adversely affected.

Our business is subject to risks arising from COVID-19 and other epidemic diseases.

The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has presented substantial public health and economic challenges and is affecting our employees, partners, communities and business operations, as well as the U.S. and global economies and financial markets. International and U.S. governmental authorities in impacted regions have taken and continue to take actions in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, including issuing varying forms of “stay-at-home” orders, and restricting business functions outside of one’s home. We have generally restricted in-person access to our executive offices, our administrative employees are working remotely on an intermittent basis, and we have limited the number of staff in our research and development laboratories and other facilities. To date, we have not experienced material disruptions in our business operations. While it is not possible at this time to estimate the impact that COVID-19 could have on our business in the future, the continued spread of COVID-19 or variants thereof and the measures taken by the governmental authorities, and any future epidemic disease outbreaks, could: disrupt the supply chain and the manufacture or shipment of products and supplies for use by us in our discovery activities and by our partners for their discovery and development activities; delay, limit or prevent us or our partners from continuing research and development activities; impede our negotiations with partners and potential partners; impede testing, monitoring, data collection and analysis and other related activities by us and our partners; interrupt or delay the operations of the FDA, EMA, comparable foreign authorities or other regulatory bodies, which may impact review and approval timelines for initiation of clinical trials or marketing; impede the launch or commercialization of any approved products; any of which could delay our partnership programs, increase our operating costs, and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, if COVID-19 infects our genetically modified animals, which form the basis of our platform, or if there is an outbreak among our employees or our subcontractor’s employees who maintain and care for these animals, we and our partners may be unable to produce antibodies for development. The COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation measures have had and may continue to have, and any future epidemic disease outbreak may have, an adverse impact on global economic conditions which could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition, including impairing our ability to raise capital when needed. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our results of operations will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the virus and new variants and the actions to contain its impact.

The life sciences and biotech platform technology market is highly competitive, and if we cannot compete successfully with our competitors, we may be unable to increase or sustain our revenue, or sustain profitability.

We face significant competition in the market for technologies that enable the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies. Our technologies address antibody therapeutic discovery challenges that are addressed by other platform technologies controlled by companies that have a variety of business models, including the development of internal pipelines of therapeutics, technology licensing, and the sale of instruments and devices. Examples of technical competition at different steps of our technology platform include:

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We also face direct business competition from companies that provide antibody discovery services using technologies, such as hybridoma and display. Companies with discovery business models that include downstream payments include AbCellera Biologics Inc. and Adimab LLC. In addition, we compete with a variety of fee-for-service contract research organizations that provide services, in most cases using legacy technologies, that compete with one or more steps in our technology platform. In addition, our partners may also elect to develop their workflows on legacy systems rather than rely on our platform.

Our competitors and potential competitors may enjoy a number of competitive advantages over us. For example these may include longer operating histories, larger customer bases, greater brand recognition and market penetration, greater financial resources, greater technological and research and development resources, better system reliability and robustness, greater selling and marketing capabilities, and integrated manufacturing capabilities.

As a result, our competitors and potential competitors may be able to respond more quickly to changes in customer requirements, devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their platforms or instruments than we can or sell their platforms or instruments, or offer solutions competitive with our platform and solutions at prices designed to win significant levels of market share. In addition, we may encounter challenges in marketing our solutions with our pricing model, which is structured to capture the potential downstream revenues associated with therapeutic candidates that were discovered using our platform. Our partners and potential partners may prefer one or more pricing models employed by our competitors that involve upfront payments rather than downstream revenues. We may not be able to compete effectively against these organizations.

In addition, competitors may be acquired by, receive investments from or enter into other commercial relationships with larger, well-established and well-financed companies. Certain of our competitors may be able to secure key inputs from vendors on more favorable terms, devote greater resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and devote substantially more resources to technology and platform development than we can. If we are unable to compete successfully against current and future competitors, we may be unable to increase market adoption and sales of our platform, which could prevent us from increasing our revenue or sustaining profitability.

Our management uses certain key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions and such metrics may not accurately reflect all of the aspects of our business needed to make such evaluations and decisions, in particular as our business continues to grow.

In addition to our financial results, our management regularly reviews a number of operating and financial metrics, including the number of active partners, the number of active programs, the number and progress of active clinical programs, and the number and commercial progress of approved products, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, these metrics may not accurately reflect all aspects of our business, and we anticipate that these metrics may change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows and as we introduce new solutions. In addition, we are highly dependent on information provided by our partners as to the status of their development

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programs. To the extent such information is later shown to be inaccurate, our metrics and forecasts could be materially and adversely affected. If our management fails to review other relevant information or change or substitute the key business metrics they review as our business grows, or if our metrics prove inaccurate or unrepresentative based on information provided by our partners or otherwise, their ability to accurately formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions may be compromised and our business, financial results and future growth prospects may be adversely impacted.

We rely on third parties to host our mouse and rat colonies and expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable future, and these third parties may not perform satisfactorily which could delay, prevent or impair our partnership programs and research and development efforts.

We do not own or operate vivarium facilities for our mouse and rat colonies and have no plans to expand our vivarium facilities beyond those that house our chickens. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third-party CROs to host our mice and rats and to conduct certain research services for us and our partners, such as animal breeding, genotyping and animal distribution. We have limited control over the performance by these third parties, including with respect to maintaining adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel, and to performing their services in compliance with applicable scientific and regulatory requirements. If these third parties are unable to continue maintaining our mice and rats in accordance with our specifications or on commercially reasonable terms, or otherwise perform in a substandard manner, the discovery activities for our partners may be delayed. If any of our relationships with these third parties terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative third parties on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Switching or adding additional vivarium facilities involves additional cost and requires our management’s time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new facility commences work. As a result, delays may occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our partners’ discovery timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with these third parties, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We rely on a limited number of suppliers for laboratory equipment and materials and may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to alternative suppliers.

We rely on a limited number of suppliers, or in some cases single suppliers, to provide certain consumables and equipment that we use in our laboratory operations, as well as reagents and other laboratory materials involved in the development of our technology. Fluctuations in the availability and price of laboratory materials and equipment could have an adverse effect on our ability to meet our technology development goals with our partners and thus our results from operations as well as future partnership opportunities. An interruption in our laboratory operations or technology transfer could occur if we encounter delays, quality issues or other difficulties in securing these consumables, equipment, reagents or other materials, and if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. In addition, while we believe suitable additional or alternative suppliers are available to accommodate our operations, if needed, any transition to new or additional suppliers may cause delays in our processing of samples or development and commercialization of our technology. Any such interruption could significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.

The sizes of the markets and forecasts of market growth for the demand of our OmniAb technology platform and other of our key performance indicators are based on a number of complex assumptions and estimates, and may be inaccurate.

We estimate annual total addressable markets and forecasts of market growth for our platform and technologies and for antibody-based therapeutics generally. We have also developed a standard set of key performance indicators in order to enable us to assess the performance of our business in and across multiple markets, and to forecast future revenue. These estimates, forecasts and key performance indicators are based on a number of complex assumptions, internal and third party estimates and other business data, including

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assumptions and estimates relating to our ability to generate revenue from the development of new workflows. While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates and key performance indicators are reasonable, there are inherent challenges in measuring or forecasting such information. As a result, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates may change at any time, thereby reducing the predictive accuracy of these underlying factors and indicators. As a result, our estimates of the annual total addressable market and our forecasts of market growth and future revenue from technology access fees, service fees, milestone payments or royalties may prove to be incorrect, and our key business metrics may not reflect our actual performance. For example, if the annual total addressable market or the potential market growth for our platform is smaller than we have estimated or if the key business metrics we utilize to forecast revenue are inaccurate, it may impair our sales growth and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Third-party payor coverage and reimbursement status of newly approved therapeutics is uncertain. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for current or future products and services could limit our partners’ ability to fully commercialize therapeutic candidates generated using our platform, which would decrease our ability to generate revenue.

The availability and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford any therapeutics generated using our platform that our partners may develop and sell. In addition, because the therapeutics we generate may represent new classes of treatments for diseases, we and our partners cannot accurately estimate how such therapeutics would be priced, whether reimbursement could be obtained or any potential revenue generated. Sales of such therapeutics will depend substantially, both domestically and internationally, on the extent to which the costs of such therapeutics are paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors. If reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, our partners may not be able to successfully commercialize some therapeutics generated with our technology. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow our partners to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on their investment in such therapeutics, and may lead to discontinuation or deprioritization of marketing and sales efforts for such products. Changes in the reimbursement landscape may occur, which are outside of our control, and may impact the commercial viability of our technology development services and/or therapeutics generated using our technology.

There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly cleared, authorized or approved therapeutics in the United States, the EU and other jurisdictions. Due to the trend toward value-based pricing and coverage, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes, we expect our partners to experience pricing pressures on therapeutics generated using our platform that our partners may commercialize. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly novel therapeutics, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products, which would negatively impact our ability to generate revenues.

Healthcare reform efforts aimed at lowering the price of biopharmaceutical products may impact our ability to maintain sufficient profits.

Payors, whether domestic or foreign, or governmental or private, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs and those methods are not always specifically adapted for new technologies. In both the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could impact our ability to sell our products profitably.

In particular, in the United States, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (“ACA”), was enacted, which, among other things, subjected biologic products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars; addressed a new methodology by

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which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected; increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; extended the Medicaid rebate obligation to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations; subjected manufacturers to new annual fees and taxes for certain branded prescription drugs; and provided incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research.

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

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. For example, on March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law, which eliminates the statutory Medicaid drug rebate cap, currently set at 100% of a drug’s average manufacturer price, beginning January 1, 2024. Further, in August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, included aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year. These reductions went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will remain in effect through 2030, with the exception of a temporary suspension that lasted from May 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the suspension, a 1% payment reduction began April 1, 2022, lasting through June 30, 2022. The 2% payment reduction resumed on July 1, 2022.

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) into law. This statute marks the most significant action by Congress with respect to the pharmaceutical industry since adoption of the ACA in 2010. Among other things, the IRA requires manufacturers of certain drugs to engage in price negotiations with Medicare (beginning in 2026), imposes rebates under Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation (first due in 2023), and replaces the Part D coverage gap discount program with a new discounting program (beginning in 2025). The IRA permits the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement many of these provisions through guidance, as opposed to regulation, for the initial years. For that and other reasons, it is currently unclear how the IRA will be effectuated, and while the impact of the IRA on the pharmaceutical industry cannot yet be fully determined, it is likely to be significant.

Further, heightened governmental scrutiny is likely to continue over the manner in which product manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has already resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.

We expect that additional U.S. federal or foreign healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that the U.S. federal government or foreign governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our products and therapeutic

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candidates, if approved, or additional pricing pressures. If efforts to contain the price of biopharmaceutical products are successful, the magnitude of milestone payments and royalties we would expect to receive in connection with our partners’ future prioritization and investment in developing novel biologics may be impacted. For instance, in December 2021, Regulation No 2021/2282 on Health Technology Assessment (“HTA”) amending Directive 2011/24/EU, was adopted in the EU. This regulation which entered into force in January 2022 intends to boost cooperation among EU member states in assessing health technologies, including new medicinal products, and providing the basis for cooperation at the EU level for joint clinical assessments in these areas. The regulation foresees a three-year transitional period and will permit EU member states to use common HTA tools, methodologies, and procedures across the EU, working together in four main areas, including joint clinical assessment of the innovative health technologies with the most potential impact for patients, joint scientific consultations whereby developers can seek advice from HTA authorities, identification of emerging health technologies to identify promising technologies early, and continuing voluntary cooperation in other areas. Individual EU member states will continue to be responsible for assessing non-clinical (e.g., economic, social, ethical) aspects of health technologies, and making decisions on pricing and reimbursement.

We must adapt to rapid and significant technological change and respond to introductions of new products and technologies by competitors to remain competitive.

We provide our antibody discovery solutions and capabilities in industries that are characterized by significant enhancements and evolving industry standards. As a result, our partners’ needs are rapidly evolving. If we do not appropriately innovate and invest in new technologies, our platform may become less desirable in the markets we serve, and our partners could move to new technologies offered by our competitors, or engage in antibody discovery themselves. Without the timely introduction of new solutions and technological enhancements, our offerings will likely become less competitive over time, in which case our competitive position and operating results could suffer. Accordingly, we focus significant efforts and resources on the development and identification of new technologies and markets to further broaden and deepen our capabilities and expertise in antibody drug discovery and development. To the extent we fail to timely introduce new and innovative technologies or solutions, adequately predict our partners’ needs or fail to obtain desired levels of market acceptance, our business may suffer and our operating results could be adversely affected.

We depend on our information technology systems, and any failure of these systems could harm our business.

We depend on information technology and telecommunications systems for significant elements of our operations, including our laboratory information management system, our computational biology system, our knowledge management system, our customer reporting, our platform, our advanced automation systems, and advanced application software. We have installed, and expect to expand, a number of enterprise software systems that affect a broad range of business processes and functional areas, including for example, systems handling human resources, financial controls and reporting, contract management, regulatory compliance and other infrastructure operations. These implementations were expensive and required a significant effort in terms of both time and effort. In addition to the aforementioned business systems, we intend to extend the capabilities of both our preventative and detective security controls by augmenting the monitoring and alerting functions, the network design and the automatic countermeasure operations of our technical systems. These information technology and telecommunications systems support a variety of functions, including laboratory operations, data analysis, quality control, customer service and support, billing, research and development activities, scientific and general administrative activities. A significant risk in implementing these systems, for example, is the integration of separate information technology and telecommunications systems.

Information technology and telecommunications systems are vulnerable to damage from a variety of sources, including telecommunications or network failures, malicious software, bugs or viruses, human acts and natural disasters. Moreover, despite network security and back-up measures, some of our servers are potentially vulnerable to physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses and similar disruptive problems. Any disruption or loss of information technology or telecommunications systems on which critical aspects of our operations

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depend could have an adverse effect on our business and our reputation, and we may be unable to regain or repair our reputation in the future.

Our business development and marketing organizations are currently limited, and if we are unable to expand our personnel to reach our existing and potential partners, our business may be adversely affected.

Our business development and marketing functions are currently limited, with only two dedicated business development and two marketing employees, as of December 15, 2022. We have supported these functions with research and development staff attending a variety of scientific conferences which has helped increase the business development pipeline. We will need to expand our commercial organization in order to effectively market our solutions to existing and new partners. Competition for employees capable of negotiating and entering into partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies is intense. We may not be able to attract and retain personnel or be able to build an efficient and effective sales organization, which could negatively impact sales and market acceptance of our platform and limit our revenue growth and potential profitability. In addition, the time and cost of establishing a specialized sales, marketing and service force for a particular service may be difficult to justify in light of the revenue generated or projected.

Our expected future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain and integrate additional employees. Our future financial performance and our ability to successfully sell our programs and to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to manage this potential future growth effectively, without compromising quality.

Our success is dependent on our ability to attract and retain highly qualified management and other scientific and engineering personnel.

Our success depends in part on our continued ability to attract, retain, manage, and motivate highly qualified management, scientific and engineering personnel, and we face significant competition for experienced personnel. We are highly dependent upon our senior management, as well as our senior scientists and engineers and other members of our management team. The individual and collective efforts of these employees will be important as we continue to develop and market our platform and technology. The loss or incapacity of existing members of our senior management team could adversely affect our operations if we experience difficulties in hiring qualified successors. Although we intend to execute employment agreements or offer letters with each member of our senior management team, these agreements will be terminable at will with or without notice and, therefore, we may not be able to retain their services as expected. We do not currently maintain “key person” life insurance on the lives of our executives or any of our employees. This lack of insurance means that we may not have adequate compensation for the loss of the services of these individuals.

We may not be able to attract or retain qualified scientists and engineers in the future due to the competition for qualified personnel among life science businesses. We also face competition from universities and public and private research institutions in recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientific and engineering personnel. We may have difficulties locating, recruiting or retaining qualified salespeople. Recruiting and retention difficulties can limit our ability to support our research and development and sales programs. A key risk in this area, for example, is that certain of our employees are at-will, which means that either we or the employee may terminate their employment at any time.

We have made technology acquisitions and expect to acquire businesses or assets or make investments in other companies or technologies that could negatively affect our operating results, dilute our stockholders’ ownership, or cause us to incur debt or significant expense.

Our business includes numerous acquisitions completed by Ligand, including the acquisition of Crystal Bioscience in October 2017, Ab Initio in July 2019, the Icagen ion channel platform through the acquisition of the core assets of Icagen in April 2020, xCella Biosciences in September 2020, and Taurus Biosciences in

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September 2020. We expect to pursue additional acquisitions of businesses and assets in the future. We may not be able to find suitable partners or acquisition or asset purchase candidates in the future, and we may not be able to complete such transactions on favorable terms, if at all. The competition for strategic partners or acquisition candidates may be intense, and the negotiation process will be time-consuming and complex. If we make any additional acquisitions, we may not be able to integrate these acquisitions successfully into our existing business, these acquisitions may not strengthen our competitive position, the transactions may be viewed negatively by partners or investors, we may be unable to retain key employees of any acquired business, relationships with key suppliers, manufacturers or partners of any acquired business may be impaired due to changes in management and ownership, and we could assume unknown or contingent liabilities. In addition, we will likely experience significant charges to earnings in connection with our efforts, if any, to consummate acquisitions. For transactions that are ultimately not consummated, these charges may include fees and expenses for investment bankers, attorneys, accountants and other advisors in connection with our efforts. Even if our efforts are successful, we may incur, as part of a transaction, substantial charges for closure costs associated with elimination of duplicate operations and facilities and acquired in process research and development charges. In either case, the incurrence of these charges could adversely affect our results of operations for particular quarterly or annual periods. Any future acquisitions also could result in the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or future write-offs of intangible assets or goodwill, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to fully recover the costs of any acquisition.

Integration of an acquired company also may disrupt ongoing operations and require management resources that we would otherwise focus on developing our existing business. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisition, technology license, strategic alliance or joint venture. We also may experience losses related to investments in other companies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Acquisitions may also expose us to a variety of international and business related risks, including intellectual property, regulatory laws, local laws, tax and accounting.

To finance any acquisitions or asset purchase, we may choose to issue securities as consideration, which would dilute the ownership of our stockholders. Additional funds may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all. If the price of our common stock is low or volatile, we may not be able to acquire companies or assets using our securities as consideration.

If our operating facilities become damaged or inoperable or if we move or are otherwise required to vacate our facilities, our ability to conduct and pursue our research and development efforts may be jeopardized.

Our scientific and engineering research and development and testing is conducted at our facilities located in Emeryville, California, Durham, North Carolina, and Tucson, Arizona. Our facilities and equipment could be harmed or rendered inoperable or inaccessible by natural or man-made disasters or other circumstances beyond our control, including fire, earthquake, power loss, communications failure, war or terrorism, or another catastrophic event, such as a pandemic or similar outbreak or public health crisis, which may render it difficult or impossible for us to support our partners and develop updates, upgrades and other improvements to our platform, advanced automation systems, and advanced application and workflow software for some period of time. The inability to address system issues could develop if our facilities are inoperable or suffer a loss of utilization for even a short period of time, may result in the loss of partners or harm to our reputation, and we may be unable to regain those partners or repair our reputation in the future. Furthermore, our facilities and the equipment we use to perform our research and development work could be unavailable or costly and time-consuming to repair or replace. It would be difficult, time-consuming and expensive to rebuild our facilities, to locate and qualify a new facility or license or transfer our proprietary technology to a third party. Even in the event we are able to find a third party to assist in research and development efforts, we may be unable to negotiate commercially reasonable terms to engage with the third party.

We carry insurance for damage to our property and the disruption of our business, but this insurance may not cover all of the risks associated with damage or disruption to our business, may not provide coverage in

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amounts sufficient to cover our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all.

In addition, we plan to plan to move and expand the vivarium facilities housing our chickens in 2022. Such a move could disrupt our operations as we ramp up the new facility, result in animal injury or death, or otherwise impair the research services conducted using such animals. Adverse consequences resulting from our planned move could harm our relationships with our partners and our reputation, and could affect our ability to generate revenue.

Our insurance policies are expensive and protect us only from some business risks, which leaves us exposed to significant uninsured liabilities.

We do not carry insurance for all categories of risk that our business may encounter and our policies have limits and significant deductibles. Some of the policies we currently maintain include general liability, property, umbrella and directors’ and officers’ insurance.

Any additional insurance coverage we acquire in the future, may not be sufficient to reimburse us for any expenses or losses we may suffer. Moreover, insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive and in the future we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses. A successful liability claim or series of claims in which judgments exceed our insurance coverage could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, including preventing or limiting the use of our platform to discover antibodies.

We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified people to serve on our Board, our Board committees or as executive officers. We do not know, however, if we will be able to maintain existing insurance with adequate levels of coverage. Any significant uninsured liability may require us to pay substantial amounts, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions could compromise sensitive information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose us to liability, which could adversely affect our business and our reputation.

In the ordinary course of our business, we generate and store sensitive data, including research data, intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by ourselves or our employees, partners and other parties. We manage and maintain our applications and data utilizing a combination of on-site systems and cloud-based data centers. We utilize external security and infrastructure vendors to manage parts of our data centers. These applications and data encompass a wide variety of business-critical information, including research and development information, commercial information and business and financial information. We face a number of risks relative to protecting this critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate use or disclosure, accidental exposure, unauthorized access, inappropriate modification and the risk of our being unable to adequately monitor and audit and modify our controls over our critical information. This risk extends to the third party vendors and subcontractors we use to manage this sensitive data or otherwise process it on our behalf. Further, to the extent our employees are working at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, additional risks may arise as a result of depending on the networking and security put into place by the employees. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to, or to sabotage, systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We may experience security breaches that may remain undetected for an extended period. Our third-party service providers and partners are also subject to these heightened risks. The secure processing, storage, maintenance and transmission of this

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critical information are vital to our operations and business strategy, and we devote significant resources to protecting such information. Although we take reasonable measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, use or disclosure, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or infections by viruses or other malware or breached due to erroneous actions or inactions by our employees or contractors, malfeasance or other malicious or inadvertent disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, breach, or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings. Unauthorized access, loss or dissemination could also disrupt our operations and damage our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our business.

Additionally, although we maintain cybersecurity insurance coverage, we cannot be certain that such coverage will be adequate for data security liabilities actually incurred, will cover any indemnification claims against us relating to any incident, will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business could become subject to more extensive government regulation than we currently anticipate, and regulatory compliance obligations and the investigational exemption and approval processes to which our animals may become subject are expensive, time-consuming and uncertain both in timing and in outcome.

We believe our operations are currently subject to limited direct regulation by the FDA, comparable foreign authorities or other regulatory bodies. However, our business could in future become subject to more direct oversight by the FDA, EMA or other comparable domestic or international agencies. For example, we may be subject to evolving and variable regulations governing the production of genetically engineered organisms. In particular, the FDA regulates animals whose genomes have been intentionally altered, and the FDA considers such alterations to be new animal drugs that may require approvals or exemptions in order to be commercially marketed or for investigational use in the United States. For example, we have been in communication with the FDA regarding the regulatory requirements applicable to our OmniChickens designed to produce human immunoglobulins, and the FDA has advised us that such approvals or exemptions are not required in light of the early stage of our research. However, the FDA may determine that we are not in compliance with the conditions imposed upon us to avoid the requirement for such approvals or exemptions at present or we may later become subject to such approvals or exemptions. Furthermore, while we have no active plans to operate a manufacturing facility designed to comply with current good manufacturing practices (“cGMPs”), future market pressures or the lack of available capacity at cGMP manufacturing facilities may necessitate our entry into this market. Complying with such regulations may be expensive, time-consuming and uncertain, and if we fail to comply with any applicable requirements enforced by the FDA with respect to our intentionally genetically altered animals or otherwise, we may be subject to administratively or judicially imposed sanctions, including restrictions on our products or operations, warning or untitled letters, civil or criminal penalties, injunctions, product seizures, product detentions, import bans, product recalls, or adverse publicity requirements, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our business operations and current and future relationships with investigators, healthcare professionals, and partners may be subject to applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us and/or our partners to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, exclusion from government healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare professionals, physicians and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any therapeutic candidates generated by our platform for which our partners obtain marketing approval. Our arrangements with our partners 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

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through which we conduct our business. Restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include the following:

Ensuring that our business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities may conclude that our or our partners’ 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 our or our partners’ operations were to be found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply, we and/or our partners may be subject to the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare

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programs, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting requirements or oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.

Changes in and actual or perceived failures to comply with applicable data privacy, security and protection laws, regulations, standards and contractual obligations may adversely affect our business, operations and financial performance.

We and our partners may be subject to federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations that govern data privacy and security. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing focus on privacy and data protection issues, which may affect our business and may increase our compliance costs and exposure to liability. In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of personal information, including state data breach notification laws, federal and state health information privacy laws, and federal and state consumer protection laws. Each of these laws is subject to varying interpretations by courts and government agencies, creating complex compliance issues. If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations we could be subject to penalties or sanctions, including criminal penalties if we knowingly obtain or disclose individually identifiable health information from a covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA or applicable state laws.

We are also or may become subject to rapidly evolving data protection laws, rules and regulations in foreign jurisdictions. For example, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) governs certain collection and other processing activities involving personal data about individuals in the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Among other things, the GDPR imposes requirements regarding the security of personal data, the rights of data subjects to access and delete personal data, requires having lawful bases on which personal data can be processed, includes requirements relating to the consent of individuals to whom the personal data relates, requires detailed notices for clinical trial participants and investigators and regulates transfers of personal data from the EEA to third countries that have not been found to provide adequate protection to such personal data, including the United States. In addition, the GDPR imposes substantial fines for breaches and violations (up to the greater of €20.0 million or 4% of our annual global revenue). 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. Further, from January 1, 2021, companies have been subject to the GDPR and also the UK GDPR, which, together with the amended UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in UK national law. The UK GDPR mirrors the fines under the GDPR, e.g. fines up to the greater of €20.0 million (£17.5 million) or 4% of global turnover. The European Commission has adopted an adequacy decision in favor of the UK, enabling data transfers from EU member states to the UK without additional safeguards. However, the UK adequacy decision will automatically expire in June 2025 unless the European Commission re-assesses and renews/extends that decision, and remains under review by the Commission during this period. The relationship between the UK and the EU in relation to certain aspects of data protection law remains unclear, and it is unclear how UK data protection laws and regulations will develop in the medium to longer term, and how data transfers to and from the UK will be regulated in the long term. These changes may lead to additional costs and increase our overall risk exposure.

Compliance with applicable data privacy and security laws, rules and regulations could require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, require us to engage in costly compliance exercises, restrict our ability to collect, use and disclose data, or in some cases, impact our or our partners’ ability to operate in certain jurisdictions. Each of these constantly evolving laws can be subject to varying interpretations. If we fail to comply with any such laws, rules or regulations, we may face government investigations and/or enforcement

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actions, fines, civil or criminal penalties, private litigation or adverse publicity that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to the Separation and Distribution and Our Relationship with Ligand

As a result of the Separation, we lost Ligand’s brand, reputation, capital base and other resources, and may experience difficulty operating as a standalone company.

We believe our association with Ligand has contributed to our building relationships with our customers due to Ligand’s globally recognized brand and reputation for innovation in drug discovery and development. The Separation could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers, which could result in reduced sales of our products.

The loss of Ligand’s scale, capital base and financial strength may also prompt suppliers to reprice, modify or terminate their relationships with us. In addition, Ligand’s elimination of its ownership of our company could potentially cause some of our existing agreements and licenses to be terminated. We do not currently anticipate any material terminations in connection with the transactions. Nevertheless, we cannot predict with certainty the effect that the Separation, Distribution or Merger will have on our business, our clients, vendors or other persons, or whether our OmniAb brand will be accepted in the marketplace.

Further, because we have not operated as a standalone company in the past, we may have difficulty doing so. We may need to acquire assets and resources in addition to those provided by Ligand to our company, and in connection with the Separation, may also face difficulty in separating our assets from Ligand’s assets and integrating newly acquired assets into our business. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if we have difficulty operating as a standalone company, fail to acquire assets that prove to be important to our operations or incur unexpected costs in separating our assets from Ligand’s assets or integrating newly-acquired assets.

We incurred significant charges in connection with the Business Combination and will incur incremental costs as a standalone public company.

We incurred significant transaction costs in connection with the Business Combination, including accounting, legal, underwriting, financial and capital markets advisory and other fees and expenses. These estimated transaction costs are reflected in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition, we will need to replicate or replace certain arrangements, functions, systems and infrastructure to which we no longer have the same access after the Separation. We expect to make investments and hire additional employees, or out-source certain functions, systems and infrastructure through contracts with third parties, to operate without access to Ligand’s existing operational and administrative infrastructure. These initiatives may be costly to implement. To the extent we implement any of these initiatives, we may incur additional operating costs beyond what is included in our historical and pro forma financial statements, and the amount and timing of such costs is uncertain.

Ligand performed or supported many important corporate functions for our company. Our combined financial statements reflect charges for these services on an allocated basis. Following the Separation, many of these services are governed by our Transition Services Agreement. Under the Transition Services Agreement, we are able to use these Ligand services for a fixed term established on a service-by-service basis. The Transition Services Agreement may be terminated by us with prior written notice, by either party in the event of an uncured material breach by the other party or its applicable affiliates, upon bankruptcy or insolvency of the other party, or by mutual agreement of the parties.

We pay Ligand fees for the transition services as a flat monthly fee and reimburse Ligand for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses that it incurs in connection with providing the transition services. In addition, while these services are being provided to us by Ligand, our operational flexibility to modify or implement changes with respect to such services or the amounts we pay for them is limited.

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We may not be able to replace these services or enter into appropriate third-party arrangements on terms and conditions, including cost, comparable to those that we will receive from Ligand under our Transition Services Agreement. Additionally, after the Transition Services Agreement terminates, we may be unable to sustain the services at the same levels or obtain the same benefits as when we were receiving such services and benefits from Ligand. When we begin to operate these functions separately, if we do not have our own adequate systems and business functions in place, or are unable to obtain them from other providers, we may not be able to operate our business effectively or at comparable costs, and our profitability may decline. In addition, we have historically received informal support from Ligand, which may not be addressed in our Transition Services Agreement. The level of this informal support will diminish or be eliminated following the Separation.

In addition, our historical combined financial statements include the attribution of certain assets and liabilities that historically have been held at the Ligand corporate level but which are specifically identifiable or attributable to the businesses transferred to us in connection with the Separation. The value of the assets and liabilities we assumed in connection with the Separation could ultimately be materially different than such attributions, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

In connection with the Separation, we also entered into a second Transition Services Agreement under which we provide services relating to corporate functions, legal administration and other administrative functions to Ligand. These are services that we historically provided to Ligand prior to the Separation. Under this Transition Services Agreement, Ligand is able to use our services for a fixed term established on a service-by-service basis. The Transition Services Agreement may be terminated by Ligand with prior written notice, by either party in the event of an uncured material breach by the other party or its applicable affiliates, upon bankruptcy or insolvency of the other party, or by mutual agreement of the parties. Ligand pays us fees for the transition services as a flat monthly fee and reimburses us for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses that we incur in connection with providing the transition services. In addition, while these services are being provided to Ligand by us, our operational flexibility to modify or implement changes with respect to our capabilities to provide such services will be limited, and we may be obligated to maintain certain functions and capabilities solely to be able to meet our obligations to Ligand under the Transition Services Agreement.

Our historical combined financial data and pro forma financial statements are not necessarily representative of the results we would have achieved as a standalone company and may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.

Our historical combined financial data included in this prospectus does not reflect the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows we would have achieved as a standalone company during the periods presented or those we will achieve in the future. This is primarily the result of the following factors:

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Our financial condition and future results of operations, after giving effect to the Business Combination, will be materially different from amounts reflected in our historical combined financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. As a result of the Business Combination, it may be difficult for investors to compare our future results to historical results or to evaluate our relative performance or trends in our business.

Ligand may compete with us.

Ligand is not restricted from competing with us in the antibody discovery business. Although Ligand has informed us it has no current intention to compete with us in the antibody discovery business, if Ligand in the future decides to engage in the type of business we conduct, it may have a competitive advantage over us, which may cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to be materially and adversely affected.

If the Distribution, together with certain related transactions, fails to qualify as a reorganization under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code, or the Merger fails to qualify as a reorganization under Section 368(a) of the Code, Ligand and its stockholders could incur significant tax liabilities, and APAC and OmniAb could be required to indemnify Ligand for taxes that could be material pursuant to indemnification obligations under the Tax Matters Agreement.

Ligand received the Distribution Tax Opinion from Latham & Watkins LLP, tax counsel to Ligand, which provided that the Distribution, together with certain related transactions, will qualify as a reorganization under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code and that the Merger will not cause Section 355(e) of the Code to apply to the Distribution. In addition, the obligations of Ligand and OmniAb to complete the Merger were conditioned upon, among other things, Ligand’s receipt of the Distribution Tax Opinion and an opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP that the Merger would be treated as a reorganization under Section 368(a) of the Code. The obligation of APAC to complete the Merger was conditioned upon, among other things, receipt of an opinion of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, tax counsel to APAC, that the Merger would be treated as a reorganization under Section 368(a) of the Code. The conditions in the Merger Agreement related to the receipt by Ligand and APAC of the foregoing tax opinions could be waived by Ligand and OmniAb in writing.

The tax opinions were delivered in connection with the closing of the Merger and were based on, among other things, certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings from Ligand, OmniAb and APAC, including those regarding the past and future conduct of the Companies’ respective businesses and other matters. If any of these facts, assumptions, representations, or undertakings are incorrect or not satisfied, Ligand may not be able to rely on the opinions, and Ligand and its stockholders could be subject to significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities. In addition, the opinions will not be binding on the IRS or the courts. Notwithstanding the opinions, the IRS could determine on audit that the Distribution or Merger does not qualify as a reorganization if it determines that any of the facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings on which the opinions are based are not correct or have been violated or that the Distribution or Merger should be taxable for other reasons, including as a result of a significant change in stock or asset ownership after the Distribution.

If the Distribution, together with certain related transactions, is ultimately determined not to qualify as a reorganization, the Distribution could be treated as a taxable disposition of shares of OmniAb stock by Ligand and as a taxable distribution to Ligand’s stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If the Merger is ultimately determined not to qualify as a reorganization, the Merger could be treated as a taxable disposition of OmniAb stock by Ligand stockholders. In either such case, Ligand and its stockholders that are subject to U.S. federal income tax could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities.

Under the Tax Matters Agreement that APAC and OmniAb entered into with Ligand, APAC and OmniAb will generally be required to indemnify Ligand against certain taxes incurred by Ligand that arise in connection with the Distribution as a result of certain actions or omissions by APAC or OmniAb. Further, even if APAC and OmniAb are not responsible for tax liabilities of Ligand under the Tax Matters Agreement, OmniAb nonetheless could be liable under applicable U.S. federal tax law for such liabilities if Ligand were to fail to pay them. If

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APAC or OmniAb are required to pay any liabilities under the circumstances set forth in the Tax Matters Agreement or pursuant to applicable tax law, the amounts may be significant.

We might not be able to engage in certain transactions and equity issuances as a result of the Distribution.

Our ability to engage in equity transactions could be limited or restricted in order to preserve, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the qualification of the Distribution, together with certain related transactions, as a generally tax-free reorganization under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code. Even if the Distribution otherwise qualifies for tax-free treatment to Ligand’s stockholders under Section 355 of the Code, it may result in corporate-level taxable gain to Ligand if there is a 50% or greater change in ownership, by vote or value, of our shares of common stock, Ligand’s stock or the stock of a successor of any of the foregoing occurring as part of a plan or series of related transactions that includes the Distribution. Any acquisitions or issuances of shares of our Common Stock or Ligand Common Stock within two years of the Distribution are generally presumed to be part of such a plan, although we or Ligand may be able to rebut that presumption.

Under the Tax Matters Agreement that we entered into with Ligand, we will be required to comply with the representations made in the materials submitted to legal counsel in connection with the Distribution Tax Opinion that Ligand received regarding the intended tax treatment of the Distribution and certain related transactions. The Tax Matters Agreement also restricts our ability to take or fail to take any action if such action or failure to act could adversely affect the intended tax treatment of the Distribution, together with certain related transactions. In particular, except in specific circumstances, in the two years following the Distribution, we will be restricted from, among other things, (i) entering into certain transactions pursuant to which all or a portion of shares of our common stock would be acquired, whether by merger, consolidation, certain stock issuances or otherwise, and (ii) ceasing to actively conduct certain of the OmniAb businesses. These restrictions may limit for a period of time our ability to pursue certain transactions that we may believe to be in the best interests of our stockholders or that might increase the value of our business.

Potential indemnification obligations to Ligand pursuant to the Separation Agreement could materially and adversely affect our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The Separation Agreement, among other things, provides for indemnification obligations (for uncapped amounts) designed to make us financially responsible for all liabilities that Ligand may incur or may exist relating to our business activities (as currently and historically conducted), whether incurred prior to or after the Separation.

In connection with the Separation, Ligand will indemnify us for certain liabilities. However, there can be no assurance that such indemnity will be sufficient to insure us against the full amount of such liabilities, or that Ligand’s ability to satisfy its indemnification obligations will not be impaired in the future.

Pursuant to the Separation Agreement and certain other agreements with Ligand, Ligand agreed to indemnify us for certain liabilities. However, third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for any of the liabilities that Ligand has agreed to retain, and there can be no assurance that the indemnity from Ligand will be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, or that Ligand will be able to fully satisfy its indemnification obligations. In addition, Ligand’s insurance will not necessarily be available to us for liabilities associated with occurrences of indemnified liabilities prior to the Separation, and in any event Ligand’s insurers may deny coverage to us for liabilities associated with certain occurrences of indemnified liabilities prior to the Separation. Moreover, even if we ultimately succeed in recovering from Ligand or such insurance providers any amounts for which we are held liable, we may be temporarily required to bear these losses. Each of these risks could negatively affect our businesses, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

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The Separation and Distribution may expose us to potential liabilities arising out of state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws and legal dividend requirements.

The Separation and Distribution are subject to review under various state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws. Fraudulent conveyance laws generally provide that an entity engages in a constructive fraudulent conveyance when (i) the entity transfers assets and does not receive fair consideration or reasonably equivalent value in return; and (ii) the entity: (a) is insolvent at the time of the transfer or is rendered insolvent by the transfer; (b) has unreasonably small capital with which to carry on its business; or (c) intends to incur or believes it will incur debts beyond its ability to repay its debts as they mature. An unpaid creditor or an entity acting on behalf of a creditor (including without limitation a trustee or debtor-in-possession in a bankruptcy by us or Ligand or any of our respective subsidiaries) may bring an action alleging that the Separation or Distribution or any of the related transactions constituted a constructive fraudulent conveyance. If a court accepts these allegations, it could impose a number of remedies, including without limitation, voiding our claims against Ligand, requiring our stockholders to return to Ligand some or all of the shares of our common stock issued in the Distribution, or providing Ligand with a claim for money damages against us in an amount equal to the difference between the consideration received by Ligand and our fair market value at the time of the Distribution.

The measure of insolvency for purposes of the fraudulent conveyance laws will vary depending on which jurisdiction’s law is applied. Generally, an entity would be considered insolvent if (i) the present fair saleable value of its assets is less than the amount of its liabilities (including contingent liabilities); (ii) the present fair saleable value of its assets is less than its probable liabilities on its debts as such debts become absolute and matured; (iii) it cannot pay its debts and other liabilities (including contingent liabilities and other commitments) as they mature; or (iv) it has unreasonably small capital for the business in which it is engaged. We cannot assure you what standard a court would apply to determine insolvency or that a court would determine that we, Ligand or any of our respective subsidiaries were solvent at the time of or after giving effect to the Distribution.

The Distribution of our common stock is also subject to review under state corporate distribution statutes. Under the DGCL, a corporation may only pay dividends to its stockholders either (i) out of its surplus (net assets minus capital) or (ii) if there is no such surplus, out of its net profits for the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared or the preceding fiscal year. Although Ligand intended to make the Distribution of our common stock entirely from surplus, we cannot assure you that a court will not later determine that some or all of the Distribution to Ligand stockholders was unlawful.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for our platform and technology, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technologies or a platform similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully sell our platform and services may be impaired.

We rely on patent protection, as well as trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights protection and contractual restrictions, to protect our proprietary technologies, all of which provide limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep a competitive advantage. If we fail to protect our intellectual property, third parties may be able to compete more effectively against us. In addition, we may incur substantial litigation costs in our attempts to recover or restrict the use of our intellectual property.

To the extent our intellectual property offers inadequate protection, or is found to be invalid or unenforceable, we would be exposed to a greater risk of direct competition. If our intellectual property does not provide adequate coverage to exclude our competitors from making products or providing services claimed in our patents, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business. Both the patent application process and the process of managing patent disputes can be time-consuming and expensive.

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Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain adequate protection of the intellectual property we may own solely and jointly with others or otherwise have rights to, particularly patents, in the United States and in other countries with respect to our platform, our software and our technologies, without infringing the intellectual property rights of others.

We strive to protect and enhance the proprietary technologies that we believe are important to our business, including seeking patents intended to cover our platform and related technologies and uses thereof, as we deem appropriate. Certain of our patents and patent applications in the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions relate to our technology. However, obtaining and enforcing patents in our industry is costly, time-consuming and complex, and we may fail to apply for patents on important products and technologies in a timely fashion or at all, or we may fail to apply for patents in potentially relevant jurisdictions. There can be no assurance that the claims of our patents (or any patent application that issues as a patent), will exclude others from making, using, importing, offering for sale, or selling our products or services that are substantially similar to ours. We also rely on trade secrets to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection. In countries where we have not sought and do not seek patent protection, third parties may be able to manufacture and sell our technology without our permission, and we may not be able to stop them from doing so. We may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications, or maintain, enforce and license any patents that may issue from such patent applications, at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. We may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the rights to patents licensed 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.

It is possible that none of our pending patent applications will result in issued patents in a timely fashion or at all, and even if patents are granted, they may not provide a basis for intellectual property protection of commercially viable products or services, may not provide us with any competitive advantages, or may be challenged and invalidated by third parties or deemed unenforceable by a court. It is possible that others will design around our current or future patented technologies. As a result, our owned and licensed patents and patent applications comprising our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing technology and products similar to any of our technology.

It is possible that in the future some of our patents, licensed patents or patent applications may be challenged in court in the United States or outside of the United States, at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) or in proceedings before the patent offices of other jurisdictions. We may not be successful in defending any such challenges made against our patents or patent applications. Any successful third party challenge to our patents could result in loss of exclusivity, patent claims being narrowed, or the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents, in whole or in part, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology, and increase competition to our business. We may have to challenge the patents or patent applications of third parties. The outcome of patent litigation or other proceedings can be uncertain, and any attempt by us to enforce our patent rights against others or to challenge the patent rights of others may not be successful, or, if successful, may take substantial time and involve substantial cost, and may divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.

Any changes we make to our technology, including changes that may be required for commercialization or that cause them to have what we view as more advantageous properties, may not be covered by our existing patent portfolio, and we may be required to file new applications and/or seek other forms of protection for any such alterations to our technology. There can be no assurance that we would be able to secure patent protection that would adequately cover an alternative to our technology.

The patent positions of life sciences companies can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. No consistent policy regarding the

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breadth of claims allowed in such companies’ patents has emerged to date in the United States or elsewhere. Courts frequently render opinions in the biotechnology field that may affect the patentability of certain inventions or discoveries.

Changes in patent law in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our technology.

Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States or other countries or regions may diminish the value of our intellectual property. We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third party patents. We may not develop additional proprietary platforms, methods and technologies that are patentable.

Assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 16, 2013, in the United States, the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the United States, the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. On or after March 16, 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the “America Invents Act”), the United States transitioned to a first inventor to file system in which, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the claimed invention. A third party that files a patent application in the USPTO on or after March 16, 2013, but before us could therefore be awarded a patent covering an invention of ours even if we had made the invention before it was made by such third party. This will require us to be cognizant of the time from invention to filing of a patent application. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing or until issuance, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to either (i) file any patent application related to our technology or (ii) invent any of the inventions claimed in our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications.

The America Invents Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications are now prosecuted and also may affect patent litigation. These include allowing third party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review and derivation proceedings. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to invalidate our patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party as a defendant in a district court action. Therefore, the America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned or in-licensed patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our owned or in-licensed issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, the patent position of companies in the biotechnology field is particularly uncertain. Various courts, including the United States Supreme Court, have rendered decisions that affect the scope of patentability of certain inventions or discoveries relating to biotechnology. These decisions state, among other things, that a patent claim that recites an abstract idea, natural phenomenon or law of nature (for example, the relationship between particular genetic variants and cancer) are not themselves patentable. Precisely what constitutes a law of nature or abstract idea is uncertain, and it is possible that certain aspects of our technology could be considered natural laws. Accordingly, the evolving case law in the United States may adversely affect our and our licensors’ ability to obtain new patents or to enforce existing patents and may facilitate third party challenges to any owned or licensed patents.

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Issued patents directed to our platform and technology could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad.

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability. Some of our patents or patent applications (including licensed patents) may be challenged at a future point in time in opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter partes review, post-grant review or interference. Any successful third party challenge to our patents in this or any other proceeding could result in the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents or amendment to our patents in such a way that any resulting protection may lead to increased competition to our business, which could harm our business. In addition, in patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability during patent litigation is unpredictable. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on certain aspects of our platform technologies. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, regardless of the outcome, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future products.

In April 2020, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals filed an opposition to our European Patent No. 2931030 directed to human-rat chimeric antibodies. The opposition is ongoing. If the opposition is successful in invalidating the claims of the patent, or narrowing their scope, the loss in ability to assert the patent in its current form may lead to increased competition to our business, which could harm our business.

We may not be aware of all third party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our platform or technology. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until approximately 18 months after filing or, in some cases, not until such patent applications issue as patents. We or our licensors might not have been the first to make the inventions included in each of our pending patent applications and we or our licensors might not have been the first to file patent applications for these inventions. There is also no assurance that all of the potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications or licensed patents and patent applications has been found, which could be used by a third party to challenge their validity, or prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application.

To determine the priority of these inventions, we may have to participate in interference proceedings, derivation proceedings or other post-grant proceedings declared by the USPTO that could result in substantial cost to us. The outcome of such proceedings is uncertain. No assurance can be given that other patent applications will not have priority over our patent applications. In addition, changes to the patent laws of the United States allow for various post-grant opposition proceedings that have not been extensively tested, and their outcome is therefore uncertain. Furthermore, if third parties bring these proceedings against our patents, we could experience significant costs and management distraction.

We rely on in-licenses from third parties. If we lose these rights, our business may be materially and adversely affected, our ability to develop improvements to our technology platform and antibody discovery platform may be negatively and substantially impacted, and if disputes arise, we may be subjected to future litigation, as well as the potential loss of or limitations on our ability to incorporate the technology covered by these license agreements.

We are party to royalty-bearing license agreements that grant us rights to practice certain patent rights that are related to our systems, including our microcapillary assay technology, methods for selecting agents that bind to transmembrane receptors in a conformationally selective manner, and bovine antibody humanization technology. We may need to obtain additional licenses from others to advance our research, development and commercialization activities. Some of our license agreements impose, and we expect that any future in-license agreements will impose, various development, diligence, commercialization and other obligations on us. We may enter into engagements in the future, with other licensors or other third parties under which we obtain certain

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intellectual property rights relating to our platform and technology. These engagements may take the form of an exclusive license or purchase of intellectual property rights or technology from third parties. Our rights to use the technology we license are subject to the continuation of and compliance with the terms of those agreements. In some cases, we may not control the prosecution, maintenance or filing of the patents to which we hold licenses, or the enforcement of those patents against third parties.

In spite of our efforts to comply with our obligations under our in-license agreements, our licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our obligations under our license agreements and might therefore, including in connection with any aforementioned disputes, terminate the relevant license agreement, thereby removing or limiting our ability to develop and commercialize technology covered by these license agreements. If any such in-license is terminated, or if the licensed patents fail to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors or other third parties might have the freedom to market or develop technologies similar to ours. In addition, absent the rights granted to us under our license agreements, we may infringe the intellectual property rights that are the subject of those agreements, we may be subject to litigation by the licensor, and if such litigation by the licensor is successful we may be required to pay damages to our licensor, or we may be required to cease our development and commercialization activities that are deemed infringing, and in such event we may ultimately need to modify our activities or technologies to design around such infringement, which may be time- and resource-consuming, and which ultimately may not be successful. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, our rights to certain components of our technology platform, are licensed to us on a non-exclusive basis. The owners of these non-exclusively licensed technologies are therefore free to license them to third parties, including our competitors, on terms that may be superior to those offered to us, which could place us at a competitive disadvantage. Moreover, our licensors may own or control intellectual property that has not been licensed to us and, as a result, we may be subject to claims, regardless of their merit, that we are infringing or otherwise violating the licensor’s rights. In addition, certain of our agreements with third parties may provide that intellectual property arising under these agreements, such as data that could be valuable to our business, will be owned by the third party, in which case, we may not have adequate rights to use such data or have exclusivity with respect to the use of such data, which could result in third parties, including our competitors, being able to use such data to compete with us.

If we cannot acquire or license rights to use technologies on reasonable terms or if we fail to comply with our obligations under such agreements, we may not be able to commercialize new technologies or services in the future and our business could be harmed.

In the future, we may identify third party intellectual property and technology we may need to acquire or license in order to engage in our business, including to develop or commercialize new technologies or services, and the growth of our business may depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license or use this technology.

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However, such licenses may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. The licensing or acquisition of third party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and several more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater development or commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. Even if such licenses are available, we may be required to pay the licensor in return for the use of such licensor’s technology, lump-sum payments, payments based on certain milestones such as sales volumes, or royalties based on sales of our platform. In addition, such licenses may be non-exclusive, which could give our competitors access to the same intellectual property licensed to us.

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 our ability to develop and commercialize technology covered by these license agreements. If these licenses are terminated, or if the underlying intellectual property fails to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors would have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, technologies identical to ours. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Additionally, termination of these license agreements or reduction or elimination of our rights under these agreements, or restrictions on our ability to freely assign or sublicense our rights under such agreements when it is in the interest of our business to do so, may result in our having to negotiate new or reinstated agreements with less favorable terms, or cause us to lose our rights under these agreements, including our rights to important intellectual property or technology or impede, or delay or prohibit the further development or commercialization of one or more technologies that rely on such agreements.

We cannot prevent third parties from also accessing those technologies. In addition, our licenses may place restrictions on our future business opportunities.

In addition to the above risks, intellectual property rights that we license in the future may include sublicenses under intellectual property owned by third parties, in some cases through multiple tiers. The actions of our licensors may therefore affect our rights to use our sublicensed intellectual property, even if we are in compliance with all of the obligations under our license agreements. Should our licensors or any of the upstream licensors fail to comply with their obligations under the agreements pursuant to which they obtain the rights that are sublicensed to us, or should such agreements be terminated or amended, our or our partners’ ability to further commercialize our technology or products generated using our technology may be materially harmed.

Further, we may not have the right to control the prosecution, maintenance and enforcement of all of our licensed and sublicensed intellectual property, and even when we do have such rights, we may require the cooperation of our licensors and upstream licensors, which may not be forthcoming. Our business could be adversely affected if we or our licensors are unable to prosecute, maintain and enforce our licensed and sublicensed intellectual property effectively.

Our licensors may have relied on third-party consultants or collaborators or on funds from third parties such that our licensors are not the sole and exclusive owners of the patents and patent applications we in-license. If other third parties have ownership rights to patents or patent applications we in-license, they may be able to license such patents to our competitors, and our competitors could market competing technology and services. This could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to enter into necessary agreements on acceptable terms or at all, if any necessary licenses are subsequently terminated, if the licensors fail to abide by the terms of the licenses or fail to prevent infringement by third parties, or if the acquired or licensed patents or other rights are found to be invalid or

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unenforceable. Moreover, we could encounter delays in the introduction of new technology or services while we attempt to develop alternatives. Defense of any lawsuit or failure to obtain any of these licenses on favorable terms could prevent us from commercializing our platform and technology and advancing partnerships, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our platform, technology, software, systems, workflows and processes in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and even where such protection is nominally available, judicial and governmental enforcement of such intellectual property rights may be lacking. Whether filed in the United States or abroad, our patent applications may be challenged or may fail to result in issued patents. Further, we may encounter difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in some or all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own platform or technologies and may also sell their products or services to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These platforms and technologies may compete with ours. Our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. In addition, certain countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to other parties. Furthermore, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against other parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of any patents. In many foreign countries, patent applications and/or issued patents, or parts thereof, must be translated into the native language. If our patent applications or issued patents are translated incorrectly, they may not adequately cover our technologies; in some countries, it may not be possible to rectify an incorrect translation, which may result in patent protection that does not adequately cover our technologies in those countries.

Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of many other countries do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology, which could make it difficult for us to stop the misappropriation or other violations of our intellectual property rights including infringement of our patents in such countries. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents 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, or that are initiated against us, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our technologies and the enforcement of intellectual property. 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.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

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

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Should any of these events occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our information and our trade secrets, the value of our technology could be materially and adversely affected and our business could be harmed.

We rely on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, including parts of our technology platform, and to maintain our competitive position. However, trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect. In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into agreements, including confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements, with our employees, consultants, academic institutions, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisers. However, we cannot be certain that such agreements have been entered into with all relevant parties, and we cannot be certain that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. For example, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide

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meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements, and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure, which could adversely impact our ability to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in the market. If we are required to assert our rights against such party, it could result in significant cost and distraction.

Monitoring unauthorized disclosure and detection of unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome would be unpredictable. In addition, some courts both within and outside the United States may be less willing, or unwilling, to protect trade secrets. Further, we may need to share our trade secrets and confidential know-how with current or future partners, collaborators, contractors and others located in countries at heightened risk of theft of trade secrets, including through direct intrusion by private parties or foreign actors, and those affiliated with or controlled by state actors.

We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our confidential proprietary information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems, but it is possible that these security measures could be breached. If any of our confidential proprietary information were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, absent patent protection, we would have no right to prevent such competitor from using that technology or information to compete with us, which could harm our competitive position. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently discovered by a competitor or other third party, it could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties or that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.

We have employed and expect to employ individuals who were previously employed at universities or other companies. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, advisors and independent contractors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that our employees, advisors, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers or other third parties, or to claims that we have improperly used or obtained such trade secrets. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights and face increased competition to our business. A loss of key research personnel work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize potential technologies and solutions, which could harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

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

We may not be able to protect and enforce our trademarks and trade names, or build name recognition in our markets of interest thereby harming our competitive position.

The registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we own may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic, lapsed or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks. We may not

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be able to protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we need in order to build name recognition. In addition, third parties may in the future file for registration of trademarks similar or identical to our trademarks, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. If they succeed in registering or developing common law rights in such trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks to develop brand recognition of our technologies or platform. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Further, we have and may in the future enter into agreements with owners of such third party trade names or trademarks to avoid potential trademark litigation which may limit our ability to use our trade names or trademarks in certain fields of business.

We have not yet registered certain of our trademarks in all of our potential markets. If we apply to register these trademarks in other countries, and/or other trademarks in the United States and other countries, our applications may not be allowed for registration in a timely fashion or at all; and further, our registered trademarks may not be maintained or enforced. In addition, opposition or cancellation proceedings may in the future be filed against our trademark applications and registrations, and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings. In addition, third parties may file first for our trademarks in certain countries. If they succeed in registering such trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such third party rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks to market our technologies in those countries. If we do not secure registrations for our trademarks, we may encounter more difficulty in enforcing them against third parties than we otherwise would. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. And, over the long-term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks, then our marketing abilities may be materially and adversely impacted.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship of our patents and other intellectual property.

We or our licensors may be subject to claims that former employees, partners or other third parties have an interest in our or our in-licensed patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship of our or our licensors’ ownership of our owned or in-licensed patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we or our licensors fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our systems, including our software, workflows, consumables, reagents, and transgenic animals. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees, and certain partners or partners may defer engaging with us until the particular dispute is resolved. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may from time to time become involved in litigation and other proceedings related to intellectual property, which could be time-intensive and costly and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

There is a substantial amount of litigation, both within and outside the United States, involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and drug discovery industries, including patent infringement lawsuits, declaratory judgment litigation and adversarial proceedings before the USPTO, including interferences, derivation proceedings, ex parte reexaminations, post-grant review and inter partes review, as well as corresponding proceedings in foreign courts and foreign patent offices.

We are, and may, in the future, become involved with litigation or actions at the USPTO or foreign patent offices with various third parties. We expect that the number of such claims may increase as our business, visibility and partnership base expands, and as the level of competition in our industry increases. Any

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infringement claim, regardless of its validity, could harm our business by, among other things, resulting in time-consuming and costly litigation, diverting management’s time and attention from the development of the business, requiring the payment of monetary damages (including treble damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses) or royalty payments, or result in potential or existing partners delaying entering into engagements with us pending resolution of the dispute.

It may be necessary for us to pursue litigation or adversarial proceedings before the patent office in order to enforce our patent and proprietary rights or to determine the scope, coverage and validity of the proprietary rights of others. The outcome of any such litigation might not be favorable to us, and even if we were to prevail, such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. Given that the therapeutics discovery field is a highly competitive areas, there may be third-party intellectual property rights that others believe could relate to our technologies. The legal threshold for initiating litigation or contested proceedings is low, so that even lawsuits or proceedings with a low probability of success might be initiated and require significant resources to defend. An unfavorable outcome in any such proceeding could require us to cease using the related technology or developing or commercializing our technology, or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our current or future products, technologies and services may infringe. We cannot be certain that we have identified or addressed all potentially significant third-party patents in advance of an infringement claim being made against us. In addition, similar to what other companies in our industry have experienced, we expect our competitors and others may have patents or may in the future obtain patents and claim that making, having made, using, selling, offering to sell or importing our technologies infringes these patents. Defense of infringement and other claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of management and employee resources from our business. Parties making claims against us may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. Parties making claims against us may be able to obtain injunctive or other relief, which could block our ability to develop, commercialize and sell products or services and could result in the award of substantial damages against us, including treble damages, attorney’s fees, costs and expenses if we are found to have willfully infringed. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may be required to pay damages and ongoing royalties and obtain one or more licenses from third parties, or be prohibited from selling certain products or services. We may not be able to obtain these licenses on acceptable or commercially reasonable terms, if at all, or these licenses may be non-exclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. In addition, we could encounter delays in product or service introductions while we attempt to develop alternative products or services to avoid infringing third-party patents or proprietary rights. Defense of any lawsuit or failure to obtain any of these licenses could prevent us from commercializing products or services, and the prohibition of sale of any of our technologies could materially affect our business and our ability to gain market acceptance for our technology.

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, during the course of this kind of litigation, 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.

In addition, our agreements with some of our partners, suppliers or other entities with whom we do business require us to defend or indemnify these parties to the extent they become involved in infringement claims,

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including the types of claims described above. We could also voluntarily agree to defend or indemnify third parties in instances where we are not obligated to do so if we determine it would be important to our business relationships. If we are required or agree to defend or indemnify third parties in connection with any infringement claims, we could incur significant costs and expenses that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation or administrative proceeding could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise additional funds or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various required procedures, document submissions, fee payments and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on issued United States and most foreign patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various governmental patent agencies outside of the United States at several stages over the lifetime of the patents and/or applications in order to maintain such patents and patent applications. We have systems in place to remind us to pay these fees, and we engage an outside service and rely on those services and our outside counsel to pay these fees. The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals and services to help us comply, and in many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. However, there are situations in which non-compliance 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. Non-compliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include 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, if we or our licensors fail to maintain the patents and patent applications covering our technology and products, our competitors may be able to enter the market with similar or identical technology or products without infringing our patents and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Patent terms may be inadequate to protect our competitive position on our technology for an adequate amount of time.

Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. This term can be reduced by the filing of a terminal disclaimer. Some of our patents have terminal disclaimers. Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering our platform or technology are obtained, once the patent life has expired, we may be open to competition from others. If our platform or technologies require extended development and/or regulatory review, patents protecting our platform or technologies might expire before or shortly after we are able to successfully commercialize them. As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing processes or technologies similar or identical to ours.

Our use of open source software could compromise our ability to offer our data packages and subject us to possible litigation.

We use open source software in connection with our technology and computational engine of our platform. Companies that incorporate open source software into their technologies and services have, from time to time, faced claims challenging their use of open source software and compliance with open source license terms. As a result, we could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source

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software or claiming noncompliance with open source licensing terms. Some open source software licenses require users who distribute software containing open source software to publicly disclose all or part of the source code to the licensee’s software that incorporates, links or uses such open source software, and make available to third parties for no cost, any derivative works of the open source code created by the licensee, which could include the licensee’s own valuable proprietary code. While we monitor our use of open source software and try to ensure that none is used in a manner that would require us to disclose our proprietary source code or that would otherwise breach the terms of an open source agreement, such use could inadvertently occur, or could be claimed to have occurred, in part because open source license terms are often ambiguous. There is little legal precedent in this area and any actual or claimed requirement to disclose our proprietary source code or pay damages for breach of contract could harm our business and could help third parties, including our competitors, develop technologies that are similar to or better than ours. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Some of our intellectual property rights may have been discovered through government funded programs and thus may be subject to federal regulations such as “march-in” rights, certain reporting requirements and a preference for U.S.-based companies. Compliance with such regulations may limit our exclusive rights, and limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. manufacturers.

Some of our intellectual property rights may have been generated through the use of U.S. government funding and are therefore subject to certain federal regulations. As a result, the U.S. government may have certain rights to intellectual property embodied in our technology pursuant to the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 (the “Bayh-Dole Act”), and implementing regulations. These U.S. government rights in certain inventions developed under a government-funded program include a non-exclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable worldwide license to use inventions for any governmental purpose. In addition, the U.S. government has the right to require us or our licensors to grant exclusive, partially exclusive, or non-exclusive licenses to any of these inventions to a third party if it determines that: (i) adequate steps have not been taken to commercialize the invention; (ii) government action is necessary to meet public health or safety needs; or (iii) government action is necessary to meet requirements for public use under federal regulations (also referred to as “march-in rights”). The U.S. government also has the right to take title to these inventions if we, or the applicable licensor, fail to disclose the invention to the government and fail to file an application to register the intellectual property within specified time limits. These time limits have recently been changed by regulation, and may change in the future. Intellectual property generated under a government funded program is also subject to certain reporting requirements, compliance with which may require us or the applicable licensor to expend substantial resources. In addition, the U.S. government requires that any products embodying the subject invention or produced through the use of the subject invention be manufactured substantially in the United States. The manufacturing preference requirement can be waived if the owner of the intellectual property can show that reasonable but unsuccessful efforts have been made to grant licenses on similar terms to potential licensees that would be likely to manufacture substantially in the United States or that under the circumstances domestic manufacture is not commercially feasible. This preference for U.S. manufacturers may limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. product manufacturers for products covered by such intellectual property. To the extent any of our future intellectual property is generated through the use of U.S. government funding, the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act may similarly apply.

discounting and other business arrangements. Such misconduct could result in legal or regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and any other 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. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could result in the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, which could have a significant impact on our business. Whether or not we are successful in defending against such actions or investigations, we could incur substantial costs, including legal fees and divert the attention of management in defending ourselves against any of these claims or investigations.

We use biological and hazardous materials that require considerable expertise and expense for handling, storage and disposal and may result in claims against us.

We work with materials, including chemicals, biological agents and compounds that could be hazardous to human health and safety or the environment. Our operations also produce hazardous and biological waste products. Federal, state and local laws and regulations govern the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and wastes. We are subject to periodic inspections by state and federal authorities to ensure compliance with applicable laws. Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations is expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may restrict our operations. If we do not comply with applicable regulations, we may be subject to fines and penalties.

In addition, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials or wastes, which could cause an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development programs and business operations, as well as environmental damage resulting in costly clean-up and liabilities under applicable laws and regulations. In the event of contamination or injury, we could be liable for damages or penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources and our operations could be suspended or otherwise adversely affected. Furthermore, environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance.

We are subject to U.S. and certain foreign export and import controls, sanctions, embargoes, anti-corruption laws and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. We could face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which could harm our business.

We are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, and anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the US Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act and other state and national anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, agents, CROs, contractors and other collaborators and partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting or receiving, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector. We may engage third parties for clinical trials outside of the United States, to sell our products abroad once we enter a commercialization phase, and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations and other regulatory approvals. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities and other organizations. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, CROs, contractors and other collaborators and partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. We are also subject to other U.S. laws and regulations governing export controls, as well as economic sanctions and embargoes on certain countries and persons.

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Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences.

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

From time to time, the global credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates and uncertainty about economic stability. There can be no assurance that future deterioration in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions will not occur. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, volatile business environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. The financial markets and the global economy may also be adversely affected by the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism or other geopolitical events. Sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries in response to such conflicts, including the one in Ukraine, may also adversely impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic countermeasures by the affected countries or others could exacerbate market and economic instability. If the current equity and credit markets deteriorate, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current service providers, manufacturers and other partners may not survive an economic downturn, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget.

We incur significant costs as a result of operating as a standalone public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

As a standalone public company, we incur significant legal, accounting, insurance and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, which will require, among other things, that we file with the SEC annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as rules subsequently adopted by the SEC and Nasdaq to implement provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley, impose significant requirements on public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices. Further, pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the SEC has adopted additional rules and regulations in these areas, such as mandatory “say on pay” voting requirements that will apply to us when we cease to be an emerging growth company. Stockholder activism, the current political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact the manner in which we operate our business in ways we cannot currently anticipate.

We expect the rules and regulations applicable to public companies to substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly. If these requirements divert the attention of our management and personnel from other business concerns, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The increased costs will decrease our net income or increase our net loss, and may require us to reduce costs in other areas of our business or increase the prices of our products or services. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to incur substantial costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. We cannot predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to these requirements. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board, our Board committees or as executive officers.

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If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Common Stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrades our common stock or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price may decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our shares could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to establish and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our operating results and our ability to operate our business could be harmed.

Prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, management of Legacy OmniAb concluded that its procedures and internal controls over financial reporting were not effective as of December 31, 2020, due solely to a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting related to recording transactions between Legacy OmniAb and Ligand. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis. Management of Legacy OmniAb identified an error in the accumulation of information for the preparation of the carve-out financial statements. The errors resulted in a $7.0 million understatement of accounts receivable, net, as well as a $7.0 million overstatement of cash flows from operating activities, and a $7.0 million understatement of cash flows from financing activities. As a result of the errors, management of Legacy OmniAb restated the financial statements at December 31, 2020 and 2019 and the years then ended.

Additionally, in connection with the recent restatement of APAC’s financial statements, APAC’s management concluded that its disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 due to a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting solely related to its accounting for complex financial instruments. As previously disclosed in APAC’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 1, 2021, after consultation with its independent registered public accounting firm, APAC’s management team and its audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate its previously issued audited balance sheet as of August 12, 2021 (the “Audited Balance Sheet”) included as Exhibit 99.1 to its Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on August 18, 2021 and APAC’s unaudited and interim financial statements as of and for the three months ended September 30, 2021 contained in APAC’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on November 10, 2021 (the “Q3 Form 10-Q”). Accordingly, on January 12, 2022 and January 28, 2022, APAC filed Amendment No. 1 to the Q3 Form 10-Q and a restated Audited Balance Sheet, respectively. As part of such process, APAC identified a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting, solely related to its accounting for complex financial instruments.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the above material weaknesses including the implementation of changes to our process for preparing the carve-out financial statements as well as plans to enhance our processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. If we are unable to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and financial results.

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Furthermore, if we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.

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

We are subject to certain reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to reasonably assure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC. We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls. Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements or insufficient disclosures due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market or the Nasdaq Capital Market, as applicable, could result in a delisting of our Common Stock or Warrants.

If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market or the Nasdaq Capital Market, as applicable, such as the minimum closing bid price, stockholders’ equity or round lot holders requirements or the corporate governance requirements, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our Common Stock or Warrants. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our Common Stock and Warrants and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our securities when you wish to do so. Such a delisting could also result in a limited amount of news and analyst coverage for the Company; and a decreased ability for us to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow our securities to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our securities, or prevent future non-compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Warrants

The market price of our Common Stock and Warrants is likely to be highly volatile, and you may lose some or all of your investment.

The market price of our Common Stock and Warrants may fluctuate significantly due to a number of factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including those factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section and many others, such as:

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In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry factors, as well as general economic, political, regulatory and market conditions, may negatively affect the market price of our Common Stock and Warrants, regardless of our actual operating performance.

Volatility in our share price could subject us to securities class action litigation.

In the past, securities class action litigation has often been brought against a company following a decline in the market price of its securities. If we face such litigation, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business.

Affiliates of Avista Capital Partners beneficially own a significant equity interest in the Company and may take actions that conflict with the interests of our public shareholders.

Following the consummation of the Business Combination, the liquidation and dissolution of the Sponsor resulted in the distribution of all its assets, including our securities, to its limited partners, which are ultimately controlled by affiliates of Avista Capital Partners. Affiliates of Avista Capital Partners beneficially own 27,163,423 shares, or 21.6% of our outstanding Common Stock as of December 15, 2022. The interests of such holders may not align with the interests of our public shareholders in the future. Avista Capital Partners and its affiliates are in the business of making investments in companies and may acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. In addition, Avista Capital Partners may have an interest in us pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in their judgment, could enhance their investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to us and our public shareholders.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about us, or publish negative reports, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our Common Stock and Warrants will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us. We do not have any control over these analysts. If our

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financial performance fails to meet analyst estimates or one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our Common Stock or Warrants or change their opinion, the trading price of our Common Stock and Warrants would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, it could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause the trading price or trading volume of our Common Stock and Warrants to decline.

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock, and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation, if any, in the price of our Common Stock.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividend on our Common Stock. We currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the development, operation and expansion of the business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the appreciation of their stock. There is no guarantee that shares of Common Stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which stockholders have purchased their shares.

Sales of a substantial number of our securities in the public market by the Selling Securityholders and/or by our existing securityholders could cause the prices of our Common Stock and Warrants to fall.

Subject to certain exceptions, the A&R Registration Rights Agreement provides for certain restrictions on transfer with respect to our securities, including Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants, and securities held by former directors and officers of APAC and certain directors and officers of OmniAb and Ligand. Such restrictions began on the Closing Date and will end (i) with respect to the Founder Shares, at the earliest of (A) one year after the Closing Date and (B) the first date on which (x) the last reported sale price of a share of Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Closing Date or (y) we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Common Stock for cash, securities or other property; (ii) with respect to the Private Placement Warrants that are held by the initial purchasers of such warrants (or permitted transferees under the A&R Registration Rights Agreement), and any of the shares of Common Stock issued or issuable upon the exercise or conversion of such warrants and that are held by the initial purchasers of the applicable warrants being converted (or permitted transferees under the A&R Registration Rights Agreement), the period ending 30 days after the Closing; and (iii) with respect to the shares of Common Stock issued to the New Holders (as defined in the A&R

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Registration Rights Agreement), each of whom are the directors and officers of Ligand and/or OmniAb, in connection with the consummation of the Merger and held by the New Holders (or their permitted transferees under the A&R Registration Rights Agreement), the period ending on the earliest of (A) three months after the Closing and (B) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Common Stock for cash, securities or other property.

However, following the expiration of the applicable lock-up period, such equityholders will not be restricted from selling shares of Common Stock held by them, other than by applicable securities laws. As such, sales of a substantial number of shares of Common Stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales by us, the Selling Securityholders and/or by our other existing securityholders, or the perception that those sales might occur, could reduce the market price of our Common Stock and Warrants and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. As restrictions on resale end and registration statements (filed after the Closing to provide for the resale of such shares from time to time) become available for use, the sale or possibility of sale of these shares could have the effect of increasing the volatility in our share price, or the market price of our Common Stock could decline if the holders of currently restricted shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. We are unable to predict the effect that such sales may have on the prevailing market prices of our Common Stock and Warrants.

Certain existing shareholders purchased our shares at a price below the current trading price of such shares, and may experience a positive rate of return based on the current trading price. Our future investors may not experience a similar rate of return.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and under Delaware law could discourage a takeover that stockholders may consider favorable and may lead to entrenchment of management.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could significantly reduce the value of our shares to a potential acquiror or delay or prevent changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our Board. The provisions in our charter documents include the following:

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We are also subject to the anti-takeover provisions contained in Section 203 of the DGCL. 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 has approved the transaction.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders and that the federal district courts shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees or the underwriters or any offering giving rise to such claim.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the 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 us arising pursuant to 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; provided that this provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. In addition, our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. For the avoidance of doubt, this provision is intended to benefit and may be enforced by us, our officers and directors, the underwriters to any offering giving rise to such complaint, and any other professional entity whose profession gives authority to a statement made by that person or entity and who has prepared or certified any part of the documents underlying the offering. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the

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Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. These choice of forum provisions 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 and officers, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors and officers. If a court were to find the choice of forum provisions in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect its business and financial condition.

The exclusive forum clause set forth in the Warrant Agreement may have the effect of limiting an investor’s rights to bring legal action against us and could limit the investor’s ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.

The Warrant Agreement provides that (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the Warrant Agreement will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and (ii) we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be exclusive. We have waived or will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce these provisions and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the Warrant Agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our Warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in the Warrant Agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the Warrant Agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “ foreign action”) in the name of any holder of the Warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.

This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of the Warrant Agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and Board.

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

We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”). For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies,” including exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and

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stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the closing of the IPO (December 31, 2026), (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of shares of Common Stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

In addition, under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

We are also a smaller reporting company as defined in the Exchange Act. Even after we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we may still qualify as a “smaller reporting company,” which would allow us to take advantage of many of the same exemptions from disclosure requirements including exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 and reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in this prospectus and our periodic reports and proxy statements. We will be able to take advantage of these scaled disclosures for so long as our voting and non-voting Common Stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250.0 million measured on the last business day of its second fiscal quarter, or our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and our voting and non-voting Common Stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700.0 million measured on the last business day of our second fiscal quarter.

We cannot predict if investors will find our Common Stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our Common Stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for the Common Stock and our market price may be more volatile.

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect or financial reporting standards or interpretations change, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. We will base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.” The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our financial statements include the estimated variable consideration included in the transaction price in our contracts with customers, stock-based compensation, and valuation of our equity investments in early-stage biotechnology companies. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our Common Stock.

Additionally, the combined company will regularly monitor its compliance with applicable financial reporting standards and review new pronouncements and drafts thereof that are relevant to it. As a result of new standards, changes to existing standards and changes in their interpretation, the combined company might be required to change its accounting policies, alter its operational policies, and implement new or enhance existing systems so that they reflect new or amended financial reporting standards, or the combined company may be required to restate its published financial statements. Such changes to existing standards or changes in their interpretation may have an adverse effect on its reputation, business, financial position, and profit.

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If securityholders exercise their Public Warrants on a “cashless basis,” they will receive fewer shares of Common Stock from such exercise than if such securityholders were to exercise such Warrants for cash.

There are circumstances in which the exercise of the Public Warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of the Merger, warrantholders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise Warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Second, if our Common Stock is at any time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their Warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Third, if we call the

Public Warrants for redemption, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise Warrants to do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the Warrants for that number of shares of Common Stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Common Stock underlying the Warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the Warrants and the “fair market value” (as defined in the next sentence) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” is the average reported last sale price of the Common Stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of Warrants, as applicable. As a result, you would receive fewer shares of Common Stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such Warrants for cash.

There is no guarantee that the exercise price of the Public Warrants will ever be less than the trading price of our Common Stock on Nasdaq, and they may expire worthless, and the terms of the Public Warrants may be amended in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment.

As of the date of this prospectus, the Public Warrants are “out-of-the money,” which means that the trading price of the shares of our Common Stock underlying the Public Warrants is below the $11.50 exercise price of the Public Warrants. For so long as the Public Warrants remain “out-of-the money,” we do not expect warrant holders to exercise their Public Warrants. Therefore, any cash proceeds that we may receive in relation to the exercise of such securities will be dependent on the trading price of our Common Stock. If the market price for our Common Stock is less than the exercise price of the Public Warrants, warrant holders will be unlikely to exercise such securities. There is no guarantee that our Public Warrants will be in the money prior to their expiration and, as such, our Public Warrants may expire worthless.

The Public Warrants were issued in registered form under a Warrant Agreement. The Warrant Agreement provides that the terms of the Public Warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of Public Warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the Public Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Public Warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a Public Warrant.

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Warrants are exercisable for shares of Common Stock, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our shareholders.

Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 19,012,156 shares of Common Stock are exercisable in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement governing those securities. The exercise price of the Warrants is $11.50 per share. To the extent such warrants are exercised, additional shares of Common Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of our Common Stock and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market or the fact that such warrants may be exercised could adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock.

We may redeem unexpired Public Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to securityholders, thereby making such Public Warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding Public Warrants prior to their expiration at $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price (or the closing bid price of our Common Stock in the event the shares of Common Stock are not traded on any specific trading day) of the Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send proper notice of such redemption, provided that on the date we give notice of redemption and during the entire period thereafter until the time we redeem the Public Warrants, we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available. If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding Public Warrants could force securityholders: (i) to exercise Public Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for them to do so, (ii) to sell Public Warrants at the then-current market price when they might otherwise wish to hold Public Warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Public Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of such Public Warrants.

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