S-3 1 d936158ds3.htm S-3 S-3
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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 1, 2023

Registration No. 333-            

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

Form S-3

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   82-5125532

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

480 Arsenal Way, Suite 100

Watertown, Massachusetts 02472

(617) 207-8979

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

 

 

Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer and President

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc.

480 Arsenal Way, Suite 100

Watertown, Massachusetts 02472

(617) 207-8979

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

 

 

Copies to:

Asher M. Rubin, Esq.

Istvan Hajdu, Esq.

Sidley Austin LLP

787 Seventh Avenue

New York, New York 10019

(212) 839-5300

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after the effective date of this registration statement.

If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box.  ☐

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box.  ☒

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

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

If this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.D. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.D. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box.  ☐

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

 

Large accelerated filer      Accelerated filer  
Non-accelerated filer      Smaller reporting company  
     Emerging growth company  

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

 

 

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

 

 

 


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EXPLANATORY NOTE

This registration statement contains two prospectuses:

 

   

a base prospectus which covers the offering, issuance and sale by us of up to a maximum aggregate offering price of $300,000,000 of our common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants, and/or units from time to time in one or more offerings; and

 

   

a sales agreement prospectus covering the offering, issuance and sale by us of up to a maximum aggregate offering price of $100,000,000 of shares of our common stock that may be offered, issued, and sold from time to time under a sales agreement, dated December 1, 2023 (the “sales agreement”), with Cowen and Company, LLC (“TD Cowen”).

The base prospectus immediately follows this explanatory note. The specific terms of any securities to be offered pursuant to the base prospectus will be specified in a prospectus supplement to the base prospectus. The sales agreement prospectus immediately follows the base prospectus. The $100,000,000 of common stock that may be offered, issued, and sold from time to time under the sales agreement prospectus is included in the $300,000,000 of securities that may be offered, issued, and sold by us under the base prospectus. Upon termination of the sales agreement with TD Cowen, any portion of the $100,000,000 included in the sales agreement prospectus that is not sold pursuant to such sales agreement will be available for sale in other offerings pursuant to the base prospectus and a corresponding prospectus supplement, and if no shares are sold under the sales agreement, the full $100,000,000 of securities may be sold in other offerings pursuant to the base prospectus and a corresponding prospectus supplement.


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

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED DECEMBER 1, 2023.

PROSPECTUS

 

LOGO

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc.

$300,000,000

Common Stock

Preferred Stock

Debt Securities

Warrants

Units

 

 

We may offer and sell up to an aggregate of $300,000,000 of the securities identified above from time to time in one or more offerings. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities. We refer to the securities identified above as the “securities.” We may offer any combination of the securities, together or separately, in one or more offerings in separate series or classes and in amounts, at prices and on terms that we will determine at the time of the offering and which will be described in one or more supplements to this prospectus. In addition, this prospectus may be used to offer securities for the account of persons other than us.

This prospectus describes some of the general terms that may apply to the securities we may offer and sell and the general manner in which they may be offered. Each time we offer securities pursuant to this prospectus, we will provide one or more supplements to this prospectus or free writing prospectuses that contain specific information about the offering and the terms of any securities being sold. Prospectus supplements or free writing prospectuses may also add, update, or change information contained in this prospectus.

We may offer and sell these securities to or through agents, underwriters, dealers, or directly to purchasers, or through a combination of these methods, on a continuous or delayed basis. The names of any agents, underwriters or dealers and the terms of the arrangements with them will be stated in the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus. For additional information on the methods of sale, you should refer to the section entitled “Plan of Distribution” in this prospectus and in the applicable prospectus supplement.

We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” under the federal securities laws and, as such, are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. See “The Company—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company.”

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “ACRV.” On November 28, 2023, the last reported sale price of our common stock on Nasdaq was $3.88 per share.

 

 

You should read carefully this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement, the information incorporated herein and therein by reference, and any free writing prospectus before you invest in any of our securities. Investing in our securities involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

The date of this prospectus is            , 2023.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

     1  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

     2  

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

     3  

THE COMPANY

     4  

RISK FACTORS

     6  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     7  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     9  

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

     10  

DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES

     15  

DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS

     23  

DESCRIPTION OF UNITS

     25  

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

     26  

LEGAL MATTERS

     29  

EXPERTS

     29  

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, using a “shelf” registration process. By using a shelf registration statement, we may sell securities from time to time and in one or more offerings as described in this prospectus up to an aggregate dollar amount of $300,000,000 of securities.

Each time that we offer and sell securities, we will provide one or more prospectus supplements to this prospectus that contain specific information about the securities being offered and sold and the specific terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information relating to these offerings. The prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus with respect to that offering. If there is any inconsistency between the information in this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, you should rely on the prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, as applicable. Before purchasing any securities, you should carefully read this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement, and any applicable free writing prospectuses, together with the additional information described under “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation by Reference.”

We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information other than that contained in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectuses prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. We will not make an offer to sell or solicit any offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on its respective cover, that the information appearing in any applicable free writing prospectus is accurate only as of the date of that free writing prospectus, and that any information incorporated by reference is accurate only as of the date of the document incorporated by reference, unless we indicate otherwise. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

This prospectus may not be used to offer and sell securities unless it is accompanied by an additional prospectus or a prospectus supplement.

This prospectus, the information incorporated herein by reference, and any prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus contain or may contain references to trademarks, service marks, and trade names owned by us or other companies. Solely for convenience, trademarks, service marks, and trade names, including logos, artwork, and other visual displays, may appear without the ® or symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, service marks, and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, service marks, or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies. Other trademarks, trade names, and service marks appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.

When we refer to “Acrivon Therapeutics,” “Acrivon,” “we,” “our,” “us” and “Company” in this prospectus, we mean Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. and, where appropriate, our wholly-owned subsidiaries, unless otherwise specified. When we refer to “you,” we mean the potential holders of the applicable series of securities.

 

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WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We file reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information about issuers, such as us, who file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is www.sec.gov. We make available, free of charge, on our website at www.acrivon.com, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to such reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Information on or accessible through our website is not incorporated by reference herein and does not form a part of this prospectus. We have included our website in this prospectus solely as an inactive textual reference.

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we have filed with the SEC and does not contain all of the information in the registration statement. The full registration statement may be obtained through the SEC’s website, as provided above, or from us, as provided below under “Incorporation by Reference.” Certain documents establishing the terms of the offered securities are or may be filed as exhibits to the registration statement or documents incorporated by reference in the registration statement. Statements in this prospectus about these documents are summaries and each statement is subject, and qualified in all respects by reference, to the document to which it refers. You should refer to the actual documents for a more complete description of the relevant matters.

 

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INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC’s rules allow us to “incorporate by reference” information into this prospectus, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is deemed to be part of this prospectus, and subsequent information that we file with the SEC will automatically update and supersede that information. Any statement contained in this prospectus or a previously filed document incorporated by reference will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus or a subsequently filed document incorporated by reference modifies or replaces that statement.

This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement incorporate by reference the documents set forth below that have previously been filed with the SEC (other than those documents or the portions of those documents not deemed to be filed):

 

   

our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023, or the 2022 Annual Report, including the information incorporated therein by reference from our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A (other than information furnished rather than filed) for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders filed with the SEC on May 1, 2023;

 

   

our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2023, filed with the SEC on  May 9, 2023, August 11, 2023 and November 9, 2023, respectively;

 

   

our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on March 3, 2023, June  5, 2023 and June 22, 2023; and

 

   

the description of our Common Stock contained in our Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on November 7, 2022, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description, including Exhibit 4.1 to the 2022 Annual Report.

All reports and other documents we subsequently file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, prior to the termination of this offering, but excluding any information furnished to, rather than filed with, the SEC, will also be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and deemed to be part of this prospectus from the date of the filing of such reports and documents. We are not, however, incorporating by reference any documents or portions thereof, whether specifically listed above or filed in the future, that are not deemed “filed” with the SEC, including any information furnished pursuant to Items 2.02 or 7.01 of Form 8-K or related exhibits furnished pursuant to Item 9.01 of Form 8-K.

You should rely only on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. We are not making an offer of these securities in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or in the documents incorporated by reference is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus or those documents.

We will provide, without charge, to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom a copy of this prospectus is delivered, upon written or oral request of such person, a copy of any or all of the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, other than exhibits to such documents unless such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference into such documents. Requests may be made in writing or by telephone at:

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc.

480 Arsenal Way, Suite 100

Watertown, Massachusetts 02742

(617) 207-8979

 

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THE COMPANY

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision oncology medicines that we match to patients whose tumors are predicted to be sensitive to each specific medicine by utilizing our proprietary proteomics-based patient responder identification platform. Recently approved precision oncology treatments, such as kinase inhibitors, have transformed the cancer treatment landscape, and while the therapeutic benefit of these agents has provided significant benefit to patients, these precision oncology treatments unfortunately only address the less than 10% of patients with cancers that harbor certain easily-identifiable genetic mutations. Our approach is designed to overcome the limitations of genomics-based patient selection methods. We do this by using our proprietary precision medicine platform, AP3, to develop our pipeline of oncology drug candidates. Our AP3 platform enables the creation of drug-specific proprietary OncoSignature companion diagnostics that are used to identify the patients most likely to benefit from our drug candidates, which we refer to as patient responders. We are currently advancing our lead candidate, ACR-368, a selective small molecule inhibitor targeting CHK1 and CHK2 with sub single-digit nM and single-digit nM potency, respectively, in a potentially registrational Phase 2 trial across multiple tumor types. We are continuing enrollment and dosing of patients in this multi-center trial based on OncoSignature-predicted sensitivity to ACR-368 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic, recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, as well as endometrial adenocarcinoma or urothelial cancer, two tumor types predicted to be sensitive to ACR-368 through OncoSignature screening and not previously evaluated in past clinical trials.

In November 2023, we announced initial clinical observations from this ongoing trial. Consistent with the overall favorable tolerability profile previously observed in multiple past single-arm trials conducted at recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D), drug-related adverse events were primarily hematological, reversible, and manageable. In the limited number of patients evaluated by imaging to date, preliminary evidence of clinical activity was observed in OncoSignature-positive patients across all three tumor types treated with single agent ACR-368 at RP2D. Consistent with AP3-predicted tumor sensitivity to the combination of ACR-368 and low dose gemcitabine (LDG) in OncoSignature-negative patients, early imaging-based evidence of clinical activity across all three tumor types was also observed in patients treated with ACR-368 at RP2D and LDG during the dose escalation phase.

Our ACR-368 OncoSignature test, which has not yet obtained regulatory approval, has been extensively evaluated in preclinical studies, including in two separate, blinded, prospectively-designed studies on pretreatment tumor biopsies collected from patients with ovarian cancer treated with ACR-368 in past Phase 2 clinical trials conducted by Eli Lilly and Company, or Lilly, and at the National Cancer Institute demonstrating robust enrichment of responders through our method. On May 8, 2023, ACR-368 was granted two Fast Track designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for the investigation of ACR-368 monotherapy for patients with OncoSignature-positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer. On November 16, 2023, the FDA granted a Breakthrough Device designation for the ACR-368 OncoSignature assay, a multiplex immunofluorescence assay for the identification of ovarian cancer patients who may benefit from ACR-368 treatment. This designation reflects the FDA’s determination that the device is reasonably expected to provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating human disease or conditions.

In addition to ACR-368, Acrivon is also leveraging its proprietary AP3 precision medicine platform for developing its internally-discovered preclinical stage pipeline programs, consisting of its development candidate, ACR-2316, a potentially first-in-class, selective, dual WEE1/PKMYT1 inhibitor which has demonstrated potent single agent activity in preclinical studies compared to clinical-stage benchmark inhibitors and is being rapidly advanced in IND-enabling studies, and additional programs targeting these two critical nodes in the DDR pathways.

 

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Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. We may take advantage of certain exemptions from various public company reporting requirements, including not being required to have our internal control over financial reporting audited by our independent registered public accounting firm under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments. We may take advantage of these exemptions until December 31, 2027 or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier. We will cease to be an emerging growth company prior to the end of such period if certain earlier events occur, including if we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act, our annual gross revenues exceed $1.235 billion or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt in any three-year period.

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have not elected to avail ourselves of this exemption and, therefore, we will 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. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company even after we are no longer an emerging growth company. We may take advantage of certain of the scaled disclosures available to smaller reporting companies and 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 our 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.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in March 2018. Our principal executive offices are located at 480 Arsenal Way, Suite 100, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472 and our telephone number is (617) 207-8979. Our website address is www.acrivon.com. Additionally, our filings with the SEC are posted on our website at www.acrivon.com. We have included our website in this prospectus solely as an inactive textual reference. The information found on or accessible through our website is not part of this or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC. The public can also obtain copies of these filings by accessing the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investment in any securities offered pursuant to this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement involves significant risks. You should carefully consider the risk factors incorporated by reference to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2023, and any subsequent reports we file with the SEC after the date of this prospectus, and all other information contained or incorporated by reference into this prospectus, as updated by our subsequent filings under the Exchange Act, and the risk factors and other information contained in the applicable prospectus supplement and any applicable free writing prospectus before making a decision about investing in our securities. The risks and uncertainties we have described are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. The occurrence of any of these risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment in the offered securities.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about us and our industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Any statements contained herein or therein that are not statements of historical facts, including statements regarding our future results of operations or financial condition, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. These forward- looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the following:

 

   

the timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our drug candidates, including statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of studies or trials and related preparatory work, the period during which the results of the trials will become available and our research and development programs;

 

   

the timing of any Investigational New Drug, or IND, submissions, initiation of clinical trials and timing of expected clinical results for our lead drug candidate, ACR-368, ACR-2316, and our other future drug candidates;

 

   

the timing of any submission of filings for regulatory approval of, and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for, ACR-368, ACR-2316, and any other drug candidates for any indication;

 

   

our ability to identify patients with the cancers treated by our drug candidates, and to enroll patients in trials;

 

   

our expectations regarding the size of the patient populations, market acceptance and opportunity for and clinical utility of our drug candidates, if approved for commercial use;

 

   

our manufacturing capabilities and strategy, including the scalability and commercial viability of our manufacturing methods and processes;

 

   

our expectations regarding the scope of any approved indication for ACR-368, ACR-2316, or any other drug candidate;

 

   

our ability to successfully commercialize our drug candidates;

 

   

our ability to leverage our proprietary precision medicine platform, Acrivon Predictive Precision Proteomics, or AP3, to identify and develop future drug candidates;

 

   

our estimates of our expenses, ongoing losses, future revenue, capital requirements and our need for or ability to obtain additional funding before we can expect to generate any revenue from drug sales;

 

   

our ability to establish or maintain collaborations or strategic relationships;

 

   

our ability to identify, recruit and retain key personnel;

 

   

our reliance upon intellectual property licensed from third parties and our ability to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms or at all;

 

   

our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property position for our drug candidates, and the scope of such protection;

 

   

our financial performance;

 

   

our competitive position and the development of and projections relating to our competitors or our industry;

 

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our estimates regarding future revenue, expenses and needs for additional financing;

 

   

our anticipated use of net proceeds from any offering of our securities pursuant to this prospectus;

 

   

the impact of laws and regulations; and

 

   

our expectations regarding the time during which we will be an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.

You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks and uncertainties, including the risks described under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus and any related free writing prospectus, and in any other documents incorporated herein or therein (including in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings we make with the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Exchange Act). New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. The results, events, and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual results, events, or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

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

The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this prospectus or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in or expressed by, and you should not place undue reliance on, our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, or investments.

You should read this prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by the foregoing cautionary statements.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

Unless we specify otherwise in any applicable prospectus supplement or in any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you in connection with a specific offering, we currently intend to use the net proceeds from sales of securities by us for general corporate purposes. These purposes may include clinical trials, research and development expenditures, potential strategic acquisitions or licensing of complementary businesses, assets, services or technologies, expenditures to build our development and commercialization capabilities, further expansion of our manufacturing capacity, working capital and capital expenditures, and any other corporate purpose. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot specify with certainty all of the particular uses of the net proceeds from the sale of securities under this prospectus. Accordingly, we will retain broad discretion over the use of such proceeds. Pending the use of the net proceeds described above, we plan to invest any net proceeds from sales of securities by us in a variety of capital preservation investments, including short- and intermediate-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade instruments, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government. We will not receive proceeds from sales of securities by persons other than us except as may otherwise be stated in an applicable prospectus supplement.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

The following description summarizes certain information about our capital stock. The summary does not purport to be complete and is subject, and qualified in its entirety by reference, to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or certificate of incorporation, and our amended and restated bylaws, or bylaws, each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and the applicable provisions of Delaware law. See “Incorporation by Reference.”

General

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue up to 500,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share. Our board of directors may establish the rights and preferences of the preferred stock from time to time.

As of September 30, 2023, 22,104,469 shares of our common stock were outstanding and no shares of our preferred stock were outstanding.

Common Stock

Voting Rights

Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors. The affirmative vote of holders of at least 662/3% of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of capital stock, voting as a single class, is required to amend certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation, including provisions relating to amending our bylaws, the classified board, the size of our board, removal of directors, director liability, vacancies on our board, special meetings, stockholder notices, actions by written consent and exclusive forum.

Dividends

Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then-outstanding preferred stock, holders of common stock are entitled to receive ratably those dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by the board of directors out of legally available funds.

Liquidation

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of common stock would be entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then-outstanding shares of preferred stock.

Rights and Preferences

Holders of common stock have no preemptive, conversion or subscription rights and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the right of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate in the future.

Fully Paid and Nonassessable

All of our outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.

 

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Preferred Stock

Our board of directors has the authority under our certificate of incorporation, without further action by our stockholders, to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series, to fix the rights, preferences and privileges of the shares of each wholly unissued series and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereon, and to increase or decrease the number of shares of any such series, but not below the number of shares of such series then outstanding.

Our board of directors may authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock. The purpose of authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock and determine its rights and preferences is to eliminate delays associated with a stockholder vote on specific issuances. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could, among other things, have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us and may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock. It is not possible to state the actual effect of the issuance of any shares of preferred stock on the rights of holders of common stock until the board of directors determines the specific rights attached to that preferred stock.

Anti-Takeover Provisions

Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law

We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years after the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, with the following exceptions:

 

   

before such date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

   

upon completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction began, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding, but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder, those shares owned (i) by persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

 

   

on or after such date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 662/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

In general, Section 203 defines a “business combination” to include the following:

 

   

any merger or consolidation involving the corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the corporation and the interested stockholder;

 

   

any sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge, transfer or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation or of any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary involving the interested stockholder (in one transaction or a series of transactions);

 

   

subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation or by any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the corporation of any stock of the corporation or of such subsidiary to the interested stockholder;

 

   

any transaction involving the corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock or any class or series of the corporation or any such subsidiary beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or

 

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the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits by or through the corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary.

In general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as an entity or person who, together with the person’s affiliates and associates, beneficially owns, or within three years prior to the time of determination of interested stockholder status did own, 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws

Our certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors is divided into three classes with staggered three-year terms. Only one class of directors will be elected at each annual meeting of our stockholders, with the other classes continuing for the remainder of their respective three-year terms. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws also provides that directors may be removed by the stockholders only for cause upon the vote of 6623% or more of our outstanding common stock. Furthermore, the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors, and vacancies and newly created directorships on the board of directors may, except as otherwise required by law or determined by the board and subject to the rights of any series of then-outstanding preferred stock, only be filled by a majority vote of the directors then serving on the board, even though less than a quorum.

Under our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights. Because of this, the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors can elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws also provide that all stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called meeting of stockholders and eliminate the right of stockholders to act by written consent without a meeting. Our bylaws also provide that only our Chairman of the board, Chief Executive Officer or the board of directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority of the total number of authorized directors may call a special meeting of stockholders.

Our bylaws also provide that stockholders seeking to present proposals before a meeting of stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors at a meeting of stockholders must provide timely advance notice in writing, and specifies requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that the stockholders cannot amend many of the provisions described above except by a vote of 6623% or more of our outstanding common stock.

As described in “—Preferred Stock” above, our restated certificate gives our board of directors the authority, without further action by our stockholders, to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series, with any rights, preferences and privileges as they may designate, including the right to approve an acquisition or other change in control.

The combination of these provisions make it more difficult for our existing stockholders to replace our board of directors as well as for another party to obtain control of us by replacing our board of directors. Since our board of directors has the power to retain and discharge our officers, these provisions may also make it more difficult for existing stockholders or another party to effect a change in management. In addition, the authorization of undesignated preferred stock makes it possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that may impede the success of any attempt to change our control.

These provisions are intended to enhance the likelihood of continued stability in the composition of our board of directors and its policies and to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to reduce our vulnerability to hostile takeovers and to discourage certain

 

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tactics that may be used in proxy fights. However, such provisions may have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares and may have the effect of delaying changes in our control or management. As a consequence, these provisions may also inhibit fluctuations in the market price of our stock that could result from actual or rumored takeover attempts. We believe that the benefits of these provisions, including increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure our company, outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging takeover proposals, because negotiation of takeover proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.

Choice of Forum

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the state of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law:

 

   

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 Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation, or our bylaws; or

 

   

any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.

The provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims.

To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our certificate of incorporation also provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the exclusive forum provisions of our certificate of incorporation. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there can be no assurance that the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions.

These exclusive 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, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur further significant additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, all of which could seriously harm our business.

Our certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, subject to and contingent upon a final adjudication in the State of Delaware of the enforceability of such exclusive forum provision.

Listing

Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “ACRV.”

 

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Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Equiniti Trust Company, LLC. The transfer agent and registrar’s address is 6201 15th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11219.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES

The following description summarizes certain terms and conditions of the debt securities that we may offer and sell pursuant to this prospectus. When we offer to sell a particular series of debt securities, we will describe the specific terms and conditions of the series in a prospectus supplement to this prospectus. We will also indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement whether the general terms and conditions described in this prospectus apply to the series. The terms and conditions of the series may be different in one or more respects from the terms and conditions described below. If so, those differences will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the indenture, which may be amended or supplemented from time to time, that contains the terms of the debt securities.

The following summary of provisions of the indenture does not purport to be complete and is subject, and qualified in its entirety by reference, to the complete text of the indenture, including, but not limited to, definitions therein of certain terms. This summary may not contain all of the information that you may find useful. The terms and conditions of the debt securities of each series will be set forth in those debt securities and in the indenture and in the applicable prospectus supplement.

The form of indenture has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. A form of each debt security, reflecting the specific terms and provisions of that series of debt securities, will be filed with the SEC in connection with each offering and will be incorporated by reference in the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.

General

We may offer the debt securities from time to time in as many distinct series as we may determine. The indenture does not limit the amount of debt securities that we may issue thereunder. We may, without the consent of the holders of the debt securities of any series, issue additional debt securities ranking equally with, and otherwise similar in all respects to, the debt securities of the series (except for the public offering price and the issue date) so that those additional debt securities will be consolidated and form a single series with the debt securities of the series previously offered and sold.

The debt securities of each series will be issued in fully registered form without interest coupons. We currently anticipate that the debt securities of each series offered and sold pursuant to this prospectus will be issued as global debt securities as described under “Global Debt Securities” and will trade in book-entry form only.

Debt securities denominated in U.S. dollars will be issued in denominations of $2,000 and any integral multiple of $1,000 in excess thereof, unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement. If the debt securities of a series are denominated in a foreign or composite currency, the applicable prospectus supplement will specify the denomination or denominations in which those debt securities will be issued.

Unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will repay the debt securities of each series at 100% of their principal amount, together with any premium and accrued and unpaid interest thereon at maturity, except if those debt securities have been previously redeemed or purchased and cancelled.

Unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement, the debt securities of each series will not be listed on any securities exchange.

Provisions of Indenture

A prospectus supplement, the indenture, and a supplemental indenture or authorizing resolution of our board of directors (including any related officer’s certificate or Company order), if any, relating to any series of debt

 

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securities being offered will include specific terms relating to the offering. These terms will include some or all of the following:

 

   

the form and title of the debt securities;

 

   

the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities and any limit on the aggregate principal amount, provided, however, that such amount may from time to time be increased by a resolution of our board of directors;

 

   

the price or prices at which the debt securities will be sold;

 

   

the person to whom any interest on a debt security of the series will be payable, if other than the person in whose name that debt security is registered;

 

   

the date or dates on which the principal of the debt securities will be payable;

 

   

the rate or rates (fixed or variable, or combination thereof) at which the debt securities shall bear interest, if any, or the method of determining such rate or rates;

 

   

the date or dates on which any such interest shall be payable, the date or dates on which payment of any such interest shall commence and the record dates, if any, for such payment date or dates, or the method of determining such date or dates, and the basis upon which interest shall be calculated if other than that of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months, the right, if any, to extend or defer interest payments and the duration of such extension or deferral;

 

   

any optional or mandatory redemption or repayment option, including any sinking fund, amortization or analogous provisions;

 

   

if other than a minimum denomination equal to $2,000 or an integral multiple of $1,000 in excess thereof, the denominations in which any debt securities of the series will be issuable;

 

   

any special tax implications of the debt securities, including provisions for original issue discount securities, if offered;

 

   

any provisions granting special rights to holders when a specified event occurs;

 

   

the percentage of the principal amount at which the debt securities will be issued and any payments due if the maturity of the debt securities is accelerated;

 

   

any Events of Default or covenants with respect to the debt securities that differ from, or are in addition to, those set forth in the indenture;

 

   

if other than U.S. dollars, the currency or currencies for which the debt securities will be issued or in which the principal thereof, any premium thereon and any interest thereon will be payable;

 

   

provisions regarding the convertibility or exchangeability of the debt securities;

 

   

provisions pertaining to the issuance of debt securities in the form of global debt securities, as described below;

 

   

provisions relating to the satisfaction and discharge of the indenture;

 

   

the form of and conditions to issuance of debt securities issuable in definitive form, other than as described below;

 

   

if other than the trustee, the identity of any other trustee, the registrar for the debt securities and any paying agent;

 

   

whether the debt securities of the series will be guaranteed by any persons and, if so, the identity of such persons, the terms and conditions upon which such debt securities will be guaranteed and, if applicable, the terms and conditions upon which such guarantees may be subordinated to other indebtedness of the respective guarantors;

 

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whether the debt securities of the series will be secured by any collateral and, if so, the terms and conditions upon which such debt securities will be secured and, if applicable, upon which such liens may be subordinated to other liens securing other indebtedness of us or of any guarantor;

 

   

whether the debt securities will be issued in a transaction exempt from registration under the Securities Act and any restriction or condition on the transferability of the debt securities of such series;

 

   

the exchanges, if any, on which the debt securities may be listed;

 

   

the terms of any right to convert or exchange debt securities of such series into any other securities or property of ours or of any other corporation or person, and the additions or changes, if any, to the indenture with respect to the debt securities of such series to permit or facilitate such conversion or exchange; and

 

   

any other terms not prohibited by the provisions of the indenture.

Global Debt Securities

Certain series of the debt securities may be issued as permanent global debt securities to be deposited with a depositary with respect to that series. Unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, the following is a summary of the depository arrangements applicable to debt securities issued in permanent global form and for which The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, acts as depositary.

Each global debt security will be deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC, as depositary, or its nominee and registered in the name of a nominee of DTC. Except under the limited circumstances described below, global debt securities are not exchangeable for definitive certificated debt securities.

Ownership of beneficial interests in a global debt security is limited to institutions that have accounts with DTC or its nominee, or participants, or persons that may hold interests through participants. In addition, ownership of beneficial interests by participants in a global debt security will be evidenced only by, and the transfer of that ownership interest will be effected only through, records maintained by DTC or its nominee for a global debt security. Ownership of beneficial interests in a global debt security by persons that hold through participants will be evidenced only by, and the transfer of that ownership interest within that participant will be effected only through, records maintained by that participant. DTC has no knowledge of the actual beneficial owners of the debt securities. Beneficial owners will not receive written confirmation from DTC of their purchase, but beneficial owners are expected to receive written confirmations providing details of the transaction, as well as periodic statements of their holdings, from the participants through which the beneficial owners entered the transaction. The laws of some jurisdictions require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability to transfer beneficial interests in a global debt security.

Payments on debt securities represented by a global debt security registered in the name of or held by DTC or its nominee will be made to DTC or its nominee, as the case may be, as the registered owner and holder of the global debt security representing the debt securities. We expect that upon receipt of any payments with respect to a global debt security, DTC will immediately credit accounts of participants on its book- entry registration and transfer system with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in the principal amount of that global debt security as shown in the records of DTC. Payments by participants to owners of beneficial interests in a global debt security held through those participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in “street name,” and will be the sole responsibility of those participants, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements that may be in effect from time to time.

Neither we, any trustee nor any of our respective agents will be responsible for any aspect of the records of DTC, any nominee or any participant relating to, or payments made on account of, beneficial interests in a

 

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permanent global debt security or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any of the records of DTC, any nominee or any participant relating to such beneficial interests.

A global debt security is exchangeable for definitive debt securities registered in the name of, and a transfer of a global debt security may be registered to, any person other than DTC or its nominee, only if:

 

   

DTC notifies us that it is unwilling or unable to continue as depositary for that global debt security or at any time DTC ceases to be registered under the Exchange Act, and a successor depositary is not appointed by us within 90 days after our receipt of such notice;

 

   

there shall have occurred and be continuing an event of default under the debt securities and the registrar shall have received a request from the depositary to issue certificated securities;

 

   

we determine in our sole discretion that the global debt security will be exchangeable for definitive debt securities in registered form; or

 

   

as may be provided in any applicable prospectus supplement.

Any global debt security that is exchangeable pursuant to the preceding sentence will be exchangeable in whole for definitive debt securities in registered form, of like tenor and of an equal aggregate principal amount as the global debt security. The definitive debt securities will be registered by the registrar in the name or names instructed by DTC. We expect that these instructions may be based on directions received by DTC from its participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the global debt security.

Except as provided above, owners of the beneficial interests in a global debt security will not be entitled to receive physical delivery of debt securities in definitive form and will not be considered the holders of debt securities for any purpose under the indenture. No global debt security will be exchangeable except for another global debt security of like denomination and tenor to be registered in the name of DTC or its nominee. Accordingly, each person owning a beneficial interest in a global debt security must rely on the procedures of DTC and, if that person is not a participant, on the procedures of the participant through which that person owns its interest, to exercise any rights of a holder under the global debt security or the indenture.

We understand that, under existing industry practices, in the event that we request any action of holders, or an owner of a beneficial interest in a global debt security desires to give or take any action that a holder is entitled to give or take under the debt securities or the indenture, DTC would authorize the participants holding the relevant beneficial interest to give or take that action, and those participants would authorize beneficial owners owning through those participants to give or take that action or would otherwise act upon the instructions of beneficial owners owning through them.

DTC is a limited purpose trust company organized under the laws of the State of New York, a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law, a member of the Federal Reserve System, a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code and a “clearing agency” pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act. DTC was created to hold securities of its participants and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of securities transactions among its participants in those securities through electronic book-entry changes in accounts of the participants, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates. DTC’s participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations. DTC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, or DTCC. DTCC is the holding company for DTC, National Securities Clearance Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, all of which are registered clearing agencies. DTCC is owned by the users of its regulated subsidiaries. Access to the DTC system is also available to others, such as banks, brokers, dealers, trust companies and clearing corporations that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a participant, either directly or indirectly. The rules applicable to DTC and its participants are on file with the SEC. More information about DTC can be found at www.dtcc.com; the information contained on that website is not incorporated in this prospectus or in any prospectus supplement.

 

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Certain Covenants

The indenture sets forth limited covenants that will apply to each series of debt securities issued under the indenture, unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement. Under the indenture, we will agree to:

 

   

pay the principal of, and interest and any premium on, the debt securities when due;

 

   

maintain a place of payment;

 

   

deliver an officer’s certificate to the trustee within 120 days after the end of each fiscal year regarding our review of compliance with our obligations under the indenture;

 

   

maintain our corporate existence; and

 

   

deposit sufficient funds with any paying agent on or before the due date for any payment of principal, interest or premium.

Consolidation, Merger or Asset Sale

The indenture generally will allow us to consolidate with or merge into any other person, association or entity. The indenture will also allow us to convey, transfer or lease our property and assets as, or substantially as, an entirety to a person, association or entity.

However, we will only consolidate with or merge into any other person, association or entity or convey, transfer or lease our properties and assets as, or substantially as, an entirety according to the terms and conditions of the indenture, including the following requirements:

 

   

(i) we are the surviving person or (ii) the remaining or acquiring person, association or entity is a corporation or partnership organized under the laws of the United States, any state or the District of Columbia and expressly assumes all of our responsibilities and liabilities under the indenture, including the punctual payment of all amounts due on the debt securities and performance of the covenants in the indenture;

 

   

immediately after giving effect to the transaction, no Event of Default, and no event which, after notice or lapse of time or both, would become an Event of Default, as defined below, exists; and

 

   

delivery to the trustee of an officer’s certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that all related conditions have been satisfied.

The remaining or acquiring person, association or entity will be substituted for us in the indenture with the same effect as if it had been an original party to the indenture. Thereafter, the successor may exercise our rights and powers under the indenture, in our name or in its own name. If we sell or transfer our assets substantially as an entirety, we will be released from all our liabilities and obligations under the indenture and the debt securities. If we lease our assets substantially as an entirety, we will not be released from our obligations under the indenture and the debt securities.

Events of Default

Unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement, each of the following events will be an Event of Default under the indenture with respect to any series of debt securities issued under the indenture:

 

   

failure to pay any interest on any debt security of the series when due, continued for 30 days;

 

   

failure to pay principal of (or premium, if any, on) any debt security of the series when due;

 

   

failure to deposit a sinking fund payment when and as due by the terms of a debt security of the series;

 

   

failure to perform or comply with any covenant in the indenture or related supplemental indenture, continued for 90 days after written notice as provided in the indenture;

 

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certain events in bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization affecting us; and

 

   

any other Event of Default set forth in the indenture or supplemental indenture relating to the debt securities of that series.

An Event of Default for a particular series of debt securities does not necessarily constitute an Event of Default for any other series of debt securities issued under the indenture. The trustee may withhold notice to the holders of a series of debt securities of any default, except payment defaults of principal or interest or any premium on those debt securities, if it considers such withholding to be in the interest of the holders.

If an Event of Default occurs and is continuing, then the trustee or the holders of 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may declare the entire principal amount of the debt securities of that series to be due and payable immediately; provided, however, that the holders of a majority of the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities of that series may, under certain circumstances, rescind and annul the declaration.

Subject to provisions in the indenture relating to its duties in case an Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing, the trustee will not be under an obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture at the request, order or direction of any holders of debt securities then outstanding under the indenture, unless the holders shall have offered to the trustee reasonable indemnity. If such reasonable indemnity is provided, the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee or exercising any power conferred on the trustee, for any series of debt securities.

Defeasance

Debt securities of a series may be defeased at any time in accordance with their terms and as set forth in the indenture and described briefly below, unless the securities resolutions or supplemental indenture establishing the terms of the series provides otherwise. Any defeasance may terminate all of our obligations (with limited exceptions) with respect to a series of debt securities and the indenture, or Legal Defeasance, or it may terminate only our obligations under any restrictive covenants which may be applicable to a particular series, or Covenant Defeasance.

We may exercise our Legal Defeasance option even though we have also exercised our Covenant Defeasance option. If we exercise the Legal Defeasance option with respect to a series of debt securities, that series may not be accelerated because of an Event of Default. If we exercise the Covenant Defeasance option, that series of debt securities may not be accelerated by reference to any restrictive covenants which may be applicable to that particular series.

To exercise either defeasance option as to a series of debt securities, we must:

 

   

irrevocably deposit in trust with the trustee or another trustee money or U.S. government obligations in an amount to pay and discharge the principal of and any premium and interest on the debt securities on the stated maturities or redemption dates therefor and any mandatory sinking fund payments;

 

   

deliver a certificate from an independent public accountant or financial advisor expressing its opinion that the payments of principal and interest when due on the deposited U.S. government obligations, without reinvestment, plus any deposited money without investment, will provide cash at the times and in the amounts necessary to pay the principal of and premium and interest when due on all debt securities of the series to maturity or redemption, as the case may be, and any mandatory sinking fund payments; and

 

   

comply with certain other conditions, including that there be no Event of Default at the time of deposit or Event of Default due to bankruptcy on or prior to the 90th day after the deposit date. In particular, we must obtain an opinion of tax counsel that the defeasance will not result in recognition of any gain or loss to holders for federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit.

 

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Discharge

We may discharge all our obligations under the indenture with respect to the notes of any series, other than our obligation to register the transfer of and to exchange notes of that series, when either:

 

   

all outstanding notes of that series (except (i) mutilated, destroyed, lost or stolen notes that have been replaced or paid and notes for whose payment money has been deposited in trust and thereafter repaid to us and (ii) notes for whose payment money has theretofore been deposited in trust or segregated and held in trust by us and thereafter repaid to us or discharged from such trust) have been delivered to the trustee cancelled or for cancellation; or

 

   

all such notes not so delivered for cancellation have either become due and payable or will become due and payable at their stated maturity within one year or are to be called for redemption within one year, and we have deposited with the trustee in trust an amount of cash sufficient to pay the entire indebtedness of such notes, including interest to the stated maturity or applicable redemption date; and

 

   

we have paid all other sums due under the indenture and delivered an officer’s certificate and opinion of counsel to the trustee stating that all related conditions have been satisfied.

Modification of the Indenture

Under the indenture, generally we and the trustee may modify our rights and obligations and the rights of the holders with the consent of the holders of not less than a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series affected by the modification.

No modification of the principal or interest payment terms, no modification reducing the percentage required for any waiver or modifications and no modification impairing the right to institute suit for the enforcement of any payment on debt securities of any series when due, is effective against any holder without its consent.

In addition, we and the trustee may amend the indenture without the consent of any holder of the debt securities to make certain changes, such as:

 

   

curing ambiguities or correcting defects or inconsistencies;

 

   

otherwise adding or changing provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the indenture relating to a particular series of debt securities that does not adversely affect the rights of any holder in any material respect;

 

   

evidencing the succession of another person to us, and the assumption by that successor of our obligations under the indenture and the debt securities of any series;

 

   

providing for the acceptance of appointment by a successor trustee;

 

   

qualifying the indenture under the Trust Indenture Act, or TIA;

 

   

complying with the rules and regulations of any securities exchange or automated quotation system on which debt securities of any series may be listed or traded or any applicable depositary;

 

   

adding, changing or eliminating provisions relating to a particular series of debt securities to be issued, provided that any such addition, change or elimination (1) shall neither (i) apply to any debt security of any series created prior to the execution of such supplemental indenture and entitled to the benefit of such provision nor (ii) modify the rights of the holders of any such debt security with respect to such provision or (2) shall become effective only when there is not such debt security outstanding;

 

   

to establish the form or terms of any debt securities of any series under the indenture; or

 

   

to provide for the issuance of additional debt securities of any series.

 

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No Individual Liability of Officers, Directors, Employees or Stockholders

No director, officer, employee or stockholder, as such, of ours or any of our affiliates will have any personal liability in respect of our obligations under the indenture or the debt securities by reason of his, her or its status as such.

Governing Law

The indenture and all the debt securities will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.

Regarding the Trustee

The indenture provides that there may be more than one trustee thereunder, each with respect to one or more series of debt securities. If there are different trustees for different series of debt securities, each trustee will be a trustee of a trust or trusts separate and apart from the trust or trusts administered by any other trustee under the indenture. Unless otherwise indicated in any applicable prospectus supplement, any action permitted to be taken by a trustee may be taken by such trustee only with respect to the one or more series of debt securities for which it is the trustee under the indenture. Any trustee under the indenture may resign or be removed with respect to one or more series of debt securities. All payments of principal of, and premium, if any, and interest on, and all registration, transfer, exchange, authentication and delivery (including authentication and delivery on original issuance of the debt securities) of, the debt securities of a series will be effected by the trustee with respect to that series at an office designated by the trustee.

We may maintain corporate trust relationships in the ordinary course of business with the trustee. The trustee shall have and be subject to all the duties and responsibilities specified with respect to an indenture trustee under the TIA. Subject to the provisions of the TIA, the trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers vested in it by the indenture at the request of any holder of debt securities, unless offered satisfactory indemnity by the holder against the costs, expense and liabilities which might be incurred thereby.

Under the TIA, the indenture is deemed to contain limitations on the right of the trustee, should it become a creditor of our company, to obtain payment of claims in some cases or to realize on certain property received in respect of any such claim as security or otherwise. The trustee may engage in other transactions with us. If it acquires any conflicting interest under the TIA relating to any of its duties with respect to the debt securities, however, it must eliminate the conflict or resign as trustee.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS

The following description summarizes certain terms and conditions of the warrants that we may offer and sell pursuant to this prospectus. When we offer to sell a particular series of warrants, we will describe the specific terms and conditions of the warrants in a prospectus supplement to this prospectus. We will also indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement whether the general terms and conditions described in this prospectus apply to the series of warrants. The terms and conditions of the warrants may be different in one or more respects from the terms and conditions described below. If so, those differences will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the complete warrant agreements and warrant certificates that contain the terms of the warrants.

We may issue warrants for the purchase of shares of our common stock or preferred stock or of debt securities. We may issue warrants independently or together with other securities, and the warrants may be attached to or separate from any offered securities. Each series of warrants will be issued under a separate warrant agreement to be entered into between us and the investors or a warrant agent. The terms of any warrants offered under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms described below.

The particular terms of any issue of warrants will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to the issue. Those terms may include:

 

   

the number of shares of common stock or preferred stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants to purchase such shares and the price at which such number of shares may be purchased upon such exercise;

 

   

the designation, stated value and terms (including, without limitation, liquidation, dividend, conversion, and voting rights) of the series of preferred stock issuable upon exercise of warrants to purchase preferred stock;

 

   

the principal amount of debt securities that may be purchased upon exercise of a debt warrant and the exercise price for the warrants, which may be payable in cash, securities or other property;

 

   

the date, if any, on and after which the warrants and the related debt securities, preferred stock or common stock will be separately transferable;

 

   

the terms of any rights to redeem or call the warrants;

 

   

the date on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence and the date on which the right will expire;

 

   

U.S. federal income tax consequences applicable to the warrants; and

 

   

any additional terms of the warrants, including terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange, exercise and settlement of the warrants.

Each warrant will entitle its holder to purchase the principal amount of debt securities or the number of shares of preferred stock or common stock at the exercise price set forth in, or calculable as set forth in, the applicable prospectus supplement. Unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the warrants may exercise the warrants at any time up to the specified time on the expiration date that we set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void.

A holder of warrant certificates may exchange them for new warrant certificates of different denominations, present them for registration of transfer and exercise them at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement. Until any warrants to purchase debt securities are exercised, the holder of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the debt securities that can be purchased upon exercise, including any rights to receive payments of principal, premium or interest on the underlying debt securities or to enforce covenants in the applicable indenture. Until any warrants to purchase

 

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common stock or preferred stock are exercised, the holders of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the underlying common stock or preferred stock, including any rights to receive dividends or payments upon any liquidation, dissolution or winding up on the common stock or preferred stock, if any.

This description and the description in the applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus of any warrants that we may offer is not and will not necessarily be complete and will be subject, and qualified in its entirety by reference, to the applicable warrant agreements and warrant certificates, which will be filed with the SEC.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF UNITS

We may issue units consisting of any combination of the other types of securities offered under this prospectus in one or more series. We may evidence each series of units by unit certificates that we will issue under a separate agreement. We may enter into unit agreements with a unit agent. Each unit agent will be a bank or trust company that we select. We will indicate the name and address of any unit agent in the applicable prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of units.

The following description summarizes certain features of the units that we may offer under this prospectus. When we offer to sell any units, we will describe the specific terms and conditions of the units in a prospectus supplement to this prospectus. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the complete unit agreements that contain the terms of the units. If we offer any units, certain terms of that series of units will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following, as applicable:

 

   

the title of the series of units;

 

   

identification and description of the separate constituent securities comprising the units;

 

   

the price or prices at which the units will be issued;

 

   

the date, if any, on and after which the constituent securities comprising the units will be separately transferable;

 

   

a discussion of certain U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the units; and

 

   

any other terms of the units and their constituent securities.

The description in the applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus of any units that we may offer will not necessarily be complete and will be subject, and qualified in its entirety by reference, to the unit agreement and, if applicable, collateral arrangements and depositary arrangements relating to such units, which will be filed with the SEC.

 

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We may sell the securities offered by this prospectus in any one or more of the following ways from time to time:

 

   

to or through one or more underwriters, brokers or dealers;

 

   

through agents to investors or the public;

 

   

in short or long transactions;

 

   

through put or call option transactions relating to our common stock;

 

   

directly to agents or other purchasers;

 

   

in “at the market offerings” within the meaning of Rule 415(a)(4) of the Securities Act, to or through a market maker or into an existing trading market, on an exchange or otherwise;

 

   

though a combination of any such methods of sale; or

 

   

through any other method described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

In addition, we may issue the securities as a dividend or distribution or in a subscription rights offering to our existing securityholders. This prospectus may be used in connection with any offering of our securities through any of these methods or other methods described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

We may directly solicit offers to purchase securities, or agents may be designated to solicit such offers. We will, in the prospectus supplement relating to such offering, name any agent that could be viewed as an underwriter under the Securities Act, and describe any commissions that we must pay. Any such agent will be acting on a best efforts basis for the period of its appointment or, if indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, on a firm commitment basis.

The distribution of the securities may be effected from time to time in one or more transactions:

 

   

at a fixed price, or prices, which may be changed from time to time;

 

   

at market prices prevailing at the time of sale;

 

   

at prices related to such prevailing market prices; or

 

   

at negotiated prices.

The applicable prospectus supplement will set forth the terms of the offering and the method of distribution and will identify any firms acting as underwriters, dealers or agents in connection with the offering, including:

 

   

the terms of the offering;

 

   

the names of any underwriters, dealers or agents;

 

   

the name or names of any managing underwriter or underwriters;

 

   

the purchase price of the securities and the proceeds to us from the sale;

 

   

any over-allotment options under which the underwriters may purchase additional shares of common stock from us;

 

   

any underwriting discounts, concessions, commissions or agency fees and other items constituting compensation to underwriters, dealers or agents;

 

   

any delayed delivery arrangements;

 

   

any public offering price;

 

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any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid by underwriters or dealers to other dealers;

 

   

any securities exchange or market on which the common stock offered in the prospectus supplement may be listed; or

 

   

other facts material to the transaction.

If we use underwriters for a sale of securities, the underwriters will acquire the securities for their own account for resale to the public, either on a firm commitment basis or a best efforts basis. The underwriters may resell the securities in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. Underwriters may offer the securities to the public either through underwriting syndicates represented by one or more managing underwriters or directly by one or more firms acting as underwriters. If an underwriter or underwriters are used in the sale of securities hereunder, an underwriting agreement will be executed with the underwriter or underwriters at the time an agreement for sale is reached. Unless we inform you otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to certain conditions. We may change from time to time any public offering price and any discounts or concessions the underwriters allow or pay to dealers.

During and after an offering through underwriters, the underwriters may purchase and sell the securities in the open market. These transactions may include overallotment and stabilizing transactions and purchases to cover syndicate short positions created in connection with the offering. The underwriters may also impose a penalty bid, which means that selling concessions allowed to syndicate members or other broker-dealers for the offered securities sold for their account may be reclaimed by the syndicate if the offered securities are repurchased by the syndicate in stabilizing or covering transactions. These activities may stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the market price of the offered securities, which may be higher than the price that might otherwise prevail in the open market. If commenced, the underwriters may discontinue these activities at any time.

Under Rule 15c6-1 of the Exchange Act, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in two business days, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise or the securities are sold by us to an underwriter in a firm commitment underwritten offering. The applicable prospectus supplement may provide that the original issue date for your securities may be more than two scheduled business days after the trade date for your securities. Accordingly, in such a case, if you wish to trade securities on any date prior to the second business day before the original issue date for your securities, you will be required, by virtue of the fact that your securities initially are expected to settle in more than two scheduled business days after the trade date for your securities, to make alternative settlement arrangements to prevent a failed settlement.

Some or all of the securities that we offer though this prospectus may be new issues of securities with no established trading market. Any underwriters to whom we sell our securities for public offering and sale may make a market in those securities, but they will not be obligated to do so and they may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of the liquidity of, or continued trading markets for, any securities that we offer.

If dealers are used for the sale of securities, we, or an underwriter, will sell the securities to them as principals. The dealers may then resell those securities to the public at varying prices determined by the dealers at the time of resale. We will include in the applicable prospectus supplement the names of the dealers and the terms of the transaction.

We may also sell the securities through agents designated from time to time. In the applicable prospectus supplement, we will name any agent involved in the offer or sale of the offered securities, and we will describe any commissions payable to the agent. Unless we inform you otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, any agent will agree to use its reasonable best efforts to solicit purchases for the period of its appointment.

We may sell the securities directly in transactions not involving underwriters, dealers or agents.

 

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We may sell the securities directly to institutional investors or others who may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act with respect to any sale of those securities. We will describe the terms of any such sales in the prospectus supplement.

Underwriters, dealers and agents that participate in the distribution of the securities may be underwriters as defined in the applicable securities laws and any discounts or commissions they receive from us and any profit on their resale of the securities may be treated as underwriting discounts and commissions under the applicable securities laws. We will identify in the applicable prospectus supplement any underwriters, dealers or agents and will describe their compensation. We may have agreements with the underwriters, dealers and agents to indemnify them against specified civil liabilities, including liabilities under the applicable securities laws.

Underwriters, dealers and agents may engage in transactions with or perform services for us in the ordinary course of their businesses for which they may receive customary fees and reimbursement of expenses.

We may use underwriters with whom we have a material relationship. We will describe the nature of such relationship in the applicable prospectus supplement.

Under the securities laws of some states, the securities offered by this prospectus may be sold in those states only through registered or licensed brokers or dealers.

We may enter into hedging transactions with broker-dealers and the broker-dealers may engage in short sales of the securities in the course of hedging the positions they assume with us, including, without limitation, in connection with distributions of the securities by those broker-dealers. We may enter into option or other transactions with broker-dealers that involve the delivery of the securities offered hereby to the broker-dealers, who may then resell or otherwise transfer those securities. We may also loan or pledge the securities offered hereby to a broker-dealer and the broker-dealer may sell the securities offered hereby so loaned or upon a default may sell or otherwise transfer the pledged securities offered hereby.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the securities offered hereby will be passed upon for us by our counsel, Sidley Austin LLP, New York, New York. Additional legal matters may be passed upon for us or any underwriters, dealers or agents, by counsel that we will name in the applicable prospectus supplement.

EXPERTS

The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

 

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LOGO

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc.

$300,000,000

Common Stock

Preferred

Stock

Debt Securities

Warrants

Units

 

 

PROSPECTUS

 

 

                    , 2023

We have not authorized any dealer, salesperson or other person to give any information or represent anything not contained in this prospectus. You must not rely on any unauthorized information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus does not offer to sell any securities in any jurisdiction where it is unlawful. Neither the delivery of this prospectus, nor any sale made hereunder, shall create any implication that the information in this prospectus is correct after the date hereof.

 

 

 


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

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED DECEMBER 1, 2023.

PROSPECTUS

 

LOGO

Up to $100,000,000

Common Stock

 

 

We have entered into a sales agreement (the “sales agreement”) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“TD Cowen”), dated December 1, 2023, relating to shares of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“common stock”), offered by this prospectus. In accordance with the terms of the sales agreement, we may offer and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 from time to time through TD Cowen acting as our agent or principal.

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “ACRV.” On November 28, 2023, the last reported sale price of our common stock on Nasdaq was $3.88 per share.

Sales of our common stock, if any, under this prospectus will be made in sales deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). TD Cowen is not required to sell any specific number of dollar amount of securities, but will act as our sales agent using commercially reasonable efforts consistent with its normal trading and sales practices, on mutually agreed terms between TD Cowen and us. There is no arrangement for funds to be received in any escrow, trust or similar arrangement.

The compensation to TD Cowen for sales of common stock sold pursuant to the sales agreement will be an amount up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any shares of common stock sold under the sales agreement. In connection with the sale of the common stock on our behalf, TD Cowen will be deemed to be an “underwriter” within the meaning of the Securities Act and the compensation of TD Cowen will be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. We have also agreed to provide indemnification and contribution to TD Cowen with respect to certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). See “Plan of Distribution” beginning on page S-14 for additional information regarding the compensation to be paid to TD Cowen.

We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” under federal securities laws and as such, have elected to comply with reduced public company reporting requirements for this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and may elect to comply with reduced public company reporting requirements in future filings. See “Prospectus Summary—Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company.”

Our business and an investment in our common stock involve significant risks. Before making an investment decision, you should review carefully and consider all of the information set forth in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference. These risks are described under the caption “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-4 of this prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

TD Cowen

The date of this prospectus is                    , 2023.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

     S-ii  

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

     S-1  

THE OFFERING

     S-3  

RISK FACTORS

     S-4  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     S-7  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     S-9  

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

     S-10  

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

     S-14  

LEGAL MATTERS

     S-15  

EXPERTS

     S-15  

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

     S-16  

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Under this shelf registration process, we may sell any combination of the securities described in our base prospectus included in the shelf registration statement in one or more offerings up to a total aggregate offering price of $300,000,000. The $100,000,000 of common stock that may be offered, issued and sold under this prospectus is included in the $300,000,000 of securities that may be offered, issued and sold by us pursuant to our shelf registration statement.

You should rely only on the information contained in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus and in any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering. We have not, and TD Cowen has not, authorized any other person to provide you with different or additional information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We are not, and TD Cowen is not, making an offer to sell or soliciting an offer to buy our securities in any jurisdiction in which an offer or solicitation is not authorized or in which the person making that offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so or to anyone to whom it is unlawful to make an offer or solicitation. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and in any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering, is accurate only as of the date of those respective documents. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates. You should read this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering, in their entirety before making an investment decision. You should also read and consider the information in the documents to which we have referred you in the section of this prospectus entitled “Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference” and in the section of the accompanying base prospectus entitled “Where You Can Find More Information.”

We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The distribution of this prospectus and the offering of our common stock in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of our common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States. This prospectus does not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities offered by this prospectus by any person in any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful for such person to make such an offer or solicitation.

In this prospectus, unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Acrivon Therapeutics,” “Acrivon,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms refer to Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and where appropriate, our wholly-owned subsidiaries.

This prospectus and the information incorporated herein or therein by reference include trademarks, service marks and trade names owned by us or other companies. Solely for convenience, trademarks, service marks, and trade names, including logos, artwork, and other visual displays, may appear without the ® or symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, service marks, and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, service marks, or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies. All trademarks, service marks and trade names included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.

 

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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this prospectus or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, and does not contain all of the information that you need to consider in making your investment decision. You should carefully read the entire prospectus and any related free writing prospectus, including the risks of investing in our securities discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” contained in this prospectus and any related free writing prospectus, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus and the accompanying base prospectus. You should also carefully read the information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, including our financial statements, and the exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

Overview

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision oncology medicines that we match to patients whose tumors are predicted to be sensitive to each specific medicine by utilizing our proprietary proteomics-based patient responder identification platform. Recently approved precision oncology treatments, such as kinase inhibitors, have transformed the cancer treatment landscape, and while the therapeutic benefit of these agents has provided significant benefit to patients, these precision oncology treatments unfortunately only address the less than 10% of patients with cancers that harbor certain easily-identifiable genetic mutations. Our approach is designed to overcome the limitations of genomics-based patient selection methods. We do this by using our proprietary precision medicine platform, AP3, to develop our pipeline of oncology drug candidates. Our AP3 platform enables the creation of drug-specific proprietary OncoSignature companion diagnostics that are used to identify the patients most likely to benefit from our drug candidates, which we refer to as patient responders. We are currently advancing our lead candidate, ACR-368, a selective small molecule inhibitor targeting CHK1 and CHK2 with sub single-digit nM and single-digit nM potency, respectively, in a potentially registrational Phase 2 trial across multiple tumor types. We are continuing enrollment and dosing of patients in this multi-center trial based on OncoSignature-predicted sensitivity to ACR-368 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic, recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, as well as endometrial adenocarcinoma or urothelial cancer, two tumor types predicted to be sensitive to ACR-368 through OncoSignature screening and not previously evaluated in past clinical trials.

In November 2023 we announced initial clinical observations from this ongoing trial. Consistent with the overall favorable tolerability profile previously observed in multiple past single-arm trials conducted at recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D), drug-related adverse events were primarily hematological, reversible, and manageable. In the limited number of patients evaluated by imaging to date, preliminary evidence of clinical activity was observed in OncoSignature-positive patients across all three tumor types treated with single agent ACR-368 at RP2D. Consistent with AP3-predicted tumor sensitivity to the combination of ACR-368 and low dose gemcitabine (LDG) in OncoSignature-negative patients, early imaging-based evidence of clinical activity across all three tumor types was also observed in patients treated with ACR-368 at RP2D and LDG during the dose escalation phase.

Our ACR-368 OncoSignature test, which has not yet obtained regulatory approval, has been extensively evaluated in preclinical studies, including in two separate, blinded, prospectively-designed studies on pretreatment tumor biopsies collected from patients with ovarian cancer treated with ACR-368 in past Phase 2 clinical trials conducted by Eli Lilly and Company, or Lilly, and at the National Cancer Institute demonstrating robust enrichment of responders through our method. On May 8, 2023, ACR-368 was granted two Fast Track designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for the investigation of ACR-368 monotherapy for patients with OncoSignature-positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer. On November 16, 2023, the FDA granted a Breakthrough Device designation for the ACR-368 OncoSignature assay, a multiplex immunofluorescence assay for the identification of ovarian cancer patients who may benefit from

 

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ACR-368 treatment. This designation reflects the FDA’s determination that the device is reasonably expected to provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating human disease or conditions.

In addition to ACR-368, Acrivon is also leveraging its proprietary AP3 precision medicine platform for developing its internally-discovered preclinical stage pipeline programs, consisting of its development candidate, ACR-2316, a potentially first-in-class, selective, dual WEE1/PKMYT1 inhibitor which has demonstrated potent single agent activity in preclinical studies compared to clinical-stage benchmark inhibitors and is being rapidly advanced in IND-enabling studies, and additional programs targeting these two critical nodes in the DDR pathways.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. We may take advantage of certain exemptions from various public company reporting requirements, including not being required to have our internal control over financial reporting audited by our independent registered public accounting firm under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments. We may take advantage of these exemptions until December 31, 2027 or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier. We will cease to be an emerging growth company prior to the end of such period if certain earlier events occur, including if we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act, our annual gross revenues exceed $1.235 billion or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt in any three-year period.

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This provision allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have not elected to avail ourselves of this exemption and, therefore, we will 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. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company even after we are no longer an emerging growth company. We may take advantage of certain of the scaled disclosures available to smaller reporting companies and 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 our 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.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in March 2018. Our principal executive offices are located at 480 Arsenal Way, Suite 100, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472 and our telephone number is (617) 207-8979. Our website address is www.acrivon.com. Additionally, our filings with the SEC are posted on our website at www.acrivon.com. The information found on or accessible through our website is not part of this prospectus or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC. We have included our website in this prospectus supplement solely as an inactive textual reference. The public can also obtain copies of these filings by accessing the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

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The Offering

 

Common Stock Offered by Us

Shares of common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000.

 

Manner of Offering

“At the market” offering that may be made from time to time through our sales agent, TD Cowen. See “Plan of Distribution” on page S-14 of this prospectus.

 

Use of Proceeds

Our management will retain broad discretion regarding the allocation and use of the net proceeds from this offering. We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, if any, for general corporate purposes and working capital, including for preclinical studies and clinical trials and the advancement of our product candidates. See “Use of Proceeds” on page S-9 of this prospectus.

 

Risk Factors

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-4 of this prospectus and the other information included in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus for a discussion of certain factors that you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in shares of our common stock.

 

Nasdaq Global Market symbol

“ACRV”

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves risk. You should carefully consider the specific risks discussed below, together with all the other information contained in the prospectus or incorporated by reference into this prospectus. You should also consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2023, and in subsequent filings, which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus. These risk factors may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports we file with the SEC in the future. These risks and uncertainties are not the only risks and uncertainties we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently view as immaterial, may also impair our business. If any of the risks or uncertainties described in our SEC filings or any additional risks and uncertainties actually occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the trading price of our securities could decline and you might lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to This Offering

We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering and could spend the proceeds in ways with which you may not agree. Accordingly, you will be relying on the judgment of our management with regard to the use of the net proceeds, and you will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. It is possible that the net proceeds will be invested or otherwise used in a way that does not yield a favorable, or any, return for the Company.

Investors in this offering may experience immediate and substantial dilution in the net tangible book value per share of the common stock they purchase.

The shares sold in this offering, if any, will be sold from time to time at various prices. The price per share of our common stock being offered may be higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock, and as such, you may suffer substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of the common stock you purchase in this offering. In addition, we have a significant number of options outstanding. If the holders of these options exercise such options, you may incur further dilution.

Our stockholders may experience significant dilution as a result of future equity offerings and exercise of outstanding options.

In order to raise additional capital, we may in the future offer additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock. We cannot assure you that we will be able to sell shares or other securities in any other offering at a price per share that is equal to or greater than the price per share paid by investors in this offering, and investors purchasing shares or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing stockholders. The price per share at which we sell additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock in future transactions may be higher or lower than the price per share in this offering.

In addition, we have a number of securities allowing the purchase of our common stock. As of September 30, 2023, 318,675 shares of our common stock were reserved for future issuance under our 2023 Inducement Plan, 1,114,904 shares of our common stock were reserved for future issuance under our 2022 Equity Incentive Plan, and 434,204 shares of our common stock were reserved for future issuance under our 2022 Employee Stock Purchase Plan. As of that date, there were also options to purchase 3,196,965 shares of our common stock outstanding. The exercise of outstanding options having an exercise price per share that is less than the offering price per share in this offering will result in dilution to investors in this offering.

 

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It is not possible to predict the actual number of shares we will sell under the sales agreement or aggregate proceeds resulting from sales made under the sales agreement.

Subject to certain limitations in the sales agreement and compliance with applicable law, we have the discretion to deliver a placement notice to TD Cowen at any time throughout the term of the sales agreement. The number of shares that are sold through or to TD Cowen after delivering a placement notice will fluctuate based on a number of factors, including the market price of our common stock during the sales period, any limits we may set with TD Cowen in any applicable placement notice and the demand for our common stock. Because the price per share of each share sold pursuant to the sales agreement will fluctuate over time, it is not currently possible to predict the actual number of shares that will be sold or the aggregate proceeds to be raised in connection with sales under the sales agreement.

The common stock offered hereby will be sold in “at-the-market offerings” and investors who buy shares at different times will likely pay different prices.

Investors who purchase shares in this offering at different times will likely pay different prices, and accordingly may experience different levels of dilution and different outcomes in their investment results. We will have discretion, subject to market demand, to vary the timing, prices and number of shares sold in this offering. In addition, subject to the final determination by our board of directors or any restrictions we may place in any applicable placement notice, there is no minimum or maximum sales price for shares to be sold in this offering. Investors may experience a decline in the value of the shares they purchase in this offering as a result of sales made at prices lower than the prices they paid.

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

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

The trading price of the shares of our common stock may be volatile, and purchasers of our common stock in this offering could incur substantial losses.

Our stock price may be volatile. The stock market in general and the market for biopharmaceutical companies in particular have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, investors may not be able to sell their common stock at or above the price paid for the shares. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including but not limited to:

 

   

the reporting of unfavorable preclinical results:

 

   

the commencement, enrollment or results of our clinical trials of ACR-368 or any future clinical trials we may conduct, or changes in the development status of our drug candidates;

 

   

any delay in our regulatory filings for our product candidates and any adverse development or any delay in our regulatory filings for ACR-368 or any other drug candidate we may develop, and any adverse development or perceived adverse development with respect to the applicable regulatory authority’s review of such filings, including without limitation the FDA’s issuance of a “refusal to file” letter or a request for additional information;

 

   

adverse results from, delays in or termination of clinical trials;

 

   

adverse regulatory decisions, including failure to receive regulatory approval of our drug candidates;

 

   

unanticipated serious safety concerns related to the use of ACR-368 or any other drug candidate;

 

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changes in financial estimates by us or by any equity research analysts who might cover our stock;

 

   

conditions or trends in our industry;

 

   

changes in the market valuations of similar companies;

 

   

stock market price and volume fluctuations of comparable companies and, in particular, those that operate in the biopharmaceutical industry;

 

   

publication of research reports about us or our industry or positive or negative recommendations or withdrawal of research coverage by securities analysts;

 

   

announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships or divestitures;

 

   

our relationships with our collaborators;

 

   

announcements of investigations or regulatory scrutiny of our operations or lawsuits filed against us;

 

   

investors’ general perception of our company and our business;

 

   

recruitment or departure of key personnel;

 

   

overall performance of the equity markets;

 

   

trading volume of our common stock;

 

   

disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our technologies;

 

   

significant lawsuits, including patent or stockholder litigation or employee or independent contractor litigation;

 

   

changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;

 

   

general political and economic conditions;

 

   

other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control; and

 

   

the other factors described in the “Risk Factors” sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2023 and in subsequent filings, which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

The stock market in general, and the market for biotechnology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies, including recently in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation and increasing interest rates, which have resulted in decreased stock prices for many companies notwithstanding the lack of a fundamental change in their underlying business models or prospects. Broad market and industry factors, including potentially worsening economic conditions, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. The realization of any of the above risks or any of a broad range of other risks, including those described in this section, could have a significant and material adverse impact on the market price of our common stock.

In addition, in the past, stockholders have initiated class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies following periods of volatility in the market prices of these companies’ stock. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could cause us to incur substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

 

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus includes and incorporates by reference “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and releases issued by the SEC and within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions. These forward- looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the following:

 

   

the timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials of our drug candidates, including statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of studies or trials and related preparatory work, the period during which the results of the trials will become available and our research and development programs;

 

   

the timing of any Investigational New Drug, or IND, submissions, initiation of clinical trials and timing of expected clinical results for our lead drug candidate, ACR-368, ACR-2316, and our other future drug candidates;

 

   

the timing of any submission of filings for regulatory approval of, and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for, ACR-368, ACR-2316, and any other drug candidates for any indication;

 

   

our ability to identify patients with the cancers treated by our drug candidates, and to enroll patients in trials;

 

   

our expectations regarding the size of the patient populations, market acceptance and opportunity for and clinical utility of our drug candidates, if approved for commercial use;

 

   

our manufacturing capabilities and strategy, including the scalability and commercial viability of our manufacturing methods and processes;

 

   

our expectations regarding the scope of any approved indication for ACR-368, ACR-2316, or any other drug candidate;

 

   

our ability to successfully commercialize our drug candidates;

 

   

our ability to leverage our proprietary precision medicine platform, Acrivon Predictive Precision Proteomics, or AP3, to identify and develop future drug candidates;

 

   

our estimates of our expenses, ongoing losses, future revenue, capital requirements and our need for or ability to obtain additional funding before we can expect to generate any revenue from drug sales;

 

   

our ability to establish or maintain collaborations or strategic relationships;

 

   

our ability to identify, recruit and retain key personnel;

 

   

our reliance upon intellectual property licensed from third parties and our ability to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms or at all;

 

   

our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property position for our drug candidates, and the scope of such protection;

 

   

our financial performance;

 

   

our competitive position and the development of and projections relating to our competitors or our industry;

 

   

our estimates regarding future revenue, expenses and needs for additional financing;

 

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the impact of laws and regulations;

 

   

our expectations regarding the time during which we will be an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act; and

 

   

our intended use of proceeds from offerings of our common stock pursuant to this prospectus.

These statements are based on management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our business and industry, are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control, and that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. We discuss many of these risks in greater detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read these factors and the other cautionary statements made in this prospectus as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear herein or therein. If one or more of these factors materialize, or if any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements may vary materially from any future results, activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements made by us, which speak only as of the date they were made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward- looking statements after the date of this prospectus, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

You should read this prospectus and documents we have filed with the SEC that are incorporated by reference and any free writing prospectus that we may authorize for use in connection with this offering completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of the forward-looking statements in the foregoing documents by these cautionary statements.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We may issue and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate sales proceeds of up to $100,000,000 from time to time under this prospectus. The amount of proceeds from this offering will depend upon the number of shares of our common stock sold and the market price at which they are sold. There can be no assurance that we will be able to sell any shares under, or fully utilize, the sales agreement with TD Cowen as a source of financing.

As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the net proceeds to be received. We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, if any, for general corporate purposes and working capital, including for preclinical studies and clinical trials and the advancement of our product candidates.

We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering payable to us for general corporate purposes, including expenditures aimed at growing our business and research and development expenditures focused on product development. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures and the extent of our research and development activities may vary significantly depending on numerous factors, including the actual net proceeds from this offering (which will depend on the market price of our common stock during the sales period, any limits we may set with TD Cowen in any applicable placement notice and the demand for our common stock), the progress of our development efforts, the timing and costs associated with the manufacture and supply of any of our product candidates and any unforeseen cash needs, including the factors described under “Risk Factors” in this prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference herein. As a result, our management will have broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds from this offering.

Pending the uses described above, we intend to invest the net proceeds from this offering in interest- bearing, investment-grade securities, certificates of deposit or government securities.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

The following description summarizes certain information about our capital stock. The summary does not purport to be complete and is subject, and qualified in its entirety by reference, to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or certificate of incorporation, and our amended and restated bylaws, or bylaws, each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and the applicable provisions of Delaware law. See “Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference.”

General

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue up to 500,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share. Our board of directors may establish the rights and preferences of the preferred stock from time to time.

As of September 30, 2023, 22,104,469 shares of our common stock were outstanding and no shares of our preferred stock were outstanding.

Common Stock

Voting Rights

Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors. The affirmative vote of holders of at least 662/3% of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of capital stock, voting as a single class, is required to amend certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation, including provisions relating to amending our bylaws, the classified board, the size of our board, removal of directors, director liability, vacancies on our board, special meetings, stockholder notices, actions by written consent and exclusive forum.

Dividends

Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then-outstanding preferred stock, holders of common stock are entitled to receive ratably those dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by the board of directors out of legally available funds.

Liquidation

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of common stock would be entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then-outstanding shares of preferred stock.

Rights and Preferences

Holders of common stock have no preemptive, conversion or subscription rights and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the right of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate in the future.

Fully Paid and Nonassessable

All of our outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.

 

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Preferred Stock

Our board of directors has the authority under our certificate of incorporation, without further action by our stockholders, to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series, to fix the rights, preferences and privileges of the shares of each wholly unissued series and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereon, and to increase or decrease the number of shares of any such series, but not below the number of shares of such series then outstanding.

Our board of directors may authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock. The purpose of authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock and determine its rights and preferences is to eliminate delays associated with a stockholder vote on specific issuances. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could, among other things, have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us and may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock. It is not possible to state the actual effect of the issuance of any shares of preferred stock on the rights of holders of common stock until the board of directors determines the specific rights attached to that preferred stock.

Anti-Takeover Provisions

Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law

We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years after the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, with the following exceptions:

 

   

before such date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

   

upon completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction began, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding, but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder, those shares owned (i) by persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

 

   

on or after such date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 662/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

In general, Section 203 defines a “business combination” to include the following:

 

   

any merger or consolidation involving the corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the corporation and the interested stockholder;

 

   

any sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge, transfer or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation or of any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary involving the interested stockholder (in one transaction or a series of transactions);

 

   

subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation or by any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the corporation of any stock of the corporation or of such subsidiary to the interested stockholder;

 

   

any transaction involving the corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock or any class or series of the corporation or any such subsidiary beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or

 

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the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits by or through the corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary.

In general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as an entity or person who, together with the person’s affiliates and associates, beneficially owns, or within three years prior to the time of determination of interested stockholder status did own, 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws

Our certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors is divided into three classes with staggered three-year terms. Only one class of directors will be elected at each annual meeting of our stockholders, with the other classes continuing for the remainder of their respective three-year terms. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws also provides that directors may be removed by the stockholders only for cause upon the vote of 6623% or more of our outstanding common stock. Furthermore, the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors, and vacancies and newly created directorships on the board of directors may, except as otherwise required by law or determined by the board and subject to the rights of any series of then-outstanding preferred stock, only be filled by a majority vote of the directors then serving on the board, even though less than a quorum.

Under our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights. Because of this, the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors can elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws also provide that all stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called meeting of stockholders and eliminate the right of stockholders to act by written consent without a meeting. Our bylaws also provide that only our Chairman of the board, Chief Executive Officer or the board of directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority of the total number of authorized directors may call a special meeting of stockholders.

Our bylaws also provide that stockholders seeking to present proposals before a meeting of stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors at a meeting of stockholders must provide timely advance notice in writing, and specifies requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that the stockholders cannot amend many of the provisions described above except by a vote of 6623% or more of our outstanding common stock.

As described in “—Preferred Stock” above, our restated certificate gives our board of directors the authority, without further action by our stockholders, to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series, with any rights, preferences and privileges as they may designate, including the right to approve an acquisition or other change in control.

The combination of these provisions make it more difficult for our existing stockholders to replace our board of directors as well as for another party to obtain control of us by replacing our board of directors. Since our board of directors has the power to retain and discharge our officers, these provisions may also make it more difficult for existing stockholders or another party to effect a change in management. In addition, the authorization of undesignated preferred stock makes it possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that may impede the success of any attempt to change our control.

These provisions are intended to enhance the likelihood of continued stability in the composition of our board of directors and its policies and to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to reduce our vulnerability to hostile takeovers and to discourage certain

 

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tactics that may be used in proxy fights. However, such provisions may have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares and may have the effect of delaying changes in our control or management. As a consequence, these provisions may also inhibit fluctuations in the market price of our stock that could result from actual or rumored takeover attempts. We believe that the benefits of these provisions, including increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure our company, outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging takeover proposals, because negotiation of takeover proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.

Choice of Forum

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the state of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law:

 

   

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 Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation, or our bylaws; or

 

   

any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.

The provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims.

To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our certificate of incorporation also provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the exclusive forum provisions of our certificate of incorporation. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there can be no assurance that the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions.

These exclusive 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, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur further significant additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, all of which could seriously harm our business.

Our certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, subject to and contingent upon a final adjudication in the State of Delaware of the enforceability of such exclusive forum provision.

Listing

Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “ACRV.”

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Equiniti Trust Company, LLC.

 

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We have entered into a sales agreement with TD Cowen, under which we may issue and sell from time to time up to $100,000,000 of our common stock through or to TD Cowen as our sales agent or principal. Sales of our common stock, if any, will be made at market prices by any method that is deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) under the Securities Act.

TD Cowen will offer our common stock subject to the terms and conditions of the sales agreement on a daily basis or as otherwise agreed upon by us and TD Cowen. We will designate the maximum amount of common stock to be sold through TD Cowen on a daily basis or otherwise determine such maximum amount together with TD Cowen. Subject to the terms and conditions of the sales agreement, TD Cowen will use its commercially reasonable efforts to sell on our behalf all of the shares of common stock requested to be sold by us. We may instruct TD Cowen not to sell common stock if the sales cannot be effected at or above the price designated by us in any such instruction. TD Cowen or we may suspend the offering of our common stock being made through TD Cowen under the sales agreement upon proper notice to the other party. TD Cowen and we each have the right, by giving written notice as specified in the sales agreement, to terminate the sales agreement in each party’s sole discretion at any time.

The aggregate compensation payable to TD Cowen as sales agent is up to 3.0% of the gross sales price of the shares sold through it pursuant to the sales agreement. We have also agreed to reimburse TD Cowen up to $75,000 of TD Cowen’s outside legal expenses incurred by TD Cowen in connection with this offering. We estimate that the total expenses of the offering payable by us, excluding commissions payable to TD Cowen under the sales agreement, will be approximately $400,000.

The remaining sales proceeds, after deducting any expenses payable by us and any transaction fees imposed by any governmental, regulatory, or self-regulatory organization in connection with the sales, will equal our net proceeds for the sale of such common stock.

TD Cowen will provide written confirmation to us following the close of trading on Nasdaq on each day in which common stock is sold through it as sales agent under the sales agreement. Each confirmation will include the number of shares of common stock sold through it as sales agent on that day, the volume weighted average price of the shares sold, the percentage of the daily trading volume and the net proceeds to us.

We will report at least quarterly the number of shares of common stock sold through TD Cowen under the sales agreement, the net proceeds to us and the compensation paid by us to TD Cowen in connection with the sales of common stock.

Settlement for sales of common stock will occur, unless the parties agree otherwise, on the second business day that is also a trading day following the date on which any sales were made in return for payment of the net proceeds to us. There is no arrangement for funds to be received in an escrow, trust or similar arrangement.

In connection with the sales of our common stock on our behalf, TD Cowen will be deemed to be an “underwriter” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and the compensation paid to TD Cowen will be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts. We have agreed in the sales agreement to provide indemnification and contribution to TD Cowen against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As sales agent, TD Cowen will not engage in any transactions that stabilizes our common stock.

Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq and trades under the symbol “ACRV.” The transfer agent of our common stock is Equiniti Trust Company, LLC.

TD Cowen and/or its affiliates have provided, and may in the future provide, various investment banking and other financial services for us for which services they have received and, may in the future receive, customary fees.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Certain legal matters in connection with the shares of common stock offered hereby will be passed upon for us by Sidley Austin LLP, New York, New York. TD Cowen is being represented in connection with this offering by Goodwin Procter LLP, New York, New York.

EXPERTS

The financial statements incorporated in this Prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

 

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INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

The SEC rules permit us to incorporate information by reference in this prospectus. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus, except for information superseded by information contained in this prospectus itself or in any subsequently filed incorporated document. This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents set forth below that we have previously filed with the SEC (Commission File No. 001-41551), other than information in such documents that is deemed to be furnished and not filed:

 

   

our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023, or the 2022 Annual Report, including the information incorporated therein by reference from our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A (other than information furnished rather than filed) for our 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders filed with the SEC on May 1, 2023;

 

   

our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023 and September  30, 2023, filed with the SEC on May 9, 2023, August 11, 2023 and November 9, 2023, respectively;

 

   

our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on March 3, 2023, June  5, 2023 and June 22, 2023; and

 

   

the description of our Common Stock contained in our Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on November 7, 2022, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description, including Exhibit 4.1 to the 2022 Annual Report.

All documents that we file (but not those that we furnish) pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this prospectus and prior to the termination of the offering of the shares of common stock covered under this prospectus shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and will automatically update and supersede the information in this prospectus and any previously filed documents.

This prospectus is part of a registration statement we filed with the SEC. We have incorporated exhibits into this registration statement. You should read the exhibits carefully for provisions that may be important to you.

Any statement contained herein or in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus, or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus, modifies or supersedes such earlier statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus. You should rely only on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus and the accompanying base prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. We are not making an offer of these securities in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or in the documents incorporated by reference is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus or those documents.

You can obtain any of the filings incorporated by reference into this prospectus through us or from the SEC through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Upon request, we will provide, without charge, a copy of any or all of the reports and documents referred to above which have been incorporated by reference into this prospectus. Prospective investors may obtain documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus by requesting them in writing or by telephone from us at our executive offices at:

Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc.

480 Arsenal Way, Suite 100

Watertown, Massachusetts 02742

(617) 207-8979

 

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Our reports and documents incorporated by reference herein may also be found in the “Investor Relations” section of our website at www.acrivon.com. Information contained in or accessible through our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus and you should not consider it a part of this prospectus or the registration statement. We have included our website address as an inactive textual reference only.

 

 

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LOGO

Up to $100,000,000

Common Stock

 

 

PROSPECTUS

 

 

TD Cowen

 

 

                    , 2023

 

 

 


Table of Contents

PART II

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

Item 14. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution

The following table sets forth the costs and expenses, other than the underwriting discounts and commissions, payable by Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Registrant,” “we,” “us,” “our” or the “Company”) in connection with the sale of common stock being registered. All amounts are estimates except for the SEC registration fee and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA, filing fee.

 

     Amount to
be Paid
 

SEC registration fee

   $ 44,280  

FINRA filing fee

   $ 45,500  

Printing and engraving expenses

   $   (1) 

Legal fees and expenses

   $   (1) 

Accounting fees and expenses

   $   (1) 

Transfer agent and registrar fees and expenses

   $   (1) 

Miscellaneous expenses

   $   (1) 

Total

   $   (1) 

 

(1)

These fees and expenses depend on the securities offered and the number of issuances, and accordingly cannot be estimated at this time. An estimate of the aggregate expenses in connection with the sale and distribution of securities being offered will be included in the applicable prospectus supplement.

Item 15. Indemnification of Directors and Officers

We are incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. As permitted by Section 102 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, we have adopted provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws that limit or eliminate the personal liability of our directors for a breach of their fiduciary duty of care as a director. The duty of care generally requires that, when acting on behalf of the corporation, directors exercise an informed business judgment based on all material information reasonably available to them. Consequently, our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for:

 

   

any breach of the duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders;

 

   

any act or omission not in good faith that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;

 

   

unlawful payments of dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions as provided in Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law; or

 

   

any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit.

These limitations of liability do not affect the availability of equitable remedies such as injunctive relief or rescission. Our certificate of incorporation also authorizes us to indemnify our officers, directors and other agents to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law.

As permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our bylaws provide that:

 

   

we will indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, subject to limited exceptions;

 

   

we will advance expenses to our directors in connection with legal proceedings to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, subject to limited exceptions; and

 

   

the rights provided in our bylaws are not exclusive.

 

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Our certificate of incorporation, attached as Exhibit 3.1 hereto, and our bylaws, attached as Exhibit 3.2 hereto, provide for the indemnification provisions described above and elsewhere herein.

We have entered and expect to continue to enter into agreements to indemnify our directors, executive officers and other employees as determined by our board of directors. These indemnification agreements generally require us, among other things, to indemnify our directors, executive officers, and these employees against liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers, other than liabilities arising from willful misconduct. These indemnification agreements also generally require us to advance any expenses incurred by the directors, executive officers, and employees as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified. We also maintain directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our directors and officers against the cost of defense, settlement, or payment of a judgment in some circumstances.

Any underwriting agreement or distribution agreement that we enter into with any underwriters or agents involved in the offering or sale of any securities registered hereby may require such underwriters or dealers to indemnify the Registrant, some or all of its directors and officers and its controlling persons, if any, for specified liabilities, which may include liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

The sales agreement filed as Exhibit 1.2 to this registration statement provides for indemnification of us and our directors and officers by TD Cowen against certain liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

See the undertakings set forth in response to Item 17 herein.

Item 16. Exhibits

 

Exhibit
Number

  

Description

1.1 *    Form of Underwriting Agreement.
1.2    Sales Agreement, dated December 1, 2023, between Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. and Cowen and Company, LLC.
3.1    Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 filed with Registrant’s Current Report on 8-K filed with the Commission on November 17, 2022 (File No. 001-41551)).
3.2    Amended and Restated Bylaws (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 filed with Registrant’s Current Report on 8-K filed with the Commission on November 17, 2022 (File No. 001-041551)).
4.1    Amended and Restated Investors’ Rights Agreement, by and among the Registrant and certain of its stockholders, dated November  9, 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No.  333-267911), filed with the Commission on October 17, 2022)
4.2*    Form of Preferred Stock Certificate and Certificate of Designation of Preferred Stock.
4.3    Form of Indenture.
4.4*    Form of Debt Security.
4.5*    Form of Warrant.
4.6*    Form of Warrant Agreement.

 

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Exhibit
Number

  

Description

  4.7*    Form of Unit Agreement.
  5.1    Opinion of Sidley Austin LLP.
  5.2    Opinion of Sidley Austin LLP.
23.1    Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, independent registered public accounting firm.
23.2    Consent of Sidley Austin LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1).
23.3    Consent of Sidley Austin LLP (included in Exhibit 5.2).
24.1    Powers of Attorney (incorporated by reference to the signature page hereto).
25.1**    Statement of Eligibility on Form T-1 under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
107    Filing Fee Table.

 

*

To be filed, if necessary, by amendment or as an exhibit to a document to be incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement, including a Current Report on Form 8-K.

**

To be filed in accordance with the requirements of Section 305(b)(2) of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.

Item 17. Undertakings

 

(a)

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

 

  (1)

To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

 

  (i)

To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended;

 

  (ii)

To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement; and

 

  (iii)

To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i), (a)(1)(ii), and (a)(1)(iii) above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78m or 78o(d)) that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) that is part of the registration statement.

 

  (2)

That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, each such post- effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

 

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  (3)

To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

 

  (5)

That, for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended to any purchaser:

 

  (A)

Each prospectus filed by the Registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) shall be deemed to be part of the registration statement as of the date the filed prospectus was deemed part of and included in the registration statement; and

 

  (B)

Each prospectus required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2), (b)(5), or (b)(7) as part of a registration statement in reliance on Rule 430B relating to an offering made pursuant to Rule 415(a)(1)(i), (vii), or (x) for the purpose of providing the information required by section 10(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the earlier of the date such form of prospectus is first used after effectiveness or the date of the first contract of sale of securities in the offering described in the prospectus. As provided in Rule 430B, for liability purposes of the issuer and any person that is at that date an underwriter, such date shall be deemed to be a new effective date of the registration statement relating to the securities in the registration statement to which that prospectus relates, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof; provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such effective date, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such effective date.

 

  (6)

That, for the purpose of determining liability of the Registrant under the Securities Act of 1933, amended, to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities:

The undersigned Registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned Registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned Registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:

 

  (i)

Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned Registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;

 

  (ii)

Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned Registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned Registrant;

 

  (iii)

The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned Registrant; and

 

  (iv)

Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned Registrant to the purchaser.

 

(b)

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

 

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(h)

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

(j)

The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes to file an application for the purpose of determining the eligibility of the trustee to act under subsection (a) of Section 310 of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (the “Act”) in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Commission under Section 305(b)(2) of the Act.

 

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Watertown, State of Massachusetts, on the 1st day of December, 2023.

 

ACRIVON THERAPEUTICS, INC.
By:   /s/ Peter Blume-Jensen
  Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D.
  Chief Executive Officer and President

POWER OF ATTORNEY

Each person whose individual signature appears below hereby authorizes and appoints Peter Blume-Jensen and Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen and each of them, with full power of substitution and resubstitution and full power to act without the other, as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent to act in his or her name, place, and stead and to execute in the name and on behalf of each person, individually and in each capacity stated below, and to file any and all amendments to this registration statement, including any and all post-effective amendments and amendments thereto, and any subsequent registration statement relating to the same offering as this registration statement that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in- fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them or their or his substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue thereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated:

 

Signature

  

Title

 

Date

/s/ Peter Blume-Jensen

Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D.

   Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board (Principal Executive Officer)   December 1, 2023

/s/ Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen

Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen

   Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)   December 1, 2023

/s/ Charles Baum

Charles Baum, M.D., Ph.D.

   Director   December 1, 2023

/s/ Derek DiRocco

Derek DiRocco, Ph.D.

   Director   December 1, 2023

/s/ Kristina Masson

Kristina Masson, Ph.D.

   Executive Vice President, Business Operations, Director   December 1, 2023

 

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Signature

  

Title

 

Date

/s/ Sharon Shacham

Sharon Shacham, Ph.D., M.B.A.

   Director   December 1, 2023

/s/ Michael Tomsicek

Michael Tomsicek , M.B.A.

   Director   December 1, 2023

 

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