AC Immune SA [ACIU] Filings

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

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(Mark One)

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Commission file number: 001-37891

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AC IMMUNE SA

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

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Switzerland

(Jurisdiction of incorporation)

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EPFL INNOVATION PARK

Building B

1015 Lausanne

Switzerland

(Address of principal executive offices)

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Andrea Pfeifer

Tel: +41 21 345 91 21

EPFL INNOVATION PARK

Building B

1015 Lausanne

Switzerland

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

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Copies to:

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

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

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None

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

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None

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Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital stock or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

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Common shares: 83,620,364

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

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☐ Yes ☒ No

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If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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☐ Yes ☒ No

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Note – Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

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☒ Yes ☐ No

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

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☒ Yes ☐ No

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

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If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by checkmark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report

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☒ Yes ☐ No

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If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.

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Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b).

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Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

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☐ Item 17 ☐ Item 18

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If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

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☐ Yes ☒ No

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Table of Contents

AC IMMUNE SA

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PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER INFORMATION

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this annual report on Form 20-F (the “Annual Report”) to “AC Immune,” “ACIU,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” “ours,” “us” or similar terms refer to AC Immune SA together with its subsidiary. The Company owns various registered and unregistered trademarks, for some of which protection has been obtained or is being sought, including Morphomer™, SupraAntigen^® and its corporate name, logo and Nasdaq Global Market symbol. All other trademarks, trade names and service marks of other companies appearing in this Annual Report are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, the trademarks and trade names in this Annual Report may be referred to without the respective ^® and ™ symbols, but such references should not be construed as any indicator that their respective owners will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, their rights thereto. The Company does not intend to use or display other companies’ trademarks and/or trade names to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of the Company by, any other companies.

Financial statements

Our consolidated financial statements are presented in Swiss Francs and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). None of the consolidated financial statements was prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (U.S.). The terms “dollar” and “USD” refer to U.S. dollars, and the terms “Swiss Franc” and “CHF” refer to the legal currency of Switzerland, unless otherwise indicated. We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures included in this Annual Report. Accordingly, any numerical discrepancies in any table between totals and sums of the amounts listed are due to rounding.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy, product candidates, product pipeline, ongoing and planned clinical studies, including those of our collaboration partners, regulatory approvals, research and development (R&D) costs, timing and likelihood of success, as well as plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “expect,” “should,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “will” and “potential,” among others.

Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places in this Annual Report and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our intent, belief or current expectations. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions, and on information currently available to our management. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to, those identified under “Item 3. Key information—D. Risk factors” in this Annual Report. These risks and uncertainties include multiple factors:

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These forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date of this Annual Report, and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described under the sections in this Annual Report entitled “Item 3. Key information—D. Risk factors” and “Item 5. Operating and financial review and prospects,” and elsewhere in this Annual Report. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond our control, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

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PART I

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

A.Directors and senior management

Not applicable.

B.Advisers

Not applicable.

C.Auditors

Not applicable.

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

A.Offer statistics

Not applicable.

B.Method and expected timetable

Not applicable.

ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

A.[Reserved]

B.Capitalization and indebtedness

Not applicable.

C.Reasons for the offer and use of proceeds

Not applicable.

D.Risk factors

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

The below provides a summary of our principal risk factors:

Risks related to our business:

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Risks related to our relationships with third parties:

Risks related to intellectual property:

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Risks related to our financial condition and capital requirements:

Risks related to the regulatory environment:

Risks related to our common shares:

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Risks related to our business

We depend heavily on the success of our clinical and, to a lesser extent, preclinical products. Our clinical product candidates include our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589). If our clinical studies are unsuccessful, if we or our collaboration partners do not obtain regulatory approval or if we or our collaboration partners are unable to commercialize our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589), or if we experience significant delays in doing so, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected.

We currently have no products approved for sale and have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in the development of our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589), all of which are in clinical development as well as other preclinical candidates such as our small molecule programs including therapeutics (Morphomer Tau), our TDP-43 antibody, Morphomer a-syn and inflammasome. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for at least the next several years, if ever, will depend heavily on successful clinical development, obtaining regulatory approval and eventual commercialization of these product candidates. In this regard, we rely heavily on our collaboration partners for clinical development of certain of our product candidates, and they may choose to discontinue the clinical development process in certain cases. In addition, we currently generate no revenues from sales of any drugs or diagnostics, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable drug or diagnostic. The success of our current and future product candidates will depend on several factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

If we or our collaboration partners do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our current or future product candidates, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Results of early clinical studies may not be predictive of future study results.

Positive or timely results from preclinical or early-stage clinical studies do not ensure positive or timely results in mid-to late-stage clinical studies or product approval by the U.S. FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Products that show positive preclinical or early clinical results may not show sufficient safety or efficacy in later-stage clinical studies and therefore may fail to obtain regulatory approvals. In addition, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. Many companies that

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believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical and clinical studies have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval for the product candidates. The FDA, the EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and in determining when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for any of our product candidates. Even if we believe that the data collected from clinical studies of our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA, the EMA or any other regulatory authority.

In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety and/or efficacy results between different studies of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in study procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, adherence to the dosing regimen and other study protocols, and the rate of dropout among clinical study participants. In the case of our later-stage clinical product candidates, results may differ in general on the basis of the larger number of clinical study sites and the additional countries and languages involved in these clinical studies.

Clinical studies may include subject-reported outcomes, some of which may be captured with electronic diaries. We have no assurance and cannot rely on past experience that the high frequency of questioning is not influencing the measured outcome. In addition, low compliance with daily reporting requirements may impact the studies’ validity or statistical power. We cannot assure you that any Phase 2, Phase 3 or other clinical studies that either we or our collaboration partners are conducting and may conduct will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates.

If we or our collaboration partners are required to conduct additional clinical studies or other testing of any of our current or future product candidates that we or our collaboration partners develop, beyond the studies and testing that we or our collaboration partners contemplate, if we or our collaboration partners are unable to successfully complete clinical studies of our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these studies or tests are unfavorable or are only modestly favorable, or if there are safety concerns associated with our current or future product candidates, we may:

Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or receiving marketing approvals and we may be required to obtain additional funds to complete clinical studies. We cannot assure you that our clinical studies will begin as planned or be completed on schedule, if at all, or that we will not need to amend our studies after they have begun. Significant clinical study delays could also shorten any periods during which we or our collaboration partners may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates, or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, which may harm our business and results of operations. In addition, some of the factors that cause, or lead to, clinical study delays may ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.

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We may undertake one or more significant corporate transactions that may not achieve their intended results, may adversely affect our financial condition and our results of operations or result in unforeseeable risks to our business.

We continuously evaluate the acquisition or disposition of operating businesses and assets and may in the future undertake one or more significant transactions, such as our purchase in 2021 of Affiris AG’s (Affiris) program portfolio of therapeutics targeting a-syn, notably our ACI-7104.056, a clinically-validated active vaccine candidate for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Any such transaction could be material to our business and could take any number of forms, including mergers, joint ventures and the purchase of equity interests, amongst others. The consideration for such acquisitive transactions may include, among other things, cash, common shares or equity interests in us or our subsidiary, or a contribution of equipment to obtain equity interests, and in conjunction with a transaction we might incur additional indebtedness. We also routinely evaluate the benefits of disposing of certain of our assets.

These transactions may present significant risks such as insufficient revenue to offset liabilities assumed, potential loss of significant revenue and income streams, increased or unexpected expenses, inadequate return of capital, regulatory or compliance issues, the triggering of certain covenants in our debt agreements (including accelerated repayment) and unidentified issues not discovered in due diligence. In addition, such transactions could distract management from current operations. As a result of the risks inherent in such transactions, we cannot guarantee that any such transaction will ultimately result in the realization of its anticipated benefits or that it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we were to complete such an acquisition, disposition, investment or other strategic transaction, we may require additional debt or equity financing that could result in a significant increase in our amount of debt and our debt service obligations or the number of outstanding common shares, thereby diluting holders of our common shares outstanding prior to such acquisition.

Additional competitors could enter the market with generic versions of our products, which may result in a material decline in sales of affected products.

Under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Act, a pharmaceutical manufacturer may file an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA), seeking approval of a generic copy of an approved innovator product. Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, a manufacturer may also submit a new drug application (NDA) under Section 505(b)(2) that references the FDA’s prior approval of the innovator product. A 505(b)(2) NDA product may be submitted for a new or improved version of the original innovator product. Hatch-Waxman also provides for certain periods of regulatory exclusivity, which preclude FDA approval (or in some circumstances, FDA filing and reviewing) of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA. These include, subject to certain exceptions, the period during which an FDA-approved drug is subject to orphan-drug exclusivity. In addition to the benefits of regulatory exclusivity, an innovator NDA holder may have patents claiming the active ingredient, product formulation or an approved use of the drug, which would be listed with the product in the FDA publication, “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” known as the “Orange Book.” If there are patents listed in the Orange Book, a generic or 505(b)(2) applicant that seeks to market its product before expiration of the patents must include in the ANDA what is known as a “Paragraph IV certification,” challenging the validity or enforceability of, or claiming non-infringement of, the listed patent or patents. Notice of the certification must also be given to the innovator, and if within 45 days of receiving notice the innovator, in order to protect its patents, sues the company that manufactures the generic, approval of the ANDA is stayed for 30 months, or as lengthened or shortened by the court.

Accordingly, if our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589) are approved, competitors could file ANDAs for generic versions of our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589) or 505(b)(2) NDAs that reference our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589), respectively. If there are patents listed in the Orange Book for our vaccines (ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060 and ACI-7104.056), monoclonal antibodies (semorinemab and crenezumab) and diagnostics (Tau-PET tracer PI-2620 and a-syn PET tracer ACI-12589), respectively, those ANDAs and 505(b)(2) NDAs would be required to include a certification for each listed patent, indicating whether the ANDA applicant does or does not intend to challenge the patent. We cannot

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predict whether any patents issuing from our pending patent applications will be eligible for listing in the Orange Book, how any generic competitor would address such patents, whether we would sue on any such patents or the outcome of any such suit.

We may not be successful in securing or maintaining proprietary patent protection for products and technologies we develop or license. Moreover, if any patents that are granted and listed in the Orange Book are successfully challenged by way of a Paragraph IV certification and subsequent litigation, the affected product could immediately face generic competition and its sales would likely decline rapidly and materially. Should sales decline, we may have to write off a portion or all of the intangible assets associated with the affected product, and our results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which governmental authorities and health insurers establish adequate coverage and reimbursement levels and pricing policies.

The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend, in part, on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for our products will be available from government and health administration authorities, private health insurers and other third-party payors. To manage healthcare costs, many governments and third-party payors increasingly scrutinize the pricing of new technologies and require greater levels of evidence of favorable clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness before extending coverage. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, among other things, incentivizes the renegotiation with the U.S. government of the prices of certain pharmaceutical drugs and imposes penalties for Medicare drugs that increase in price faster than the rate of inflation. See “—Enacted and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and may affect the prices we may set” below. In light of such challenges to prices and the requirement for increasing levels of evidence of the benefits and clinical outcomes of new technologies, we cannot be sure that coverage will be available for any of our current or future product candidates that we or our collaboration partners will commercialize or, if available, that the reimbursement rates will be adequate in each respective region. If we are unable to obtain adequate levels of coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates, their marketability will be negatively and materially impacted.

Third-party payors may deny coverage and reimbursement status altogether for a given drug product, or may cover the product but also establish prices at levels that are too low to enable us to realize an appropriate return on our investment in product development. Because the rules and regulations regarding coverage and reimbursement change frequently, in some cases at short notice, even when there is favorable coverage and reimbursement, future changes may occur that adversely impact the favorable status. Further, the net reimbursement for drug products may be subject to additional reductions in the future depending on policy changes enacted by the U.S. Congress.

The unavailability or inadequacy and variability of third-party coverage and reimbursement could have a material adverse effect on the market acceptance of our product candidates and the future revenues we may expect to receive from those products. In addition, we are unable to predict what additional legislation or regulation relating to the healthcare industry or third-party coverage and reimbursement may be enacted in the future, or what effect such legislation or regulation would have on our business.

Our products may not gain market acceptance, in which case we or our collaboration partners may not be able to generate product revenues, which will materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if the FDA, the EMA or any other regulatory authority approves the marketing of any product candidates that we develop, physicians, healthcare providers, patients or the medical community may not accept or use them. Efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payors on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may not be successful. If any of our current or future product candidates does not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we or our collaboration partners may not generate significant product or royalty revenues or any

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profits from operations. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates that are approved for commercial sale will depend on a variety of factors, including:

If our product candidates fail to gain market acceptance, this will have a material adverse impact on our ability to generate revenues to provide a satisfactory, or any, return on our investments. Even if some products achieve market acceptance, the market may prove to not be large enough to allow us to generate significant revenues.

In addition, the potential market opportunity of our product candidates is difficult to estimate precisely. Our estimates of the potential market opportunity are predicated on several key assumptions such as industry knowledge and publications, third-party research reports and other surveys. These assumptions involve the exercise of significant judgment on the part of our management and are inherently uncertain, and the reasonableness of these assumptions could not have been assessed by an independent source in every detail. If any of the assumptions proves to be inaccurate, then the actual market for our product candidates could be smaller than our estimates of the potential market opportunity. If the actual market for our product candidates is smaller than we expect, or if any approved products fail to achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, healthcare payors and patients, our product or royalty revenue may be limited and it may be more difficult for us to achieve or maintain profitability.

We depend on enrollment of patients in our clinical studies for our product candidates. If we are unable to enroll patients in our clinical studies, our research and development efforts could be materially adversely affected.

Successful and timely completion of clinical studies will require that we enroll a sufficient number of patient candidates. Studies may be subject to delays as a result of patient enrollment taking longer than anticipated or by patient withdrawal. Patient enrollment depends on many factors, including the size and nature of the patient population, the eligibility criteria for the study, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the design of the clinical protocol, the existence of competing clinical studies, the availability of new drugs approved for the indication the clinical study is investigating, and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the drug being studied in relation to other available therapies.

Generally, the specific target population of patients and therapeutic time windows may make it difficult for us to enroll enough patients to complete clinical studies for our product candidates in a timely and cost-effective manner.

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Delays in the completion of any clinical study of our product candidates will increase our costs, slow down our product candidate development and approval process, and delay or potentially jeopardize our or our collaboration partners’ ability to commence product sales and generate revenue. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical studies may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.

If serious adverse, undesirable or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our product candidates or following approval, if any, we may need to abandon our development of such product candidates, the commercial profile of any approved label may be limited, or we may be subject to other significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.

If our product candidates are associated with serious adverse, undesirable or unacceptable side effects, we may need to abandon their development or limit development to certain uses or subpopulations in which such side effects are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk–benefit perspective. Many compounds that initially showed promise in preclinical or early-stage testing were later found to cause side effects that restricted their use and prevented further development of the compound for larger indications.

Occurrence of serious procedure- or treatment-related side effects could impede clinical study enrollment and receipt of marketing approval from the FDA, the EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Adverse events (AEs) could also adversely affect physician or patient acceptance of our product candidates.

Additionally, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including the following:

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

We operate in highly competitive and rapidly changing industries, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing competing products before or more successfully than we do.

The biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries are highly competitive and subject to significant and rapid technological change. Our success is highly dependent on our ability to discover, develop and obtain marketing approval

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for new and innovative products on a cost-effective basis and to market them successfully. In doing so, we face and will continue to face intense competition from a variety of businesses, including large, fully integrated pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other private and public research institutions in Europe, the U.S. and other jurisdictions. Many of our potential competitors, alone or with their strategic partners, have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do and significantly greater experience in the discovery and development of product candidates, obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of treatments, and the commercialization of those treatments. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors.

The highly competitive nature of and rapid technological changes in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries could render our product candidates or our technology obsolete or noncompetitive. The commercial opportunity for our products could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors:

Should any of these occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We believe that our key competitor product candidates are (i) AADvac1 (Axon Neuroscience) for ACI-35.030; (ii) UB-311 (Vaxxinity) and ABvac-40 (Araclon Biotech) for ACI-24.060; (iii) UB-312 (Vaxxinity) for ACI-7104.056; (iv) bepranemab (UCB/Roche), E-2814 (Eisai) and JNJ63733657 (Janssen) for semorinemab; (v) ADUHELM (Biogen), Leqembi (BioArctic/Eisai), donanemab (Eli Lilly and Company) and solanezumab (Eli Lilly and Company) for crenezumab; (vi) HMTM (TauRx Pharmaceuticals) for Morphomer Tau; (vii) Tauvid (Eli Lilly and Company), florzolotau (Aprinoia Therapeutics), MK-6240 (Cerveau/Merck) and GTP1 (Genentech) for PI-2620; and (viii) UCB-2897 (UCB) for ACI-12589, as described under “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business overview—Competition.”

We may not be successful in our efforts to use and expand our Morphomer and SupraAntigen proprietary technology platforms to build additional product candidates for our pipeline.

A key element of our strategy is to use and expand our Morphomer and SupraAntigen proprietary technology platforms to create unique therapies and diagnostics misfolded proteins in diseases, such as AD, PD and others (including NeuroOrphan diseases e.g. ALS and PSP), and progress these product candidates through clinical development. Although our research and development efforts to date have resulted in a pipeline of product candidates, we may not be able in the future to develop product candidates that are safe and effective. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipelines, the potential product candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development, potentially as a result of having harmful side effects or other characteristics indicating they may be unlikely to receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance.

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Our business is subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations.

Our business is subject to risks associated with conducting business internationally. We and a number of our suppliers and collaborative and clinical study relationships are located outside the U.S.. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:

Moreover, at the end of 2021 and into 2022, tensions between the United States and Russia escalated when Russia amassed large numbers of military ground forces and support personnel on the Ukraine-Russia border and, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In response, NATO has deployed additional military forces to Eastern Europe, including to Lithuania, and the Biden administration announced certain sanctions against Russia. The invasion of Ukraine and the retaliatory measures that have been taken, or could be taken in the future, by the United States, NATO, and other countries have created global security concerns that could result in a regional conflict and otherwise have a lasting impact on regional and global economies, any or all of which could disrupt our supply chain, adversely affect our ability to conduct ongoing and future clinical trials of our product candidates, and adversely affect our ability to commercialize our products (subject to regulatory approval) in this region. Currently, none of our clinical development or business activities are conducted directly or otherwise in Russia or Ukraine.

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Unfavorable global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. For example, rising interest rates and high inflation may cause our cost of doing business to materially increase and may adversely impact our ability to operate or may adversely impact other parties upon whom we rely for research and development capabilities to operate. The most recent global financial crisis caused extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn, such as the most recent global financial crisis, could result in a variety of risks to our business, including our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could strain our suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption, or cause delays in payments for our services by third-party payors or our collaborators. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.

The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely impacted, and may continue to impact, our business, including preclinical and clinical trials and regulatory approvals.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments, public institutions, and other organizations in countries and localities where Covid-19 cases have been identified have taken certain preventative or protective measures to combat the transmission of the virus, including the implementation of travel restrictions or bans, closures of non-essential businesses, limitations of public gatherings, other social distancing and shelter-in-place measures, and delays or cancellations of elective surgeries. The Covid-19 pandemic poses the risk that the Company, our employees, contractors, suppliers, and other partners may be prevented from conducting business activities for an indefinite period of time due to shutdowns that may be requested or mandated by state and federal governmental authorities.

As a result of Covid-19, we have experienced disruptions impacting our business and clinical trials and we may continue to experience disruptions that could materially impact our business and planned clinical trials, including:

In addition, the outbreak of Covid-19 could disrupt our operations due to absenteeism by infected or ill members of Executive Management or other employees, or absenteeism by members of Executive Management and other employees who elect not to come to work due to the illness affecting others in our office or laboratory facilities, or due to quarantines. Covid-19 illness could also impact members of our Board and its ability to hold meetings. Further information concerning details of the impact of Covid-19 on our programs can be found under “Item 5: Operating and financial review and prospects.”

Our ability to effectively monitor and respond to the rapid and ongoing developments and expectations relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, including related social expectations and concerns, may impose unexpected costs on us or result in reputational or other harm to us that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we are not able to adequately recognize and respond to the rapid and ongoing developments and governmental and social expectations relating to ESG matters such as climate change and access to health care and affordable drugs, this failure could result in missed corporate opportunities, additional regulatory, social or other scrutiny of us and our

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business, the imposition of unexpected costs or in damage to our reputation or our various relationships with governments, customers, employees, third parties and the communities in which we operate, in each case that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have no history of commercializing biologics or pharmaceutical products, which may make it difficult to evaluate the prospects for our future viability.

We began our operations in 2003. Our operations to date have been limited to financing and staffing our company, developing our technology and developing our product candidates as well as early-stage clinical trials. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully complete a large-scale, pivotal clinical study, obtain marketing approval, manufacture a commercial-scale product, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a history of successfully developing and commercializing biologics or pharmaceutical products.

Our future growth and ability to compete depends on retaining our key personnel and recruiting additional qualified personnel.

Our success depends upon the continued contributions of our key management, scientific and technical personnel, many of whom have substantial experience with or been instrumental for us and our projects. Members of our key management include Dr. Andrea Pfeifer, our Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Marie Kosco-Vilbois, our Chief Scientific Officer; Dr. Johannes Rolf Streffer, our Chief Medical Officer; Piergiorgio Donati, our Chief Technical Operations Officer; Jean-Fabien Monin, our Chief Administrative Officer; Christopher Roberts, our Vice President (VP) Finance and Interim CFO; Dr. Julien Rongère, our Senior Vice President (SVP) for Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance; Dr. Olivier Sol, our VP Head of Clinical Development; Dr. Bojana Portmann, our VP for Intellectual Property and Business Development (VP IP and BD); Alexandre Caratsch, our General Counsel; and Mark Danton, our VP Information Systems, Security and Digital Technologies.

The loss of our key managers and senior scientists could delay our research and development activities. Laws and regulations on executive compensation, including legislation in our home country, Switzerland, may restrict our ability to attract, motivate and retain the required level of qualified personnel. In Switzerland, legislation affecting public companies is in force that, among other things, imposes an annual binding shareholders’ “say on pay” vote with respect to the total compensation of executive management, including executive officers and the board of directors, and prohibits severance or similar payment, bonuses for company purchases and sales, and additional contracts as consultants to or employees of other companies in the group. In addition, the competition for qualified personnel in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical field is intense, and our future success depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled scientific, technical and managerial employees. We face competition for personnel from other companies, universities, public and private research institutions and other organizations. If our recruitment and retention efforts are unsuccessful in the future, it may be difficult for us to implement our business strategy, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may become exposed to costly and damaging liability claims, either when testing our product candidates in the clinic or at the commercial stage or as a result of claims against our directors and officers; and our liability insurance may not cover all damages from such claims.

We are exposed to potential clinical trial liability and professional indemnity risks that are inherent in the research, development, manufacturing, marketing and use of pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical products. Currently we have no products that have been approved for commercial sale, however, our current and future use of product candidates in clinical studies, and the sale of any approved products in the future, may expose us to liability claims. These claims might be made by patients that use the product, by healthcare providers, or by pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical companies or others selling such products. Any claims against us, regardless of their merit, could be difficult and costly to defend and could materially adversely affect the market for our product candidates or any prospects for commercialization of our product candidates.

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Although the clinical study process is designed to identify and assess potential side effects, it is always possible that a drug, even after regulatory approval, may exhibit unforeseen side effects. If any of our product candidates were to cause adverse side effects during clinical studies or after approval of the product candidate, we may be exposed to substantial liabilities. Physicians and patients may not comply with any warnings that identify known potential adverse effects and patients who should not use our product candidates.

We purchase liability insurance in connection with the clinical studies that we undertake and for the purpose of indemnifying our directors and officers for claims against them in amounts that we consider to be consistent with industry norms. It is possible that our liabilities could exceed our insurance coverage. For example, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our product candidates, we will intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products. However, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or obtain insurance coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise. If a successful liability claim or series of claims is brought against us for uninsured liabilities or in excess of insured liabilities, our assets may not be sufficient to cover such claims and our business operations could be impaired.

Should any of the events described above occur, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may seek to obtain orphan-drug designation for certain of our product candidates. Orphan-drug designation may not ensure that we will enjoy market exclusivity in a particular market, and if we fail to obtain or maintain orphan-drug exclusivity for such product candidates, we may be subject to earlier competition and our potential revenue will be reduced.

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the U.S., or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the U.S. where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the U.S.. In the European Union (EU), the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products grants orphan-drug designation to promote the development of products that meet the following criteria: a) they are intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the EU or for products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the EU would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the drug or biological product; and b) there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment, or, if such a method exists, the medicine must be of significant benefit to those affected by the condition.

In the U.S., orphan-drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding toward clinical study costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. In addition, if a product receives the first FDA approval for the indication for which it has orphan designation, the product is entitled to orphan-drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA cannot approve any other application to market the same drug for the same indication for a period of 7 years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority over the product with orphan exclusivity or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity. In the EU, orphan-drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers and 10 years of market exclusivity for the orphan indication following drug or biological product approval, provided that the criteria for orphan designation are still applicable at the time of the granting of the marketing authorization. This period may be reduced to 6 years if at the end of the fifth year, the orphan-drug designation criteria are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity.

We may not be able to obtain orphan-drug designation for any of our product candidates, and even if we do, we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval for any particular orphan indication due to the uncertainties associated with developing pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical products. Further, even if we obtain orphan-drug designation for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties can be approved for the same condition. Orphan-drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process.

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Due to our limited resources and access to capital, we must prioritize development of certain product candidates.

Because we have limited resources and access to capital to fund our operations, we must decide which product candidates to pursue and the amount of resources to allocate to each. Our decisions concerning the allocation of research, collaboration, management and financial resources toward particular compounds, product candidates or therapeutic areas may not lead to the development of viable commercial products and may divert resources away from better opportunities. Similarly, our potential decisions to delay, terminate or collaborate with third parties in respect of certain product development programs may also prove not to be optimal and could cause us to miss valuable opportunities. If we make incorrect determinations regarding the market potential of our product candidates or misread trends in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry, in particular for neurological disorders, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our research and development activities could be affected or delayed as a result of possible restrictions on animal testing.

Certain laws and regulations require us to test our product candidates on animals before initiating clinical studies in humans. Animal testing activities have been the subject of controversy and adverse publicity. Animal rights groups and other organizations and individuals have attempted to stop animal testing activities by pressing for legislation and regulation in these areas and by disrupting these activities through protests and other means. To the extent that the activities of these groups are successful, our research and development activities may be interrupted, delayed or become more expensive.

A breakdown or breach of our information technology systems and cybersecurity efforts, or those of our key business partners, CROs or service providers, could subject us to liability or reputational damage or interrupt the operation of our business.

We are increasingly dependent upon technology systems and data. Our computer systems continue to increase in multitude and complexity due to the growth in our business, making them potentially vulnerable to breakdown, malicious intrusion and random attack. Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our key business partners, CROs and service providers may be vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access or other similar cyber-attacks or incidents. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations.

Data privacy or security breaches, cyber-attacks and other cybersecurity incidents, including those by individuals authorized to access our technology systems or others, may pose a risk that sensitive data, including intellectual property, trade secrets or personal information belonging to us, our patients, study subjects or other business partners, may be exposed to unauthorized persons or to the public. Cyber-attacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, and are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. They are often carried out by motivated, well-resourced, skilled and persistent actors, including nation states, organized crime groups, “hacktivists” and employees or contractors acting with malicious intent. Cyber-attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware and key loggers, ransomware, a denial-of-service attack, a malicious website, phishing attacks, computer viruses, social engineering and other means to affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our technology systems and data. Our key business partners, CROs and service providers face similar risks and any security breach of their systems could adversely affect our security posture. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Likewise, we rely on our third-party research institution collaborators for research and development of our product candidates and on other third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and to conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. Our ability to evaluate and monitor our CROs’, contractors’ and consultants’ data security practices are limited, and due to applicable laws and regulations or contractual obligations, we may be held responsible for any security breaches or cybersecurity attack attributed to them as they relate to the information we share with them. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or systems, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information or personal data of our employees, partners or study subjects, we could incur liability

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including notification obligations (including to the impacted individuals and applicable regulators or supervisory authorities), and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed.

Although we continue to build and improve our systems and infrastructure, and to implement technical, organizational and legal security measures, and believe we have taken appropriate security measures to reduce these risks to our data and information technology systems, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent, detect or appropriately respond to breakdowns or breaches in our systems that could adversely affect our business and operations and/or result in the loss of critical or sensitive information, including personal information, which could result in financial, legal, business or reputational harm to us. We continue to invest in industry standard IS/IT solutions and managed services that often include the relevant, layered protection and monitoring practices surrounding our data and IT systems and related infrastructure. These investments reduce further these risks in that they enable organizations such as ours to leverage the resources necessary to monitor IT systems and infrastructure for any current or potential threats. We also regularly perform risk and impact assessments, the results of which generally lead to the implementation of certain measures designed to increase our level of data protection. These investments are costly, and as cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant, additional resources to continue to modify and/or enhance our protective, detective and responsive measures required to remediate any identified information security vulnerabilities. In addition, our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyber-attacks and other related breaches. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against and respond to any attempted or existing cybersecurity incidents. In addition, our remediation efforts may not be successful.

In addition, certain global geo-political events can increase our cybersecurity risk. For example, due to the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict, there have been publicized threats to increase cyber-attack activity against the critical infrastructure of any nation or organization that retaliates against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Any such increase in such attacks on us or our key business partners, CROs or service providers could adversely affect our systems or other operations.

Changes in laws, rules or regulations relating to data privacy and security, or any actual or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws, rules, regulations and standards, or contractual or other obligations relating to data privacy and security, could result in claims, changes to our business practices, penalties, increased cost of operations and could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We are, and may increasingly become, subject to various laws, rules, regulations, treaties, decisions and standards, as well as contractual obligations, relating to data privacy and security in the jurisdictions in which we operate. The regulatory environment related to data privacy and security is increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. These laws, rules, regulations, treaties, decisions and standards may be interpreted and applied differently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and in a manner that is inconsistent with our data practices and that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. New laws, amendments to or reinterpretations of existing laws, rules, regulations, treaties, decisions, standards and other obligations may require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations, and may require us to change how we use, collect, store, transfer or otherwise process certain types of personal information and to implement new processes to comply with those laws.

In the U.S., there are numerous federal and state laws and regulations related to the privacy and security of personal information. Regulations promulgated pursuant to the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) establish privacy and security standards that limit the use and disclosure of protected health information, and require the implementation of administrative, physical and technological safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. Determining whether protected health information has been handled in compliance with applicable privacy standards and our contractual obligations can be complex and may be subject to changing interpretation. Numerous states have enacted or are in the process of enacting state level data privacy laws and regulations governing the collection, use, and other processing of state residents’ personal information, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as

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amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), which provides new and enhanced data privacy rights to California residents, such as affording California residents the right to access and delete their information and to opt out of certain sharing and sales of personal information. In addition, laws in all 50 states require businesses to provide notice to individuals whose personal information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach.

Internationally, laws, regulations and standards in many jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, retention, security, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal information. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became effective in May 2018, greatly increased the European Commission’s jurisdictional reach of its laws and adds a broad array of requirements for handling personal data. EU Member States are tasked under the GDPR to enact, and to have enacted, certain implementing legislation that adds to and/or further interprets the GDPR requirements and potentially extends our obligations and potential liability for failing to meet such obligations. The GDPR, together with national legislation, regulations and guidelines of the EU Member States and Switzerland (via its Federal Data Protection Act) governing the processing of personal data, impose strict obligations and restrictions on the ability to collect, use, retain, protect, disclose, transfer and otherwise process personal data. In particular, the GDPR includes obligations and restrictions concerning the consent and rights of individuals to whom the personal data relates (and the obligations of sponsors of clinical trials acting as data controllers), the transfer of personal data out of the European Economic Area (EEA), the notification of security breaches and the security and confidentiality of personal data. The GDPR authorizes fines for certain violations of up to 4% of global annual revenue or EUR 20 million, whichever is greater. The GDPR also applies to our key business partners, CROs and service providers, whether or not they are located in Europe, with which we share personal data subject to the GDPR. Additionally, following Brexit, we also are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) (i.e., a version of the GDPR as implemented into UK law), exposing us to two parallel regimes with potentially divergent interpretations and enforcement actions for certain violations. While the European Commission issued an adequacy decision intended to last for at least four years in respect of the UK’s data protection framework, enabling data transfers from EU Member States to the UK to continue without requiring organizations to put in place contractual or other measures in order to lawfully transfer personal data between the territories, the relationship between the UK and the EU in relation to certain aspects of data privacy and security law remains unclear. Although we do not have material operations in the UK, we cannot rule out potential disruptions in relation to the clinical regulatory framework applicable to our clinical studies in the UK, and to data privacy and security rules with respect to personal data sharing with vendors and clinical investigators in the UK, and we cannot predict future implications.

All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose significant costs, which are likely to increase over time. In addition, such requirements may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, distract management or divert resources from other initiatives and projects. For instance, the European Union Court of Justice and the Swiss Data Protection Authority have declared the U.S. Privacy Shield to be inadequate for transfers of personal data out of the EU and Switzerland, which increased our compliance burden. If we are unable to properly protect the privacy and security of personal information, including protected health information, we could be found to have breached our contracts. In addition, any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with any applicable federal, state or similar foreign laws and regulations relating to data privacy and security could result in damage to our reputation and our relationship with our customers, as well as proceedings or litigation by governmental agencies, customers, partners, collaborators and/or study subjects, including class action privacy litigation in certain jurisdictions, which would subject us to significant fines, sanctions, awards, penalties or judgments, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

Our operations, and those of our third-party research institution collaborators, CROs, CMOs, suppliers, and other contractors and consultants, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics, and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions, for which we are partly uninsured. In addition, we rely on our third-party research institution collaborators for conducting research and development of our product candidates, and they may be affected by government shutdowns or withdrawn funding. Moreover, at the end of 2021 and into 2022, tensions between the United States and Russia escalated when Russia amassed large numbers of military ground forces and support

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personnel on the Ukraine-Russia border and, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In response, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO has deployed additional military forces to Eastern Europe, including to Lithuania, and the Biden administration announced certain sanctions against Russia. The invasion of Ukraine and the retaliatory measures that have been taken, or could be taken in the future, by the United States, NATO, and other countries have created global security concerns that could result in a regional conflict and otherwise have a lasting impact on regional and global economies, any or all of which could disrupt our supply chain, adversely affect our ability to conduct ongoing and future clinical trials of our product candidates, and adversely affect our ability to commercialize our products (subject to regulatory approval) in this region. Currently, none of our clinical development or business activities are conducted directly or otherwise in Russia or Ukraine. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. We rely on third-party manufacturers to produce and process our product candidates. Our ability to obtain clinical supplies of our product candidates could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers are affected by a man-made or natural disaster or by other business interruption.

The vast majority of our operations including our corporate headquarters are located in Ecublens, near Lausanne, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Damage or extended periods of interruption to our corporate, development or research facilities due to fire, natural disaster, power loss, communications failure, unauthorized entry or other events could cause us to cease or delay development of some or all of our product candidates. Although we maintain property damage and business interruption insurance coverage on these facilities, our insurance might not cover all losses under such circumstances and our business may be seriously harmed by such delays and interruption.

We have never commercialized a product candidate before and may lack the necessary expertise, personnel and resources to successfully commercialize our products on our own or together with suitable partners.

We have never commercialized a product candidate, and we currently have no sales force, marketing or distribution capabilities. To achieve commercial success for our product candidates, we will have to develop our own sales, marketing and supply organization or outsource these activities to third parties.

Factors that may affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates on our own include recruiting and retaining adequate numbers of effective sales and marketing personnel, obtaining access to or persuading adequate numbers of physicians to prescribe our product candidates, and other unforeseen costs associated with creating an independent sales and marketing organization. Developing a sales and marketing organization requires significant investment, is time-consuming and could delay the launch of our product candidates. We may not be able to build an effective sales and marketing organization. In addition, successful commercialization also requires an enhanced regulatory organization which we currently do not have. If we are unable to build our own distribution and marketing capabilities, are unable to find suitable partners for the commercialization of our product candidates or do not successfully obtain the necessary regulatory capabilities, we may not generate revenues from them or be able to reach or sustain profitability.

Risks related to our relationships with third parties

If we fail to maintain our current strategic relationships with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Janssen) part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Life Molecular Imaging SA (LMI) (formerly Piramal Imaging SA) and other of our current or future strategic partners, our business, commercialization prospects and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.

We have two partnerships with Genentech. In 2006, we granted Genentech an exclusive, worldwide license for crenezumab. In 2012, we entered into a second partnership to commercialize anti-Tau antibodies for use as immunotherapies. In December 2018, we signed a license agreement with Lilly to research and develop Morphomer Tau small molecules for the treatment of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases (NDD). This collaboration commenced in Q1 2019. We are in a partnership with Janssen to develop and commercialize therapeutic anti-Tau vaccines for the treatment of AD and potentially other Tauopathies. We also have a diagnostic partnership with LMI for one of our compounds from our Morphomer chemical library, which bind pathological Tau for use as a PET tracer. Our collaboration partners each have the right to terminate their agreements with us for any reason upon providing us with a

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certain notice period. If Genentech, Lilly, Janssen, LMI or other of our current or future strategic partners terminates its agreement with us at any time, it could delay or prevent development of our product candidates and materially harm our business, financial condition, commercialization prospects and results of operations.

Good relationships with Genentech, Lilly, Janssen, LMI and other of our current or future strategic partners are important for our business prospects. If our relationships with Genentech, Lilly, Janssen, LMI or other of our current or future strategic partners were to deteriorate substantially or if Genentech, Lilly, Janssen, LMI or other of our current or future strategic partners were to challenge our use of their intellectual property or our calculations of the payments we are owed under our agreements, our business, financial condition, commercialization prospects and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Lastly, our collaboration agreements with Genentech, Lilly, Janssen and LMI provide each partner with control over, and responsibility for, the clinical development process, including obtaining regulatory and marketing approvals, manufacturing costs and sales and marketing costs. Future collaboration agreements may also relinquish development control to our partners. Genentech or our other current or future collaboration partners may and do separately pursue competing products, therapeutic approaches or technologies to develop treatments for the diseases targeted by us or our collaborative efforts. Even if our partners continue their contributions to the collaborative agreements to which we are a party, they may nevertheless determine not to actively pursue the development or commercialization of any resulting products. Our partners may also fail to perform their obligations under the collaboration agreements or may be slow in performing their obligations. Any of these circumstances could result in a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, commercialization prospects or results of operations.

We may seek to form additional strategic alliances in the future with respect to our product candidates, and if we do not realize the benefits of such alliances, our business, financial condition, commercialization prospects and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our product development programs and the potential commercialization of our product candidates will require substantial additional liquidity to fund expenses and may require expertise, such as sales and marketing expertise, which we do not currently possess. Therefore, in addition to our relationships with Genentech, Lilly, Janssen and LMI, we may decide to enter into strategic alliances or to create joint ventures or collaborations with pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical companies for the further development and potential commercialization of those and other of our product candidates.

We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate, document and manage. Any delays in entering into new strategic partnership agreements related to our product candidates could delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates and reduce their competitiveness even if they reach the market. We may also be restricted under existing and future collaboration agreements from entering into strategic partnerships or collaboration agreements on certain terms with other potential collaborators. We may not be able to negotiate collaborations on acceptable terms, or at all, for any of our existing or future product candidates and programs because the potential partner may consider that our research and development pipeline is insufficiently developed to justify a collaborative effort, or that our product candidates and programs do not have the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy in the target population. If we are unsuccessful in establishing and maintaining a collaboration with respect to a particular product candidate, we may have to curtail the development of that product candidate, reduce the scope of or delay its development program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of our sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense, for which we have not budgeted. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we will not be able to bring our product candidates to market and generate product revenue. Even if we are successful in establishing a new strategic partnership or entering into a collaboration agreement, we cannot be certain that, following such a strategic transaction or license, we will be able to progress the development and commercialization of the applicable product candidates as envisaged, or that we will achieve the revenues that would

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justify such transaction, and we could be subject to the following risks, each of which may materially harm our business, commercialization prospects and financial condition:

We rely on third parties to conduct our nonclinical and clinical studies and perform other tasks for us. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or comply with regulatory requirements, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates, and our business could be substantially harmed.

We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third-party clinical CROs, to monitor and manage data for our ongoing preclinical and clinical programs, including the clinical studies of our product candidates. We rely on these parties for execution of our nonclinical and clinical studies and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards and our reliance on the clinical CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our clinical CROs and other vendors are required to comply with current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP), current Good Clinical Practice (cGCP), and current Good Laboratory Practice (cGLP), which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the EU and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for our product candidates in nonclinical and clinical development (where applicable). Regulatory authorities enforce these regulations through periodic inspections of study sponsors, principal investigators, study sites and other contractors. If we or any of our clinical CROs or vendors fail to comply with applicable regulations, the data generated in our nonclinical and clinical studies may be deemed unreliable and the EMA, FDA, other regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional nonclinical and clinical studies before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that all of our clinical studies comply with cGCP regulations. In addition, our clinical studies must be conducted with products produced under cGMP regulations. Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical studies, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

If any of our relationships with these third-party clinical CROs terminates, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative clinical CROs or do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, our clinical CROs are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such clinical CROs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our ongoing nonclinical and clinical programs. If clinical CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our protocols, regulatory requirements, or for other reasons, our clinical studies may be extended, delayed, or terminated and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. Clinical CROs may also generate higher costs than anticipated. As a result, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.

Switching or adding additional clinical CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new clinical CRO commences work. As a result, delays occur, which

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could materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we carefully manage our relationships with our clinical CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter similar challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.

We currently rely on third-party suppliers and other third parties for production of our product candidates and our dependence on these third parties may impair the advancement of our research and development programs and the development of our product candidates.

We currently rely on, and expect to continue to rely on, third parties for the manufacturing and supply of chemical and biological compounds and formulations for the clinical studies of our current and future product candidates. For the foreseeable future, we expect to continue to rely on such third parties for the manufacture of any of our product candidates on a clinical or commercial scale, if any of our product candidates receives regulatory approval. Reliance on third-party providers may expose us to different risks than if we were to manufacture product candidates ourselves. The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates must be approved by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit our NDA or comparable marketing application to the FDA or other regulatory authority. We do not have control over a supplier’s or manufacturer’s compliance with these laws, regulations and applicable cGMP standards and other laws and regulations, such as those related to environmental health and safety matters. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, they will not be able to secure and/or maintain regulatory approval for their manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control (QC), quality assurance (QA) and qualified personnel. If we are compelled or we wish to find alternative manufacturing facilities, this could significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our product candidates. Any failure to achieve and maintain compliance with these laws, regulations and standards could subject us to the risk that we may have to suspend the manufacturing of our product candidates or that obtained approvals could be revoked, which would adversely affect our business and reputation.

Third-party providers may breach agreements they have with us because of factors beyond our control. Contract manufacturers often encounter difficulties involving production yields, QC and QA, as well as shortages of qualified personnel. They may also terminate or refuse to renew their agreements because of their own financial difficulties or business priorities, potentially at a time that is costly or otherwise inconvenient for us. If we are unable to find adequate replacement or another acceptable solution in time, our clinical studies could be delayed or our commercial activities could be harmed.

In addition, the fact that we are dependent on our suppliers and other third parties for the manufacture, storage and distribution of our product candidates means that we are subject to the risk that our product candidates and, if approved, commercial products may have manufacturing defects that we have limited ability to prevent or control. The sale of products containing such defects could result in recalls or regulatory enforcement action that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Growth in the costs and expenses of components or raw materials, in particular as a result of rising inflation, may also adversely influence our business, financial condition and results of operations. Supply sources could be interrupted from time to time and, if interrupted, we cannot be certain that supplies could be resumed (whether in part or in whole) within a reasonable timeframe and at an acceptable cost or at all. Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacturing of our current and future product candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our, or our collaboration partners’, ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.

Our collaboration arrangements with our strategic partners may make us an attractive target for potential acquisition under certain circumstances.

Under certain circumstances, due to the structure of our collaboration arrangements with our strategic partners, our strategic partners may prefer to acquire us rather than pay the milestone payments or royalties under the collaboration

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arrangements, which may bring additional uncertainties to our business development and prospects. For example, under our collaboration arrangements with Genentech, Lilly and Janssen, we may become entitled to substantial milestone payments and royalties. As a result, rather than paying the milestone payments or royalties, Genentech, Lilly or Janssen, or one of their affiliates including Roche or Johnson & Johnson, may choose to acquire us.

Risks related to intellectual property

We may not have sufficient patent terms to protect our products and business effectively.

Patents have a limited lifespan. In the U.S., the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years after it is filed. Although various extensions or adjustments may be available, such as adjustments based on certain delays caused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned, co-owned and licensed patent portfolios may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours or otherwise provide us with a competitive advantage. Even if patents covering our product candidates are obtained and unchallenged, once the patent life has expired for a product, we may be open to competition from generic medications.

Although patent term extensions under the Hatch-Waxman Act, in the U.S. and under supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in Europe may be available to extend the patent exclusivity term for our products, we cannot provide any assurances that any such patent term extension will be obtained and, if so, for how long. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits a patent extension term of up to 5 years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended, and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. However, we may not be granted any extension because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. It is not possible to base an SPC in Europe on a patent in a European Member State if that patent expires before the Market Authorization (MA) of the clinical product, protected by the patent, is obtained. As the “product” (active ingredient(s)) must be “protected by a basic patent in force,” only a granted patent that is in force, and remains in force until it reaches the end of its full term, can serve as a “basic patent” upon which an SPC can be based. Therefore, expired patents and pending patent applications cannot serve as the basis for an SPC. Given the relatively long clinical development timelines of biologicals and new chemical entities for therapeutic purposes, we may not be granted any patent extensions as we might fail to apply for the extensions prior to expiration of relevant patents. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or if the term of any such extension is less than we request, such result could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We or our licensing or collaboration partners may become subject to intellectual property-related litigation or other proceedings to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors or licensees and collaborators, any of which could be expensive, time-consuming, and unsuccessful, and may ultimately result in our loss of ownership of intellectual property.

Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of our licensors or collaborators. To counter such infringement, we may be required to file infringement claims against those competitors, which can be expensive and time-consuming. If we or one of our licensing or collaboration partners were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering one of our product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent covering our product candidate is invalid or unenforceable or that the defendant’s products do not infringe our or our licensing collaborators’ patents or that we or our licensing collaborators infringe the defendant’s patents. In patent litigation in the U.S., defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity, unenforceability and non-infringement are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, obviousness-type double patenting, lack of written description, or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld

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relevant information from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. In addition, third parties may raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the U.S. or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, interference and derivation proceedings as well as equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, such as opposition proceedings in Europe. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. Such proceedings or patent litigations could result in the revocation or cancellation of or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our product candidates or otherwise provide any competitive advantage. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which the patent examiner and we or our licensing or collaboration partners were unaware during prosecution. A court may also refuse to stop a third party from using the technology in question on the grounds that our patents do not cover that technology. An adverse result in any proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Interference, derivation or other proceedings provoked by third parties, brought by us or declared by the USPTO may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications or those of our licensors, licensees or collaborators. An unfavorable outcome could require us or our licensing or collaboration partners to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be materially harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us or our licensing or collaboration partners a license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we or our licensing or collaboration partners are unsuccessful in any interference, derivation or other proceedings, we may lose our ownership of intellectual property or our patents may be narrowed or invalidated. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of the interference, derivation or other proceedings, and any of the foregoing could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

Our defense of litigation, interference, derivation or other proceedings or other intellectual property-related proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees from their normal responsibilities. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and could substantially reduce the funds necessary to continue our clinical studies and research programs or force us to license necessary technology from third parties, or enter into development partnerships that would help us bring our product candidates to market. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our licensing or collaboration partners, misappropriation of our intellectual property rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the U.S..

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, decisions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common shares.

If we or our licensing or collaboration partners are unable to obtain and maintain effective patent rights for our technologies, product candidates or any future product candidates, or if the scope of the patent rights obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products and technology similar or identical to ours, and our, or our collaboration partners’ ability to successfully commercialize our products and technology may be adversely affected.

We rely upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our technologies and product candidates. Our success depends in large part on our and our licensing or collaboration partners’ ability to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection in the U.S., the EU and other countries with respect to our proprietary technologies and product candidates. In particular, Genentech, Lilly, Janssen or our other licensing or collaboration partners may be dependent on a license with a third party for the development and future commercialization of our product candidates. If such license is not granted or is terminated, Genentech, Lilly, Janssen or other licensing or collaboration partners may be required to cease development and commercialization of our product candidates, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

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We have sought to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the U.S. and abroad related to any of our novel technologies and products that are important to our business. This process is expensive, time-consuming, and complex, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost, in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our or our licensing or collaboration partners’ research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license to or from third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business.

The patent position of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions for which legal principles remain unsolved. As a result, the inventorship, issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. The pending or future patent applications that we own, co-own or in-license may fail to issue, fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover our product candidates in the U.S. or in other foreign countries, or fail to effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and product candidates. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the U.S. and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection.

We may not be aware of all third-party intellectual property rights potentially relating to our technologies or product candidates. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the U.S. and other jurisdictions remain confidential for a period of time after filing, and some remain so until issued. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we were the first to file any patent application related to our product candidates or technologies, or whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or co-owned patents or pending patent applications, nor can we know whether those from whom we license patents were the first to make the inventions claimed or were the first to file.

There is no assurance that all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications has been found, which can invalidate a patent or prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application. Even if patents do successfully issue, and even if such patents cover our product candidates, third parties may challenge their validity, enforceability, or scope, which may result in such patents being narrowed, found unenforceable or invalidated, which could allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our or our collaboration partners’ inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. Furthermore, even if they are unchallenged, our patents and patent applications may not adequately protect our intellectual property, provide exclusivity for our product candidates, prevent others from designing around our claims or provide us with a competitive advantage. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.

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

We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest or title in our patents or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of consultants, CROs, CMOs, academic institutions or others who are involved in developing our product candidates. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or our ownership of our patents or other intellectual property. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or the right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

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Patent policy and rule changes could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, thereby impairing our ability to protect our technologies and products.

Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the U.S., EU or elsewhere could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. Assuming the other requirements for patentability are met, in the U.S. prior to March 15, 2013, the first to make the claimed invention is entitled to the patent, whereas outside the U.S., the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. After March 15, 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the Leahy-Smith Act), enacted on September 16, 2011, the U.S. has moved to a first-to-file system. Under a first-to-file system, assuming the other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application generally will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the invention. The Leahy-Smith Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation. These include allowing third-party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by the USPTO administered during post grant proceedings, including re-examination proceedings, inter partes review, post-grant review and derivation proceedings. Therefore, the Leahy-Smith Act and its implementation increases the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts and the USPTO could cause the laws and regulations governing patents to change in unpredictable ways. Any of the foregoing could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In Europe, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Unified Patent are expected to enter into force in June 2023, assuming that Germany deposits its ratification in February 2023, as anticipated. The UPC will provide a new centralized forum for pan-European litigation in contracting EU Member States (17 out of 27 EU Member States). Litigation of European patents in European Patent Convention countries outside of the EU (e.g. Switzerland, UK, Turkey) and in non-contracting EU countries (e.g. Spain, Poland) will continue to be on a country-by-country basis in front of national courts, as currently. During a transition period (initially seven-years), patent owners can elect to keep their European patents outside of the jurisdiction of the UPC (“opt-out”). Whilst European patents may be opted-out of the UPC during such transition period, after expiry of such transition period EU legislation provides that the UPC jurisdiction will apply, in respect of the UPC contracting states for all European patents. Accordingly, the emergence of the UPC and its implementation increase the uncertainties surrounding the enforcement or defense of issued patents and related costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents, once obtained. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could have a material adverse effect on our existing patent portfolio and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property in the future in the U.S..

If we are unable to maintain effective proprietary rights for our technologies, product candidates or any future product candidates, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets.

In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable or that we elect not to patent, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce, and any other elements of our product candidate discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered by patents. However, trade secrets can be difficult to protect and some courts inside and outside the U.S. are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. The EU has introduced a Directive on trade secrets increasing the standards for protection. Because we rely on our advisors, employees and third-party contractors and consultants to research and develop and to manufacture our product candidates, we must, at times, share our intellectual property with them. We seek to protect our intellectual property and

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other proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and master service agreements, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with our advisors, employees, contractors, consultants, licensing and collaboration partners, and other third parties with confidentiality provisions. These agreements typically limit the rights of these third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, including our intellectual property and trade secrets. These agreements also typically restrict the ability of third parties to publish data potentially relating to our intellectual property, although our agreements may contain certain limited publication rights. For example, any academic institution that we may collaborate with in the future may expect to be granted rights to publish data arising out of such collaboration, provided that we may have the right to be notified in advance and given the opportunity to delay publication for a limited time period in order for us to secure patent protection of intellectual property rights arising from the collaboration, in addition to the opportunity to remove confidential or trade secret information from any such publication. We also conduct joint research and development programs that may require us to share intellectual property under the terms of our research and development or similar agreements. However, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our trade secrets or other confidential information or proprietary technology and processes, or that such agreements will not be breached or that our trade secrets or other confidential information will not otherwise be disclosed. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with these advisors, employees and third-party contractors and consultants, the need to share intellectual property and other confidential information increases the risk that such confidential information becomes known by our competitors, is inadvertently incorporated into the product development of others or is disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. Additionally, our grant agreements typically provide for dissemination of results to academic institutions and to the general public. As a result, our information may be disseminated with the loss of protection status.

We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and trade secrets by maintaining the physical security of our premises and the physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property, our competitors may discover our trade secrets through breach of our agreements by third parties, for which we may not have adequate remedies for any breach, or publication of information by any of our CROs, academic partners, funding organizations or our licensing or collaboration partners. Additionally, if the steps we take or that we impose on our CROs maintain our trade secrets are deemed inadequate by law, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating such trade secrets. Misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of our trade secrets could impair our competitive position and may have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, if any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent such competitor or other third party from using that technology or information to compete with us. A competitor’s or other third party’s discovery of our intellectual property would impair our competitive position and have a material adverse effect on our business.

Further, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the U.S.. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property both in the U.S. and abroad. If we are unable to prevent material disclosure of the intellectual property related to our technologies to third parties, we will not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Despite confidentiality clauses within our employment and other agreements with employees, we cannot ensure that departing employees will not breach any post-termination commitments in such agreements by allowing others to access our trade secrets.

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

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other government fees on a patent and patent application are due to be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent and patent application. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee-payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply with these requirements and we are also dependent on our

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licensors or collaboration partners to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to certain of our intellectual property. Although an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to official actions within prescribed time limits, nonpayment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

The patent protection and patent prosecution for some of our product candidates is dependent on third parties.

Although we normally seek to obtain the right to control prosecution, maintenance and enforcement of the patents relating to our product candidates, there may be times when the filing and prosecution activities for patents relating to our product candidates are controlled by our licensors or collaboration partners. If any of our current or future licensing or collaboration partners fail to prosecute, maintain and enforce such patents and patent applications in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business, including by payment of all applicable fees for patents covering our product candidates, we could lose our rights to the intellectual property or our exclusivity with respect to those rights, our or our collaboration partners’ ability to develop and commercialize those product candidates may be adversely affected and we may not be able to prevent competitors from making, using, and selling competing products. In addition, even where we have the right to control patent prosecution of patents and patent applications we have licensed to and from third parties, we may still be adversely affected or prejudiced by actions or inactions of our licensees, our licensors and their counsel that took place prior to the date upon which we assumed control over patent prosecution.

Additionally, we may be adversely affected or prejudiced by actions or inactions of our external and internal patent counsels working solely on our projects or our joint patent counsels representing us and our collaboration partners.

If we fail to comply with the obligations in our intellectual property agreements, including those under which we license intellectual property and other rights to or from third parties, or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensees, our licensors and collaboration partners, we could lose intellectual property rights that are important to our business.

We are a party to a number of intellectual property license and co-ownership agreements and research and development collaborations that are important to our business and expect to enter into additional such agreements in the future. Under certain circumstances, the royalties payable to us under these agreements are subject to certain reductions, which may have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, our existing agreements impose, and we expect that future agreements will impose, various diligence, commercialization, milestone payment, royalty and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, we may be required to make certain payments to the licensor, we may lose the exclusivity of our license or the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products covered by the license.

Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing or co-ownership agreement, including:

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If disputes over intellectual property and other rights that we own, have licensed or co-own prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing or exclusivity arrangements on acceptable terms, we or our collaboration partners may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.

In addition, certain provisions in the agreements under which we currently license intellectual property or technology to and from third parties may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, or decrease the third party’s financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We or our licensors or licensees and collaborators may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to our product candidates through acquisitions and in-licenses.

Our or our licensors or licensees and collaborators programs may require the use of proprietary rights held by third parties in the future, and the growth of our business will likely depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license, maintain or use these proprietary rights. In addition, our product candidates may require specific processes and/or formulations to work effectively and efficiently and the rights to these processes and/or formulations may be held by others. We or our licensors or licensees may be unable to acquire or in-license from third parties any compositions, methods of use, processes, or other third-party intellectual property rights that we identify as necessary for our product candidates. The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and a number of more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, cash resources, and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We or our licensors or licensees also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment.

For example, we sometimes collaborate with U.S. and foreign academic institutions to accelerate our preclinical research or development under written agreements with these institutions. Typically, these institutions provide us with an option to negotiate a license to any of the institution’s rights in technology resulting from the collaboration. Regardless of such option, we may be unable to negotiate a license within the specified timeframe or under terms that are acceptable to us. If we are unable to do so, the institution may offer the intellectual property rights to other parties, potentially blocking our ability to pursue our applicable product candidate or program.

If we are unable to successfully obtain a license to third-party intellectual property rights necessary for the development of a product candidate or program, we may have to abandon development of that product candidate or program and our business and financial condition could suffer.

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement may expose us to substantial liability or may prevent or delay our or our collaboration partners’ development and commercialization efforts.

Numerous U.S.- and foreign-issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing product candidates. For example, we are aware of third-party patents or patent

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applications that may be construed to cover one or more of our product candidates. If these patents are asserted against us or our licensing or collaboration partners and either we or our licensing or collaboration partners are found to infringe any of these patents, and are unsuccessful in demonstrating that such patents are invalid or unenforceable, then we and our licensing or collaboration partners could be required to pay substantial monetary damages or cease further development or commercialization of one or more of our product candidates or be compelled to enter into onerous licenses with such third parties. There may also be other third-party patents or patent applications with claims to materials, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods of treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates and technology. Although we generally conduct a freedom-to-operate search and review with respect to our product candidates, we cannot guarantee that our search and review is complete and thorough, nor can we be sure that we have identified each and every patent and pending application in the U.S. and abroad that is relevant or necessary to the manufacturing or commercialization of our product candidates or use of our technology. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. In addition, third parties may file and obtain additional patents in the future and claim that use of our technologies infringes upon these patents.

Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or on patents that may be granted in the future, regardless of merit. Even if we believe such claims are without merit, a court of competent jurisdiction could hold that these third-party patents are valid, enforceable and infringed, which could materially and adversely affect our or our collaboration partners’ ability to commercialize our product candidates or technologies covered by the asserted third-party patents.

Parties making claims against us may also obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our or our collaboration partners’ ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of management and employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, pay royalties, redesign our infringing products or obtain one or more licenses from third parties, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. Any of the foregoing could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations and prospects.

In addition, claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, decisions, or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common shares.

Some of our competitors may have substantially greater resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios than we do, and may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation to a greater degree and for longer periods of time than we could. In addition, patent-holding companies that focus solely on extracting royalties and settlements by enforcing patent rights may target us. As the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties. The uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

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

We employ and utilize the services of individuals who were previously employed or provided services to universities or other pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, and independent contractors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees,

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consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any of our employees’, consultants’ or independent contractors’ former employers or of other third parties. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

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

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

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the U.S. may be less extensive than those in the U.S.. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws in the U.S.. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the U.S., or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the U.S. or other jurisdictions. In the ordinary course of prosecution and maintenance activities, we determine whether to seek patent protection outside the U.S. and in which countries. This also applies to patents we have acquired or in-licensed from third parties. In some cases, we, or our predecessors in interest or licensors of patents within our portfolio, have sought patent protection in a limited number of countries for patents covering our product candidates. Competitors may use our technologies and products in jurisdictions where we have not obtained or are unable to adequately enforce patent protection to develop their own products and further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the U.S.. These products may compete with our products and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial positions.

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

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

We have filed trademark applications seeking protection for our corporate name, logo, Nasdaq Global Market symbol and selected names of our technology platforms in selected geographies. While we have been granted registrations in certain geographies for certain trademarks, there is no guarantee that our trademark applications will be approved by the respective authorities at all or that we will not be required to narrow the scope of protection in certain or all geographies. Our applications have in the past faced and may in the future face opposition from third parties, potentially resulting in the lack of protection or narrower protection. Our trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect

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

Risks related to our financial condition and capital requirements

We are a clinical-stage company and have a history of operating losses. We anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future.

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Since 2003, although we have received upfront and milestone payments from our collaboration partners and certain other contract revenue, we have also incurred significant operating losses. We incurred net losses (defined as net loss attributable to owners of the Company) of CHF 70.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. In addition, we had accumulated losses of CHF 264.0 million as of December 31, 2022.

Our losses have resulted principally from research and development expenses and from general business and administrative expenses. We expect to continue to incur significant operating losses in the future as we continue our research and development efforts for our current and future product candidates and seek to obtain regulatory approval and commercialization of such product candidates.

To date, the Company has financed its liquidity requirements primarily from its public offerings, share issuances, contract revenues from license and collaboration agreements and grants. We have no products approved for commercialization and have never generated any revenues from product sales. Biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. It may be several years, if ever, before we or our collaboration partners complete pivotal clinical studies and have a product candidate approved for commercialization and we begin to generate revenue or royalties from product sales.

Although we have generated revenues from upfront and milestone payments related to our license and collaboration agreements, we have never generated any revenue from product sales and may never be profitable.

Although we have generated contract revenue from upfront and milestone payments related to our license and collaboration agreements, we have no products approved for commercialization and have never generated any revenue from product sales. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends on our and our licensors’ and collaboration partners’ ability to successfully complete the development of, and obtain the marketing approvals necessary, to commercialize one or more of our product candidates. We do not anticipate generating revenue from product sales unless and until we or our collaboration partners obtain regulatory approval for, and commercialize, our product candidates. Our ability to generate future revenue from product sales depends heavily on our and our collaboration partners’ success in many areas, including but not limited to:

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Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties with biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses and when, or if, we will be able to achieve profitability. Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA, the EMA or other regulatory agencies, domestic or foreign, to change our manufacturing processes, or to perform clinical, nonclinical or other types of studies in addition to those that we currently anticipate. In cases where we are successful in obtaining regulatory approvals to market one or more of our product candidates, our revenue will be dependent, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval, the accepted price for the product, the ability to obtain coverage and reimbursement at any price, and whether we own the commercial rights for that territory. If the number of our addressable patients is not as significant as we estimate, the indication approved by regulatory authorities is narrower than we expect, the treatment population is narrowed by competition, physician choice or treatment guidelines or other commercial related factors we may not generate significant revenue from sales of such products, even if approved. Accordingly, we may not be profitable in the future from the sale of any approved products.

We or our collaboration partners may be unable to develop and commercialize any of our current or future product candidates and, even if we do, may not achieve profitability in the future. Even if we do achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to be profitable in the future would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

If we fail to obtain additional funding, we may delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.

We are currently advancing our clinical product candidates through clinical development, either together with a collaboration partner (ACI-35.030, semorinemab, crenezumab and PI-2620) or independently (ACI-24.060, ACI-7104.056 and ACI-12589). We expect our research and development expenses to continue to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we and/or our collaboration partners continue our ongoing studies and initiate new studies of ACI-35.030, ACI-24.060, ACI-7104.056, Morphomer Tau, PI-2620 and ACI-12589 and initiate preclinical and clinical development of our other product candidates.

As of December 31, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents of CHF 31.6 million and short-term financial assets of CHF 91.0 million resulting in a total liquidity position of CHF 122.6 million. We currently believe that our existing

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capital resources, not including potential milestone payments, will be sufficient to meet our projected operating requirements into Q3 2024. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could exhaust our capital resources sooner than we currently expect. In addition, changing circumstances, including inflation, may cause us to adjust our projected spending to amounts more than currently expected. We may also need to raise additional funds sooner than we anticipate due to various factors such as the scope and rate of progress of our development activities, regulatory approval outcomes and emergence of competing technologies, among others.

We expect that we will require additional capital to develop and commercialize certain of our product candidates. If we receive regulatory approval for our current and future product candidates, and if we have not already licensed such product candidate to a collaboration partner and choose to commercialize such product candidate independently, we expect to incur significant commercialization expenses related to product manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution and establishing a regulatory structure, depending on where we choose to commercialize. Additional funds may not be available on a timely basis, on favorable terms, or at all, and such funds, if raised, may not be sufficient to enable us to continue to implement our long-term business strategy, in particular as a result of inflation. Additionally, we may be dependent on the status of the capital markets at the time such capital is sought. In addition, our ability to raise sufficient capital under our “at the market” program may be diminished depending on the market price of our shares. If we are not able to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our shareholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our intellectual property or future revenue streams.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product royalty revenue, we expect to finance our liquidity needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, grants, and license and development agreements in connection with collaborations. In September 2020, the Company established an “at the market offering” (ATM) for the sale of up to USD 80.0 (CHF 74.6) million worth of our common shares from time to time by entering into an Open Market Sale Agreement (Sales Agreement) with Jefferies LLC (Jefferies). In Q2 2021, we filed a new registration statement on Form F-3 and entered into a new Sales Agreement to replace and extend the ATM program. We do not have any material committed external source of funds. In the event we need to seek additional funds, we may raise additional capital through the sale of equity, convertible debt or other securities. In such an event, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a holder of our common shares. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or proposing dividends to our shareholders.

If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances, or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to grant or otherwise relinquish valuable rights to our intellectual property or future revenue streams.

Our ability to use tax loss carry-forwards in Switzerland may be limited.

As of December 31, 2022, we reported tax loss carry-forwards from financial years 2016 until 2022 for purposes of Swiss corporate income tax in the aggregate amount of CHF 264.1 million, which could be available to offset future taxable income. If not used, these tax losses will expire 7 years after the year in which they were incurred. Due to our limited income, there is a high risk that the tax loss carry-forwards will expire partly or entirely and we will not be able to use them to offset future taxable income thereafter for Swiss corporate income tax purposes.

Exchange rate fluctuations may materially affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Under our existing agreements, we receive and make a significant amount of payments in Swiss Franc, USD and EUR. As a result, changes and fluctuations in currency exchange rates between the Swiss Franc and other currencies, especially the USD and EUR, could have a materially adverse effect on our operating results. As our reporting currency is the Swiss Franc, financial line items are converted into Swiss Francs at the applicable exchange rates. We also expect that in the future, a significant portion of our revenues and expenses will be denominated in Swiss Franc, USD and EUR.

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Therefore, unfavorable developments in the value of the Swiss Franc as compared to the USD and EUR or any other currency could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our significant in-process research and development (IPR&D) asset may become impaired.

Our consolidated balance sheet contains a material IPR&D asset. For an IPR&D asset, the risk of failure is significant, and there can be no certainty that the asset will become a successful candidate. Our ability to realize value on this significant investment is often contingent upon, among other things, regulatory approvals and market acceptance. As such, this IPR&D may become impaired and/or be written off at some time in the future if the associated R&D effort is abandoned or is curtailed.

Risks related to the regulatory environment

We cannot give any assurance that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.

Our future success is dependent on our and our collaboration partners’ ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize one or more product candidates. We currently have two product candidates that have completed Phase 2 clinical studies and six that are in a Phase 2 clinical study. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive regulatory approval from the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such regulatory approval for any of our product candidates.

We cannot be certain that any of our product candidates will be successful in clinical studies or receive regulatory approval. Applications for our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:

We generally plan to seek regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates in the U.S., the EU and in additional foreign countries where we have commercial and typically intellectual property rights. To obtain regulatory approval in other countries, we must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such other countries regarding safety, efficacy, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, clinical studies, commercial sales, pricing, marketing

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and distribution of our product candidates. Even if we are successful in obtaining approval in one jurisdiction, we cannot ensure that we will obtain approval in any other jurisdictions. Failure to obtain marketing authorization for our product candidates will result in our being unable to market and sell such products, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we fail to obtain approval in any jurisdiction, the geographic market for our product candidates could be limited. Similarly, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.

Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain timelines and uncertain outcomes. If clinical studies of our product candidates are prolonged or delayed, we may be unable to obtain required regulatory approvals, and therefore be unable to commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis or at all.

To obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to market and sell any of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical and clinical studies that our products are safe and effective in humans. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical study process. The results of preclinical and early clinical studies of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical studies. For example, the positive results generated to date in clinical studies for our product candidates do not ensure that later clinical studies will demonstrate similar results. Product candidates in later stages of clinical studies may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical studies. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry, including us, have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical studies due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier studies. Our future clinical study results may not be successful.

Clinical studies must be conducted in accordance with the legal requirements, regulations and guidelines of the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and are subject to oversight by these governmental agencies and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at the medical institutions where the clinical studies are conducted. In addition, clinical studies must be conducted with supplies of our product candidates produced under cGMP and other requirements. We depend on medical institutions and CROs to conduct our clinical studies in compliance with cGCP standards. To the extent the CROs fail to enroll participants for our clinical studies, fail to conduct the study to cGCP standards or are delayed for a significant time in the execution of studies, including achieving full enrollment, we may be affected by increased costs, program delays or both, which may harm our business.

To date, neither we nor our collaboration partners have completed all clinical studies required for the approval of any of our product candidates.

The completion of clinical studies for our product candidates may be delayed, suspended or terminated as a result of many factors, including but not limited to:

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Any delays in completing our clinical studies will increase our costs, slow our product candidate development and approval process, and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate sales revenues. Any of these occurrences may significantly harm our business, financial condition and prospects. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical studies may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.

Even if we obtain and maintain approval for our product candidates from one jurisdiction, we may never obtain approval for our product candidates in other jurisdictions, which would limit our market opportunities and adversely affect our business.

Sales by us of our approved drugs will be subject to U.S. and non-U.S. regulatory requirements governing clinical studies and regulatory approval, and we plan to seek regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates in the U.S., the European Economic Area (EEA), and other countries. Clinical studies conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not ensure approval in any other country, while a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, approval in the U.S. by the FDA does not ensure approval by the regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and similarly, approval by a non-U.S. regulatory authority, such as the EMA, does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, including by the FDA. Approval processes and regulatory requirements vary among countries and can involve additional drug testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Even if a drug is approved, the FDA or EMA, as the case may be, may limit the indications for which the drug may be marketed, require extensive warnings on the drug labeling, or require expensive and time-consuming clinical studies or reporting as conditions of approval. In many countries outside the U.S., a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that country. In some cases, the price that would be charged for a drug is also subject to approval. Regulatory authorities in other countries also have their own requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those countries. Obtaining non-U.S. regulatory approvals and compliance with such non-U.S. regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our current and any future drugs, in certain countries. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, or if regulatory approvals in international markets are delayed, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be unrealized.

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Even if our product candidates obtain regulatory approval, we will be subject to ongoing obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense. Additionally, our product candidates, if approved, could be subject to labeling and other restrictions and market withdrawal and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our products.

If a marketing authorization is obtained for any of our product candidates, the product will remain subject to continual regulatory review and therefore authorization could be subsequently withdrawn or restricted. Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may also be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical studies and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. In addition, if the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves any of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and oversight by regulatory authorities, including with respect to the manufacturing processes, labeling, packing, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising and marketing restrictions, and record-keeping and, potentially, other post-marketing obligations, all of which may result in significant expense and limit our or our collaboration partners’ ability to commercialize such products. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration, as well as continued compliance with cGMP and cGCP requirements for any clinical studies that we conduct post-approval. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:

If any of these events occurs, our ability to sell such product may be impaired, and we may incur substantial additional expense to comply with regulatory requirements, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The FDA’s or those of an applicable foreign regulatory authority’s policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.

We have conducted and may in the future conduct clinical studies for our product candidates outside the U.S., and the FDA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such studies.

We have conducted and may in the future choose to conduct one or more of our clinical studies outside the U.S., including in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the UK, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands. The acceptance of study data from clinical studies conducted outside the U.S. or another jurisdiction by the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory authority may be subject to certain conditions. In cases where data from foreign clinical studies are intended

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to serve as the basis for marketing approval in the U.S., the FDA will not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless the following are true: the data are applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice; the studies were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence; and the data are considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA or, if the FDA considers such an inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means. Additionally, the FDA’s clinical study requirements, including sufficient size of patient populations and statistical powering, must be met. Many foreign regulatory bodies have similar requirements. In addition, such foreign studies would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions in which the studies are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any applicable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from studies conducted outside of the U.S. or the applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA or any applicable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would result in the need for additional studies, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay aspects of our business plan, and which may result in our drugs or product candidates not receiving approval or clearance for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction.

Enacted and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and may affect the prices we may set.

In the U.S., the EU and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of adopted and proposed legislative and regulatory changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell any of our product candidates for which we obtain regulatory approval.

In the U.S., the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (“MMA”) changed the way Medicare covers and pays for pharmaceutical products. Cost reduction initiatives and other provisions of this legislation could limit the coverage and reimbursement rate that we receive for any of our approved product candidates. While the MMA only applies to drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payors often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement rates. Therefore, any reduction in reimbursement that results from the MMA may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.

In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the Health Care Reform Law), was enacted. The Health Care Reform Law was intended to broaden access to health insurance, reduce or constrain the growth of healthcare spending, enhance remedies against healthcare fraud and abuse, add new transparency requirements for healthcare and health insurance industries, impose new taxes and fees on the health industry and impose additional health policy reforms. The Health Care Reform Law increased manufacturers’ rebate liability under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program by increasing the minimum rebate amount for both branded and generic drugs and revised the definition of “average manufacturer price” (“AMP”), which may also increase the amount of Medicaid drug rebates manufacturers are required to pay to states. The legislation also expanded Medicaid drug rebates and created an alternative rebate formula for certain new formulations of certain existing products that is intended to increase the rebates due on those drugs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which administers the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, also has proposed to expand Medicaid rebates to the utilization that occurs in the territories of the U.S., such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Further, beginning in 2011, the Health Care Reform Law imposed a significant annual fee on companies that manufacture or import branded prescription drug products. Legislative and regulatory proposals have been introduced at both the state and federal level to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical products.

We are not sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the U.S. Congress of the FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing approval testing and other requirements.

In addition, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny in the U.S. of pharmaceutical pricing practices in light of the rising cost of prescription drugs and biologics. Such scrutiny has resulted in several recent congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to

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product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. At both the federal and state level, legislatures are increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. One significant example of recent legislative action is the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”), which has been considered a scaled-back version of the Build Back Better Act. The IRA was signed into law on August 16, 2022. While the IRA is still subject to rulemaking (with more information to come via guidance documents from the responsible federal agencies), the IRA, as written, will, among other changes, give HHS the ability and authority to directly negotiate with manufacturers the price that Medicare will pay for certain high-priced drugs. The IRA will also require manufacturers of certain Part B and Part D drugs to issue to HHS rebates based on certain calculations and triggers (i.e., when drug prices increase and outpace the rate of inflation). At this time, we cannot predict the implications the IRA provisions will have on our business.

Additionally, in the EU, the new clinical trial regulation came into force on January 31, 2022. This new legislation enforces the centralization of clinical trial applications (CTAs) and approvals, which eliminates redundancy, but in some cases, this may extend timelines for clinical study approvals, due to potentially longer wait times. Austerity measures in certain European nations may also affect the prices we are able to seek if our products are approved. Both in the U.S. and in the EU, legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products. We do not know whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, whether the regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be.

We could be subject to liabilities under environmental, health and safety laws or regulations, or fines, penalties or other sanctions, if we fail to comply with such laws or regulations or otherwise incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws, regulations, and permitting requirements, including those governing laboratory procedures, decontamination activities, and the handling, transportation, use, remediation, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials, human substances and wastes. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials that produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials or wastes either at our sites or at third-party disposal sites. In the event of such contamination or injury, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties. Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, human substances or other work-related injuries, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities.

In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws, regulations or permitting requirements. Such laws, regulations and requirements are becoming increasingly more stringent and may impair our research, development or production efforts. Failure to comply with these laws, regulations and permitting requirements also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

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

Healthcare providers, physicians and others play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute our products for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable healthcare laws and regulations include the following:

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Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available under the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, it is possible that some of our future business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. In addition, recent healthcare-reform legislation has strengthened these laws. For example, the Health Care Reform Law, among other things, amends the intent requirement of the federal anti-kickback and criminal healthcare fraud statutes. A person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it. Moreover, the Health Care Reform Law provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal anti-kickback statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act.

Jurisdictions outside of the U.S. have enacted laws and regulations defining the framework of business practices of pharmaceutical organizations in their interactions with government offices, medical institutions and healthcare professionals (HCP) in order to safeguard the independence of medical judgement and of prescription and purchasing decisions. These regulations typically prohibit illegitimate payments and other transfers of values to institutional players and HCPs and regulate the bases for their remuneration, such as for consultancy and other service arrangements, as well as the reimbursement of costs; in certain jurisdictions, regulations prescribe the disclosure of the existing relationships and/or the remunerations paid. In addition to government regulations, pharmaceutical industry associations, such as the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), of which we have been a member since 2021, have enacted industry codes of conduct providing their own rules of compliance for their members’ interactions with government offices, medical institutions and HCPs.

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other

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governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from U.S. government-funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, other foreign healthcare reimbursement and procurement programs, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business with is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government-funded healthcare programs.

Risks from the improper conduct of employees, agents, contractors, or collaborators could adversely affect our reputation and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.

We cannot ensure that our compliance controls, policies, and procedures will in every instance protect us from acts committed by our employees, agents, contractors, collaborators, or other parties, which would violate the laws or regulations of the jurisdictions in which we operate, including, without limitation, healthcare, employment, foreign corrupt practices, environmental, competition, and patient privacy and other privacy laws and regulations. Such improper actions could subject us to civil or criminal investigations, and monetary and injunctive penalties, and could adversely impact our operating results, our ability to conduct business and our reputation.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures to comply with FDA or EMA regulations, to provide accurate information to the FDA or the EMA, or intentional failures to report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical studies, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. In April 2022, we amended our code of conduct, but it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with these laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

Our business activities may be subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws.

Our business activities may be subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, regulations or rules of other countries in which we operate, including the UK Bribery Act. The FCPA generally prohibits offering, promising, giving or authorizing others to give anything of value, either directly or indirectly, to a non-U.S. government official in order to influence official action, or otherwise obtain or retain business. The FCPA also requires public companies to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials, including officials of non-U.S. governments. Additionally, in many other countries, the healthcare providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals or biopharmaceuticals and the investigators who perform our studies are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, our dealings with these decision makers are subject to regulation under the FCPA. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to pharmaceutical companies. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents, contractors, collaborators, or other parties or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, the closing down of our facilities, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs, and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, and our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

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Risks related to our common shares

The price of our common shares is volatile and may fluctuate due to factors beyond our control.

The share prices of publicly traded pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and drug discovery and development companies have been highly volatile and are likely to remain highly volatile in the future. The market price of our common shares may fluctuate significantly due to a variety of factors, including:

Broad market and industry factors may materially affect the market price of companies’ stock, including ours, regardless of actual operating performance. Furthermore, issuers such as ourselves, whose securities have historically had limited trading volumes and/or have been susceptible to relatively high volatility levels, can be particularly vulnerable to short-seller attacks and trading in our common shares by non-fundamental investors such as hedge funds and others who may enter and exit positions in our common shares frequently and suddenly, causing increased volatility of our share price. Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but rather has borrowed or intends to borrow from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities at a later date to return to the lender, and profit from a decline in the value of the securities in the process. The publication of any commentary by short sellers with the intent of creating negative market momentum may bring about a temporary, or possibly long-term, decline in the market price of our common shares.

There is only a limited free float of our common shares; this may have a negative impact on the liquidity of and the market price for our common shares.

As of the date hereof, certain principal shareholders controlling 5% or more of our common shares as well as our executive officers and directors together beneficially own approximately 60.1% of our common shares. The limited free float may have a negative impact on the liquidity of our common shares and result in a low trading volume of our common shares, which could adversely affect the price of our common shares.

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Certain of our existing shareholders exercise significant control over us, and your interests may conflict with the interests of such shareholders.

Certain principal shareholders as well as our executive officers and directors together beneficially own approximately 60.1% of our common shares. Depending on the level of attendance at our general meetings of shareholders, these shareholders may be in a position to determine the outcome of decisions taken at any such general meeting. To the extent that the interests of these shareholders may differ from the interests of the Company’s other shareholders, the latter may be disadvantaged by any action that these shareholders may seek to pursue. Among other consequences, this concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and might therefore negatively affect the market price of our common shares.

Future sales, or the possibility of future sales, of a substantial number of our common shares could adversely affect the price of our common shares.

Future sales of a substantial number of our common shares, or the perception that such sales will occur, could cause a decline in the market price of our common shares. If certain of our shareholders sell substantial amounts of common shares in the public market, or the market perceives that such sales may occur, the market price of our common shares and our ability to raise capital through an issue of equity securities in the future could be adversely affected. We also entered into a registration rights agreement in connection with the Series E Private Placement with certain investors in the Series E Private Placement, pursuant to which we agreed under certain circumstances to file a registration statement to register the resale of the common shares held by certain of our existing shareholders, as well as to cooperate in certain public offerings of such common shares. In October 2020 and August 2018, we filed registration statements on Form F-3 to register the resale of two of our shareholder’s common shares pursuant to the requirements of their registration rights agreements. In addition, in 2019, we adopted a new omnibus equity incentive plan under which we have the discretion to grant a broad range of equity-based awards to eligible participants. These shares were registered pursuant to the registration statement on Form S-8 that we filed with the SEC and, therefore, can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates. If a large number of our common shares are sold in the public market after they become eligible for sale, the sales could reduce the trading price of our common shares and impede our ability to raise future capital.

We have broad discretion in the use of our cash and cash equivalents and short-term financial assets (liquidity) and may not use them effectively.

Our management has broad discretion in the application of our cash and cash equivalents and short-term financial assets. Our or our collaboration partners’ decisions concerning the allocation of research, development, collaboration, management and financial resources toward particular product candidates or therapeutic areas may not lead to the development of any viable commercial product and may divert resources away from better opportunities. If we make incorrect determinations regarding the viability or market potential of any of our programs or product candidates or misread trends in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry, in particular for neurodegenerative diseases, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. As a result, we may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities, be required to forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or other diseases and disease pathways that may later prove to have greater commercial potential than those we choose to pursue, or relinquish valuable rights to such product candidates through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been advantageous for us to invest additional resources to retain sole development and commercialization rights.

We do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have not paid any dividends since our incorporation. Even if future operations lead to significant levels of distributable profits, we currently intend that any earnings will be reinvested in our business and that dividends will not be paid until we have an established revenue stream to support continuing dividends. Based on Swiss law and our articles of association, the declaration of dividends requires a resolution passed by a simple majority of the votes cast at a shareholders’ meeting regardless of abstentions and empty or invalid votes. The proposal to pay future dividends to shareholders will in addition effectively be at the discretion of our board of directors after considering various factors

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including our business prospects, liquidity requirements, financial performance and new product development. In addition, payment of future dividends is subject to certain limitations pursuant to Swiss law or by our articles of association compliance with which must be confirmed by our auditors. Accordingly, investors cannot rely on dividend income from our common shares and any returns on an investment in our common shares will likely depend entirely upon any future appreciation in the price of our common shares.

We are a Swiss corporation. The rights of our shareholders may be different from the rights of shareholders in companies governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions.

We are a Swiss corporation. Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of association and by the laws governing companies, including listed companies, incorporated in Switzerland. The rights of our shareholders and the responsibilities of members of our board of directors may be different from the rights and obligations of shareholders and directors of companies governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions. In the performance of its duties, our board of directors is required by Swiss law to consider the interests of our Company first, then of our shareholders, our employees and other stakeholders, in all cases, with due observation of their fiduciary duties of care and loyalty. It is possible that some of these parties will have interests that are different from, or in addition to, your interests as a shareholder. Swiss corporate law limits the ability of our shareholders to challenge resolutions made or other actions taken by our board of directors in court. Our shareholders generally are not permitted to file a suit to reverse a decision or an action taken by our board of directors but are instead only permitted to seek damages for breaches of their fiduciary duties by the directors. As a matter of Swiss law, shareholder claims against a member of our board of directors for breach of fiduciary duty would have to be brought in Lausanne, Switzerland, or the country in which the relevant member of our board of directors is domiciled. In addition, under Swiss law, any claims by our shareholders against us must be in principle brought exclusively in Lausanne, Switzerland (except for certain U.S. securities and other claims that may be brought in U.S. federal court).

Our common shares are issued under the laws of Switzerland, which may not protect investors in a similar fashion afforded by incorporation in a U.S. state.

We are organized under the laws of Switzerland. There can be no assurance that Swiss law will not change in the future in a way detrimental to shareholders or that it will serve to protect investors in a similar fashion afforded under corporate law principles in the U.S., which could adversely affect the rights of investors.

Our status as a Swiss corporation may limit our flexibility with respect to certain aspects of capital management and may cause us to be unable to make distributions without subjecting our shareholders to Swiss withholding tax.

The Swiss law effective at the time according to which our current Articles were established allowed our shareholders to authorize share capital that can be issued by the board of directors without additional shareholder approval. This authorization is limited to 50% of the existing registered share capital and must be renewed by the shareholders once expired. As of January 1, 2023, the new Swiss corporate law introducing the capital band mechanism has come into force. It will no longer be possible to renew the Company's current Authorized Share Capital beyond June 24, 2024. Instead, the Company can only introduce the capital band pursuant to Article 653s et seq. of the revised Swiss Code of Obligations which requires an amendment of the Articles of Association by way of a resolution of a duly convened general meeting of shareholders of the Company. Under the capital band mechanism, the general meeting of shareholders can authorize the board of directors at any time within a maximum of five years to increase or decrease the share capital by a maximum amount of 50% of the current share capital.

Additionally, as a principle, Swiss law grants pre-emptive subscription rights to existing shareholders to subscribe to any new issuance of shares. Any common share capital increase resolution preserving pre-emptive subscription rights expires after 3 months and requires a simple majority of the votes cast at the shareholder’s meeting regardless of abstentions and empty or invalid votes. Swiss law also does not provide as much flexibility in the various terms that can attach to different classes of shares as do the laws of some other jurisdictions. Swiss law also reserves for approval by shareholders certain corporate actions over which a board of directors would have authority in some other jurisdictions. For example, dividends must be approved by shareholders. These Swiss law requirements relating to our capital

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management may limit our flexibility, and situations may arise in which greater flexibility would have provided substantial benefits to our shareholders.

Under Swiss law, a Swiss corporation may pay dividends only if the corporation has sufficient distributable profits from previous fiscal years, or if the corporation has distributable reserves, each as evidenced by its audited statutory balance sheet. Freely distributable reserves are generally booked either as “free reserves” or as “capital contributions” (apports de capital, contributions received from shareholders) in the “reserve from capital contributions.” Distributions may be made out of issued share capital—the aggregate nominal value of a company’s issued shares—only by way of a capital reduction. To the extent the Company introduces the capital band, only net proceeds from capital increase using the capital band (less certain expenses and net of repayments from the Company) will be recognized as reserves from capital contributions at the end of validity period of the respective capital band). As of December 31, 2022, the Company has CHF 432.6 million of reserves from capital contributions confirmed by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration and CHF 1,794,907 of issued share capital (consisting of 89,745,365 common shares each with a nominal value of CHF 0.02 and no preferred shares) on its audited statutory balance sheet. Of the total issued shares and issued share capital, the Company holds 6,214,021 fully paid-in treasury shares representing CHF 124,280 of issued share capital.

Generally, Swiss withholding tax of 35% is due on dividends and similar distributions to our shareholders, regardless of the place of residency of the shareholder, unless the distribution is made to shareholders out of (i) a reduction of nominal value or (ii) assuming certain conditions are met, reserves from capital contributions accumulated on or after January 1, 1997. We expect the aggregate of the reserves from capital contributions confirmed by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration and share capital, less the total losses brought forward (to the extent set off against reserves from capital contributions or share capital), less the treasury shares (to the extent booked against reserves from capital contributions), less the lowest legally possible issued share capital and legal reserve of together CHF 150,000 to represent the maximum amount potentially available for future dividends or capital reductions on a Swiss withholding tax-free basis. We would also be able to pay dividends out of distributable profits or freely distributable reserves but such dividends would be subject to Swiss withholding taxes. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient distributable profits, free reserves, reserves from capital contributions or registered share capital to pay a dividend or effect a capital reduction, that our shareholders will approve dividends or capital reductions proposed by us, or that we will be able to meet the other legal requirements for dividend payments or distributions as a result of capital reductions.

A U.S. investor who qualifies for benefits under the Convention Between the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with Respect to Taxes on Income, which we refer to as the “U.S.-Swiss Treaty,” may apply for a refund of the tax withheld in excess of the 15% treaty rate (or in excess of the 5% reduced treaty rate for qualifying corporate shareholders with at least 10% participation in our voting stock, or for a full refund in the case of qualified pension funds). There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient reserves from capital contributions to pay dividends free from Swiss withholding tax, or that Swiss withholding tax rules will not be changed in the future. In addition, we cannot provide assurance that the current Swiss law with respect to distributions out of reserves from capital contributions will not be changed or that a change in Swiss law will not adversely affect us or our shareholders, in particular as a result of distributions out of reserves from capital contributions becoming subject to additional corporate law or other restrictions. If we are unable to make a distribution through a reduction in nominal value or out of confirmed reserves from capital contributions, we will not be able to make distributions without subjecting our shareholders to Swiss withholding taxes.

U.S. shareholders may not be able to obtain judgments or enforce civil liabilities against us or our executive officers or members of our board of directors.

We are organized under the laws of Switzerland and our registered office and domicile is located in Ecublens, near Lausanne, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Moreover, a number of our directors and executive officers are not residents of the U.S., and all or a substantial portion of the assets of such persons are located outside the U.S.. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process within the U.S. upon us or upon such persons or to enforce against them judgments obtained in U.S. courts, including judgments in actions predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the U.S.. We have been advised by our Swiss counsel that there is doubt as to the enforceability in Switzerland of original actions, or of actions for enforcement of judgments of U.S. courts, for civil liabilities to the extent solely predicated upon the federal and state securities laws of the U.S.. Original actions against persons in Switzerland based solely upon the U.S. federal or state securities laws are governed, among other things, by

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the principles set forth in the Swiss Federal Act on Private International Law. This statute provides that the application of provisions of non-Swiss law by the courts in Switzerland shall be precluded if the result is incompatible with Swiss public policy. Additionally, certain mandatory provisions of Swiss law may be applicable regardless of any other law that would otherwise apply.

Switzerland and the U.S. do not have a treaty providing for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. The recognition and enforcement of a judgment of the courts of the U.S. in Switzerland is governed by the principles set forth in the Swiss Federal Act on Private International Law. This statute provides in principle that a judgment rendered by a non-Swiss court may be enforced in Switzerland only if:

Our status as a Swiss corporation means that our shareholders enjoy certain rights that may limit our flexibility to raise capital, issue dividends and otherwise manage ongoing capital needs.

Swiss law reserves for approval by shareholders certain corporate actions over which a board of directors would have authority in some other jurisdictions. For example, the payment of dividends and cancellation of treasury shares must be approved by shareholders. Swiss law also requires that our shareholders themselves resolve, or authorize our board of directors, to increase our share capital. Although under the current Swiss law our shareholders may resolve a capital band which authorizes the board of directors to increase or decrease the share capital without additional shareholder approval, Swiss law limits this authorization to 50% of the issued share capital at the time of the authorization. The authorization, furthermore, has a limited duration of up to five years and must be renewed by the shareholders from time to time thereafter.

Since January 1, 2023, the new Swiss corporate law introducing the capital band mechanism has come into force. It will no longer be possible to renew the Company's current Authorized Share Capital beyond June 24, 2024. Instead, the Company can only introduce the capital band pursuant to Article 653s et seq. of the revised Swiss Code of Obligations which requires an amendment of the Articles by way of a resolution of a duly convened general meeting of shareholders of the Company.

Additionally, subject to specified exceptions, including exceptions explicitly described in our articles of association, Swiss law grants pre-emptive subscription rights to existing shareholders to subscribe for new issuances of shares. Swiss law also does not provide as much flexibility in the various rights and regulations that can attach to different categories of shares as do the laws of some other jurisdictions. These Swiss law requirements relating to our capital management may limit our flexibility, and situations may arise where greater flexibility would have provided benefits to our shareholders.

Swiss law restricts our ability to pay dividends.

See “Item 10. Additional information—E. Taxation—Swiss tax considerations” for a summary of certain Swiss tax consequences regarding dividends distributed to holders of our common shares.

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Shareholders in countries with a currency other than Swiss Francs face additional investment risks from currency exchange rate fluctuations in connection with their holding of our common shares.

Any future payments of dividends, if any, will likely be denominated in Swiss Francs. The foreign currency equivalent of any dividend, if any, paid on our common shares or received in connection with any sale of our common shares could be adversely affected by the depreciation of the Swiss Franc against such other currency.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, we are not subject to U.S. proxy rules and are subject to Exchange Act reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. domestic public company.

We are reporting under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act and although we are subject to Swiss laws and regulations with regard to such matters and intend to furnish quarterly financial information to the SEC, we are exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including (i) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act; (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and their liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and (iii) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, or of current reports on Form 8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. In addition, foreign private issuers are not required to file their annual report on Form 20-F until 4 months after the end of each financial year, whereas U.S. domestic issuers that are accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 75 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from the Regulation Fair Disclosure, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of the above, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are not foreign private issuers.

As a foreign private issuer and as permitted by the listing requirements of Nasdaq, we rely on certain home country governance practices rather than the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.

We are a foreign private issuer. As a result, in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5615(a)(3), we comply with home country (in this case, Swiss) governance requirements and certain exemptions thereunder rather than complying with certain of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. Swiss law does not require that a majority of our board of directors consist of independent directors. Our board of directors therefore may include fewer independent directors than would be required if we were subject to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(b)(1). In addition, we are not subject to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(b)(2), which requires that independent directors regularly have scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

While Swiss law also requires that our board of directors elects an audit and finance committee from among its members, as a foreign private issuer, the independence of the members of such committee is determined by home country regulations and the conditions of Section 10B of the Securities Exchange Act, excluding any Nasdaq Listing Rules. Section 10B of the Securities Exchange Act also prescribes qualification requirements for the audit and finance committee. Swiss law also requires that we elect a compensation committee, we follow home country requirements with respect to such committee and our compensation, nomination and corporate governance committee is tasked with certain director nomination and governance responsibilities. As a result, our practice varies from the requirements of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(d), which sets forth certain requirements as to the responsibilities, composition and independence of compensation committees, and from the independent director oversight of director nominations requirements of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(e).

Furthermore, in accordance with Swiss law and generally accepted business practices, our articles of association do not provide quorum requirements generally applicable to general meetings of shareholders. Our practice thus varies from the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5620(c), which requires an issuer to provide in its bylaws for a generally applicable quorum, and that such quorum may not be less than one-third of the outstanding voting stock. Our articles of association provide for an independent proxy holder elected by our shareholders, who may represent our shareholders at

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a general meeting of shareholders, and we must provide shareholders with an agenda and other relevant documents for the general meeting of shareholders. Our practice varies from the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5620(b), which sets forth certain requirements regarding the solicitation of proxies. In addition, we have opted out of shareholder approval requirements for the issuance of securities in connection with certain events such as the acquisition of stock or assets of another company, the establishment of or amendments to equity-based compensation plans for employees, a change of control of us, and certain private placements. To this extent, our practice varies from the requirements of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635, which generally requires an issuer to obtain shareholder approval for the issuance of securities in connection with such events.

For an overview of our corporate governance principles, see “Item 16G. Corporate governance.” As a result of the above, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are not foreign private issuers.

We may lose our foreign private issuer status, which would then require us to comply with the Exchange Act’s domestic reporting regime and cause us to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses.

We are a foreign private issuer and therefore we are not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. We may no longer be a foreign private issuer as of June 30, 2023 (or the end of our second fiscal quarter in any subsequent fiscal year), which would require us to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act applicable to U.S. domestic issuers as of January 1, 2024 (or the first day of the fiscal year immediately succeeding the end of such second quarter). In order to maintain our current status as a foreign private issuer, either (a) a majority of our common shares must be either directly or indirectly owned of record by non-residents of the U.S. or (b) (i) a majority of our executive officers or directors may not be U.S. citizens or residents, (ii) more than 50 percent of our assets cannot be located in the U.S. and (iii) our business must be administered principally outside the U.S.. If we lost this status, we would be required to comply with the Exchange Act reporting and other requirements applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, which are more detailed and extensive than the requirements for foreign private issuers. We may also be required to make changes in our corporate governance practices in accordance with various SEC and stock exchange rules. The regulatory and compliance costs to us under U.S. securities laws if we are required to comply with the reporting requirements applicable to a U.S. domestic issuer may be significantly higher than the cost we would incur as a foreign private issuer. As a result, we expect that a loss of foreign private issuer status would increase our legal and financial compliance costs and would make some activities highly time-consuming and costly. We also expect that if we were required to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, it would make it more difficult and expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These rules and regulations could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors.

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

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting. Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud, among other objectives. Any failure to implement any required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or any testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting, which are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our consolidated financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement.

Moreover, if we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 applicable to us in a timely manner, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our common shares could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional

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financial and management resources. Furthermore, investor perceptions of our company may suffer if deficiencies are found, and this could cause a decline in the market price of our common shares. Irrespective of compliance with Section 404, any failure of our internal control over financial reporting could have a material adverse effect on our stated operating results and harm our reputation. If we are unable to implement these requirements effectively or efficiently, it could harm our operations, financial reporting, or financial results and could result in an adverse opinion on our internal control over financial reporting from our independent registered public accounting firm.

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

The trading market for our common shares will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If no or too few securities or industry analysts cover our company, the trading price for our common shares would likely be negatively affected. In addition, if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our common shares or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the price of our common shares would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common shares could decrease, which might cause the price of our common shares and trading volume to decline.

We were likely a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) for our 2022 taxable year and we may be a PFIC for 2023 or future taxable years. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. investor owns our common shares, the investor generally will be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

As discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2019 and 2020, we were likely a PFIC for these years. We were also likely a PFIC for 2022.

Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), we will be a PFIC for any taxable year in which, after the application of certain look-through rules with respect to subsidiaries, either (i) 75% or more of our gross income consists of passive income (the “income test”) or (ii) 50% or more of the average value of our assets (generally determined on a quarterly basis) consists of assets that produce, or are held for the production of, passive income (the “asset test”). Passive income generally includes dividends, interest, certain non-active rents and royalties, and gains from financial investments. Cash is generally a passive asset. Goodwill (the value of which may be determined by reference to the excess of the sum of a corporation’s market capitalization and liabilities over the value of its assets) is generally an active asset to the extent attributable to business activities that produce active income. For purposes of the above calculations, we will be treated as if we hold our proportionate share of the assets of, and directly receive our proportionate share of the income of, any other corporation in which we directly or indirectly own at least 25% of the shares of such corporation by value.

We have not obtained valuations of our assets (including goodwill or going concern value) for 2022 and thus are not in a position to make a definitive determination regarding whether we were a PFIC for 2022. However, we believe that we were likely a PFIC for 2022 due to the decline and volatility of our market capitalization in 2022. If the value of our goodwill or going concern value is determined by reference to our market capitalization then we were a PFIC for 2022. For the same reason there is a significant risk that we will also be a PFIC for 2023, and possibly other taxable years. Because our PFIC status is a factual annual determination that can be determined only after the end of the relevant taxable year, we cannot express a view regarding our PFIC status for 2023 or any future taxable year.

In addition, the application of the income test to a company like us (whose overall losses from research and development activities significantly exceed its gross income) is not entirely clear. We will be a PFIC for any taxable year under the income test if 75% or more of our gross income (as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes) for such year consists of interest and other passive income. Prior to the commercialization and sales of any of our product candidates, our gross income may consist primarily of upfront or milestone payments and grants (which we believe are likely to be treated as active income) and interest (which is passive income). The receipt of upfront payments is non-recurring in nature, and the receipt of grants or milestone payments is subject to various conditions. Therefore, there can be no assurance as to the amount of grants, milestone payments or upfront payments (if any) that we will receive for any taxable year. Moreover, we may earn income from sublicensing, which may be passive unless certain conditions are satisfied. There is no assurance that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) will not challenge the classification of any of

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our income items for PFIC purposes for any taxable year. Accordingly, there is no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for any taxable year under the income test.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year and a U.S. investor owns our common shares during any portion of that year, we will continue to be treated as a PFIC with respect to the U.S. investor, even if we are not a PFIC for any subsequent taxable year, unless the U.S. investor makes a “deemed sale” election with respect to our common shares.

U.S. investors that own our common shares during any taxable year in which we are (or were) a PFIC generally will be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences, including (i) the treatment of all or a portion of any gain on disposition of our common shares as ordinary income, (ii) the application of a deferred interest charge on such gain and the receipt of certain dividends and (iii) the requirement to file certain reports to the IRS. We do not intend to provide the information that would enable investors to make a “qualified electing fund” election which, if available, could materially affect the U.S. federal income tax consequences if we are a PFIC for any taxable year.

For further discussion, see “Item 10. Additional information—Section E. Taxation.”

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ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

A.History and development of the company

We are a Swiss stock corporation (société anonyme) organized under the laws of Switzerland. We were formed as a Swiss limited liability company (société à responsabilité limitée) on February 13, 2003 with our registered office and domicile in Basel, Switzerland. We converted to a Swiss stock corporation (société anonyme) under the laws of Switzerland on August 25, 2003. Our Swiss enterprise identification number is CHE-109.878.825. Our domicile and registered office is in Ecublens, at the École Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL) Innovation Park Building B, 1015 Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland. Our common shares were admitted to trading on Nasdaq Global Market on September 23, 2016, and trade under the symbol ACIU.

Our general telephone number is (41) 21 345 91 21 and our internet address is www.acimmune.com. References to our website address do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website, and the information contained on the website is not part of this document or any other document that we file with or furnish to the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, which can be found at http://www.sec.gov. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Cogency Global Inc. located at 122 East 42nd Street, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10168.

Our principal expenditures since January 1, 2020 have been our research and development expenses, as more fully described elsewhere in this Annual Report.

B.Business overview

AC Immune is a leading, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company advancing one of the broadest portfolios focused on pioneering Precision Medicine for neurodegenerative diseases. Our highly differentiated approach integrates novel therapeutics and diagnostics to overcome the fundamental challenge in this therapeutic area – the high number of co-pathologies driving disease development and progression and the urgent need for more tailored therapeutic regimens.

Leveraging our dual proprietary technology platforms, SupraAntigen and Morphomer, we have built a comprehensive pipeline of first-in-class or best-in-class candidates spanning multiple treatment modalities and targeting both established and emerging neurodegenerative pathologies. We are currently advancing 16 therapeutic and diagnostic programs, with seven currently in clinical trials, targeting five different types of misfolded pathological proteins related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. Our pipeline assets are further validated by the multiple partnerships we have established with leading global pharmaceutical companies. We believe our clinically validated technology platforms and multi-target, multimodal approach position AC Immune to revolutionize the treatment paradigm for neurodegenerative disease by shifting it towards Precision Medicine and disease prevention.

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Figure 1: AC Immune investment highlights

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(1) As of December 31, 2022; excluding treasury shares; (2) As of December 31, 2022

Our Team

We have assembled an outstanding management team with relevant scientific, clinical and regulatory expertise. Our scientific founders, Jean-Marie Lehn, Claude Nicolau, and Fred van Leuven, are regarded as pioneers in their respective scientific domains, including in the study of AD. Our co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Andrea Pfeifer, a Pharmacologist with a Ph.D. in cancer research and a former National Institute of Health researcher, has a 30-year track record in product innovation and implementation, and was formerly Head of Nestlé Global Research and the co-founder of Nestlé Venture Fund. Marie Kosco-Vilbois, our Chief Scientific Officer, brings more than 20 years of experience in various aspects of discovery research and drug development, including work on multiple drug development programs. Johannes Rolf Streffer, our Chief Medical Officer, is a Neurologist and Psychiatrist with extensive expertise in AD including biomolecular modalities such as PET, volumetric and functional MRI, genetics, cognition and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) marker.

Unmet need in neurodegenerative diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases, including dementias and motor disorders associated with protein misfolding, are prevalent, but there is currently an absence of reliable, early-stage diagnosis and disease-modifying treatments for these diseases. The growth in the number of people with neurodegenerative diseases has been significant, as evidenced by the prevalence of people affected by AD and PD, two of the most common neurodegenerative diseases.

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Figure 2: Neurodegenerative diseases represent a large and growing market

(1) Alzheimer’s Disease International; (2) Parkinson’s disease; (3) Michael J Fox Foundation; (4) Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy; (5) Nelson et al. Brain 2019; (6) Gustavsson et al. Alzheimer's Dement. 2022; 1- 13. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12694; (7) Alzheimer’s disease; (8) Neurodegenerative disease

Diagnosis typically takes the form of observation of cognitive, functional and behavioral impairment and other symptoms of the diseases, which are generally only apparent after irreversible neuronal damage has already occurred. In the United States, through Q1 2023, there were seven approved therapies for AD, five addressing symptoms and two being disease-modifying treatments. These provided incomplete clinical efficacy, presented non-negligible safety risks and failed to halt disease progression. Despite these shortcomings, marketed therapies, such as Eisai and Pfizer’s Aricept, have achieved peak annual global sales of approximately USD 2.4 billion prior to loss of exclusivity. Similarly, in the treatment of PD, the current standard of care is intended only to alleviate clinical symptoms.

In July 2022, the FDA accepted Eisai Co., Ltd.’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for lecanemab, an investigational anti-amyloid beta protofibril antibody for early AD that is partnered with Biogen Inc. In September 2022, Eisai and Biogen announced that lecanemab’s confirmatory Phase 3 AD study met its primary endpoint. As a result, lecanemab was granted accelerated approval as a treatment for AD in the U.S. by the U.S. FDA on January 6, 2023. Eisai submitted a Supplemental BLA to the FDA for approval under the traditional pathway on the same day.

In Europe, Eisai submitted marketing authorization application to the EMA on January 9, 2023. In China, Eisai initiated submission of data for BLA to the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) on December 23, 2022. On January 16, 2023, Eisai filed its marketing authorization application in Japan.

Neurodegenerative disease overview

Folding and unfolding of proteins are important ways of regulating the biological activity and cellular location of those proteins. Misfolding of proteins occurs due to a breakdown of cellular quality control systems and is a common feature of many neurodegenerative diseases. Misfolded proteins are unable to carry out their normal functions and aggregate to form insoluble deposits in the brain, which eventually lead to neuronal damage and cell death. The

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progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as AD and PD, is linked to the spread of misfolded, pathological protein aggregates throughout the brain. Figure 3 shows how misfolded proteins play a key role in the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases.

Figure 3: Misfolded proteins key impact on the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases

Typically, protein misfolding occurs in response to cellular stress, which can be triggered by many different, largely unknown, causes. A cascade of molecular events begins with the misfolding of single proteins within a cell, which then aggregate and ultimately form larger aggregates including plaques and tangles. These misfolded proteins are then exported or shed from dying neurons where they can spread to healthy cells nearby. Once inside, misfolded proteins can interact with normal proteins and cause them to misfold in a process known as “seeding,” leading to spreading of the disease pathology throughout the brain, increased neuronal death and a progressive decline in cognitive function.

The Figure above also shows how our therapies are designed to intervene and prevent key pathological steps in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. They are designed to (i) prevent initial misfolding; (ii) promote disaggregation of misfolded proteins; (iii) inhibit spreading of pathological protein to healthy cells; (iv) prevent seeding of new misfolded protein aggregates inside healthy cells; and (v) inhibit downstream neurodegeneration. This robust approach to targeting neurodegenerative diseases is enabled by our two validated technology platforms, SupraAntigen and Morphomer, which generate highly specific biologics and small molecule inhibitors that can distinguish normal from misfolded proteins and inhibit key disease pathways both inside and outside of cells.

Our strategic vision

Our goal is to continue leveraging our proprietary discovery platforms, SupraAntigen and Morphomer, to shift the treatment paradigm for neurodegenerative disease towards Precision Medicine and disease prevention. We are executing a clear business strategy built on three pillars: (i) accelerate development of novel therapeutics in AD with our partners; (ii) expand our strategic focus in Parkinson’ disease (PD) and non-AD neurodegenerative diseases, including NeuroOrphan indications and limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE); and (iii) a continued focus on diagnostics enabling Precision Medicine to be an ultimate differentiator for the Company.

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Figure 4: AC Immune’s three-pillar strategy

(1) Alzheimer’s disease; (2) Down syndrome; (3) alpha-synuclein; (4) TAR DNA-binding protein 43

Our three-pillar execution strategy reflects our unique Precision Medicine approach, which ultimately creates differentiation due to our ability to address the high levels of co-pathologies present in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. Much like cancer, neurodegenerative diseases are heterogeneous and may require multiple therapeutic interventions tailored to patients’ specific disease drivers, to be used in combination in order to slow or stop the disease course. Ultimately, it is our belief that Precision Medicine will increase the chance of treatment success by enabling clinical trial participants to be better defined by their various proteinopathies, allowing for treatment with the right therapies at the right time.

AC Immune has established itself as a leader in developing Precision Medicines for neurodegenerative diseases by utilizing our diagnostic capabilities to enable improved diagnosis of co-pathologies, patient selection and assessment of clinical trial outcomes. Our dual technology platforms allow for a multi-modal approach encompassing a portfolio of vaccines, antibodies and small molecules tailored to the underlying pathology driving patients’ disease. In addition to generating targeted monotherapies, this approach creates the potential for combination regimens, which may treat a broader spectrum of disease and offer greater efficacy.

Precision Medicine for neurodegenerative diseases

The development of therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases is moving towards treating early-stage disease to delay or prevent progression by preserving neurological function before it is irretrievably lost. Therefore, early detection of neurodegenerative diseases will be critical to enhancing the effectiveness of both symptomatic and disease-modifying therapies.

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This begins with a real challenge. The commonly used approach of taking a biopsy of the affected tissue to detect the corresponding pathology is not possible with diseases of the brain. Given these complexities, it becomes more important that we develop improved methods to fully characterize the underlying pathologies in different patients to ultimately provide better opportunities for therapeutic intervention at all stages of disease. Samples of blood or cerebrospinal fluid can be used to monitor biomarker levels indirectly but neither of these fluids provide exact anatomical information on where protein misfolding and aggregation occur.

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At AC Immune, we have a strong track record in discovering highly sensitive and specific imaging agents to detect and quantify pathological proteins and their aggregated forms directly in patients’ brains using PET scans. These agents

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can provide critical information to confirm or exclude certain diagnoses and thus to determine which might be the most appropriate therapeutic strategy for a patient.

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We are developing an integrated diagnostic and therapeutic strategy to deliver, for the first time, Precision Medicine for patients with neurodegenerative conditions. This will lead to a combination therapy approach to treat each patient's unique disease by addressing the right proteinopathy, in the right patient, at the right time.

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Vaccines for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

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Consistent with this approach, we are progressing our vaccines targeting the hallmark proteins driving neurodegenerative diseases such as amyloid beta, Tau, and alpha-synuclein. Our clinical stage vaccine programs, ACI-35.030 (anti-pTau vaccine), ACI-24.060 (anti-Abeta vaccine) and ACI-7104.056 (anti-a-syn vaccine) have been shown to stimulate a patient’s own immune system to produce antibodies directed specifically against the pathological species of these target proteins.

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We believe that these antibodies will modify the course of disease by supporting clearance of toxic protein aggregates (as recent clinical data from certain monoclonal antibodies have shown), or by preventing their spreading and accumulation, thereby preserving neuronal health and function. Importantly, the use of vaccines over the longer-term and in people identified as “at risk” before symptomatic disease development will provide the rational, targeted approach consistent with our Precision Medicine strategy.

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Key elements of our approach include:

Figure 5: Our broad and robust clinical stage pipeline

(1) Alzheimer’s disease; (2) Open label extension study is ongoing; (3) Positron emission tomography; (4) Progressive supranuclear palsy; (5) Prevention trial API-ADAD in Colombia; (6) Down syndrome-related Alzheimer’s disease; (7) alpha-synuclein; (8) Parkinson’s disease; (9) Multiple system atrophy

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Our clinical stage product candidates include:

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In Q4 2022, it was announced that, based on the Phase 1b/2a interim data, ACI-35.030 had been selected for further development. New clinical data from the Phase 1b/2a trial showed that ACI-35.030 treatment rapidly leads to the strong and durable induction of antibodies specific for pathological forms of Tau such as pTau and its aggregated form, ePHF. The ACI-35.030-induced antibody response was sustained and could be periodically boosted over a period of 72 weeks. The decision to select ACI-35.030 follows the comparison demonstrating its strengths relative to an alternative anti-pTau protein conjugate vaccine, JACI-35.054.

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ABATE is a multicenter, adaptive, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study designed to assess the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, and pharmacodynamic effects of ACl-24.060 in subjects with prodromal AD and subsequently in adults with DS is ongoing. The CTA has been approved by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) with the first patient dosed in Q2 2022. AC Immune plans for an Investigational New Drug (IND) application in the USA in H1 2023 for the global development of the vaccine candidate.

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Beyond AD, we are pursuing additional neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and NeuroOrphan indications, specifically Tau-, a-syn- and TDP-43-driven diseases, such as FTLD-Tau (e.g., PSP, CBD, FTLD-MAPT), MSA, and ALS and FTLD-TDP, respectively. As part of this strategic move, AC Immune acquired certain a-syn assets from Affiris in 2021, gaining an advanced, clinical stage and validated a-syn vaccine candidate for development against PD in the process.

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Pursuing NeuroOrphan indications may enable us to obtain a streamlined regulatory approval pathway and favorable reimbursement for any approved products. In addition, we are accelerating our novel therapeutic and diagnostic candidates targeting a-syn as a primary pathology in Parkinson’s disease and other a-synucleinopathies. See below for a summary of our early-stage diversified novel targets pipeline including non-AD neurodegenerative diseases, with an in-house focus on NeuroOrphan indications.

Figure 6: Robust novel targets pipeline: diversification into non-AD¹ and non-CNS² diseases

(1) Alzheimer’s disease; (2) Central nervous system; (3) Parkinson’s disease; (4) TAR DNA-binding protein 43; (5) Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy; (6) Positron emission tomography; (7) (NOD)-like receptor protein 3; (8) Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD, also PYCARD

Early detection of neurodegenerative diseases may be critical to enhancing the effectiveness of both symptomatic and disease-modifying therapies. As a result, therapeutic development for AD increasingly focuses on treating early-stage disease to delay or prevent progression and to preserve the maximum amount of cognitive function before it is irreversibly lost. Most clinical studies now target mild or even preclinical stages of the disease increasing the need for accurate diagnosis that is independent of potentially subjective cognitive metrics. At least one study estimates that as many as one-third of patients in previous AD studies did not in fact have AD. Accurate and early diagnosis of AD is thus a substantial unmet market need, and diagnostic products will have a key role in generating a new treatment paradigm, including by selecting more uniform and stage-specific clinical study subjects, tracking patient progress and results,

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managing patients who are receiving treatment, and ultimately diagnosing disease at its earliest stage for immediate treatment.

Figure 7: The need for Precision Medicine in AD: improved clinical trials, diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

(1) alpha-synuclein; (2) TAR DNA-binding protein 43; (3) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; (4) Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy

Refs: Attems et al., Newcastle University, AAIC 2017; Nelson et al. Brain. 2019

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We are developing a suite of diagnostics designed to be first-in-class or best-in-class, which will enable improved diagnosis of pathologies, patient selection and assessment of clinical trial outcomes. We currently have four diagnostic programs in our pipeline, developed using our proprietary technology platforms and targeting the therapeutic targets: Tau, a-syn and TDP-43.

Leveraging our Morphomer platform, we are developing proprietary PET imaging diagnostics for diseases resulting from the misfolding of a-syn and TDP-43 proteins. No such diagnostics are currently available for these important pathologies and AC Immune has identified promising compounds with high affinity and target specificity, as well as favorable central nervous system (CNS) pharmacokinetic properties. In 2020, the a-syn-PET tracer won the Ken Griffin Alpha-synuclein Imaging Competition from MJFF. In 2022, the Company received a continuation grant from the MJFF for this tracer.

Our novel TDP-43-PET tracer and our antibody-based immuno-assay for biofluid detection of TDP-43 also were awarded highly competitive grants from the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research’ (JPND) in 2020, The Target ALS Foundation (Target ALS) in 2020 and 2022 and the MJFF in Q1 2023. Our diagnostics for a-syn and TDP-43, if validated clinically, could become the first in the world to effectively diagnose these proteinopathies, which are highly relevant for multiple neurodegenerative diseases.

4.Continuing to optimize our long-term growth by selectively partnering product candidates for global development and commercialization

We have a strong track record of establishing value-driving collaboration agreements with leading pharmaceutical companies, including two collaborations with Genentech, one with Janssen and one with Lilly. This strategy allows us to leverage our partners’ scientific, development, manufacturing and commercialization expertise and other resources while

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partially monetizing our investments, de-risking and accelerating the development of our product candidates. This strategy also enables us to use non-dilutive partnership revenue to bolster our investment into our early-stage proprietary programs and fuel our continued growth. We have five current collaboration agreements with leading global pharmaceutical companies, summarized in the table below:

Figure 8: External validation and cash generation through external collaborations¹

(1) Disclosure limited due to confidentiality agreements with collaboration partners; (2) In millions; (3) Positron emission tomography; (4) In Alzheimer’s disease; (5) Phase 1 completed; (6) Equity investment; (7) Converted to CHF on date of receipt; (8) Excludes convertible note agreement of USD 50 million

For any additional product candidates targeting large markets, we may, if appropriate, selectively partner with leading companies that we believe can contribute development, manufacturing and marketing expertise, geographic reach and/or other resources that can enhance the value of our wholly-owned products. We will continue to seek to retain certain indications (e.g., NeuroOrphan) and/or geographies, such that we could begin to grow our own marketing capabilities as we develop AC Immune into a fully integrated pharmaceutical company.

Additionally, in this respect, we established a strategic partnership with WuXi Biologics for its expertise in manufacturing biologicals in China and potential collaborations regarding AC Immune’s SupraAntigen platform.

The benefits of our clinically-validated, proprietary technology platforms

The engines that drive our growth are our two unique proprietary and versatile technology platforms: our SupraAntigen platform, which is our biological and immunological platform, and our Morphomer platform, which is our chemical platform. These platforms generate biologics (vaccines and antibodies) and small molecules, respectively, which are designed to selectively interact with the misfolded proteins that are common in a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases. These clinically-validated platforms form the basis of our ongoing pipeline development and the value-driving strategic partnerships we have established to date.

The key aspect of both our SupraAntigen and Morphomer technology platforms is conformational specificity, which we believe is central to the development of effective and safe therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. Our SupraAntigen platform targets misfolded proteins through antigens displayed on the surface of liposomes, which mimic the targeted pathological form of the protein. In a complementary approach, our Morphomer platform uses small molecular weight compounds to target the aggregation and seeding process, which prevents the misfolded proteins from aggregating inside the cell and prevents the formation of new misfolded proteins in healthy neighboring cells through a seeding mechanism. Small molecules derived from our Morphomer platform, which we refer to as Morphomers, not only inhibit aggregation of pathological proteins, but also promote disaggregation of already formed aggregates, thereby potentially enhancing their therapeutic potential even in established disease states.

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Figure 9: SupraAntigen and Morphomer platforms: an integrated approach to CNS-specific therapies

(1) Nanomolar; (2) Picomolar; (3) Central nervous system; (4) Blood-brain barrier; (5) alpha-synuclein; (6) TAR DNA-binding protein 43

The SupraAntigen platform was first developed by AC Immune’s scientific co-founders to overcome a challenge common to neurodegenerative diseases: the lack of immunogenicity of disease-causing self-proteins. The SupraAntigen platform uses liposomes (small spherical vesicles formed by a lipid bilayer) to present specific antigens designed to evoke an immune response. SupraAntigen is used to generate conformation-specific antibodies for immunotherapy in neurodegenerative diseases. The overarching idea behind the platform is that antibodies, which are large in size, are well-suited to target extracellular proteins, interrupt spreading of pathological proteins, and break up and clear aggregates of misfolded proteins through phagocytosis.

AC Immune has acquired advanced mastery of the design and manipulation of liposomes to develop either passive or active immunization techniques to generate antibodies targeting neurodegenerative diseases. When pursuing active immunization approaches, we use liposomes carrying a specific antigen as a vaccine. After vaccination with a liposome, antigen and confirmation-specific antibodies are produced naturally by the host with very high affinity without further optimization. This immune response can be long-lasting and may be ideal to prevent the onset of a disease, as the immune system is now primed to rapidly identify disease-causing misfolded proteins.

Product candidates generated utilizing the SupraAntigen platform include vaccines (i) ACI-35.030, which has been selected for further development based on supporting data from the Phase 1b/2a in early AD, and (ii) ACI-24.060 ABATE Phase 1b/2, study in subjects with prodromal AD and subsequently in adults with DS. Additionally, antibodies include: crenezumab in Phase 2 for AD prevention and the preclinical candidates targeting a-syn and TDP-43 for PD and NeuroOrphan indications.

The Morphomer platform is designed to enable the development of small molecules (Morphomers) able to bind/interact with beta-sheets containing fibrillary aggregates from candidate selection through preclinical proof-of-concept. Morphomers can target pathological protein aggregates in any brain compartment and are equally well suited for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

The first key component of the Morphomer platform is its library of rationally designed, CNS-optimized non-dye compounds. AC Immune’s extensive know-how has enabled the identification of CNS compounds that penetrate the brain and demonstrate high selectivity for the target. This knowledge has been used to focus the Morphomer library to approximately 15,000 compounds that display these favorable characteristics, making this library an ideal starting point when developing molecules to target human proteinopathies of the CNS. Thus, rather than using the non-directed trial and error strategy of the typical drug development process, the Morphomer platform utilizes its bias for successful CNS candidates to improve efficiency and accelerate the early stages of the drug development process. Extensive expertise in

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medicinal chemistry and a suite of proprietary assays developed to screen and validate candidate compounds enables AC Immune to rapidly optimize multiple, highly diversified lead compounds for further preclinical and clinical development.

Therapeutic product candidates generated by the Morphomer platform include our Morphomer Tau candidates, including ACI-3024. We also have Morphomer a-syn candidates and the diagnostic programs PI-2620 in Phase 3 and Phase 1 in AD and PSP, respectively, and ACI-12589 in a Phase 1 clinical trial in PD, MSA and other synucleinopathies. Finally, we also have TDP-43-PET imaging agents.

Shifting the current treatment paradigm for neurodegenerative diseases

Modifying the progression of the disease requires targeting the specific underlying biological processes that drive disease progression. Unfortunately, these processes evolve over the course of many years prior to manifestation of symptoms and a high percentage of neurons may be lost prior to clinical manifestation. Earlier intervention or prevention of the disease could have a major impact, but it requires accurate disease detection prior to developing symptoms. Due to recent advancement in biomarker research, people at risk of developing AD can be diagnosed 10-20 years before symptoms occur, opening a completely new market segment for the prevention of NDD when active vaccination will play an important role. This early, and potentially preventative, Precision Medicine approach may ultimately lead to better disease management for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Figure 10: Vaccines as a new class of treatment for neurodegenerative diseases

Given the inherent advantages of vaccines compared to monoclonal antibodies, we believe that our programs could have a profound global social and economic impact as a new class of therapy for neurogenerative diseases in various settings.

In regard to treatment, vaccines have potentially improved safety and efficacy profiles. By stimulating the patient’s own immune system to produce antibodies, we believe tolerability would be enhanced by avoiding the need to introduce repeated large doses of externally manufactured antibodies. Additionally, due to their ability to target multiple epitopes with a long-lasting and consistent immune response, the polyclonal antibody response generated by a vaccine permits covering multiple pathological species of the targeted protein.

Vaccines are also much simpler to administer. They are amenable to convenient annual or biannual dosing whereas monoclonal antibodies require frequent intravenous infusions (up to twice per month). These dosing regimens position vaccines as an obvious solution for a maintenance therapy for patients who have previously achieved plaque clearance

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with antibodies. This approach will reduce the burden for infusion centers and enhance access to a broader patient population.

In addition to these advantages, vaccines allow for more simplified distribution logistics and cost-effectiveness. These factors are crucial to enable their global application as preventative therapies. Given the irreversible nature of neuronal damage, earlier intervention, even before symptoms become visible, promises to be the best strategy to preserve patient function and quality of life.

Figure 11: Market opportunities targeting key primary and co-pathologies

(1) Alzheimer’s Association; (2) (NOD)-like receptor protein; (3) Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD, also PYCARD; (4) GBD 2016 Parkinson’s Disease Collaborators Lancet Neurology 2018; (5) Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy; (6) Nelson et. al. Brain 2019; (7) TAR DNA-binding protein43; (8) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Fact Sheet; (9) NINDS Multiple System Atrophy Fact Sheer; (10) ALS Association Rare Disease 2013; (199) NINDS Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Fact Sheer; (12) Knopman and Roberts J. Mol. Neurosci. 2011

Due to the high level of co-pathologies involved in neurodegenerative diseases, future treatment paradigms may involve different combinations of disease modifiers at various stages of a disease. Therefore, combination therapies may include combinations of immunotherapies or combinations of small and large molecules targeting proteinopathies and neuroinflammation. Our therapeutic product candidates seek to modify the course of AD by intervening at an earlier stage of the disease progression, prior to irreversible neuronal damage. Beyond AD, we believe that we can leverage our proprietary platforms to generate and employ molecules that address the pathologies of other neurodegenerative diseases (See Figure above).

In support of shifting the current treatment paradigm from treatment to prevention, we are the leader in discovering new PET imaging agents to improve the timing and accuracy of diagnoses in neurodegenerative diseases. In our pipeline, we have three families of diagnostic candidates that were developed through our Morphomer platform, which target Tau, a-syn and TDP-43. We believe our Tau-PET imaging program has received external validation through our partnership with LMI, a leader in imaging agents, as well as from several investigator-sponsored trials. We are also developing a-syn and TDP-43 PET imaging agents for PD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

With our unique integrated approach focused on Precision Medicine, we believe that our diagnostic product candidate pipeline will complement our disease-modifying treatment product candidate pipeline and potentially reshape the clinical course and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

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Our clinical programs

Anti-pTau vaccine

In collaboration with Janssen, we are advancing the anti-pTau vaccine program with ACI-35.030 that is directed against a key component of the pathology of AD: phosphorylated Tau proteins, found in Tau tangles. Developed using our SupraAntigen technology, our vaccine is designed to stimulate a patient’s immune system to produce antibodies against misfolded and phosphorylated, pathological Tau protein, which aggregates to create the neurofibrillary tangles that characterize AD.

Potential advantages of Tau vaccination over other therapeutic approaches

ACI-35.030 Tau vaccine, which is able to induce a long-lasting and boost-able antibody response, has the potential to be even more advantageous in some aspects than other anti-Tau therapeutic modalities such as small molecules or monoclonal antibodies, which typically show much shorter half-lives in vivo, requiring more frequent administration. ACI-35.030 may thus offer a more cost effective and less burdensome approach for the treatment or prevention of Tau pathology, which may be particularly relevant for addressing slow-progressing chronic neurodegenerative Tauopathies such as AD.

Clinical development

ACI-35.030

ACI-35.030 is an optimized liposomal anti-pTau vaccine formulation designed to elicit antibodies against extracellular pTau protein in order to prevent and reduce the spread and development of Tau pathology within the brain. In preclinical studies, ACI-35.030 showed that it retains the excellent non-clinical safety profile and the highly specific antibody response against pTau observed with the initial formulation, ACI-35, while demonstrating an enhanced and more uniform antibody response. We are developing ACI-35.030 with Janssen in accordance with our collaboration agreement.

Mechanism of action

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Figure 12: pTau-specific IgG titers in Non-Human Primate (NHP) induced by ACI-35.030 and JACI-35.054

Ref: Kosco-Vilbois, CTAD 2022

JACI-35.054

JACI-35.054 is an alternative pTau vaccine, which is developed with Janssen in accordance with our collaboration agreement. In preclinical studies, JACI-35.054 showed good safety, and induced a strong antibody response against pTau.

Mechanism of action

In Q4 2022, it was announced that, based on the Phase 1b/2a interim data, ACI-35.030 has been selected over JACI-35.054 for further development.

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Clinical development

Phase 1b/2a study

The Phase 1b/2a study (NCT04445831) is a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study with a primary objective to assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of different dosages of ACI-35.030 and JACI-35.054 in participants with early AD. Secondary objectives assess additional immunogenicity parameters, while exploratory endpoints include notable biomarkers of progression of AD as well as clinical assessments. This Phase 1b/2a study evaluating ACI-35.030 and JACI-35.054 was initiated in Q3 2019 and is currently ongoing in Europe.

Safety

The recruitment has been completed in the Phase 1b/2a study where 57 subjects have been randomized, of which 41 subjects have been randomized into the Cohort 1 (low-, mid-, or high- dose levels of ACI-35.030 or placebo), and 16 subjects have been randomized into the Cohort 2 (low- or mid-dose levels of JACI-35.054 or placebo). The active/placebo ratio is 3:1 in each Cohort. To-date, eight SAEs have been reported in 6 out of total 57 participants in this study. Two SAEs (injection site rash and dizziness occurring on one occasion) were considered probably/possibly related to the study vaccine. None of the other SAEs were considered to be possibly or probably related to the study vaccine. These SAEs were acute diverticulitis, flare of diverticular disease/diverticulitis, left calf pain due to thrombosed popliteal aneurysm, popliteal aneurysm (both popliteal aneurysms occurred in the same participant), sick sinus syndrome, and lumbar disc prolapse. These SAE were observed in cohort 1 where subjects are receiving either ACI-35.030 or placebo, except the case of lumbar disc prolapse that was observed in cohort 2 where subjects are receiving either JACI-35.054 or placebo.

Antibody response (interim)

Based on interim results from all three dose-level sub-cohorts, in all patients after the first injection ACI-35.030 treatment led to the strong induction of antibodies specific for pathological forms of Tau such as pTau and its aggregated form, ePHF (Figure 13). Anti-pTau IgG titers increased by two orders of magnitude from baseline two weeks after the first injection of the mid-dose of ACI-35.030 and boostable following additional dosing at weeks 8, 24 and 48. Anti-ePHF IgG titers increased by approximately one order of magnitude from baseline as early as two weeks after the second injection at week 8 of the mid-dose of ACI-35.030. The anti-ePHF IgG response was high and boostable following additional dosing at weeks 8, 24 and 48, with a sustained response up to week 74. In contrast, the anti-Tau IgG response decreased from week 2 onwards. Together these data indicate that ACI-35.030 preferentially targets pathological Tau species over non-pathological Tau. Immunization with ACI-35.030 showed class-switching from IgM to IgG. Interim safety data further support ACI-35.030’s favorable safety and tolerability profile.

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Figure 13: ACI-35.030: Potent antibody response with preference for pathological Tau

Fast, high, phospho-Tau-specific, and boostable antibody response

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(1) phosphorylated Tau; (2) Enriched paired helical filaments; (3) at weeks 2 and 10; (4) at week 10

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Ref: Streffer, CTAD 2022

High responder rates were observed after the first, and all following vaccinations, across all dose levels. A 100% response rate for pTau was observed at the mid-dose at all time points measured. A higher responder rate on ePHF was observed for the mid-dose compared to the high dose at all time points measured.

Figure 14: Comparison of the anti-Tau and anti-ePHF IgG antibody response profiles to ACI-35.030 and JACI-35.054

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(1) ACI-35.030 original sub-cohort 1.2 data; (2) Enriched paired helical filaments; (3) phosphorylated Tau; (4) Alzheimer’s disease; (5) Antibody

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Ref: Streffer, CTAD 2022

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As seen in the Figure above, the antibody response induced by ACI-35.030 mid-dose preferentially targets pathological Tau species (ePHF) over normal Tau, whereas the antibody response induced by JACI-35.054, a conjugate vaccine, targets both normal Tau and pathological Tau. ACI-35.030 induced anti-ePHF antibodies with longer apparent half-lives, less variability and lower peak-to-trough ratios than those induced by JACI-35.054. ACI-35.030 induced anti-ePHF antibodies in 100% of patients after 1st injection of ACI-35.030 compared to 50% with JACI-35.054.

Binding analyses show that the polyclonal antibodies induced by ACI-35.030 bind preferentially to pTau peptide without binding to the truncated C-terminal end of the peptide (see Figure below). In contrast, JACI-35.054 induces antibodies mostly binding to the very C-terminus of the peptide in a non-phospho specific manner. Together, these data indicate that the presentation of the B-cell peptide upon the surface of the liposomes in ACI-35.030 drives the antibody response towards pathological Tau species.

Figure 15: Mode of binding of antibodies induced by ACI-35.030 and JACI-35.054 towards pTau and Tau peptides

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Ref: Streffer, CTAD 2022

The polyclonal sera from 7/8 subjects immunized with either ACI-35.030 (mid-dose) or Placebo, and from 8/8 subjects immunized with JACI-35.054 (low dose) or Placebo, were analyzed for their binding profiles to the pTau or Tau peptide, either without or including 1 additional amino acid (1aa) onto the C-terminal end of the peptide.

ACI-24.060

ACI-24.060 derives from an original AC Immune anti-amyloid-beta vaccine, ACI-24, that was assessed in patients with AD and in subjects with DS. As ACI-24 was shown to be safe and well tolerated with preliminary evidence of immunogenicity and pharmacodynamic effects in these two study populations, the optimized version ACI-24.060 was created. ACI-24.060 contains additional Abeta unrelated T-helper cell epitopes and has demonstrated similar safety and tolerability in NHPs with superior immunogenicity in mouse and NHP studies as compared to the original ACI-24.

The aim of the vaccine is to stimulate the patient’s immune system to produce and maintain antibodies that bind and remove pathological Abeta with the goal to prevent plaque accumulation and enhance clearance of toxic Abeta species. The Company is pursuing clinical development of ACI-24.060 in early AD as well as the population of people living with DS exhibiting the presence of brain amyloid pathology.

ACI-24.060 is proprietarily owned.

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Mechanism of Action

Figure 16: Abeta1-42 and pyroGlu Abeta IgG titers in NHP vaccinated with ACI-24.060

Ref : Fiorini, AAIC 2022

ABATE Phase 1b/2

ABATE Phase 1b/2 study design

The ABATE clinical study (NCT05462106) is a multicenter, adaptive, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation, double-blind, randomized study containing two parts.

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Study part 1:

Study part 1 is currently conducted in subjects with prodromal AD to assess the effect of study treatment (ACI-24.060 or placebo) administered over 48 weeks.

The study drug is being administered via intramuscular injections. Initially, a low dose of ACI-24.060 will be tested.

Randomized AD subjects receive five study drug injections (ACI-24.060 or placebo) at weeks 0, 4, 12, 24, and 48. For each study subject, the treatment period will be followed by a 26-week follow-up period.

Up to four cohorts may be included in study part 1. Each cohort will differ from the others in terms of the dose per injection and/or the administration regimen with the possibility to expand any cohort at any time point to better understand antibody response and/or safety and tolerability. The initiation of randomization in the subsequent cohort(s) will be based on interim safety and tolerability data review from the previous cohort(s) and Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) approval.

Interim analyses will be conducted in each cohort at different predefined study time points.

Study part 1 is conducted in several centers located in the UK and Europe.

Study part 2:

Study part 2 will be conducted in up to 80 non-demented adult subjects with DS and with confirmed presence of amyloid pathology by PET scan to assess the effect of study treatment (ACI-24.060 or placebo) administered over 74 weeks.

Randomized subjects with DS will receive their first five injections (ACI-24.060 or placebo) according to the same schedule administered in part 1, at weeks 0, 4, 12, 24, 48, plus an additional injection at week 74 in order to boost/maintain the response. For each study subject, the treatment period will be followed by a 26-week follow-up period.

Randomization in study part 2 will be initiated with a dose of ACI-24.060 that has been shown to be immunogenic, safe and well tolerated in AD subjects.

The dose level of ACI-24.060 may need to be adjusted in the DS study population based on immunogenicity and safety/tolerability data.

Interim analyses may be conducted at different predefined study time points, during the treatment period and during the follow-up period.

Study part 2 will be conducted in the UK, Europe and the U.S.

The Company’s CTA received approval from the UK MHRA in Q2 2022 and from the AEMPS in Q3 2022 to initiate development of the optimized formulation of ACI-24 in patients with prodromal AD and in adult subjects with DS with presence of brain amyloid pathology.

The first dosing in study part 1 occurred in Q2 2022.

ACI-24 development in AD in DS

The AD pathology that commonly develops in people with DS bears remarkable similarities to familial and sporadic forms of AD and is characterized by a progressive accumulation of brain Abeta amyloid plaques leading to the

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appearance of AD-related cognitive decline and a modification of other relevant biomarkers. The Company is pioneering the development of its anti-amyloid-beta vaccine in AD patients and subjects with DS.

Individuals with DS have an extra copy of chromosome 21, which is where the gene for amyloid precursor protein (APP) resides. These individuals develop AD at a rate that is three to five times that of the general population and develop the disease at a much younger age. At autopsy, AD pathology has been reported in 80% of people with DS over the age of 40 and 100% over the age of 60 years. The prevalence of AD in people with DS is more than 50% over the age of 50 and 75–100% over the age of 60 years (Strydom, 2018). It is estimated that there are six million people with DS worldwide, with 250,000 in the U.S.. Preclinical results published by AC Immune in collaboration with Dr. Mobley of the University of California, San Diego in March 2016, showed, in a DS mouse model (Ts65Dn), a significant 20% memory improvement and a 27% reduction of Abeta in the brain following vaccination with ACI-DS-01, the mouse equivalent of ACI-24.

ACI-7104.056 – anti-a-syn vaccine

Neurodegenerative conditions with a-syn accumulation, such as PD, are increasingly linked to dementia and movement disorders in the aging population.

ACI-7104.056 is an optimized peptide-conjugate vaccine formulation designed to induce a-syn-specific antibodies recognizing aggregated a-syn species that have been demonstrated to be toxic to neurons. In contrast, ACI-7104.056-induced antibodies do not bind to the monomeric, physiological form of a-syn and do not cross-react with other members of the synuclein family such as beta- and gamma-synuclein.

A substantial package of preclinical and clinical data has been generated with PD01 (predecessor of ACI-7104.056). This candidate was tested in two different transgenic mouse models of PD and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), the mThy1- and the PDGF-human a-syn transgenic mice. Active vaccination with PD01 resulted in decreased a-syn pathology in brain areas most affected by transgene overexpression, including the substantia nigra and the striatum. This decrease was accompanied by a reduced neurodegeneration in both in vivo models and by improvements in motor and memory deficits in the mThy1 and the PDGF-human a-syn transgenic mice, respectively.

PD01 was the first vaccine candidate against pathological a-syn to be tested in a clinical study involving patients with early PD. A series of Phase 1 studies were completed in June 2018. The start of the Phase 2 trial in early PD patients to evaluate ACI-7104.056 is scheduled to commence in H1 2023.

Mechanism of action

Clinical development

Phase 1 study design

The safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the ACI-7104.056 predecessor a-syn vaccine were studied over a three-and-a-half-year period in 24 early PD subjects and have been previously published (Volc et al., The Lancet

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Neurology 2020). There were four consecutive studies in this group of patients, with patients randomized to receive a lower or higher dose of the alpha synuclein vaccine. After four priming doses, subjects were re-randomized to receive a booster injection at one of the two doses, followed by a second booster injection at the high dose.

Safety

This Phase 1 study series demonstrated a favorable long-term safety profile for PD01.

Antibody response

PD01 induced a long lasting and boostable antibody response (Figure 17, left). Such induced antibodies have been shown to bind preferentially the aggregated species of a-syn. The induced antibodies were also demonstrated to bind to a-syn aggregates in human PD and DLB brain tissue.

Pharmacological and clinical effect

Evidence for in vivo target engagement and signals for clinical efficacy have been observed in these Phase 1 studies in PD, as immunization was associated with a decrease in oligomeric a-syn in CSF of treated patients and with a stabilization of clinical scores as shown by the MDS-UPDRS part 3 scores (Volc et al., The Lancet Neurology, 2020). Post hoc analyses of this study series delivered highly encouraging data with respect to target engagement and identification of a potential biomarker for PD, including:

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Figure 17: Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effect of PD01 vaccination in early PD patients

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(3) Data from 75 ug dose group; (4) Cerebrospinal fluid; (5) Change in oligomeric a-syn calculated at week 26, change in UPDRS III calculated at week 100; (6) Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale

Ref: Volc et al., Lancet Neurology, 2020

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These combined data provide a validation of the role of a-syn in disease progression and demonstrate that a-syn directed vaccination has the potential to positively impact clinical outcome. These data also provide an excellent basis for design of the planned Phase 2 study of ACI-7104.056.

Semorinemab

Semorinemab is a humanized high-affinity IgG4 isotype antibody candidate that binds all forms of Tau. Semorinemab is designed to intercept extracellular Tau, stopping or slowing cell-to-cell spread and propagation of pathological Tau in the brain. Semorinemab is in Phase 2 clinical development for AD as part of an ongoing collaboration, which was established in 2012, with Genentech.

Lead characterization

Our anti-Tau monoclonal antibody program successfully generated multiple humanized antibodies for potential use as passive immunotherapies, which are highly specific for pathological forms of Tau found in AD and other Tauopathies. Results from preclinical studies demonstrated a reduction in pathological Tau and improvement of long-term spatial memory. Efficacy studies run in mouse models of AD and other Tauopathies exhibited dose–response alleviation of Tau pathology with behavioral improvements.

Figure 18: Alleviation of Tau pathology in models of AD

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Representative images of hippocampal coronal sections from human Tau-P301L transgenic mice treated with (A) control antibody or (B) semorinemab, and immunostained for pathological Tau deposits

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Ref: Ayalon et al., Science Trans. Med., 2021

Clinical development

A Phase 1 clinical trial involving 75 subjects evaluated the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary data on therapeutic activity of semorinemab in people with AD and in healthy volunteers. This trial was completed in the second quarter of 2017. Semorinemab was administered at single doses of up to 16,800 mg to healthy volunteers, and at multiple doses of 8,400 mg to healthy volunteers and patients with mild-to-moderate AD. No dose-limiting toxicities and no SAEs were observed. No participant withdrawals, modifications or interruptions due to an adverse event were reported. Results were presented at multiple conferences, including the 13^th International Conference on Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Diseases and Related Neurological Disorders (AD/PD) in 2017, the AAIC in 2017, and the 10^th international CTAD conference in 2017.

Semorinemab exhibited a dose-proportional pharmacokinetic profile and CNS exposure, with a median half-life of 32.3 days. Plasma total Tau concentration increased with increasing drug doses and was doubled in participants with AD compared with healthy volunteers, suggesting a pharmacodynamic signal as shown in the Figure below.

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Figure 19: Phase 1 pharmacokinetic and plasma Tau results

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Ref: Kerchner et al., CTAD 2017

A Phase 2 clinical trial (Tauriel) commenced in Q4 2017 with the dosing of the first patient. This multicenter trial, which enrolled 457 participants, assessed the safety, tolerability and efficacy of semorinemab in people with prodromal-to-mild AD. Participants received one of three active doses or a placebo for 72 weeks, followed by a 96-week optional open-label extension (OLE). Primary endpoints included safety assessment and the composite functional and cognitive endpoint CDR-SB score.

In September 2020, the Company reported that Genentech informed us of top line results which showed that semorinemab did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint of reducing decline on CDR-SB compared to placebo. Two secondary endpoints, Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale 13 (ADAS-Cog13) and Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Group – Activities of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL), were also not met. The primary safety endpoint was however met.

Further analyses revealed a dose-dependent increase in serum pharmacokinetics and evidence of target engagement, measured by an increase in plasma Tau levels, which is consistent with previous Phase 1 study results.

A second Phase 2 trial (Lauriet) was initiated in Q1 2019. This was a multicenter study enrolling 272 participants, and was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of semorinemab in patients with moderate AD [Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) 16–21, CDR-GS 1 or 2]. The study consisted of a screening period, a double-blind treatment period of 49 or 61 weeks, an optional OLE period, and a follow-up period, with the 11-item Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog11) and Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living tools serving as the primary endpoints, and CDR-SB, MMSE and safety as secondary endpoints. Primary completion (last patient, last visit of the double-blind portion of the study) was in Q3 2021.

In August 2021 the Company reported that Genentech had informed the Company that the Lauriet study had met one of its co-primary endpoints, ADAS-Cog 11. The second co-primary endpoint, ADCS-ADL, was not met. Safety data showed that semorinemab was well tolerated with an acceptable safety profile and no unanticipated safety signals. In November 2021, the Company reported that Genentech had presented the full top-line data from the Lauriet study during a late-breaking session at the 14^th Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference.

272 subjects were randomized into the study and 267 dosed. 49 study centers participated in the U.S., France, Spain and Poland. In a modified intent to treat (mITT) population of all trial participants who had received at least one dose of study drug and had at least one post-baseline ADAS-Cog 11 assessment, there was a 42.2% slowing of cognitive decline compared to placebo, the result being highly statistically significant (p=0.0008).

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Figure 20: Positive effect of semorinemab on cognition assessed by ADAS-Cog11

Ref: Monteiro et al., CTAD 2021

The effect on ADAS-Cog 11 was consistently seen at around the same magnitude in subgroup analyses looking at subjects with higher or lower baseline severity assessed by MMSE, brain Tau load assessed by GTP1-PET and different ApoE genotypes. The effect on ADAS-Cog11 was driven by an effect on memory items in the scale. No changes were apparent in the reported functional measures including the co-primary endpoint ADCS-ADL, and the secondary endpoint, CDR-SB, and there was no significant effect in the other secondary endpoint, the MMSE. The reason for the lack of functional effects is unclear. Regular interim analyses in the ongoing extension study are being made to test for later effects on function.

Plasma Tau rose markedly during the study confirming peripheral target engagement, with serum levels of semorinemab in the expected range. The ratio of CSF to plasma semorinemab concentration was 0.29%, in the expected range for similar monoclonal antibodies (Figure 21).

Figure 21: Plasma pharmacodynamics from all patients of the Lauriet study