Black Diamond Therapeutics Inc

Current report

Currently, federal agencies in the U.S. are operating under a continuing resolution that is set to expire on September 30, 2025 and the current U.S. administration is focused on reducing costs of the federal government generally, including significantly reducing the number of government employees. Without appropriation of additional funding to federal agencies, our business operations related to our product development activities for the U.S. market could be impacted. The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies or comparable foreign regulatory authorities on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities, is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. The Trump Administration has issued executive orders seeking to greatly reduce the size of the federal workforce, including through layoffs and severance packages offered to employees of federal agencies within the executive branch and independent agencies, including the FDA. Any such reduction in personnel may result in longer review times by the FDA and other agencies.

Current report

Disruptions and personnel turnover, as a result of leadership changes, staff reductions or otherwise, at the FDA, other government agencies or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. Changes and cuts in FDA staffing also could result in delays in the FDA’s responsiveness or in its ability to review IND submissions or applications, issue regulations or guidance, or implement or enforce regulatory requirements in a timely fashion or at all. There is also substantial uncertainty as to how regulatory reform measures being implemented by the current U.S. administration, and other political developments, such as government shutdowns or work stoppages, would impact other U.S. regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, SEC and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), on which our operations rely. For example, over the last several years, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, including as a result of reaching the debt ceiling or staffing changes, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA and USPTO to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain additional capital in the future in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.

Current report

Business, economic or geopolitical disruptions or global health concerns could seriously harm our development efforts and increase our costs and expenses.

Current report

Broad-based business, macroeconomic conditions or market volatility resulting from national or global economic developments, political unrest, high inflation, rising interest rates, international tariffs, changes in international trade relationships and military conflicts could adversely affect our ongoing or planned research and development activities. Sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other countries in response to such conflicts may also continue to adversely impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic countermeasures by the affected countries or others could exacerbate market and economic instability. Tariffs levied by the U.S. and other countries also may adversely affect financial markets and the global economy. For example, the U.S. has recently imposed blanket 10% tariffs on virtually all imports to the U.S. and significantly higher tariffs applicable to imports from many countries, including tariffs aggregating 104% on imports from China, which have resulted in other countries imposing additional tariffs on imports from the U.S., including additional tariffs of 125% on imports from the U.S. announced by China, and is likely to continue to result in more retaliatory tariffs. On April 9, 2025, the U.S. announced a temporary pause on its tariffs applicable to many countries, while increasing the tariffs applicable to imports from China. The current U.S. administration has threatened to continue to broadly impose tariffs, which could lead to corresponding punitive actions by the countries with which the U.S. trades.

Current report

Any such disruptions or concerns may impact a broad range of stakeholders, including our target patient populations, the hospitals and clinical sites in which we conduct any of our clinical trials, third parties with whom we engage, including our CROs, suppliers and regulators. Such impacts could materially negatively affect our ability to conduct our business in the manner or on the timelines presently planned by causing delays in the enrollment of our clinical trials, the manufacture and supply of our product candidates, the conduct of experiments and studies and other interruptions and potential limitations on the quality, completeness and interpretability of data we are able to collect.

Current report

Additionally, changes to policy implemented by the U.S. Congress, the Trump administration or any new administration have impacted and may in the future impact, among other things, the U.S. and global economy, international trade relations, unemployment, immigration, healthcare, taxation, the U.S. regulatory environment, inflation and other areas. For example, if the operations of our third-party manufacturers of drug substances and drug products in China were to be negatively affected, it could result in delays or disruptions in the supply of our product candidates and the conduct of our clinical studies. Any negative impact to patient enrollment or treatment or the timing and execution of our clinical trials could cause costly delays to our development programs, which could adversely affect our ability to obtain regulatory approval for and to commercialize our product candidates, increase our operating expenses and have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results. We continue to assess the legislation as it develops to determine whether it could have an effect on our contractual relationships. Also, current inflationary trends in the global economy may impact salaries and wages, costs of goods and transportation expenses, among other things, and recent and potential future disruptions in access to bank deposits or lending commitments due to bank failures may create market and economic instability.

Current report

We have entered into a license agreement, and may form or seek collaborations or strategic alliances or enter into additional licensing arrangements in the future, and we may not realize the benefits of such collaborations, alliances or licensing arrangements.

Current report

As part of our strategy, we have entered into a license agreement and may form or seek strategic alliances, create joint ventures or collaborations, or enter into additional licensing arrangements with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our development and commercialization efforts with respect to our product candidates and any future product candidates that we may develop.

Current report

For example, in March 2025, we entered into a global licensing agreement (the Servier Agreement) with Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC (Servier) for our second clinical-stage asset, BDTX-4933, a small molecule designed to address unmet medical needs in RAF/RAS-mutant solid tumors. Under the Servier Agreement, we granted to Servier a worldwide license to develop and commercialize BDTX-4933. Pursuant to the terms of the Servier Agreement, Servier will lead the development activities and the worldwide commercialization of BDTX-4933 across multiple indications, including NSCLC, with potential applications in other solid tumors. Failure by Servier to meet its obligations under the Servier Agreement, to apply sufficient efforts at developing and commercializing licensed products, or to comply with applicable legal or regulatory requirements, may materially adversely affect our business and our results of operations.

Current report

Any of these relationships may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders or disrupt our management and business. In addition, we face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Moreover, we may not be successful in our efforts to establish a strategic partnership or other alternative arrangements for our product candidates because they may be deemed to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort and third parties may not view our product candidates as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety, potency, purity and efficacy and obtain marketing approval.

Current report

As a result, if we enter into additional collaboration agreements and strategic partnerships or license our product candidates, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions, which could delay our timelines or otherwise adversely affect our business. We also cannot be certain that, following a strategic transaction or license, we will achieve the revenue or specific net income that justifies such transaction. Any delays in entering into new collaborations or strategic partnership agreements related to our product candidates could delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates in certain geographies for certain indications, which would harm our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations.