A substantial number of shares may be sold in the market following this offering, which may depress the market price for our common stock.
The sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market following this offering could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. A substantial majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock are, and all of the shares sold in this offering will be, freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933 as amended, or the Securities Act, unless these shares are owned or purchased by “affiliates” as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. In addition, we have also registered the shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity incentive plans. As a result, these shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to restrictions under securities laws.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be your sole source of gain.
We have never declared nor paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently plan to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the operation, development and growth of our business. In addition, the terms of any future debt or credit agreements may preclude us from paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
Following this offering, our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders will continue to own a significant percentage of our common stock and will be able to control matters submitted to stockholders for approval.
Upon completion of this offering, our executive officers, directors and a small number of our stockholders will continue to own a significant portion of our outstanding common stock. As a result, if these stockholders were to choose to act together, they may be able to significantly influence matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they choose to act together, would significantly influence the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of voting power could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company on terms that you may desire.
We have identified conditions and events that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern and the proceeds of this offering will not alleviate such concern.
As of March 31, 2020, we had $12.5 million in existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. As disclosed in our Quarterly Report onForm 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement, based on our then available cash resources, recurring losses and cash outflows from operations since inception, an expectation of continuing operating losses and cash outflows from operations for the foreseeable future and the need to raise additional capital to finance our future operations, we concluded that we did not have sufficient cash on hand to support current operations for twelve months from the date of filing of ourForm 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and therefore we determined that there was substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The proceeds of this offering will not alleviate this concern.
Based on our research and development plans and our timing expectations related to the progress of our programs, we expect that the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash and cash equivalents and investments, will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the first half of 2021. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and it is possible that we will not achieve the progress that we expect with these funds because the actual costs and timing of clinical development, regulatory and commercial activities are difficult to predict and are subject to substantial risks and delays, and that we will use our capital resources sooner than we currently expect. This estimate does not reflect any additional expenditures that may result from any further strategic transactions to expand and diversify our product pipeline, including acquisitions of assets, businesses, rights to products, product candidates or technologies or strategic alliances or collaborations that we may pursue.
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