ACHN 2017 Annual Report

Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management. Provisions in our corporate charter and our bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of us that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which a stockholder might otherwise receive a premium for his or her shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions: • establish a classified board of directors such that all members of the board are not elected at one time; • allow the authorized number of our directors to be changed only by resolution of our board of directors; • limit the manner in which stockholders can remove directors from the board; • establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted on at stockholder meetings; • require that stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called stockholder meeting and prohibit actions by our stockholders by written consent; • limit who may call a special meeting of stockholder meetings; • authorize our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a “poison pill” that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by our board of directors; and • require the approval of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast to amend or repeal certain provisions of our charter or bylaws. Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. This could discourage, delay or prevent someone from acquiring us or merging with us, whether or not it is desired by, or beneficial to, our stockholders. ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS None. ITEM 2. PROPERTIES We currently lease approximately 41,509 square feet of laboratory and office space in New Haven, Connecticut, which we occupy under a lease expiring in March 2020. We believe our existing facilities are adequate for our current needs and that additional space will be available in the future on commercially reasonable terms as needed. ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS None. ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES None. 72