APLS 2017 Annual Report

76 potential product candidates. This is due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing therapeutics, including the uncertainties of: • establishing an appropriate safety profile in preclinical studies; • successful enrollment in, and completion of clinical trials; • receipt of marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities; • establishing commercial manufacturing capabilities or making arrangements with third-party manufacturers; • obtaining and maintaining patent and trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates; • launching commercial sales of the products, if and when approved, whether alone or in collaboration with others; and • an acceptable safety profile of the products following approval. A change in the outcome of any of these variables with respect to the development of any of our product candidates would significantly change the costs and timing associated with the development of that product candidate. Research and development activities are central to our business model. Product candidates in later stages of clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of clinical development, primarily due to the increased size and duration of later-stage clinical trials. We expect research and development costs to increase significantly for the foreseeable future as our product candidate development programs progress. However, we do not believe that it is possible at this time to accurately project total program-specific expenses through commercialization. There are numerous factors associated with the successful commercialization of any of our product candidates, including future trial design and various regulatory requirements, many of which cannot be determined with accuracy at this time based on our stage of development. Additionally, future commercial and regulatory factors beyond our control will impact our clinical development programs and plans. General and Administrative Expenses General and administrative expenses consist primarily of employee-related expenses including salaries, bonuses, benefits and share-based compensation. Other significant costs include facility costs not otherwise included in research and development expenses, legal fees relating to patent and corporate matters, and fees for accounting and consulting services. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support continued research and development activities, potential commercialization of our product candidates and increased costs of operating as a public company. These increases will likely include increased costs related to the hiring of additional personnel and fees to outside consultants, attorneys and accountants, among other expenses. Additionally, we anticipate increased costs associated with being a public company including expenses related to services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, insurance costs and investor relations costs. Loss From Remeasurement of Fair Value of Warrants Loss from remeasurement of fair value of warrants consists of losses from the remeasurement of the fair value of our liabilities related to the common stock warrants that we issued to Silicon Valley Bank on October 20, 2017. Prior to our IPO, these warrants were exercisable into shares of common stock that were contingently redeemable in certain circumstances. As such, we classified these warrants as liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet at their estimated fair values at issuance, and we recorded the change in the estimated fair values at December 31, 2017 as loss from remeasurement of fair value of warrants during the year ended December 31, 2017. Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates This discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which we have prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, as well as the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting periods. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those described in greater detail below. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.