Company: WHWK
Filing Date: 2025-05-08
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0001628280-25-023932
Chunk: 197

Company: Whitehawk Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-05-08
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 4
Chunk 197
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 or criminal proceedings.

Disputes between us and our collaborators may result in litigation or arbitration which would increase our expenses and divert the attention of our management. Further, these transactions and arrangements are contractual in nature and may be terminated or dissolved under the terms of the applicable agreements. For example, on June 27, 2022, EOC Pharma (Hong Kong) Limited ("EOC") elected to terminate our license agreement with EOC ("EOC License Agreement"), effective immediately, due to alleged material breaches by us.  On June 27, 2022, EOC filed a Request for Arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration against us. As a result, we became party to a lengthy arbitration process and, although we were found not liable for any damages to EOC in the arbitration panel’s final award in September 2024, we nevertheless experienced management distraction and incurred significant legal fees to defend ourselves. 

Risks Related to Employee Matters, Managing Our Growth and Other Risks Related to our Business

Our success is highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled executive officers, key scientific personnel and employees.

To succeed, we must recruit, retain, manage and motivate qualified clinical, scientific, technical and management personnel, and we face significant competition for experienced personnel. We are highly dependent on the principal members of our management and scientific and medical staff. If we do not succeed in attracting and retaining qualified personnel, particularly at the management level, it could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan and harm our operating results. In particular, the loss of one or more of our executive officers or key scientific personnel could be detrimental to us if we cannot recruit suitable replacements in a timely manner. Any leadership transitions, as well as future other senior management changes, could disrupt and have a detrimental effect on our business. We may need to hire additional personnel in connection with future clinical development and commercial activities. We could in the future have difficulty attracting and retaining experienced personnel and may be required to expend significant financial resources in our employee recruitment and retention efforts.

Many of the other biotechnology companies that we compete against for qualified personnel have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than us. They also may provide higher compensation, more diverse opportunities and better prospects for career advancement. Some of these characteristics may be more appealing to high-quality candidates than what we have to offer. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, the rate and success at which we can