Company: HCWB
Filing Date: 2025-03-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-046724
Chunk: 231

Company: HCW Biologics Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 231
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 remediation. To comply with the requirements of being a reporting company under the Exchange Act, we have implemented and will continue to implement additional financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures and we have hired and intend to continue to hire additional accounting and finance staff.

We cannot assure you that there will not be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting could severely inhibit our ability to accurately report our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, or to implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also restrict our future access to the capital markets.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the market price of our common stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could depress the market price of our common stock by acting to discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions, among other things:

•establish a staggered board of directors (the “Board”) divided into three classes serving staggered three-year terms, such that not all members of the Board will be elected at one time;

•authorize our Board to issue new series of redeemable preferred stock without stockholder approval and create, subject to applicable law, a series of redeemable preferred stock with preferential rights to dividends or our assets upon liquidation, or with superior voting rights to our existing common stock;

•eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;

•eliminate the ability of our stockholders to fill vacancies on our Board;

•establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our Board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at our annual stockholder meetings;

•permit