Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Organization and Principal Activities

v3.19.1
Organization and Principal Activities
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Disclosure Text Block [Abstract]  
Organization and Principal Activities

1.Organization and Principal Activities

Description of Business

Sutro Biopharma, Inc. (the “Company”) is a clinical stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing company focused on leveraging its integrated cell-free protein synthesis and site-specific conjugation platform, XpressCF™, to create a broad variety of optimally designed, next-generation protein therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune disorders. The Company was incorporated on April 21, 2003, and was formerly known as Fundamental Applied Biology, Inc. The Company is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

The Company operates in one business segment, the development of biopharmaceutical products.

Initial Public Offering

On September 26, 2018, the Company’s registration statements on Form S-1 (File No. 333-227103 and 333-227548) relating to its initial public offering (“IPO”) of its common stock were declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the shares of its common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on September 27, 2018. The public offering price of the shares sold in the IPO was $15.00 per share. The IPO closed on October 1, 2018, pursuant to which the Company sold 5,667,000 shares of common stock, for gross proceeds of approximately $85.0 million.  The Company received net proceeds from the IPO of approximately $74.4 million, after underwriting discounts, commissions and estimated offering expenses. In addition to the shares of common stock sold in the IPO, the Company concurrently sold in a private placement to Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA (“Merck”), 666,666 shares of common stock at the IPO offering price of $15.00 per share, for proceeds of approximately $10.0 million.

Immediately prior to the completion of the IPO on October 1, 2018, all outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock were converted into 16,028,462 shares of common stock. Subsequent to the closing of the IPO, there were no shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock outstanding. In addition, subsequent to the closing of the IPO, all of the outstanding redeemable convertible preferred stock warrants converted into common stock warrants resulting in the reclassification of the redeemable convertible preferred stock warrant liability to stockholder’s equity at its then fair value.

Reverse Stock Split

On September 14, 2018, the Company effected a reverse split of all shares of its common stock at a ratio of 36.3-for-1. Upon the effectiveness of the reverse stock split, (i) all shares of outstanding common stock were adjusted; (ii) the number of shares of common stock for which each outstanding option to purchase common stock is exercisable were adjusted; (iii) the exercise price of each outstanding option to purchase common stock were adjusted; (iv) the conversion ratio for each share of outstanding redeemable convertible preferred stock which is convertible into the Company’s common stock was proportionately reduced; (v) the number of shares of common stock for which each outstanding warrant to purchase common stock is exercisable was proportionally decreased; (vi) the conversion ratio for each outstanding warrant to purchase redeemable convertible preferred stock which is convertible into warrants to purchase the Company’s common stock after the offering was proportionally decreased; and (vii) the exercise price of each outstanding warrant was proportionally increased. All of the outstanding common stock share numbers (including shares of common stock subject to the Company’s options, as converted for the outstanding redeemable convertible preferred stock shares and warrants), share prices, exercise prices and per share amounts contained in the financial statements have been retroactively adjusted in the financial statements to reflect this reverse stock split for all periods presented. The par value per share and the authorized number of shares of common stock and redeemable convertible preferred stock were not adjusted as a result of the reverse stock split.         

Series E Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock Split

In July 2018, the Company’s board of directors approved an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to effect a 1-for-1.1940912491 split (“Split”) of shares of the Company’s Series E redeemable convertible preferred stock, which was effected on July 26, 2018. The par value and authorized shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock and the other outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock were not adjusted as a result of the Split. All of the outstanding Series E redeemable convertible preferred shares and per share information included in the accompanying financial statements have been adjusted to reflect the Split and were converted to shares of common stock upon the closing of the Company’s initial public offering on October 1, 2018.

Liquidity

The Company has incurred significant losses, except for the year ended December 31, 2016, and has negative cash flows from operations. As of December 31, 2018, there was an accumulated deficit of $150.3 million. Management expects to continue to incur additional substantial losses in the foreseeable future as a result of the Company’s research and development activities.

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $204.5 million, which is available to fund future operations.

The Company believes that its unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 31, 2018 will be sufficient for the Company to continue as a going concern for at least one year from the issuance date of its financial statements.

In August 2017, the Company entered into a loan and security agreement with Oxford Finance LLC (“Oxford”) and Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) under which it borrowed $15.0 million (the “August 2017 Loan”) (see Note 7). The August 2017 Loan provides that an event of default will occur if, among other triggers, there occurs any circumstances that could reasonably be expected to result in a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, operations or condition, or on its ability to perform its obligations under the loan. The Company disclosed in its audited financial statements as of December 31, 2017 that it believed that there was substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern given its continuing operating losses and its then available capital resources, which could have been deemed to be an event of default if such condition was considered to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, operations or condition. As a result, the Company classified the entire debt balance as a current liability as of December 31, 2017 given that a determination of such an event of default was outside of the Company’s control.