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We plan to initiate steps to exit from certain reporting requirements under the Exchange Act, which will substantially reduce publicly available information about us.

Our common stock is currently registered under the Exchange Act, which requires that we, and our officers and directors with respect to Section 16 of the Exchange Act, comply with certain public reporting and proxy statement requirements thereunder. Compliance with these requirements is costly and time-consuming. We plan to initiate steps to exit from such reporting requirements in order to curtail expenses. Until we exit from these reporting requirements, we will continue to incur expenses that will reduce the amount available for pursuit of our options and the amount available for payment of our liabilities, reserves or potential distribution to stockholders. If our reporting obligations cease, publicly available information about us will be substantially reduced.

There is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

In 2023, we experienced net losses of $8.6 million, had no revenue other than interest income, and used $8.6 million in cash to fund our operations. Due to the current level of liquidity at December 31, 2023 and the projected shortfall to cover operating expenses requiring cash for a period of 12 months from the report date of the annual report, management has expressed substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern.

As of December 31, 2023, our source of liquidity consisted of $4.1 million of cash and cash equivalents and $0.9 million of an insurance recovery receivable.As of December 31, 2022, our source of liquidity consisted of $12.7 million of cash and cash equivalents. As of February 29, 2024, we had $3.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and $0.5 million of an insurance recovery receivable. While we continued to implement cost reductions in 2023 and additional cost reductions in February and March 2024, we have finite cash resources available to fund our now limited operations. Our activities currently consist of taking steps to preserve cash to adequately fund an orderly wind down of the Company’s operations and to maximize the Company’s cash position and pursuit of the resolution of currently pending legal proceedings.

Currently, pending legal proceedings and any future legal proceedings may adversely affect our cash position and limit our pursuit of strategic options.

We are currently involved in and may in the future be involved in legal proceedings. Please see “The settlement in principle of certain legal actions is subject to a number of conditions and risks” for a summary of risks relating to the settlement in principle of certain of the pending legal proceedings. The settlements in principle do not affect the ongoing investigation by the SEC. We intend to continue to cooperate fully with the SEC.

Regardless of whether any claims against us are valid or whether we are liable, any future litigation claims, or regulatory proceedings likely will be expensive and time consuming to defend against, require us to advance substantial amounts to director and officer defendants and other indemnifiable defendants for the defense of their claims, and result in the diversion of management attention and reduce our current cash resources.

We currently expect the amount to be paid in both settlements, including related defense costs, will be covered by, and within the policy limits of our D&O insurance policy. However, if defense costs or the amounts associated with the settlements of the pending actions and stockholder demands exceed Ampio’s current expectation, its insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover the amounts incurred by the Company, including as a result of its indemnification obligations to its current and former officers and directors and other parties. Additionally, insurance may not be available at all or in sufficient amounts to cover any liabilities with respect to the pending SEC investigation that is not resolved through the settlements in principle of the civil litigations.

In addition, insurance may not be available at all or in sufficient amounts to cover any liabilities with respect to any future claims against us. We may be required to expend significant amounts to satisfy our self-insured retention in order to obtain coverage of any future claims against us, our directors and officers and other indemnifiable parties. The costs relating to the defense, satisfaction and/or settlement of lawsuits or other claims threatened against us, our directors and officers or other indemnifiable parties and amounts necessary to resolve claims of any creditors or other third parties will reduce our current cash resources and therefore reduce the amount that may become available to our stockholders in a dissolution if approved by the Board and the Company’s shareholders.

If we are liable in any legal proceeding, such proceeding could result in injunctions or other equitable relief, settlements, penalties, fines, or damages that could materially adversely affect our cash position. Given our limited cash resources, if

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we are exposed to significant liabilities resulting from our current or future legal proceedings that are not covered by insurance or if our cash resources are otherwise insufficient to satisfy all claims and liabilities, we may seek bankruptcy protection.

The settlement in principle of certain legal actions is subject to a number of conditions and risks.

On January 11, 2024, we announced that settlements in principle had been reached in the pending securities fraud class action, Case Number 22-cv-2105-WJM-MEH (the “Securities Class Action”), and the pending consolidated derivative actions in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, Case Number 22-cv-2803-KLM (the “Consolidated Derivative Actions”).

The settlements are subject to various conditions, including confirmatory discovery in the Securities Class Action, negotiation and execution of the full settlement agreements and obtaining court approval in each action. On January 9, 2024, Ampio along with the other parties to each case filed status reports in both the Securities Class Action and the Consolidated Derivative Actions, advising the respective courts of the status of the settlements in principle. The settlement of the Consolidated Derivative Actions is supported by the plaintiff in the pending Colorado state court derivative action, Case Number 2023CV30287, as well as two stockholders who previously submitted pre-litigation demand letters to the Company’s Board of Directors. If finally approved by the relevant courts, the settlements will result in the dismissal with prejudice of all of the pending actions and the withdrawal of the two stockholder pre-litigation demands.

The settlements in principle of the pending actions and stockholder demands are subject to a number of conditions, including confirmatory discovery for the Securities Class Action, the execution and delivery of definitive settlement agreements reflecting the terms of the settlements in principle, obtaining preliminary court approval of the settlements, providing notice to stockholders of the proposed settlements, and obtaining final, non-appealable approvals by the respective courts. The timing of completion of the settlement agreements and filing motions to seek court approvals are uncertain. However, we will be endeavoring to finalize and execute the settlement agreements and have motions for preliminary approval submitted to the relevant courts by mid-May 2024. Additionally, the timing of any final decision by any of the respective courts is subject to the discretion of such court and any potential appeal. Ampio currently expects the amount to be paid in both settlements, including related defense costs, will be covered by, and within the limits of, its D&O insurance policies. If defense costs or the amounts associated with the settlements of the pending actions and stockholder demands exceed Ampio’s current expectation, its insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover the amounts incurred by the Company including as a result of its indemnification obligations to its current and former officers and directors.

Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the settlements in principle of the pending actions and stockholder demands will be finalized or approved by the respective courts, or that the settlements will be completed as currently proposed, or at any particular time. Additionally, the settlements in principle do not affect the ongoing investigation by the SEC. We intend to continue to cooperate fully with the SEC.

Our provisional patent applications and proprietary rights in OA-201 may be of limited value.

As part of the OA-201 program, we own a number of United States provisional patent applications covering our proprietary small molecule pharmaceutical formulations, as well as their therapeutic uses and manufacturing processes. Given that we have ceased efforts to continue to develop OA-201, our provisional patent applications and rights in OA-201 may be of limited value. Even if these provisional patent applications and rights have some value, we may not be able to adequately protect our rights due to our limited cash resources.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

The price of our stock has been extremely volatile and may continue to be volatile and fluctuate substantially, which could result in substantial losses for purchasers of our common stock.

The price of our common stock has been extremely volatile. We expect that volatility to continue as a result of our delisting from the NYSE American and Exchange Act deregistration. In addition to delisting, deregistration and the other factors described in this section, the following factors may also have a significant impact on the market price of our common stock:

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A significant drop in the price of our stock could expose us to the risk of securities class action lawsuits, which could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business.

With the Board approval to delist our stock, we expect a negative impact on the price of our stock and the ability to sell our common stock in the public market.

Currently, our common stock is listed on the NYSE American. Because of our current non-compliance with the NYSE American listing requirements relating to minimum stockholders’ equity and likely other continuing listing standards and, in addition, the expense associated with continuing the listing on the NYSE American, the Board of Directors determined to pursue voluntary delisting of Ampio’s common stock from the NYSE American as part of its cash conservation plan.

Following delisting of our common stock from NYSE American, the Company anticipates that the common stock would be quoted on the Pink Open Market operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. (the “OTC”) under the same symbol (“AMPE”).

If our common stock trades on the OTC market, an investor would find it more difficult to dispose of, or to obtain accurate quotations for the price of, our common stock for various reasons, including:

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Additionally, delisting from the NYSE American will likely affect the ability or willingness of certain counterparties to engage in certain transactions with us, such as a reverse merger or recapitalization.

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None.

Item 1C.Item 1A. Cybersecurity.

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In July 2023, the SEC adopted rules requiring registrants to disclose material cybersecurity incidents they experience and to disclose on an annual basis material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance.

Given our current environment and structure of the Company, we outsourced a majority of our information technology functions in 2023, including but not limited to hosting and security access and cybersecurity generally, to third-party service providers. We relied primarily on third parties to assess, identify and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats. Our agreements with these third parties obligated these parties to provide us with various notifications and reports that help our management oversee and identify material risks from cybersecurity threats associated with our use of these third-party service providers.

Cybersecurity threats are just one of the many risks that we face. While we have not experienced a cyber-security incident, there is no assurance that we will not be impacted in the future. In 2023, risks from cybersecurity threats did not materially affect and were not reasonably likely to materially affect Ampio except to the extent that our management of risks from cybersecurity threats was reflected in our overall operations strategy in 2023. Like many of the specialized or highly technical functions within our company, we believe we obtained a greater depth of support and relevant expertise from third-party IT and cybersecurity resources at an overall lower cost profile than hiring our own employees.

Under the charter of our Audit Committee, the Audit Committee oversees management’s development and implementation of policies with respect to risk assessment and risk management, which includes risks associated with cybersecurity threats. In 2023, the Audit Committee also discussed with management the Company’s significant financial risk exposures and the actions management had taken to limit, monitor, control or mitigate such exposures. Our executive officers are responsible for managing risks from cybersecurity threats, which was primarily performed in 2023 by overseeing third parties involved in the management and monitoring of IT systems. Our executive officers also received reporting and information from third parties in 2023. Our management regularly reported to the Audit Committee on these risks. The Audit Committee also received reports from our legal counsel and internal auditors on cybersecurity matters. Currently, the Audit Committee also comprises the entire Board so we believe there is direct visibility by the Board to cybersecurity risk management.