As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 9, 2017.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

CHECKPOINT THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

2 Gansevoort Street, 9th Floor

New York, New York 10014

(Address, including Zip Code, of Principal Executive Offices)

Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. Amended and Restated 2015 Incentive Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company.  See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ¨

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

(a)        The documents constituting Part I of this registration statement on Form S-8 (this “Registration Statement”) will be delivered to participants in the Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. Amended and Restated 2015 Incentive Plan (the “Plan”) as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). These documents and the documents incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement pursuant to Item 3 of Part II of this form, taken together, constitute a prospectus that meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.

(b)       Upon written or oral request, Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) will provide, without charge, the documents incorporated by reference in Item 3 of Part II of this Registration Statement. The documents are incorporated by reference in the Section 10(a) prospectus. The Company will also provide, without charge, upon written or oral request, other documents required to be delivered to employees pursuant to Rule 428(b). Requests for the above mentioned information should be directed to Investor Relations at ir@checkpointtx.com, or to James F. Oliviero, President and Chief Executive Officer, at the address and telephone number on the cover page of this Registration Statement.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The following documents, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) by the Company pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are incorporated herein by reference:

All reports and other documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities that remain unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (“DGCL”), a corporation may include provisions in its certificate of incorporation that will relieve its directors of monetary liability for breaches of their fiduciary duty to the corporation, except under certain circumstances, including a breach of the director’s duty of loyalty, acts or omissions of the director not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, the approval of an improper payment of a dividend or an improper purchase by the corporation of stock or any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. The Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation eliminates the personal liability of directors to the Company or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director with certain limited exceptions set forth in the DGCL.

Section 145 of the DGCL grants to corporations the power to indemnify each officer and director against liabilities and expenses incurred by reason of the fact that he or she is or was an officer or director of the corporation if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. The Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws provide for indemnification of each officer and director of the Company to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL. Section 145 of the DGCL also empowers corporations to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was an officer or director of the corporation against liability asserted against or incurred by him in any such capacity, whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify such officer or director against such liability under the provisions of Section 145 of the DGCL.

Not applicable.

See the Exhibit Index, which is incorporated herein by reference.

(1)        To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

(i)       To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;

(ii)      To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement;

(iii)     To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that Paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) of this section do not apply if the registration statement is on Form S-8, and the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Company pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m or 78o(d)) that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement;

(2)        That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof; and

(3)        To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b)       The undersigned Company hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the Company’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c)       Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Company pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Company has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Company of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Company in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Company will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

(Signatures on following page)

SIGNATURES

The Registrant. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Company certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of New York, state of New York, on this 9^th day of November, 2017.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW BY ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENT, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints James F. Oliviero, and each or any one of them, as true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this registration statement and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney-in-fact, or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue thereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

EXHIBIT INDEX

TO

REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM S-8