Exhibit 10.9

CERTAIN INFORMATION IDENTIFIED BY BRACKETED ASTERISKS ([* * *]) HAS BEEN OMITTED FROM THIS EXHIBIT BECAUSE IT IS BOTH NOT MATERIAL AND WOULD BE COMPETITIVELY HARMFUL IF PUBLICLY DISCLOSED.

AMENDMENT NO. 2

TO LICENSE AGREEMENT

THIS AMENDMENT NO. 2 (the Second Amendment) is made as of January 5, 2018 (the Second Amendment Effective Date) by and between KUROS BIOSCIENCES AG (formerly Cytos Biotechnology, LTD), a company registered in Switzerland whose registered office is at Wagistrasse 25, 8952 Schlieren, Switzerland (“Licensor”), and CHECKMATE PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., having its registered office at One Broadway, 14^th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA, (“Checkmate”). Licensor and Checkmate may be referred to herein as a “Party” or, collectively, as “Parties”.

WHEREAS

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements set forth herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which are hereby acknowledged, Licensor and Checkmate agree as follows:

Amendment and License Grant

1

It is hereby agreed that current Clause 1.28

1.28 “Field” means the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of cancer in humans and animals

Is changed to

1.28 “Field” means the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of all indications in humans and animals

It is hereby agreed the following definitions will be added to Article 1.

1.73    “Cancer Field” means the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of cancer in humans and animals.

1.74    “Non-Cancer Field” means the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of all indications except cancer in humans and animals.

It is hereby agreed that Clause 1.36 (a) will be changed to “belonging to one of the three following series” will be replaced with “belonging to one of the five following series”

It is hereby agreed to replace the current text of clause 1.36(a) with the following:

1.36(a) Series 1: CYT003 (further described in Schedule 1.18) but excluding Licensed Compounds in Series 4 (as defined in 1.36(d)) and Licensed Compounds Series 5 (as defined in l.36(e))

Clause (e) will be added to 1.36

(e) Series 5: Qb VLPs, including CYT003, covalently conjugated with any antigen except lgE, pTau/Tau, Amyloid beta, Influenza HA or any modifications, improvements, fragments, variants or derivatives thereof and any fusion products containing the foregoing. Also, all Qb VLP Cancer Vaccines are excluded from Series 5.

It is hereby agreed that in Clause 1.37 the text

“referred to individually in l .36(a), (b), (c) and (d)”

will be replaced with

“referred to individually in 1.36(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e)”

2

In partial consideration of the rights granted by Licensor to Checkmate and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Agreement, Checkmate shall pay to Licensor a one-time, non-refundable milestone payment of [***] within thirty (30) days after the execution of this Second Amendment.

The Milestone payments for Licensed Compound Series 5 shall be the same as the Milestone payments for Licensed Compound Series 2. Therefore, it is hereby agreed that in Section 5.2.1 the following two tables

[***]

It is hereby agreed that the current Clause 5.2.2 is replaced by:

“5.2.2 Each milestone payment in this Section 5.2 shall be payable only upon the first achievement of such milestone for the first Licensed Product from the same Licensed Compound Series and no amounts shall be due for subsequent or repeated achievements of such milestone with Licensed Products from such Licensed Compound Series, except for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series I in the Non-Cancer Field and Licensed Compound Series 4 and Licensed Compound Series 5 in the Field. For Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 4 each milestone payment shall be as stated in Section 5.2.1 for the first Licensed Product to reach said milestone in Licensed Compound Series 4, milestone payments shall be reduced by [***] for the second Licensed Product in Licensed Compound Series 4 to reach said milestone, and shall be reduced by [***] for the third Licensed Product in Licensed Compound Series 4 to reach said milestone. For Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series I in the Non-Cancer Field each milestone payment shall be as stated in Section 5.2.1 for the first Non-Cancer indication in which such Milestone is reached, for the second Non-Cancer indication in which such milestone is reached with Licensed Compound Series I the payments shall be reduced by [***] for the third Non-Cancer indication in which such milestone is reached with Licensed Compound Series I in the Non-Cancer Field the payments shall be reduced [***]. For Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 5, each milestone payment shall be as stated in Section 5.2.1 for the [***] Licensed Products to reach said milestone in Licensed Compound Series 5.”

It is hereby agreed to replace the current text of clause 5.2.3 with the following:

5.2.3 Milestones payments will be made on the first achievement of each milestone listed in Section 5.2.1 for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 2 and 3, and for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series I in the Cancer Field. Milestone payments will be paid on the first, second and third achievement of each milestone listed in Section 5.2.1 for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 4 and for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series I in the Non-Cancer Field, with milestones for the second and third achievement of said milestone being reduced as described in Section 5.2.2. Milestone payments will be paid on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth achievement of each milestone listed in Section 5.2.1 for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 5.”

3

The Royalty Payments for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 1 shall be the same for the Cancer and the Non-Cancer field and the Royalty Payments for Licensed Products in Series 5 shall be the same as the Royalty Payments for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 2 as set forth in the Agreement in Section 5.3. Therefore, it is hereby agreed that in Section 5.3.1 the table will be replaced with the table below:

[***]

It is also hereby agreed to change the text at the end of Section 5.3.1:

“For Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series I, 2 and 3, royalties are payable on all Licensed Product Net Sales, however for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 4 royalties are payable only on Net Sales of the first [***] Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 4.”

With the following text:

“For Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 1, 2 and 3, and 5 royalties are payable on all Licensed Product Net Sales, however for Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 4 royalties are payable only on Net Sales of the first [***] Licensed Products in Licensed Compound Series 4.”

As of the Second Amendment Effective Date, Licensor represents and warrants that (i) it has the right under the Licensor Technology to grant the licenses under Section 3.1 of the Agreement, including that Licensor Controls all Licensor Patents for all uses within the Field; (ii) it has not transferred the process for the production of CYT003 as of the date hereof to any current Licensee (or any other Third Party) except Checkmate, its current contract manufacturer Fuji Diosynth, and Arbutus BioPharma Corp whose license is now terminated and (iii) it has only granted licenses to Third Parties (other than Checkmate) for CYT003 conjugated to antigens and not to CYT003 when used alone.

Licensor hereby covenants that it will not materially amend the scope of any existing license granted to a Third Party under which such Third Party has rights to develop and commercialize CYT003 (each, a “CYT003 License”), without the prior written consent of Checkmate (not to be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed). If any of the CYT003 Licenses are terminated or expire, Licensor agrees to expand the scope of the license granted herein to Checkmate under the Licensor Technology to include the products currently specifically excluded by Section l.36(e) and to expand the scope of Licensor Technology to cover such Products in each case to the extent that Licensor Controls such rights after termination or expiration of the applicable CYT003 License. Each such product shall be added to this Agreement as Non-Cancer Indication Licensed Products subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement.

4

This Second Amendment may be executed in any number of counterparts, each such counterpart shall be deemed to be an original instrument, and all such counterparts together shall constitute but one agreement. Any such counterpart may contain one or more signature pages.

To the extent any term or provision of this Second Amendment conflicts with any term or provision of the Agreement, the terms and provisions of this Second Amendment shall prevail. In all other respects, except as expressly amended by this -Second Amendment, the provisions of the Agreement (as amended on August 1 5, 2017) shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

BALANCE OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY BLANK

5

SIGNED by the Parties or their duly authorized officers on the dates set forth below, to be effective on the date set forth above.

6

Exhibit A

See following two pages

7

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