As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2021

Registration No. 333--            

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

TARSUS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

15440 Laguna Canyon Road, Suite 160

Irvine, CA 92618

(949) 409-9820

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

(Full title of plan)

Bobak Azamian, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

15440 Laguna Canyon Road, Suite 160

Irvine, CA 92618

(Name and address of agent for service)

(949) 409-9820

(Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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

In general, to the extent that any awards under the 2020 Plan are forfeited, cancelled or expire for any reason before being exercised or settled in full, if any awards are settled in cash or if shares issued under the 2020 Plan are reacquired by the Registrant pursuant to a forfeiture provision, repurchase right or for any other reason, those shares will again become available for issuance under the 2020 Plan, as will shares applied to pay the exercise or purchase price of an award or to satisfy tax withholding obligations related to any award.

PART I

Information Required in the Section 10(a) Prospectus

The information specified in this Part I is omitted from this Registration Statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) in accordance with the provisions of Rule 428 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). In accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), and the instructions to Form S-8, such documents are not being filed with the SEC either as part of this Registration Statement or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements pursuant to Rule 424 under the Securities Act.

PART II

Information Required in the Registration Statement

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(the “Registrant”) hereby incorporates by reference into this Registration Statement the following documents previously filed with the SEC:

All other reports and documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, subsequent to the filing of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which de-registers all securities then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents. The Registrant is not, however, incorporating any documents or information that the Registrant is deemed to furnish and not file in accordance with SEC rules. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement will be deemed modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained in any subsequently filed document that also is deemed incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement modifies or supersedes that statement.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law authorizes a court to award, or a corporation’s board of directors to grant, indemnity to directors and officers under certain circumstances and subject to certain limitations. The terms of Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law are sufficiently broad to permit indemnification under certain circumstances for liabilities, including reimbursement of expenses incurred, arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

As permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions relating to the limitation of liability and indemnification of directors and officers. The amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except for liability:

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that if Delaware law is amended after the approval by our stockholders of the certificate of incorporation to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of our directors will be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended, against all expenses and liabilities reasonably incurred in connection with their service for or on our behalf. Our amended and restated bylaws provide that we shall advance the expenses incurred by a director or officer in advance of the final disposition of an action or proceeding, and permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any director, officer, employee, or other enterprise agent for any liability arising out of his or her action in that capacity, whether or not Delaware law would otherwise permit indemnification.

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our directors and executive officers and certain other key employees. The form of agreement provides that we will indemnify each of our directors, executive officers and such other key employees against any and all expenses incurred by that director, executive officer, or other key employee because of his or her status as one of our directors, executive officers, or other key employees, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws. In addition, the form agreement provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, we will advance all expenses incurred by our directors, executive officers and other key employees in connection with a legal proceeding.

We currently carry and intend to continue to carry liability insurance for our directors and officers.

Not applicable.

The following exhibits are incorporated herein by reference.

EXHIBIT INDEX

A. The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(i) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act,

(ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of this 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 this Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective Registration Statement, and

(iii) to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in this Registration Statement or any material change to such information in this Registration Statement;

provided, however, that clauses A(1)(i) and A(1)(ii) above shall not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement;

B. The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this 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 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act, and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant 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 Registrant 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 Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant 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 Irvine, State of California on this 31st day of March, 2021.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Bobak Azamian, M.D., Ph.D., Leo M. Greenstein and Bryan Wahl, M.D. and each of them, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, each with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments, including post-effective amendments, to this registration statement, and to file the same, with exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorney-in-fact and agents or their substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the undersigned has executed this Power of Attorney as of the date indicated.

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 5.1

		SILICON VALLEY ANN ARBOR BEIJING BOSTON LOS ANGELES NEW YORK SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE

March 31, 2021

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

15440 Laguna Canyon Road

Suite 160

Irvine, CA 92618

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We refer to the registration statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) to be filed by Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) in connection with the registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), of an aggregate of 1,025,150 shares of the Company’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the “Shares”), that are subject to issuance by the Company (i) upon the exercise or settlement of awards granted or to be granted under the Company’s 2020 Equity Incentive Plan and (ii) the exercise of purchase rights to acquire shares of common stock granted or to be granted under the Company’s 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan. The Company’s 2020 Equity Incentive Plan and 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan are collectively referred to in this letter as the “Plans”.

In connection with this opinion, we have reviewed the actions proposed to be taken by you in connection with the issuance and sale of the Shares to be issued under the Plans. We have also examined and relied upon the Registration Statement and the originals or copies certified to our satisfaction of such other documents, records, certificates, memoranda and other instruments as in our judgment are necessary or appropriate to enable us to render the opinion expressed below. With your consent, we have relied upon certificates and other assurances of officers of the Company as to factual matters without having independently verified such factual matters. We have assumed the genuineness and authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals, and the conformity to originals of all documents submitted to us as copies thereof and the due execution and delivery of all documents where due execution and delivery are a prerequisite to the effectiveness thereof.

This opinion is being furnished in connection with the requirements of Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S-K under the Act, and no opinion is expressed herein as to any matter pertaining to the contents of the Registration Statement, other than as expressly stated herein with respect to the issue of the Shares. Our opinion is limited to the matters stated herein and no opinion is implied or may be inferred beyond the matters expressly stated. Our opinion herein is expressed solely with respect to the federal laws of the United States and the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”). Our opinion is based on these laws as in effect on the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to advise you of facts, circumstances, events or developments which hereafter may be brought to our attention and which may alter, affect or modify the opinion expressed herein. We are not rendering any opinion as to compliance with any federal or state antifraud law, rule or regulation relating to securities, or to the sale or issuance thereof.

GUNDERSON    DETTMER    STOUGH    VILLENEUVE    FRANKLIN & HACHIGIAN, LLP

3570 CARMEL MOUNTAIN ROAD, SUITE 200, SAN DIEGO, CA 92130 / PHONE: 858.436.8000 / FAX: 877.881.9192

Based upon and subject to the foregoing, we advise you that, in our opinion, when the Shares have been issued and sold by the Company pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Plans and pursuant to the agreements which accompany the Plans, and in accordance with the Registration Statement, such Shares will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement. In giving such consent, we do not thereby admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder.

Exhibit 23.1

Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

We consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statement (Form S-8) pertaining to the Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, and the Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of our report dated March 31, 2021, with respect to the financial statements of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. included in its Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Irvine, California

March 31, 2021