STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION | NOTE 11: STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION Stock Options 2022 Equity Incentive Awards On February 17, 2022, pursuant to the Company’s 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, the compensation committee of the Company’s board of directors approved a total of 1,250,000 options to purchase the Company’s common stock as equity-based incentive awards to the Company’s executive officers. Each option award was granted with an exercise price of $0.46 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market on February 17, 2022, with the option award vesting in 48 equal monthly installments over a four-year period, subject to such executive officer’s continued service on the applicable vesting date. Additionally, on February 17, 2022, the compensation committee of the Company’s board of directors approved a total of 395,000 options to purchase the Company’s common stock to non-executive employees of the Company as equity-based incentive awards. Each option award was granted with an exercise price of $0.46 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market on February 17, 2022, with the option award vesting in 48 equal monthly installments over a four-year period, subject to such employee’s continued service on the applicable vesting date. The above awards were in addition to 175,000 stock option awards issued during the three months ended March 31, 2022 to new employees upon their commencement of employment with the Company. Each option award was granted with an exercise price of $1.00 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market on January 3, 2022, with 25% of the option award vesting in one year and the remaining 75% vesting in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter over a three-year period, subject to such employee’s continued service on the applicable vesting date. Additionally, 210,000 stock option awards issued during the three months ended June 30, 2022 to new employees upon their commencement of employment with the Company. Each option award was granted with an exercise price of $0.43 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market on April 1, 2022, with 25% of the option award vesting in one year and the remaining 75% vesting in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter over a three-year period, subject to such employee’s continued service on the applicable vesting date. Also, pursuant to the Company’s Non-Employee Director Compensation Policy, which had previously been approved by the Company’s board of directors, 400,000 stock option awards were issued during the three months ended June 30, 2022 to independent members of the board of directors of the Company. Each option award was granted with an exercise price of $0.3377 per share, the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market on May 24, 2022. Each option award will vest in one year subject to the director’s continuance of service through May 24, 2023. A summary of the Company’s stock option activity for the six months ended June 30, 2022 is as follows: Weighted Average Remaining Weighted Average Contractual Number of Shares Exercise Price Total Intrinsic Value Life (in years) Outstanding as of January 1, 2022 7,686,233 $ 5.47 $ — 7.7 Granted 2,430,000 0.48 — 9.6 Canceled/Expired (156,772) 2.62 — — Outstanding as of June 30, 2022 9,959,461 $ 4.30 $ — 7.8 Options vested and exercisable 5,342,679 $ 6.27 $ — 6.9 The Black-Scholes option pricing model is used to estimate the fair value of stock options granted under the Company’s share-based compensation plans. The weighted average assumptions used in calculating the fair values of stock options that were granted during the six months ended June 30, 2022 was as follows: For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2022 Exercise price $ 0.48 Expected term (years) 5.9 Expected stock price volatility 85 % Risk-free rate of interest 2 % Expected dividend rate 0 % The following table sets forth stock-based compensation expenses recorded during the respective periods: For the Three Months Ended For the Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, 2022 2021 2022 2021 Stock Compensation expenses: Research and development $ 732,000 $ 709,000 $ 1,485,000 $ 1,405,000 General and administrative 769,000 943,000 1,647,000 1,624,000 Total stock compensation expenses $ 1,501,000 $ 1,652,000 $ 3,132,000 $ 3,029,000 As of June 30, 2022, the total stock-based compensation cost related to unvested awards not yet recognized was $6.3 million. The expected weighted average period compensation costs to be recognized was approximately 1.9 years. Future option grants will impact the compensation expense recognized. |