The primary objective of the Company’s investment activities is to preserve its capital for the purpose of funding operations and the Company does not enter into investments for trading or speculative purposes. The Company’s cash is deposited in highly rated financial institutions in the United States. The Company invests in money market funds and high-grade, commercial paper and corporate bonds, which management believes are subject to minimal credit and market risk.
Marketable securities consist of investments in high-grade corporate obligations and government and government agency obligations that are classified as
Since these securities are available to fund current operations, they are classified as current assets on the consolidated balance sheets.
The Company adjusts the cost of
debt securities for amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts to maturity. The Company includes such amortization and accretion as a component of interest income. Realized gains and losses and declines in value, if any, that the Company judges to be other-than-temporary on
securities are reported as a component of interest income. To determine whether an other-than- temporary impairment exists, the Company considers whether it intends to sell the debt security and, if the Company does not intend to sell the debt security, it considers available evidence to assess whether it is more likely than not that it will be required to sell the security before the recovery of its amortized cost basis. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company determined it did not have any securities that were other-than- temporarily impaired.
Marketable securities are stated at fair value, including accrued interest, with their unrealized gains and losses included as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income or loss, which is a separate component of stockholders’ equity. The fair value of these securities is based on quoted prices and observable inputs on a recurring basis. Realized gains and losses are determined on the specific identification method. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company did not have any realized gains or losses on marketable securities.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The carrying amounts of the Company’s financial instruments, which include cash equivalents and marketable securities, approximate their fair values. The fair value of the Company’s financial instruments reflects the amounts that would be received upon sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The fair value hierarchy has the following three levels:
Level 1—quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities.
Level 2—observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.
Level 3—unobservable inputs that reflect the Company’s own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
Financial assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Company measures the fair value of its marketable securities by taking into consideration valuations obtained from third- party pricing sources. The pricing services utilize industry standard valuation models, including both income and market based approaches, for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly, to estimate fair value. These inputs include reported trades of and broker-dealer quotes on the same or similar securities, issuer credit spreads, benchmark securities and other observable inputs.
As of March 31, 2022, the Company’s financial assets valued based on Level 1 inputs consisted of cash and cash equivalents in a money market fund, its financial assets valued based on Level 2 inputs consisted of high-grade corporate and government agency bonds and commercial paper, and it had no financial assets valued based on Level 3 inputs. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company did not have any transfers of financial assets between Levels 1 and 2. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company did not have any financial liabilities that were recorded at fair value on a recurring basis on the balance sheet.
Research and Development Costs
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Research and development costs are comprised of costs incurred in performing research and development activities, including internal costs (including stock-based compensation), costs for consultants, milestone payments under licensing agreements, and other costs associated with the Company’s preclinical and clinical programs. In particular, the Company has conducted safety studies in animals, optimized and implemented the manufacturing of our drug, and
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