Equity Incentive Plans and Warrants | (11) Equity Incentive Plans and Warrants Stock-Based Awards (a) Stock Option Plans Activity under the Company’s stock option plans for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was as follows: Number of options Weighted average exercise price Outstanding at December 31, 2022 931,550 $ 3.97 Granted 5,000 1.18 Forfeited (50,055 ) 1.87 Outstanding at March 31, 2023 886,495 $ 4.07 Granted 153,200 0.75 Forfeited (20,024 ) 3.94 Outstanding at June 30, 2023 1,019,671 $ 3.57 Granted 1,064,800 0.49 Forfeited (5,200 ) 1.25 Outstanding at September 30, 2023 2,079,271 $ 2.00 Vested and exercisable at September 30 1,217,298 $ 2.62 Options granted under our 2021 Stock Option Plan for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 to employees and nonemployees were 1,150,000 and 73,000, respectively and the weighted average exercise prices were $0.52 and $0.64, respectively. The weighted-average fair values of the options granted to employees and nonemployees were $0.42 and $0.51, respectively and were estimated using the following Black-Scholes assumptions: Employee Nonemployee Expected term (in years) 5.60 5.49 Risk‑free interest rate 4.06 % 3.96 % Dividend yield — % — % Expected volatility 105.14 % 106.58 % No options were exercised for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 under our stock option plans. As of September 30, 2023, the total number of shares of common stock reserved for future awards under the 2021 Stock Option Plan was 652,314. (b) Inducement Grants For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, no inducement awards were granted. As of September 30, 2023 (c) Share-Based Compensation Expense The following table shows the share-based compensation expense related to vested stock option grants to employees and nonemployees by financial statement line item on the accompanying statement of comprehensive loss: Three Months Ended September 30 Nine September 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 Research and development $ 79,561 10,820 131,812 73,395 Sales and marketing 623 1,515 (1,319 ) 3,857 General and administrative 424,175 39,427 496,036 81,036 Total share-based compensation expense $ 504,359 51,762 626,529 158,288 As September 30, 2023 (d) Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) For the nine months ended September 30, 2023 September 30, 2023 (e) April 2023 Financing On April 20, 2023, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement pursuant to which the Company sold (i) 1,318,000 shares of common stock (see Note 10, Stockholders’ Equity The pre-funded warrants, common warrants and placement agent warrants were exercisable immediately following the closing date of the offering. The pre-funded warrants have an unlimited term and an exercise price of $0.0001 per share. The common warrants have a 5.5 year term and an exercise price of $1.095 per share. The placement agent warrants have a 5 year term and exercise price of $1.525 per share. The offering resulted in aggregate gross proceeds of $3,899,813, before $547,764 of transaction costs. The pre-funded warrants and common warrants are classified as a component of permanent equity because they are freestanding financial instruments that are legally detachable and separately exercisable from the shares of common stock with which they were issued, are immediately exercisable, do not embody an obligation for the Company to repurchase its shares, and permit the holders to receive a fixed number of shares of common stock upon exercise. The common stock was valued at $1,133,480, based on the Company’s stock price. The pre-funded warrants and common warrants were valued at $1,615,701 and $1,854,099, respectively, using the following Black-Scholes assumptions: Pre-funded warrants Common warrants Expected term (in years) 4 4 Risk‑free interest rate 3.83 % 3.83 % Dividend yield — % — % Expected volatility 100.25 % 100.25 % Exercise price $ 0.0001 $ 1.095 Stock price $ 0.86 $ 0.86 Black-Scholes value $ 0.86 $ 0.58 The net proceeds of $3,352,049 were allocated to the common stock, pre-funded warrants and common warrants using the relative fair value method. The valuations were recorded to stockholders’ equity. In June 2023, all pre-funded warrants were exercised for shares of common stock. In September 2023, 796,722 common warrants and 122,994 placement agent warrants were exercised for cash proceeds of $1,059,975 |