Stock-based Compensation | . Stock-based compensation 2012 Stock Incentive Plan The Company adopted the 2012 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2012 Plan”) in February 2016 pursuant to which the Company can issue incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards and other stock awards. Recipients of stock options or stock appreciate rights shall be eligible to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price equal to the estimated fair market value of such stock on the date of grant. The exercise price may be less than fair market value if the stock award is granted pursuant to an assumption or substitution for another stock award in the event of a merger or sale of the Company. The maximum term of options granted under the 2012 Plan is ten years , and stock options typically vest over a four-year period. The Board may assign vesting terms to the stock option grants as deemed appropriate. The Company also has the right of refusal to purchase any proposed disposition of shares issued under the 2012 Plan. The 2012 Plan allows for early exercise of all stock option grants if authorized by the Board at the time of grant. The shares of common stock issued from the early exercise of stock options are restricted and vest over time. The Company has the option to repurchase any unvested shares at the original purchase price upon any voluntary or involuntary termination. At the discretion of the Board, unvested shares held by employees may accelerate vesting in the event of a change of control of the Company unless assumed or substituted by the acquirer or surviving entity. The 2012 Plan has been subsequently amended and provides for the issuance of up to 6,941,421 shares of common stock as of March 31, 2022 , of which 2,732,632 shares of common stock remained available for future grant under the 2012 Plan upon the effectiveness of the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”) and were made available for future issuance under the 2021 Plan. On June 11, 2021, the Company’s board of directors adopted, and in June 2021 the Company’s stockholders approved, the 2021 Plan, which became effective immediately prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement for the initial public offering. 2021 Equity Incentive Plan In June 2021 the Company’s board of directors adopted, and in June 2021 the Company’s stockholders approved, the 2021 Plan, which became effective immediately prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement for the initial public offering. The 2021 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and other stock-based awards. Upon effectiveness of the 2021 Plan, the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2021 Plan was 5,932,632 , which represents 3,200,000 shares along with 2,732,632 shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2012 Plan that remained available for grant under the 2012 Plan immediately prior to the effectiveness of the 2021 Plan. Shares of our common stock subject to outstanding awards granted under the 2012 Plan that expire unexercised or are terminated, surrendered, cancelled, forfeited or repurchased by the Company at their original issuance price pursuant to a contractual repurchase right will become available for issuance under the 2021 Plan. Upon adoption of the 2021 Plan, the Company ceased the grant of additional awards under the 2012 Plan. The 2021 Plan includes an "evergreen" provision, which provides for an annual increase to be added on January 1st of each year beginning in 2022 and continuing through and including 2031 by the lesser of (i) 5 % of the number of shares of Stock outstanding as of such date and (ii) an amount determined by the board of directors. On January 1, 2022, the number of shares of Common Stock reserved and available for issuance under the 2021 Plan increased by 884,585 shares. At March 31, 2022 , 5,892,879 shares of common stock remained available for future grant under the 2021 Plan. 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan In June 2021, the Company’s board of directors adopted, and the Company’s stockholders approved, the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”), which became effective immediately prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement for the initial public offering. The ESPP is administered by the Company’s board of directors or by a committee appointed by the board of directors. The ESPP initially provides participating employees with the opportunity to purchase up to an aggregate of 300,000 shares of common stock. The number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the ESPP will automatically increase on January 1st of each year beginning in 2022 and continuing through and including 2031 by the least of (i) 1 % of the number of shares of Stock outstanding as of such date, (ii) 600,000 shares of Stock and (iii) the number of shares of Stock determined by the Board on or prior to such date for such year, up to a maximum of 6,300,000 shares in the aggregate. Early exercise of unvested stock options Shares purchased by employees pursuant to the early exercise of stock options are not deemed, for accounting purposes, to be outstanding shares until those shares vest according to their respective vesting schedules. Cash received from employee exercises of unvested options is included in long-term liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Amounts recorded are reclassified to common stock and additional paid-in capital as the shares vest. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, there wer e 137,015 and 169,919 unvested shares related to early exercises of stock options, respectively. Stock option valuation The assumptions that the Company used in the Black Scholes option-pricing model to determine the grant date fair value of stock options granted were as follows: March 31, Risk-free interest rate range 1.89 % Dividend yield 0.0 % Expected life of options (years) 6.0 Volatility rate range 92.8 % The following table summarizes the Company’s stock option activity during the three months ended March 31, 2022: Number of Weighted average Weighted average Aggregate intrinsic Outstanding as of December 31, 2021 2,778,963 $ 5.80 8.76 $ 17,102 Granted 665,133 $ 5.96 — — Exercised ( 19,575 ) $ 0.97 — — Forfeited or cancelled ( 2,868 ) $ 4.07 — — Outstanding as of March 31, 2022 3,421,653 $ 5.87 8.79 $ 2,875 Options vested and exercisable as of March 31, 2022 836,364 $ 4.30 8.16 $ 1,062 As of March 31, 2022 , there was $ 10.9 million of unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to the share-based compensation arrangements under the 2012 Plan. The Company expects to recognize this amount over a weighted-average period of 2.0 years. The aggregate intrinsic value of options is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the stock options and the fair value of the Company’s common stock for those stock options that had exercise prices lower than the fair value of the common stock as of the end of the reporting period. The weighted-average grant date fair value of the Company’s stock options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 was $ 4.52 and $ 5.40 , respectively. The total fair value of options vested during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 was $ 1.1 million and $ 0.3 million, respectively. Stock-based compensation expense Stock-based compensation expense included in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations is as follows (in thousands): March 31, March 31, Research and development $ 425 $ 170 General and administrative 830 318 Total stock-based compensation expense $ 1,255 $ 488 |