SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

4. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

(a) Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires that management make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates and assumptions principally relate to services performed by third parties but not yet invoiced, estimates of the fair value of stock options issued to employees, directors and consultants, estimates of the fair value of warrants, and estimates of the probability and potential magnitude of contingent liabilities. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

(b) Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a remaining maturity of three months or less at the time of acquisition to be cash equivalents.

(c) Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost. Repairs and maintenance costs are expensed in the period incurred. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the related estimated useful lives, except for leasehold improvements, which are depreciated over the shorter of the useful life of the asset or the lease term.

Description	Estimated Useful Life
Office equipment & furniture	5 – 7 years
Leasehold improvements	3 years
Computer equipment	3 years

(d) Intangible Assets and Intellectual Property

Intangible assets consist of costs related to acquiring patents and to prosecuting and maintaining intellectual property rights, and are amortized using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives. Beginning in 2008, the Company changed its estimate of the expected useful life of its recorded intangibles from twenty years to three years. The Company believes that a three year useful life better reflects the uncertainty of the future benefit of the patent assets. The change in the useful life of the Company’s patent assets did not have a material effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations. Certain costs of acquiring intellectual property rights to be used in the research and development process, including licensing fees and milestone payments, are charged to research and development expense as incurred.

During the first quarter of 2010, the Company revised its estimate for the useful lives of its patent and patent applications to zero. As a result of this change in estimates, the Company recorded an impairment of $106,830 to research and development expense, which was the net book value of its intangible assets as of December 31, 2009. Management believed this revised estimate better reflects the uncertainty surrounding drug product development. The change in this estimate did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

(e) Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments which potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash and cash equivalents. The Company deposits cash and cash equivalents with high credit quality financial institutions and is insured to the maximum limitations. Balances in these accounts may exceed federally insured limits at times, which expose the Company to institutional risk.

(f) Research and Development

Research and development costs are charged to expense as incurred. Research and development includes employee costs, fees associated with operational consultants, contract clinical research organizations, contract manufacturing organizations, clinical site fees, contract laboratory research organizations, contract central testing laboratories, licensing activities, and allocated office, insurance, depreciation,  and facilities expenses. The Company accrues for costs incurred as the services are being provided by monitoring the status of the trial and the invoices received from its external service providers. The Company adjusts its accruals in the period when actual costs become known. Costs related to the acquisition of technology rights for which development work is still in process are charged to operations as incurred and considered a component of research and development costs.

(g) Grant and Collaboration Income

The Company has entered into a collaboration agreement under which the Company is reimbursed for development work performed on behalf of the collaborator and upon the achievement of certain milestones. The Company records all of these expenses as research and development expenses and the reimbursements upon the achievement of the milestones as income.

The Company recognizes milestone payments as income upon achievement of the milestone only if (1) the milestone payment is non-refundable, (2) substantive effort is involved in achieving the milestone, (3) the amount of the milestone is reasonable in relation to the effort expended or the risk associated with achievement of the milestone, and (4) the milestone is at risk for both parties. If any of these conditions are not met, the Company defers the milestone payment and recognizes it as income over the remaining estimated period of performance under the contract as the Company completes its performance obligations.

(h) Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the value of the award and is recognized as expense over the required service period, which is generally equal to the vesting period. Share-based compensation is recognized only for those awards that are ultimately expected to vest; therefore, the Company has applied an estimated forfeiture rate to unvested awards for the purpose of calculating compensation cost. These estimates will be revised, if necessary, in future periods if actual forfeitures differ from estimates. Changes in forfeiture estimates impact compensation cost in the period in which the change in estimate occurs.

Common stock, stock options or other equity instruments issued to non-employees (including consultants and all members of the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board) as consideration for goods or services received by the Company are accounted for based on the fair value of the equity instruments issued (unless the fair value of the consideration received can be more reliably measured). The fair value of stock options is determined using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair value of any options issued to non-employees is recorded as expense over the applicable service periods.

(i) Loss per Common Share

Basic loss per share is computed by dividing the loss available to common shareholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding. Diluted loss per share is computed similarly to basic loss per share except that the denominator is increased to include the number of additional common shares that would have been outstanding if the potential common shares had been issued and if the additional common shares were dilutive.

For all periods presented, potentially dilutive securities are excluded from the computation of fully diluted loss per share as their effect is anti-dilutive.

Potentially dilutive securities include:

	December 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
Warrants to purchase common stock		-		3,096,533
Options to purchase common stock		-		2,750,000
Total potentially dilutive securities		-		5,846,533

For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, 15,382,331 and 11,300,285 warrants and options have been excluded from the computation of the dilutive earnings per share, respectively, as their exercise prices are greater than the average market price per common share for the three months ended December 31, 2012, and December 31, 2011, respectively.

(j) Comprehensive Loss

The Company has no components of other comprehensive loss other than its net loss, and accordingly, comprehensive loss is equal to net loss for all periods presented.

(k) Income Taxes

The Company recognizes deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements or tax returns. Under this method, deferred income taxes are recognized for the tax consequences in future years of differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and their financial reporting amounts at each year-end based on enacted tax laws and statutory tax rates applicable to the period in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. The Company provides a valuation allowance when it appears more likely than not that some or all of the net deferred tax assets will not be realized.

A tax position is recognized as a benefit only if it is “more likely than not” that the tax position would be sustained in a tax examination, with a tax examination being presumed to occur. The amount recognized is the largest amount of tax benefit that is greater than 50% likely of being realized on examination. For tax positions not meeting the “more likely than not” test, no tax benefit is recorded.

The Company’s policy is to include interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits within the Company’s provision for (benefit from) income taxes. The Company recognized no amounts for interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in 2012 and 2011 respectively. In addition, the Company had no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

(l) Fair Value Measurement

The Company measures fair value in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Fair value measurements are applied under other accounting pronouncements that require or permit fair value measurements. Financial instruments included in the Company’s balance sheets consist of cash and cash equivalents, accounts payable, accrued expenses due to related parties, and warrant liability. The carrying amounts of these instruments reasonably approximate their fair values due to their short-term maturities.

(m) Warrant Liability

The Company accounts for the warrants issued in connection with the April 2012 financing (Note 10b) in accordance with the guidance on Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Characteristics of both Liabilities and Equity, which provides that the Company classifies the warrant instrument as a liability at its fair value and adjusts the instrument to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized as a component of other income or expense. The fair value of warrants issued by the Company, in connection with offerings of securities, has been estimated by management using a binomial options pricing model. The binomial option pricing model is a generally accepted valuation model used to generate a defined number of stock price paths in order to develop a reasonable estimate of the range of the Company’s future expected stock prices, and their resulting probabilistic valuation.

(n) Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued additional guidance relating to fair value measurement and disclosure requirements. For fair value measurements categorized in Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy, the new guidance requires (1) disclosure of quantitative information about unobservable inputs; (2) a description of the valuation processes used by the entity; and (3) a qualitative discussion about the sensitivity of the fair value measurements to changes in unobservable inputs and interrelationships between those unobservable inputs, if any. Entities must report the level in the fair value hierarchy of assets and liabilities that are not recorded at fair value in the statement of financial position but for which fair value is disclosed. The new requirements clarify that the concepts of highest and best use and valuation premise only apply to measuring fair value of nonfinancial assets. The new requirements also specify that in the absence of a Level 1 input, a reporting entity should incorporate a premium or discount in a fair value measurement if a market participant would take into account such an input in pricing an asset or liability. Additionally, the new guidance introduces an option to measure certain financial assets and financial liabilities with offsetting positions on a net basis if certain criteria are met. For public entities, these new requirements become effective for interim and annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2011. These requirements are applicable to our fiscal year end beginning January 1, 2012. This guidance did not affect the Company’s financial statements.