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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to 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 expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

The Company also relies on contract research organizations (“CROs”) to manage the analysis of data from the comparative exposure PK trial and the preparation of the planned NDA. If these CROs are unable to continue with this analysis and the management of the NDA preparation, the delays could adversely affect the completion and the timing of the filing of the NDA with FDA.

In addition, the Company relies on third-party manufacturers for the production of its drug candidate. If the third-party manufacturers are unable to continue manufacturing the Company’s drug candidate, or if the Company loses one of its sole source suppliers used in its manufacturing processes, the Company may not be able to meet commercial supply demand for its product candidate, if approved by the FDA, and the development of the product candidate could be materially and adversely affected.

Warrant Accounting

Certain of the warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, issued as a part of the at-the-market registered direct offerings in July and August 2016, are classified as warrant liability and recorded at fair value. These warrants contain a feature that could require the transfer of cash in the event a change of control occurs without the authorization of our Board of Directors, and therefore, are classified as a liability in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480.

The fair value of each warrant is estimated on the date of issuance, and each subsequent balance sheet date, using the Black-Scholes valuation model using the appropriate risk-free interest rate, expected term and volatility assumptions. The expected life of the warrant was calculated using the remaining life of the warrant. Due to the Company’s limited historical data as a public company, the estimated volatility is calculated based upon the Company’s historical volatility, supplemented, as necessary, with historical volatility of comparable companies in the biotechnology industry whose share prices are publicly available for a sufficient period of time. The risk-free rate is based upon U.S. Treasury securities with remaining terms similar to the expected term of the stock award being valued.

This warrant liability is subject to remeasurement at each balance sheet date and the Company recognizes any change in the fair value of the warrant liability in the statement of operations. The Company will continue to adjust the carrying value of the warrants for changes in the estimated fair value until the earlier of the modification, exercise or expiration of the warrants. At that time, the liabilities will be reclassified to additional paid-in capital, a component of stockholders’ equity. We anticipate that the value of the warrants could fluctuate from quarter to quarter and that such fluctuation could have a material impact on our financial statements.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-based compensation expense for stock option grants and employee stock purchases under the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”) is recorded at the estimated fair value of the award as of the grant date and is recognized as expense on a straight-line basis over the employee’s requisite service period. The estimation of stock option and ESPP fair value requires management to make estimates and judgments about, among other things, employee exercise behavior, forfeiture rates and volatility of the Company’s common stock. The judgments directly affect the amount of compensation expense that will be recognized.

The Company grants stock options to purchase common stock to employees and members of the board of directors with exercise prices equal to the Company’s closing market price on the date the stock options are granted. The risk-free interest rate assumption was based on the yield of an applicable rate for U.S. Treasury instruments with maturities similar to those of the expected term of the award being valued. The weighted average expected term of options and employee stock purchases was calculated using the simplified method as prescribed by accounting guidance for stock-based compensation. This decision was based on the lack of relevant historical data due to the Company’s limited historical experience. In addition, due to the Company’s limited historical data, the estimated volatility was calculated based upon the Company’s historical volatility, supplemented, as necessary, with historical volatility of comparable companies in the biotechnology industry whose share prices are publicly available for a sufficient period of time. The assumed dividend yield was based on the Company never paying cash dividends and having no expectation of paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred and primarily include compensation and related benefits, stock-based compensation expense and costs paid to third-party contractors to perform research, conduct clinical trials and develop drug materials and delivery devices. The Company expenses costs relating to the purchase and production of pre-approval inventories as research and development expense in the period incurred until FDA approval is received.

The Company bases its expense accruals related to clinical studies on estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to contracts with multiple research institutions and CROs that conduct and manage clinical studies on its behalf. The financial terms of these agreements vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. Payments under some of these contracts depend on factors, such as the successful enrollment of patients, site initiation and the completion of clinical study milestones. Service providers typically invoice the Company monthly in arrears for services performed. In accruing service fees, the Company estimates the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the Company does not identify costs that have begun to be incurred, or if the Company underestimates or overestimates the level of services performed or the costs of these services, actual expenses could differ materially from estimates. To date, the Company has not experienced significant changes in estimates of accrued research and development expenses after a reporting period. However, due to the nature of estimates, no assurance can be made that changes to the estimates will not be made in the future as the Company becomes aware of additional information about the status or conduct of clinical studies and other research activities.

Included in research and development expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 were costs of approximately $8,000 and $19,000, respectively, for clinical trial services incurred by a related party of one of the Company’s officers. There were no related party costs incurred during the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

The Company does not own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of Gimoti, nor does it plan to develop its own manufacturing operations in the foreseeable future. The Company currently depends on third-party contract manufacturers for all of its required raw materials, drug substance and finished product for its preclinical research, product development and clinical trials. The Company has agreements with Cosma S.p.A. to supply metoclopramide for the manufacture of Gimoti, and with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., who recently acquired Patheon UK Limited, for product development and manufacturing of Gimoti. The Company currently utilizes a third-party consultant, which it engages on an as-needed, hourly basis, to manage product development and manufacturing contractors.

Net Loss Per Share

Basic net loss per share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of common stock outstanding for the period, without consideration for common stock equivalents and adjusted for the weighted-average number of common stock outstanding that are subject to repurchase. The Company has excluded 45,000 shares of common stock subject to repurchase from the weighted-average number of common stock outstanding for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016. Diluted net loss per share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of common stock equivalents outstanding for the period determined using the treasury-stock method. Dilutive common stock equivalents are comprised of shares subject to repurchase, warrants for the purchase of common stock, options outstanding under the Company’s equity incentive plans and potential shares to be purchased under the ESPP. For the periods presented, the following table sets forth the outstanding potentially dilutive securities that have been excluded from the calculation of diluted net loss per share because to do so would be anti-dilutive:

	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2017		2016		2017		2016
Common stock subject to repurchase		45,000		45,000		45,000		45,000
Warrants to purchase common stock		2,797,561		3,323,876		2,771,685		3,323,876
Common stock options		2,131,624		1,275,624		2,131,624		1,275,624
Employee stock purchase plan		7,064		10,938		7,064		10,938
Total excluded securities		4,981,249		4,655,438		4,955,373		4,655,438

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, dilutive shares of 0 and 25,876, respectively, related to the outstanding warrants were included in the diluted net loss per share of common stock calculation.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-02, Leases. The new standard establishes a right-of-use (“ROU”) model that requires a lessee to record a ROU asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with terms longer than 12 months. Leases will be classified as either finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern of expense recognition in the income statement. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. A modified retrospective transition approach is required for capital and operating leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements, with certain practical expedients available. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of its pending adoption of the new standard on the Company’s financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09 Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. This guidance changes the accounting for certain aspects of share-based payments to employees. The guidance requires the recognition of the income tax effects of awards in the income statement when the awards vest or are settled, thus eliminating additional paid-in capital pools. The guidance also allows for the employer to repurchase more of an employee’s shares for tax withholding purposes without triggering liability accounting. In addition, the guidance allows for a policy election to account for forfeitures as they occur rather than on an estimated basis. The adoption of this guidance on January 1, 2017 did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.