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Stockholders' equity
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Equity [Abstract]  
Stockholders' equity Stockholders’ equity
(a) Common stock
The Company is authorized to issue 100,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.000001 per share as of December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, and 2019, the total number of shares of common stock issued and outstanding was 42,196,296, and 37,996,849, respectively.
On July 7, 2020, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 3,262,471 shares of its common stock at a price of $15.25 per share and pre-funded warrants to purchase 1,737,529 shares of its common stock at a price of $15.249999 per prefunded warrant. The pre-funded warrants can be exercised at any time after issuance for an exercise price of $0.000001 per share. The aggregate net proceeds received by the Company from the offering were $71.3 million, net of underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering costs of approximately $4.9 million.
On December 20, 2019, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 10,263,750 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $8.40 per share. The aggregate net proceeds received by the Company from the offering, net of underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering costs of approximately $5.5 million, were $80.7 million.
(b) Preferred stock
The Company is authorized to issue 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.000001 per share. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, 0 shares of preferred stock were issued or outstanding.
(c) Merger with Former Neoleukin
On August 8, 2019, the Company issued 4,589,771 shares of common stock and 101,927 shares of non-voting convertible preferred stock as consideration in the Merger among Aquinox, Former Neoleukin and Apollo Merger Inc. (see Note 3, Merger of Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. and Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Each share of non-voting convertible preferred stock was convertible into 100 shares of common stock and was entitled to receive dividends, on an as-is converted to common stock basis, when dividends are paid to common stockholders. The holders of preferred stock were only entitled to vote when it impacts the rights of the preferred stockholder.
On November 12, 2019, the Company’s stockholders approved the conversion of 101,927 shares of non-voting convertible preferred stock into 10,192,700 shares of the Company’s common stock. As of December 31, 2020, the Company did not have any outstanding non-voting convertible preferred stock.
(d) December 2019 pre-funded common stock warrants
On December 17, 2019, Neoleukin entered into an exchange agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) with certain stockholders, pursuant to which the Company exchanged an aggregate of 10,925,481 shares of common stock held by the stockholders for pre-funded warrants (the “Exchange Warrants”) to purchase an aggregate of 10,925,481 shares of common stock (subject to adjustment in the event of stock splits, recapitalizations and other similar events affecting common stock), with an exercise price of $0.000001 per share. The Exchange Warrants may be exercised at any time after the date of issuance, except that the Exchange Warrants cannot be exercised by the stockholders if, after giving effect thereto, the stockholders would beneficially own more than 9.99% of the outstanding common stock, subject to certain exceptions. The holders of the Exchange Warrants will not have the right to vote on any matter except to the extent required by Delaware law.
As the Exchange Warrants meet the conditions for equity classification, the proceeds previously received for the shares of common stock will remain in additional paid-in capital. Upon the exercise of the warrants the proceeds received along with the exercise price will be recorded in common stock.
(e) Stock option plan
In January 2014, the Company’s stockholders approved the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan (“2014 Plan”) which became effective in March 2014. The 2014 Plan is the successor to and continuation of the Joint Canadian Stock Option Plan (the “2006 Plan”). No further grants will be made under the 2006 Plan. The 2014 Plan provides for the grant of stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, performance stock awards, performance cash awards, and other forms of equity awards to employees, directors, and consultants.
As of December 31, 2020, the maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued under the 2014 Plan was 9,786,363. The number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2014 Plan will be increased by the number of shares subject to stock options granted under the 2006 Plan that would have otherwise returned to the 2006 Plan, such as upon the expiration or termination of a stock award prior to vesting. As of December 31, 2020, there were 23,958 shares subject to stock options granted under the 2006 Plan. Additionally, the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2014 Plan will automatically increase on January 1 of each year for a period of up to 10 years, beginning on January 1, 2015 and ending on and including January 1, 2024, by 4.00% of the total number of shares of capital stock
outstanding on December 31 of the preceding calendar year, or a lesser number of shares determined by the board of directors. On November 12, 2019, the Company’s stockholders approved the increase in the number of shares reserved from issuance under the 2014 Plan by 4,500,000 shares. All awards granted pursuant to the 2014 Plan have a contractual term of ten years. All awards granted to date are equity classified and subject to service based vesting, typically over a period of one to four years.
The number of shares available to be granted under the 2014 Plan was 6,037,532 and 6,556,534 as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 respectively.
Stock options
A summary of the Company's stock option activity and related information for the year ended December 31, 2020 is as follows:
Number of SharesWeighted Average
Exercise Price
Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life
(In Years)
Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value
(In Thousands)
Outstanding at December 31, 20195,840,538 $5.11 7.7$45,037 
Options granted2,404,300 11.6
Options exercised(882,624)6.42
Options cancelled/forfeited(515,925)15.69
Outstanding at December 31, 20206,846,289 $6.42 8.7$53,127 
Exercisable as of December 31, 20201,878,082 $5.02 7.7$17,547 
During the year ended December 31, 2020, 882,624 shares of common stock were issued upon exercise of options with an aggregate intrinsic value of $6.0 million. During the year ended December 31, 2019, 326,094 shares of common stock were issued upon exercise of options with an aggregate intrinsic value of $1.3 million. The weighted-average grant date fair value of options granted during the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 was $8.70 and $2.17 per share, respectively.
The fair value of stock options granted is estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model with the following weighted average assumptions:

December 31,
20202019
Expected volatility93 %90 %
Expected dividends%%
Expected terms (years)6.026.07
Risk free rate0.42 %1.43 %
Restricted stock units
A summary of the Company's restricted stock unit activity and related information for the year ended December 31, 2020 is as follows:
Number of
Shares
Weighted
Average
Grant Date Fair Value
Non-vested at December 31, 201972,000 $3.47 
Restricted stock units granted152,000 9.26
Restricted stock units vested(36,000)3.47
Restricted stock units forfeited(1,500)3.47
Non-vested at December 31, 2020186,500 $8.19 
(f) Stock-based compensation
Stock-based compensation expense is classified in the consolidated statements of operations as follows (in thousands):

December 31,
20202019
Research and development expenses$1,999 $486 
General and administrative expenses$3,623 $7,197 
Total stock-based compensation expense$5,622 $7,683 
Total unrecognized compensation for all stock-based compensation was $24.9 million as of December 31, 2020, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.15 years.
(g) Employee stock purchase plan
The Company’s 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“2020 ESPP”) was adopted by the Company’s Board of Directors in March 2020 and approved by the Company’s stockholders in May 2020. A total of 759,936 shares of common stock have been reserved for issuance under the 2020 ESPP.
Subject to share and dollar limits as described in the plan, the 2020 ESPP allows eligible employees to contribute, through payroll deductions, up to 15% of their earnings for the purchase of the Company’s shares of common stock at the lower of 85% of the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the first trading day of the offering period or 85% of the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the last trading day of the offering period. There are two six-month offering periods during each fiscal year, ending on May 15 and November 15.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company issued 18,352 shares of common stock at a price per share of $10.84 under the 2020 ESPP. Cash received from the purchases under the 2020 ESPP for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $0.2 million.