Share-Based Compensation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

2016 Stock Plan

During the three months ended March 31, 2020, the Company continued to administer and grant awards under the 2016 Incentive Award Plan (the “2016 Plan”), the Company’s only active equity incentive plan. Certain of the Company’s outstanding and exercisable stock options remain subject to the terms of the Company’s 2008 Stock Plan (the “2008 Plan”), which is the predecessor to the 2016 Plan and became inactive upon adoption of the 2016 Plan effective September 20, 2016.

On July 31, 2019, the Company’s stockholders approved an amendment to the 2016 Plan (“the 2016 Plan Amendment”), to increase the number of shares reserved under the 2016 Plan by 1,000,000 and to increase the award limit on the maximum aggregate number of shares of the Company’s common stock that may be granted to any one person during any calendar year from 250,000 to 1,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. All other material terms of the 2016 Plan otherwise remain unchanged.

Stock Appreciation Rights

On August 8, 2018, the Company entered into an employment agreement with G. Kelly Martin (the “Martin Employment Agreement”). The Employment Agreement provided for 1,000,000 stock appreciation rights (“SARs”) (the “Martin SAR Award”) granted on a contingent basis that would have been irrevocably forfeited and voided in full if the Company had failed to obtain stockholder approval for the 2016 Plan Amendment. If such approval had not been obtained, the Company would have been required to pay Mr. Martin the cash equivalent of the value of the Martin SAR Award. Following stockholder approval of the 2016 Plan Amendment, the Martin SAR Award was no longer considered to be granted on a contingent basis.

The Martin SAR Award entitled Mr. Martin to a payment (in cash, shares of common stock or a combination of both) equal to the fair market value of one share of the Company’s common stock on the date of exercise less the exercise price of $3.80 per share. The SARs were to be deemed automatically exercised and settled as of February 1, 2020, provided Mr. Martin remained continuously employed with the Company through such date unless vesting was otherwise expressly accelerated pursuant to the Martin SAR Award. The Martin SAR Award vested in full on February 1, 2020. On February 1, 2020, the fair market value of the Company’s common stock was $0.52 per share, and as such, the Martin SAR Award expired unexercised and 1,000,000 shares became available to be granted under the 2016 Plan.

Effective December 17, 2019, the Company entered into an amended and restated employment agreement with Paula Brown Stafford (the “Amended and Restated Stafford Employment Agreement”). On January 6, 2020, following the release of top-line results of the Company’s Phase 3 molluscum clinical program as provided in the Amended and Restated Stafford Employment Agreement, 600,000 SARs were granted to Ms. Stafford with an exercise price of $0.82 per share (the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the grant date) and with a ten year term (the “Stafford SAR Award”). The Stafford SAR Award was granted on a contingent basis and would have been considered irrevocably forfeited and voided in full if sufficient shares of the Company’s common stock were not available under the 2016 Plan or if the Company failed to obtain stockholder approval for amendments to the 2016 Plan at the next annual stockholders’ meeting to provide sufficient shares for the Stafford SAR Award. Such shares became available under the 2016 Plan on February 1, 2020, and the Stafford SAR Award was no longer considered granted on a contingent basis.

During the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded employee share-based compensation expense related to both SAR awards, of $62 and $7, respectively.

Inducement Grants

During the years ended 2019 and 2018, the Company awarded nonstatutory stock options to purchase shares of common stock to newly-hired employees, as inducements material to the individuals’ entering into employment with the Company within the meaning of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) (the “Inducement Grants”). On May 31, 2018, the Company awarded 100,500 Inducement Grants with an exercise price of $3.15 per share, and on September 6, 2019, the Company awarded 25,000 Inducement Grants with an exercise price of $2.62 per share. The Inducement Grants were awarded outside of the Company’s 2016 Plan, pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), but have terms and conditions generally consistent with the Company’s 2016 Plan and vest over three years, subject to the employee’s continued service as an employee or consultant through the vesting period.

During the three months ended March 31, 2020, the 25,000 Inducement Grants related to the September 6, 2019 award were forfeited in their entirety.

Stock Compensation Expense

During the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded employee share-based compensation expense of $272 and $214, respectively. Total share-based compensation expense included in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss is as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020		2019
Research and development	$	208	$	61
General and administrative	64		153
	$	272	$	214

Stock option activity for the three months ended March 31, 2020 is as follows:



	Shares Subject to Outstanding Options		Weighted- Average Exercise Price Per Share		Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Term (in years)	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Options outstanding as of December 31, 2019	1,789,303		$	3.89
Options granted	383,000		0.47
Options forfeited	(65,533	)	2.71
Options exercised	—		—
Options outstanding as of March 31, 2020	2,106,770		$	3.30	7.86	$	4

On February 13, 2020, the Company issued 383,000 stock options from the 2016 Plan, (the “Retention Grants”). These Retention Grants were issued to certain employees, vest quarterly and will be fully vested on December 31, 2020, provided that the grantee remains an employee or consultant to the Company as of each vesting date.

As of March 31, 2020, there were a total of 2,106,770 stock options outstanding, including 96,167 inducement grants. In addition, there were 441,663 shares available for future issuance under the 2016 Plan as of March 31, 2020.

Tangible Stockholder Return Plan

Performance Plan

On August 2, 2018, the Company’s board of directors approved and established the Tangible Stockholder Return Plan, which is a performance-based long-term incentive plan (the “Performance Plan”). The Performance Plan was effective immediately upon approval and expires on March 1, 2022. The Performance Plan covers all employees, including the Company’s executive officers, consultants and other persons deemed eligible by the Company’s compensation committee. The core underlying metric of the Performance Plan is the achievement of two share price goals for the Company’s common stock, which if achieved, would represent measurable increases in stockholder value.

The Performance Plan is tiered, with two separate tranches, each of which has a distinct share price target (measured as the average publicly traded share price of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq stock exchange for a 30 consecutive trading day period) that will, if achieved, trigger a distinct fixed bonus pool. The share price target for the first tranche and related bonus pool are $11.17 per share and $25,000, respectively. The share price target for the second tranche and related bonus pool are $25.45 per share and $50,000, respectively. The compensation committee has discretion to distribute the bonus pool related to each tranche among eligible participants by establishing individual minimum bonus amounts before, as well as by distributing the remainder of the applicable pool after, the achievement of each tranche specific share price target. Otherwise, if the Company does not achieve one or both related share price targets, as defined, no portion of the bonus pools will be paid.

The Performance Plan provides for the distinct fixed bonus pools to be paid in the form of cash. However, the compensation committee has discretion to pay any bonus due under the Performance Plan in the form of cash, shares of the Company’s common stock or a combination thereof, provided that the Company’s stockholders have approved the reservation of shares of the Company’s common stock for such payment.

The Performance Plan permits the compensation committee to make bonus awards subject to varying payment terms, including awards that vest and are payable immediately upon achieving an applicable share price target as well as awards that pay over an extended period (either with or without ongoing employment requirements). The Performance Plan contemplates that no bonus award payments will be delayed beyond 24 months for named executive officers or more than 12 months for all other participants.

For purposes of determining whether a share price target has been met, the share price targets will be adjusted in the event of any stock splits, cash dividends, stock dividends, combinations, reorganizations, reclassifications or similar events. In the event of a change in control, as defined in the Performance Plan, during the term of the Performance Plan, a performance bonus pool will become due and payable to participants on a pro-rata basis, as calculated and determined by the compensation committee based on the Company’s progress toward the share price target as of the date of the change in control and subject to adjustment by the compensation committee as permitted under the Performance Plan.

The Company has concluded that the Performance Plan is within the scope of ASC 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation as the underlying plan obligations are based on the potential attainment of certain market share price targets of the Company’s common stock. Any awards under the Performance Plan would be payable, at the discretion of the Company’s compensation committee following the achievement of the applicable share price target, in cash, shares of the Company’s common stock, or a combination thereof, provided that, prior to any payment in common stock, the Company’s stockholders have approved the reservation of shares of the Company’s common stock for such payment.

ASC 718 requires that a liability-based award should be classified as a liability on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets and the amount of compensation cost recognized should be based on the fair value of the liability. When a liability-based award includes both a service and market condition, the market condition is taken into account when determining the appropriate method to estimate fair value and the compensation cost is amortized over the estimated service period. Therefore, the liability associated with the Performance Plan obligation is recorded within other long-term liabilities on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets at the estimated fair value on the date of issuance and is re-valued each subsequent reporting period end. The Company recognizes share-based compensation expense within operating expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations, including adjustments to the fair value of the liability-based award, on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period.

The fair value of obligations under the Performance Plan are estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation approach. The Company’s common stock price is simulated under the Geometric Brownian Motion framework under each simulation path. The other assumptions for the Monte Carlo simulation include the risk-free interest rate, estimated volatility and the expected term. Expected stock price volatility is based on the Company’s actual historical volatility over a historical period equal to the expected remaining life of the plan. The fair value of the underlying common stock is the published closing market price on the Nasdaq Global Market as of each reporting date, as adjusted for significant results, as necessary (if applicable). The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect on the date of valuation equal to the remaining expected life of the plan. The dividend yield percentage is zero because the Company does not currently pay dividends, nor does it intend to do so during the expected term of the plan. The expected life of bonus awards under the Performance Plan is assumed to be equivalent to the remaining contractual term based on the estimated service period including the service inception date of the plan participants and the contractual end of the Performance Plan.

During the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded adjustments to the fair value of the Performance Plan obligation in share-based compensation expense of a reduction of $113 and an increase of $39, respectively.