Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

(A)	Use of estimates:

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. 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 revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

(B)	Significant risks and uncertainties:

The Company’s operations are subject to a number of factors that may affect its operating results and financial condition. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the results of clinical testing and trial activities of the Company’s product candidates, the Company’s ability to obtain regulatory approval to market its products, the Company’s intellectual property, competition from products manufactured and sold or being developed by other companies, the price of, and demand for, Company products if approved for sale, the Company’s ability to negotiate favorable licensing or other manufacturing and marketing agreements for its products, and the Company’s ability to raise capital.

The Company currently has no commercially approved products and there can be no assurance that the Company’s research and development programs will be successfully commercialized. Developing and commercializing a product requires significant time and capital and is subject to regulatory review and approval as well as competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The Company operates in an environment of rapid change and is dependent upon the continued services of its employees and consultants and obtaining and protecting its intellectual property.

(C)	Cash equivalents and concentration of cash balance:

The Company considers all highly liquid securities with an original maturity of less than three months to be cash equivalents. The Company’s cash and cash equivalents in bank deposit accounts, at times, may exceed federally insured limits.

(D)	Property and equipment:

Property and equipment is recorded at cost. Depreciation is recorded for property and equipment using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of three to five years. Leasehold improvements are amortized over the shorter of the estimated useful life or term of the underlying lease. The Company reviews the recoverability of all long-lived assets, including the related useful lives, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a long-lived asset might not be recoverable.

(E)	Research and development:

Costs incurred in connection with research and development activities are expensed as incurred. These costs include licensing fees to use certain technology in the Company’s research and development projects as well as fees paid to consultants and various entities that perform certain research and testing on behalf of the Company.

Costs for certain development activities, such as clinical trials, are recognized based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using data, such as patient enrollment, clinical site activations or information provided by vendors on their actual costs incurred. Payments for these activities are based on the terms of the individual arrangements, which may differ from the pattern of costs incurred.

(F)	Patent costs:

The Company expenses patent costs as incurred and classifies such costs as general and administrative expenses in the accompanying statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

(G)	Stock-based compensation:

The Company measures employee stock-based awards at grant-date fair value and recognizes employee compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the vesting period of the award.

Determining the appropriate fair value of stock-based awards requires the input of subjective assumptions, including, for stock options, the expected life of the option, and expected stock price volatility. The Company uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to value its stock option awards. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of stock-based awards represent management’s best estimates and involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. As a result, if factors change and management uses different assumptions, stock-based compensation expense could be materially different for future awards.

The expected life of stock options was estimated using the “simplified method,” as the Company has limited historical information to develop reasonable expectations about future exercise patterns and employment duration for its stock options grants. The simplified method is based on the average of the vesting tranches and the contractual life of each grant. For stock price volatility, the Company uses comparable public companies as a basis for its expected volatility to calculate the fair value of options grants. The risk-free interest rate is based on U.S. Treasury notes with a term approximating the expected life of the option.

The estimation of the number of stock awards that will ultimately vest requires judgment, and to the extent actual results or updated estimates differ from the Company’s current estimates, such amounts are recognized as an adjustment in the period in which estimates are revised.

(H)	Net loss per common share:

Basic and diluted net loss per common share is determined by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted average common shares outstanding during the period. For all periods presented, the common shares underlying the preferred stock, common stock options and warrants have been excluded from the calculation because their effect would be anti-dilutive. Therefore, the weighted average shares outstanding used to calculate both basic and diluted loss per common share are the same.

The following potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the computations of diluted weighted average shares outstanding as they would be anti-dilutive:

	As of December 31,
	2016		2015		2014

Stock options to purchase Common Stock		5,316,511		4,302,267		2,445,711
Convertible preferred stock to purchase Common Stock		-		-		8,695,092
Warrants to purchase Common Stock		541,415		600,184		99,401
Warrants to purchase Series C Preferred Stock		-		-		338,534
Warrants to purchase Series C-1 Preferred Stock		-		-		257,028
Total		5,857,926		4,902,451		11,835,766

(I)	Income taxes:

The Company provides for deferred income taxes under the asset and liability method, which requires deferred tax assets and liabilities to be recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to net operating loss carryforwards and for differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the respective tax bases of assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets are reduced if necessary by a valuation allowance if it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

(J)	Fair value of financial instruments:

Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) guidance specifies a hierarchy of valuation techniques based on whether the inputs to those valuation techniques are observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect market assumptions. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurement) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurement).

The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:

•

Level 1 — Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date. Level 1 primarily consists of financial instruments whose value is based on quoted market prices such as exchange-traded instruments and listed equities.

•

Level 2 — Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly (e.g., quoted prices of similar assets or liabilities in active markets, or quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active). Level 2 includes financial instruments that are valued using models or other valuation methodologies.

•	Level 3 — Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability. Financial instruments are considered Level 3 when their fair values are determined using pricing models, discounted cash flows or similar techniques and at least one significant model assumption or input is unobservable.

(K)	Subsequent events:

Subsequent events have been evaluated through the date these financial statements were issued.

(L)	New accounting standards:

In April 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2015-03, “Interest-Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs.” The new standard requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. This standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company has adopted this guidance and is reflected in the presentation of debt on the Company’s balance sheet.

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842).” The new standard requires organizations that lease assets—referred to as “lessees”—to recognize on the balance sheet the assets and liabilities for the rights and obligations created by those leases (see Note 9). This standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact of adoption.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09 which simplifies several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. Public companies will be required to adopt this standard in annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. The Company will adopt this ASU on January 1, 2017. The adoption of the ASU will not have a material impact on the financial statements.