8. Warrants

The following table summarizes information about warrants outstanding and exercisable into shares of the Company’s common stock for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:


	December 31,
	2020	2019
Warrants outstanding, beginning balance	19,421,892	34,682
Issuances	22,048,278	20,637,761
Exercises	(34,264,393)	(1,250,000)
Expirations and cancelations	(323)	(551)
Warrants outstanding, ending balance	7,205,454	19,421,892

May 2020 Series 3 Warrants

In May 2020, concurrent with the May 2020 modification of the exercise price of the Series 1, Series 2 and Bridge Warrants and inducement offer, the Company issued unregistered Series 3 Warrants to purchase 8,670,852 shares of common stock. The Series 3 Warrants have an exercise price of $0.53 per share and are exercisable beginning the earlier of (i) six months from their May 22, 2020 issuance date and (ii) receipt of the requisite Stockholder Approval (defined below), and expire five years thereafter. In addition to the fixed settlement method at $0.53 per warrant share, the Series 3 Warrants have two contingent settlement methods: (i) if at the time of exercise there is no effective registration statement, then the holders of the 8,670,852 warrants may exercise the warrants in a “cashless exercise,” under which the holders will receive the aggregate warrants less the number of warrants equal to the exercise price; or (ii) a cashless exercise feature wherein, regardless if there is an effective registration agreement, following the requisite Stockholder Approval, each such Series 3 Warrant will be exercisable into one share of common stock for no consideration (the “Alternate Cashless Exercise”).

The Series 3 Warrants were initially valued at $3.7 million using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model as follows: probability-weighted exercise price of $0.05 per share, stock price of $0.44 per share, expected life of 5.50 years, volatility of 141%, and a risk-free rate of 0.34%. The Series 3 Warrants were classified as liabilities on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.

A Special Meeting of Stockholders was held on July 21, 2020, whereupon a proposal to approve the “Alternate Cashless Exercise” settlement method for the Series 3 Warrants was approved.

In 2020, certain holders of the Series 3 Warrants agreed to exercise a total of 8,456,352 shares for a 1-for-1 exchange of common shares in an Alternate Cashless Exercise. The aggregate fair value of the common stock issued upon the exercise of the Series 3 Warrants as of the exercise date was $6.1 million.

October 2018 Underwriter Warrants

In October 2018, in consideration of services provided leading up to the Company’s October 2018 public offering, the Company issued warrants to various service providers to purchase an aggregate of 17,142 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $52.50 per common share. The warrants were classified as liabilities pursuant to ASC 815-40 as there was potential cash settlement.

The April 2020 Underwriter Warrants

In April 2020, in consideration of the settlement of a dispute regarding underwriting fees (see Note 5), the Company issued warrants to purchase 100,780 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $2.50 per common share. The warrants were valued at $32,000 using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model as follows: exercise price of $2.50 per share, stock price of $0.45 per share, expected life of 4.25 years, volatility of 141%, and a risk-free rate of 0.29%. The warrants were equity classified in the consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity.

March 2019 Ladenburg Warrants

In March 2019, in consideration of services provided in the Company’s March 2019 public offering of 19,019 common shares, the Company issued to Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. warrants to purchase an aggregate of 761 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $17.50 per common share. The warrants were valued at $13,000 using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model as follows: exercise price of $17.50 per share, stock price of $18.90 per share, expected life of 5 years, volatility of 146%, and a risk-free rate of 2.21%. The warrants were equity classified in the consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity.

March 2019 LOC Warrant

In March 2019, in consideration of a letter of credit cancellation related to the Company’s office lease, the Company issued a warrant to purchase warrant shares equal to a fixed principal amount divided by a variable exercise price. The warrants were initially classified as liabilities pursuant to ASC 480-10 due to their debt-like nature. On
July 23, 2019, upon the exercise price of the warrants becoming fixed, the warrants became exercisable into 45,750 shares of the Company’s common stock and were reclassified to additional paid-in-capital with a fair value of $71,000.

2019 Bridge Note Warrants

Between March 18, 2019 and June 26, 2019, concurrent to the Company entering into Promissory Notes of $5.1 million, the Company issued twenty-one warrants to purchase warrant shares equal to a fixed principal amount divided by a variable exercise price. The warrants for all twenty-one Bridge Notes were initially liability classified pursuant to ASC 480-10 due to their debt-like nature. On July 23, 2019, upon the exercise price of the warrants becoming fixed, the warrants became exercisable into 2,781,250 shares of the Company’s common stock and were reclassified to additional paid-in-capital with a fair value of $4.3 million, calculated using the Black-Scholes-Merton pricing model using a stock price of $1.73, a strike price of $2.00 per share, an average expected term of 4.80 years, volatility of 145.84% and a risk-free discount rate of 1.76%.

February 2020 Modification of Certain 2019 Bridge Note Warrants

In February 2020, the Company entered into a warrant exercise agreement with a holder of its Bridge warrants, pursuant to which the holder agreed to exercise 250,000 Bridge warrants in consideration of the Company lowering the exercise price of the 250,000 warrants from $2.00 to $0.692. Upon exercise of the warrants, the Company received cash proceeds of $173,000 and, in turn, issued 250,000 common shares. It is the Company’s policy to determine the impact of modifications to equity-classified warrants by analogy to the share-based compensation guidance per ASC 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation. Pursuant to that guidance, and due to the modification being applicable only to a single holder of the Bridge warrants, the incremental increase of $9,000 in fair value of the modified warrants was recorded as an expense in the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020.

May 2020 Modification of the 2019 Bridge Note Warrants and Inducement Offer

In May 2020, the Company reduced the exercise price of all outstanding 2019 Bridge Note Warrants from $2.00 per share to $0.49 per share. The Company determined the impact of this modification to be an increase in the fair value of the warrants of $166,000. Because the modification applied to the entire class of Bridge Note Warrant holders, the increase in fair value represented a deemed dividend to the entire class of Bridge Note Warrant holders. The modification did not result in the reclassification of the equity-classified Bridge Note Warrants from additional paid-in-capital to liability classification.

In May 2020, concurrent with the reduction of the exercise price of the Bridge Note Warrants, the Company entered into a warrant exercise inducement offer with certain holders of the Bridge Note Warrants, pursuant to which such holders agreed to exercise for cash Bridge Note Warrants to purchase 93,750 shares of common stock, in exchange for the Company’s issuing to the exercising holders new unregistered Series 3 Warrants to purchase 93,750 shares of common stock.

As of December 31, 2020, a total of 1,903,125 of 2019 Bridge Note Warrants are outstanding.

July 2019 Series 1 Warrants

In July 2019, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement, relating to a public offering, which was comprised of (1) 2,886,500 Class A Units, priced at $2.00 per unit, with each unit consisting of (i) one share of the Company’s common stock, (ii) one Series 1 warrant to purchase one share of Common Stock, and (iii) one Series 2 warrant to purchase one share of Common Stock, and (2) 10,787 Class B Units, priced at a price of $1,000 per unit, with each unit consisting of (i) one share of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock, convertible into 500 shares of Common Stock, (ii) 500 Series 1 Warrants and (iii) 500 Series 2 Warrants.

The Series 1 Warrants had an exercise price of $2.00 and expire on the earlier of (a) 5 years from the date of issuance and (b) 30 calendar days following the public announcement of Positive Interim Results related to the diarrhea results from the HALT-D investigator initiated trial, if and only if certain trading benchmarks are achieved during such 30 calendar day period.

In the offering, the Company sold (i) 2,886,500 Class A Units, which included Series 1 warrants to purchase 2,886,500 shares of the Company’s common stock and (ii) 10,787 Class B Units, which included Series 1 warrants to purchase 5,393,500 shares of the Company’s common stock. In total, 8,280,000 Series 1 warrants were issued, with an initial valuation of $5.0 million computed using the Black-Scholes-Merton pricing model using a stock price of $1.73, a strike price of $2.00, an expected term of 5.0 years, volatility of 109.25% and a risk-free discount rate of 1.83%. Upon issuance, the Series 1 warrants were classified in additional paid-in-capital.

September 2019 Modification of the July 2019 Series 1 Warrants

In September 2019, the Company reduced the exercise price of all 8,280,000 Series 1 Warrants from $2.00 to $1.40. The Company determined the impact of this modification to be an increase in the fair value of the warrants of $522,000. Because the modification applied to the entire class of Series 1 Warrant holders, the increase in fair value represented a deemed dividend to the entire class of Series 1 Warrant holders. The modification did not result in the reclassification of the equity-classified Series 1 warrants from additional paid-in-capital to liability classification.

February 2020 Modification of the July 2019 Series 1 Warrants

In February 2020, the Company entered into a warrant exercise agreement with a holder of its Series 1 Warrants, pursuant to which the holder agreed to exercise 208,022 Series 1 Warrants in consideration of the Company lowering the exercise price of the 208,022 warrants from $2.00 to $0.6920. Upon exercise of the warrants, the Company received cash proceeds of $144,000 and, in turn, issued 208,022 common shares. It is the Company’s policy to determine the impact of modifications to equity-classified warrants by analogy to share-based compensation guidance per ASC 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation. Pursuant to that guidance, and due to the modification being applicable only to a single holder of the Series 1 Warrants, the incremental increase of $6,000 in fair value of the modified warrants was recorded as an expense in the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020.

May 2020 Modification of the July 2019 Series 1 Warrants and Inducement Offer

In May 2020, the Company reduced the exercise price of all outstanding Series 1 Warrants from $1.40 per share to $0.49 per share. The Company determined the impact of this modification to be an increase in the fair value of the warrants of $284,000. Because the modification applied to the entire class of Series 1 Warrant holders, the increase in fair value represented a deemed dividend to the entire class of Series 1 Warrant holders. The modification did not result in the reclassification of the equity-classified Series 1 Warrants from additional paid-in-capital to liability classification.

In May 2020, concurrent with the reduction of the exercise price of the Series 1 Warrants, the Company entered into a warrant exercise inducement offer with certain holders of the Series 1 Warrants, pursuant to which such holders agreed to exercise for cash Series 1 Warrants to purchase 4,572,040 shares of common stock, in exchange for the Company’s issuing to the exercising holders new unregistered Series 3 Warrants to purchase 4,572,040 shares of common stock.

As of December 31, 2020, a total of 1,078,365 Series 1 Warrants were outstanding.

July 2019 Series 2 Warrants

The Series 2 Warrants had an exercise price of $2.00 and expire on the first date on the earlier of (a) 5 years from the date of issuance and (b) 30 calendar days following the public announcement by the Company that a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial using crofelemer (Mytesi, or the same or similar product with a different name) for the treatment of cancer therapy-related diarrhea in humans has met its primary endpoint in accordance with the protocol, if and only if certain trading benchmarks are achieved during such 30 calendar day period. In addition, each Series 2 Warrant has an embedded call option that allows the Company to redeem any unexercised warrants if certain contingencies are met.

In the July 2019 offering, the Company sold (i) 2,886,500 Class A Units, which included Series 2 warrants to purchase 2,886,500 shares of the Company’s common stock and (ii) 10,787 Class B Units, which included Series 2 warrants to purchase 5,393,500 shares (10,787 Class B Units multiplied by 500 warrants per Class B Unit equals 5,393,500) of the Company’s common stock. In total, 8,280,000 Series 2 warrants were issued, with an initial valuation of $5.0 million computed using the Black-Scholes-Merton pricing model using a stock price of $1.73, a strike price of $2.00, an expected term of 5.0 years, volatility of 109.25% and a risk-free discount rate of 1.83%. Upon issuance, the Series 2 Warrants were classified in additional paid-in-capital.

March 5, 2020 Modification of the July 2019 Series 2 Warrants

On March 5, 2020, the Company entered into a warrant exercise agreement with a holder of its Series 2 Warrants, pursuant to which the holder agreed to exercise 90,940 Series 2 Warrants in consideration of the Company lowering the exercise price of the 90,940 warrants from $2.00 to $0.6050. Upon exercise of the warrants, the Company received cash proceeds of $55,000 and, in turn, issued 90,940 common shares. It is the Company’s policy to determine the impact of modifications to equity-classified warrants by analogy to share-based compensation guidance per ASC 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation. Pursuant to that guidance, and due to the modification being applicable only to a single holder of the Series 2 Warrants, the incremental increase of $6,000 in fair value of the modified warrants was recorded as an expense in the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020.

March 23, 2020 Modification of the July 2019 Series 2 Warrants

On March 23, 2020, the Company entered into a Warrant Exercise and Preferred Stock Amendment Agreement (see Note 9) with Ionic Ventures of its Series 2 Warrants, pursuant to which the holder agreed to exercise in cash its Series 2 Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,250,000 shares of common stock, in consideration of the Company reducing the Series 2 Warrant exercise price from $2.00 to $0.5227 per share, for gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $653,000, or $628,000 net of $25,000 of issuance costs. The Company determined the impact of this modification to be an increase in the fair value of the warrants of $65,000. Because the modification applied to a sole holder of Series 2 Warrants, the $65,000 increase in fair value was recorded as an expense in the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020. The modification did not result in the reclassification of the equity-classified Series 2 Warrants.

May 2020 Modification of the July 2019 Series 2 Warrants and Inducement Offer

In May 2020, the Company reduced the exercise price of all outstanding Series 2 Warrants from $2.00 per share to $0.49 per share. The Company determined the impact of this modification to be an increase in the fair value of the warrants of $406,000. Because the modification applied to the entire class of Series 2 Warrant holders, the increase in fair value represented a deemed dividend to the entire class of Series 2 Warrant holders. The modification did not result in the reclassification of the equity-classified Series 2 Warrants from additional paid-in-capital to liability classification.

In May 2020, concurrent with the reduction of the exercise price of the Series 2 Warrants, the Company entered into a warrant exercise inducement offer with certain holders of the Series 2 Warrants, pursuant to which such holders agreed to exercise for cash Series 2 Warrants to purchase 4,033,562 shares of common stock, in exchange for the Company’s issuing to the exercising holders new unregistered Series 3 Warrants to purchase 4,005,062 shares of common stock.

As of December 31, 2020, a total of 878,365 Series 2 Warrants were outstanding.

December 2019 PIPE Financing Warrants

In December 2019, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain investors pursuant to which the Company, in a Private Placement, sold (i) an aggregate of 2,500,000 unregistered shares of the Company’s common stock, and (ii) Warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,250,000 shares of common stock, for an aggregate purchase price of $1.5 million (see Note 10). The warrants have an exercise price of $0.78 per share and become exercisable on June 24, 2020 (6 months after their issuance date) and have a five-year term.

The warrants were valued at $686,000 using the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing model as follows: exercise price of $0.78 per share, stock price of $0.62 per share, expected life of five years, volatility of 143%, and a risk-free rate of 2.42%. As the common stock and warrants were issued in a unit structure, the aggregate proceeds of $1.5 million were allocated to the two securities using the relative fair value method, resulting with the common stock and warrants being allocated $1.0 million and $465,000, respectively. The warrants were classified in stockholders’ equity.