The Company’s 2018 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, (the “2018 Plan”), which became effective on March 27, 2018, provides for the grant of incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock units, restricted stock awards, unrestricted stock awards, cash-based awards and dividend equivalent rights. The number of shares initially reserved for issuance under the 2018 Plan was 700,180. Additionally, the shares of common stock that remained available for issuance under the previously outstanding 2015 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2015 Plan”) became available under the 2018 Plan. The number of shares reserved for the 2018 Plan automatically increases on each January 1 by 4% of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding on the immediately preceding December 31 or a lesser number of shares determined by the Company’s board of directors. At the Company’s 2021 annual stockholder meeting, the Company’s stockholders approved the amendment and restatement of the 2018 Stock Plan to increase the number of shares of common stock issuable under the 2018 Plan by 6,000,000 shares. At the Company's 2023 annual stockholder meeting, the Company’s stockholders approved the amendment and restatement of the 2018 Plan to increase the number of shares of common stock issuable under the 2018 Plan by an additional 6,000,000 shares.

The shares of common stock underlying any awards that are forfeited, canceled, held back upon exercise or settlement of an award to satisfy the exercise price or tax withholding, repurchased or are otherwise terminated by the Company under the 2018 Plan or the 2015 Plan will be added back to the shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2018 Plan. The number of authorized shares reserved for issuance under the 2018 Plan was increased by 4,418,469 shares effective as of January 1, 2025. As of March 31, 2025, 1,742,417 shares of common stock remain available for issuance under the 2018 Plan.

On October 22, 2020, the board of directors adopted the Cogent Biosciences, Inc. 2020 Inducement Plan (the “Inducement Plan”). The board of directors also adopted a form of non-qualified stock option agreement for use with the Inducement Plan. A total of 3,750,000 shares of common stock have been reserved for issuance under the Inducement Plan, subject to adjustment for stock dividends, stock splits, or other changes in Cogent’s common stock or capital structure. On November 5, 2020, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-8 related to the 3,750,000 shares of its common stock reserved for issuance under the Inducement Plan. As of March 31, 2025, 1,432,445 shares of common stock remain available for issuance under the Inducement Plan.

In connection with the appointment of the Chief Commercial Officer on May 25, 2024, the Company granted additional “inducement” equity awards in accordance with Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) of the corporate governance rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market, separate from the awards available for grant under the Inducement Plan. The awards consist of (i) nonqualified options to purchase 525,000 shares of Cogent common stock with a 10-year term, an exercise price equal to the closing price of Cogent’s common stock on the first day of his employment, and a 4-year vesting schedule with 25% vesting on the 1-year anniversary of the grant date and the remainder vesting in equal monthly installments over the subsequent 36 months, and (ii) up to 214,000 performance-based restricted stock units (“PSUs”) with terms consistent with the PSUs granted in June 2023 and outlined below. In August 2024, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-8 related to the up to 739,000 shares of its common stock reserved for issuance under these inducement awards to the Chief Commercial Officer.

The Company’s 2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”) became effective on March 28, 2018, at which time a total of 78,500 shares of common stock were reserved for issuance. In addition, the number of shares of common stock that may be issued under the ESPP automatically increases on each January 1 through January 1, 2027, by the least of (i) 125,000 shares of common stock, (ii) 1% of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding on the immediately preceding December 31 or (iii) such lesser number of shares as determined by the ESPP administrator. The number of authorized shares reserved for issuance under the ESPP was increased by 125,000 shares effective as of January 1, 2025. As of March 31, 2025, 428,356 shares remain available for issuance under the ESPP.

In February 2023, the board of directors approved grants to executives in aggregate of up to 2,500,000 PSUs (“Executive PSUs”) under the 2018 Plan, which grants were subject to forfeiture in the event that the Company’s stockholders did not approve an increase to the number of shares reserved for issuance under the 2018 Plan (the “2023 Pool Increase”). On June 7, 2023, stockholders approved the 2023 Pool Increase and a grant date was established for accounting purposes for these PSUs in accordance with ASC 718 Compensation- Stock Compensation. An award holder can generally receive between 0% and 200% of the target award based on achievement of specified stock price hurdles and/or research and development milestones over a three-year performance period ending in February 2026. Any PSUs earned will vest, if at all, in a single tranche in February 2026 subject to a condition of continuing employment through the end of the performance period. The Company granted an additional 214,000 PSUs to the Chief Commercial Officer upon his start date with the same terms and conditions as the awards granted in 2023. The fair value of the market-based awards was estimated on the date of grant for accounting purposes using a Monte Carlo simulation model. The fair value of the performance-based awards was based on the closing share price of the Company’s common stock on the accounting grant date. As of March 31, 2025, one of the research performance milestones and three of the development performance milestones were achieved. As of March 31, 2025, no other milestones were probable of achievement.

During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company granted 315,000 performance-based restricted stock units to certain non-executives (“Non-executive PSUs”) under the 2018 Plan. These awards are subject to the holders' continuous service to the Company through each applicable vesting event. Through March 31, 2025, the Company believes that the achievement of the requisite performance conditions for these awards are not probable. As a result, no compensation expense has been recognized related to the performance-based restricted stock units in the three months ended March 31, 2025.

The following table summarizes stock-based compensation expense during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025		2024
Stock-based compensation expense by type of award:
Time-based stock options	$	7,691	$	7,358
Employee stock purchase plan		149		161
Time-based restricted stock units		56		39
Performance-based restricted stock units		2,112		1,835
Total	$	10,008	$	9,393

The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense in the following expense categories of its condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025		2024
Research and development expenses	$	5,254	$	4,432
General and administrative expenses		4,754		4,961
Total	$	10,008	$	9,393

As of March 31, 2025, total unrecognized compensation cost related to the unvested time-based stock options and time-based restricted stock units was $68.9 million and $0.1 million, respectively, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.84 years and 0.42 years, respectively.

As of March 31, 2025, the total amount of unrecognized compensation cost related to the stock price hurdles for the unvested Executive PSUs was $8.3 million based on the maximum achievement of 200% of the target award, which is expected to be recognized ratably over a weighted average period of 0.9 years. If any additional research milestones become probable of achievement, the Company will recognize incremental stock compensation expense of up to $0.9 million through a cumulative catch up adjustment in the period of change in probability.