Stock-Based Compensation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Stock-Based Compensation [Abstract]

Stock-Based Compensation

Note 7. Stock-Based Compensation

On May 20, 2017, the Company established the Virpax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Amended and Restated 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”). The Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), acting through its Equity Incentive Plan Committee, had determined that it would be to the advantage and best interest of the Company and its stockholders to grant restricted stock awards to certain individuals as compensation to serve as an employee of the Company and as an incentive for increased efforts during such service.

On June 14, 2022, the Company established the Virpax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2022 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2022 Plan”) and no new grants of awards will be made under the 2017 Plan and all new grants of awards will be made under the 2022 Plan. The 2022 Plan and 2017 Plan are administered by the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”); provided that the entire Board may act in lieu of the Compensation Committee on any matter. The 2022 Plan enables the Company to continue to provide equity and equity-based awards to eligible employees, officers, non-employee directors and other individual service providers by reserving 150,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for issuance under the 2022 Plan, subject to a 2% annual increase (similar to the 2017 Plan) pursuant to an “evergreen” provision in the 2022 Plan (discussed further below). The Company believes that offering ownership interests in the Company is a key factor in retaining and recruiting employees, officers, non-employee directors and other individual service providers, and aligning and increasing their interests in the Company’s success.

The 2022 Plan (which is summarized below) is substantially similar to the 2017 Plan, except for (i) the increase in shares of common stock reserved for issuance as discussed above, and (ii) the elimination of annual limitations on grants of awards to eligible individuals and certain other provisions which had been included in the 2017 Plan in order to satisfy (now repealed) provisions of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

The 2022 Plan reserves an aggregate of (i) 150,000 shares of the Company’s common stock for the issuance of awards under the 2022 Plan (all of which may be granted as an Incentive Stock Option, or ISOs) plus (ii) an additional number of shares of common stock subject to outstanding awards under the 2017 Plan that become forfeited or canceled without payment or which are surrendered in payment of the exercise price and/or withholding taxes (collectively, the “Share Limit”). Pursuant to the 2022 Plan’s “evergreen” provision, the Share Limit shall be cumulatively increased on January 1, 2023, and on each January 1 thereafter, by 2% of the number of shares of common stock issued and outstanding on the immediately preceding December 31 or such lesser number of shares as determined by the Board. The 2022 Plan increased by 23,425 shares on January 1, 2024.

In applying the aggregate share limitation under the 2022 Plan, shares of common stock (i) subject to awards that are forfeited, cancelled, returned to the Company for failure to satisfy vesting requirements or otherwise forfeited, or terminated without payment being made thereunder and (ii) that are surrendered in payment or partial payment of the exercise price of an option or stock appreciation right or taxes required to be withheld with respect to the exercise of Stock Options or stock appreciation rights or in payment with respect to any other form of award are not counted and, therefore, may be made subject to new awards under the 2022 Plan. There are 85,358 shares available for future grant under the 2022 Plan at March 31, 2024.

Under the 2022 Plan, the Company may grant equity-based awards to individuals who are employees, officers, directors, or consultants of the Company. Options issued under the 2022 Plan will generally expire ten years from the date of grant and vest over a one-year to three-year period.

Total stock-based compensation, consists of the following:

	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2024		2023
General and administrative expense	$	51,581	$	95,942
Research and development expense		21,138		44,641
	$	72,719	$	140,583

The fair value of option awards is estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The exercise price of each award is generally not less than the per share fair value in effect as of that award date. The determination of fair value using the Black-Scholes model is affected by the Company’s share fair value as well as assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables, including expected price volatility, risk-free interest rate and projected employee share option exercise behaviors.

The Company estimates its expected volatility by using a combination of historical share price volatilities of similar companies within its industry. The risk-free interest rate assumption is based on observed interest rates for the appropriate term of the Company’s options on a grant date. The expected option term assumption is estimated using the simplified method and is based on the mid-point between vest date and the remaining contractual term of the option, since the Company does not have sufficient exercise history to estimate expected term of its historical option awards. Options granted under the 2022 Plan during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 were valued using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model with the following weighted-average assumptions:

	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2024			2023
Expected term (years)		5.87			5.43
Risk-free interest rate		3.99	%		3.66	%
Expected volatility		124.83	%		110.00	%
Expected dividend yield		0.00	%		0.00	%

The following is a summary of stock option activity under the Company’s stock option Plans for the three months ended March 31, 2024:

	Number of Shares		Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years)		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Options outstanding at January 1, 2024		175,686		34.60		—		—
Forfeited		11,422		70.16		—		—
Exercised		—		—		—		—
Granted		66,000		3.18
Options outstanding at March 31, 2024		230,264		23.83		8.3		71,346
Options exercisable at March 31, 2024		115,597		40.49		7.3		—

The weighted-average grant-date fair value of stock options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 was $2.83 and $6.10, respectively.

As of March 31, 2024, there was $435,742 of total time-based unrecognized compensation costs related to unvested stock options. These costs are expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.3 years.