Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2025

Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

NOTE 7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Operating Leases

As of March 31, 2025, the Company leased approximately 25,900 square feet of laboratory and office space in Redwood City, California, under an operating lease that expires in August 2026.

In conjunction with signing the lease, the Company secured a letter of credit in favor of the lessor in the amount of $0.4 million. The funds related to this letter of credit are presented as restricted cash on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets. The lease agreement includes an escalation clause for increased base rent and a renewal provision allowing the Company to extend this lease for an additional 60 months at the prevailing rental rate, which the Company is not reasonably certain to exercise.

In March 2025, the Company extended its existing short-term lease for 12,500 square feet of laboratory and office space in Redwood City, California, through August 2026. As a result, the Company recorded a right-of-use asset and lease liability of $1.1 million in March 2025.

In addition to base rent, the Company pays its share of operating expenses and taxes. These variable costs are recorded as lease expense as incurred and presented as operating expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

The components of lease costs, which were included in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, are as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025		2024
Lease cost
Operating lease cost	$	232	$	168
Short-term lease cost		169		1
Variable lease cost		118		70
Total lease cost	$	519	$	239

Supplemental information related to the Company’s operating leases is as follows:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025			2024
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities (in thousands)	$	356		$	285
Weighted average remaining lease term (years)		1.4			2.4
Weighted average discount rate		8.00	%		8.00	%

The following table summarizes a maturity analysis of the Company’s operating lease liabilities showing the aggregate lease payments as of March 31, 2025 (in thousands):

Year Ending December 31,	Amount
2025 (remainder of the year)	$	1,467
2026		1,260
Total undiscounted lease payments		2,727
Less imputed interest		(137	)
Total discounted lease payments		2,590
Less current portion of lease liability		(1,835	)
Noncurrent portion of lease liability	$	755

License Agreements

In March 2021, the Company entered into the 2021 Stanford License Agreement (Note 6), which was amended in July 2023, pursuant to which the Company is required to pay annual license maintenance fees, clinical development and commercial sales milestone payments of up to an aggregate of $9.0 million, and low single-digit royalties on net sales of licensed products. All products were in development as of March 31, 2025, and no royalties were due as of such date. The Company paid $35,000 license maintenance fee in March 2024, and recognized this as a research and development expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the three months ended March 31, 2024. As of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, no milestones were probable to be achieved and payable.

In December 2024, the Company entered into the 2024 Stanford License Agreement (Note 6), pursuant to which the Company is required to pay a license issue and annual license maintenance fees, clinical development and commercial sales milestone payments of up to an aggregate of $8.3 million and low single-digit royalties on net sales of licensed products. All products were in development as of March 31, 2025, and no royalties were due as of such date. As of March 31, 2025, no milestones were probable to be achieved and payable.

Legal Proceedings

The Company, from time to time, may be party to litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company was not subject to any material legal proceedings during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, and, to the best of its knowledge, no material legal proceedings are currently pending.

Guarantees and Indemnifications

In the normal course of business, the Company enters into agreements that contain a variety of representations and provide for general indemnification. The Company’s exposure under these agreements is unknown because it involves claims that may be made against the Company in the future. To date, the Company has not paid any claims or been required to defend any action related to its indemnification obligations. As of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company does not have any material indemnification claims that were probable or reasonably possible and consequently has not recorded related liabilities.