Stockholders' Equity

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Equity [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity

4. Stockholders’ Equity

Shelf Registration Statement

In May 2023, the Company entered into an ATM Equity OfferingSM Sales Agreement (“Sale Agreement”) with BofA Securities, Inc. (“BofA”) to sell shares of common stock, from time to time, through an “at the market offering” program having an aggregate offering price of up to $150.0 million through which BofA would act as sales agent. In February 2024, the Company delivered written notice to BofA that it was suspending and terminating the prospectus related to the shares of its common stock issuable pursuant to the terms of the Sale Agreement. In May 2024, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 which included a new prospectus which covers the offering, issuance and sale of up to a maximum aggregate offering price of $150.0 million of the Company’s common under the Sale Agreement. There was no activity from the Sale Agreement during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024. As of June 30, 2024, $150.0 million of common stock remained available for sale under the Sale Agreement.

In July 2023, the Company closed an underwritten offering of 4,153,717 shares of its common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 583,483 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.001 per share. The shares of common stock were sold at a price of $12.46 per share and the pre-funded common stock warrants were sold at a price of $12.459 per pre-funded common stock warrant, resulting in gross proceeds of $59.0 million. Fees related to the offering included underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering expenses in the aggregate amount of $2.5 million, resulting in net proceeds of $56.5 million. The pre-funded common stock warrants will not expire until exercised in full and are exercisable in cash or by means of a cashless exercise.

In March 2024, the Company closed an underwritten offering of 5,397,301 shares of its common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 1,935,483 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.001 per share. The shares of common stock were sold at a price of $46.50 per share and the pre-funded common stock warrants were sold at a price of $46.499 per pre-funded common stock warrant, resulting in gross proceeds of $341.0 million. Fees related to the offering included underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering expenses in the aggregate amount of $20.9 million, resulting in net proceeds of $320.1 million. The pre-funded common stock warrants will not expire until exercised in full and are exercisable in cash or by means of a cashless exercise.

The Company has assessed the pre-funded common stock warrants for appropriate equity or liability classification. The pre-funded common stock warrants are equity classified because they (i) are freestanding financial instruments that are legally detachable and separately exercisable from the equity instruments, (ii) are immediately exercisable, (iii) do not embody an obligation for the Company to repurchase its shares, (iv) permit the holders to receive a fixed number of shares of common stock upon exercise, (v) are indexed to the Company’s common stock and (vi) meet the equity classification criteria.

In addition, such pre-funded common stock warrants do not provide any guarantee of value or return and do not provide the warrant holders with the option to settle any unexercised warrants for cash outside of the Company’s control. The pre-funded common stock warrants also include a separate provision whereby the exercisability of the warrants may be limited if, upon exercise, the warrant holder or any of its affiliates would beneficially own more than a certain percentage of the Company’s outstanding common stock. The Company valued the pre-funded common stock warrants at issuance, concluding that their sale price approximated their fair value. Accordingly, the pre-funded common stock warrants are accounted for as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance.

2017 Equity Incentive Plan

In August 2017, the Company adopted the Janux Therapeutics, Inc. 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”), which provided for the grant of incentive stock options, nonstatutory stock options, restricted stock awards and other stock awards to its employees, members of its board of directors and consultants. The maximum term of options granted under the 2017 Plan is ten years and, in general, the options issued under the 2017 Plan vest over a four-year period from the vesting commencement date. The 2017 Plan allows for the early exercise of stock options, which may be subject to repurchase by the Company at the original exercise price. Upon the effectiveness of the 2021 Plan defined and described below, no further grants will be made under the 2017 Plan. Any outstanding awards granted under the 2017 Plan will remain subject to the terms of the 2017 Plan and applicable award agreements.

2021 Equity Incentive Plan

In June 2021, the Company adopted the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan,” and together with the 2017 Plan the “Plans”). Under the 2021 Plan, the Company may grant stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock awards, performance cash awards and other forms of stock awards to employees, directors and consultants. The maximum term of options granted under the 2021 Plan is ten years and, in general, the options issued under the 2021 Plan vest over a four-year period from the vesting commencement date. The 2021 Plan does not permit early exercises. Any future cancellations under the 2017 Plan will become available for future issuance under the 2021 Plan. In addition, the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2021 Plan automatically increases on January 1 of each calendar year through January 1, 2031, in an amount equal to 5% of the total number of shares of the Company’s common stock on the last day of the calendar month before the date of each automatic increase, or a lesser number of shares determined by the Company’s board of directors. As of June 30, 2024, there were 11,290,779 shares authorized for issuance under the 2021 Plan, inclusive of shares added from 2017 Plan cancellations.

Stock Options

A summary of the Company’s stock option activity under its Plans is as follows (in thousands, except share, per share data and years):

	Number of Options			Weighted- Average Exercise Price		Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Term (in years)		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2023		7,989,192		$	12.08		7.8	$	16,733
Granted		2,176,966		$	12.49
Exercised		(441,368	)	$	9.98
Forfeited or cancelled		(69,326	)	$	17.00
Outstanding at June 30, 2024		9,655,464		$	12.23		7.8	$	286,883
Vested and expected to vest at June 30, 2024		9,655,464		$	12.23		7.8	$	286,883
Exercisable at June 30, 2024		5,637,906		$	10.78		7.0	$	175,375

The weighted-average grant date fair value per share of option grants for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 was $9.14 and $10.09, respectively. The total intrinsic value of stock options exercised for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023 was $15.8 million and $1.5 million, respectively. As of June 30, 2024, total unrecognized stock-based compensation cost associated with option grants was $42.6 million, which is expected to be recognized over a remaining weighted-average period of approximately 2.4 years.

The assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the fair value of stock option grants under the Plans were as follows:

	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2024	2023
Risk-free interest rate	3.8% – 4.6%	3.5% – 4.2%
Expected volatility	83% – 91%	83% – 87%
Expected term (in years)	5.3 – 6.1	5.3 – 6.1
Expected dividend yield	—	—

Risk-free interest rate. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield in effect at the time of grant for zero coupon U.S. Treasury notes with maturities similar to the expected term of the awards.

Expected volatility. Given the Company’s limited historical stock price volatility data, the expected volatility assumption is based on volatilities of a peer group of similar companies whose share prices are publicly available, including the Company’s historical volatility, weighted by years of available trading data within the expected term. The peer group was developed based on companies in the biotechnology industry. The Company will continue to apply this process until a sufficient amount of historical information regarding the volatility of its own stock price becomes available.

Expected term. The expected term represents the period of time that options are expected to be outstanding. Because the Company does not have sufficient historical exercise behavior to provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate the expected term, it determines the expected life assumption using the simplified method, for employees, which is an average of the contractual term of the option and its vesting period. The expected term for nonemployee options is generally the contractual term.

Expected dividend yield. The Company bases the expected dividend yield assumption on the fact that it has never paid cash dividends and has no present intention to pay cash dividends and, therefore, used an expected dividend yield of zero.

Restricted Stock Units

A summary of the Company’s restricted stock unit (“RSU”) activity under the 2021 Plan is as follows:

	Number of Restricted Stock Units		Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2023		—	$	—
Granted		17,500	$	39.80
Vested		—	$	—
Forfeited or cancelled		—	$	—
Outstanding at June 30, 2024		17,500	$	39.80

RSU awards are share awards that, upon vesting, will deliver to the holder shares of the Company’s common stock. The grant-date fair value is recognized as compensation expense over the vesting period. As of June 30, 2024, total unrecognized stock-based compensation cost associated with RSUs was $0.7 million, which is expected to be recognized over a remaining weighted-average period of approximately 1.0 year.

2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

In June 2021, the Company adopted the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”), which became effective on June 10, 2021. The ESPP permits eligible employees who elect to participate in an offering under the ESPP to have up to 15% of their eligible earnings withheld, subject to certain limitations, to purchase shares of common stock pursuant to the ESPP. The price of common stock purchased under the ESPP is equal to 85% of the lower of the fair market value of the common stock at the commencement date of each offering period or the relevant date of purchase. In addition, the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the ESPP automatically increases on January 1 of each calendar year through January 1, 2031, in an amount equal to the lesser of (i) 1% of the total number of shares of the Company’s common stock on the last day of the calendar month before the date of each automatic increase and (ii) 932,000 shares; provided that before the date of any such increase, the Company’s board of directors may determine that such increase will be less than the amount set forth in clauses (i) and (ii). For the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, stock-based compensation expense related to the ESPP was $0.3 million and $0.4 million, respectively. Stock-based compensation expense related to the ESPP for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 was $0.4 million and $0.6 million, respectively. As of June 30, 2024, total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to the ESPP was $0.6 million, which is expected to be recognized over a remaining weighted-average period of approximately 1.5 years.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

Stock-based compensation expense has been reported in the condensed statements of operations and comprehensive loss as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended  June 30,				Six Months Ended  June 30,
	2024		2023		2024		2023
Research and development	$	2,324	$	2,449	$	4,508	$	4,807
General and administrative		3,433		3,052		6,874		6,167
Total	$	5,757	$	5,501	$	11,382	$	10,974

Unvested Stock Liabilities

A summary of the Company’s unvested shares and unvested stock liabilities is as follows (in thousands, except share data):

	Number of Unvested Shares			Weighted-Average Grant Date Fair Value		Unvested Stock Liabilities
Balance at December 31, 2023		10,319		$	1.57	$	20
Vested shares		(8,036	)	$	1.01		(10	)
Balance at June 30, 2024		2,283		$	3.53	$	10

Common Stock Reserved for Future Issuance

Common stock reserved for future issuance consists of the following:

	June 30, 2024		December 31, 2023
Common stock options outstanding		9,655,464		7,989,192
RSUs outstanding		17,500		—
Shares available for issuance under the Plans		5,386,938		5,198,941
Shares available for issuance under the ESPP		1,542,307		1,142,750
Pre-funded common stock warrants outstanding		2,438,709		503,226
Total		19,040,918		14,834,109