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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

As permitted under the laws of England and Wales, the Company indemnifies its officers, directors, consultants and employees for certain events or occurrences that happen by reason of the relationship with, or position held at, the Company.

Principles of consolidation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc and those entities in which it has a controlling interest. Intercompany amounts are eliminated on consolidation. Amounts attributable to the noncontrolling interest are presented as a separate element of equity in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

Use of estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue, income and expenses during the reporting period. The Company bases estimates and assumptions on historical experience when available and on various factors that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances. The Company evaluates its estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis, including those related to fair value of contingent consideration and fair value models used in the impairment assessments of goodwill, intangible assets, operating lease right-of-use asset and property and equipment. The Company’s actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

As of the date of issuance of these consolidated financial statements, the Company is not aware of any specific event or circumstance that would require the Company to update its estimates, assumptions and judgments or revise the carrying value of its assets or liabilities. These estimates may change as new events occur and additional information is obtained and are recognized in the consolidated financial statements as soon as they become known. Actual results could differ from those estimates and any such differences may be material to the Company’s financial statements.

Comprehensive loss

Comprehensive loss for all periods presented is comprised primarily of net loss and other comprehensive loss, which solely relates to foreign currency translation adjustments.

Foreign currency translation

The Company’s reporting currency is the United States dollar. The functional currency of the parent and each subsidiary is the currency of the country and economic environment in which it is located. Assets and liabilities of each legal entity denominated or measured in a currency other than British Pounds are first translated into British pounds and consolidated. The consolidated balances are then converted into United States dollars at period-end exchange rates. Revenues and expenses are translated into British pounds, then into U.S. dollars at average exchange rates for each reporting period. Translation adjustments are reflected as accumulated other comprehensive loss within stockholders’ equity. Gains and losses on foreign currency transactions are included in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss in general and administrative expenses.

Noncontrolling interest

In 2018, Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc established VOLT with a related party. As of December 31, 2021, Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc had contributed cash and intellectual property with an aggregate value of $11.9 million for a 76% controlling interest. The related party had contributed cash and intellectual property with an aggregate value of $3.8 million for a 24% noncontrolling interest. There were no further contributions in subsequent financial years. The contributed intellectual properties were initially recorded at investment date fair value by VOLT and immediately expensed as research and development costs. The Company accounts for the noncontrolling interest in the accompanying consolidated financial statements initially at fair value with the subsequent carrying value adjusted for the noncontrolling share of VOLT’s comprehensive loss.

Cash and cash equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with remaining maturities of three months or less on the purchase date to be cash and cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents include bank demand deposits and money market funds that are actively traded (a Level 1 input).

Revenue

The Company recognizes revenue when its customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which the entity expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services.

The Company has entered into collaboration and license agreements, which are within the scope of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize product candidates. The terms of these agreements typically contain multiple promises or obligations, which may include licenses, or options to obtain licenses, to product candidates or future product candidates.

Amounts received prior to revenue recognition are recorded as deferred revenue. Amounts expected to be recognized as revenue within the 12 months following the balance sheet date are classified as current portion of deferred revenue in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Amounts recognized as revenue, but not yet received are generally recognized as accounts receivable or contract assets.

License revenue

The Company’s arrangements may provide the collaboration partner with the right to select a target for licensing either at the inception of the arrangement or in the future. Under these arrangements, fees may be due to the Company (i) at the inception of the arrangement as an upfront fee or payment, (ii) upon the exercise of an option to acquire a license or (iii) upon extending the selection period as an extension fee or payment. If an arrangement is determined to contain customer options that allow the customer to acquire additional goods or services at their standalone selling prices, the goods and services underlying the customer options are not considered to be performance obligations at the outset of the arrangement, as they are contingent upon option exercise. The Company evaluates the customer options for material rights, or options to acquire additional goods or services for free or at a discount. If the customer options are determined to represent a material right, the material right is recognized as a separate performance obligation at the inception of the arrangement. The Company allocates the transaction price to material rights based on the relative standalone selling price, which is determined based on the identified discount and the probability that the customer will exercise the option. Amounts allocated to a material right are not recognized as revenue until, at the earliest, the option is exercised or expires.

For arrangements that include sales-based milestones and royalties, and the license is deemed to be the predominant item to which the royalties relate, the Company recognizes revenue at the later of (i) when the related sales occur or (ii) when the performance obligation to which some or all of the royalty has been allocated has been satisfied (or partially satisfied). This could require management to estimate the amount of revenue to recognize in the period if the actual data for the period has not been provided.

Research and development services

The promises under the Company’s collaboration and license agreements generally include research and development services to be performed by the Company on behalf of the collaboration partner. For performance obligations that include research and development services, the Company recognizes revenue allocated to such performance obligations based on an appropriate measure of progress. The Company utilizes judgment to determine the appropriate method of measuring progress for the purposes of recognizing revenue, which may include an input measure such as costs incurred during the reporting period or ratably over the service period. Reimbursements from the partner are evaluated as to whether the Company acts as a principal or an agent in such relationships. The Company evaluates whether control over the underlying goods or services were obtained prior to transferring these goods or services to the collaboration partner. Where the Company does not control the goods or services prior to transferring these goods or services to the collaboration partner, such reimbursements are presented net of costs. At the inception of each arrangement that includes development milestone payments in respect of development efforts, the Company evaluates whether the development milestones are considered probable of being achieved and estimates the amount to be included in the transaction price using the most likely amount method. If it is probable that a significant revenue reversal would not occur, the associated development milestone value is

included in the transaction price. Development milestone payments that are not within the control of the Company or the licensee, such as regulatory approvals, are not considered probable of being achieved until those approvals are received. The Company evaluates factors such as the scientific, clinical, regulatory, commercial, and other risks that must be overcome to achieve the particular development milestone in making this assessment. There is judgment involved in determining whether it is probable that a significant revenue reversal would not occur. At the end of each reporting period, the Company reevaluates the probability of achievement of all development milestones subject to constraint and, if necessary, adjusts its estimate of the overall transaction price. Any such adjustments are recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis, which would affect revenues and earnings in the period of adjustment. If a milestone or other variable consideration relates specifically to the Company’s efforts to satisfy a single performance obligation or to a specific outcome from satisfying the performance obligation, the Company generally allocates the milestone amount entirely to that performance obligation once it is probable that a significant revenue reversal would not occur. To date, the Company has not recognized any development milestone revenue resulting from any of its arrangements.

Other Operating Income

Other operating income includes grant income from the CEPI Funding Agreement pursuant to which CEPI will provide funding to us to advance the development of VTP-500, our vaccine candidate against MERS. When there is reasonable assurance that we will comply with the conditions attached to a received grant, and when there is reasonable assurance that the grant will be received, grant income is recognized as other operating income on a gross basis in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss on a systematic basis over the periods in which we recognize expenses for the related costs for which the grants are intended to compensate. Payments received in advance of incurring reimbursable expenses are recorded as deferred income. Any remaining unused amounts of the cash payments received will be disclosed as restricted cash in the consolidated balance sheets.

Concentrations of credit risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to significant concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents and accounts receivable. Periodically, the Company maintains deposits in financial institutions in excess of government insured limits. Management believes that the Company is not exposed to significant credit risk as the Company’s deposits are held at financial institutions that management believes to be of high credit quality and the Company has not experienced any losses in these deposits. The Company’s standard payment terms are typically 30 days.

The Company recognizes revenue earned in connection with the license and services provided to customers. The Company provides credit to licensees in the normal course of providing such services based on evaluations of their financial condition and generally does not require collateral. To manage accounts receivable credit risk, the Company monitors the creditworthiness of its licensees. Historically, the Company has not experienced any credit losses related to accounts receivable and does not maintain allowances for uncollectible amounts.

Allowance for credit losses

The Company evaluates its cash equivalents and accounts receivable for expected credit losses. Expected credit losses represent the portion of the amortized cost basis of a financial asset that an entity does not expect to collect. An allowance for expected credit losses is meant to reflect a risk of loss even if remote, irrespective of the expectation of collection from a particular issuer or debt security. The Company has not historically experienced any credit losses on any of its financial assets.

Property and equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are charged to operating expenses as incurred, whereas major betterments are capitalized as additions to property and equipment. Impairment losses are recorded within general and administrative expenses. Depreciation is recorded using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:


Asset Category			Estimated Useful Life
Office furniture and equipment			3 years
Laboratory equipment			4 years
Leasehold improvements			Lesser of lease term or estimated useful lives

Intangible assets acquired through business combinations

Intangible assets consist of acquired developed technology. Intangible assets are stated at cost less accumulated amortization and impairment losses. Amortization is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets, which is 10 years.

Impairment of long-lived assets

The Company reviews long-lived assets to be held and used, including property and equipment, intangible assets and operating lease right-of-use assets, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the assets or asset group may not be recoverable. Evaluation of recoverability is first based on an estimate of undiscounted future cash flows resulting from the use of the asset or asset group and its eventual disposition. In the event such cash flows are not expected to be sufficient to recover the carrying amount of the asset or asset group, the assets are written down to their estimated fair values.

Goodwill

Goodwill represents the excess of cost over the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets of businesses acquired in a business combination. Goodwill is not amortized but rather is tested for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of goodwill may not be recoverable. The Company has elected to first assess the qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount as a basis of determining whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test. If the Company determines that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount, then the quantitative goodwill impairment test will be performed. The quantitative goodwill impairment test identifies and measures the amount of goodwill impairment loss, if any, to be recognized by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. If the fair value exceeds the carrying amount, no further analysis is required; otherwise, if the fair value is less than the carrying amount, the difference is recognized as a goodwill impairment loss not to exceed the carrying amount of the goodwill.

Financial instruments

The Company’s financial instruments consist of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, certain accrued expenses and contingent consideration. The carrying amounts of cash, cash equivalents, accounts receivable, security deposits, accounts payable and accrued expenses approximate their fair value due to the short-term nature of those financial instruments.

Fair value measurements

The Company follows the guidance in ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, which defines fair value and establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below:

-Level 1 – Inputs are quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date.

-Level 2 – Valuations based on quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.

-Level 3 – Prices or valuations that require inputs that are both significant to the fair value measurement and unobservable.

To the extent that valuation is based on models or inputs that are less observable or unobservable in the market, the determination of fair value requires more judgment. Accordingly, the degree of judgment exercised by the Company in determining fair value is greatest for instruments categorized in Level 3. A financial instrument’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

Fair value is a market-based measure considered from the perspective of a market participant rather than an entity-specific measure. Therefore, even when market assumptions are not readily available, the Company’s own assumptions are set to reflect those that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability at the measurement date. The Company uses prices and inputs that are current as of the measurement date, including during periods of market dislocation. In periods of market dislocation, the observability of prices and inputs may change for many instruments. This condition could cause an instrument to be reclassified within levels in the fair value hierarchy. There were no transfers within the fair value hierarchy during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

The Company recognizes a contingent consideration liability related to the acquisition of Avidea Technologies, Inc. The liability is remeasured to fair value at each reporting date until the contingency is resolved. The fair value of the contingent consideration is a Level 3 valuation determined using significant unobservable inputs being the probability of success of achievement of the milestones and the expected date of the milestone achievement. Changes in fair value are recognized in general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

Leases

Leases are accounted for under ASC 842, Leases (“ASC 842”) resulting in the recognition of lease liabilities and right-of-use assets. The Company only has operating leases. The Company has elected the practical expedient allowed under ASC 842 to account for each lease component (e.g., the right to use office space) and the associated non-lease components (e.g., maintenance services) as a single lease component. The Company also elected the short-term lease accounting policy for all asset classes; therefore, the Company is not recognizing a lease liability or right-of-use asset for any lease that, at the commencement date, has a lease term of 12 months or less and does not include an option to purchase the underlying asset that the Company is reasonably certain to exercise.

Variable lease payments such as the Company’s share of real estate taxes, utilities, and common area maintenance, are reported as non-lease operating expenses.

Right-of-use assets represent the Company’s right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent the Company’s obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Right-of-use assets and liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As the Company’s leases typically do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses an estimate of its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the lease commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments.

Right-of-use assets also include the effect of any lease payments made and exclude lease incentives. The lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option. Operating lease expense is recognized as part of total operating expenses on a straight-line basis over the lease term. The difference between the value of the right of use asset and lease liability is due to the reclassification of prepaid rent and unamortized lease incentives.

Research and development

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred on an accrual basis. Research and development costs include payroll and personnel expense (including share-based compensation), consulting costs, external contract research and development expenses, raw materials, drug product manufacturing costs, and allocated overheads including depreciation and amortization, facility costs, and utilities. Research and development costs that are paid in advance of performance are capitalized as a prepaid expense and amortized over the service period as the services are provided.

Clinical trial costs

Clinical trial costs are a component of research and development expenses. The Company accrues and expenses clinical trial activities performed by third parties based on an evaluation of the progress to completion of specific tasks using data such as patient enrollment, clinical site activation, and other information provided to the Company by its vendors.

Patent and licensing costs

Patent and licensing costs are expensed as incurred because their is uncertainty as to any future economic benefits arising from these costs.

Ordinary shares

Ordinary shares are classified in stockholders’ equity and represent issued share capital.

Additional paid-in capital

Additional paid-in capital is classified in stockholders’ equity and represents the share premium account, where the difference between the price paid per share and the nominal value is recognized. The equity element of share based compensation is also recognized in additional paid in capital.

Share based compensation

The Company grants options over ordinary shares and restricted shares units to employees or non-executive directors and accounts for share based compensation using the grant date fair value. Share based compensation awards are classified in the accompanying statements of operations and comprehensive loss based on the function to which the related services are provided. For service-based awards, compensation expense is generally recognized over the requisite service period of the awards, usually the vesting period. The Company applies the “multiple option” method of allocating expense. In applying this method, each vesting tranche of an award is treated as a separate grant and recognized on a straight-line basis over that tranche’s vesting period. For performance-based awards where the vesting of the awards may be accelerated upon the achievement of certain milestones, vesting and the related share-based compensation is recognized as an expense when it is probable the milestone will be met. Assumptions used in the option pricing model include the following:

Expected volatility. Previously there was insufficient trading history for the Company’s ordinary shares, therefore the expected price volatility for the Company's ordinary shares was estimated using the average historical volatility of industry peers’ shares as of the grant date of the Company's options over a period of history commensurate with the expected life of the options. When selecting industry peers used in measuring implied volatility, the Company considered the similarity of their products and business lines, as well as their stage of development, size and financial leverage. The Company applied this process consistently using the same or similar public companies until 2023. For options granted in 2023 and 2024, the Company determined that there is sufficient historical information on volatility of its share price available and the expected volatility used in the fair value calculation of new option grants is calculated based on a blended volatility of both historical volatility of the Company's share price and the average historical volatility of industry peers’ shares.

Expected term. The expected term of the Company’s share options has been determined utilizing the “simplified” method for awards that qualify as “plain-vanilla” options. The “simplified” method was determined to be appropriate as the Company does not have sufficient historical exercise data to provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate expected term due to the limited period of time its equity shares have been publicly traded.

Risk-free interest rate. The risk-free interest rate is determined by reference to the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant of the award for time periods that are approximately equal to the expected term of the award.

Expected dividend. Expected dividend yield of zero is based on the fact that the Company has never paid cash dividends on ordinary shares and does not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

The Company has elected to recognize the effect of forfeitures on share-based compensation when they occur. Any differences in compensation recognized at the time of forfeiture are recorded as a cumulative adjustment in the period where the forfeiture occurs.

When awards are modified, the Company compares the fair value of the affected award measured immediately prior to modification to its value after modification. To the extent that the fair value of the modified award exceeds the original award, the incremental fair value of the modified award is recognized as compensation on the date of modification for vested awards, and over the remaining vesting period for unvested awards.

Income taxes

The financial statements reflect provisions for income taxes in the United Kingdom and foreign jurisdictions. Deferred tax assets and liabilities represent future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the tax basis of assets and liabilities and for loss carryforwards using enacted tax rates expected to be in effect in the years in which the differences reverse. A valuation allowance is recorded when it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

The Company determines whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination. If it is not more likely than not that a position will be sustained, none of the benefit attributable to the position is recognized. The tax benefit to be recognized for any tax position that meets the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold is calculated as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely of being realized upon resolution of the contingency. The Company accounts for interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as part of its provision for income taxes. To date, the Company has not incurred interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions nor has it recorded any unrecognized tax benefits.

Research and development incentives

In the United Kingdom, the Company had previously been entitled to a research and development tax credit regime, being the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises R&D tax relief program, or SME Program, and, to the extent that our projects are grant funded or relate to work subcontracted to us by third parties, the Research and Development Expenditure Credit program, or RDEC Program. Qualifying expenditures largely comprise employment costs for research staff, consumables, outsourced contract research organization costs, externally provided workers and utilities costs incurred as part of research projects. A large portion of costs relating to research and development, clinical trials and manufacturing activities are eligible for inclusion within these tax credit cash rebate claims. From March 2023, under the SME program, the Company is able to surrender some of its trading losses that arise from qualifying research and development activities for a cash rebate of up to 18.6% of such qualifying research and development expenditure, as the SME additional deduction is 86% and the SME credit rate is 10%, unless the SME qualifies as an R&D intensive business; that is, R&D expenditure constitutes at least 40% (from April 1, 2023) or 30% (from accounting periods starting on or after April 1, 2024) of total expenditure. From the analysis performed, the Company has not and do not currently expect to claim under the loss-making R&D Intensive Scheme for SMEs primarily due to the proportion of total relevant expenditure occurring outside the United Kingdom. If the Company incurs tax losses, the Company is entitled to surrender the lesser of unrelieved tax loss sustained and the tax relief. As the realization of the tax relief does not depend on our generation of future taxable income or the Company’s ongoing tax status or tax position, the Company does not consider the tax relief as an element of income tax accounting under ASC 740, Income taxes and records the tax relief as a form of government grant or assistance.

Net loss per share

Basic net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted-average number of ordinary shares outstanding for the reporting period without consideration for potentially dilutive securities. Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders is computed as if all net loss for the period had been distributed. During periods in which the Company incurred a net loss, the Company allocates no net loss to participating securities because they do not have a contractual obligation to share in the net loss of the Company.

The Company computes diluted net loss per ordinary share after giving consideration to all potentially dilutive ordinary equivalents, including stock options outstanding during the period, except where the effect of such non-participating securities would be antidilutive.

Diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted-average number of ordinary shares and dilutive ordinary share equivalents outstanding for the period, determined using the treasury-stock and if-converted methods.

Contingent liabilities

A provision for contingent liabilities is recorded when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. With respect to legal matters, provisions are reviewed and adjusted to reflect the impact of negotiations, estimated settlements, legal rulings, advice of legal counsel and other information and events pertaining to a particular matter. The Company is a party to certain litigation and disputes arising in the normal course of business. As of December 31, 2024, the Company does not expect that such matters will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by FASB or other standard setting bodies that the Company adopts as of the specified effective date. The Company qualifies as an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and has elected not to “opt out” of the extended transition related to complying with new or revised accounting standards, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different applications dates for public and nonpublic companies, the Company can adopt the new or revised standard at the time nonpublic companies adopt the new or revised standard and can do so until such time the Company either (i) irrevocably elects to “opt out” of such extended transition period or (ii) no longer qualifies as an emerging growth company.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

The Company has reviewed all recently issued standards and have determined that such standards do not or will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements or do not otherwise apply to our current operations.

In November 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-07, Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures. The amendments require incremental disclosures related to a public entity’s reportable segments but does not change the definition of a segment, the method for determining segments, or the criteria for aggregating operating segments into reportable segments. The most significant change required by the ASU is for a public entity to disclose its significant segment expense categories and amounts for each reportable segment. The Company adopted this standard for the year ended December 31, 2024 on a retrospective basis and the adoption did not have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures as this information was already publicly disclosed.

In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU 2024-03, Income Statement-Reporting Comprehensive Income-Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40), which requires disaggregation of specific expense categories in the notes to the financial statements and a qualitative description of the remaining expense amounts not separately disaggregated. This standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and requires prospective application with the option to apply it retrospectively. We are currently evaluating the impact of adopting this standard to determine its impact on our disclosures.