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Stock-Based Compensation | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2024
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract] |
Stock-based compensation | 9. Stock-based compensation In January 2021, the Company adopted the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (“2021 Plan”). The 2021 Plan provides for the granting of incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, equity appreciation rights, performance awards, and other equity-based awards. The Company's employees, officers, independent directors, and other persons are eligible to receive awards under the 2021 Plan. The 2021 Plan provides for increases to the number of shares reserved for issuance thereunder each January 1 equal to 4% of the total shares of the Company's common stock outstanding as of immediately preceding December 31, unless a lesser amount is stipulated by the Company's Board of Directors. On May 8, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors and stockholders approved an increase of 750,000 shares to be authorized for future issuance. As of December 31, 2024, 2,571,071 shares of the Company’s common stock were authorized to be issued, of which 254,618 shares were available for future issuance. The amount, terms of grants, and exercisability provisions are determined and set by the Company's Board of Directors or compensation committee. The Company measures employee stock-based awards at grant-date fair value and records compensation expense on a straight-line basis over the vesting period of the award. The Company has recorded stock-based compensation related to its options and RSU's in the accompanying statements of operations as follows:
|  | Years Ended December 31, |
|  | 2024 |  |  | 2023 |
General and administrative |  | $ | 1,588,667 |  |  | $ | 545,149 |
Research and development |  |  | 1,074,872 |  |  |  | 327,099 |
|  | $ | 2,663,539 |  |  | $ | 872,248 |
Stock options The Company has issued service-based stock options that generally have a contractual term of up to 10 years and may be exercisable in cash or as otherwise determined by the Board of Directors. Vesting generally occurs over a period of not greater than four years. The following table summarizes the activity for the year ended December 31, 2024:
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Weighted |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  | Weighted Average |  |  | Average Remaining |  |  | Aggregate |
|  |  |  |  | Exercise |  |  | Contractual |  |  | Intrinsic |
|  | Options |  |  | Price |  |  | Term (Years) |  |  | Value |
Outstanding at January 1, 2024 |  |  | 1,134,145 |  |  | $ | 3.24 |  |  |  | 8.7 |  |  |  |
Granted |  |  | 1,101,342 |  |  | $ | 6.95 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Exercised |  |  | (1,829 | ) |  | $ | 1.08 |  |  |  |  |  | $ | 8,249 |
Forfeited |  |  | (5,000 | ) |  | $ | 7.41 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Outstanding at December 31, 2024 |  |  | 2,228,658 |  |  | $ | 5.07 |  |  |  | 8.4 |  |  | $ | 2,810,892 |
Exercisable at December 31, 2024 |  |  | 1,072,267 |  |  | $ | 3.98 |  |  |  | 7.9 |  |  | $ | 2,138,269 |
Vested and expected to vest at December 31, 2024 |  |  | 2,228,658 |  |  | $ | 5.07 |  |  |  | 8.4 |  |  | $ | 2,810,892 |
As of December 31, 2024, the unrecognized compensation cost was $5.4 million, and will be recognized over an estimated weighted-average amortization period of 1.9 years. The fair value of options is estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which takes into account inputs such as the exercise price, the estimated fair value of the underlying common stock at the grant date, expected term, estimated stock price volatility, risk-free interest rate, and dividend yield. The fair value of stock options granted during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was determined using the methods and assumptions discussed below. • The expected term of employee stock options with service-based vesting is determined using the “simplified” method, as prescribed in SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) No. 107, whereby the expected term equals the arithmetic average of the vesting term and the original contractual term of the option due to the Company’s lack of sufficient historical data. • The expected stock price volatility is based on historical volatility of comparable public entities within the Company’s industry, which were commensurate with the expected term assumption as described in SAB No. 107. • The risk-free interest rate is based on the interest rate payable on U.S. Treasury securities in effect at the time of grant for a period that is commensurate with the expected term. • The expected dividend yield is 0% because the Company has not historically paid, and does not expect, for the foreseeable future, to pay a dividend on its common stock. • The Company's common stock became publicly traded on December 29, 2022. However, prior to the Company's common stock being publicly traded, its Board of Directors periodically estimated the fair value of the Company’s common stock considering, among other things, contemporaneous valuations of its common stock prepared by an unrelated third-party valuation firm in accordance with the guidance provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants 2013 Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. The grant date fair value of each option grant for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model using the following weighted-average assumptions:
|  | Years Ended December 31, |
|  | 2024 |  |  | 2023 |
Risk-free interest rate |  |  | 4.2 | % |  |  | 4.0 | %
Expected term (years) |  |  | 5.7 |  |  |  | 5.8 |
Expected volatility |  |  | 106.32 | % |  |  | 93.82 | %
Expected dividend yield |  |  | - |  |  |  | - |
Common stock issued outside the 2021 Plan During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the issuance of 5,000 and 16,500, respectively, shares of common stock to external consultants in exchange for professional services rendered, which immediately vested upon grant. After vesting, shares of common stock were immediately issued. The shares of common stock were not initially registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and, as a result, were considered a restricted share. Each of the 21,500 shares issued to external consultants have been registered with the SEC during the reporting period. The fair value of common stock issued outside of the 2021 Plan is equal to the fair market value price of the Company's common stock on the date of grant. The weighted average fair value for the common stock issued during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 were $8.02 and $4.61, respectively. The stock-based compensation expense was immaterial for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023.

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