8. Stock Based Compensation

ASC 718 requires compensation expense associated with share-based awards to be recognized over the requisite service period, which for the Company is the period between the grant date and the date the award vests or becomes exercisable. Most of the awards granted by the Company (and still outstanding) vest ratably over one to four years. The Company recognizes all share-based awards under the straight-line attribution method, assuming that all granted awards will vest. Forfeitures are recognized in the periods when they occur.

Stock based compensation has been reported within expense line items on the consolidated statement of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2020 as shown in the following table (in $000s):


	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2019		2020
Research and development	$	31	$	35
General and administrative		54		56
Stock-based compensation costs before income taxes	$	85	$	91

2018 Plan

In May 2018, the Company’s stockholders approved the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2018 Plan”), under which Cyclacel may make equity incentive grants to its officers, employees, directors and consultants. The 2018 Plan replaces the 2015 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2015 Plan”).

The 2018 Plan allows for the issuance of up to 75,000 shares of the Company’s common stock pursuant to various types of award grants, including stock options and restricted stock units. In addition, the 2018 Plan allows up to 35,494 additional shares to be issued if awards outstanding under the 2018 Plan are cancelled or expire on or after the date of the Company’s 2018 annual meeting of stockholders.

As of March 31, 2020, the Company has reserved 6,822 shares of the Company’s common stock under the 2018 Plan for future issuances, including shares that were available under the 2015 Plan and carried forward to the 2018 Plan. Stock option awards granted under the Company’s equity incentive plans have a maximum life of 10 years and generally vest over a one to four-year period from the date of grant.

There were no options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2020. There were 70,951 options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2019. These options had a grant date fair value ranging between $11.40-$12.20 per option. There were also no stock options exercised during each of the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The Company does not expect to be able to benefit from the deduction for stock option exercises that may occur because the company has tax loss carryforwards from prior periods that would be expected to offset any potential taxable income.

Outstanding Options

A summary of the share option activity and related information is as follows:


				Weighted
		Weighted		Average
	Number of	Average		Remaining	Aggregate
	Options	Exercise		Contractual	Intrinsic
	Outstanding	Price Per Share		Term (Years)	Value ($000)
Options outstanding at December 31, 2019	100,278	$	54.40	—	$	—
Granted	—	$	—
Exercised	—
Cancelled/forfeited	(321)	$	1,063.89
Options outstanding at March 31, 2020	99,957	$	51.10	8.38	$	—

Unvested at March 31, 2020	51,629	$	14.81	8.81	$	—
Vested and exercisable at March 31, 2020	48,328	$	89.88	7.91	$	—

Restricted Stock Units


		Weighted
	Number of	Average
	Options	Grant Date
	Outstanding	Value Per Share
Restricted Stock Units outstanding at December 31, 2019	14,000	$	10.60
Granted	3,938	$	15.20
Restricted Stock Units outstanding at March 31, 2020	17,938	$	11.61

Unvested at March 31, 2020	17,938	$	11.61
Vested and exercisable at March 31, 2020	—	$	—