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SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY
6 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY  
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

8.     SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Authorized

Unlimited common shares, without par value.

Unlimited preferred shares, without par value.

Omnibus incentive plans

The Company has adopted an omnibus incentive plan  (“Omnibus Plan”) consistent with the policies and rules of the Nasdaq.  Pursuant to the Omnibus Plan, the Company may issue stock options, share appreciation rights, restricted shares, restricted share units and other share-based awards. As of March 31, 2023, the Company has not issued any instruments other than stock options under the Omnibus Plan.

As of March 31, 2023, the Omnibus Plan has a maximum of 8,410,907 common shares which may be reserved for issuance.

Employee Share Purchase Plan

The Company has adopted an Employee Share Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) under which qualifying employees may be granted purchase rights (“Purchase Rights”) to the Company’s common shares at not less of 85% of the market price at the lesser of the date the Purchase Right is granted or exercisable. The Company currently holds offerings consisting of six month periods commencing on January 1 and July 1 of each calendar year, with a single purchase date at the end of the purchase period on June 30 and December 31 of each calendar year. As of March 31, 2023, the ESPP has a maximum of 217,300 (2022 – 249,974) common shares reserved for issuance.

Eligible employees are able to contribute up to 15% of their gross base earnings for purchases under the ESPP through regular payroll deductions. Purchase of shares under the ESPP are limited for each employee at $25,000 worth of the Company’s common shares (determined using the lesser of (i) the market price of a common share on the first day of an applicable purchase period and (ii) the market price of a common share on the purchase date) for each calendar year in which a purchase right is outstanding.

During the six months ended March 31, 2023, the Company issued 19,298 shares (2022 – 2,444) upon the exercise of Purchase Rights. The Company recognizes compensation expense for purchase rights on a straight-line basis over the service period.

For the three months ended

For the six months ended

March 31, 

March 31, 

    

2023

    

2022

    

2023

    

2022

Research and development expense

$

754

 

$

8,483

$

1,352

 

$

12,133

General and administrative

 

41

 

805

 

494

 

6,957

$

795

$

9,288

$

1,846

$

19,090

The Company measures the purchase rights based on their estimated grant date fair value using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the estimated number of shares that can be purchased. The following weighted average assumptions were used for the valuation of purchase rights:

2023

    

2022

    

Risk-free interest rate

 

3.19

%  

0.44

%  

Expected life of share purchase rights

 

6 months

 

6 months

 

Expected annualized volatility

 

103.56

%  

87.90

%  

Dividend

 

 

 

Stock options

Pursuant to the Omnibus Plan, options may be granted with expiry terms of up to 10 years, and vesting criteria and periods are approved by the Board of Directors at its discretion. The options issued under the Stock Option Plan are accounted for as equity-settled share-based payments.

Stock option transactions are summarized as follows:

    

    

Weighted

Number

Average

of Options

Exercise Price*

 

Balance, September 30, 2021

 

6,803,230

$

5.20

Options granted

 

1,347,500

 

4.55

Options exercised

(72,910)

(4.41)

Options expired/forfeited

 

(175,759)

 

(3.60)

Balance, September 30, 2022

 

7,902,061

$

5.13

Options granted

 

195,000

 

3.00

Options expired/forfeited

 

(51,787)

 

(5.03)

Balance outstanding, March 31, 2023

 

8,045,274

$

5.08

Balance exercisable, March 31, 2023

 

5,302,472

$

4.83

*Options exercisable in Canadian dollars as of March 31, 2023 are translated at current rates to reflect the current weighted average exercise price in US dollars for all outstanding options.

At December 31, 2022, options were outstanding enabling holders to acquire common shares as follows:

    

Weighted average remaining

Exercise price

Number of options

contractual life (years)

$

2.39

50,000

9.46

$

2.91

175,000

9.83

$

3.23

3,629,400

6.52

$

3.59

26,667

 

6.55

$

3.60

922,500

 

9.25

$

3.75

20,000

 

9.68

$

3.81

185,816

 

5.87

$

4.00

539,518

 

4.73

$

4.67

168,227

 

6.59

$

5.99

190,000

 

9.07

$

7.00

1,458,646

 

7.70

$

8.47

120,000

 

8.54

$

9.76

50,000

 

8.89

$

13.96

190,000

 

7.79

$

29.63

100,000

 

8.08

$

31.62

75,000

 

8.17

C$

4.90

124,500

 

4.13

C$

5.06

20,000

 

5.87

8,045,274

 

7.15

Share-based compensation

During the six months ended March 31, 2023, the Company granted a total of 195,000 (2022 – 170,000) stock options with a weighted average fair value of $2.76 per option (2022 - $7.34).

The Company recognized share-based payments expense for options granted and vesting, net of recoveries on cancellations of unvested options, during the period ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 with allocations to its functional expense as follows:

For the three months ended

For the six months ended

March 31, 

March 31, 

2023

    

2022

2023

    

2022

Research and development expense

$

749,405

 

$

1,113,376

$

1,539,999

 

$

2,369,077

General and administrative

 

686,891

 

740,689

 

1,458,857

 

1,975,277

$

1,436,296

 

$

1,854,065

$

2,998,856

 

$

4,344,354

The following weighted average assumptions were used for the Black-Scholes option-pricing model valuation of stock options granted:

2023

    

2022

Risk-free interest rate

 

3.97

%  

1.20

%

Expected life of options

 

10.00

years

10.00

years

Expected annualized volatility

 

79.00

%  

80.00

%

Dividend

 

 

Warrants

Warrant transactions are summarized as follows:

    

    

Weighted

Number

Average

of Warrants

Exercise Price

 

Balance, September 30, 2021 and September 30, 2022

 

3,234,750

$

4.84

Warrants expired

 

(307,273)

 

(49.86)

Balance outstanding and exercisable, March 31, 2023

 

2,927,477

$

0.11

At March 31, 2023, warrants were outstanding enabling holders to acquire common shares as follows:

Number

    

    

of Warrants

Exercise Price

Expiry Date

7,477

  

$

42.80

 

November 18, 2023

2,920,000

$

0.0001

 

August 23, 2024

2,927,477