Stockholders' Equity | 9. Stockholders’ Equity At the Market Offering In August 2020, the Company entered into an Open Market Sale Agreement with Jefferies LLC, or ATM facility, under which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, at its sole discretion, up to $250.0 million shares of the Company’s common stock. To date, the Company has not yet sold any shares of common stock under the ATM facility. Stock Option Plan T In addition, the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the Plan will be automatically increased on the first day of each calendar year during the ten-year term of the Plan, beginning with January 1, 2020 and ending with January 1, 2029, by an amount equal to 4% of the outstanding number of shares of the Company’s common stock on December 31 of the preceding calendar year or such lesser amount as determined by the Company’s board of directors. On January 1, 2020, the Company added 1,436,604 shares to the Plan. At September 30, 2020, the Plan had 2,579,374 total shares available for issuance Options expire within a period of not more than ten years from the date of grant. Initial option grants to employees typically vest 25% after one year and monthly thereafter over a three-year period and expire three months after employee termination. Subsequent option grants to employees and grants to non-employees typically vest monthly over a four-year period. The majority of options outstanding at September 30, 2020 had vesting periods of four years. The weighted-average grant-date fair value of options granted to employees was $44.97 and $32.92 for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and was $41.96 and $20.12, for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 , respectively. As of September 30, 2020, there was $98.8 million in total unrecognized compensation expense expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.70 years. The following summarizes option activity under the Plan for the periods presented: Outstanding Options Weighted Average Exercise Price Per Share Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (Years) Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in thousands) Balance as of December 31, 2019 5,254,269 $ 14.59 9.0 $ 250,611 Options granted 1,820,320 $ 61.80 Options exercised (54,653 ) $ 10.31 Options forfeited or cancelled (350,716 ) $ 18.26 Balance as of September 30, 2020 6,669,220 $ 27.32 7.6 $ 400,411 Options vested and exercisable as of September 30, 2020 2,793,909 $ 13.22 5.9 $ 207,141 The fair values of the employee stock options granted during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 were estimated at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model with the following average assumptions: Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 2019 2020 2019 Risk-free interest rate 0.40 % 1.64 % 1.27 % 2.18 % Volatility 80.4 % 80.2 % 79.3 % 79.6 % Expected term (in years) 6.08 6.06 6.06 6.05 Dividend yield - - - - Restricted Stock Units The summary of the Company’s restricted stock unit activity for the periods presented is as follows: Number of Restricted Stock Units Outstanding Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value Balance as of December 31, 2019 - $ - Granted 21,500 $ 59.94 Vested - $ - Forfeited - $ - Outstanding as of September 30, 2020 21,500 $ 59.94 No 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan In April 2019, the Company’s board of directors and stockholders approved and adopted the 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the ESPP). The ESPP became effective immediately prior to the date of the underwriting agreement related to the Company’s initial public offering. 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 percent 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. Each offering period is 24 months, with new offering periods commencing every six months on the dates of June 11 and December 11 of each year. Each offering period consists of four six month purchase periods (each a Purchase Period) during which payroll deductions of the participants are accumulated under the ESPP. The last business day of each Purchase Period is referred to as the “Purchase .” Purchase Dates are every six months on the dates of June 10 and December 10 of each year. The assumptions used for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and the resulting estimates of weighted-average fair value per share for stock purchased under the ESPP during such period were as follows Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 Risk-free interest rate 0.17 - 2.13% Volatility 70.6 - 91.6% Expected term (in years) 0.50 - 2.00 Dividend yield - Departure of Former Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) On January 9, 2020, the Company entered into a Transition Separation and Consulting Agreement (the Transition Agreement) with the Company’s former CSO, Dr. Jingrong Jean Cui. In connection with this Transition Agreement, Dr. Cui resigned from her position as CSO effective January 31, 2020 and thereafter agreed to serve as a consultant to the Company on an as needed basis until June 30, 2020 The Company determined that the modification to extend the term of vested stock options was a Type I modification pursuant to ASC 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation Stock-Based Compensation Expense Stock-based compensation expense for options granted under the Company's equity plans totaled the following (in thousands): Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 2019 2020 2019 Research and development $ 3,912 $ 1,771 $ 10,799 $ 4,052 General and administrative 4,652 1,722 43,534 4,426 Total stock-based compensation $ 8,564 $ 3,493 $ 54,333 $ 8,478 Common Stock Reserved for Future Issuance Common stock reserved for future issuance consisted of the following: September 30, 2020 Common stock options outstanding 6,669,220 Options to purchase common stock available for issuance under the Plan 2,579,374 Shares available for purchase under ESPP 263,879 Total 9,512,473 |