Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) |
6 Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jun. 30, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Significant Accounting Policies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basis of Presentation |
Basis of Presentation The accompanying unaudited interim condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the Exchange Act. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited interim condensed financial statements reflect all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments necessary for the fair statement of the balances and results for the periods presented. They may not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. Therefore, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2019, which were included in the Company's Form 10-K, and filed with the SEC on March 11, 2020. The results of operations for any interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the entire fiscal year or any other interim period. |
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| Use of Estimates |
Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. |
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| Cash and Cash Equivalents |
Cash and Cash Equivalents The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. |
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| Other Receivables - Related Party |
Other Receivables - Related Party Other receivables consist of amounts due to the Company from TG Therapeutics, Inc. (“TGTX”), a related party, and are recorded at the invoiced amount. |
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| Research and Development Costs |
Research and Development Costs Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made. Upfront and milestone payments due to third parties that perform research and development services on the Company's behalf will be expensed as services are rendered or when the milestone is achieved. Research and development costs primarily consist of personnel related expenses, including salaries, benefits, travel, and other related expenses, stock-based compensation, payments made to third parties for license and milestone costs related to in-licensed products and technology, payments made to third party contract research organizations for preclinical and clinical studies, investigative sites for clinical trials, consultants, the cost of acquiring and manufacturing clinical trial materials, costs associated with regulatory filings, laboratory costs and other supplies. In accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 730-10-25-1, Research and Development, costs incurred in obtaining technology licenses are charged to research and development expense if the technology licensed has not reached commercial feasibility and has no alternative future use. Such licenses purchased by the Company require substantial completion of research and development, regulatory and marketing approval efforts in order to reach commercial feasibility and have no alternative future use. |
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| Annual Equity Fee |
Annual Equity Fee Under the Founders Agreement with Checkpoint dated March 17, 2015, and amended and restated on July 11, 2016 (the “Founders Agreement”), Fortress is entitled to an annual equity fee on January 1 of each year equal to 2.5% of fully diluted outstanding equity, payable in Checkpoint common shares (“Annual Equity Fee”). The Annual Equity Fee was part of the consideration payable for formation of the Company, identification of certain assets, including the license contributed to Checkpoint by Fortress (see Note 4). The Company records the Annual Equity Fee in connection with the Founders Agreement with Fortress as contingent consideration. Contingent consideration is recorded when probable and reasonably estimable. The Company's future share prices and shares outstanding cannot be estimated prior to the issuance of the Annual Equity Fee due to the nature of its assets and the Company's stage of development. Due to these uncertainties, the Company has concluded that it is unable to reasonably estimate the contingent consideration until shares are actually issued on January 1 of each year. Pursuant to the Founders Agreement, the Company issued 1,459,305 shares of common stock to Fortress on June 4, 2020 for the Annual Equity Fee, representing 2.5% of the fully-diluted outstanding equity of Checkpoint on January 1, 2020. The Company did not have enough unreserved authorized shares under its Certificate of Incorporation on January 1, 2020 to issue the shares for the Annual Equity Fee, therefore, in December 2019, Fortress and Checkpoint mutually agreed to defer the issuance until such time as the Checkpoint Charter has been amended in order to increase the number of authorized shares that may be issued thereunder. At the Company's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 4, 2020, its stockholders approved an amendment to its certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock available to issue. Because the number of outstanding shares issuable to Fortress was determinable on January 1, 2020 prior to the issuance of the December 31, 2019 financial statements, the Company recorded approximately $2.5 million in research and development expense and a credit to Common shares issuable - Founders Agreement during the year ended December 31, 2019. |
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| Stock-Based Compensation Expenses |
Stock-Based Compensation Expenses The Company expenses stock-based compensation over the requisite service period based on the estimated grant-date fair value of the awards and forfeiture rates. The Company accounts for forfeitures as they occur. The Company estimates the fair value of stock option grants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of stock-based awards represent management's best estimates and involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management's judgment. All stock-based compensation costs are recorded in general and administrative or research and development costs in the Condensed Statements of Operations based upon the underlying individual's role at the Company. |
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| Fair Value Measurement |
Fair Value Measurement The Company follows the accounting guidance in ASC 820 for its fair value measurements of financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis. Under this accounting guidance, fair value is defined as an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or a liability. The accounting guidance requires fair value measurements be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories: Level 1: Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices, for similar assets or liabilities that are directly or indirectly observable in the marketplace. Level 3: Unobservable inputs which are supported by little or no market activity and that are financial instruments whose values are determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques, as well as instruments for which the determination of fair value requires significant judgment or estimation. The fair value hierarchy also requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. Assets and liabilities measured at fair value are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Certain of the Company’s financial instruments are not measured at fair value on a recurring basis but are recorded at amounts that approximate their fair value due to their liquid or short-term nature, such as accounts payable and accrued expenses. |
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| Revenue from Contracts with Customers |
Revenue from Contracts with Customers The Company recognizes revenue under ASC 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” The core principle of the new revenue standard is that a company should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The following five steps are applied to achieve that core principle:
In order to identify the performance obligations in a contract with a customer, a company must assess the promised goods or services in the contract and identify each promised good or service that is distinct. A performance obligation meets ASC 606’s definition of a “distinct” good or service (or bundle of goods or services) if both of the following criteria are met:
If a good or service is not distinct, the good or service is combined with other promised goods or services until a bundle of goods or services is identified that is distinct. The transaction price is the amount of consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring promised goods or services to a customer, excluding amounts collected on behalf of third parties (for example, some sales taxes). The consideration promised in a contract with a customer may include fixed amounts, variable amounts, or both. When determining the transaction price, an entity must consider the effects of all of the following:
Variable consideration is included in the transaction price only to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved. The transaction price is allocated to each performance obligation on a relative standalone selling price basis. The transaction price allocated to each performance obligation is recognized when that performance obligation is satisfied, at a point in time or over time as appropriate. Revenue for a sales-based or usage-based royalty promised in exchange for a license of intellectual property is recognized only when (or as) the later of the following events occurs:
Incremental contract costs are expensed when incurred when the amortization period of the asset that would have been recognized is one year or less; otherwise, incremental contract costs are recognized as an asset and amortized over time as services are provided to a customer. |
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| Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") |
Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act, among other things, includes tax provisions relating to refundable payroll tax credits, deferment of employer's social security payments, net operating loss utilization and carryback periods and modifications to the net interest deduction limitations. At this time, the Company does not believe that the CARES Act will have a material impact on its income tax provision for 2020. The Company will continue to evaluate the impact of the CARES Act on its financial position, results of operations and cash flows. |
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| Net Loss per Share |
Net Loss per Share Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Since dividends are declared, paid and set aside among the holders of shares of common stock and Class A common stock pro-rata on an as-if-converted basis, the two-class method of computing net loss per share is not required. Diluted net loss per share does not reflect the effect of shares of common stock to be issued upon the exercise of stock options and warrants, as their inclusion would be anti-dilutive. The following table summarizes potentially dilutive securities outstanding at June 30, 2020 and 2019, that were excluded from the computation of diluted net loss per share, as they would be anti-dilutive:
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| Recently Issued Accounting Standards |
Recently Issued Accounting Standards In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes” (“ASU 2019-12”), which is intended to simplify various aspects related to accounting for income taxes. ASU 2019-12 removes certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740 and also clarifies and amends existing guidance to improve consistent application. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on its financial statements and related disclosures. Recently Adopted Accounting Standards In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), - Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement,” which makes a number of changes meant to add, modify or remove certain disclosure requirements associated with the movement amongst or hierarchy associated with Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 fair value measurements. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted upon issuance of the update. The Company adopted ASU No. 2018-13 as of January 1, 2020. The adoption of this update did not have a material impact on the Company’s condensed financial statements. |
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