Quarterly report pursuant to sections 13 or 15(d)

SHARE BASED COMPENSATION

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SHARE BASED COMPENSATION
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
Disclosure Of Compensation Related Costs, Share-Based Payments [Abstract]  
Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Text Block]

NOTE 8 – SHARE BASED COMPENSATION

 

2010 Stock Plan

 

In June and August 2010, respectively, the Board of Directors and stockholders of Tonix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. approved, and in December 2010 and February 2011, the Board of Directors amended, the terms and provisions of the 2010 Stock Plan (the "2010 Plan") whereby the Company reserved 4,564,641 shares of its Common Stock for issuance pursuant to the 2010 Plan. The 2010 Plan allowed for grants of options to purchase shares of Common Stock and awards of restricted Common Stock to employees, officers, directors, consultants and advisors of the Company.

 

In February 2011, the Company granted shares of restricted Common Stock to employees as follows: 196,359 shares to the Chief Business Officer and 130,906 shares to the incoming President of Krele. The shares vest: 20% on the grant date and 20% on each of the first, second, third and fourth anniversaries of the grant date. In August 2011, upon resignation of the President of Krele, 104,725 unvested shares were forfeited.

 

In March and April 2011, the Company granted 19,636 and 21,818 shares of restricted Common Stock, respectively, to newly appointed members of the Scientific Advisory Board and the Board of Directors which vest: 25% on the grant date and 25% on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of the grant date.

 

The Company recognized share-based compensation expense of $139,063 ($93,892 for the six months ended June 30, 2011) prior to Share Exchange and remaining expense of $296,588 was recognized on October 7, 2011, the date of Share Exchange, upon which all non vested restricted shares vested and the 2010 Plan ceased to exist.

 

2012 Incentive Stock Option Plan

 

On February 12, 2012, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the 2012 Incentive Stock Option Plan (the “2012 Plan”). The 2012 Plan provides for the issuance of options to purchase up to 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock to officers, directors, employees and consultants of the Company. Under the terms of the 2012 Plan, the Company may issue Incentive Stock Options as defined by the Internal Revenue Code to employees of the Company only and nonstatutory options. The Board of Directors of the Company determines the exercise price, vesting and expiration period of the grants under the 2012 Plan. However, the exercise price of an Incentive Stock Option should not be less than 110% of fair value of the common stock at the date of the grant for a 10% or more stockholder and 100% of fair value for a grantee who is not 10% stockholder. The fair value of the common stock is determined based on quoted market price or in absence of such quoted market price, by the Board of Directors in good faith. Additionally, the vesting period of the grants under the 2012 Plan should not be more than five years and expiration period not more than ten years. The Company reserved 4,000,000 shares of its common stock for future issuance under the terms of the 2012 Plan. On May 9, 2012, 3,500,000 options had been granted under the 2012 Plan (all of which are outstanding at June 30, 2012) with an exercise price of $1.50, a 10 year life and fair value of $1.175. The options vest 1/3rd on May 9, 2013 and 1/36th on the 9th of each month through for 24 months.

 

The Company measures the fair value of stock options on the date of grant, based on Binomial option pricing model using certain assumptions discussed in the following paragraph, and the closing market price of the Company's common stock on the date of the grant. Stock options granted vest over a three year period and expire ten years from the date of grant. Share-based compensation expense related to awards is amortized over the applicable vesting periods using the straight-line method. Share-based compensation expense of $228,532 was recognized for the six month period ended June 30, 2012.

 

The assumptions used in the valuation of stock options granted during the six months ended June 30, 2012 were as follows:

 

Risk-free interest rate     1.87 %
Expected term of option     6.5 years  
Expected stock price volatility     95.89 %
Expected dividend yield   $ 0.0  

 

The risk-free rate of return is based on the yield of Daily U.S. Treasury Yield Curve Rates with terms equal to the expected life of the options as of the grant date.  The expected term of options determined using the simplified method and the expected stock price volatility is based on comparable companies’ historical stock price volatility since the Company does not have sufficient historical exercise data because its equity shares have been publicly traded for only a limited period of time.  

 

As of June 30, 2012, the Company had approximately $3,885,044 of total unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested awards granted under the Company’s 2012 Plan, which the Company expects to recognize over approximately a three-year period.