NOTE 21 – COMMITMENTS

Contractual agreements

The Company has entered into contracts with various contract research organizations with outstanding commitments aggregating approximately $23.2 million at December 31, 2023 for future work to be performed.

Defined contribution plan

The Company has a qualified defined contribution plan (the “401(k) Plan”) pursuant to Section 401(k) of the Code, whereby all eligible employees may participate. Participants may elect to defer a percentage of their annual pretax compensation to the 401(k) Plan, subject to defined limitations. The Company is required to make contributions to the 401(k) Plan equal to 100 percent of each participant’s pretax contributions of up to six percent of his or her eligible compensation, and the Company is also required to make a contribution equal to three percent of each participant’s salary, on an annual basis, subject to limitations under the Code. The Company charged operations $1.3 million and $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, for contributions under the 401(k) Plan.