Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

SHARE BASED COMPENSATION

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SHARE BASED COMPENSATION
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2014
Disclosure Of Compensation Related Costs, Share-Based Payments [Abstract]  
Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Text Block]
NOTE 4 – SHARE BASED COMPENSATION
 
2012 Incentive Stock Option Plan
 
On April 16, 2012, the Company’s stockholders approved the 2012 Incentive Stock Option Plan (the “2012 Plan”). The 2012 Plan provides for the issuance of options to purchase up to 200,000 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 of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) to employees of the Company and may also issue nonstatutory options to employees and others. The Company’s board of directors (“Board of Directors”) determines the exercise price, vesting and expiration period of the grants under the 2012 Plan. However, the exercise price of an incentive stock option may not be less than 110% of fair value of the common stock at the date of the grant for a 10% or more shareholder and 100% of fair value for a grantee who is not a 10% shareholder. 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 may not be more than five years and expiration period not more than ten years. The Company reserved 200,000 shares of its common stock for future issuance under the terms of the 2012 Plan.
 
On May 9, 2012, 175,000 options had been granted under the 2012 Plan. Of such options, 25,000 were cancelled and 150,000 were outstanding at June 30, 2014 with an exercise price of $30.00, a 10 year life and fair value of $23.50.
 
On February 12, 2013, the 2012 Plan was amended and restated to increase the number of shares reserved under the plan to 550,000. On February 12, 2013, 226,500 options were granted under the 2012 Plan (all of which were outstanding at June 30, 2014) with an exercise price of $10.20, a 10 year life and fair value of $7.83.
 
On February 11, 2014, 173,500 options were granted under the 2012 Plan (all of which were outstanding at June 30, 2014) with an exercise price of $15.88, a 10 year life and fair value of $11.52.
 
2014 Incentive Stock Plan
 
On June 9, 2014, the Company’s stockholders approved the Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Corp. 2014 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2014 Plan” and together with the 2012 Plan, the “Plans”). Under the terms of the 2014 Plan, the Company may issue (1) stock options (incentive and nonstatutory), (2) restricted stock, (3) stock appreciation rights, or SARs, (4) restricted stock units,  or RSUs, (5) other stock-based awards, and (6) cash-based awards. The 2014 Plan provides for the issuance of up to 1,800,000 shares of common stock, provided, however, that, of the aggregate number of 2014 Plan shares authorized, no more than 200,000 of such shares may be issued pursuant to stock-settled awards other than options (that is, restricted stock, RSUs, SARs, performance awards, other stock-based awards and dividend equivalent awards, in each case to the extent settled in shares of common stock). The Board of Directors determines the exercise price, vesting and expiration period of the grants under the 2014 Plan. However, the exercise price of an incentive stock option may not be less than 110% of fair value of the common stock at the date of the grant for a 10% or more shareholder and 100% of fair value for a grantee who is not a 10% shareholder. 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 2014 Plan may not be more than five years and expiration period not more than ten years. The Company reserved 1,800,000 shares of its common stock for future issuance under the terms of the 2014 Plan.
 
On June 17, 2014, 355,100 options were granted under the 2014 Plan (all of which were outstanding at June 30, 2014) with an exercise price of $9.87, a 10 year life and fair value of $8.76.
 
General
 
The Company measures the fair value of stock options on the date of grant, based on a 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 pursuant to the Plans vest 1/3rd 12 months from the date of grant and 1/36th each month thereafter for 24 months and expire ten years from the date of grant. Share-based compensation expense related to awards is amortized over the applicable vesting period using the straight-line method.
 
The assumptions used in the valuation of stock options granted during the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013 were as follows:
 
 
 
Six Months
Ended
June 30,
2014
 
 
Six Months
Ended
June 30,
2013
 
Risk-free interest rate
 
 
2.19% to 2.27%
 
 
 
2.02
%
Expected term of option
 
 
6.0 years
 
 
 
6.0 years
 
Expected stock price volatility
 
 
97.56% to 100.73%
 
 
 
99.96
%
Expected dividend yield
 
$
0.0
 
 
$
0.0
 
 
The risk-free interest rate is based on the yield of Daily U.S. Treasury Yield Curve Rates with terms equal to the expected term of the options as of the grant date.  The expected term of options is determined using the simplified method, as provided in an SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin, and the expected stock price volatility is based on comparable companies’ historical stock price volatility since the Company does not have sufficient historical exercise or volatility data because its equity shares have been publicly traded for only a limited period of time.  
 
Share-based compensation expense of $651,323 and $1,203,924 was recognized for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2014, respectively; and $441,572 and $833,895 for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2013, respectively.
 
As of June 30, 2014, the Company had approximately $6.8 million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested awards granted under the Plans, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted average period of 2.38 years.  
 
A summary of the stock option activity and related information for the Plans for the six months ended June 30, 2014 is as follows:
  
 
 
Shares
 
Weighted-
Average
Exercise Price
 
Weighted-
Average
Remaining
Contractual Term
 
Aggregate Intrinsic
Value
 
Outstanding at January 1, 2014
 
376,500
 
$
18.09
 
8.81
 
$
 
 
Grants
 
528,600
 
$
11.84
 
9.85
 
$
 
 
Exercised
 
-
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Forfeitures or expirations
 
-
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Outstanding at June 30, 2014
 
905,100
 
$
14.44
 
9.21
 
$
2,532,527
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Vested and expected to vest at June 30, 2014
 
905,100
 
$
14.44
 
9.21
 
$
2,532,527
 
Exercisable at June 30, 2014
 
204,833
 
$
20.27
 
8.23
 
$
417,767
 
 
2014 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
 
On June 9, 2014, the Company’s stockholders approved the Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Corp. 2014 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “2014 ESPP”). The 2014 ESPP allows eligible employees to purchase up to an aggregate of  300,000  shares of the Company’s common stock. Under the 2014 ESPP, on the first day of each offering period, each eligible employee for that offering period has the option to enroll for that offering period, which allows the eligible employees to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock at the end of the offering period. Each participant will be permitted to purchase a number of shares determined by dividing the employee’s accumulated payroll deductions for the offering period by the applicable purchase price, which is equal to 85 percent of the fair market value of our common stock at the beginning or end of each offering period, whichever is less. A participant must designate in his or her enrollment package the percentage (if any) of compensation to be deducted during that offering period for the purchase of stock under the 2014 ESPP, subject to the statutory limit under the Code. As of June 30, 2014, there were 300,000 shares available for future issuance under the 2014 ESPP.