3. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND RISK

Concentration of Cash and Cash Equivalents Risk

We place our cash primarily in commercial checking accounts with various financial institutions. As of December 31, 2023, approximately $0.4 million of our cash and $2.4 million of our cash equivalents (Note 7 – Fair Value Measurements) is held in a single financial institution, SVB, as required by the covenants of our Convertible Debt Agreement (Note 9 – Convertible Debt). Our commercial bank balances exceed federal insurance limits.

We have not experienced any losses in our cash and cash equivalents for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.

Concentration of Credit Risk

For certain of our financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, accounts payable, accrued liabilities other, accrued clinical liabilities and accrued compensation carrying values approximate fair value due to their short-term nature. Our cash equivalents are recorded at fair value.

Financial risk is the risk to our results of operations that arises from fluctuations in interest rates and foreign exchange rates and the degree of volatility of these rates as well as credit risk associated with the financial stability of the issuers of the financial instruments. Foreign exchange rate risk arises as a portion of our expenses are denominated in other than U.S. dollars.

We invest our excess cash in accordance with investment guidelines, which limit our credit exposure for securities to any one financial institution or corporation other than securities issued by the U.S. government. We only invest in A (or equivalent) rated securities with maturities of one year or less. These securities generally mature within one year or less and in some cases are not collateralized. At December 31, 2023 the average days to maturity of our portfolio of cash equivalents and marketable securities was zero days. We do not use derivative instruments to hedge against any of these financial risks.