11. COMMON STOCK

[a] Authorized

150,000,000 authorized common voting shares, par value of $0.001, and 5,000,000 preferred shares, par value of $0.001.

[b] Issued and outstanding shares

May 2021 Public Offering

On May 27, 2021, we completed an underwritten public offering of our securities, pursuant to which we sold an aggregate of 3,285,714 shares of our common stock, including 428,571 shares subject to the underwriter’s option to purchase additional shares, or the May 2021 Shares. The May 2021 Shares were sold at the public offering price of $7.00 per share.

The underwritten public offering raised total gross proceeds of approximately $23.0 million and after deducting approximately $1.7 million in underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses, we received net proceeds of approximately $21.3 million. The underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses have been charged against the gross proceeds.

At-the-Market Sales Agreement

On December 21, 2021, we entered into an At-the-Market Offering Sales Agreement, or ATM, with Virtu Americas, LLC, as sales agent, pursuant to which from December 21, 2021 through December 31, 2023, we offered and sold an aggregate of 200,000 shares of our common stock. These aggregate sales resulted in gross proceeds to us of approximately $1.5 million. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we did not sell any shares of our common stock pursuant to the ATM. The ATM was subsequently terminated on February 29, 2024 and no further sales of our common stock will be made pursuant to the ATM.

November 2022 Private Placement

In November 2022, we entered into subscription agreements with certain accredited investors pursuant to which we sold to the purchasers in a private placement transaction approximately 4,093,141 units at a purchase price of $4.625 per unit, with each unit consisting of two shares of common stock and a common stock purchase warrant to purchase one share of common stock, or the November 2022 Warrants.

The November 2022 Warrants are exercisable at a price per share of common stock of $4.50, subject to adjustment. The November 2022 Warrants are exercisable beginning on the six-month anniversary of the initial closing date of the private placement offering, May 18, 2023, or the Initial Exercise Date, and will expire on the seven year anniversary of the initial closing date of the private placement offering, or November 18, 2029. The November 2022 Warrants cannot be exercised by a warrant holder if, after giving effect thereto, such warrant holder would beneficially own more than 19.99% of our outstanding common stock. Additionally, subject to certain exceptions, if, after the Initial Exercise Date, (i) the volume weighted average price of our common stock for each of 30 consecutive trading days, or the November 2022 Measurement Period, which November 2022 Measurement Period commenced on November 18, 2022, exceeds 300% of the exercise price (subject to adjustments for stock splits, recapitalizations, stock dividends and similar transactions), (ii) the average daily trading volume for such November 2022 Measurement Period exceeds $500,000 per trading day and (iii) certain other equity conditions are met, and subject to a beneficial ownership limitation, then we may call for cancellation of all or any portion of the November 2022 Warrants then outstanding.

We received approximately $17.9 million in net proceeds from the private placement after deducting placement agent expenses and commissions and offering expenses.

May 2023 Registered Direct Offering

In May 2023, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain purchasers, pursuant to which we sold 3,000,000 shares of common stock at a price of $5.50 per share in a registered direct offering. The offering of the shares was made pursuant to our shelf registration statement on Form S-3, including the prospectus dated January 5, 2022 contained therein, and the prospectus supplement dated May 25, 2023.

The registered direct offering raised total gross proceeds of approximately $16.5 million, and after deducting approximately $1.2 million in placement agent fees and offering expenses, we received net proceeds of approximately $15.3 million.

Equity Award Issuances and Settlements

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we did not issue any shares of common stock to satisfy stock option exercises and issued 139,750 shares of common stock to satisfy restricted stock unit settlements. During the year ended December 31, 2022 we did not issue any shares of common to satisfy stock option exercises and 26,625 shares of common stock to satisfy restricted stock unit settlements for the year ended.

[c] Stock options

2023 Non-Employee Director Equity Incentive Plan

As of December 31, 2023, we had reserved, pursuant to the 2023 Non-Employee Director Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2023 Non-Employee Director Plan, 300,000 shares of common stock for issuance upon exercise of stock options by non-employee directors, of which 132,750 shares were reserved for options currently outstanding and 167,250 shares were available for future equity grants.

Under the 2023 Non-Employee Director Plan, we may grant options to purchase shares of our common stock or restricted stock units to our non-employee directors. The exercise price of the options is determined by our Board but will be at least equal to the fair value of the shares of common stock at the grant date. The options vest in accordance with terms as determined by our Board, typically over one to three years. The expiry date for each option is set by our Board with a maximum expiry date of ten years from the date of grant. In addition, the 2023 Non-Employee Director Plan allows for accelerated vesting of outstanding equity awards in the event of a change in control.

2018 Equity Incentive Plan

As of December 31, 2023, we had reserved, pursuant to the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2018 Plan, 1,722,253 common shares for issuance upon exercise of stock options and settlement of restricted stock units by employees, directors, officers and consultants of ours, of which 1,180,905 were reserved for options currently outstanding, 507,875 for restricted stock units currently outstanding, and 33,473 were available for future equity grants.

Under the 2018 Plan, we may grant options to purchase common shares or restricted stock units to our employees, directors, officers and consultants. The exercise price of the options is determined by our board of directors, or Board, but will be at least equal to the fair value of the shares of common stock at the grant date. The options vest in accordance with terms as determined by our Board, typically over three to four years for options issued to employees and consultants, and over one to three years for members of our Board. The expiry date for each option is set by our Board with a maximum expiry date of ten years from the date of grant. In addition, the 2018 Plan allows for accelerated vesting of outstanding equity awards in the event of a change in control. The terms for accelerated vesting, in the event of a change in control, is determined at our discretion and defined under the employment agreements for our officers and certain of our employees.

New Employee Inducement Grants

We grant stock options as a material inducement to new employees for entering into employment agreements with us in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The stock options approved under the inducement grant were issued pursuant to a stock option agreement on terms substantially similar to our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan. The exercise price of the options is determined by our board of directors but will be at least equal to the fair value of the common shares at the grant date. The options vest in accordance with terms as determined by our board of directors. The expiry date for each option is set by our board of directors with a maximum expiry date of ten years from the date of grant. For the year ended December 31, 2023 we granted 40,000 stock options to new employees. As of December 31, 2023, 135,000 stock options granted as new employee inducement grants were outstanding.

2017 Equity Incentive Plan

As of December 31, 2023, we had reserved, pursuant to the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan, or the 2017 Plan, 13,156 common shares for issuance upon exercise of stock options, currently outstanding, by employees, directors and officers of ours. Upon the effectiveness of our 2018 Plan, we ceased granting equity awards under our 2017 Plan.

Under the 2017 Plan, we granted options to purchase shares of common stock or restricted stock units to our employees, directors, officers and consultants. The exercise price of the options was determined by our Board but was at least equal to the fair value of the shares of common stock at the grant date. The options vest in accordance with terms as determined by our Board, typically over three to four years for options issued to employees and consultants, and over one to three years for members of our Board. The expiry date for each option was set by our Board with a maximum expiry date of ten years from the date of grant. In addition, the 2017 Plan allows for accelerated vesting of outstanding equity awards in the event of a change in control. The terms for accelerated vesting, in the event of a change in control, is determined at our discretion and defined under the employment agreements for our officers and certain of our employees.

2010 Performance Incentive Plan

As of December 31, 2023, we had reserved, pursuant to the 2010 Performance Incentive Plan, or the 2010 Plan, 169 common shares for issuance upon exercise of stock options, currently outstanding, by employees, directors, officers and consultants of ours.

Under the 2010 Plan we granted options to purchase shares of common stock and restricted stock units to our employees, directors, officers and consultants. The exercise price of the options was determined by our board of directors and was at least equal to the fair value of the shares of common stock at the grant date. The options vest in accordance with terms as determined by our Board, typically over three to four years for options issued to employees and consultants, and over one to three years for members of our Board. The expiry date for each option is set by our Board with a maximum expiry date of ten years from the date of grant. In addition, the 2010 Plan allows for accelerated vesting of outstanding equity awards in the event of a change in control. The terms for accelerated vesting, in the event of a change in control, is determined at our discretion and defined under the employment agreements for our officers and certain of our employees.

ASC 718 Compensation – Stock Compensation

We recognize expense related to the fair value of our stock-based compensation awards using the provisions of ASC 718. We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model as the most appropriate fair value method for our stock options and recognize compensation expense for stock options on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period. In valuing our stock options using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, we make assumptions about risk-free interest rates, dividend yields, volatility and weighted average expected lives, including estimated forfeiture rates of the options.

The expected life was calculated based on the simplified method as permitted by the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 110, Share-Based Payment. We consider the use of the simplified method appropriate because of the lack of sufficient historical exercise data following the 2017 Merger Agreement between Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals. The computation of

expected volatility was based on the historical volatility of comparable companies from a representative peer group selected based on industry and market capitalization for grants with an expected life of five years or more. For grants with an expected life of less than five years, the expected volatility was calculated based on the historical volatility of the shares of our common stock. The risk-free interest rate is based on a U.S. Treasury instrument whose term is consistent with the expected life of the stock options. In addition to the assumptions above, as required under ASC 718, management made an estimate of expected forfeitures and is recognizing compensation costs only for those equity awards expected to vest. Forfeiture rates are estimated using historical actual forfeiture rates. These rates are adjusted on a quarterly basis and any change in compensation expense is recognized in the period of the change. We have never paid or declared cash dividends on our common stock and do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

The weighted average fair value of stock options granted during the year ended December 31, 2023 was $4.40.

The following table summarizes information about stock options outstanding at December 31, 2023 regarding the number of ordinary shares issuable upon: (1) outstanding options and (2) vested options.

As at December 31, 2023, and December 31, 2022, the total unrecognized compensation expense related to stock options granted was $3.4 million and $3.2 million, respectively, each of which is expected to be recognized into expense over a period of approximately 1.69 years.

The aggregate intrinsic value of options exercised was calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the stock options and the fair value of the underlying common stock as of the date of exercise. No options were exercised for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021. At December 31, 2023, the aggregate intrinsic value of the outstanding options was zero and the aggregate intrinsic value of the exercisable options was zero.

[d] Restricted Stock Unit Awards

We grant restricted stock unit awards that generally vest and are expensed over a four-year period. We also grant restricted stock unit awards that vest in conjunction with certain performance conditions to certain executive officers and key employees. At each reporting date, we are required to evaluate whether achievement of the performance conditions is probable. Compensation expense is recorded over the appropriate service period based upon our assessment of accomplishing each performance provision. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, $0.9 million, $1.1 million and $0.4 million, respectively, of stock based compensation expense was recognized related to these awards.

As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $0.3 million in total unrecognized compensation expense related to our restricted stock unit awards which is to be recognized over a weighted-average period of approximately 0.07 years.

[e] Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Our board of directors and stockholders approved the 2017 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or ESPP, in August 2017. Contributions are made by eligible employees, subject to certain limits defined in the ESPP. The maximum number of shares authorized to be purchased under the ESPP is 0.3 million shares. All shares purchased under the ESPP are new share issuances. For the year ended December 31, 2023 no shares were purchased under the ESPP. For the year ended December 31, 2022, 28,892 shares were purchased under the ESPP.

[f] Non-employee options and restricted stock units

We recognize non-employee stock-based compensation expense over the period of expected service by the non-employee. As the service is performed, we are required to update our valuation assumptions, re-measure unvested options and restricted stock units and record the stock-based compensation using the valuation as of the vesting date. This differs from the accounting for employee awards where the fair value is determined at the grant date and is not subsequently adjusted. This re-measurement may result in higher or lower stock-based compensation expense in the consolidated statements of loss and comprehensive loss. As such, changes in the market price of our stock could materially change the value of an option or restricted stock unit and the resulting stock-based compensation expense.

[g] Common Stock Warrants

* The pre-funded warrants do not have an expiration date.

The agreements governing the above warrants include the following terms:

For the year ended December 31, 2023, warrants to purchase 98,333 shares, issued in the December 2019 financing, were exercised at a per unit price of $2.31, for proceeds of $0.2 million. For the year ended December 31, 2022, warrants to purchase 3,709 shares, issued in the December 2019 financing, were exercised at a per unit price of $6.60, for proceeds of $24,480. As of December 31, 2023, all of our outstanding warrants are classified as equity.

[h] 401(k) Plan

We maintain a 401(k) plan. Our securities are not offered as an investment option. Our shares are prohibited for inclusion in our 401(k) plan, as well as any match of our shares to employee contributions.

[i] Loss per common share

As of December 31, 2023, a total of 7,058,883 million shares, consisting of warrants to purchase 5,089,028 shares, options exercisable for 1,461,980 shares and 507,875 restricted stock units have not been included in the calculation of potential common shares as their effect on diluted per share amounts would have been anti-dilutive. Additionally, the outstanding Convertible Debt due December 2024 is included in the calculation of diluted per share amounts only if its inclusion is dilutive for periods during which the notes were outstanding. As of December 31, 2023, the outstanding Convertible Debt was not included in the calculation of diluted per share amounts as its effect would have been anti-dilutive.