Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

v3.5.0.2
Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Basis of Accounting, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Basis of Presentation
 
The accompanying unaudited interim condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited interim condensed financial statements reflect all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments necessary for the fair statement of the balances and results for the periods presented. They may not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. Therefore, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2015, which were dated July 27, 2016, and were included in the Company’s Form 10 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on July 28, 2016, which Form 10 was amended and restated on October 18, 2016. The results of operations for any interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the entire fiscal year or any other interim period.
Use of Estimates, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Use of Estimates
 
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Cash and Cash Equivalents
 
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents.
Research and Development Expense, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Research and Development Costs
 
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received rather than when the payment is made. Upfront and milestone payments due to third parties that perform research and development services on the Company’s behalf will be expensed as services are rendered or when the milestone is achieved.
   
Research and development costs primarily consist of personnel related expenses, including salaries, benefits, travel, and other related expenses, stock-based compensation, payments made to third parties for license and milestone costs related to in-licensed products and technology, payments made to third party contract research organizations for preclinical and clinical studies, investigative sites for clinical trials, consultants, the cost of acquiring and manufacturing clinical trial materials, costs associated with regulatory filings, laboratory costs and other supplies.
 
Costs incurred in obtaining technology licenses are charged to research and development expense if the technology licensed has not reached commercial feasibility and has no alternative future use. The licenses purchased by the Company require substantial completion of research and development, regulatory and marketing approval efforts in order to reach commercial feasibility and have no alternative future use. Accordingly, the total purchase price for the licenses acquired is reflected as research and development - licenses acquired on the Company’s unaudited Condensed Statements of Operations.
Annual Equity Fee [Policy Text Block]
Annual Equity Fee
 
Prior to the July 2016 amendment to the Founder’s Agreement, Fortress was entitled to an annual fee on each anniversary date equal to 2.5% of the fully diluted outstanding equity of the Company, payable in Mustang Class B Common Stock (“Annual Equity Fee”). The annual equity fee was part of consideration payable for formation of the Company and identification of certain assets.
 
The Company recorded the Annual Equity Fee in connection with the Founders Agreement with Mustang as contingent consideration. Contingent consideration is recorded when probable and reasonably estimable. The Company’s future share prices cannot be estimated due to the nature of its assets and the Company’s stage of development. Due to these uncertainties, the Company concluded that it could not reasonably estimate the contingent consideration until shares were actually issued on March 13, 2016. Because the issuance of shares on March 13, 2016 occurred prior to the issuance of the December 31, 2015 financial statements, the Company recorded approximately $190,000 in research and development - licenses acquired during the year ended December 31, 2015. Pursuant to the terms of the Mustang Founders Agreement, as amended in July 2016, this equity fee is no longer payable.     
Fair Value Measurement, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Fair Value Measurement
 
The Company follows accounting guidance on fair value measurements for financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis. Under the accounting guidance, fair value is defined as an exit price, representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or a liability.
 
The accounting guidance requires fair value measurements be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:
 
Level 1: Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
 
Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices, for similar assets or liabilities that are directly or indirectly observable in the marketplace.
 
Level 3: Unobservable inputs which are supported by little or no market activity and that are financial instruments whose values are determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques, as well as instruments for which the determination of fair value requires significant judgment or estimation.
 
The fair value hierarchy also requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. Assets and liabilities measured at fair value are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Company’s assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires management to make judgments and consider factors specific to the asset or liability.
Valuation Of Warrant Related To Nsc Note [Policy Text Block]
Valuation of Warrant Related to NSC Note
 
In accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, the Company classified the fair value of the warrant (“Contingently Issuable Warrants”) that was granted in connection with the NSC Note transferred to the Company on July 5, 2016 as a derivative liability as there was a potential that the Company would not have a sufficient number of authorized common shares available to settle this instrument. The Company valued these Contingently Issuable Warrants using a Black-Scholes model and used estimates for an expected dividend yield, a risk-free interest rate, and expected volatility together with management’s estimate of the probability of issuance of the Contingently Issuable Warrants. At each reporting period, as long as the Contingently Issuable Warrants are potentially issuable and there is a potential for an insufficient number of authorized shares available to settle the Contingently Issuable Warrants, the Contingently Issuable Warrants will be revalued and any difference from the previous valuation date would be recognized as a change in fair value in the Company’s Condensed Statements of Operations.
Income Tax, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Income Taxes
 
For purposes of these financial statements, the Company’s income tax expense and deferred tax balances have been recorded as if it filed tax returns on a stand-alone basis separate from Fortress.
    
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities measured at the enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which these items are expected to reverse. Deferred tax assets are reduced by valuation allowances if, based on the consideration of all available evidence, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax asset will not be realized.
Earnings Per Share, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Net Loss per Share
 
Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Since dividends are declared, paid and set aside among the holders of shares of common stock and Class A Common Stock pro-rata on an as-if-converted basis, the two-class method of computing net loss per share is not required. Diluted net loss per share does not reflect the effect of shares of common stock to be issued upon the exercise of warrants or outstanding Class A preferred shares, as their inclusion would be anti-dilutive. There are 670,191 warrants outstanding and 250,000 Class A preferred shares outstanding as of September 30, 2016 and none outstanding as of September 30, 2015, respectively which are excluded from the computations of net loss per share.
New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block]
Recently Issued Accounting Standards 
 
In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows - Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments, which addresses eight specific cash flow issues with the objective of reducing the existing diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted, including adoption in an interim period. The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the impact of this new pronouncement on its condensed statements of cash flows.
 
In April 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-10, Revenue from Contracts with Customer (“ASU 2016-10”). The new guidance is an update to ASC 606 and provides clarity on: identifying performance obligations and licensing implementation. For public companies, ASU 2016-10 is effective for annual periods, including interim periods within those annual periods, beginning after December 15, 2016. The Company is currently evaluating the impact that ASU 2016-10 will have on its condensed financial statements.
 
In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09 Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718), Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (“ASU 2016-09”). Under ASU 2016-09, companies will no longer record excess tax benefits and certain tax deficiencies in additional paid-in capital (“APIC”). Instead, they will record all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement and the APIC pools will be eliminated. In addition, ASU 2016-09 eliminates the requirement that excess tax benefits be realized before companies can recognize them. ASU 2016-09 also requires companies to present excess tax benefits as an operating activity on the statement of cash flows rather than as a financing activity. Furthermore, ASU 2016-09 will increase the amount an employer can withhold to cover income taxes on awards and still qualify for the exception to liability classification for shares used to satisfy the employer’s statutory income tax withholding obligation. An employer with a statutory income tax withholding obligation will now be allowed to withhold shares with a fair value up to the amount of taxes owed using the maximum statutory tax rate in the employee’s applicable jurisdiction(s). ASU 2016-09 requires a company to classify the cash paid to a tax authority when shares are withheld to satisfy its statutory income tax withholding obligation as a financing activity on the statement of cash flows. Under current GAAP, it was not specified how these cash flows should be classified. In addition, companies will now have to elect whether to account for forfeitures on share-based payments by (1) recognizing forfeitures of awards as they occur or (2) estimating the number of awards expected to be forfeited and adjusting the estimate when it is likely to change, as is currently required. The Amendments of this ASU are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, with early adoption permitted but all of the guidance must be adopted in the same period. The Company is currently assessing the impact the adoption of ASU 2016-09 will have on its condensed financial statements.
 
In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASU 2016-02”) which supersedes FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 840, Leases (Topic 840) and provides principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases for both lessees and lessors. The new standard requires lessees to apply a dual approach, classifying leases as either finance or operating leases based on the principle of whether or not the lease is effectively a financed purchase by the lessee. This classification will determine whether lease expense is recognized based on an effective interest method or on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease, respectively. A lessee is also required to record a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for all leases with a term of greater than twelve months regardless of classification. Leases with a term of twelve months or less will be accounted for similar to existing guidance for operating leases. The standard is effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted upon issuance. The Company is currently evaluating the method of adoption and the impact of adopting ASU 2016-02 on its financial statements. When adopted, the Company does not expect this guidance to have a material impact on its condensed financial statements.
   
In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities (“ASU 2016-01”).  ASU 2016-01 requires equity investments to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income; simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values by requiring a qualitative assessment to identify impairment; eliminates the requirement for public business entities to disclose the method(s) and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value that is required to be disclosed for financial instruments measured at amortized cost on the balance sheet; requires public business entities to use the exit price notion when measuring the fair value of financial instruments for disclosure purposes; requires an entity to present separately in other comprehensive income the portion of the total change in the fair value of a liability resulting from a change in the instrument-specific credit risk when the entity has elected to measure the liability at fair value in accordance with the fair value option for financial instruments; requires separate presentation of financial assets and financial liabilities by measurement category and form of financial assets on the balance sheet or the accompanying notes to the financial statements and clarifies that an entity should evaluate the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to available-for-sale securities in combination with the entity’s other deferred tax assets. ASU 2016-01 is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is currently evaluating the impact that ASU 2016-01 will have on its balance sheet or financial statement disclosures. When adopted, the Company does not expect this guidance to have a material impact on its condensed financial statements.
 
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
 
In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03, Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs (“ASU 2015-03”), which requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying value of the associated debt liability, consistent with the presentation of a debt discount. ASU 2015-03 is effective for the interim and annual periods ending after December 15, 2015, with early adoption permitted. The Company adopted ASU 2015-03 on March 31, 2015. The adoption did not have an impact on the financial statements or related disclosures.