Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Note 1 - The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

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Note 1 - The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
The Company and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Business

 

In 1965, the corporate predecessor of GT Biopharma, Diagnostic Data, Inc. was incorporated in the State of California. Diagnostic Data changed its incorporation to the State of Delaware in 1972. and changed its name to DDI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1985. In 1994, DDI Pharmaceuticals merged with International BioClinical, Inc. and Bioxytech S.A. and changed its name to OXIS International, Inc. In July 2017, the Company changed its name to GT Biopharma, Inc.

 

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel immuno-oncology products based off our proprietary Natural Killer (NK) cell engager (Tri-specific Killer Engager (TriKE) & Tetra-specific Killer Engager (TetraKE)) and bi-specific Antibody Drug Conjugate (bispecific-ADC) technology platforms. Our TriKE and TetraKE platforms generate proprietary moieties designed to harness and enhance the cancer killing abilities of a patient’s own natural killer, or NK, cells. Once bound to a NK cell, our moieties are designed to stimulate the NK cell and precisely direct it to one or more specifically-targeted proteins (tumor antigens) expressed on a specific type of cancer, ultimately resulting in the cancer cell’s death. TriKEs and TetraKEs are made up of recombinant fusion proteins, can be designed to target tumor antigens on hematologic malignancies, sarcomas or solid tumors and do not require patient-specific customization. They are designed to be dosed in an outpatient setting and are expected to have reasonably low cost of goods. Our bispecific-ADC platform can generate product candidates that are ligand-directed single-chain fusion proteins that simultaneously target two tumor antigens. We believe our bispecific-ADC moieties represents the next generation of ADCs.

 

Going Concern

 

The Company’s current operations have focused on business planning, raising capital, establishing an intellectual property portfolio, hiring, and conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials. The Company does not have any product candidates approved for sale and has not generated any revenue from product sales. The Company has sustained operating losses since inception and expects such losses to continue over the foreseeable future.

 

The financial statements of the Company have been prepared on a goingconcern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. Accordingly, the financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue in existence.

 

The Company has incurred substantial losses and negative cash flows from operations since its inception and has an accumulated deficit of $566 million and cash of $313 thousand as of September 30, 2019. The Company anticipates incurring additional losses until such time, if ever, that it can generate significant sales of its products currently in development. Substantial additional financing will be needed by the Company to fund its operations and to commercially develop its product candidates. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

 

Management is currently evaluating different strategies to obtain the required funding for future operations. These strategies may include but are not limited to: public offerings of equity and/or debt securities, payments from potential strategic research and development, and licensing and/or marketing arrangements with pharmaceutical companies. If the Company is unable to secure adequate additional funding, its business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows may be materially and adversely affected.

 

Use of Estimates

 

The financial statements and notes are representations of the Company's management, which is responsible for their integrity and objectivity. These accounting policies conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and have been consistently applied in the preparation of the financial statements. The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities revenues and expenses and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

 

Basis of Consolidation and Comprehensive Income

 

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of GT Biopharma, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. The Company's financial statements are prepared using the accrual method of accounting.

 

Basis of Presentation

 

The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. (“U.S. GAAP”) and the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Certain information and disclosures required by U.S. GAAP for complete consolidated financial statements have been condensed or omitted herein. The interim condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial information presented herein reflects all normal adjustments that are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair statement of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. The Company is responsible for the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements included in this report. The results of operations of any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results for the full year.

 

Cash and Cash Equivalents

 

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less to be cash equivalents.

 

Concentrations of Credit Risk

 

The Company's cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities and accounts receivable are monitored for exposure to concentrations of credit risk. The Company maintains substantially all of its cash balances in a limited number of financial institutions. The balances are each insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $250,000. The Company had balances totaling $63,000 in excess of this limit at September 30, 2019.

 

Stock Based Compensation to Employees

 

The Company accounts for its stock-based compensation for employees in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 718.  The Company recognizes in the statement of operations the grant-date fair value of stock options and other equity-based compensation issued to employees and non-employees over the related vesting period.

 

The Company granted no stock options during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively

 

Long-Lived Assets

 

Our long-lived assets include property, plant and equipment, capitalized costs of filing patent applications and other indefinite lived intangible assets. We evaluate our long-lived assets for impairment, other than indefinite lived intangible assets, in accordance with ASC 360, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. Estimates of future cash flows and timing of events for evaluating long-lived assets for impairment are based upon management’s judgment. If any of our intangible or long-lived assets are considered to be impaired, the amount of impairment to be recognized is the excess of the carrying amount of the assets over its fair value.

 

Applicable long-lived assets are amortized or depreciated over the shorter of their estimated useful lives, the estimated period that the assets will generate revenue, or the statutory or contractual term in the case of patents. Estimates of useful lives and periods of expected revenue generation are reviewed periodically for appropriateness and are based upon management’s judgment.

 

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

 

The Company's long-lived assets currently consist of indefinite lived intangible assets associated with IPR&D (“In-Process Research & Development”) projects and related capitalized patents acquired in the acquisition of Georgetown Translational Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as described in Note 2 below.  Intangible assets associated with IPR&D projects are not amortized until approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is obtained in a major market subject to certain specified conditions and management judgment. The useful life of an amortizing asset generally is determined by identifying the period in which substantially all of the cash flows are expected to be generated.

 

The Company evaluates indefinite lived intangible assets for impairment at least annually and whenever impairment indicators are present in accordance with ASC 350. When necessary, the Company records an impairment loss for the amount by which the fair value is less than the carrying value of these assets. The fair value of intangible assets other than goodwill is typically determined using the “relief from royalty method”, specifically the discounted cash flow method utilizing Level 3 fair value inputs. Some of the more significant estimates and assumptions inherent in this approach include: the amount and timing of the projected net cash flows, which includes the expected impact of competitive, legal and/or regulatory forces on the projections and the impact of technological risk associated with IPR&D assets, as well as the selection of a long-term growth rate; the discount rate, which seeks to reflect the various risks inherent in the projected cash flows; and the tax rate, which seeks to incorporate the geographic diversity of the projected cash flows.

 

The Company performs impairment testing for all other long-lived assets whenever impairment indicators are present. When necessary, the Company calculates the undiscounted value of the projected cash flows associated with the asset, or asset group, and compares this estimated amount to the carrying amount. If the carrying amount is found to be greater, we record an impairment loss for the excess of book value over fair value.

 

Income Taxes

 

The Company accounts for income taxes using the asset and liability approach, whereby deferred income tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax effects, based on current enacted tax laws, of temporary differences between financial and tax reporting for current and prior periods. Deferred tax assets are reduced, if necessary, by a valuation allowance if the corresponding future tax benefits may not be realized.

 

Net Income (Loss) per Share

 

Basic net income (loss) per share is computed by dividing the net loss for the period by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net income (loss) per share is computed by dividing the net loss for the period by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period, plus the potential dilutive effect of common shares issuable upon exercise or conversion of outstanding stock options and warrants during the period. The weighted average number of potentially dilutive common shares excluded from the calculation of net income (loss) per share totaled in 73,520,680 and 2,977,958 as of September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Patents

 

Acquired patents are capitalized at their acquisition cost or fair value. The legal costs, patent registration fees and models and drawings required for filing patent applications are capitalized if they relate to commercially viable technologies. Commercially viable technologies are those technologies that are projected to generate future positive cash flows in the near term. Legal costs associated with patent applications that are not determined to be commercially viable are expensed as incurred. All research and development costs incurred in developing the patentable idea are expensed as incurred. Legal fees from the costs incurred in successful defense to the extent of an evident increase in the value of the patents are capitalized.

 

Capitalized cost for pending patents are amortized on a straight-line basis over the remaining twenty year legal life of each patent after the costs have been incurred. Once each patent is issued, capitalized costs are amortized on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the patent's remaining statutory life, estimated economic life or ten years.

 

Fixed Assets

 

Fixed assets is stated at cost. Depreciation is computed on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the assets, which are 3 to 10 years for machinery and equipment and the shorter of the lease term or estimated economic life for leasehold improvements.

 

Fair Value

 

The carrying amounts reported in the balance sheets for receivables and current liabilities each qualify as financial instruments and are a reasonable estimate of fair value because of the short period of time between the origination of such instruments and their expected realization and their current market rate of interest.  The three levels are defined as follows:

 

●  Level 1 inputs to the valuation methodology are quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets. The Company’s Level 1 assets include cash equivalents, primarily institutional money market funds, whose carrying value represents fair value because of their short-term maturities of the investments held by these funds.

 

●  Level 2 inputs to the valuation methodology include quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, and inputs that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the financial instrument. The Company’s Level 2 valuation amounts consist of warrants and beneficial conversion features arising from the issuance of convertible securities and in accordance with ASC 815-40.

 

●  Level 3 inputs to the valuation methodology are unobservable and significant to the fair value measurement.

 

Research and Development

 

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred and reported as research and development expense. Research and development costs totaling $1.6 million and $7.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

 

Revenue Recognition

 

License Revenue

 

License arrangements may consist of non-refundable upfront license fees, exclusive licensed rights to patented or patent pending technology, and various performance or sales milestones and future product royalty payments. Some of these arrangements are multiple element arrangements.

 

Non-refundable, up-front fees that are not contingent on any future performance by us, and require no consequential continuing involvement on our part, are recognized as revenue when the license term commences and the licensed data, technology and/or compound is delivered.  We defer recognition of non-refundable upfront fees if we have continuing performance obligations without which the technology, right, product or service conveyed in conjunction with the non-refundable fee has no utility to the licensee that is separate and independent of our performance under the other elements of the arrangement. In addition, if we have continuing involvement through research and development services that are required because our know-how and expertise related to the technology is proprietary to us, or can only be performed by us, then such up-front fees are deferred and recognized over the period of continuing involvement.

 

Payments related to substantive, performance-based milestones in a research and development arrangement are recognized as revenue upon the achievement of the milestones as specified in the underlying agreements when they represent the culmination of the earnings process. As of September 30, 2019, the Company has not generated any licensing revenue.

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

 

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued new guidance related to accounting for leases, Accounting Standards codification Topic 842 (ASC 842). We adopted the new guidance on January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective approach and the optional transition method. Under this adoption method, comparative prior periods were not adjusted and continue to be reported with our historical accounting policy. The primary impact of adopting this standard was the recognition of $173 thousand in operating lease liabilities and $165 thousand in right of use assets.