12. Warrants

The following table summarizes the Company’s outstanding warrants to purchase common stock as of December 31, 2019 and 2018



The following table summarizes the Company’s warrant activity for the year ended December 31, 2019:



At December 31, 2019, the weighted average remaining contractual life of the outstanding warrants was 3.7 years.

Accounting for Liability-classified Warrants



The warrants issued to investors in the November 2015, March 2016 and September 2016 offerings contain a provision for net cash settlement in the event of a fundamental transaction (contractually defined to include a merger, sale of substantially all assets, tender offer or share exchange).  The warrant holder would have the option to receive cash equal to the fair value of the remaining unexercised portion of the warrant.  In addition, the warrants from these three and the June 2017 and October 2017 offerings contain a cashless exercise provision that is exercisable only in the event that a registration statement is not effective. That provision may not be operative if an effective registration statement is not available because an exemption under the U.S. securities laws may not be available to issue unregistered shares.  As a result, net cash settlement may be required, and these warrants require liability classification.



ASC 820 provides requirements for disclosure of liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis in periods subsequent to the initial recognition.  Fair values for warrants were determined using the Binomial Lattice (“Lattice”) valuation technique.  The Lattice model provides for dynamic assumptions regarding volatility and risk-free interest rates within the total period to maturity.  Accordingly, within the contractual term, the Company provided multiple date intervals over which multiple volatilities and risk-free interest rates were used.  These intervals allow the Lattice model to project outcomes along specific paths that consider volatilities and risk-free rates that would be more likely in an early exercise scenario.



Significant assumptions are determined as follows:

Trading market values—Published trading market values;

Exercise price—Stated exercise price;

Term—Remaining contractual term of the warrant;

Volatility—Historical trading volatility for periods consistent with the remaining terms; and

Risk-free rate—Yields on zero coupon government securities with remaining terms consistent with the remaining terms of the warrants.



Due to the fundamental transaction provision, which could provide for early redemption of the warrants, the model also considered the probability the Company would enter into a fundamental transaction during the remaining term of the warrant. Historically, the Company has considered the probability of a fundamental transaction occurring to be remote, however, in September 2019, the Company commenced a process to explore and evaluate strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value, which could result in a fundamental transaction as defined by the warrant agreements. Therefore, the Company adjusted the likelihood and timing of its fundamental transaction  assumptions when calculating the fair values of the liability-classified warrants as of December 31, 2019.



The significant unobservable inputs used in the fair value measurement of the warrants include management’s estimate of the probability that a fundamental transaction may occur in the future.  Significant increases (decreases) in the probability of occurrence would result in a significantly higher (lower) fair value measurement.



The following table summarizes the fair value of the warrants as of the respective balance sheet dates:



The assumptions used in calculating the fair values of the warrants are as follows:











Changes in the fair value of the warrant liabilities, carried at fair value, as reported as “unrealized gain on fair value of warrants” in the statement of operations: