6.  Leases



The Company leases 5,466 square feet of office space in Rockville, Maryland, with a lease term ending June 30, 2024.  Under the lease agreement, the Company pays its allocable portion of real estate taxes and common area operating charges, which are recorded as variable lease costs.  The lease has escalating rent payments for which the Company records lease expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term, and an option to terminate the leased premises, without penalty, on June 30, 2021.  The Company is reasonably certain that it will not remain in these leased premises after the optional termination date, and therefore, is using the optional termination date in assessing the lease term.



The following table summarizes the right of use lease assets and lease liabilities as of March 31, 2020:







The components of lease expense were as follows:





The right-of-use asset and lease liability were calculated using an estimated incremental borrowing rate of 11%.  At March 31, 2020, the weighted average lease term was 1.3 years.

The table below summarizes the Company’s scheduled future minimum lease payments recorded on the balance sheet, as of March 31, 2020:







8. Leases



The Company adopted ASU 2016-02 on January 1, 2019.  Upon adoption, leases classified as operating leases under previous U.S. GAAP are recognized as right of use lease assets and lease liabilities.  The classification criteria for distinguishing between finance leases and operating leases pursuant to ASU 2016-02 are substantially similar to the classification criteria for distinguishing between capital leases and operating leases in the previous leases guidance.  Upon adoption, the Company did not have any finance leases, and the Company’s operating leases were as follows:



Office Space Lease



The Company leases 5,466 square feet of office space in Rockville, Maryland, with a lease term ending June 30, 2024.  Prior to the amendment of this lease on March 18, 2019, the lease covered 7,193 square feet and had a lease term ending June 30, 2019.  Under the lease agreement, the Company pays its allocable portion of real estate taxes and common area operating charges.  The lease has escalating rent payments for which the Company records lease expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term, and an option to terminate the leased premises, without penalty, on June 30, 2021.  The Company is reasonably certain that it will not remain in these leased premises after the optional termination date, and therefore, is using the optional termination date in assessing the lease term.



Laboratory Lease



The Company previously leased 2,552 square feet of laboratory space with a lease term due to end on June 30, 2020.  The Company terminated its laboratory lease agreement on February 4, 2019 and surrendered the premises on February 28, 2019. 



The following table summarizes the right of use lease assets and lease liabilities as of December 31, 2019:

 





Lease expense for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $229,701, which includes $200,948 in operating lease costs and $28,753 in variable lease costs.  The right-of-use asset and lease liability were calculated using an estimated incremental borrowing rate of 11%.  At December 31, 2019, the weighted average lease term was 1.5 years.





The table below summarizes the Company’s scheduled future minimum lease payments recorded on the balance sheet, as of December 31, 2019: