SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND RELATED MATTERS (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies And Related Matters Policies

GOING CONCERN

As of December 31, 2016 the Company has cumulative losses totaling $(61,338,000) and negative working capital of $602,000. The Company had a net loss of $6,108,000 for the year ended December 31, 2016. Because of these conditions, the Company will require additional working capital to develop business operations. The Company intends to raise additional working capital through the continued licensing of its technology as well as to generate revenues for other services. The Company is also contemplating the spin-off of one of its subsidiaries. There are no assurances that the Company will be able to achieve the level of revenues adequate to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to support the Company’s working capital requirements. To the extent that funds generated are insufficient, the Company will have to raise additional working capital. No assurance can be given that additional financing will be available, or if available, will be on terms acceptable to the Company. If adequate working capital is not available, the Company may not continue its operations.

These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of asset carrying amounts or the amount and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.

USE OF ESTIMATES

The preparation of consolidated financial statements, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Management makes estimates that affect, carrying value of the Company’s patents, deferred income tax assets, estimated useful lives of property and equipment, useful lives of intangible assets, accrued expenses, fair value of equity instruments and reserves for any other commitments or contingencies. Any adjustments applied to estimates are recognized in the year in which such adjustments are determined.

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents for the purposes of the statement of cash flows.

CASH CONCENTRATION

The Company’s cash accounts are fully insured up to $250,000. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company had cash accounts exceeding insured amount totaling $750,000 and $4,750,000, respectively.

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Expenditures for major additions and improvements are capitalized, and minor replacements, maintenance, and repairs are charged to expense as incurred. When property and equipment are retired or otherwise disposed of, the cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the accounts and any resulting gain or loss is included in the results of operations for the respective period. Depreciation is provided over the estimated useful lives of the related assets using the straight-line method for financial statement purposes.

IMPAIRMENT OF LONG-LIVED ASSETS

The Company applies the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 360-10, Property, Plant and Equipment, where applicable to all long lived assets. FASB ASC 360-10 addresses accounting and reporting for impairment and disposal of long-lived assets. The Company periodically evaluates the carrying value of long-lived assets to be held and used in accordance with FASB ASC 360-10. FASB ASC 360-10 requires impairment losses to be recorded on long-lived assets used in operations when indicators of impairment are present and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than the assets’ carrying amounts. In that event, a loss is recognized based on the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the fair market value of the long-lived assets. Loss on long-lived assets to be disposed of is determined in a similar manner, except that fair market values are reduced for the cost of disposal.

INTANGIBLE ASSETS

License Agreements

In 2008, the Company obtained licenses to the rights of certain patents regarding nanostructured materials developed by another company as a result of the acquisition of Metallicum. The purchase price paid for these licenses was $305,000, which represented its fair value. The Company obtained an exclusive license on two patents and a non-exclusive license on the third patent. The value attributable to license agreements is being amortized over the period of its estimated benefit period of 10 years. At December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, accumulated amortization was $255,000 and $225,000, respectively. Under the terms of the agreement, the Company may be required to pay royalties, as defined, to the licensors.

In 2009, the Company entered into a patent license agreement with Los Alamos National Security LLC for the exclusive use of certain technology relating to the manufacture and application of nanostructuring metals and alloys. The purchase price paid for this license agreement was $33,000 based on the fair market value of 2,000,000 shares of common stock issued. The value attributable to license agreements is being amortized over the period of its estimated benefit period of 10 years. At December 31, 2016 and 2015, accumulated amortization was $26,000 and $23,000, respectively. Under the terms of the agreement, the Company is required to pay an annual license fee of $10,000 starting in February 2010 and, may be required to pay royalties, as defined, to the licensors.

In 2011, the Company acquired Scientific Nanomedicine, Inc., which holds the commercial rights to technology and intellectual property with respect to the early detection of diseases using nanotechnologies. The acquisition of Scientific Nanomedicine, Inc. has been accounted for as an asset purchase since this company had no tangible assets or liabilities and did not have the business inputs and outputs to be considered a business. The purchase price totaling $1,300,000 (fair value of 21,667,000 shares of common stocks issued) has been allocated to in process research and development and is being amortized over its estimated benefit period of 10 years. At December 31, 2016 and 2015, accumulated amortization was $726,000 and $596,000. We subsequently dissolved Scientific Nanomedicine and transferred all remaining assets to Senior Scientific LLC.

INCOME TAXES

The Company accounts for income taxes under an asset and liability approach. This process involves calculating the temporary and permanent differences between the carrying amounts of the assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes. The temporary differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which would be recorded on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets in accordance with ASC 740, which established financial accounting and reporting standards for the effect of income taxes. The Company must assess the likelihood that its deferred tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income and, to the extent the Company believes that recovery is not likely, the Company must establish a valuation allowance. Changes in the Company’s valuation allowance in a period are recorded through the income tax provision on the consolidated statements of operations.

ASC 740-10 clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an entity’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attributes for financial statement disclosure of tax positions taken or expected to be taken on a tax return.

Under ASC 740-10, the impact of an uncertain income tax position on the income tax return must be recognized at the largest amount that is more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon audit by the relevant taxing authority. An uncertain income tax position will not be recognized if it has less than a 50% likelihood of being sustained. Additionally, ASC 740-10 provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition. As a result of the implementation of ASC 740-10, the Company recognized no material adjustment in the liability for unrecognized income tax benefits.

BASIC AND DILUTED LOSS PER SHARE

In accordance with FASB ASC 260, “Earnings Per Share,” the basic loss per share is computed by dividing the loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Basic net loss per share excludes the dilutive effect of stock options or warrants and convertible notes Diluted net earnings (loss) per common share is determined using the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, adjusted for the dilutive effect of common stock equivalents, consisting of shares that might be issued upon exercise of common stock options and warrants. In periods where losses are reported, the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding excludes common stock equivalents, because their inclusion would be anti-dilutive. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, 77,748,182 and 71,798,000 dilutive shares were excluded from the calculation of diluted loss per common share.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred and amounted to $3,335,000 and $2,937,000 for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015. 

INVESTMENTS

Available-for-Sale Investments

Investments that the Company designates as available-for-sale are reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses, net of tax, recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). The Company determines the cost of the investment sold based on the specific identification method. The Company’s available-for-sale investments include:

· Marketable equity securities The Company acquires these equity investments for the promotion of business and strategic objectives. The Company records the realized gains or losses on the sale or exchange of marketable equity securities in gains (losses) on other equity investments, net.

Non-Marketable and Other Equity Investments

The Company accounts for non-marketable and other equity investments under either the cost or equity method and includes them in other long-term assets. The non-marketable and other equity investments include:

· Non-marketable cost method investments when the equity method does not apply. The Company records the realized gains or losses on the sale of non-marketable cost method investments in gains (losses) on other equity investments, net.

REVENUE RECOGNITION

To date the only revenue generated is from the sale of field technology developed by Metallicum related to the Company’s nanotechnology, services provided and sample materials (See Note 8).

Revenue is recognized when the four basic criteria of revenue recognition are met: (i) a contractual agreement exists; (ii) transfer of technology (intellectual property) has been completed or services have been rendered; (iii) the fee is fixed or determinable, and (iv) collectability is reasonably assured. Service revenue is recognized when specific milestones are reached or as service is provided if there are no discernible milestones.

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation based on the fair value of all option grants or stock issuances made to employees or directors on or after its implementation date (the beginning of fiscal 2006), as well as a portion of the fair value of each option and stock grant made to employees or directors prior to the implementation date that represents the unvested portion of these share-based awards as of such implementation date, to be recognized as an expense, as codified in ASC 718. The Company calculates stock option-based compensation by estimating the fair value of each option as of its date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. These amounts are expensed over the respective vesting periods of each award using the straight-line attribution method. Compensation expense is recognized only for those awards that are expected to vest, and as such, amounts have been reduced by estimated forfeitures. The Company has historically issued stock options and vested and non-vested stock grants to employees and outside directors whose only condition for vesting has been continued employment or service during the related vesting or restriction period.

FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Effective January 1, 2008, the Company adopted FASB ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, Pre Codification SFAS No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements”, which provides a framework for measuring fair value under GAAP. Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. The standard also expands disclosures about instruments measured at fair value and establishes a fair value hierarchy which requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. The standard describes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1 — Quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets;

Level 2 — Quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar assets and liabilities in markets that are not active; and model-derived valuations in which all significant inputs and significant value drivers are observable in active markets; and

Level 3 — Valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable.

The Company designates cash equivalents (consisting of money market funds) and investments in securities of publicly traded companies as Level 1. The total amount of the Company’s investment classified as Level 3 is de minimis.

The fair value of the Company’s debt as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 approximated their fair value at those times.

Fair value of financial instruments: The carrying amounts of financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, accounts payable, accrued expenses and notes payables approximated fair value as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 because of the relative short term nature of these instruments. At December 31, 2016 and 2015, the fair value of the Company’s debt approximates carrying value.

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

The Company does not expect the adoption of recently issued accounting pronouncements to have a significant impact on the Company’s results of operations, financial position or cash flow.