nexi-20230331

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

______________________

FORM 10-Q

______________________


x			QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2023


o			TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 001-40045

______________________

NEXIMMUNE, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

______________________


Delaware		42-2518457
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(IRS Employer Identification No.)

9119 Gaither Road
Gaithersburg,	MD	20877
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (301) 825-9810

______________________

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class

Trading

Symbol(s)

Name of each exchange

on which registered

Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share

NEXI

The Nasdaq Capital Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

Non-accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company

Emerging growth company

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No x

As of May 1, 2023, the registrant had 26,078,451 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding.

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			Page
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			1
PART I -	FINANCIAL INFORMATION		3
	Item 1.	Financial Statements	3
		Balance sheets (unaudited)	3
		Statements of Operations (unaudited)	4
		Statements of Comprehensive Loss (unaudited)	5
		Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (unaudited)	6
		Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited)	7
		Notes to Unaudited Financial Statements	8
	Item 2.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	17
	Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	26
	Item 4.	Controls and Procedures	27
PART II -	OTHER INFORMATION		30
	Item 1.	Legal Proceedings	30
	Item 1A.	Risk Factors	30
	Item 2.	Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds	30
	Item 3.	Defaults Upon Senior Securities	31
	Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	31
	Item 5.	Other Information	31
	Item 6.	Exhibits	31
SIGNATURES			32

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about:

•our ability to execute successfully on our strategic realignment announced in November 2022, including with respect to our realigned focus on the development of the Artificial Immune Modulation, or AIM, INJ platform;

•our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our potential product candidates, including any potential product candidates developed using our AIM INJ platform or any of NEXI-001, NEXI-002 or NEXI-003;

•our ability to successfully commercialize and market our potential product candidates, including any potential product candidates developed using our AIM INJ platform or any of NEXI-001, NEXI-002 or NEXI-003, in each case if approved;

•our ability to contract with third-party suppliers, manufacturers and other service providers and their ability to perform adequately;

•the potential market size, opportunity and growth potential for our potential product candidates, including any potential product candidates developed using our AIM INJ platform or any of NEXI-001, NEXI-002, and NEXI-003, in each case if approved;

•our ability to build our own sales and marketing capabilities, or seek collaborative partners, to commercialize our potential product candidates, including any potential product candidates developed using our AIM INJ platform or any of NEXI-001, NEXI-002 or NEXI-003, in each case if approved;

•our ability to obtain funding for our operations;

•the initiation, timing, progress and results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and our research and development programs;

•the timing of anticipated regulatory filings;

•the timing of availability of data from our clinical trials;

•the accuracy of our estimates regarding expenses, capital requirements, sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents, and needs for additional financing;

•our ability to retain the continued service of our key professionals and to identify, hire and retain additional qualified professionals;

•our ability to advance product candidates into, and successfully complete, clinical trials;

•our ability to recruit and enroll suitable patients in our clinical trials;

•the timing or likelihood of the accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development objectives;

•the pricing and reimbursement of our product candidates, if approved;

•the rate and degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved;

•the implementation of our business model and strategic plans for our business, product candidates and technology;

•the scope of protection we are able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering our product candidates and technology;

•developments relating to our competitors and our industry;

•the development of major public health concerns, including the novel coronavirus outbreak or other pandemics arising globally, and the future impact of it and COVID-19 on our clinical trials, business operations and funding requirements; and

•our financial performance.

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These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this Form 10-Q. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this Form 10-Q may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date of this Form 10-Q, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this Form 10-Q to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.

You should read this Form 10-Q and the documents that we reference in this Form 10-Q and have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, as exhibits to this Form 10-Q with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance, and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect.

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PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements.

NEXIMMUNE, INC.

BALANCE SHEETS


	March 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
	(unaudited)
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	22,315,215	$	34,642,340
Restricted cash	55,000		55,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	3,034,485		2,671,411
Total current assets	25,404,700		37,368,751
Property and equipment, net	4,232,655		4,459,071
Operating lease right-of-use assets	836,292		967,032
Other non-current assets	190,583		264,970
Total assets	$	30,664,230	$	43,059,824
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	$	650,568	$	2,377,374
Accrued expenses	5,547,648		7,357,153
Operating lease liabilities, current	587,944		599,047
Total current liabilities	6,786,160		10,333,574
Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion	300,217		425,766
Total liabilities	7,086,377		10,759,340
Commitments and contingencies
Stockholders’ equity
Common Stock, $0.0001 par value, 250,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022; 26,078,451 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022	2,608		2,608
Additional paid-in-capital	223,389,976		222,547,530
Accumulated deficit	(199,814,731)		(190,249,654)
Total stockholders’ equity	23,577,853		32,300,484
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$	30,664,230	$	43,059,824

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited financial statements.

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NEXIMMUNE, INC.

STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(unaudited)


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022
Operating expenses:
Research and development	$	6,124,044	$	10,448,843
General and administrative	3,701,365		4,604,679
Total operating expenses	9,825,409		15,053,522
Loss from operations	(9,825,409)		(15,053,522)
Other income (expense):
Interest income	274,738		33,093
Other expense	(14,406)		(2,576)
Other income, net	260,332		30,517
Net loss	$	(9,565,077)	$	(15,023,005)
Basic and diluted per common share	$	(0.37)	$	(0.66)
Basic and diluted weighted-average number of common shares outstanding	26,078,451		22,836,781

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited financial statements.

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NEXIMMUNE, INC.

STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(unaudited)


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022
Net loss	$	(9,565,077)	$	(15,023,005)
Other comprehensive loss:
Unrealized loss on available-for-sale marketable securities, net of tax	—		(23,590)
Comprehensive loss	$	(9,565,077)	$	(15,046,595)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited financial statements.

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STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 (unaudited)


	Stockholders’ Equity
	Common Stock			Additional Paid-In Capital		Accumulated Deficit		Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income/ (Loss)		Total Stockholders' Equity
	Shares	Amount
Balance at January 1, 2023	26,078,451	$	2,608	$	222,547,530	$	(190,249,654)	$	—	$	32,300,484
Stock-based compensation	—	—		842,446		—		—		842,446
Net loss	—	—		—		(9,565,077)		—		(9,565,077)
Balance at March 31, 2023	26,078,451	$	2,608	$	223,389,976	$	(199,814,731)	$	—	$	23,577,853

Balance at January 1, 2022	22,828,904	$	2,283	$	211,498,827	$	(127,743,455)	$	3,012	$	83,760,667
Exercise of stock options	12,890	1		33,254		—		—		33,255
Stock-based compensation	—	—		1,645,852		—		—		1,645,852
Change in unrealized gain available-for-sale securities	—	—		—		—		(23,590)		(23,590)
Net loss	—	—		—		(15,023,005)		—		(15,023,005)
Balance at March 31, 2022	22,841,794	$	2,284	$	213,177,933	$	(142,766,460)	(20,578)		$	70,393,179

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NEXIMMUNE, INC.

STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited)


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022
Cash flows from operating activities
Net loss	$	(9,565,077)	$	(15,023,005)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization	263,766		226,956
Accretion income on available-for-sale marketable securities, net	—		(1,618)
Stock-based compensation	842,446		1,645,852
Non-cash lease expense	130,740		121,904
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Prepaid expenses and other assets	(288,687)		(2,696,917)
Accounts payable	(1,726,806)		955,433
Accrued expenses	(1,804,135)		(1,596,261)
Operating lease liabilities	(136,652)		(107,810)
Net cash used in operating activities	(12,284,405)		(16,475,466)
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property and equipment	(42,720)		(344,362)
Purchase of marketable securities	—		(16,036,445)
Proceeds from maturities of available-for-sale marketable securities	—		27,000,000
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	(42,720)		10,619,193
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from the exercise of stock options	—		33,255
Net cash provided by financing activities	—		33,255
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	(12,327,125)		(5,823,018)
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period	34,697,340		30,393,852
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period	$	22,370,215	$	24,570,834
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and financing activities:
Property and equipment purchases included in accounts payable and accrued expenses	$	—	$	62,241

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited financial statements.

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NEXIMMUNE, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1.Nature of the Business

NexImmune, Inc. (“Company”, “we”, “us” or “NexImmune”), a Delaware corporation headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was incorporated on June 7, 2011. The Company is an emerging biopharmaceutical company advancing a new generation of immunotherapies based on its proprietary Artificial Immune Modulation (AIM) technology. The AIM nanotechnology platform, originally developed at Johns Hopkins University, is the foundation for an innovative approach to immunotherapy in which the body’s own immune system is stimulated to orchestrate a targeted T cell response against a disease. Central to the AIM technology are artificial AIM nanoparticles, which act as synthetic dendritic cells. These AIM nanoparticles can be programmed to present specific antigens to specific T cells orchestrating a highly targeted immune response. These AIM nanoparticles can be rapidly engineered to elicit an immune attack that can be directed toward any foreign substance or cell type in a patient’s body. The Company’s first two product candidates, both for the treatment of different types of cancer, entered clinical trials in 2020. Following a strategic review of the Company's corporate strategy, including with respect to its adoptive cell therapy programs, the Company determined in November 2022 to pause investments in its cell therapy product candidates, NEXI-001, NEXI-002, and NEXI-003. This realignment is designed to reduce costs and reallocate resources towards the AIM INJ preclinical development programs. As part of this strategy, we will focus on developing AIM INJ nanoparticle constructs and modalities for potential clinical evaluation in oncology and autoimmune disorders. The Company is also exploring several external opportunities to continue to advance these programs.

Going Concern

Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern ("ASC 205-40"), requires management to assess the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year after the date the financial statements are issued. Under ASC 205-40, management has the responsibility to evaluate whether conditions and/or events raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to meet future financial obligations as they become due within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. As required by this standard, management’s evaluation shall initially not take into consideration the potential mitigating effects of management’s plans that have not been fully implemented as of the date the financial statements are issued.

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred recurring operating losses and negative cash flows from operations. The financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the realization of the carrying value of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $199.8 million, negative cash flows from operating activities for the period ended March 31, 2023, and significant ongoing research and development expenses. While we have no outstanding debt and $22.3 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2023, the Company expects its negative cash flows from operating activities to continue and thus has determined that its losses and negative cash flows from operations and uncertainty in generating sufficient cash to meet the Company's obligations and sustain the Company's operations raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year from the issuance date of these financial statements.

As the Company’s research and development activities mature and develop over the next year, the Company will likely require substantial funds to continue such activities, depending upon events that are difficult to predict at this time. In this regard, management plans to raise additional capital through financing activities that may include public offerings and private placements of its common stock, preferred stock offerings, collaborations and licensing arrangements and issuances of debt and convertible debt instruments. In the absence of additional capital, the Company plans to strategically manage its uncommitted spend, execute its priorities and implement cost saving measures to reduce research and development and general and administrative expenditures which could include minimizing staff costs and delaying or terminating manufacturing and clinical trial costs.

There are inherent uncertainties associated with fundraising activities and activities to manage the Company’s uncommitted spending and the successful execution of these activities may not be within the Company’s control. There are no assurances that such additional funding will be obtained and that the Company will succeed in its future operations. If the Company cannot successfully raise additional capital, its liquidity, financial condition and business prospects will be materially and adversely affected. The Company is continually looking into further capital planning and the evaluation of strategic alternatives. There is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

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2.Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies

The accompanying unaudited financial statements were prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative GAAP as found in the ASC and Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) of the FASB. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the accompanying notes to the financial statements contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023.

In management’s opinion, the accompanying financial statements contain all adjustments, including normal, recurring adjustments, necessary to fairly present the financial position as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, and the statements of operations and comprehensive loss, statements of changes in stockholders’ equity, and statements of cash flows for the three month periods ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for an entire year.

Recent Accounting Standards and Pronouncements

Recently Adopted

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), which modifies the measurement of expected credit losses on certain financial instruments ("ASU 2016-13"). In addition, for available-for-sale debt securities, the standard eliminates the concept of other-than-temporary impairment and requires the recognition of an allowance for credit losses rather than reductions in the amortized cost of the securities. The standard is effective for fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2022 and requires a modified-retrospective approach with a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. Based on the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, current market conditions and historical credit loss activity, the adoption of ASU 2016-13 did not have a material impact on its financial position, results of operations or the related disclosures. The Company adopted the new guidance on January 1, 2023 and determined there was no impact.

3.Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash

The following table presents the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022:


	March 31, 2023		December 31, 2022		Recurring Fair Value Measurement
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash	$	1,354,694	$	2,940,733
Money market funds	20,960,521		23,722,328		Level 1
Fixed income debt securities	—		7,979,279		Level 2
Total cash and cash equivalents	22,315,215		34,642,340
Restricted cash	55,000		55,000
Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	$	22,370,215	$	34,697,340

The Company considers all investments in highly liquid financial instruments with an original maturity of ninety days or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are stated at amortized cost, plus accrued interest, which approximates fair value.

Amounts included in restricted cash represent those required as collateral on corporate credit cards.

4.Fair Value Measurements

The Company’s financial instruments include cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, accounts payable, and accrued expenses. The fair values of the cash, cash equivalents, accounts payable and accrued expenses approximated their carrying values as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 due to their short-term maturities.

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The Company accounts for recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements in accordance with ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements (“ASC 820”). ASC 820 defines fair value, establishes a fair value hierarchy for assets and liabilities measured at fair value, and requires expanded disclosures about fair value measurements. The ASC hierarchy ranks the quality of reliability of inputs, or assumptions, used in the determination of fair value, and requires assets and liabilities carried at fair value to be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:

Level 1 -Fair value is determined by using unadjusted quoted prices that are available in active markets for identical assets and liabilities.

Level 2 -Fair value is determined by using inputs, other than Level 1 quoted prices that are directly and indirectly observable. Inputs can include quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets or quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in inactive markets. Related inputs can also include those used in valuation or other pricing models that can be corroborated by observable market data.

Level 3 -Fair value is determined by inputs that are unobservable and not corroborated by market data. Use of these inputs involves significant judgments to be made by a reporting entity.

In instances where the determination of the fair value measurement is based on inputs from different levels of fair value hierarchy, the fair value measurement will fall within the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety. The Company periodically evaluates financial assets and liabilities subject to fair value measurements to determine the appropriate level at which to classify them each reporting period. This determination requires the Company to make judgments as to the significance of inputs used in determining fair value and where such inputs lie within the ASC 820 hierarchy.

There were no Level 3 recurring fair value measurements as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.

The following table represents the Company’s fair value hierarchy for its financial assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis:


	March 31, 2023						December 31, 2022
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3
Assets
Money market funds	$	20,960,521	$	—	$	—	$	23,722,328	$	—	$	—
Fixed income debt securities	—		—		—		—		7,979,279		—
	$	20,960,521	$	—	$	—	$	23,722,328	$	7,979,279	$	—

5.Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets

Prepaid expenses and other current assets consist of the following at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022:


	March 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Prepaid research and development expenses	$	856,399	$	1,176,491
Prepaid maintenance agreements	361,034		369,606
Prepaid insurance	1,108,624		403,653
Prepaid other	355,067		245,278
Interest receivable	83,819		74,467
Other current assets	269,542		401,916
Total prepaid expenses and other current assets	$	3,034,485	$	2,671,411

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6.Property and Equipment

Property and equipment consist of the following at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022:


	March 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Laboratory equipment	$	6,830,558	$	6,803,996
Computer equipment and software	527,762		516,974
Furniture and fixtures	47,877		47,877
Leasehold improvements	319,816		319,816
	7,726,013		7,688,663
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(3,493,358)		(3,229,592)
Total property and equipment, net	$	4,232,655	$	4,459,071

Depreciation and amortization expense was $0.3 million and $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

7.Accrued Expenses

A summary of the components of accrued expenses is as follows as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022:


	March 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Accrued research and development costs	$	2,892,787	$	3,210,794
Accrued salaries, benefits and related expenses	2,232,188		3,855,797
Accrued professional fees	393,806		267,383
Other accrued expenses	28,867		23,179
Total accrued expenses	$	5,547,648	$	7,357,153

8.Commitments and Contingencies

Maryland Biotechnology Center Grant

The Company entered into a Translational Research Award Agreement effective May 23, 2012 with the Department of Business & Economic Development with the State of Maryland, Maryland Biotechnology Center (“MBC”). The mission of MBC is to integrate entrepreneurial strategies to stimulate the transformation of scientific discovery and intellectual assets into capital formation and business development. Under the agreement and as amended in 2013, MBC provided $325,000 to NexImmune for research on its artificial Antigen Presenting Cell ("aAPC") for cancer immunotherapy.

The Company must repay the funds through annual payments calculated at 3% of annual revenues for the preceding year. Payments shall continue for 10 years after the first payment date and may total up to 200% of the total grant amount. The end date of the agreement is defined as January 31, 2024, or when any and all repayments due to MBC have been made. If the Company does not earn any revenue, the grant does not need to be repaid. Through March 31, 2023, no revenue has been recorded, therefore, no payments to MBC are currently due.

Johns Hopkins University Exclusive License Agreement

The Company entered into an Exclusive License Agreement with Johns Hopkins University (“JHU”) effective June 2011, which was amended and restated in January 2017, referred to as the A&R JHU License Agreement, under which there are license fees, royalties, and milestone payments. As part of the agreement, the Company acquired a perpetual, exclusive license from JHU covering its invention related to Antigen Specific T cells.

JHU was also entitled to milestone fees of $75,000 in connection with clinical trial milestones. For the first licensed product or licensed service in the therapeutic field, the Company may be required to pay JHU additional aggregate milestone fees of $1.6 million for clinical and regulatory milestone fees. The Company may be required to pay JHU reduced milestone

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fees for the second and third licensed products or licensed services in the therapeutic field in connection with clinical and regulatory milestones. In the diagnostic field, the Company may be required to pay JHU aggregate milestone fees of $0.4 million for the first licensed product, or licensed service and reduced milestone fees for the second and third licensed products, or licensed services in connection with regulatory and commercial milestones. The Company may be required to pay JHU aggregate milestone fees of $100,000 for commercial milestones for the first licensed product or licensed service in the non-clinical field. In the aggregate, the Company may be required to pay JHU additional milestone fees of up to $4.2 million for all clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones for all licensed products or licensed services in the therapeutic field, the diagnostic field and the non-clinical field. The Company may also be required to pay royalties in the low to upper mid-single digits on net sales of therapeutic products, diagnostic products and non-clinical products. The Company may also be required to pay royalties in the low to upper single digits on net sales of licensed services in therapeutic products, diagnostic products and non-clinical products.

The Company is required to make minimum annual royalty payments of $100,000 to JHU under the A&R JHU License Agreement. The Company may also be required to pay JHU a low double digit percentage not to exceed 15%, of any non-royalty sublicense consideration the Company receives.

The Company will record a liability when such events become probable of occurring. The Company has not reached any of the milestones or transacted its first commercial sale as of March 31, 2023.

The Company must make minimum royalty payments, which began upon the fourth anniversary of the agreement and upon every anniversary thereafter during the term of the agreement, which offset future royalties per above owed to JHU.

The Company has incurred $550,000 in cumulative minimum royalties from inception. Future annual minimum royalties consist of $100,000 due each year during the remaining term of the A&R JHU License Agreement. The Company records milestones, royalties and minimum royalties at the time when payments become probable. During the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company incurred $25,000 related to minimum royalties owed, included in research and development expenses on the accompanying statement of operations. The Company has accrued royalties of $75,000 as of March 31, 2023 and $50,000 as of December 31, 2022.

Contingencies

From time to time, the Company may be subject to various litigation and related matters arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company records a provision for a liability when it believes that it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine both probability and the estimated amount. As of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company was not involved in any material legal proceedings.

9.Restructuring Activities

In November 2022, the Company announced that, following a strategic review of its pipeline, indications, timelines and cash position, it implemented a strategic realignment initiative, which was designed to reduce costs and reallocate resources towards its AIM INJ preclinical development programs. The Company initiated a workforce reduction plan to reduce headcount by 30%, primarily affecting the clinical development, manufacturing and administrative staff that had been needed to support the AIM ACT adoptive cell therapy clinical programs. The plan reduced the Company’s workforce from 74 full-time employees to approximately 50 full-time employees. The Company will incur $0.7 million of costs in connection with the reduction in workforce related to severance pay and other related termination benefits. These one-time employee termination benefits are comprised of severance, benefits and related costs, all of which are expected to result in cash expenditures.

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The following table summarizes the charges related to the restructuring activities as of March 31, 2023. Restructuring expenses during the year ended December 31, 2022 was $0.5 million. The Company expects to complete the restructuring in the second quarter of 2023.


	Accrued Restructuring Expenses						Accrued Restructuring Expenses
	December 31, 2022		Expenses		Less: Payments		March 31, 2023
Severance, benefits and related costs due to workforce reduction	$	382,389	$	126,170	$	(452,112)	$	56,447
Totals	$	382,389	$	126,170	$	(452,112)	$	56,447

10. Stockholders’ Equity

Issuances of Common Stock

In June 2022, the Company entered into a Controlled Equity Offering Sales Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and BTIG, LLC (together, the “Agents”), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell shares of its common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, having an aggregate offering price of up to $50.0 million (the "Shares") from time to time through the Agents (the "Offering"). Subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, any such sales made through the Agents can be made, based upon the Company's instructions, by methods deemed an “at-the-market" offering as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) promulgated under the Securities Act. The Company agreed to pay the Agents a commission of 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any sales of shares sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement. To date, the Company sold an aggregate of 3,184,900 shares through the “at-the-market" offering facility resulting in net proceeds of $5.1 million. The Company did not sell shares through the “at-the-market" offering facility in the three months ended March 31, 2023.

11.Stock-Based Compensation

During January 2017, the Company adopted the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (“2017 Plan”), which provides for the granting of restricted stock, options to purchase shares of common stock and other awards to employees, directors and consultants. In March 2017, the Company amended the 2017 Plan to increase the number of available shares to 660,838. In September 2018, the Company adopted the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (“2018 Plan”) which provides for granting of restricted stock, options to purchase shares of common stock, and other awards to employees, directors and consultants, and reserved 1,741,770 shares for this purpose. The 2018 Plan was amended in July 2018 to increase the number of available shares to 1,809,143. In February 2021, the Company adopted the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (“2021 Plan”) and have reserved a total of 5,202,624 shares under the plan. No further shares will be issued under the 2017 and 2018 plans. There are 1,863,566 shares available for issuance under the 2021 plan as of March 31, 2023.

The number of options to be granted under the 2021 Plan, the option exercise prices, and other terms of the options are determined by the Board of Directors in accordance with the terms of the 2021 Plan. Generally, stock options are granted at fair value, become exercisable over a period of one to four years, expire in ten years or less and are subject to the employee’s continued employment.

Stock-based compensation expense was recorded in the following financial statement line items within the statement of operations for the periods ended March 31, 2023 and 2022:


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022
Research and development expenses	$	259,730	$	1,132,762
General and administrative expenses	582,716		513,090
Total stock-based compensation expense	$	842,446	$	1,645,852

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The following is a summary of option activity under the Company’s Stock Option Plans:


	Stock Options	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (years)	Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in millions)
Outstanding as of January 1, 2023	3,965,502	$	7.38	8.0	$	—
Granted	—	—
Exercised	—	—
Cancelled	(841)	10.50
Forfeited	(194,933)	5.95
Outstanding as of March 31, 2023	3,769,728	$	7.45	6.3	—
Vested or expected to vest as of March 31, 2023	3,769,728	$	7.45	6.3	—
Exercisable as of March 31, 2023	2,082,403	$	9.09	4.3	—
Shares unvested as of March 31, 2023	1,687,325	$	5.42	8.9	$	—

There were no option grants in the three months ended March 31, 2023. The weighted average fair value of the options granted during the three months ended March 31, 2022 was $1.99. The options were valued using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model for the three months ended March 31, 2022 with the following assumptions:


	2022
Expected volatility	78.8% to 79.0%
Risk-free interest rate	1.5% to 1.7%
Expected dividend yield	0	%
Expected term	6.1 years

No options were exercised in three months ended March 31, 2023. The intrinsic value of stock options exercised for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was immaterial.

As of March 31, 2023, there was $5.2 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested options that will be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.1 years.

Restricted Stock Units

A restricted stock unit (“RSU”) represents the right to receive one of the Company’s common stock upon vesting of the RSU. The fair value of each RSU is based on the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant.

The following is a summary of RSU activity for the 2021 Plan for the three months ended March 31, 2023:


	Number of restricted units	Weighted average grant date fair value
Unvested and outstanding at January 1, 2023	1,558,000	$	0.45
Granted	—	—
Vested	—	—
Forfeited	(22,400)	0.45
Unvested and outstanding as of March 31, 2023	1,535,600	$	0.45

As of March 31, 2023, there was $0.5 million of unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested RSUs, which are expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.1 years.

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12.Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders

Basic net loss per common share is determined by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, without consideration of common stock equivalents. Diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common stock and common stock equivalents outstanding for the period. The treasury stock method is used to determine the dilutive effect of the Company’s stock option grants. For the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company had a net loss attributable to common stockholders, and as such, all outstanding stock options and RSUs were anti-dilutive.

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022:


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022
Net loss	$	(9,565,077)	$	(15,023,005)
Basic and diluted net loss per common share	$	(0.37)	$	(0.66)
Basic and diluted weighted average common shares outstanding	26,078,451		22,836,781

The following potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the computation of diluted weighted average common shares outstanding at March 31, 2023 and 2022 as the effect would be anti-dilutive:


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023	2022
Stock options	3,769,728	2,942,868
Restricted stock unit	1,535,600	—
Total	5,305,328	2,942,868

13.Related Party Transaction

On March 16, 2022, the Company and Zephyr AI, Inc. (“Zephyr”) entered into a Joint Research Agreement (the “JRA”) focused on the joint collaboration, identification and validation of certain targets in order to facilitate further research, development and potential commercialization of immunotherapies. Zephyr is owned by a holding company with multiple Board members from the Company. The JRA term is two years unless mutually extended.

Pursuant to the JRA, Zephyr will identify suitable antigens or combinations thereof for validation and testing by NexImmune. The Joint Steering Committee (the “JSC”) provided for by the JRA will then determine which identified candidates shall be subject to further analysis. NexImmune will validate which, if any, of the identified antigens are suitable for T-cell engagement and killing function (the “Final Candidates”). The JSC will make a good-faith determination as to whether the data supports the further IND-targeted development by NexImmune of any of the Final Candidates. The Company and Zephyr will jointly own any Final Candidates, including the intellectual property related thereto. Each of the Company and Zephyr shall be responsible for payment of their own respective costs and expenses in connection with the performance of their respective obligations under the JRA. If a Final Candidate is to be further developed, then the Company and Zephyr shall engage in good-faith negotiations to agree on the terms and conditions of an agreement with respect to the further development and commercialization of such Final Candidate. If such an agreement is not executed within the prescribed negotiation period, then neither the Company nor Zephyr may further develop such Final Candidate. The expenses related to the JRA for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 were immaterial.

14. Income Taxes

The Company has not recorded any tax provision or benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. The Company has provided a valuation allowance for the full amount of its net deferred tax assets since realization of any future benefit from deductible temporary differences, net operating loss carryforwards, and research and development credits is not

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more-likely-than-not to be realized at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2023. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 is 0%.

15. Subsequent Event

On March 22, 2023, in order to retain and motivate employees and other key contributors of the Company, the board of directors approved a one-time stock option repricing (the “Option Repricing”). Pursuant to the Option Repricing, the exercise price of all of the below stock options to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock previously granted under our 2017 Equity Incentive Plan, 2018 Equity Incentive Plan and 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Repriced Options”) was amended as of April 4, 2023 (the “Effective Date”) to reduce the exercise prices of such options to a price equal to or greater than the closing price per share of the Company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Stock Market on the Effective Date, which was $0.41 (the “Nasdaq Market Price”), on the terms described below:


Repriced Options	Terms of Repriced Options vested or vesting within six months following the Effective Date	Terms of Repriced Options vesting more than six months following the Effective Date
All options held by employees other than our executive officers, in good standing on the Effective Date	The Option Repricing exercise price will be equal to 2.5 times the Nasdaq Market Price, or $1.03.	The Option Repricing exercise price will be equal to the Nasdaq Market Price, or $0.41.
All options held by our current executive officers and 100,000 options held by Jerome Zeldis, our former EVP and Head of Research & Development	The Option Repricing exercise price will be equal to 3.0 times the Nasdaq Market Price, or $1.23.	The Option Repricing exercise price will be equal to 2.0 times the Nasdaq Market Price, or $0.82.
All options held by our directors	The Option Repricing exercise price will be equal to 4.0 times the Nasdaq Market Price, or $1.64.	The Option Repricing exercise price will be equal to 3.0 times the Nasdaq Market Price, $1.23.

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Form 10-Q, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business and related financing, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, including those factors set forth in the “Risk Factors” section of this Form 10-Q, our actual results could differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Investors and others should note that we routinely use the Investor Relations section of our website to announce material information to investors and the marketplace. While not all of the information that we post on the Investor Relations section of our website is of a material nature, some information could be deemed to be material. Accordingly, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in us to review the information that it shares on the Investor Relations section of our website, www.neximmune.com.

Overview

We are a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a novel approach to immunotherapy designed to employ the body’s own T cells to generate an antigen-specific cell-mediated immune response with curative potential for the patient. Our mission is to create therapies with curative potential for patients with cancer and other life-threatening immune-mediated diseases.

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In November 2022, we announced that, following a strategic review of our pipeline, indications, timelines and cash position, we are implementing a strategic realignment initiative, which is designed to reduce costs and reallocate resources towards our Artificial Immune Modulation, or AIM, preclinical development programs. We call the adoptive cell therapy modality AIM ACT, and the direct-injectable off-the-shelf modality AIM INJ. Both modalities share the same mechanism of action in engaging and directing antigen specific T cell responses. As part of this strategy, we will focus on developing AIM INJ nanoparticle constructs and modalities for potential clinical evaluation in oncology and autoimmune disorders. We will also pause development of our current adoptive cell therapy, or AIM ACT, product candidates, NEXI-001 and NEXI-003. As previously disclosed, the NEXI-002 trial in Multiple Myeloma will remain paused. We intend to explore external opportunities that may permit us to continue to advance these clinical programs.

The backbone of our approach is our proprietary Artificial Immune Modulation, or AIM. One of the critical advantages of the AIM technology platform is the ability to rapidly customize it for new therapeutics, in a modular, Lego-like manner. We have developed protein conjugation techniques so that nanoparticles can be customized quickly for different antigens, HLA alleles and Signal 2 messages. It is even possible to add additional signals or homing proteins. This gives the platform tremendous flexibility and application in oncology and infectious disease (where up-regulatory messages are delivered to targeted T cells) but also autoimmune disorders (where down-regulatory or apoptopic messages are delivered to targeted T cells). These conjugation techniques also apply to both the ex vivo adoptive cell therapy modality, called AIM ACT, and the in vivo directly-injectable modality, called AIM INJ.

The AIM INJ modality is designed to enable AIM nanoparticles to engage CD8+ T cells directly inside the body without the need for ex vivo expansion and manufacturing, which we believe will result in a greater ease of administration and a less complex and less expensive manufacturing process. We have completed substantial non-clinical work to advance the AIM INJ modality towards a potential investigational new drug application, or IND, filing, including preparing appropriate IND-enabling experiments in support of a planned clinical program focusing on solid tumors.

We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on June 7, 2011. In June 2011, we exclusively licensed the core AIM technology from The Johns Hopkins University, or Johns Hopkins. See “Business—Johns Hopkins License Agreement” for information about this license in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023.

To date, we have devoted substantially all of our resources to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, identifying and developing product candidates, enhancing our intellectual property portfolio, undertaking research, conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, and securing manufacturing for our development programs. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales.

To date, we have funded our operations primarily with proceeds from private placement of convertible preferred stock, our convertible promissory notes, the IPO, and an “at-the-market" offering facility. In February 2021, we completed the IPO and issued and sold an aggregate 7,441,650 shares of common stock, which included 970,650 shares of our common stock issued pursuant to the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, at a public offering price of $17.00 per share, for net proceeds of $114.6 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs. To date, we sold an aggregate of 3,184,900 shares through our “at-the-market” offering facility resulting in net proceeds of $5.1 million.

We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception, which are mainly attributed to research and development costs and employee payroll expense included in general and administrative expenses. As of March 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $199.8 million. Our operating losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year as a result of several factors, including the timing of our preclinical studies and clinical trials and our expenditures related to other research and development activities. We expect to continue to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future. We anticipate these losses will increase substantially as we advance our product candidates through preclinical and clinical development, develop additional product candidates and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates. We do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales unless and until we successfully complete development and obtain regulatory approval for one or more product candidates. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any product candidate, we expect to incur pre-commercialization expenses and significant commercialization expenses related to marketing, sales, manufacturing and distribution. We may also incur expenses in connection with the in-licensing of additional product candidates.

As a result, we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from sales of our product candidates, if ever, we expect to finance our cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements or other capital sources. However, we may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other arrangements when needed on favorable terms or at all. Our failure to raise capital or enter into such other arrangements as and when needed would have a

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negative impact on our financial condition and could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Even if we are able to generate product sales, we may not become profitable. If we fail to become profitable or are unable to sustain profitability on a continuing basis, we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

As part of our updated corporate strategy announced in November 2022, we initiated a workforce reduction plan to reduce headcount by approximately 30%, primarily affecting the clinical development, manufacturing and administrative staff that had been needed to support the AIM ACT adoptive cell therapy clinical programs. The plan reduced our workforce from 74 full-time employees prior to the announcement to approximately 50 full-time employees. We incurred $0.5 million of costs in connection with the reduction in workforce related to severance pay and other related termination benefits. Management communicated the workforce reduction on November 14, 2022.

As of March 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $22.3 million.

Nasdaq Delisting Notification or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard; Transfer of Listing

As previously reported, on October 25, 2022, we received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Department (the “Staff”) of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) indicating that, based upon the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock for the prior 30 consecutive business days, the Company was not in compliance with the requirement to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share for continued listing on The Nasdaq Global Market, as set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1) (the “Minimum Bid Price Requirement”). In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the Company was provided a grace period of 180 days, or until April 24, 2023, to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement.

On April 25, 2023 we received a letter from Nasdaq advising that the Company had been granted a 180-day extension to October 23, 2023 to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A) and that effective at the opening of business on April 26, 2023, the listing of the Company’s common stock was transferred to The Nasdaq Capital Market.

The Company will continue to monitor the closing bid price of its Common Stock and may, if appropriate, consider implementing available options, including but not limited to, implementing a reverse stock split of its outstanding securities, to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement. If the Company does not regain compliance within the allotted compliance period, Nasdaq will provide notice that the Company’s Common Stock will be subject to delisting. The Company would then be entitled to appeal that determination to a Nasdaq hearings panel. There can be no assurance that the Company will regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement during this 180-day extension.

Components of our Results of Operations

Research and Development Expenses

To date, our research and development expenses, have related primarily to development of NEXI-001 and NEXI-002, preclinical studies and other preclinical activities related to our portfolio. Research and development expenses are recognized as incurred and payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services to be used in research and development are capitalized until the goods or services are received. Research and development expenses also include the accrual of minimum royalties under our Johns Hopkins license.

Research and development expenses include:

•salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefits and stock-based compensation charges for those individuals involved in research and development efforts;

•external research and development expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations, or CROs, and consultants to conduct our preclinical, toxicology and other preclinical studies;

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•laboratory supplies;

•costs related to manufacturing product candidates, including fees paid to third-party manufacturers and raw material suppliers;

•license fees and research funding; and

•facilities, depreciation and other allocated expenses, which include direct and allocated expenses for rent, maintenance of facilities, insurance, equipment and other supplies.

Clinical trial costs are a significant component of research and development expenses and include costs associated with third-party contractors. We outsource a substantial portion of our clinical trial activities, utilizing external entities such as CROs, independent clinical investigators and other third-party service providers to assist us with the execution of our clinical trials. We also expect to incur additional expenses related to milestone and royalty payments payable to Johns Hopkins.

As we continue the development of our product candidates and seek to discover and develop new product candidates, we will likely require substantial funds to continue such activities. Due to the inherently unpredictable nature of preclinical and clinical development, we cannot determine with certainty the timing of the initiation, duration or costs of future clinical trials and preclinical studies of product candidates. Clinical and preclinical development timelines, the probability of success and the amount of development costs can differ materially from expectations. We anticipate that we will make determinations as to which product candidates and development programs to pursue and how much funding to direct to each product candidate or program on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, regulatory developments and our ongoing assessments as to each product candidate’s commercial potential. In addition, we cannot forecast which product candidates may be subject to future collaborations, when such arrangements will be secured, if at all, and to what degree such arrangements would affect our development plans and capital requirements.

Our future clinical development costs may vary significantly based on factors such as:

•per-patient trial costs;

•the number of trials required for regulatory approval;

•the number of sites included in the trials;

•the countries in which the trials are conducted;

•the length of time required to enroll eligible patients;

•the number of patients that participate in the trials;

•the number of doses that patients receive;

•the drop-out or discontinuation rates of patients;

•potential additional safety monitoring requested by regulatory agencies;

•the duration of patient participation in the trials and follow-up;

•the phase of development of the product candidate; and

•the efficacy and safety profile of the product candidate.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and employee-related costs, including stock-based compensation, for personnel in our executive, finance and other administrative functions. Other significant costs include facility related costs, legal fees relating to intellectual property and corporate matters, professional fees for accounting and consulting services and insurance costs. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses will increase in the future to support

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our continued research and development activities, pre-commercialization and, if any product candidates receive marketing approval, commercialization activities. We also anticipate increased expenses related to audit, legal, regulatory and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and SEC requirements, director and officer insurance premiums and investor relations costs associated with operating as a public company.

Interest Income

Interest income consists of interest earned on our cash equivalents and marketable securities during the period.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 and 2022

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022:


	Three Months Ended March 31,				Change
	2023		2022
	(in thousands)
Operating expenses:
Research and development	$	6,124	$	10,449	$	(4,325)
General and administrative	3,701		4,605		(903)
Total operating expenses	9,825		15,054		(5,228)
Loss from operations	(9,825)		(15,054)		5,228
Other income (expense):
Interest income	275		33		242
Other expense	(14)		(3)		(12)
Other income, net	260		31		230
Net loss	$	(9,565)	$	(15,023)	$	5,458

Research and Development Expenses. Research and development expenses were $6.1 million and $10.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The decrease of $4.3 million was due primarily to a decrease of $2.6 million on research and preclinical manufacturing, $1.0 million in clinical trial expenses, and $0.9 million related to salary and benefits from stock compensation expense impacted by terminations. The decrease was offset by increases of $0.2 million in facility and consulting fees. We have not historically tracked internal research and development expenses by product candidate.

General and Administrative Expenses. General and administrative expenses were $3.7 million and $4.6 million for the tthree months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The decrease of $0.9 million was due primarily to decreases of $0.2 million in salary, benefits, and stock compensation expense and $0.7 million in legal and other administrative fees.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We have incurred net losses and negative cash flows from operations since our inception and anticipate we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. As of March 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $22.3 million. We expect our negative cash flows from operating activities to continue and thus have determined that the losses and negative cash flows from operations and uncertainty in generating sufficient cash to meet our obligations and sustain our operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year from the issuance date of these Financial Statements.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our activities into the fourth quarter of 2023.

As our research and development activities mature and develop over the next year, we will likely require substantial funds to continue such activities, depending upon events that are difficult to predict at this time. In this regard, management plans to raise additional capital through financing activities that may include public offerings and private placements of our

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common stock, preferred stock offerings, collaborations and licensing arrangements and issuances of debt and convertible debt instruments. In the absence of additional capital, the Company plans to strategically manage its uncommitted spend, execute its priorities and implement cost saving measures to reduce research and development and general and administrative expenditures which could include minimizing staff costs and delaying or terminating manufacturing and clinical trial costs. There are inherent uncertainties associated with fundraising activities and activities to manage our uncommitted spending and the successful execution of these activities may not be within our control. There are no assurances that such additional funding will be obtained and that the Company will succeed in its future operations. If we cannot successfully raise additional capital and implement our strategic development plan, our liquidity, financial condition and business prospects will be materially and adversely affected. We are continually looking into further capital planning and the evaluation of strategic alternatives. There is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Sources of Liquidity

To date, we have financed our operations principally through private placements of our redeemable convertible preferred stock, our convertible promissory notes, the IPO, and an "at-the-market" offering facility.

Series A Preferred Stock Financing

From December 2017 through August 2018, we issued an aggregate of 121,735,303 shares of our Series A Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock at a purchase price of $0.2951 per share for aggregate consideration of $25.0 million plus conversion of convertible notes.

In January 2019 and February 2019, we issued an aggregate of 22,047,361 shares of our Series A-2 Preferred Stock at a purchase price of $0.3523 per share for aggregate consideration of $7.8 million.

In November 2019 and December 2019, we issued an aggregate of 31,209,734 shares of our Series A-3 Preferred Stock at a purchase price of $0.3523 per share for aggregate consideration of $11.0 million.

Convertible Note Financing

From April 2020 through December 31, 2020, we issued $21,618,286 aggregate principal amount of convertible notes, which bear interest at the rate of 6% per annum and mature in April 2021.

In January 2021, we issued an additional $9,031,480 aggregate principal amount of convertible notes, which bore interest at the rate of 6% per annum and had a scheduled maturity date in April 2021.

Paycheck Protection Program Loan

On April 23, 2020, we entered into an unsecured loan agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, or Chase, under the terms of which Chase loaned us $843,619, or the PPP Loan, pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act. In accordance with the requirements of the CARES Act, we used the proceeds primarily for payroll costs and other eligible expenses. The PPP Loan had a maturity date of April 23, 2022 and accrued interest at an annual rate of 0.98%. Interest and principal payments were deferred for the first six months of the loan. Thereafter, monthly interest and principal payments were due until the loan is fully satisfied. The promissory note evidencing the PPP Loan contained customary events of default resulting from, among other things, default in the payments. The use of loan proceeds must be for payroll costs, payment of interest on covered mortgage obligations, rent and utility costs over either an eight-week or 24-week period, at our option, following our receipt of the loan proceeds. We elected to use the proceeds over a 24-week period. We treat the PPP loan as debt under ASC 470, Debt. The CARES Act and the PPP provide a mechanism for forgiveness of up to the full amount borrowed. We submitted the PPP Loan forgiveness application in March 2021. The Company submitted the PPP Loan forgiveness application in March 2021 and received full forgiveness from the $843,619 loan under the PPP in July 2021.

Initial Public Offering

In February 2021, we completed the IPO and issued and sold an aggregate 7,441,650 shares of common stock, which included 970,650 shares of our common stock issued pursuant to the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, at a public offering price of $17.00 per share, for net proceeds of $114.6 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs.

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"At-the-market" offering facility

In the year ended December 31, 2022, we sold an aggregate of 3,184,900 shares through our “at-the-market” offering facility resulting in net proceeds of $5.1 million.

Nasdaq Delisting Notification or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard; Transfer of Listing

Cash Flows

The following table sets forth a summary of the net cash flow activity:


	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2023		2022
	(in thousands)
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities	$	(12,284)	$	(16,475)
Investing activities	$	(43)	$	10,619
Financing activities	$	—	$	33
Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	$	(12,327)	$	(5,823)

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $12.3 million and $16.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 was primarily due to our net loss of $9.6 million, resulting from research and development expenses of $6.1 million as we continue our preclinical research and preclinical manufacturing to support clinical programs and $3.7 million of administrative expenses for salary and related expenses and professional fees.

The net cash used in operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was primarily due to our net loss of $15.0 million, consisting of $10.4 million for research and development expenses primarily in preclinical research expenses and manufacturing as we prepared for our clinical program, and $4.6 million in administrative expenses for salary and related expenses and professional fees.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was nominal for the three months ended March 31, 2023. Net cash used in investing activities of $10.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was primarily due to the maturities of $27.0 million in

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available-for-sale marketable securities partially offset by the purchase of $16.0 million in available-for-sale marketable securities and the purchase of $0.3 million in property and equipment.

Financing Activities

There was no cash provided by financing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2023. Net cash provided by financing activities was nominal for the three months ended March 31, 2022.

Funding Requirements

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, together with the net proceeds from our IPO, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash requirements into the fourth quarter of 2023. However, our forecast of the period of time through which our financial resources will be adequate to support our operations is a forward-looking statement that involves risks and uncertainties, and actual results could vary materially. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could deplete our capital resources sooner than we expect. If we are not able to raise additional funding, we may not be able to enter into successful collaborations under favorable terms. As a result, we may be unable to realize value from our assets and discharge our liabilities in the normal course of business.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

•the initiation, progress, timing, costs and results of drug discovery, preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates;

•the number and characteristics of product candidates that we pursue;

•the outcome, timing and costs of seeking regulatory approvals;

•the cost of manufacturing our product candidates for clinical trials in preparation for marketing approval and in preparation for commercialization;

•the costs associated with hiring additional personnel and consultants as our preclinical and clinical activities increase;

•the emergence of competing therapies and other adverse market developments;

•the ability to establish and maintain strategic licensing or other arrangements and the financial terms of such agreements;

•the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, expanding, defending and enforcing patent claims, including litigation costs and the outcome of such litigation;

•the extent to which we in-license or acquire other products and technologies; and

•the costs of operating as a public company.

Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues to support our capital requirements, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements or other capital sources. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our stockholders will be or could be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise funds through collaborations, or other similar arrangements with third parties, we may need to relinquish valuable rights to our product candidates, future revenue streams or research programs or may have to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us and/or may reduce the value of our common stock. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings as and when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market our product candidates even if we would otherwise prefer to develop and market such product candidates ourselves.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities,

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revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to accrued expenses and stock-based compensation. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events, and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 3, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies”, in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, we believe the following accounting policies and estimates to be most critical to the preparation of our financial statements.

Accrued Research and Development Expenses & Prepayment of Services

As part of the process of preparing our financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date. This process involves reviewing open contracts and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the associated cost incurred for the service when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual cost. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. We periodically confirm the accuracy of our estimates with the service providers and make adjustments, if necessary. The significant estimates in our accrued research and development expenses include the costs incurred for services performed by our vendors in connection with research and development activities for which we have not yet been invoiced.

We base our expenses related to research and development activities on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with vendors that conduct research and development on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract-to-contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the research and development expense. In accruing service fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or prepaid expense accordingly. 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.

Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, if our estimates of the status and timing of services performed differ from the actual status and timing of services performed, it could result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. To date, there have been no material differences between our estimates of such expenses and the amounts actually incurred.

Other Company Information

Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company Status

We are an emerging growth company ("EGC") as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as amended, or the JOBS Act. We will remain an EGC until the earlier of (1) December 31, 2026, (2) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of at least $1.07 billion, (3) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, or (4) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. An EGC may take advantage of specified reduced reporting requirements and is relieved of certain other significant requirements that are otherwise generally applicable to public companies. As an EGC,

•we may present only two years of audited financial statements, plus unaudited condensed financial statements for any interim period, and related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in this filing.

•we may avail ourselves of the exemption from the requirement to obtain an attestation and report from our auditors on the assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;

•we may provide reduced disclosure about our executive compensation arrangements; and

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•we may not require stockholder non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation or golden parachute arrangements.

We have elected to take advantage of certain of the reduced disclosure obligations in the registration statement of which this filing is a part and may elect to take advantage of other reduced reporting requirements in future filings. As a result, the information that we provide to our stockholders may be different than you might receive from other public reporting companies in which you hold equity interests.

Under the JOBS Act, EGCs can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies, which may make our financial statements less comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates. Until the date that we are no longer an EGC or affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the exemption provided by Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, upon issuance of a new or revised accounting standard that applies to our financial statements and that has a different effective date for public and private companies, we will disclose the date on which we will adopt the recently issued accounting standard.

We are also a “smaller reporting company,” meaning that the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates plus the proposed aggregate amount of gross proceeds to us as a result of the IPO was less than $700.0 million and our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. After the IPO we may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (1) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250.0 million or (2) our annual revenue is less than $100.0 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700.0 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an EGC, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and, similar to EGCs, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.

Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

A description of recently issued and adopted accounting pronouncements that may potentially impact our financial position and results of operations is disclosed in Note 2, “Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies”.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

During the periods presented we did not have, nor do we currently have, any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined under SEC rules.

Item 3. Quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk.

We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business. These risks primarily include interest rate risks, foreign currency exchange rate risks and inflation risks. Periodically, we maintain deposits in accredited financial institutions in excess of federally insured limits. We deposit our cash in financial institutions that we believe have high credit quality and have not experienced any significant losses on such accounts and do not believe we are exposed to any unusual credit risk beyond the normal credit risk associated with commercial banking relationships.

Interest Rate Risk

Our cash consists of cash in readily-available checking accounts and short-term money market fund investments. Such interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk and the returns from such instruments will vary as short-term interest rates change. While historical fluctuations in interest income have not been significant, in a financial environment with extremely low or negative interest rates, we could experience a significant reduction in the interest earned from such instruments.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

All of our employees and our operations are currently located in the United States. We have, from time-to-time, engaged in contracts with contractors or other vendors in a currency other than the U.S. dollar. To date, we have had minimal exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates as the time period between the date that transactions are initiated and the date

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of payment or receipt of payment is generally of short duration. Accordingly, we believe we do not have a material exposure to foreign currency risk.

Effects of Inflation

Inflation generally affects us by increasing our cost of labor and research and development contract costs. We do not believe inflation has had a material effect on our results of operations during the three months ended March 31, 2023 or 2022.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and our management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer (our principal executive officer) and our Chief Financial Officer (our principal financial officer), evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2023. Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2023, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

Changes in Internal Controls over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the period covered by this filing that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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PART II - OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

From time to time, we may become involved in litigation or other legal proceedings. We are not currently a party to any litigation or legal proceedings that, in the opinion of our management, are likely to have a material adverse effect on our business. Regardless of outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Other than the risk factor provided below, there have been no material changes in our risk factors from those disclosed in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” in our Annual Report.

If we fail to maintain the listing of our common stock with a United States national securities exchange, the liquidity of our common stock could be adversely affected.

On October 25, 2022, we received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Staff of Nasdaq indicating that, based upon the closing bid price of our common stock for the last 30 consecutive business days, we are not in compliance with the requirement to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market, as set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1) (the “Notice”). We were provided a compliance period of 180 calendar days from the date of the Notice, or until April 24, 2023, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid requirement, pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A). On April 25, 2023, we were provided an additional compliance period of 180 calendar days, or until October 23, 2023, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid requirement. Effective at the opening of business on April 26, 2023, the listing of the Company's common stock was transferred to The Nasdaq Capital Market.

We intend to monitor the closing bid price of our common stock and may, if appropriate, consider available options to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, which could include seeking to effect a reverse stock split. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, secure another period of 180 days to regain compliance, or maintain compliance with any of the other Nasdaq continued listing requirements. If our common stock is delisted by Nasdaq, our common stock may be eligible to trade on the OTC Bulletin Board or another over-the-counter market. Any such alternative would likely result in it being more difficult for us to raise additional capital through the public or private sale of equity securities and for investors to dispose of, or obtain accurate quotations as to the market value of, our common stock. In addition, there can be no assurance that our common stock would be eligible for trading on any such alternative exchange or markets.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

Set forth below is information regarding shares of equity securities sold, and options granted, by us during the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 that were not registered under the Securities Act.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities

None.

Use of Proceeds from Initial Public Offering

The offer and sale of all of the shares of our common stock in our initial public offering of common stock, or the IPO, was effected through a Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333- 252220) that was declared effective by the SEC on February 11, 2021.

None of the underwriting discounts and commissions or offering expenses were incurred or paid to directors or officers of ours or their associates or to persons owning 10% or more of our common stock or to any of our affiliates. We have invested the net proceeds from the IPO in a money market fund and available-for-sale marketable securities. There has been no material

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change in our planned use of the net proceeds from the IPO as described in our final prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) under the Securities Act with the SEC on February 11, 2021.

We have invested the net proceeds from the IPO in cash equivalents and available-for-sale marketable securities. There has been no material change in our planned use of the net proceeds from the IPO as described in our final prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) under the Securities Act with the SEC on February 16, 2021.

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.

None.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

Item 5. Other Information.

None.

Item 6. Exhibits.


Exhibit Number						Description

31.1*						Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

31.2*						Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.1*						Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

32.2*						Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

101.INS*						Inline XBRL Instance Document – the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.

101.SCH*						Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document

101.CAL*						Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document

101.DEF*						Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document

101.LAB*						Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document

101.PRE*						Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

104						The cover page from the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, has been formatted in Inline XBRL.

*Filed herewith.

# Certain confidential portions of this Exhibit were omitted by means of marking such portions with brackets (“[***]”) because the identified confidential portions (i) are not material and (ii) would be competitively harmful if publicly disclosed.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.


	NEXIMMUNE, INC.

Date: May 15, 2023	By:	/s/ Kristi Jones
		Kristi Jones
		President and Chief Executive Officer

Date: May 15, 2023	By:	/s/ John Trainer
		John Trainer
		Chief Financial Officer

Cover - shares	3 Months Ended
Cover - shares	Mar. 31, 2023	May 01, 2023
Cover [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q
Document Quarterly Report	true
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2023
Document Transition Report	false
Entity File Number	001-40045
Entity Registrant Name	NEXIMMUNE, INC.
Entity Incorporation, State or Country Code	DE
Entity Tax Identification Number	42-2518457
Entity Address, Address Line One	9119 Gaither Road
Entity Address, City or Town	Gaithersburg,
Entity Address, State or Province	MD
Entity Address, Postal Zip Code	20877
City Area Code	301
Local Phone Number	825-9810
Title of 12(b) Security	Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share
Trading Symbol	NEXI
Security Exchange Name	NASDAQ
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Interactive Data Current	Yes
Entity Filer Category	Non-accelerated Filer
Entity Small Business	true
Entity Emerging Growth Company	true
Entity Ex Transition Period	false
Entity Shell Company	false
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		26,078,451
Amendment Flag	false
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2023
Entity Central Index Key	0001538210

Balance Sheets (Parenthetical) - $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Statement of Financial Position [Abstract]
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001
Authorized common stock (in shares)	250,000,000	250,000,000
Common stock, shares issued (in shares)	26,078,451	26,078,451
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares)	26,078,451	26,078,451

Nature of the Business	3 Months Ended
Nature of the Business	Mar. 31, 2023
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Nature of the Business	Nature of the Business NexImmune, Inc. (“Company”, “we”, “us” or “NexImmune”), a Delaware corporation headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was incorporated on June 7, 2011. The Company is an emerging biopharmaceutical company advancing a new generation of immunotherapies based on its proprietary Artificial Immune Modulation (AIM) technology. The AIM nanotechnology platform, originally developed at Johns Hopkins University, is the foundation for an innovative approach to immunotherapy in which the body’s own immune system is stimulated to orchestrate a targeted T cell response against a disease. Central to the AIM technology are artificial AIM nanoparticles, which act as synthetic dendritic cells. These AIM nanoparticles can be programmed to present specific antigens to specific T cells orchestrating a highly targeted immune response. These AIM nanoparticles can be rapidly engineered to elicit an immune attack that can be directed toward any foreign substance or cell type in a patient’s body. The Company’s first two product candidates, both for the treatment of different types of cancer, entered clinical trials in 2020. Following a strategic review of the Company's corporate strategy, including with respect to its adoptive cell therapy programs, the Company determined in November 2022 to pause investments in its cell therapy product candidates, NEXI-001, NEXI-002, and NEXI-003. This realignment is designed to reduce costs and reallocate resources towards the AIM INJ preclinical development programs. As part of this strategy, we will focus on developing AIM INJ nanoparticle constructs and modalities for potential clinical evaluation in oncology and autoimmune disorders. The Company is also exploring several external opportunities to continue to advance these programs. Going Concern Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern ("ASC 205-40"), requires management to assess the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year after the date the financial statements are issued. Under ASC 205-40, management has the responsibility to evaluate whether conditions and/or events raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to meet future financial obligations as they become due within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. As required by this standard, management’s evaluation shall initially not take into consideration the potential mitigating effects of management’s plans that have not been fully implemented as of the date the financial statements are issued. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred recurring operating losses and negative cash flows from operations. The financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the realization of the carrying value of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern. As of March 31, 2023, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $199.8 million, negative cash flows from operating activities for the period ended March 31, 2023, and significant ongoing research and development expenses. While we have no outstanding debt and $22.3 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2023, the Company expects its negative cash flows from operating activities to continue and thus has determined that its losses and negative cash flows from operations and uncertainty in generating sufficient cash to meet the Company's obligations and sustain the Company's operations raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year from the issuance date of these financial statements. As the Company’s research and development activities mature and develop over the next year, the Company will likely require substantial funds to continue such activities, depending upon events that are difficult to predict at this time. In this regard, management plans to raise additional capital through financing activities that may include public offerings and private placements of its common stock, preferred stock offerings, collaborations and licensing arrangements and issuances of debt and convertible debt instruments. In the absence of additional capital, the Company plans to strategically manage its uncommitted spend, execute its priorities and implement cost saving measures to reduce research and development and general and administrative expenditures which could include minimizing staff costs and delaying or terminating manufacturing and clinical trial costs. There are inherent uncertainties associated with fundraising activities and activities to manage the Company’s uncommitted spending and the successful execution of these activities may not be within the Company’s control. There are no assurances that such additional funding will be obtained and that the Company will succeed in its future operations. If the Company cannot successfully raise additional capital, its liquidity, financial condition and business prospects will be materially and adversely affected. The Company is continually looking into further capital planning and the evaluation of strategic alternatives. There is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies	Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies The accompanying unaudited financial statements were prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative GAAP as found in the ASC and Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) of the FASB. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the accompanying notes to the financial statements contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023. In management’s opinion, the accompanying financial statements contain all adjustments, including normal, recurring adjustments, necessary to fairly present the financial position as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, and the statements of operations and comprehensive loss, statements of changes in stockholders’ equity, and statements of cash flows for the three month periods ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for an entire year. Recent Accounting Standards and Pronouncements Recently Adopted In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), which modifies the measurement of expected credit losses on certain financial instruments ("ASU 2016-13"). In addition, for available-for-sale debt securities, the standard eliminates the concept of other-than-temporary impairment and requires the recognition of an allowance for credit losses rather than reductions in the amortized cost of the securities. The standard is effective for fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2022 and requires a modified-retrospective approach with a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. Based on the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, current market conditions and historical credit loss activity, the adoption of ASU 2016-13 did not have a material impact on its financial position, results of operations or the related disclosures. The Company adopted the new guidance on January 1, 2023 and determined there was no impact.

Commitments and Contingencies	3 Months Ended
Commitments and Contingencies	Mar. 31, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]
Commitments and Contingencies	Commitments and Contingencies Maryland Biotechnology Center Grant The Company entered into a Translational Research Award Agreement effective May 23, 2012 with the Department of Business & Economic Development with the State of Maryland, Maryland Biotechnology Center (“MBC”). The mission of MBC is to integrate entrepreneurial strategies to stimulate the transformation of scientific discovery and intellectual assets into capital formation and business development. Under the agreement and as amended in 2013, MBC provided $325,000 to NexImmune for research on its artificial Antigen Presenting Cell ("aAPC") for cancer immunotherapy. The Company must repay the funds through annual payments calculated at 3% of annual revenues for the preceding year. Payments shall continue for 10 years after the first payment date and may total up to 200% of the total grant amount. The end date of the agreement is defined as January 31, 2024, or when any and all repayments due to MBC have been made. If the Company does not earn any revenue, the grant does not need to be repaid. Through March 31, 2023, no revenue has been recorded, therefore, no payments to MBC are currently due. Johns Hopkins University Exclusive License Agreement The Company entered into an Exclusive License Agreement with Johns Hopkins University (“JHU”) effective June 2011, which was amended and restated in January 2017, referred to as the A&R JHU License Agreement, under which there are license fees, royalties, and milestone payments. As part of the agreement, the Company acquired a perpetual, exclusive license from JHU covering its invention related to Antigen Specific T cells. JHU was also entitled to milestone fees of $75,000 in connection with clinical trial milestones. For the first licensed product or licensed service in the therapeutic field, the Company may be required to pay JHU additional aggregate milestone fees of $1.6 million for clinical and regulatory milestone fees. The Company may be required to pay JHU reduced milestone fees for the second and third licensed products or licensed services in the therapeutic field in connection with clinical and regulatory milestones. In the diagnostic field, the Company may be required to pay JHU aggregate milestone fees of $0.4 million for the first licensed product, or licensed service and reduced milestone fees for the second and third licensed products, or licensed services in connection with regulatory and commercial milestones. The Company may be required to pay JHU aggregate milestone fees of $100,000 for commercial milestones for the first licensed product or licensed service in the non-clinical field. In the aggregate, the Company may be required to pay JHU additional milestone fees of up to $4.2 million for all clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones for all licensed products or licensed services in the therapeutic field, the diagnostic field and the non-clinical field. The Company may also be required to pay royalties in the low to upper mid-single digits on net sales of therapeutic products, diagnostic products and non-clinical products. The Company may also be required to pay royalties in the low to upper single digits on net sales of licensed services in therapeutic products, diagnostic products and non-clinical products. The Company is required to make minimum annual royalty payments of $100,000 to JHU under the A&R JHU License Agreement. The Company may also be required to pay JHU a low double digit percentage not to exceed 15%, of any non-royalty sublicense consideration the Company receives. The Company will record a liability when such events become probable of occurring. The Company has not reached any of the milestones or transacted its first commercial sale as of March 31, 2023. The Company must make minimum royalty payments, which began upon the fourth anniversary of the agreement and upon every anniversary thereafter during the term of the agreement, which offset future royalties per above owed to JHU. The Company has incurred $550,000 in cumulative minimum royalties from inception. Future annual minimum royalties consist of $100,000 due each year during the remaining term of the A&R JHU License Agreement. The Company records milestones, royalties and minimum royalties at the time when payments become probable. During the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company incurred $25,000 related to minimum royalties owed, included in research and development expenses on the accompanying statement of operations. The Company has accrued royalties of $75,000 as of March 31, 2023 and $50,000 as of December 31, 2022. Contingencies From time to time, the Company may be subject to various litigation and related matters arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company records a provision for a liability when it believes that it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine both probability and the estimated amount. As of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the Company was not involved in any material legal proceedings.

Balance Sheets - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 22,315,215	$ 34,642,340
Restricted cash	55,000	55,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	3,034,485	2,671,411
Total current assets	25,404,700	37,368,751
Property and equipment, net	4,232,655	4,459,071
Operating lease right-of-use assets	836,292	967,032
Other non-current assets	190,583	264,970
Total assets	30,664,230	43,059,824
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	650,568	2,377,374
Accrued expenses	5,547,648	7,357,153
Operating lease liabilities, current	587,944	599,047
Total current liabilities	6,786,160	10,333,574
Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion	300,217	425,766
Total liabilities	7,086,377	10,759,340
Commitments and contingencies
Stockholders’ equity
Common Stock, $0.0001 par value, 250,000,000 shares authorized as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022; 26,078,451 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022	2,608	2,608
Additional paid-in-capital	223,389,976	222,547,530
Accumulated deficit	(199,814,731)	(190,249,654)
Total stockholders’ equity	23,577,853	32,300,484
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$ 30,664,230	$ 43,059,824
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares)	26,078,451	26,078,451
Common stock, shares issued (in shares)	26,078,451	26,078,451

Statements Of Operations - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Statements Of Operations - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022
Operating expenses:
Research and development	$ 6,124,044	$ 10,448,843
General and administrative	3,701,365	4,604,679
Total operating expenses	9,825,409	15,053,522
Loss from operations	(9,825,409)	(15,053,522)
Other income (expense):
Interest income	274,738	33,093
Other expense	(14,406)	(2,576)
Other income, net	260,332	30,517
Net loss	$ (9,565,077)	$ (15,023,005)
Basic net loss per common share (in dollars per share)	$ (0.37)	$ (0.66)
Diluted net loss per common share (in dollars per share)	$ (0.37)	$ (0.66)
Basic weighted average number of common shares outstanding (in shares)	26,078,451	22,836,781
Diluted weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (in shares)	26,078,451	22,836,781

Statements Of Comprehensive Loss - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Statements Of Comprehensive Loss - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022
Statement of Comprehensive Income [Abstract]
Net loss	$ (9,565,077)	$ (15,023,005)
Other comprehensive loss:
Unrealized loss on available-for-sale marketable securities, net of tax	0	(23,590)
Comprehensive loss	$ (9,565,077)	$ (15,046,595)

Statements Of Changes In Stockholders' Equity - USD ($)	Total	Common Stock	Additional Paid-in Capital	Accumulated Deficit	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income/ (Loss)
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2021		22,828,904
Balance at Dec. 31, 2021	$ 83,760,667	$ 2,283	$ 211,498,827	$ (127,743,455)	$ 3,012
Exercise of stock options (in shares)		12,890
Exercise of stock options	33,255	$ 1	33,254
Stock-based compensation	1,645,852		1,645,852
Change in unrealized gain available-for-sale securities	(23,590)				(23,590)
Net loss	(15,023,005)			(15,023,005)
Balance (in shares) at Mar. 31, 2022		22,841,794
Balance at Mar. 31, 2022	70,393,179	$ 2,284	213,177,933	(142,766,460)	(20,578)
Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2022		26,078,451
Balance at Dec. 31, 2022	$ 32,300,484	$ 2,608	222,547,530	(190,249,654)	0
Exercise of stock options (in shares)	0
Stock-based compensation	$ 842,446		842,446
Change in unrealized gain available-for-sale securities	0
Net loss	(9,565,077)			(9,565,077)
Balance (in shares) at Mar. 31, 2023		26,078,451
Balance at Mar. 31, 2023	$ 23,577,853	$ 2,608	$ 223,389,976	$ (199,814,731)	$ 0

Statements Of Cash Flows - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Statements Of Cash Flows - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022
Cash flows from operating activities
Net loss	$ (9,565,077)	$ (15,023,005)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization	263,766	226,956
Accretion income on available-for-sale marketable securities, net	0	(1,618)
Stock-based compensation	842,446	1,645,852
Non-cash lease expense	130,740	121,904
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Prepaid expenses and other assets	(288,687)	(2,696,917)
Accounts payable	(1,726,806)	955,433
Accrued expenses	(1,804,135)	(1,596,261)
Operating lease liabilities	(136,652)	(107,810)
Net cash used in operating activities	(12,284,405)	(16,475,466)
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property and equipment	(42,720)	(344,362)
Purchase of marketable securities	0	(16,036,445)
Proceeds from maturities of available-for-sale marketable securities	0	27,000,000
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	(42,720)	10,619,193
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from the exercise of stock options	0	33,255
Net cash provided by financing activities	0	33,255
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	(12,327,125)	(5,823,018)
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period	34,697,340	30,393,852
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period	22,370,215	24,570,834
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and financing activities:
Property and equipment purchases included in accounts payable and accrued expenses	$ 0	$ 62,241

Stockholders' Equity	3 Months Ended
Stockholders' Equity	Mar. 31, 2023
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]
Stockholders' Equity	Stockholders’ Equity Issuances of Common Stock In June 2022, the Company entered into a Controlled Equity Offering Sales Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and BTIG, LLC (together, the “Agents”), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell shares of its common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, having an aggregate offering price of up to $50.0 million (the "Shares") from time to time through the Agents (the "Offering"). Subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, any such sales made through the Agents can be made, based upon the Company's instructions, by methods deemed an “at-the-market" offering as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) promulgated under the Securities Act. The Company agreed to pay the Agents a commission of 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any sales of shares sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement. To date, the Company sold an aggregate of 3,184,900 shares through the “at-the-market" offering facility resulting in net proceeds of $5.1 million. The Company did not sell shares through the “at-the-market" offering facility in the three months ended March 31, 2023.

Related Party Transaction	3 Months Ended
Related Party Transaction	Mar. 31, 2023
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]
Related Party Transaction	Related Party Transaction On March 16, 2022, the Company and Zephyr AI, Inc. (“Zephyr”) entered into a Joint Research Agreement (the “JRA”) focused on the joint collaboration, identification and validation of certain targets in order to facilitate further research, development and potential commercialization of immunotherapies. Zephyr is owned by a holding company with multiple Board members from the Company. The JRA term is two years unless mutually extended. Pursuant to the JRA, Zephyr will identify suitable antigens or combinations thereof for validation and testing by NexImmune. The Joint Steering Committee (the “JSC”) provided for by the JRA will then determine which identified candidates shall be subject to further analysis. NexImmune will validate which, if any, of the identified antigens are suitable for T-cell engagement and killing function (the “Final Candidates”). The JSC will make a good-faith determination as to whether the data supports the further IND-targeted development by NexImmune of any of the Final Candidates. The Company and Zephyr will jointly own any Final Candidates, including the intellectual property related thereto. Each of the Company and Zephyr shall be responsible for payment of their own respective costs and expenses in connection with the performance of their respective obligations under the JRA. If a Final Candidate is to be further developed, then the Company and Zephyr shall engage in good-faith negotiations to agree on the terms and conditions of an agreement with respect to the further development and commercialization of such Final Candidate. If such an agreement is not executed within the prescribed negotiation period, then neither the Company nor Zephyr may further develop such Final Candidate. The expenses related to the JRA for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 were immaterial.

Income Taxes	3 Months Ended
Income Taxes	Mar. 31, 2023
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Income Taxes	Income TaxesThe Company has not recorded any tax provision or benefit for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. The Company has provided a valuation allowance for the full amount of its net deferred tax assets since realization of any future benefit from deductible temporary differences, net operating loss carryforwards, and research and development credits is not more-likely-than-not to be realized at March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2023. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 is 0%.

Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	The accompanying unaudited financial statements were prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Any reference in these notes to applicable guidance is meant to refer to the authoritative GAAP as found in the ASC and Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) of the FASB. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the accompanying notes to the financial statements contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023. In management’s opinion, the accompanying financial statements contain all adjustments, including normal, recurring adjustments, necessary to fairly present the financial position as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, and the statements of operations and comprehensive loss, statements of changes in stockholders’ equity, and statements of cash flows for the three month periods ended March 31, 2023 and 2022. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for an entire year.
Recent Accounting Standards and Pronouncements	Recent Accounting Standards and Pronouncements Recently Adopted In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), which modifies the measurement of expected credit losses on certain financial instruments ("ASU 2016-13"). In addition, for available-for-sale debt securities, the standard eliminates the concept of other-than-temporary impairment and requires the recognition of an allowance for credit losses rather than reductions in the amortized cost of the securities. The standard is effective for fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2022 and requires a modified-retrospective approach with a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. Based on the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, current market conditions and historical credit loss activity, the adoption of ASU 2016-13 did not have a material impact on its financial position, results of operations or the related disclosures. The Company adopted the new guidance on January 1, 2023 and determined there was no impact.
Fair Value Measurement	Fair Value MeasurementsThe Company’s financial instruments include cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, accounts payable, and accrued expenses. The fair values of the cash, cash equivalents, accounts payable and accrued expenses approximated their carrying values as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 due to their short-term maturities. The Company accounts for recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements in accordance with ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements (“ASC 820”). ASC 820 defines fair value, establishes a fair value hierarchy for assets and liabilities measured at fair value, and requires expanded disclosures about fair value measurements. The ASC hierarchy ranks the quality of reliability of inputs, or assumptions, used in the determination of fair value, and requires assets and liabilities carried at fair value to be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories: Level 1 -Fair value is determined by using unadjusted quoted prices that are available in active markets for identical assets and liabilities. Level 2 -Fair value is determined by using inputs, other than Level 1 quoted prices that are directly and indirectly observable. Inputs can include quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets or quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in inactive markets. Related inputs can also include those used in valuation or other pricing models that can be corroborated by observable market data. Level 3 -Fair value is determined by inputs that are unobservable and not corroborated by market data. Use of these inputs involves significant judgments to be made by a reporting entity. In instances where the determination of the fair value measurement is based on inputs from different levels of fair value hierarchy, the fair value measurement will fall within the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety. The Company periodically evaluates financial assets and liabilities subject to fair value measurements to determine the appropriate level at which to classify them each reporting period. This determination requires the Company to make judgments as to the significance of inputs used in determining fair value and where such inputs lie within the ASC 820 hierarchy.
Earnings Per Share	Basic net loss per common share is determined by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, without consideration of common stock equivalents. Diluted net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common stock and common stock equivalents outstanding for the period. The treasury stock method is used to determine the dilutive effect of the Company’s stock option grants.

Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash - Summary of Reconciliation of Cash, Cash Equivalents And Restricted Cash (Detail) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Cash and Cash Equivalents [Line Items]
Cash	$ 1,354,694	$ 2,940,733
Cash and cash equivalents	22,315,215	34,642,340
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	22,370,215	34,697,340
Money market funds \| Level 1
Cash and Cash Equivalents [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	20,960,521	23,722,328
Fixed income debt securities \| Level 2
Cash and Cash Equivalents [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	7,979,279
Restricted cash
Cash and Cash Equivalents [Line Items]
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash	$ 55,000	$ 55,000

Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash - Additional Information (Detail)	Mar. 31, 2023
Fixed income debt securities
Cash Cash Equivalents Restricted Cash And Restricted Cash Equivalents Line items [Line Items]
Marketable securities maturity date	90 days

Fair Value Measurements - Schedule of Fair Value Assets and Liabilities Measured on Recurring Basis (Detail) - Recurring basis - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Level 1
Assets
Total assets	$ 20,960,521	$ 23,722,328
Level 1 \| Money market funds
Assets
Money market funds	20,960,521	23,722,328
Level 1 \| Fixed income debt securities
Assets
Fixed income debt securities	0	0
Level 2
Assets
Total assets	0	7,979,279
Level 2 \| Money market funds
Assets
Money market funds	0	0
Level 2 \| Fixed income debt securities
Assets
Fixed income debt securities	0	7,979,279
Level 3
Assets
Total assets	0	0
Level 3 \| Money market funds
Assets
Money market funds	0	0
Level 3 \| Fixed income debt securities
Assets
Fixed income debt securities	$ 0	$ 0

Prepaid Expenses And Other Current Assets - Summary of Prepaid Expenses And Other Current Assets (Detail) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Deferred Costs, Capitalized, Prepaid, and Other Assets Disclosure [Abstract]
Prepaid research and development expenses	$ 856,399	$ 1,176,491
Prepaid maintenance agreements	361,034	369,606
Prepaid insurance	1,108,624	403,653
Prepaid other	355,067	245,278
Interest receivable	83,819	74,467
Other current assets	269,542	401,916
Total prepaid expenses and other current assets	$ 3,034,485	$ 2,671,411

Property and Equipment - Summary of Property And Equipment (Detail) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property plant and equipment gross	$ 7,726,013	$ 7,688,663
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(3,493,358)	(3,229,592)
Total property and equipment, net	4,232,655	4,459,071
Laboratory equipment
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property plant and equipment gross	6,830,558	6,803,996
Computer equipment and software
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property plant and equipment gross	527,762	516,974
Furniture and fixtures
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property plant and equipment gross	47,877	47,877
Leasehold improvements
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property plant and equipment gross	$ 319,816	$ 319,816

Property and Equipment - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]
Depreciation and amortization	$ 0.3	$ 0.2

Accrued Expenses - Summary of Components of Accrued Expenses (Detail) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Payables and Accruals [Abstract]
Accrued research and development costs	$ 2,892,787	$ 3,210,794
Accrued salaries, benefits and related expenses	2,232,188	3,855,797
Accrued professional fees	393,806	267,383
Other accrued expenses	28,867	23,179
Accrued expenses	$ 5,547,648	$ 7,357,153

Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)			3 Months Ended
	Jan. 01, 2017	May 23, 2013	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Accrued royalties			$ 75,000			$ 50,000
Loss contingency accrual			0		$ 0
Research and development expenses
Royalty expense			25,000	$ 25,000
Maryland Biotechnology Center \| Translational Research Award Agreement
Research and development arrangement contract to perform for others liability		$ 325,000	0
Research and development arrangement annual payment percentage		3.00%
Research and development arrangement contractual payment period		10 years
Research and development arrangement contractual payment percentage		200.00%
Revenue from contract with customer, including assessed tax			0
Johns Hopkins University \| Exclusive License Agreement
Milestone fees	$ 4,200,000
Minimum annual royalty payments			$ 100,000
Maximum non-royalty sublicense payments, percent			15.00%
Cumulative minimum royalties			$ 550,000
Johns Hopkins University \| Exclusive License Agreement \| Clinical Trial Milestones
Milestone fees	75,000
Johns Hopkins University \| Exclusive License Agreement \| Therapeutic Field
Milestone fees	1,600,000
Johns Hopkins University \| Exclusive License Agreement \| Regulatory and Commercial Milestones
Milestone fees	400,000
Johns Hopkins University \| Exclusive License Agreement \| Non-clinical field
Milestone fees	$ 100,000

Restructuring Activities (Details)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Restructuring Activities (Details)	Nov. 30, 2022 USD ($) employee	Mar. 31, 2023 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2022 USD ($)
Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]
Expected number of positions eliminated, percent	30.00%
Number of positions before eliminations \| employee	74
Number of positions after eliminations \| employee	50
Restructuring cost, reduction in workforce \| $	$ 700,000
Expenses \| $		$ 126,170	$ 500,000

Restructuring Activities - Summary of Charges Related to Restructuring Activities (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Restructuring Reserve [Roll Forward]
Restructuring reserve, beginning balance	$ 382,389
Expenses	126,170	$ 500,000
Less: Payments	(452,112)
Restructuring reserve, ending balance	56,447	382,389
Severance, benefits and related costs due to workforce reduction
Restructuring Reserve [Roll Forward]
Restructuring reserve, beginning balance	382,389
Expenses	126,170
Less: Payments	(452,112)
Restructuring reserve, ending balance	$ 56,447	$ 382,389

Stockholders' Equity - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	10 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2022	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)		$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001
At-The-Market Offering
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.0001
Sale of stock, aggregate offering approval	$ 50.0
Commission percentage	3.00%
Shares issued (shares)		3,184,900
Net proceeds from sale of stock		$ 5.1

Stock-Based Compensation - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2021	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022	Jul. 31, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 01, 2017
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Shares reserved (in shares)	5,202,624				1,741,770
Shares available for issuance (in shares)		1,863,566
Granted (in shares)		0
Weighted average fair value of the options granted (in dollars per share)			$ 1.99
Exercise of stock options (in shares)		0
Unrecognized compensation expense		$ 5.2
Share-Based Payment Arrangement, Option
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Unrecognized compensation expense period for recognition		2 years 1 month 6 days
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Unrecognized compensation expense period for recognition		1 year 1 month 6 days
Unrecognized compensation expense		$ 0.5
The 2017 Plan
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Shares reserved (in shares)						660,838
The 2018 Plan
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Shares reserved (in shares)				1,809,143
The 2021 Plan
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Award expiration period	10 years
The 2021 Plan \| Minimum
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Award vesting period	1 year
The 2021 Plan \| Maximum
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Expensed and Capitalized, Amount [Line Items]
Award vesting period	4 years

Stock-Based Compensation - Summary of Option Activity (Detail) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Number of restricted units
Outstanding as of beginning of period (in shares)	3,965,502
Granted (in shares)	0
Exercised (in shares)	0
Cancelled (in shares)	(841)
Forfeited (in shares)	(194,933)
Outstanding as of end of period (in shares)	3,769,728	3,965,502
Vested or expected to vest by period end (in shares)	3,769,728
Exercisable as of period end (in shares)	2,082,403
Shares unvested as of period end (in shares)	1,687,325
Weighted Average Exercise Price
Outstanding as of beginning of period (in dollars per share)	$ 7.38
Granted (in dollars per share)	0
Exercised (in dollars per share)	0
Cancelled (in dollars per share)	10.50
Forfeited (in dollars per share)	5.95
Outstanding as of end of period (in dollars per share)	7.45	$ 7.38
Vested or expected to vest as of end of period (in dollars per share)	7.45
Exercisable as of end of period (in dollars per share)	9.09
Shares unvested as of end of period (in dollars per share)	$ 5.42
Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (years)
Outstanding as of end of period (in years)	6 years 3 months 18 days	8 years
Vested or expected to vest as of end of period (in years)	6 years 3 months 18 days
Exercisable as of end of period (in years)	4 years 3 months 18 days
Shares unvested as of end of period (in years)	8 years 10 months 24 days
Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in millions)
Outstanding as of March 31, 2023	$ 0.0	$ 0.0
Vested or expected to vest as of March 31, 2023	0.0
Exercisable as of March 31, 2023	0.0
Shares unvested as of March 31, 2023	$ 0.0

Stock-Based Compensation - Summary of RSU Activity (Details) - Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023 USD ($) $ / shares shares
Number of restricted units
Beginning balance (in shares) \| shares	1,558,000
Granted (in shares) \| shares	0
Vested (in shares) \| shares	0
Forfeited (in shares) \| shares	(22,400)
Ending balance (in shares) \| shares	1,535,600
Weighted Average Exercise Price
Beginning balance (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 0.45
Granted (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	0
Vested (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	0
Forfeited (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	0.45
Ending balance (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 0.45
Unrecognized compensation expense \| $	$ 0.5
Unrecognized compensation expense period for recognition	1 year 1 month 6 days

Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders - Summary of Basic and Diluted Earnings Per Share (Detail) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Net loss	$ (9,565,077)	$ (15,023,005)
Basic net loss per common share (in dollars per share)	$ (0.37)	$ (0.66)
Diluted net loss per common share (in dollars per share)	$ (0.37)	$ (0.66)
Basic weighted average common shares outstanding (in shares)	26,078,451	22,836,781
Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding (in shares)	26,078,451	22,836,781

Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders - Summary of Antidilutive Securities Outstanding (Detail) - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2023	Mar. 31, 2022
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Potentially dilutive securities (in shares)	5,305,328	2,942,868
Share-Based Payment Arrangement, Option
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Potentially dilutive securities (in shares)	3,769,728	2,942,868
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Potentially dilutive securities (in shares)	1,535,600	0

Related Party Transaction (Details)	Mar. 16, 2022
Joint Research Agreement \| Affiliated Entity \| Zephyr AI, Inc.
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
JRA term	2 years

Subsequent Event (Details)	Apr. 04, 2023 shares	Mar. 31, 2023 shares	Mar. 22, 2023 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2022 shares
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share price (in dollars per share)			$ 0.41
Share-based compensation arrangement by share-based payment award, options, outstanding, (in shares) \| shares		3,769,728		3,965,502
Executive Officer \| Jerome Zeldis \| Subsequent Event
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share-based compensation arrangement by share-based payment award, options, outstanding, (in shares) \| shares	100,000
Terms of Repriced Options vested or vesting within six months following the Effective Date \| Employees Excluding Executive Officer
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing multiple			2.5
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 1.03
Terms of Repriced Options vested or vesting within six months following the Effective Date \| Executive Officer
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing multiple			3.0
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 1.23
Terms of Repriced Options vested or vesting within six months following the Effective Date \| Director
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing multiple			4.0
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 1.64
Terms of Repriced Options vesting more than six months following the Effective Date \| Employees Excluding Executive Officer
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 0.41
Terms of Repriced Options vesting more than six months following the Effective Date \| Executive Officer
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing multiple			2.0
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 0.82
Terms of Repriced Options vesting more than six months following the Effective Date \| Director
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing multiple			3.0
Share based payment arrangement, option, repricing exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 1.23