NOTE 2 – SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

(A) Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

(B) Reverse Stock Split

In connection with the IPO, the Board of Directors and the stockholders of the Company approved a one-for-2.15 reverse stock split of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock and preferred stock. The reverse stock split became effective on May 1, 2017. All share and per share amounts in the financial statements have been adjusted for all periods presented to give effect to the reverse stock split.

The Company is subject to risks common to companies in the development stage including, but not limited to, dependency on the clinical and commercial success of its drug candidates, ability to obtain regulatory approval of its drug candidates, the need for substantial additional financing to achieve its goals, uncertainty of broad adoption of its approved products, if any, by physicians and consumers, and significant competition and untested manufacturing capabilities.

(D) Deferred Transaction Costs

Deferred transaction costs, primarily consisted of direct incremental legal, accounting, and other fees related to the Company’s contemplated initial public offering (“IPO”), and were capitalized as incurred. The deferred transaction costs have been offset against IPO proceeds upon the consummation of the offering.

(E) Comprehensive Loss

Comprehensive loss includes net loss as well as other changes in stockholders’ equity that result from transactions and economic events other than those with stockholders. For all periods presented, there was no difference between net loss and comprehensive loss.

(F) Collaboration Arrangement

License and Collaboration Agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

The Company accounts for the license and collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (“Takeda”) in accordance with Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 808 – “Collaborative Arrangements.” As Ovid and Takeda are sharing 50/50 in the drug development and throughout the life of this compound, the Company records 50% of the development costs in research and development. When Ovid incurs the majority of the costs and Takeda transfers a payment to Ovid to equalize the costs, Ovid records the participation by Takeda as a reduction of its research and development expenses, as the parties under the collaboration are sharing in the costs and the payment represents reimbursement of costs by Takeda. When Takeda incurs the majority of the costs and Ovid transfers a payment to Takeda (to equalize the costs), Ovid records the participation in Takeda’s expenses as research and development costs in its statement of operations, as Ovid and Takeda are sharing in the research and development activities and this participation represents Ovid’s share of the research and development costs in the specific period.

(G) Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company’s cash and cash equivalents consist of cash held in checking accounts and money market funds. The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity date of three months or less to be cash and cash equivalents. Accounts held at U.S. financial institutions are insured by the FDIC up to $250,000. Cash balances could exceed insured amounts at any given time.

(H) Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost and depreciated over their estimated useful lives of three years using the straight-line method. Repairs and maintenance costs are expensed. The Company reviews the recoverability of all long-lived assets, including the related useful life, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a long-lived asset might not be recoverable.

(I) Research and Development Expenses

The Company expenses the cost of research and development as incurred. Research and development expenses comprise costs incurred in performing research and development activities, including clinical trial costs, manufacturing costs for both clinical and pre-clinical materials as well as other contracted services, license fees, and other external costs. Nonrefundable advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity is performed or when the goods have been received, rather than when the cost is incurred, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 730, Research and Development.

(J) Stock-Based Compensation

The Company accounts for its stock-based compensation in accordance with ASC 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation, which establishes accounting for stock-based awards granted to employees for services and requires companies to expense the estimated fair value of these awards over the requisite service period. The Company estimates the fair value of all awards granted using the Black-Scholes valuation model. Key inputs and assumptions include the expected term of the option, stock price volatility, risk-free interest rate, dividend yield, stock price and exercise price. Many of the assumptions require significant judgment and any changes could have a material impact in the determination of stock-based compensation expense. The Company elected an accounting policy to record forfeitures as they occur. The Company recognizes employee stock-based compensation expense based on the fair value of the award on the date of the grant. The compensation expense is recognized over the vesting period under the straight-line method.

The Company accounts for options awards granted to nonemployee consultants and directors under ASC 505 Equity. The fair value of the option issued or committed to be issued is used to measure the transaction, as this is more reliable than the fair value of the services received. The fair value is measured at the value of the Company’s common stock at the earlier of the date that the commitment for performance by the counterparty has been reached or the counterparty’s performance is complete. Awards granted to nonemployees are remeasured to fair value at each period end date until vested and expensed on a straight-line basis over the vesting period.

(K) Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) guidance specifies a hierarchy of valuation techniques based on whether the inputs to those valuation techniques are observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect market assumptions. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurement) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurement).

The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:

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Level 1—Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date. Level 1 primarily consists of financial instruments whose value is based on quoted market prices such as exchange-traded instruments and listed equities. The Company’s Level 1 assets consisted of money market funds totaling $86.6 million and $51.6 million as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

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Level 2—Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly (e.g., quoted prices of similar assets or liabilities in active markets, or quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active). Level 2 includes financial instruments that are valued using models or other valuation methodologies. The Company had no Level 2 assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2017 and 2016.

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Level 3—Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability. Financial instruments are considered Level 3 when their fair values are determined using pricing models, discounted cash flows or similar techniques and at least one significant model assumption or input is unobservable. The Company had no Level 3 assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2017 and 2016.

The carrying amounts reported in the balance sheets for cash and cash equivalents, other current assets, accounts payable, and accrued expenses approximate their fair value based on the short-term maturity of these instruments.

(L) Income Taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes under the asset and liability method, which requires deferred tax assets and liabilities to be recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between financial statement carrying amounts and respective tax bases of existing assets and liabilities, as well as net operating loss carryforwards and research and development credit. Valuation allowances are provided if it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The impact of a change in the tax laws is recorded in the period in which the law is enacted.

(M) Net Loss Per Common Share

Basic and diluted net loss per common share is determined by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average common shares outstanding during the period. For all periods presented, the common shares underlying the Preferred Stock and options have been excluded from the calculation because their effect would be anti-dilutive. Therefore, the weighted-average shares outstanding used to calculate both basic and diluted loss per common share are the same.

The following potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the computations of diluted weighted-average shares outstanding as they would be anti-dilutive:

	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2016		2015
Stock options to purchase common stock		4,298,802		2,987,729		1,890,690
Preferred stock convertible into common stock		-		7,981,351		7,981,351
Total		4,298,802		10,969,080		9,872,041

(N) Segment Data

The Company manages its operations as a single segment for the purposes of assessing performance and making operating decisions.

(O) Retirement Plan

The Company maintains a 401(k)-retirement plan for its employees that is intended to qualify under Sections 401(a) and 501(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Code”), in 2016. The Company provides all active employees with a 100% matching contribution equal to 3% of an employee’s eligible compensation deferred and 50% matching contributions on employee contributions that are between 3% and 5% of an employee’s eligible compensation deferred. These safe harbor contributions vest immediately. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 the Company contributed $163,942 and $36,606, respectively.

(P) Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent accounting standards which have been adopted

In March 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-09, "Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting." ASU 2016-09 simplifies various aspects of the accounting for share-based payments. The simplifications include: (a) recording all tax effects associated with stock-based compensation through the income statement, as opposed to recording certain amounts in other paid-in capital, which eliminates the complications of tracking a “windfall pool,” but will increase the volatility of income tax expense; (b) allowing entities to withhold shares to satisfy the employer’s statutory tax withholding requirement up to the highest marginal tax rate applicable to employees rather than the employer’s minimum statutory rate, without requiring liability classification for the award; (c) modifying the requirement to estimate the number of awards that will ultimately vest by providing an accounting policy election to either estimate the number of forfeitures or recognize forfeitures as they occur; and (d) changing certain presentation requirements in the statement of cash flows, including removing the requirement to present excess tax benefits as an inflow from financing activities and an outflow from operating activities, and requiring the cash paid to taxing authorities arising from withheld shares to be classified as a financing activity. ASU 2016-09 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. Early adoption is permitted for any entity in any interim or annual period.

The Company early adopted ASU 2016-09 as of September 30, 2016 on a retroactive basis to the beginning of the period. In connection with the early adoption, the Company elected an accounting policy to record forfeitures as they occur. There was no financial statement impact upon adoption for the above accounting policy election. In addition, there was no financial statement impact of adopting ASU 2016-09 provisions regarding recognition of tax effects associated with stock-based compensation, as the Company is in a net operating loss (“NOL”) position with a full valuation allowance. Also, for the period from inception through December 31, 2016, the Company did not record an income statement benefit for excess tax benefits as there were no exercises of options during the period.

New accounting standards which have not yet been adopted

In May 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Scope of Modification Accounting. This new standard clarifies when to account for a change to the terms or conditions of share-based payment award as a modification. Under the new guidance, modification accounting is required unless the fair value, the vesting conditions, and the classification of the award remain the same as the original award. ASU 2017-09 is effective for public companies for fiscal years beginning on or after December 15, 2017. The adoption of this standard is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-01, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business. This new standard clarifies the definition of a business and provides a screen to determine when an integrated set of assets and activities is not a business. The screen requires, among others, that when substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired (or disposed of) is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets, the set is not a business. ASU 2017-01 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017. The adoption of this standard is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments. The new standard clarifies certain aspects of the statement of cash flows, including the classification of debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs, settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing, contingent consideration payments made after a business combination, proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims, proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies, distributions received from equity method investees and beneficial interests in securitization transactions. The new standard also clarifies that an entity should determine each separately identifiable source or use within the cash receipts and cash payments on the basis of the nature of the underlying cash flows. In situations in which cash receipts and payments have aspects of more than one class of cash flows and cannot be separated by source or use, the appropriate classification should depend on the activity that is likely to be the predominant source or use of cash flows for the item. ASU 2016-15 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2017. The adoption of this standard is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s statements of cash flows upon adoption.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842).” ASU 2016-02 was issued to increase transparency and comparability among entities by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about lease arrangements. ASU 2016-02 is effective for public companies for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company does not expect ASU 2016-02 to have a material impact on its results of operations and financial position.