Warrant Inducement
In October 2023, the Company entered into the October 2023 Inducement with a certain holder of its existing warrants to exercise for cash an aggregate of 6,325,354 shares of the Company’s common stock at a reduced exercise price of $1.76 per share. The exercised warrants included warrants issued in a December 2022 registered direct offering with an original exercise price of $4.075 per share and the February Common Stock Warrants issued in the February 2023 Registered Direct Offering with an original exercise price of $5.00 per share. As part of the October 2023 Inducement, the Company agreed to issue new unregistered Series A Warrants to purchase up to 6,325,354 shares of Common Stock and new unregistered Series B Warrants to purchase up to 6,325,354 shares of Common Stock (collectively, the “October 2023 Common Stock Warrants”). The Series A and B warrants are exercisable immediately upon issuance with an exercise price of $1.51 per share. The Series A warrants will expire five years following the issuance date and the Series B warrants will expire twenty-four months following the issuance date. The Company also issued the placement agent warrants to purchase up to 379,521 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $2.20 per share. The total gross proceeds from the October 2023 Inducement were approximately $11.1 million with net proceeds of approximately $10.0 million after deducting approximately $1.1 million in commissions and other transaction costs. In November 2023, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 to register the October 2023 Common Stock Warrants and placement agent warrants, which was declared effective November 24, 2023 (File No. 333-275644). The October 2023 Common Stock Warrants and placement agent warrants met the criteria for equity classification.
Upon the close of the transaction, the Company issued the holder 110,000 of the 6,325,354 shares of common stock that were issuable upon exercise of the existing warrants. Due to the beneficial ownership limitation provisions in the inducement offer letter agreement, the remaining 6,215,354 shares were initially unissued, and held in abeyance for the benefit of the holder until notice from the holder that the shares may be issued in compliance with the agreement. In January 2024, the final shares held in abeyance were issued to the holder.
Shares Issued Under the Founders Agreement
Pursuant to the Founders Agreement, the Company issued 368,907 shares of common stock to Fortress for the Annual Equity Fee, representing 2.5% of the fully diluted outstanding equity of Checkpoint on January 1, 2023 (see Notes 2 and 4).
Pursuant to the Founders Agreement, the Company issued to Fortress 2.5% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock issued in the February, April, and May 2023 registered direct offerings noted above. Accordingly, the Company issued 159,620 shares of common stock to Fortress and recorded expense of approximately $0.6 million related to this grant, which is included in general and administrative expenses in the Company’s Condensed Statements of Operations for the six months ended June 30, 2023.
Pursuant to the Founders Agreement, the Company issued 1,492,915 shares of common stock to Fortress on May 16, 2024 for the Annual Equity Fee, representing 2.5% of the fully diluted outstanding equity of Checkpoint on January 1, 2024. The Company did not have enough unreserved authorized shares under its certificate of incorporation on January 1, 2024 to issue the shares for the Annual Equity Fee. Therefore, in December 2023, Fortress and Checkpoint mutually agreed to defer the issuance until such time as certificate of incorporation has been amended in order to increase the number of authorized that may be issued thereunder. At the Company’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on May 13, 2024, its stockholders approved an amendment to its certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock available to issue. Because the number of outstanding shares issuable to Fortress was determinable on January 1, 2024 prior to the issuance of the December 31, 2023 financial statements, the Company recorded approximately $3.4 million in research and development expense and a credit to Common shares issuable-Founders Agreement during the year ended December 31, 2023.
Pursuant to the Founders Agreement, the Company issued to Fortress 2.5% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock issued in the January 2024 Registered Direct Offering. Accordingly, the Company issued 193,905 shares of common stock to Fortress and recorded expense of approximately $396,000 related to this issuance, which is included in general and administrative expenses in the Company’s Condensed Statements of Operations for the six months ended June 30, 2024.