v3.25.2
Share-Based Compensation
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2025
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Share-Based Compensation
8. Share-Based Compensation
2024 Equity Incentive Plan
The Crescent Biopharma, Inc. 2024 Equity Incentive Plan (“2024 Plan”) was adopted by the board of directors of Pre-Merger Crescent on September 19, 2024. The 2024 Plan provided for Pre-Merger Crescent to grant stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, and other stock-based awards to employees, officers, directors, consultants, and advisors. Equity Incentive Stock options granted under the 2024 Plan generally vest over four years, subject to the participant’s continued service, and expire after ten years, although stock options have been granted with vesting terms less than four years. As of June 30, 2025, there are no shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2024 Plan.
2025 Stock Incentive Plan
The Crescent Biopharma, Inc. 2025 Stock Incentive Plan (as amended from time to time, the “2025 Stock Plan”) was approved by the board of directors of GlycoMimetics on May 11, 2025, and by GlycoMimetics stockholders on June 5, 2025, and effective as of the Redomestication, the board of directors of the Company approved an amendment and restatement of the 2025 Stock Plan to reflect the conversion of Company common stock into Company ordinary shares in connection with the Redomestication. The 2025 Stock Plan allows for the grant of stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, other shareholder-based awards and incentive bonuses. The 2025 Stock Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Board (the “Compensation Committee”) or another committee designated by the Board to administer the Plan. The initial share pool under the 2025 Stock Plan is 2,345,962 ordinary shares, and as of June 30, 2025, there are 2,300,847 shares available in the pool. The shares that may be issued under the 2025 Stock Plan will be automatically increased on January 1 of each year beginning in 2026 and ending with a final increase on January 1, 2035 in an amount equal to 5% of the diluted shares (including ordinary shares, preferred shares and unexercised pre-funded warrants) on the preceding December 31, unless a lower, or no, increase is determined by the Compensation Committee. Current or prospective employees, officers, non-employee directors, and other independent service providers of the Company and its subsidiaries are eligible to participate in the 2025 Stock Plan.
2025 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
The Crescent Biopharma, Inc. 2025 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (as amended from time to time, the “ESPP”) was approved by the board of directors of GlycoMimetics on May 11, 2025, and by GlycoMimetics stockholders on June 5, 2025, and effective as of the Redomestication, the board of directors of the Company approved an amendment and restatement of the ESPP to reflect the conversion of Company common stock into Company ordinary shares in connection with the Redomestication. The ESPP has 195,497 shares reserved for issuance. The shares that may be issued under the ESPP will be automatically increased on January 1 of each year beginning in 2026 and ending with a final increase on January 1, 2035 in an amount equal to 1% of the diluted shares (including ordinary shares, preferred shares and unexercised pre-funded warrants) on the preceding December 31, unless a lower, or no, increase is determined by the Compensation Committee. As of June 30, 2025, the ESPP was not yet effective and no shares have been issued out of the ESPP.
Stock Option Valuation
The following table summarizes the weighted-average assumptions used in calculating the fair value of the awards during the six months ended June 30, 2025:
Six Months Ended
June 30, 2025
Expected term (in years)6.1
Expected volatility97.3%
Risk-free interest rate4.1%
Dividend yield 0.0%
Stock Options
The following table summarizes the stock option activity during the six months ended June 30, 2025:
Number of
Options		Weighted
Average
Exercise Price		Weighted Average
Remaining
Contractual Term
(Years)		Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value
(thousands)
Outstanding balance as of December 31, 20241,082,893$6.16 9.9$- 
Granted 3,374,673$8.18 
Exercised(811)$6.16 8 
Forfeited or expired(707,957)$6.16 
Outstanding balance as of June 30, 20253,748,798$7.98 9.7$30,593 
Exercisable as of June 30, 2025252,605$6.16 9.5$2,521 
The weighted average grant-date fair value of stock options granted during the six months ended June 30, 2025 was $6.51. The aggregate intrinsic value of stock options is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the stock options and the fair value of the Company’s ordinary shares for those stock options that had an exercise price lower than the fair value of the Company’s ordinary shares.
Restricted Stock Units
The Company’s RSUs have service-based vesting conditions and vest over a four-year period with one quarter of the RSUs vesting on the anniversary of the grant date and the remainder vesting quarterly thereafter, during which time all unvested shares are subject to forfeiture by the Company in the event the holder’s service with the Company voluntarily or involuntarily terminates.
The following table summarizes the RSU activity during the six months ended June 30, 2025:
Number of
RSUs		Weighted Average
Grant Date Fair Value
Unvested balance as of December 31, 2024-$- 
Granted438,3866.16 
Vested-- 
Forfeited-- 
Unvested balance as of June 30, 2025438,386$6.16 
Restricted Stock Awards
The Company’s RSAs have service-based vesting conditions only and vest over a four-year period or vest upon grant, during which time all unvested shares are subject to forfeiture by the Company in the event the holder’s service with the Company voluntarily or involuntarily terminates.
The following table summarizes the RSA activity during the six months ended June 30, 2025:
Number of
RSAs		Weighted Average
Grant Date Fair
Value
Unvested balance as of December 31, 2024246,753$1.38 
Granted20,1649.55 
Vested-- 
Forfeited(148,053)1.38 
Unvested balance as of June 30, 2025118,864$2.77 
Parascent Warrant Obligation
Under the terms of the Paragon Option Agreements, Parascent will be entitled to grants of warrants to purchase in the aggregate a number of shares equal to 1.00% of the then outstanding shares of the Company’s ordinary shares, on a fully diluted basis, on December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2026, at the fair market value determined by the Board of Directors (the “Parascent Warrant Obligation”). Parascent is an entity formed by Paragon as a vehicle to hold equity in the Company in order to share profits with certain employees of Paragon. The grant dates for the issuance of warrants are expected to be December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2026 as all terms of the award, including number of shares and exercise price, will be known by all parties. Parascent’s warrant has a service inception period for the grant preceding the grant date, with the full award being vested as of the grant date with no post-grant date service requirement. As of June 30, 2025, the estimated fair value of warrants to be granted on December 31, 2025 was $3.5 million. For the six-month period ended June 30, 2025, $2.0 million was recognized as share-based compensation expense related to the Parascent Warrant Obligation. The warrants expected to be granted to Parascent are liability-classified and after the initial recognition, the liability is adjusted to fair value using an option-pricing model at the end of each reporting period, with changes in fair value recorded in the condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss.
The following table summarizes the assumptions used in calculating the fair value of the warrants:
As of
June 30, 2025
Expected term (in years)10.0
Expected volatility96.8%
Risk-free interest rate4.2%
Dividend yield 0.0%
Share-Based Compensation Expense
On April 14, 2025, as a result of Dr. Violin no longer serving as Chief Executive Officer and President, the Company repurchased 127,889 shares of unvested restricted stock at the price Dr. Violin originally purchased such shares, and Dr. Violin agreed to the cancellation of 537,127 unvested stock options. The Company recorded $0.2 million and $2.6 million
within compensation expense as a result of the repurchase of RSA’s and stock option cancellation, respectively, during the three and six months ended June 30, 2025.
The following table summarizes the classification of the Company’s share-based compensation expense in the condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
June 30, 2025		Six Months Ended
June 30, 2025
General and administrative$3,639 $4,078 
Research and development1,701 2,491 
Total share-based compensation expense$5,340 $6,569 
As of June 30, 2025, total unrecognized compensation cost related to the unvested stock options was $21.3 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 3.7 years. As of June 30, 2025, total unrecognized compensation cost related to the unvested RSAs was $0.3 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 3.3 years. As of June 30, 2025, total unrecognized compensation cost related to the unvested RSUs was $2.5 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 3.7 years. As of June 30, 2025, the unrecognized compensation cost related to the Parascent Warrant Obligation was $1.4 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 0.5 years.
The following table summarizes the award types of the Company’s share-based compensation expense in the condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
June 30, 2025		Six Months Ended
June 30, 2025
Stock options$3,721 $4,135 
RSAs182 203 
RSUs165 196 
Parascent warrant obligation1,272 2,035 
Total share-based compensation expense$5,340 $6,569