11. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

2026 Grant

In March 2026, the Company issued options to a third-party consultant to purchase an aggregate of 50,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, with an exercise price of $5.00 per share and an aggregate grant date fair value of $169,200 (the “2026 Consultant Grant”), all of which vested immediately upon the grant date. As such, the entire grant date fair value was expensed to general and administrative expense on the date of grant.

2025 Grant

In September 2025, the Company approved options to a third-party consultant to purchase an aggregate of 219,693 shares of the Company’s common stock, with an exercise price of $4.40 per share and an aggregate grant date fair value of $336,500 (the “2025 Consultant Grant”). On April 6, 2026, the Company and the consultant executed an amendment to the notice of stock option grant dated September 8, 2025, which removed both performance-based vesting conditions and replaced them with a single service-based condition. Under the amended terms, 109,846 options now vest in equal monthly installments over 48 months beginning on the last day of April 2026, subject to the Consultant’s continued service. The amendment also established a grant date for 54,923 of these options, which had not previously been considered granted because the related milestone date had passed without being met as of the date of the original award. These options are now presented as granted in the stock option activity table below. The modification date was April 6, 2026 and the compensation cost for the change to the fair value of the modified award was $401,712, which is being recognized on a straight-line basis over the vesting period. No compensation cost had previously been recognized for these options. Terms related to the other 109,847 options were not modified and therefore those options continue to be accounted for according to the original terms.

A summary of stock option activity during the nine months ended September 30, 2026, is as follows:

The Company estimated the fair value of the stock options granted using the Black-Scholes valuation model with the following assumptions:

The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense related to stock options of $184,359 for the three months ended September 30, 2026, of which $46,892 was included within research and development expense and $137,467 was included within general and administrative expense on the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense related to stock options of $723,561 for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, of which $141,960 was included within research and development expense and $581,601, including $169,200 for the 2026 Consultant Grant, was included within general and administrative expense on the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense related to stock options of $320,125 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, of which $78,032 was included within research and development expense and $242,093 was included within general and administrative expense on the condensed consolidated statement of operations.

As of September 30, 2026, there was $2,199,274 of unrecognized stock-based compensation expense that will be recognized over the weighted average remaining vesting period of 2.94 years. The options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2026 have a weighted average grant date fair value per share of $3.53. No options were granted during the three months ended September 30, 2026.