BullFrog AI Holdings, Inc. 10-K

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OR PLAN OF OPERATION The following discussion and analysis of the results of operations and financial condition of Bullfrog AI Holdings, Inc. (“Bullfrog”) as of and for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the notes to those consolidated financial statements that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. References in this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations to “us”, “we”, “our” and similar terms refer to the Company. This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains statements that are forward-looking. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risk, uncertainties, and other factors. These statements are often identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “estimate,” or “continue,” and similar expressions or variations. Actual results could differ materially because of the factors discussed in “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this Annual Report, and other factors that we may not know. OVERVIEW Bullfrog AI Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in the State of Nevada on February 6, 2020. Bullfrog AI Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of Bullfrog AI, Inc. and Bullfrog AI Management, LLC, which were incorporated in Delaware and Maryland, in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Operations are currently conducted through BullFrog AI Holdings, Inc., which began operations on February 6, 2020. We are a company focused specifically on advanced Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) analysis of complex data in the advancement of medicine. Our AI/ML platform (trade name: bfLEAP™) was created from technology originally developed at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL). In February 2018, BullFrog AI Holdings secured the original exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license from JHU-APL for the technology. The license covers three (3) issued patents, one (1) new provisional patent application, non-patent rights to proprietary libraries of algorithms and other trade secrets including modifications and improvements. We entered into a license agreement in July 2022 that provides the Company with new intellectual property and also encompasses most of the intellectual property from the February 2018 license. Our objective is to utilize our for a precision medicine approach toward drug development with biopharmaceutical collaborators, as well as our own internal clinical development programs. We believe the bfLEAP™ platform is ideally suited for evaluating pre-clinical and clinical trial data generated in translational research and clinical trial settings that lead to faster, less expensive drug approvals. Our aim is to improve the odds of success in each stage of developing medicine, ranging from early pre-clinical through late-stage clinical development. Our ultimate objective is to utilize bfLEAP™ to enable the success of ongoing clinical trials or rescue late-stage failed drugs (i.e., Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trial failures) for development and divestiture; although, we will also consider collaborations for earlier stage drugs. We hope to accomplish this through strategic acquisitions of current clinical stage and failed drugs for in-house development, or through strategic partnerships with biopharmaceutical industry companies. 24 On July 8, 2022, the Company entered into an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license from JHU-APL for the additional technology. The new license provides additional intellectual property rights including patents, copyrights, and knowhow to be utilized under the Company’s bfLEAP™ analytical AI/ML platform. In consideration of the new license, the Company issued to JHU-APL 39,879 shares of common stock. In September 2020 and October of 2021, the Company executed amendments to the original license which represents improvements and new advanced analytics capabilities. In consideration of the rights granted to the Company under the original License Agreement, the Company granted JHU 178,571 warrants exercisable to purchase shares of common stock at $2.10 per share. Under the terms of the new License Agreement, JHU will be entitled to eight (8%) percent of net sales for the services provided by the Company to other parties and 3% for internally developed drug projects in which the JHU license was utilized. The new license also contains tiered sub licensing fees that start at 50% and reduce to 25% based on revenues. On May 31, 2023, the Company and JHU-APL entered into Amendment number 1 of the July 8, 2022 License Agreement whereby the Company gained access to certain improvements including additional patents and knowhow in exchange for a series of payments totaling $275,000. The first of these payments for $75,000 was due in July 2023 followed by annual payments of $75,000, $75,000 and $50,000 in years 2024, 2025 and 2026, respectively. The amendment also reduced the 2023 minimum annual royalty payment to $60,000, all other financial terms remain the same. As a result of this Amendment, the minimum annual payments are set to be $30,000 for 2022, $60,000 for 2023, and $300,000 for 2024 and beyond, all of which are creditable by royalties. We intend to continue to evolve and improve bfLEAP™, either in-house or with development partners like JHU-APL. We plan to leverage our proprietary AI/ML platform developed over several years at one of the top innovation institutions in the world which has already been successfully applied in multiple sectors. We have staffed our business using funds from our initial public offering and have entered into partnerships and relationships and recently completed our first commercial service contract with a leading rare disease non-profit organization for AI/ML analysis of late-stage clinical data. We have also acquired the rights to a series of preclinical and early clinical drug assets from universities, as well as a strategic collaboration with a world-renowned research institution to create a HSV1 viral therapeutic platform to engineer immunotherapies for a variety of diseases. We have signed exclusive worldwide License Agreements with JHU for a cancer drug that targets glioblastoma (brain cancer), pancreatic cancer, and others. We have also signed an exclusive worldwide license from George Washington University for another cancer drug that targets hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) and other liver diseases. Additionally, we intend to gain access to later-stage clinical assets through partnerships or the acquisition of rights to failed therapeutic candidates for drug rescue. In certain circumstances, we intend to conduct late-stage clinical trials in an effort to rescue therapeutic assets that previously failed. In these cases, there will be a requirement for drug supply and regulatory services to conduct clinical trials. The success of our clinical development programs will require finding partners to support the clinical development, adequate availability of raw materials and/or drug product for our R&D and clinical trials, and, in some cases, may also require establishment of third-party arrangements to obtain finished drug product that is manufactured appropriately under (GMP) industry-standard guidelines, and packaged for clinical use or sale. Since we are a company focused on using our AI technology to advance medicines, any clinical development programs will also require, in all cases, partners and the establishment of third-party relationships for execution and completion of clinical trials. Since completing our IPO on February 14, 2023, aided by the receipt of the IPO proceeds, we have initiated several initiatives: Investor relations and marketing to promote and raise awareness of the company in the financial and business sectors, research and development, collaboration with J Craig Venter Institute and in the quarter ended September 30, 2023, completed a preclinical study for our Mebendazole prodrug program. The Company is actively engaged in developing and seeking out new intellectual property as it strives to continuously evolve its AI/ML platform. Additionally, the Company has engaged a business development firm specializing in the biopharmaceutical industry to seek and secure a strategic development partner for our Mebendazole program. 25 Internally, the Company has added incremental staff to accelerate execution, and the development of processes and custom scripts for use in performing analytical services for customers, while also launching initiatives targeting large public health data sources and seeking access to proprietary health data sources. We also transitioned our accounting and financial reporting systems and processes to enhance our internal control environment as a public company. Capital from the IPO was also used to retire two notes that were sold to fund the Company through the IPO that did not convert into common stock as well as other debts accrued over time to our staff, employees and consultants as well as obligations related to the acquisition of our licensed drug programs. In February 2024 the Company received net proceeds of approximately $4.9 million dollars from an underwritten public offering of 1,507,139 shares of common stock (or pre-funded warrants in lieu thereof) and accompanying warrants to purchase 1,507,139 shares of common stock at an offering price of $3.782. The 5 year warrants have an exercise price of $4.16. On February 21, 2024, the underwriters elected to exercise the over-allotment option for the purchase of an additional 218,382 shares of common stock, and the Company received additional net proceeds of approximately $750,000, pursuant to the exercise of the over-allotment. In the absence of significant revenues in 2024 the Company believes that its capital resources are sufficient to fund planned operations for more than 12 months from the date of this filing. Our Strategy The Company has a unique strategy designed to reduce risk and increase the frequency of cash flow. The first part of the strategy is to generate revenues through strategic relationships with biopharma companies. These relationships will be structured as a combination of fees and intellectual property based on the specific scope of the engagement. The objective of these engagements will be to uncover valuable insights to reduce the risk and/or increase the speed of the drug development process which can be achieved through manual or automated integration into the client’s workflow or analysis of discrete data sets. In the future, the second part of our strategy involves acquiring the rights to clinical stage drugs, using our bfLEAP technology to design a precision medicine trial, conduct the trial with a partner, and sell the asset. This approach may also apply to earlier phases in the drug development process such as discovery and preclinical. In any case, the objective is to create near term value and exit and monetize as quickly as possible, preferably within approximately 30 months. Results of Operations For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 Revenue and Costs of Goods Sold We recognized $65,000 and $10,000 in revenue and $5,200 and $800 in costs of goods sold during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Year ended December 31, Net Change 2023 2022 Operating expenses: Research and development $ 1,432,614 $ 609,270 $ 823,344 General and administrative 3,994,710 1,855,731 2,138,979 Total operating expenses $ 5,427,324 $ 2,465,001 $ 2,962,323 26 Research and Development Our research and development expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased by $823,344 compared to the same period ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to the inclusion of the cost of salaries and consulting fees in 2023 as we initiated our collaboration with J Craig Venter Institute and completion of a preclinical study for our Mebendazole prodrug program, as well as the cost of acquiring access to additional technology from JHU-APL related to bfLEAP™ pursuant to Amendment 1 of the July 2022 License Agreement. In 2022, the majority of the research and development expenses were directly related to the acquisition of two drug development product candidates including Mebendazole. General and Administrative Our general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased by $2,138,979, compared to the same period ended December 31, 2022, primarily due to higher salary and consulting costs reflecting an increased level of service as well the initiation of investor relations and marketing efforts and the transition of our accounting and financial reporting process to support a public company. The 2023 period also reflects approximately $120,000 in recruiting fees related to staff additions. Other Income (Expense), Net Interest expense decreased $268,056 for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to the same period ended December 31, 2022 due to the majority of our debt converting or being paid off in the first quarter of 2023. The loss on the conversion of notes of $92,959 for the year ended December 31, 2023 was due to the conversion of the convertible notes. Other income increased by $183,244 due to interest earned on our IPO proceeds which we hold in an overnight sweep account. Liquidity and Capital Resources In 2022, the Company received net proceeds from the sale of Convertible Bridge Notes of approximately $1,016,000 and repaid the unsecured promissory notes sold in 2021 in the amount of $49,000. The Company sold one additional promissory note and received net proceeds of $100,000 in January 2023. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company used approximately $911,000 on operating activities versus approximately $382,000 for the same period in 2021. The 2022 cash use included approximately $548,000 in salaries, approximately $634,000 in consulting and professional fees including legal, accounting and auditing fees, as well as consulting fees for operational activities and approximately $609,000 in technology license fees, patent cost reimbursements and minimum annual royalties which has been recorded as a research & development expense. Through December 31, 2023, the Company has an accumulated deficit of approximately $9,755,000 and funded its operations through the sale of common stock and debt. We anticipate that our expenses will increase in the future to support our service offerings, clinical and pre-clinical research and development activities associated with strategic partnering and collaborations, as well as acquired product candidates and the increased costs of operating as a public company. These increases could include increased costs related to the hiring of additional personnel and fees to outside consultants, lawyers and accountants, among other expenses. Additionally, we anticipate increased costs associated with being a public company including expenses related to services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and Securities and Exchange Commission requirements, insurance, and investor relations costs. The Company’s current operations include BullFrog AI, Inc. and BullFrog Management, LLC, which are wholly owned subsidiaries of BullFrog AI Holdings, Inc., which is a holding company that depends upon the sale of its securities and cash generated through its subsidiaries to fund consolidated operations. 27 On February 16, 2023, the Company completed its IPO of 1,297,318 units (each, a “Unit,” collectively, the “Units”) at a price of $6.50 per unit for a total of approximately $8.4 million of gross proceeds to the Company. Each Unit consists of one share of the Company’s common stock, one tradeable warrant (each, a “Tradeable Warrant,” collectively, the “Tradeable Warrants”) to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $7.80 per share, and one non-tradeable warrant (each, a “Non-tradeable Warrant,” collectively, the “Non-tradeable Warrants”; together with the Tradeable Warrants, each, a “Warrant,” collectively, the “Warrants”) to purchase one share of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $8.125. In connection with the IPO, the Company also completed a 1-for-7 reverse stock split of our common stock. In connection with the IPO, a SAFE and convertible loan agreement held by a related party converted into 55,787 shares of post reverse split common stock. Additionally, all outstanding convertible bridge notes and accrued interest through November 30, 2022 were converted into 276,289 shares of common stock and 276,289 warrants to purchase common stock were issued to the Convertible Bridge Note holders at conversion. The convertible bridge note conversions and the warrant exercise pricing were determined using a $25 million dollar company valuation immediately before the IPO. Between April 5 and April 13, 2023, the holders of warrants exercised 436,533 warrants for common stock at various exercise prices and the Company received proceeds of approximately $1,495,000. In the absence of revenues in 2024 management believes the company’s capital resources are sufficient to fund planned operations for substantially longer than 12 months from the date of this filing. Consolidated Cash Flow Data Year ended December 31, Net Change 2023 2022 Net cash (used in) provided by Research and development Operating activities $ (6,001,299 ) $ (910,890 ) $ (5,090,409 ) General and administrative Investing activities - (8,744 ) 8,744 Financing activities 8,568,359 967,290 7,601,069 Net increase in cash and cash equivalents $ 2,567,060 $ 47,656 $ 2,519,404 Cash Flows Used in Operating Activities Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased by $5,090,409 compared to the same period ended December 31, 2022 primarily due to paying down accrued expenses for technology access, consultants, and compensation in 2023, coupled with increased operating costs, including D&O insurance premiums. Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities There was no cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2023. Cash Flows Provided by Financing Activities Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased by $7,601,069, compared to the same period ended December 31, 2022 primarily due to the completion of our Initial Public Offering in February 2023 and proceeds received pursuant to warrant exercises. 28 Critical Accounting Policies In Footnote 2 of our Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 found elsewhere in this filing, we included a discussion of the most critical accounting policies used in the preparation of our financial statements. There has been no material change in the policies and estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements since the completion of the 2023 audit. Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, as such term is defined in Item 303(a)(4) of Regulation S-K. Financial Operations Overview Revenue While we generated our first revenues in late 2022 from our services provided to a pharmaceutical customer, in the third quarter of 2023 we completed our first commercial service contract and recognized revenue in the amount of $65,000. We have service contracts with two organizations and currently have multiple discussions underway, although there can be no assurance of entering into additional service agreements and business relationships in 2024. Operating Expenses We classify our operating expenses into two categories: research and development and general and administrative. Prior to 2022, most of our activities were related to: technology evaluation, acquisition and validation, capital acquisition and business development activities in general, which we believe have readied the Company for contract services while exploring strategic partnering and asset acquisition. These activities and related expenditures have been recorded and reported as General and Administrative in our Financial Statements. In 2022, we licensed two drug development programs from universities and also entered into a new license with JHU-APL for new IP and other enhancements used with our bfLEAP™ platform. In 2022, we expended appropriately $608,000 on license related payments for our bfLEAP™ AI/ML platform and our two drug development programs from universities. We expect that our research and development expenses will increase in 2024 as we initiate activities directed towards the development of service offering products, collaborations (JCVI) and preclinical studies aimed at generating the data to enable the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application. Research and Development Costs and Expenses Research and development costs and expenses in 2022 consisted primarily of costs related to the acquisition of licensed technology. In 2023 we have initiated development activities on our licensed drug candidates and our discovery collaboration with JCVI. In addition to fees paid to external service providers, we are also allocating internal costs for personnel working on these efforts in addition to personnel costs related to our internal efforts to develop our product and service offerings using bfLEAP™. We anticipate our research and development costs could become significant as we execute on our business plan and begin conducting preclinical research and development activities directed at securing development partners and filing an IND for our licensed drug development programs described in this filing, as well as under strategic partnerships and for other drug development programs we may acquire. Research and development expenses are recorded in operating expenses in the period in which they are incurred. Estimates will be used in determining the expense liability of certain costs where services have been performed but not yet invoiced. We will monitor levels of performance under each significant contract for external services through communications with the service providers to reflect the actual amount expended. 29 General and Administrative Expenses In anticipation of the IPO, a management team with deep industry experience was identified and engaged as employees and consultants to assist the Company in preparing for the IPO and subsequently, to operate and function as a public company. Through 2022, the primary activities included: technology evaluation, acquisition, and validation, capital acquisition and business development activities which in general, have readied the Company for contract services while exploring strategic partnering and asset acquisition as noted above. In February 2023, the Company achieved its objective of completing an IPO and listing on NASDAQ. Our 2023 general and administrative expenses are significantly higher than our 2022 general and administrative expenses due to several factors. The primary increases in 2023 relate to new costs associated with being a public company such as D&O insurance, professional services engaged to support SEC compliance as well as higher salary and consulting expenses as we have hired additional staff and consultants. We have also increased our business development, investor relations and marketing efforts. We anticipate that our general and administrative expenses may increase in the future to support our service offerings, clinical and pre-clinical research and development activities associated with strategic partnering and collaborations. Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company Status The Company is an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (“JOBS Act”) and may take advantage of reduced reporting requirements that are otherwise applicable to public companies. Section 107 of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies are required to comply with those standards. We have elected to use the extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards. This may make it difficult to compare our financial results with the financial results of another public company that is either not an emerging growth company or is an emerging growth company that has chosen not to take advantage of the extended transition period exemptions because of the potential differences in accounting standards used. We are also a “smaller reporting company”, meaning that the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates plus the aggregate amount of gross proceeds to us as a result of the IPO is less than $700 million and our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (ii) our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation. ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK As a smaller reporting company, this disclosure is not required.