1. NATURE OF BUSINESS, ORGANIZATION AND GOING CONCERN

Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. (the Company) is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of cancer leveraging our proprietary phospholipid drug conjugate™ (PDCs™) delivery platform that are designed to specifically target cancer cells and deliver improved efficacy and better safety as a result of fewer off-target effects. The COVID-19 pandemic has created uncertainties in the expected timelines for clinical stage biopharmaceutical companies such as us, and because of such uncertainties, it is difficult for us to accurately predict expected outcomes at this time. The Company has not yet experienced any significant impacts as a result of the pandemic and have continued to enroll patients in our clinical studies. However, COVID-19 may impact our future ability to recruit patients for clinical studies, obtain adequate supply of CLR 131 and obtain additional financing.

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes that the Company will continue as a going concern and that contemplates the continuity of operations, realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred losses since inception in devoting substantially all of its efforts toward research and development and has an accumulated deficit of approximately $123,160,351 at September 30, 2020. The Company has devoted substantially all its efforts toward research and development and has, during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, generated an operating loss of approximately $11,491,000. The Company expects that it will continue to generate operating losses for the foreseeable future.

The Company believes that it has sufficient liquidity to fund operations for at least 12 months from the filing of these financial statements, therefore, the accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes the Company will continue as a going concern and that contemplates the continuity of operations, realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. The Company’s ability to execute its operating plan beyond that time depends on its ability to obtain additional funding via the sale of equity and/or debt securities, a strategic transaction or otherwise. The Company plans to continue to actively pursue financing alternatives as there can be no assurance that the Company obtain the necessary funding.

The accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2019 has been derived from audited financial statements. The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2020, the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations, the Condensed Statements of Stockholders’ Equity for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 and the related interim information contained within the notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions, rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all the information and the notes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments which are of a nature necessary for the fair presentation of the Company’s consolidated financial position at September 30, 2020 and consolidated results of its operations, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019. The results for the three or nine months ended September 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of future results.

These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and related notes thereto included in the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, which was filed with the SEC on March 9, 2020.

Principles of Consolidation — The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and the accounts of its wholly-owned subsidiary. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Fixed Assets — Property and equipment are stated at cost. Depreciation on property and equipment is provided using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets (3 to 10 years). Because of the significant value of leasehold improvements purchased, leasehold improvements are depreciated over 64 months (their estimated useful life), which represents the full term of the lease. The Company’s only long-lived assets are property and equipment. The Company periodically evaluates long-lived assets for potential impairment. Whenever events or circumstances change, an assessment is made as to whether there has been impairment to the value of long-lived assets by determining whether projected undiscounted cash flows generated by the applicable asset exceed its net book value as of the assessment date. There were no long-lived fixed asset impairment charges recorded during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 or year ended December 31, 2019.

Right-of-Use  Asset and Lease Liabilities — In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standard Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) 2016‑02, Leases (ASC 842), which supersedes the existing guidance for lease accounting, Leases (Topic 840). ASU 2016‑02 required lessees to recognize Right-Of-Use (“ROU”) Asset and Lease Liability for virtually all of their leases (other than leases that meet the definition of a short-term lease). On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 842 using the modified retrospective method for all material leases that existed at or commenced after January 1, 2019. ROU Assets are amortized over their estimated useful life, which represents the full term of the lease.

Stock-Based Compensation — The Company uses the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to calculate the grant-date fair value of stock option awards. The resulting compensation expense, net of expected forfeitures, for awards that are not performance-based is recognized on a straight-line basis over the service period of the award, which for grants issued in 2020 and 2019 ranged from one year to three years for stock options. For stock options with performance-based vesting provisions, recognition of compensation expense, net of expected forfeitures, commences if and when the achievement of the performance criteria is deemed probable. The compensation expense, net of expected forfeitures, for performance-based stock options is recognized over the relevant performance period. Non-employee stock-based compensation is accounted for in accordance with the guidance of FASB ASC Topic 505, Equity. As such, the Company recognizes expense based on the estimated fair value of options granted to non-employees over their vesting period, which is generally the period during which services are rendered and deemed completed by such non-employees.

Research and Development — Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. To the extent that such costs are reimbursed by the federal government on a fixed price, best efforts basis and the federal government is the sole customer for such research and development, the funding is recognized as a reduction of research and development expenses.

Income Taxes — Income taxes are accounted for using the liability method of accounting. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on temporary differences between the financial statement basis and tax basis of assets and liabilities and net operating loss and credit carryforwards using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established when it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Management has provided a full valuation allowance against the Company’s gross deferred tax asset. Tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing tax returns are required to be evaluated to determine whether the tax positions are “more likely than not” to be sustained by the applicable tax authority. Tax positions deemed not to meet a more-likely-than-not threshold would be recorded as tax expense in the current year. There were no uncertain tax positions that require accrual to or disclosure in the financial statements as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments — The guidance under FASB ASC Topic 825, Financial Instruments, requires disclosure of the fair value of certain financial instruments. Financial instruments in the accompanying financial statements consist of cash equivalents, prepaid expenses and other assets, accounts payable and long-term obligations. The carrying amount of cash equivalents and accounts payable approximate their fair value as a result of their short-term nature. The carrying value of long-term obligations, including the current portion, approximates fair value because the fixed interest rate approximates current market rates of interest available in the market.

Derivative Instruments — The Company generally does not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow or market risks; however, certain warrants to purchase common stock that do not meet the requirements for classification as equity, in accordance with the Derivatives and Hedging Topic of the FASB ASC, are classified as liabilities. In such instances, net-cash settlement is assumed for financial reporting purposes, even when the terms of the underlying contracts do not provide for a net-cash settlement. These warrants are considered derivative instruments because the agreements contain a certain type of cash settlement feature, contain “down-round” provisions whereby the number of shares for which the warrants are exercisable, and/or the exercise price of the warrants are subject to change in the event of certain issuances of stock at prices below the then-effective exercise price of the warrants. The number of shares issuable under such warrants was 49,425 at June 30, 2019. The primary underlying risk exposures pertaining to the warrants and their related fair value is the change in fair value of the underlying common stock, the market price of traded warrants, and estimated timing and probability of future financings. Such financial instruments are initially recorded at fair value with subsequent changes in fair value recorded as a component of gain or loss on derivatives on the consolidated statements of operations in each reporting period. If these instruments subsequently meet the requirements for equity classification, the Company reclassifies the fair value to equity. At June 30, 2019, these warrants represented the only outstanding derivative instruments issued or held by the Company and expired on August 20, 2019.

Concentration of Credit Risk — Financial instruments that subject the Company to credit risk consist of cash and equivalents on deposit with financial institutions. The Company’s excess cash as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 is on deposit in interest-bearing transaction accounts with well-established financial institutions. At times, such amounts may exceed the FDIC insurance limits. As of September 30, 2020, and December 31, 2019, uninsured cash balances totaled approximately $18,600,000 and $10,100,000, respectively.

Leases — In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (ASC 842), which supersedes the existing guidance for lease accounting, Leases (Topic 840). ASU 2016-02 required lessees to recognize Right-Of-Use Asset and Lease Liability for virtually all of their leases (other than leases that meet the definition of a short-term lease). Lessor accounting remains largely unchanged except for changes in the definition and classification of leases. Because of the immaterial financial impact, the Company will not apply ASC 842 to leases that individually have total lease payments of less than  $100,000 over their life of service to the Company.