Exhibit 10.2

AVENUE THERAPEUTICS, INC.

January 5, 2024

Holder of Common Stock Purchase Warrants

Re:           Inducement Offer to Exercise Common Stock Purchase Warrants

Dear Holder:

Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) is pleased to offer to you the opportunity to exercise all of the warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), issued to you on November 2, 2023 (the “Existing Warrants”), as set forth on the signature page hereto and currently held by you (the “Holder”). The issuance of the shares of Common Stock underlying the Existing Warrants (the “Warrant Shares”) has been registered pursuant to the registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-274562) (the “Registration Statement”). The Registration Statement is currently effective and, upon exercise of the Existing Warrants pursuant to this letter agreement, will be effective for the issuance of the Warrant Shares if sold pursuant thereto. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the New Warrants.

In consideration for exercising in full all of the Existing Warrants held by you and set forth on the Holder's signature page hereto (the “Warrant Exercise”) at the Exercise Price per Warrant Share as set forth in the Existing Warrants of $0.3006, the Company hereby offers to issue you or your designee:

·         a new unregistered Common Stock Purchase Warrant (“New 5 Year Warrant”), issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”), to purchase up to a number of shares (the “New 5 Year Warrant Shares”) of Common Stock equal to 100% of the number of Warrant Shares issued pursuant to the Warrant Exercise hereunder, which New 5 Year Warrant shall be substantially in the form as reflected in Exhibit A hereto, will be exercisable anytime after the Stockholder Approval Date (as hereinafter defined), and have a term of exercise of five (5) years beginning on the Stockholder Approval Date, and an exercise price per share equal to $0.3006.

·         a new unregistered Common Stock Purchase Warrant (“New 18 Month Warrant,” and together with the New 5 Year Warrant, the “New Warrants”), issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act to purchase up to a number of shares (the “New 18 Month Warrant Shares,” and together with the New 5 Year Warrant Shares, the “New Warrant Shares”) of Common Stock equal to 100% of the number of Warrant Shares issued pursuant to the Warrant Exercise hereunder, which New 18 Month Warrant shall be substantially in the form as reflected in Exhibit B hereto, will be exercisable anytime after the Stockholder Approval Date, and have a term of exercise of eighteen (18) months beginning on the Stockholder Approval Date, and an exercise price per share equal to $0.3006.

The original New Warrants certificate(s) will be delivered within two (2) Trading Days following the date hereof. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, in the event that any Warrant Exercise would otherwise cause the Holder to exceed the beneficial ownership limitations (“Beneficial Ownership Limitation”) set forth in Section 2(e) of the Existing Warrants (or, if applicable and at the Holder’s election, 9.99%), the Company shall only issue such number of Warrant Shares to the Holder that would not cause the Holder to exceed the maximum number of Warrant Shares permitted thereunder, as directed by the Holder, with the balance to be held in abeyance until notice from the Holder that the balance (or portion thereof) may be issued in compliance with such limitations, which abeyance shall be evidenced through the Existing Warrants which shall be deemed prepaid thereafter (including the payment in full of the exercise price), and exercised pursuant to a Notice of Exercise in the Existing Warrant (provided no additional exercise price shall be due and payable).

Expressly subject to the paragraph immediately following this paragraph below, Holder may accept this offer by signing this letter below, with such acceptance constituting Holder's exercise in full of the Existing Warrants for an aggregate exercise price set forth on the Holder’s signature page hereto (the “Warrants Exercise Price”) on or before 9:00 a.m., Eastern Time, on January 5, 2024 (the “Execution Time”).

Additionally, the Company agrees to the representations, warranties and covenants set forth on Annex A attached hereto. Holder represents and warrants that, as of the date hereof it is, and on each date on which it exercises any New Warrants it will be, an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501 of the Securities Act, and agrees that the New Warrants will contain restrictive legends when issued, and neither the New Warrants nor the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the New Warrants will be registered under the Securities Act, except as provided in Annex A attached hereto. Also, Holder represents and warrants that it is acquiring the New Warrants as principal for its own account and has no direct or indirect arrangement or understandings the Company or with any other persons to distribute or regarding the distribution of the New Warrants (this representation is not limiting Holder’s right to sell the New Warrant Shares pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act or otherwise pursuant to an exemption therefrom in compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws).

The Holder understands that the New Warrants and the New Warrant Shares are not, and may never be, registered under the Securities Act, or the securities laws of any state and, accordingly, each certificate, if any, representing such securities shall bear a legend substantially similar to the following:

“THIS SECURITY HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR THE SECURITIES COMMISSION OF ANY STATE IN RELIANCE UPON AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), AND, ACCORDINGLY, MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR PURSUANT TO AN AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM, OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS.”

The Holder further understands that until such time as Stockholder Approval (as hereinafter defined) is obtained, the Holder shall not have the ability to exercise the New Warrants.

Following receipt of Stockholder Approval, certificates evidencing the New Warrant Shares shall not contain any legend (including the legend set forth above), (i) while a registration statement covering the resale of such New Warrant Shares is effective under the Securities Act, (ii) following any sale of such New Warrant Shares pursuant to Rule 144 under the Securities Act, (iii) the holder of the New Warrants is not an “affiliate” of the Company under Rule 144 and if such New Warrant Shares are eligible for sale under Rule 144 (assuming cashless exercise of the New Warrants), without the requirement for the Company to be in compliance with the current public information required under Rule 144 as to such New Warrant Shares and without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions, (iv) if such New Warrant Shares may be sold under Rule 144 (assuming cashless exercise of the New Warrant) and the Company is then in compliance with the current public information required under Rule 144 as to such New Warrant Shares, or (v) if such legend is not required under applicable requirements of the Securities Act (including judicial interpretations and pronouncements issued by the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) and the earliest of clauses (i) through (v), the “Delegend Date”)). The Company shall cause its counsel to issue a legal opinion to the Transfer Agent promptly after the Delegend Date if required by the Company and/or the Transfer Agent to effect the removal of the legend hereunder, or at the request of the Holder, which opinion shall be in form and substance reasonably acceptable to the Holder. From and after the Delegend Date, such New Warrant Shares shall be issued free of all legends. The Company agrees that following the Delegend Date or at such time as such legend is no longer required under this Section, it will, no later than five (5) Trading Days following the delivery by the Holder to the Company or the Transfer Agent of a certificate representing the New Warrant Shares issued with a restrictive legend (such fifth (5th) Trading Day, the “Legend Removal Date”), deliver or cause to be delivered to the Holder a certificate representing such shares that is free from all restrictive and other legends or, at the request of the Holder shall credit the account of the Holder’s prime broker with the Depository Trust Company System as directed by the Holder.  

In addition to the Holder’s other available remedies, the Company shall pay to a Holder, in cash, (i) as partial liquidated damages and not as a penalty, for each $1,000 of New Warrant Shares (based on the VWAP of the Common Stock on the date such New Warrant Shares are submitted to the Transfer Agent) delivered for removal of the restrictive legend, $10 per Trading Day (increasing to $20 per Trading Day five (5) Trading Days after such damages have begun to accrue) for each Trading Day after the Legend Removal Date until such certificate is delivered without a legend and (ii) if the Company fails to (a) issue and deliver (or cause to be delivered) to the Holder by the Legend Removal Date a certificate representing the New Warrant Shares so delivered to the Company by the Holder that is free from all restrictive and other legends and (b) if after the Legend Removal Date the Holder purchases (in an open market transaction or otherwise) shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by the Holder of all or any portion of the number of shares of Common Stock, or a sale of a number of shares of Common Stock equal to all or any portion of the number of shares of Common Stock that the Holder anticipated receiving from the Company without any restrictive legend, then, an amount equal to the excess of the Holder’s total purchase price (including brokerage commissions and other out-of-pocket expenses, if any) for the shares of Common Stock so purchased (including brokerage commissions and other out-of-pocket expenses, if any) (the “Buy-In Price”) over the product of (A) such number of New Warrant Shares that the Company was required to deliver to the Holder by the Legend Removal Date and for which the Holder was required to purchase shares to timely satisfy delivery requirements, multiplied by (B) the weighted average price at which the Holder sold that number of shares of Common Stock.

From the date hereof until the later of (i) 60 days after the Closing Date, and (ii) 20 days after the Stockholder Approval Date, neither the Company nor any Subsidiary shall (A) issue, enter into any agreement to issue or announce the issuance or proposed issuance of any Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents or (B) file any registration statement or any amendment or supplement to any existing registration statement (other than the resale registration statement referred to herein or prospectus supplements to the Registration Statements to reflect the transactions contemplated hereby).

If this offer is accepted and the transaction documents are executed by the Execution Time, then on or before 9:30 a.m., Eastern Time, on January 5, 2024, the Company shall issue a press release and/or file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Commission disclosing all material terms of the transactions contemplated hereunder. From and after the issuance of such press release or the filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, as applicable, the Company represents to you that it shall have publicly disclosed all material, non-public information delivered to you by the Company, or any of its respective officers, directors, employees or agents in connection with the transactions contemplated hereunder. In addition, effective upon the issuance of such press release and/or Current Report on Form 8-K, the Company acknowledges and agrees that any and all confidentiality or similar obligations under any agreement, whether written or oral, between the Company, any of its Subsidiaries or any of their respective officers, directors, agents, employees or Affiliates on the one hand, and you and your Affiliates on the other hand, shall terminate. The Company represents, warrants and covenants that, upon acceptance of this offer, the Warrant Shares shall be issued free of any legends or restrictions on resale by Holder.

No later than the second (2nd) Trading Day following Execution Time, the closing shall occur at such location as the parties shall mutually agree. Unless otherwise directed by Maxim Group LLC (the “Placement Agent”), settlement of the Warrant Shares shall occur via “Delivery Versus Payment” (“DVP”) (i.e., on the Closing Date, the Company shall issue the Warrant Shares registered in the Holders’ names and addresses and released by the Transfer Agent directly to the account(s) at the Placement Agent identified by each Holder; upon receipt of such Warrant Shares, the Placement Agent shall promptly electronically deliver such Warrant Shares to the applicable Holder, and payment therefor shall be made by the Placement Agent (or its clearing firm) by wire transfer to the Company). The date of the closing of the exercise of the Existing Warrants shall be referred to as the “Closing Date”.

The Company acknowledges and agrees that the obligations of the Holders under this letter agreement are several and not joint with the obligations of any other holder or holders of warrants to purchase Common Stock of the Company that were issued by the Company on November 2, 2023 (each, an “Other Holder”) under any other agreement related to the exercise of such warrants (“Other Warrant Exercise Agreement”), and the Holder shall not be responsible in any way for the performance of the obligations of any Other Holder or under any such Other Warrant Exercise Agreement. Nothing contained in this letter agreement, and no action taken by the Holders pursuant hereto, shall be deemed to constitute the Holder and the Other Holders as a partnership, an association, a joint venture or any other kind of entity, or create a presumption that the Holder and the Other Holders are in any way acting in concert or as a group with respect to such obligations or the transactions contemplated by this letter agreement and the Company acknowledges that the Holder and the Other Holders are not acting in concert or as a group with respect to such obligations or the transactions contemplated by this letter agreement or any Other Warrant Exercise Agreement. The Company and the Holder confirm that the Holder has independently participated in the negotiation of the transactions contemplated hereby with the advice of its own counsel and advisors. The Holder shall be entitled to independently protect and enforce its rights, including, without limitation, the rights arising out of this letter agreement, and it shall not be necessary for any Other Holder to be joined as an additional party in any proceeding for such purpose.

The Company hereby represents and warrants as of the date hereof and covenants and agrees from and after the date hereof until 180 days after the date hereof, that none of the terms offered to any Other Holder with respect to any Other Warrant Exercise Agreement (or any amendment, modification or waiver thereof) relating to warrants that were sold concurrently with the Existing Warrants, is or will be more favorable to such Other Holder than those of the Holder and this letter agreement unless such terms are concurrently offered to the Holder. If, and whenever on or after the date hereof until 180 days after the date hereof, the Company enters into an Other Warrant Exercise Agreement relating to warrants that were sold concurrently with the Existing Warrants, then (i) the Company shall provide notice thereof to the Holder promptly following the occurrence thereof and (ii) the terms and conditions of this letter agreement shall be, without any further action by the Holder or the Company, automatically amended and modified in an economically and legally equivalent manner such that the Holder shall receive the benefit of the more favorable terms and/or conditions (as the case may be) set forth in such Other Warrant Exercise Agreement (including the issuance of additional Warrant Shares), provided that upon written notice to the Company at any time the Holder may elect not to accept the benefit of any such amended or modified term or condition, in which event the term or condition contained in this letter agreement shall apply to the Holder as it was in effect immediately prior to such amendment or modification as if such amendment or modification never occurred with respect to the Holder. The provisions of this paragraph shall apply similarly and equally to each such Other Warrant Exercise Agreement.

***************

Accepted and Agreed to:

Name of Holder: ________________________________________________________

Signature of Authorized Signatory of Holder: _________________________________

Name of Authorized Signatory: _______________________________________________

Title of Authorized Signatory: ________________________________________________

Number of Existing Warrants: __________________

Aggregate Existing Warrant Exercise Price: _________________

New 5 Year Warrants: (100% of total Existing Warrants being exercised): ___________

Beneficial Ownership Blocker: ¨ 4.99% or ¨ 9.99%

New 18 Month Warrants: (100% of total Existing Warrants being exercised): ___________

Beneficial Ownership Blocker: ¨ 4.99% or ¨ 9.99%

DTC Instructions:

Annex A

Representations, Warranties and Covenants of the Company. The Company hereby makes the following representations and warranties to the Holder: