You are really hung up on the compensation. It’s meaningless in the grand scheme of things. If the company is successful it will be a drop in the bucket. If they fail it won’t matter
I think the bonus was for the PolyMedix assets acquisition. If Brilacidin lands a deal or two, I don't think shareholders will complain about it.
If management really want to milk sharesholders, they would've given themselves the same bonus in 2016 & 2017. But I don't see that from the table you provided.