I don't think it makes sense to have a live ATM offering starting now if they wont use it for anything until mid 2024. If your opinion is correct, it begs the question-"why now"?
They have a lot of clinical trials going on. A little extra cash was in order. They just assured that they will bring at least 1-2 of their drugs to market before money is an issue again. This is highly positive. It basically says that there is nothing standing in their way at this point.
From reading those old posts, I think we may actually agree that these are way too low of prices to be issuing that many shares. Issuing shares at these prices will cost the company a lot of shares. A "bought deal" somewhere over a dollar would have been more fair to shareholders than the ATM kicking off at the 52 week low.