Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Sponsored Research and License Agreements and Government Contract

v3.21.2
Sponsored Research and License Agreements and Government Contract
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Sponsored Research and License Agreements and Government Contract  
Sponsored Research and License Agreements and Government Contract

8.

Sponsored Research and License Agreements and Government Contract

Sponsored Research and License Agreements

We conduct research and development programs independently and in connection with our corporate collaborators. As of September 30, 2021, we are a party to collaboration agreements with Lilly to develop and commercialize R552, a RIP1 inhibitor, for the treatment of non-central nervous system (non-CNS) diseases and collaboration aimed at developing additional RIP1 inhibitors for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases; with Grifols to commercialize fostamatinib for human diseases in all indications, including chronic ITP and autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), in Europe and Turkey; with Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Kissei) to develop and commercialize fostamatinib in Japan, China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea; and with Medison Pharma Trading AG

(Medison Canada) and Medison Pharma Ltd. (Medison Israel and, together with Medison Canada, Medison) to commercialize fostamatinib in all indications, including chronic ITP and AIHA, in Canada and Israel, respectively.

Further, we are also a party to collaboration agreements, but do not have ongoing performance obligations, with AZ for the development and commercialization of R256, an inhaled JAK inhibitor; with BerGenBio for the development and commercialization of AXL inhibitors in oncology; and with Daiichi to pursue research related to MDM2 inhibitors, a novel class of drug targets called ligases. Our collaboration agreement with Aclaris related to the development and commercialization of JAK inhibitors for the treatment of alopecia areata and other dermatological conditions was terminated in April 2021.

Under the above existing agreements that we entered into in the ordinary course of business, we received or may be entitled to receive upfront cash payments, payments contingent upon specified events achieved by such partners and royalties on any net sales of products sold by such partners under the agreements. Total future contingent payments to us under all of these agreements could exceed $1.4 billion if all potential product candidates achieved all of the payment triggering events under all of our current agreements (based on a single product candidate under each agreement). Of this amount, $309.5 million relates to the achievement of development events, $303.1 million relates to the achievement of regulatory events and $816.0 million relates to the achievement of certain commercial or launch events. This estimated future contingent amount does not include any estimated royalties that could be due to us if the partners successfully commercialize any of the licensed products. Future events that may trigger payments to us under the agreements are based solely on our partners’ future efforts and achievements of specified development, regulatory and/or commercial events.

Global Exclusive License Agreement with Eli Lilly

On February 18, 2021, we entered into a global exclusive license agreement and strategic collaboration with Lilly (Lilly Agreement), which became effective on March 27, 2021, to develop and commercialize R552, a RIP1 inhibitor, for the treatment of non-CNS diseases. In addition, the collaboration is aimed at developing additional RIP1 inhibitors for the treatment of CNS diseases. Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement, we granted to Lilly exclusive rights to develop and commercialize R552 and related RIP1 inhibitors in all indications worldwide. The agreement became effective in March 2021 upon clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The parties’ collaboration is governed through a joint governance committee and appropriate subcommittees.

We are responsible for 20% of development costs for R552 in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, up to a specified cap. Lilly is responsible for funding the remainder of all development activities for R552 and other non-CNS disease development candidates. We have the right to opt- out of co-funding the R552 development activities in the U.S., Europe and Japan at two different specified times. If we exercise our first opt- out right (no later than September 30, 2023), under the Lilly Agreement, we are required to fund our share of the R552 development activities in the U.S., Europe, and Japan up to a maximum funding commitment of $65.0 million through April 1, 2024. If we decide not to exercise our opt- out rights, we will be required to share in global development costs of up to certain amounts at a specified cap, as provided for in the Lilly Agreement.

We are responsible for performing and funding initial discovery and identification of CNS disease development candidates. Following candidate selection, Lilly will be responsible for performing and funding all future development and commercialization of the CNS disease development candidates.

Under the terms of the license agreement, we were entitled to receive a non-refundable and non-creditable upfront cash payment amounting to $125.0 million, which we received in April 2021, and a potential for an additional $330.0 million in milestone payments upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones by non-CNS disease products and $255.0 million in milestone payments upon the achievement of specified development and regulatory milestones by CNS disease products. We are also eligible to receive up to $100.0 million in sales milestone payments on a product-by-product basis for non-CNS disease products and up to $150.0 million in sales milestone payments on a product-by-product basis for CNS disease products. In addition, depending on the extent of our co-funding of R552 development activities, we would be entitled to receive tiered royalty payments on net sales of non-CNS disease products at percentages ranging from the mid-single digits to high-teens, subject to certain standard reductions and offsets. We would be entitled to receive tiered royalty payments on net sales of CNS disease products up to low-double digits, subject to certain standard reductions and offsets.

We accounted for this agreement under ASC 606 and identified the following distinct performance obligations at inception of the agreement: (a) granting of the license rights over the non-CNS penetrant intellectual property (IP), and (b) granting of the license rights over the CNS penetrant IP which will be delivered to Lilly upon completion of the additional research and development efforts specified in the agreement. We concluded each of these performance obligations is distinct. We based our assessment on the assumption that Lilly can benefit from each of the licenses on its own by developing and commercializing the underlying product using its own resources.

Under the Lilly Agreement, we are required to share 20% of the development costs for R552 in the U.S., Europe and Japan up to a specified cap. Given our rights to opt- out from the development of R552, we believe at the minimum, we have a commitment to fund the development costs up to $65.0 million as discussed above. We considered this commitment to fund the development costs as a significant financing component of the contract, which we accounted for as a reduction of the upfront fee to derive the transaction price. This financing component was recorded as a liability at its net present value of approximately $57.9 million using a 6.4% discount rate. Interest expense is being accreted on such liability over the expected commitment period. Interest expense accreted during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $836,000 and $1.9 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2021, the outstanding financing liability of $59.8 million to Lilly was included within other long-term liabilities, current portion, and other long-term liabilities in the condensed balance sheet.

We allocated the net transaction price of $67.1 million to each performance obligation based on our best estimate of its relative standalone selling price using the adjusted market assessment approach. We concluded that the license rights over the non-CNS penetrant IP represents functional IP that is not expected to change over time, and we have no ongoing or undelivered obligations relative to such IP that Lilly will benefit from the use of such IP on the delivery date. As such, the transaction price allocated to the non-CNS penetrant IP of $60.4 million was recognized as revenue in the first quarter of 2021 upon delivery of the non-CNS penetrant IP to Lilly in March 2021. For the delivery of license rights over the CNS penetrant IP, we are obligated to perform additional research and development efforts before Lilly can accept the license. The allocated transaction price to the CNS penetrant IP of $6.7 million is being recognized as revenue from the effective date of the Lilly Agreement through the eventual acceptance by Lilly using the input method. We recognized revenue during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 of $2.4 million and $6.0 million, respectively, relative to the delivery of CNS penetrant IP. As of September 30, 2021, the remaining deferred revenue amounted to $744,000.

The remaining future variable consideration related to future milestone payments as discussed above were fully constrained because we cannot conclude that it is probable that a significant reversal of the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur, given the inherent uncertainty of success with these future milestones. For sales-based milestones and royalties, we determined that the license is the predominant item to which the royalties or sales-based milestones relate. Accordingly, we will recognize revenue at the later of (i) when the related sales occur, or (ii) when the performance obligation to which some or all of the royalty has been allocated has been satisfied (or partially satisfied). We will re-evaluate the transaction price in each reporting period and as uncertain events are resolved or other changes in circumstances occur.

Grifols License Agreement

In January 2019, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with Grifols to commercialize fostamatinib in all indications, including chronic ITP and AIHA, in Europe and Turkey. Under the agreement, we received an upfront payment of $30.0 million, with the potential for $297.5 million in total regulatory and commercial milestones. We will also receive stepped double-digit royalty payments based on tiered net sales which may reach 30% of net sales. In return, Grifols received exclusive rights to commercialize fostamatinib for human diseases, including chronic ITP, AIHA, and IgAN, in Europe and Turkey. Grifols also received an exclusive option to expand the territory under its exclusive and non-exclusive licenses to include the Middle East, North Africa and Russia (including Commonwealth of Independent States). In November 2020, Grifols exercised its option to include these territories as part of the licensed territories under the agreement. The agreement also required us to continue to conduct our long-term open-label extension study on patients with ITP through European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval of ITP in Europe or until the study ends as well as conduct the Phase 3 trial in AIHA.

In December 2019, we entered into a Drug Product Purchase Agreement with Grifols wherein we agreed to supply and sell to Grifols at 30% mark up the drug product requested under an anticipated first and only purchase order until Grifols enters into a supply agreement directly with a third-party drug product manufacturer. In October 2020, we entered into a Commercial Supply Agreement with Grifols.

In January 2020, the European Commission granted a centralized Marketing Authorization (MA) for fostamatinib valid throughout the European Union and in the UK after the departure of the UK from the European Union for the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia in adult patients who are refractory to other treatments. With this approval, we received in February 2020 a $20.0 million non-refundable payment, comprised of a $17.5 million payment due upon Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) approval by the EMA of fostamatinib for the first indication and a $2.5 million creditable advance royalty payment, based on the terms of our collaboration agreement with Grifols. The above milestone payment was allocated to the distinct performance obligations in the collaboration agreement with Grifols.

We accounted for this agreement under ASC 606 and identified the following distinct performance obligations at inception of the agreement: (a) granting of the license, (b) performance of research and regulatory services related to our ongoing long-term open-label extension study on patients with ITP, and (c) performance of research services related to our Phase 3 study in AIHA. In October 2020, we entered into a commercial supply agreement for the licensed territories. We concluded each of these performance obligations is distinct. We based our assessment on the following: (i) our assessment that Grifols can benefit from the license on its own by developing and commercializing the underlying product using its own resources, and (ii) the fact that the manufacturing services are not highly specialized in nature and can be performed by other vendors. Upon execution of our agreement with Grifols, we determined that the upfront fee of $5.0 million, which is the non-refundable portion of the $30.0 million upfront fee, represented the transaction price. In the first quarter of 2020, we revised the transaction price to include the $25.0 million of the upfront payment that is no longer refundable under our agreement and the $20.0 million payment received that is no longer constrained. We allocated the updated transaction price to the distinct performance obligations in our collaboration agreement based on our best estimate of the relative standalone selling price as follows: (a) for the license, we estimated the standalone selling price using the adjusted market assessment approach to estimate its standalone selling price in the licensed territories; (b) for the research and regulatory services, we estimated the standalone selling price using the cost plus expected margin approach. As a result of the adjusted transaction price, adjustments are recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis, and recorded as part of contract revenues from collaborations in the first quarter of 2020.

The remaining future variable consideration of $277.5 million related to future regulatory and commercial milestones were fully constrained because we cannot conclude that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur, given the inherent uncertainty of success with these future milestones. We are recognizing revenues related the research and regulatory services throughout the term of the respective clinical programs using the input method. For sales-based milestones and royalties, we determined that the license is the predominant item to which the royalties or sales-based milestones relate. Accordingly, we will recognize revenue at the later of (i) when the related sales occur, or (ii) when the performance obligation to which some or all of the royalty has been allocated has been satisfied (or partially satisfied). We will re-evaluate the transaction price in each reporting period and as uncertain events are resolved or other changes in circumstances occur.

As of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the remaining deferred revenue was $1.0 million and $1.6 million, respectively, related to the performance of research services. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recognized $225,000 and $605,000, respectively, in revenue related to the research and development services. During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we also recognized $1.0 million in revenue for the delivery of drug supplies in the first quarter of 2021 to Grifols for its commercialization.

During the three months ended September 30, 2020, we recognized no revenues from Grifols. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recognized $39.9 million in revenues in the first quarter of 2020 related to the licensed rights in intellectual property and $3.6 million in revenues in the first and second quarters of 2020 related to the research services performed. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we also recognized $651,000 in revenue for delivery of drug supplies in the second quarter of 2020 to Grifols for commercialization.

Kissei License Agreement

In October 2018, we entered into an exclusive license and supply agreement with Kissei to develop and commercialize fostamatinib in all current and potential indications in Japan, China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea. Kissei is responsible for performing and funding all development activities for fostamatinib in the above-mentioned territories. We received an upfront cash payment of $33.0 million, with the potential for up to an additional $147.0 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, and will receive mid- to upper twenty percent, tiered, escalated net sales-based payments for the supply of fostamatinib. Under the agreement, we granted Kissei the license rights to fostamatinib in the territories above and are obligated to supply Kissei with drug product for use in clinical trials and pre-commercialization activities. We are also responsible for the manufacture and supply of fostamatinib for all future development and commercialization activities under the agreement.

We accounted for this agreement under ASC 606 and identified the following distinct performance obligations at inception of the agreement: (a) granting of the license, (b) supply of fostamatinib for clinical use and (c) material right associated with discounted fostamatinib that are supplied for use other than clinical or commercial. In addition, we will provide commercial product supply if the product is approved in the licensed territory. We concluded that each of these performance obligations is distinct. We based our assessment on the following: (i) our assessment that Kissei can benefit from the license on its own by developing and commercializing the underlying product using its own resources and (ii) the fact that the manufacturing services are not highly specialized in nature and can be performed by other vendors. Moreover, we determined that the upfront fee of $33.0 million represented the transaction price and was allocated to the performance obligations based on our best estimate of the relative standalone selling price as follows: (a) for the license, we estimated the standalone selling price using the adjusted market assessment approach to estimate its standalone selling price in the licensed territories; (b) for the supply of fostamatinib and the material right associated with discounted fostamatinib, we estimated the standalone selling price using the cost plus expected margin approach. Variable consideration of $147.0 million related to future development and regulatory milestones was fully constrained because we cannot conclude that it is probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur, given the inherent uncertainty of success with these future milestones. We will recognize revenues related to the supply of fostamatinib and material right upon delivery of fostamatinib to Kissei. For sales-based milestones and royalties, we determined that the license is the predominant item to which the royalties or sales-based milestones relate to. Accordingly, we will recognize revenue at the later of (i) when the related sales occur, or (ii) when the performance obligation to which some or all of the royalty has been allocated has been satisfied (or partially satisfied). We will re-evaluate the transaction price in each reporting period and as uncertain events are resolved or other changes in circumstances occur.

We did not recognize any revenue with regards to the performance obligations related to the supply of fostamatinib and material right associated with discounted fostamatinib supply during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020. As of September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the remaining deferred revenue was $1.4 million.

Medison Commercial and License Agreements

In October 2019, we entered into two exclusive commercial and license agreements with Medison for the commercialization of fostamatinib for chronic ITP in Israel and in Canada, pursuant to which we received a $5.0 million

upfront payment with respect to the agreement in Canada. We accounted for the agreement made with an upfront payment under ASC 606 and identified the following combined performance obligations at inception of the agreement: (a) granting of the license and (b) obtaining regulatory approval in Canada of fostamatinib in ITP. We determined that the non-refundable upfront fee of $5.0 million represented the transaction price. However, under the agreement, we have the option to buy back all rights to the product in Canada within six months from obtaining regulatory approval for the treatment of AIHA in Canada. The buyback option precludes us from transferring control of the license to Medison under ASC 606. We believe that the buyback provision, if exercised, will require us to repurchase the license at an amount equal to or more than the upfront $5.0 million. As such, this arrangement was accounted for as a financing arrangement. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, we accrued interest amounting to $50,000 and $387,000, respectively, related to this financing arrangement. No interest was accrued during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. Pursuant to this exclusive commercialization license agreement, in August 2020, we entered into a commercial supply agreement with Medison. As of September 30, 2021, the outstanding financing liability of $5.5 million to Medison was included within other long-term liabilities in the condensed balance sheet.

In August 2021, Medison Israel received the licenses for registrational approval from the Ministry of Health. Pursuant to the exclusive commercial and license agreement, this event triggered the first milestone that is the regulatory approval of the product in Israel for the first indication, for a non-refundable payment of $75,000. We recognized this amount as revenue during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Daiichi Collaboration Agreement

Pursuant to the Amended Collaboration Agreement dated April 20, 2005 with Daiichi, during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recognized $1.8 million of revenue related to the achievement of a certain milestone, of which the payment was received in October 2021. During the three and nine months ended September 2020, we also recognized $2.1 million related to the achievement of a certain milestone, of which payment was received in October 2020. All deliverables under the agreement had been previously delivered, and as such the above had been recognized as revenue in the corresponding periods such milestones were achieved.

Other license agreements

In February 2021, we entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with an unrelated third party whereby we granted such unrelated third-party rights to a certain patent. In consideration for the license rights granted, we received a one-time fee of $4.0 million. All the deliverables under the agreement had been delivered and the one-time fee was recognized as revenue in the first quarter of 2021.

Government Contract - U.S. Department of Defense’s JPEO-CBRND

In January 2021, we were awarded up to $16.5 million by the U.S. Department of Defense to support our ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of fostamatinib for the treatment of hospitalized high-risk patients with COVID-19. The amount of award we will receive from the U.S. Department of Defense is subject to submission of proper documentation as evidence of completion of certain clinical trial events or milestones as specified in the agreement, and approval by the U.S. Department of Defense that such events or milestones have been met. We determined that this government award should be accounted for under IAS 2, Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance, which is outside of the scope of Topic 606, as the U.S. Department of Defense is not receiving reciprocal value for their contributions. We record government contract revenue in the statement of operations in the period when it is probable that we will receive the award, which is when we comply with the conditions associated with the award and obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Defense that such conditions have been met. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recognized $1.0 million and $9.5 million, respectively, related to this grant, all of which had been invoiced and collected as of September 30, 2021. We expect to receive the remaining award of $7.0 million throughout the period we conduct our clinical trial, subject to us meeting certain clinical trial events or milestones and approval by the U.S. Department of Defense as specified in the agreement.