Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Significant Strategic Collaborations

v3.21.2
Significant Strategic Collaborations
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2021
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Significant Strategic Collaborations

 

4. Significant Strategic Collaborations

 

The Company has entered into various research, development, license and supply agreements with Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (“Takeda”), Serum Institute of India (“Serum Institute”), Pharmsynthez and SynBio LLC (“SynBio”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Pharmsynthez. The Company and its collaborative partners continue to engage in research and development activities with no resultant commercial products through June 30, 2021.

 

In October 2017, the Company granted to Takeda the right to grant a non-exclusive sublicense to certain patents related to the Company’s PolyXen technology that were previously exclusively licensed to Takeda in connection with products related to the treatment of blood and bleeding disorders. Royalty payments of approximately $0.3 million and $0.5 million were recorded as revenue by the Company during the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively, and approximately $0.1 million and $0.2 million were recorded as revenue by the Company during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively. The Company’s policy is to recognize royalty payments as revenue when they are reliably measurable, which is upon receipt of reports from Takeda. The Company receives these reports in the quarter subsequent to the actual sublicensee sales. At the time the revenue was received, there were no remaining performance obligations and all other revenue recognition criteria were met. There are no active projects under the Exclusive Research, Development and License Agreement, dated August 15, 2005, by and between Lipoxen and Baxter Healthcare SA, as amended, (the “Takeda Agreement”), and the parties are discussing a potential termination of the agreement. Any such termination of the Takeda Agreement would have no impact on the Company and its non-exclusive sublicense agreement and the royalties being generated. No amounts were recognized as revenue related to the Serum Institute, Pharmsynthez or SynBio agreements during the three months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

 

On May 15, 2020, the Company and Scripps Research entered into a Research Funding and Option Agreement (the “Scripps Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company has agreed to provide Scripps Research an aggregate of up to $3.0 million to fund research relating to advancing the pre-clinical development of XCART. The research funding is payable by the Company to Scripps Research on a quarterly basis in accordance with a negotiated budget, which provides for an initial payment of approximately $300,000 on the date of the Scripps Agreement and subsequent quarterly payments of approximately $300,000 over a 27-month period. Under the Scripps Agreement, Scripps Research has granted the Company a license within the Field (as defined in the Scripps Agreement) to any Patent Rights or Technology (as defined in the Scripps Agreement) under the terms of that certain license agreement with Scripps Research, dated February 25, 2019, assigned to the Company on March 1, 2019. Additionally, the Company has the option to acquire a worldwide exclusive license to Scripps Research’s rights in the Technology or Patent Rights not already licensed to the Company, as well as a non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferrable license to make and use Scripps Research Technology (as defined in the Scripps Agreement) solely for the Company’s internal research purposes during the performance of the research program contemplated by the Scripps Agreement. The Company has paid $1.5 million to Scripps Research under this agreement through June 30, 2021. As of June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, approximately $0.2 million has been recognized as an advance payment under this agreement and is included in Prepaid expenses and other current assets.