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LICENSE AND COLLABORATION AGREEMENTS
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
LICENSE AGREEMENTS [Abstract]  
LICENSE AND COLLABORATION AGREEMENTS LICENSE AND COLLABORATION AGREEMENTS
The Company licenses certain technologies that are, or may be, incorporated into its technology under several license agreements, as well as the rights to commercialize certain diagnostic tests through collaboration agreements. Generally, the license agreements require the Company to pay royalties based on net revenues received using the technologies and may require minimum royalty amounts or maintenance fees.
Mayo
In June 2009 the Company entered into a license agreement with Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (“Mayo”). The Company’s license agreement with Mayo was most recently amended in September 2020. Under the license agreement, Mayo granted the Company an exclusive, worldwide license to certain Mayo patents and patent applications, as well as a non-exclusive, worldwide license with regard to certain Mayo know-how. The scope of the license covers any screening, surveillance or diagnostic test or tool for use in connection with any type of cancer, pre-cancer, disease or condition.
The licensed Mayo patents and patent applications contain both method and composition claims that relate to sample processing, analytical testing and data analysis associated with nucleic acid screening for cancers and other diseases. The jurisdictions covered by these patents and patent applications include the U.S., Australia, Canada, the European Union, China, Japan and Korea. Under the license agreement, the Company assumed the obligation and expense of prosecuting and maintaining the licensed Mayo patents and is obligated to make commercially reasonable efforts to bring to market products using the licensed Mayo intellectual property.
Pursuant to the Company’s agreement with Mayo, the Company is required to pay Mayo a low-single-digit royalty on the Company’s net sales of current and future products using the licensed Mayo intellectual property each year during the term of the Mayo agreement.
As part of the most recent amendment, the Company agreed to pay Mayo an additional $6.3 million, payable in five annual installments through 2024. The Company paid Mayo the first annual installment of $1.3 million in the third quarter of 2020 and will make all subsequent annual payments in the first quarter of the year beginning in January 2021.
The license agreement will remain in effect, unless earlier terminated by the parties in accordance with the agreement, until the last of the licensed patents expires in 2037 (or later, if certain licensed patent applications are issued). However, if the Company is still using the licensed Mayo know-how or certain Mayo-provided biological specimens or their derivatives on such expiration date, the term shall continue until the earlier of the date the Company stops using such know-how and materials and the date that is five years after the last licensed patent expires. The license agreement contains customary termination provisions and permits Mayo to terminate the license agreement if the Company sues Mayo or its affiliates, other than any such suit claiming an uncured material breach by Mayo of the license agreement.
In addition to granting the Company a license to the covered Mayo intellectual property, Mayo provides the Company with product development and research and development assistance pursuant to the license agreement and other collaborative arrangements. In September 2020, Mayo also agreed to make available certain personnel to provide such assistance through January 2025. In connection with this collaboration, the Company incurred charges of $0.9 million and $1.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The Company incurred charges of $2.8 million and $3.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The charges incurred in connection with this collaboration are recorded in research and development expenses in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Epic Sciences
In June 2016, Genomic Health (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company) entered into a collaboration agreement with Epic Sciences, which was superseded and replaced in March 2019 by a license agreement and laboratory services agreement with Epic Sciences, under which Genomic Health was granted exclusive distribution rights to commercialize Epic Sciences’ AR-V7 Nucleus Detect test in the United States, which is marketed as Oncotype DX AR-V7 Nucleus Detect. The Company has primary responsibility, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, for marketing and promoting the test, order fulfillment, billing and collections of receivables, claims appeals, customer support, and providing and maintaining order management systems for the test. Epic Sciences is responsible for performing all tests, performing studies including analytic and clinical validation studies, and seeking Medicare coverage and a Medicare payment rate from the CMS for the test. The license and laboratory service agreement has a term of ten years from June 2016, unless terminated earlier under certain circumstances. The Oncotype DX AR-V7 Nucleus Detect test became commercially available in February 2018. The Company recognizes revenues for the test performed under this arrangement and Epic Sciences receives a fee per test performed that represents the fair market value for the testing services they perform.
Biocartis N.V.
In September 2017, Genomic Health entered into an exclusive license and development agreement with Biocartis, a molecular diagnostics company based in Belgium, to develop and commercialize an IVD version of the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test on the Biocartis Idylla platform. Under the terms of the license and development agreement, the Company has an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license to develop and commercialize an IVD version of the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test on the Biocartis Idylla platform, and an option to expand the collaboration to include additional tests in oncology and urology. The Company has primary responsibility for developing, validating and obtaining regulatory authorizations and registrations for IVD Oncotype DX tests to be performed on the Idylla platform. The Company is also responsible for manufacturing and commercialization activities with respect to such tests.
Pursuant to the license and development agreement, Genomic Health recorded a one-time upfront license and option fee of $3.2 million. In December 2017, Genomic Health purchased 270,000 ordinary shares of Biocartis, a public company listed on the Euronext exchange, for a total cost of $4.0 million. This investment was subject to a lock-up agreement that expired in December 2018. The investment has been recognized at fair value, which the Company estimated to be $1.4 million and $1.7 million as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, and is included in marketable securities on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets.
Under a November 2018 addendum to the license and development agreement, the Company exercised its option to expand the collaboration to include tests in urology and obtained a right of first refusal to add a test for the non-invasive detection of prostate cancer in a pre-biopsy setting.
Additional terms of the license and development agreement and the addendum include the Company’s obligation to pay Biocartis (i) an aggregate of €2.5 million in cash upon achievement of certain milestones, (ii) €2.0 million for the expansion of the collaboration to include additional tests in oncology, and (iii) certain royalties based primarily on the future sales volumes of the Company’s tests performed on the Idylla platform.
The Company is currently in discussions with Biocartis to terminate the agreements. The outcome of these discussions is not determinable at this time. Refer to Note 5 for further information regarding Biocartis.