License and Services Agreement

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Research And Development [Abstract]

License and Services Agreement

6. LICENSE AND SERVICES AGREEMENT

In November 2017, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “VX3 License Agreement”) with VX3 (DE) LLP (“VX3”), which was formed by a group of Canadian investors including the Company’s majority stockholder, FCMI Parent Co. (“FCMI Parent”). VX3 was created for the purpose of funding the Company’s research and development activities for VX15, our most advanced product candidate. In June 2018, the U.S. Adopted Name Council approved the use of pepinemab as the adopted name for VX15. Under the VX3 License Agreement, the Company granted VX3 the license to use, make, have made, sell, offer and import pepinemab for the treatment of Huntington’s disease in the U.S. and Canada and, in return, VX3 agreed to fund research and development activities with up to an aggregate of $32.0 million in milestone payments to the Company and to share any pepinemab profits and sublicensing revenue under the agreement in an amount based on a calculation set forth in the agreement. The Company also entered into a services agreement with VX3 (the “Services Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company will carry out development activities for pepinemab for the treatment of Huntington’s disease in the U.S. and Canada in exchange for services payments from VX3, including a payment of $11.9 million in 2017. The VX3 License Agreement expires upon the last to expire licensed patent and may be terminated by either party upon uncured material breach, the occurrence of certain transactions or financings including the consummation of an initial public offering by the Company, uncured failure of VX3 to make any payment due under the Services Agreement, or upon written notice after November 6, 2020. The Services Agreement may be terminated by either party upon an uncured material breach and is automatically terminated upon termination of the VX3 License Agreement. The VX3 License Agreement provides that upon termination, the Company will issue to VX3 or its designees the number of shares of the Company’s common stock equal to the lesser of (1) the aggregate of all payments made to VX3 by the Canadian investors divided by $18.20 and (2) the then fair market value of VX3 divided by the then fair market value of one share of the Company’s common stock.

The Company has a variable interest in VX3 through FCMI Parent, which is majority owned and controlled by the Company’s chairman, and it controlled 90% of VX3’s voting interest at each of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018. VX3 does not have any business operations or generate any income or expenses and is primarily a funding mechanism specifically for the benefit of the Company, as its only activities consist of the receipt of funding and the contribution of such funding to the Company. Therefore, the Company determined that it is the primary beneficiary of VX3 and that the operating results of VX3 should be incorporated into the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements accordingly.

In February, May and June 2018, the Services Agreement was amended to allow VX3 to provide additional funding for future research and development activities to take place in the year ending December 31, 2018 and to repay an outstanding convertible note in the amount of $4.0 million (Note 8). No other terms of the Services Agreement were amended; therefore, the above assessment resulting in the Company being the primary beneficiary of the VX3 entity remained unchanged as of June 30, 2019.

For the six months ended June 30, 2018, the Company recorded the gross proceeds of $12.0 million, received from VX3 as capital contributions from noncontrolling interests on the condensed consolidated financial statements.