Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions

16. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

As discussed in Note 9, the Company leases its facility from 1895 Management, Ltd., a New York corporation controlled by an entity affiliated with the Company’s chairman and major stockholder of the Company. Rent expense incurred under this operating lease was $174,000 and $169,000, respectively, for each of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

As discussed in Note 6, in November 2017, the Company entered into a research collaboration and license option agreement with Surface to identify and select antibodies against two target antigens, using the Company’s proprietary technology as described in the agreement. J. Jeffrey Goater, a member of the Company’s board of directors, served as the Chief Business Officer of Surface at that time, and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Surface. This agreement will expire upon the latest of the expiration of both research programs and all evaluation and testing periods. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, the Company recorded $50,000 of revenue per year as an annual maintenance fee for the exclusive product license. During the year ended December 31, 2021 the Company recorded $850,000 of revenue for a product license for the first target.

On January 21, 2020, the Company entered into a stock purchase agreement pursuant to which the Company issued and sold to certain investors 1,468,563 shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $5.09 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $7.5 million (“the January 2020 Private Placement”). FCMI Parent Co., the Company’s majority stockholder, which is controlled by Albert D. Friedberg, the chairman of the Company’s board of directors, Vaccinex (Rochester) L.L.C., which is majority owned and controlled by Dr. Maurice Zauderer, the Company’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of its board of directors, and Jacob Frieberg, a member of the Company’s board of directors, purchased 982,318, 98,231, and 39,292 shares of our common stock for aggregate purchase prices of $4,999,999, $499,996, and $199,996, respectively, in the January 2020 Private Placement.  In connection with the January 2020 Private Placement, on January 23, 2020, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement with the investors pursuant to which the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-236417), declared effective on March 11, 2020, to register the resale of the shares acquired by the investors in the January 2020 Private Placement.

On July 9, 2020, the Company entered into a stock purchase agreement (the “July 2020 Stock Purchase Agreement”) with Friedberg Global-Macro Hedge Fund, Ltd. (the “Investor”), pursuant to which the Company issued and sold to the Investor 1,126,760 shares (the “Shares”) of the Company’s common stock, at a purchase price of $3.55 per Share (the “Private Placement”), for gross proceeds of $4.0 million. Albert D. Friedberg, the Company’s chairman and beneficial owner of a majority of the Company’s outstanding common stock, controls Friedberg Mercantile Group, the investment manager of the Investor, which exercises voting and dispositive power over shares held directly by the Investor.  The closing of the Private Placement occurred on July 10, 2020. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Private Placement to fund the ongoing development of pepinemab, the Company’s lead product candidate, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. Also, on July 10, 2020, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement with the Investor, pursuant to which the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-246326), declared effective on August 25, 2020, to register the resale of the Shares.