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Collaborations
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Collaborative Arrangement Disclosure [Text Block]

13. Collaborations

In October 2007, the Company entered into an exclusive worldwide license with R&D Biopharmaceuticals to research, develop, and commercialize products containing conjugates of folate receptor targeting compounds and tubulysin compounds. In February 2011, this licensing agreement was assigned by R&D Biopharmaceuticals to Trientlgasse. The Company paid an upfront fee of $300,000 as research and development and pays $25,000 in annual maintenance fees unless a milestone is paid in a given year. In 2013, the Company paid $100,000 for dosing the first human patient with folate tubulysin. In 2014, the Company paid $50,000 for the completion of toxicology studies in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice and $100,000 for dosing the first human patient with PSMA tubulysin. The Company could pay $5,900,000 in additional contingent payments upon the achievement of specific scientific, clinical, and regulatory milestones, in addition to royalties upon commercial sales. All payments have been expensed as research and development as incurred, as there is no alternate future use for this technology.
In December 1995, as amended in October 1998, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with Purdue Research Foundation, which licenses the right under certain patents to the Company. The Company is obligated to pay an annual minimum royalty of $12,500 until commercial sales commence, following which time the payment of single digit royalty rates will commence. All payments have been expensed as incurred. The Company does not anticipate incurring any liabilities for vintafolide royalty payments based on the estimate timing of when commercial sales may commence and the expiration of the applicable patents.
In December 2009, the Company entered into a financial term sheet to be incorporated into a written license agreement with Purdue Research Foundation for a patent related to prostate cancer. The agreement was signed and became effective on March 1, 2010. Pursuant to the exclusive license agreement, the Company is subject to minimum annual royalty payments of $15,000, payable until first commercial sale, following which time the minimum annual royalty payments increase to $100,000 and sales-based royalties are also payable at market rates when commercial sales commence. In addition, a milestone payment of $500,000 is payable upon approval of a new drug application in the U.S. In 2014, the Company paid a penalty as a milestone was not met. The Company is subject to future penalties if certain diligence milestones are not met. 
In 2014, the Company entered into a Master License Agreement with Purdue Research Foundation. Under this license, the Company has the right to exclusively license patents and technology discovered under company funded research at Purdue University. If the Company decides to move forward with development of one or more of these technologies, the Company will be obligated to make an acceptance payment and the Company will also be obligated to make contingent payments upon the achievement of specific scientific, clinical and regulatory milestones. Certain scientific, clinical and regulatory milestones, in addition to internal resource targets must be met by the Company to avoid fees as consideration for waivers of potentially missed milestones. The Company is obligated to pay annual minimum payments until commercial sales commence, following which time the payments of royalties with market rates will commence, along with an annual royalty payment per annum.

Merck Collaboration Agreement

In April 2012, the Company entered into a worldwide collaboration agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme Research GmbH, a subsidiary of Merck & Co, Inc. (“Merck”), regarding the development and commercialization of vintafolide, which agreement was terminated by Merck effective September 15, 2014. As a result of the termination of the collaboration with Merck, the Company is no longer eligible for additional milestone payments from Merck. In addition, all obligations of the Company under the agreement have been fulfilled and the Company is not required to perform any additional services to Merck. Pursuant to the collaboration agreement, the Company received a $120.0 million non-refundable upfront payment and a $5.0 million milestone payment in 2012. Under the collaboration agreement, the Company was responsible for the majority of funding and completion of the Phase 3 PROCEED clinical trial of vintafolide for the treatment of patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (“PROC”), which was terminated in May 2014. The Company is responsible for the execution of the Phase 2b TARGET trial of vintafolide for the treatment of second line non-small cell lung cancer, which is now substantially complete, pending the receipt of final overall survival results. Merck was responsible for the costs of the TARGET trial through September 15, 2014.
For revenue recognition purposes, the Company viewed the collaboration with Merck as a multiple element arrangement. Multiple element arrangements are analyzed to determine whether the various performance obligations, or elements, can be separated or whether they must be accounted for as a single unit of accounting. The Company evaluated whether the delivered elements under the arrangement have value on a stand-alone basis and whether objective and reliable evidence of fair value of the undelivered element exists. Deliverables that do not meet these criteria are not evaluated separately for the purpose of revenue recognition. For a single unit of accounting, payments received are recognized in a manner consistent with the final deliverable. The Company determined that the deliverables related to the collaboration with Merck, including the licenses granted to Merck, as well as the Company performance obligations to provide various research and development services, would be accounted for as a single unit of account. This determination was made because the successful development of the therapeutic drug, vintafolide, is dependent on the companion diagnostic, etarfolatide, to select patients who are most likely to receive the most benefit from vintafolide. Given the nature of the combined benefit of the companion diagnostic and the therapeutic drug, the research and development services to be provided by the Company were essential to the overall arrangement as the Company has significant knowledge and technical know-how that was important to realizing the value of the licenses granted. Subsequent to the inception of the Merck arrangement, the Company evaluated the remaining deliverables for separation as items in the arrangement were delivered.
The Company recognized the non-refundable $120.0 million upfront payment, the $5.0 million milestone payment and funding from the research and development services on a straight-line basis over the estimated performance period, which started at the date of execution of the agreement. Based on the termination of the PROCEED trial and receiving the notice of termination of the collaboration agreement in 2014, the Company concluded that all of its obligations under the agreement have been fulfilled and the Company is not required to perform any additional services to Merck, and as a result, the entire balance of deferred revenue related to the collaboration agreement was recognized in 2014. The Company recognized approximately $64.9 million and $70.3 million of revenue related to the Merck collaboration during 2013 and 2014, respectively, and had deferred revenue related to the collaboration of approximately $59.7 million at December 31, 2013. There was no deferred revenue related to the collaboration at December 31, 2014. Though accounted for as a single unit of account for presentation purposes, the Company made an allocation of revenue recognized as collaboration revenue between the license and the services. This allocation was based upon the relative selling price of each deliverable. For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2014, license revenue was approximately $51.5 million and $52.7 million, respectively, while research and development services revenue was approximately $13.4 million and $17.6 million, respectively, of the collaboration revenue.
In 2014, Merck and the Company entered into a letter agreement whereby Merck agreed to pay (i) $2.2 million of expenses related to costs incurred to prepare for the potential increase in the number of FR(100%) patients (patients in which 100 percent of their target lesions over-expressed the folate receptor as determined by an etarfolatide scan) in the PROCEED trial from 250 to 350, for which Merck agreed to reimburse at 75%, and (ii) $1.1 million related to the remaining PROCEED trial expenses beyond the September 15, 2014 termination date. The Company has no obligations nor is it required to perform any additional services under that letter agreement. Revenue for these additional payments was recognized in 2014.
In 2014, Merck and the Company entered into a second letter agreement whereby Merck agreed to pay $0.5 million related to the estimate of reimbursable development expenses incurred but not yet invoiced to Merck. Under that letter agreement, Merck and the Company agreed that there will be no additional amounts payable by either party if the actual expenses differ from the estimated expenses paid by Merck. 

NMP License and Commercialization Agreement

In August 2013, the Company entered into a license and commercialization agreement with Nihon Medi-Physic Co., LTD. (“NMP”) that grants NMP the right to develop and commercialize etarfolatide in Japan for use in connection with vintafolide in Japan. The Company received a $1.0 million non-refundable upfront payment, is eligible for up to $4.5 million based on the successful achievement of regulatory goals for etarfolatide in five different cancer indications and is eligible to receive double-digit percentage royalties on sales of etarfolatide in Japan.
For revenue recognition purposes, the Company viewed the agreement with NMP as a multiple element arrangement. Multiple element arrangements are analyzed to determine whether the various performance obligations, or elements, can be separated or whether they must be accounted for as a single unit of accounting. The Company has identified the deliverables related to the collaboration with NMP, which include the license granted to NMP, as well as the obligation to provide preclinical and clinical supply of etarfolatide, to provide rights to NMP if a product is developed that replaces etarfolatide, obligation for the Company to provide clinical data to NMP during the contract period and coordination of development and commercialization efforts between the Company for vintafolide and NMP for etarfolatide in Japan. The Company’s deliverables will be accounted for as a single unit of account, therefore the non-refundable upfront payment is being recognized on a straight-line basis over the performance period. This determination was made because the successful development of etarfolatide in Japan requires the ongoing participation by the Company, including the development of the related therapeutic drug, vintafolide. The performance period over which the revenue will be recognized continues from the date of execution of the agreement through the end of 2033, the estimated termination date of the contract which is when the Company’s performance obligations will be completed. Any significant changes in the timing of the performance period could result in a change in the revenue recognition period. The Company had deferred revenue related to the agreement of approximately $0.9 million at December 31, 2014. Subsequent to the inception of the NMP arrangement, the Company evaluates the remaining deliverables for separation as items in the arrangement are delivered.
The arrangement with NMP includes milestone payments of up to approximately $4.5 million and the milestones are based on the commencement of clinical trials in Japan for specific and non-specific indications and filing for approval in Japan for specific and non-specific indications. The Company evaluated each of these milestone payments and believes that all of the milestones are substantive as there is substantial performance risk that must occur in order for them to be met because the Company must complete additional clinical trials which show a positive outcome or receive approval from a regulatory authority and would be commensurate with the enhancement of value of the underlying intellectual property. To date, the products have not been approved in Japan and no revenue has been recognized related to the regulatory milestones or royalties.
NMP has the right to terminate the collaboration agreement on 90 days notice prior to first commercial sale in Japan and six months notice after the first commercial sale in Japan. NMP also has the right to terminate the agreement on six months notice if the Company fails to launch vintafolide after receiving regulatory approval in Japan. NMP and the Company each have the right to terminate the agreement due to the material breach or insolvency of the other party. Upon termination of the agreement depending on the circumstances, the parties have varying rights and obligations with respect to licensing and related regulatory materials and data.