Fair Value Measurements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

3. Fair Value Measurements

Financial assets and liabilities are recorded at fair value. The carrying amounts of certain of our financial instruments, including cash and cash equivalents, investments, receivables from collaborators, prepaid expenses and other current assets and accounts payable, approximate their fair value due to their short term nature. The accounting guidance for fair value provides a framework for measuring fair value, clarifies the definition of fair value, and expands disclosures regarding fair value measurements. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the reporting date. The accounting guidance establishes a three-tiered hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in the valuation methodologies in measuring fair value as follows:

Level 1 – Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date.

Level 2 – Inputs (other than quoted market prices included in Level 1) are either directly or indirectly observable for the asset or liability through correlation with market data at the measurement date and for the duration of the instrument’s anticipated life.

Level 3 – Inputs reflect management’s best estimate of what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability at the measurement date. Consideration is given to the risk inherent in the valuation technique and the risk inherent in the inputs to the model.

The following table sets forth the fair value of our financial assets and liabilities, allocated into Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, that were measured on a recurring basis (in thousands):

	September 30, 2015
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Financial Assets:
Money market funds	$	21,351	$	—	$	—	$	21,351
Corporate notes and commercial paper	—			181,962		—		181,962
U.S. government agency securities		—		140,056		—		140,056
Total financial assets	$	21,351	$	322,018	$	—	$	343,369

	December 31, 2014
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Financial Assets:
Money market funds	$	24,915	$	—	$	—	$	24,915
Corporate notes and commercial paper		—		226,047		—		226,047
U.S. government agency securities		—		120,169		—		120,169
Total financial assets	$	24,915	$	346,216	$	—	$	371,131

We estimate the fair values of our corporate notes and commercial paper and U.S government agency securities by taking into consideration valuations obtained from third-party pricing services. The pricing services utilize industry standard valuation models, including both income- and market-based approaches, for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly, to estimate fair value. These inputs include reported trades of and broker/dealer quotes on the same or similar securities; issuer credit spreads; benchmark securities; prepayment/default projections based on historical data; and other observable inputs.

There were no transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 during the periods presented.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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