Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

16. Commitments and Contingencies

See Note 8 for the Company’s commitments under license agreements.

As disclosed in Note 3, the Company is obligated to make payments of up to $80.0 million upon the achievement of specified worldwide net sales of all products developed using the technology acquired from Spitfire Pharma Inc. within ten years following the approval of a new drug application filed with the FDA.

In December 2019, a complaint was filed by Dr. De-Chu Christopher Tang (“Plaintiff”) against the Company in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The Plaintiff amended the complaint in February 2020 to include Vipin K. Garg and David J. Drutz as defendants, in addition to the Company (Dr. Garg, Dr. Drutz, and the Company are collectively referred to as “Defendants”). In March 2020 the Defendants’ filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. Subsequently the Plaintiff filed a motion to strike Defendants’ motion to dismiss and both motions are currently pending. Plaintiff, who is representing himself, alleges five causes of action as follows: (1) Defendants’ alleged retention of Plaintiff’s lab notebooks; (2) alleged plagiarism based on publishing an article without naming Plaintiff as an author; (3) use of the Adhigh System, which Plaintiff alleges he developed; (4) allegations that Defendants manipulated the Company’s stock and caused a decrease in value; and (5) allegations that the Defendants “wast[ed] government grant money and poison[ed] science by leaving data to rot.”   The Company believes the allegations in the complaint are without merit and intends to vigorously defend the litigation. However, the outcome of this legal proceeding is uncertain at this time and the Company cannot reasonably estimate a range of loss, if any. Accordingly, the Company has not accrued any liability associated with this action. The Company is a party in various other contractual disputes, litigation, and potential claims arising in the ordinary course of business. The Company does not believe that the resolution of these matters will have a material adverse effect on its financial position or results of operations.