COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 7 commitments and contingencies

License Agreements

In March 2004, the Company entered into a license agreement with Dr. M. Gopal Nair, Ph.D., of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, for the rights to use, produce, distribute and market products derived from an invention by Dr. Nair, claimed in US Patent # 5,912,251, entitled “metabolically inert anti-inflammatory and antitumor antifolates”, designated by the Company as CH-1504 and related compounds. The license provides the Company exclusive, worldwide (excluding India) rights for CH-1504 and related compounds. The Company made an upfront payment in May 2004 of $150,000 and milestone payments as required by the agreement of $100,000 each in March 2006 and 2005. In April 2007, the Company issued 26,643 shares of its common stock, subject to trading restrictions, at a value of approximately $5.63 per share, in settlement of the $150,000 annual milestone payment liability. In March 2008, the Company made a milestone payment of $100,000 related to patient dosing in a Phase II study as required by the agreement. In April 2008, the Company issued 30,612 shares of its common stock, subject to trading restrictions, at a value of approximately $4.90 per share, in settlement of the 2008 anniversary milestone payment. In April 2009, the Company made the 2009 anniversary milestone payment of $150,000. In September 2010, the Company made a milestone payment of $100,000 related to patient dosing in a Phase II study as required by the agreement. The Company is obligated to pay royalties under the agreement until the later of the expiration of the applicable patent or the applicable last date of market exclusivity after the first commercial sale, on a country-by-country basis. There are no minimum royalties required under the agreement. The Company is also obligated to make future potential milestone payments based on the achievement of specific development and regulatory approval milestones. Although the Company has no current development activity ongoing for this portfolio of compounds, approximately $1.5 million of payments might become due if specific clinical or regulatory milestones are achieved at a future date, subject to the Company’s right to terminate the license agreement. In addition, should the Company enter into an out-licensing agreement, such payments could be offset by revenue received from the sub-licensee.

In May 2006, the Company entered into an agreement with Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. (“DSP”) for a worldwide, exclusive, sub-licensable license and rights to certain intellectual property and proprietary information (the “DSP Agreement”) relating to L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine (“L-DOPS” or “droxidopa”) including, but not limited to all information, formulations, materials, data, drawings, sketches, designs, testing and test results, records and regulatory documentation. As consideration for these rights, the Company paid DSP $100,000 and issued 63,131 shares of its common stock, with a value of approximately $4.35 per share, or $274,621. As additional consideration, the Company agreed to pay DSP and/or its designees (1) royalties on the sales should any compound be approved for commercial sale, and (2) milestone payments, payable upon achievement of milestones as defined in the DSP Agreement. In February 2008, the Company made a milestone payment under the DSP Agreement of $500,000 related to patient dosing in a Phase III study. In December 2011, the Company made a milestone payment under the DSP Agreement of $750,000 related to submission of an NDA to the FDA and has remaining potential future milestone payments as of March 31, 2013, subject to the Company’s right to terminate the DSP Agreement, totaling $2.5 million, including a potential milestone payment of $1.5 million payable upon approval of an NDA. The Company and DSP also initiated, and the Company agreed to fund, activities focused on modifying the manufacturing capabilities of DSP in order to expand capacity and comply with regulations and requirements of the FDA. Final expenses for this work were recognized in the second quarter of 2012 resulting in the Company recording cumulative expense of approximately $3.1 million.

In conjunction with and as consideration for activities related to the execution of the DSP Agreement, the Company entered into a Finder’s Agreement with Paramount BioCapital, Inc. (“Paramount”). In May 2006, pursuant to the Finder’s Agreement, the Company issued warrants for the purchase of 250,000 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $4.31 per share. The exercise of these warrants was conditioned on an event that occurred in January 2007 and, accordingly, the Company recorded a charge for the fair value of the warrants at January 2007 of $433,750. The Company utilized the Black-Scholes-Merton valuation model for estimating the fair value of the warrants as of the date the condition for exercise occurred, based on a risk-free interest rate of 4.79%, an expected life of three years, an expected dividend yield of 0%, an expected volatility of 66.01% and no estimated forfeitures. If such warrants remain unexercised, they will expire in May 2013. As additional consideration, the Company agreed to (1) make future milestone payments to Paramount, upon achievement of milestones as defined in the Finder’s Agreement, (2) pay royalties on sales should any licensed compound become available for commercial sale, and (3) compensate a stated third-party consultant for services rendered in the evaluation of the transaction with DSP. The Company has remaining potential future milestone payments under the Finder’s Agreement of $150,000.

Contract Research and Manufacturing Purchase Obligations

The Company often contracts with third parties to facilitate, coordinate and perform agreed upon research and development and manufacturing activities. These contracts typically call for the payment of fees for services at the initiation of the contract and/or upon the achievement of certain milestones. The Company currently intends to continue its research and manufacturing activities for contracts existing as of March 31, 2013. However, should a need arise to cancel activities under these contracts, there might be cancellation fees that could be substantial.

In addition, the Company has contracted with a third party for the manufacture of commercial quantities of Northera prior to the date of final marketing approval and might perform similar activities for other of its product candidates in the future. The scale-up and commercial production of pre-launch inventories involves the risk that such products may not be approved for marketing by the appropriate regulatory agencies on a timely basis, or ever. This risk notwithstanding, the Company initiated such activities with its primary supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredient of Northera in December 2010 and had incurred expenses of approximately $1.2 million related to these activities during 2012. Until final approval to market any of the Company’s product candidates is received from the appropriate regulatory agencies, such costs are expensed to research and development. No such costs have been incurred in 2013. In addition, in October 2011, the Company committed to the purchase of active pharmaceutical ingredient from the manufacturer to be used in the production of commercial inventory in preparation for the market launch of Northera in the United States with a value of approximately $7.2 million, given exchange rates at that time. A small initial shipment of this material was delivered in the first quarter of 2012. In October 2012, the Company obtained a written waiver from the third-party manufacturer wherein the Company was released from its obligation to purchase the remaining material under this agreement.

Legal Proceedings

Following the receipt of the CRL from the FDA regarding the NDA for Northera™ (droxidopa) in March 2012 and the subsequent decline of the price of the Company’s common stock, two purported class action lawsuits were filed on April 4, 2012 and another purported class action lawsuit was filed on May 1, 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina against us and certain of our executive officers.

The complaints generally allege that, during differing class periods, all of the defendants violated Sections 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 and the individual defendants violated Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act in making various statements related to the Company’s development of Northera for the treatment of symptomatic neurogenic OH and the likelihood of FDA approval. The complaints seek unspecified damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, and other costs. Following consolidation of the three lawsuits and the appointment of a lead plaintiff, a consolidated complaint was filed on October 5, 2012, on behalf of purchasers of the Company’s common stock from November 3, 2008 through March 28, 2012. The Company and its officers intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit but are unable to predict the outcome or reasonably estimate a range of possible loss at this time.

On May 2, 2012, a purported shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery against the members of the Company’s board of directors as of the date of the lawsuit.  The complaint generally alleges that, from at least June 2011 through February 2012, the defendants breached their fiduciary duties and otherwise caused harm to the Company in connection with various statements related to the development of Northera for the treatment of Neurogenic OH and the likelihood of FDA approval.  The complaint seeks unspecified damages, attorneys’ fees and other costs.  On June 25, 2012, the Court of Chancery entered an Order staying the action until the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina has ruled upon the motion to dismiss that the Company and its officers have filed on November 16, 2012 in response to the consolidated complaint in the class action. The Company and its officers intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit but are unable to predict the outcome or reasonably estimate a range of possible loss at this time.

Other Contractual Obligations

During 2011 and early 2012, the Company contracted with various third parties to facilitate, coordinate and perform agreed upon commercialization support activities in anticipation of approval to launch of Northera in the United States in 2012. These contracts typically called for the payment of fees for services at the initiation of the contract and/or upon the achievement of certain milestones. In the event that the Company prepaid fees for future milestones, it would have recorded the prepayment as a prepaid asset and amortized the asset into sales and marketing expense over the period of time the contracted services were performed. Most fees were incurred throughout the contract period and were expensed based on the percentage of completion at a particular date. During the second quarter of 2012, the Company successfully curtailed these activities and cancelled the associated contracts given the receipt of the CRL from the FDA on March 28, 2012. The Company did incur a cancellation penalty on one of these contracts and, during the second quarter of 2012, recorded $100,000 of sales and marketing expense related to that penalty.

Business activities performed under these contracts included, but were not limited to, market research, marketing and advertising planning and development, contracted Medical Science Liaison professionals, sales territory mapping, publication planning, sales force recruiting, sales operations support and planning, messaging and website development, public relations and information technology support and planning.