SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Accounting, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its operating subsidiary, which are collectively referred to as the “Company”. These statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial reporting and the instructions to Form 10-Q and do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for complete financial statements. In the opinion of the Company’s management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods have been included. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results for the year ending December 31, 2014 or future periods. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 11, 2014 and available on the website (www.sec.gov) of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. The accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2013 has been derived from the audited balance sheet as of that date included in the Form 10-K.

Consolidation, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Basis of Consolidation

The accompanying financial statements present, on a condensed consolidated basis, the financial position and results of operations of Chelsea Ltd. and its subsidiary. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Use of Estimates, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements as well as the reported expenses during the reporting periods. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates and judgments. Management bases estimates on its historical experience and on various other factors that it believes are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results might differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Significant estimates and assumptions are required related to the estimated costs and estimated percentages of completion of research and development activities and commercialization activities that are outsourced to third-party contractors, the valuation of assets and stock-based compensation. Some of these judgments can be subjective and complex, and, consequently, actual results may differ from these estimates. For any given individual estimate or assumption made by the Company, there may also be other estimates or assumptions that are reasonable. Although the Company believes that its estimates and assumptions are reasonable, they are based upon information available at the time the estimates and assumptions were made and actual results may differ significantly from such estimates.

Research and Development Expense, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Research and Development

Research and development activities have primarily focused on the clinical development of the Company's drug candidates and regulatory activities directed at obtaining approval of Northera in Neurogenic OH. Research and development expenses are recognized as they are incurred and consist primarily of:

· salaries and related expenses for personnel, including stock-based compensation;

· fees paid to third party contract research organizations, or CROs, in conjunction with conduct and independent monitoring of preclinical activities and clinical trials, including pass-through fees;

· costs related to the purchase of drug substance, formulation activities, the production and distribution of clinical trial materials and process validation activities;

· costs related to medical affairs activities;

· costs related to upfront and milestone payments under in-licensing agreements prior to obtaining approval;

· costs related to clinical and other non-commercial compliance with regulatory requirements in the U.S., EU and other foreign jurisdictions, and;

· consulting fees paid to third parties.

Those research and development expenditures incurred under contracts with CRO’s are expensed based upon the most recent estimate of costs needed to complete such activities. The Company often contracts with CROs to facilitate, coordinate and perform agreed upon research and development activities.  Expense recognition is based upon estimated percentage of completion at the financial statement date applied against estimated amounts to complete the project. Estimates are calculated, maintained and presented to the Company by CROs and are then subjected to rigorous periodic internal review and analysis to ensure reasonableness of the estimates. Such review includes difficult, subjective and complex judgments, particularly in instances of studying orphan drug candidates where prior clinical activity is limited, providing little or no historical cost information. Given the highly variable nature of the costs involved in the completion of a clinical or pre-clinical trial, fluctuations in costs estimates can occur at any time during the trial or at its conclusion based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the rate at which investigator sites are identified, site locations (US versus International), the timing of site activations, the rate at which patients are enrolled into a trial, changes to the number of sites and/or patients that are targeted for the trial, the timelines for trial completion and changes in scope of the actions to be taken by the contractor.

Given that the recognition of expense related to the Company’s contracted research and development activities comprise a significant component of reported expenses during any given period, such fluctuations can be material to the results of operations and/or the carrying value of assets and liabilities. The estimates to complete each contracted project are also used in the determination and disclosure of contractual obligations of the Company providing a snapshot of estimated cash requirements arising from future contractual payment obligations based upon the best information available at the time the financial statements are published.

To ensure that research and development costs are expensed as incurred, the Company measures expense based on estimated work performed for the underlying contract, typically utilizing a percentage-of-completion approach, and records prepaid assets or accrues expenses on a monthly basis for such activities based on the measurement of liability from expense recognition and the receipt of invoices. Contracts for research and development programs typically call 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 prepays fees for future milestones, the Company records the prepayment as a prepaid asset and amortizes the asset into research and development expense over the period of time the contracted research and development services are performed.  Most fees are incurred throughout the contract period and are expensed based on their estimated percentage of completion at a particular date. Although such fees may fluctuate during the life of a research and development program, such fluctuations are generally based on changes in or delays in the timelines for study completion.

These contracts generally include pass through fees.  Pass through fees include, but are not limited to, regulatory expenses, investigator fees, travel costs, and other miscellaneous costs including shipping and printing fees.  Because these fees are incurred at various times during the contract term and they are used throughout the contract term, the Company records a monthly expense allocation to recognize the fees during the contract period.  Fees incurred to set up the clinical trial are expensed during the setup period. Estimating the costs of pass-through expenses for a contracted research and development program can be difficult and complex. Judgments used in the development of these estimates include the input of the CRO, the costs of previous clinical trials, estimates of patient recruitment rates, estimates of drop-out rates and estimates of site identification and activation rates. Estimates of investigator payments, lab costs, database development and management and adverse event reporting are based on parameters such as number of office visits, laboratory requirements, screening failure rates, location of the investigator site and the patient related factors discussed above. Historically, the Company has experienced fluctuations in the estimates of these costs and has implemented rigorous review processes to ensure reliability of estimates. Fluctuations that have occurred previously have been in the range of +/- 5% of total program costs and the Company would anticipate that similar fluctuations could occur in the future. Depending on the size of the trial, the estimated costs to complete and the volume of overall research and development activities during any given period, such fluctuations could be material to the results of operations and financial position.

Costs related to the acquisition of technology rights and patents for which development work is still in process are expensed as incurred and considered a component of research and development costs. Costs related to the acquisition of such technology rights that are incurred upon or after approval will be capitalized as contractual intangible assets and amortized over the period during which the asset is expected to contribute directly or indirectly to future cash flows.