NOTE 8

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. Based on the Company's current development plans for compounds licensed under this agreement, approximately $1.5 million of payments may become due if specific milestones are achieved, 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, subject to the Company's right to terminate the DSP Agreement, totaling $2.5 million. 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. Based on work performed by DSP as of March 31, 2012, the Company had recorded expense of approximately $3.1 million and had a remaining liability of approximately $5,000.

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 at the date the condition lapsed, 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. 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 as contracted at March 31, 2012. However, should a need arise to cancel these contracted activities, there can be cancellation fees that could be punitive in nature.

In October 2011, the Company committed to the purchase of active pharmaceutical ingredient from a third party to be used in the production of commercial inventory in preparation for the planned market launch of Northera in the United States. 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 has incurred expenses related to these activities of approximately $1.2 million and $1.9 million during the quarters ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. 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. The value of the remaining obligation totals approximately $5.8 million as of March 31, 2012 given current exchange rates. Although the remainder of this material could be shipped at any time chosen by the Company within a two-year period following the completion of its manufacture, the Company currently does not anticipate it will be shipped prior to 2013, at the earliest.

Legal Proceedings

Following the receipt of the CRL in March 2012 and the subsequent decline of the market 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 the Company and certain of its executive officers.

The complaints generally allege that, during differing class periods, all of the defendants violated Sections 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, and SEC 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 orthostatic hypotension and the likelihood of FDA approval. The class periods alleged in the three complaints run from November 3, 2008 to March 28, 2012 for two of the complaints and from June 9, 2011 to February 17, 2012 for the other. The complaints seek unspecified damages, interest, attorneys' fees, and other costs. Additional similar lawsuits might be filed. The Company and its officers believe that all of the claims in these lawsuits are without merit and the Company intends to vigorously defend against these claims, but is unable to predict the outcome or reasonably estimate a range of possible loss.

Other Contractual Obligations

During 2011, the Company contracted with various third parties to facilitate, coordinate and perform agreed upon commercialization support activities in anticipation of the planned launch of Northera. 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 is currently evaluating each of these activities as contracted given the receipt of the CRL on March 28, 2012 to determine which, if any, of these contracts should be cancelled or delayed. Should a need arise to cancel activities under these contracts, there might be cancellation fees that could be punitive in nature.

Business activities being performed under these contracts include, but are 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.