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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies
Guarantees and Indemnifications
The Company has entered into a number of standard intellectual property indemnification agreements in the ordinary course of its business. Pursuant to these agreements, the Company indemnifies, holds harmless, and agrees to reimburse the indemnified party for losses suffered or incurred by the indemnified party, generally the Company’s business partners or customers, in connection with any U.S. patent or any copyright or other intellectual property infringement claim by any third party with respect to the Company’s products. The term of these indemnification agreements is generally perpetual from the date of execution of the agreement. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make under these indemnification agreements is unlimited. Since inception, the Company has not incurred costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims related to these indemnification agreements. The Company also indemnifies its officers and directors for certain events or occurrences, subject to certain conditions.
License Agreements
The Company’s rights to develop and commercialize its products are subject to the terms and conditions of licenses granted to the Company by other pharmaceutical companies.
HETLIOZ®. In February 2004, the Company entered into a license agreement with BMS under which it received an exclusive worldwide license under certain patents and patent applications, and other licenses to intellectual property, to develop and commercialize HETLIOZ®. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has paid BMS $37.5 million in upfront fees and milestone obligations, including $33.0 million of regulatory approval and commercial milestones capitalized as intangible assets (see Note 6, Intangible Assets). The Company has no remaining milestone obligations to BMS. Additionally, the Company is obligated to make royalty payments on HETLIOZ® net sales to BMS. The royalty period in each territory where the Company commercializes HETLIOZ® is 10 years following the first commercial sale in the territory. In territories outside the U.S., the
royalty is 5% on net sales. In the U.S., the current royalty on net sales is 10%. This royalty will drop to 5% in December 2022 and will end in April 2024. The Company is also obligated under the license agreement to pay BMS a percentage of any sublicense fees, upfront payments and milestone and other payments (excluding royalties) that it receives from a third party in connection with any sublicensing arrangement, at a rate which is in the mid-twenties. The Company is obligated to use its commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize HETLIOZ®.
Fanapt®. Pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement with Novartis Pharma AG (Novartis), Novartis transferred all U.S. and Canadian rights in the Fanapt® franchise to the Company on December 31, 2014. The Company paid directly to Sanofi S.A (Sanofi) a fixed royalty of 3% of net sales through December 2019 related to manufacturing know-how. The Company is also obligated to pay Sanofi a fixed royalty on Fanapt® net sales equal to 6% on Sanofi know-how not related to manufacturing under certain conditions for a period of up to 10 years in markets where the NCE patent has expired or was not issued. The Company is obligated to pay this 6% royalty on net sales in the U.S. through November 2026.
Tradipitant. In April 2012, the Company entered into a license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) pursuant to which the Company acquired an exclusive worldwide license under certain patents and patent applications, and other licenses to intellectual property, to develop and commercialize an NK-1 receptor antagonist, tradipitant, for all human indications. Lilly is eligible to receive future payments based upon achievement of specified development, regulatory approval and commercialization milestones as well as tiered-royalties on net sales at percentage rates up to the low double digits. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has paid Lilly $3.0 million in upfront fees and development milestones. As of March 31, 2022, remaining milestone obligations include a $2.0 million development milestone due upon the filing of the first marketing authorization for tradipitant in either the U.S. or European Union (E.U.), $10.0 million and $5.0 million for the first approval of a marketing authorization for tradipitant in the U.S. and E.U., respectively, and up to $80.0 million for sales milestones. The Company is obligated to use its commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize tradipitant.
Portfolio of CFTR activators and inhibitors. In March 2017, the Company entered into a license agreement with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), under which the Company acquired an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize a portfolio of CFTR activators and inhibitors. Pursuant to the license agreement, the Company will develop and commercialize the CFTR activators and inhibitors and is responsible for all development costs under the license agreement, including current pre-investigational new drug development work. UCSF is eligible to receive future payments based upon achievement of specified development and commercialization milestones as well as single-digit royalties on net sales. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has paid UCSF $1.6 million in upfront fees and development milestones. As of March 31, 2022, remaining milestone obligations include $11.9 million for development milestones and $33.0 million for future regulatory approval and sales milestones. Included in the $11.9 million of development milestones are $1.1 million of milestone obligations due upon the conclusion of clinical studies for each licensed product but not to exceed $3.2 million in total for the CFTR portfolio. As a result of completion of the first clinical study initiated by the Company for VSJ-110, the Company made a $350,000 development milestone payment to UCSF in the fourth quarter of 2021. The likelihood of achieving this milestone was determined to be probable during 2020 and the obligation of $350,000 tied to such milestone was recorded as research and development expense in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations during the year ended December 31, 2020.
VQW-765. In connection with a settlement agreement with Novartis relating to Fanapt®, the Company received an exclusive worldwide license under certain patents and patent applications, and other licenses to intellectual property, to develop and commercialize VQW-765, a Phase II alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist. Pursuant to the license agreement, the Company is obligated to use its commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize VQW-765 and is responsible for all development costs. The Company has no milestone obligations; however, Novartis is eligible to receive tiered-royalties on net sales at percentage rates up to the mid-teens.
Purchase Commitments
In the course of its business, the Company regularly enters into agreements with third-party vendors under fee service arrangements, which generally may be terminated on 90 days’ notice without incurring additional charges, other than charges for work completed or materials procured but not paid for through the effective date of termination and other costs incurred by the Company’s contractors in closing out work in progress as of the effective date of termination. The Company’s non-cancellable purchase commitments for agreements longer than one year primarily relate to commitments for data services and are not material. Various other long-term agreements entered into for services with other third-party vendors, such as inventory purchase commitments, are cancellable in nature or contain variable commitment terms within the agreement.