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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 13—Commitments and Contingencies:

Contractual Obligations:

Contractual obligations represent future cash commitments and liabilities under agreements with third parties, and exclude contingent liabilities for which the Company cannot reasonably predict future payment. The Company’s contractual obligations result primarily from obligations for various contract manufacturing organizations and clinical research organizations, which include potential payments we may be required to make under our agreements. The contracts also contain variable costs and milestones that are hard to predict as they are based on such things as patients enrolled and clinical trial sites. The timing of payments and actual amounts paid under contract manufacturing organization, or CMO, and CRO agreements may be different depending on the timing of receipt of goods or services or changes to agreed-upon terms or amounts for some obligations. Also, those agreements are cancelable upon written notice by the Company and, therefore, not long-term liabilities.

 

License Agreement:

 

In August 2011, the Company entered into an agreement pursuant to which Pfizer agreed to grant it a worldwide license for the development, manufacture and commercialization of PB272 neratinib (oral), PB272 neratinib (intravenous) and PB357, and certain related compounds. The license is exclusive with respect to certain patent rights owned by or licensed to Pfizer. Under the agreement, the Company is obligated to commence a new clinical trial for a product containing one of these compounds within a specified period of time and to use commercially reasonable efforts to complete clinical trials and to achieve certain milestones as provided in a development plan. From the closing date of the agreement through December 31, 2011, Pfizer continued to conduct the existing clinical trials on behalf of the Company at Pfizer’s sole expense. At the Company’s request, Pfizer has agreed to continue to perform certain services in support of the existing clinical trials at the Company’s expense. These services will continue through the completion of the transitioned clinical trials. The license agreement “capped” the out of pocket expense the Company would incur to complete the then existing clinical trials. All agreed upon costs incurred by the Company above the “cost cap” would be reimbursed by Pfizer. The Company exceeded the “cost cap” during the fourth quarter of 2012. In accordance with the license agreement, the Company billed Pfizer for agreed upon costs above the “cost cap” until December 31, 2013.

 

On July 18, 2014, the Company entered into an amendment to the license agreement with Pfizer. The amendment amends the agreement to (1) reduce the royalty rate payable by the Company to Pfizer on sales of licensed products; (2) release Pfizer from its obligation to pay for certain out-of-pocket costs incurred or accrued on or after January 1, 2014 to complete certain ongoing clinical studies; and (3) provide that Pfizer and the Company will continue to cooperate to effect the transfer to the Company of certain records, regulatory filings, materials and inventory controlled by Pfizer as promptly as reasonably practicable.

 

As consideration for the license, the Company is required to make substantial payments upon the achievement of certain milestones totaling approximately $187.5 million if all such milestones are achieved. In connection with the FDA approval of NERLYNX in July of 2017, the Company triggered a one-time milestone payment pursuant to the agreement. In June 2020, the Company entered into a letter agreement, or the Letter Agreement, with Pfizer relating to the method of payment associated with a one-time milestone payment under the license agreement with Pfizer. The Letter Agreement permits the Company to make the milestone payment in installments with the amounts payable to Pfizer (including interest) to be made in November 2020 for approximately $10.4 million and in September 2021 for approximately $21.9 million. Unpaid portions of the milestone payment will accrue interest at 6.25% per annum until paid. The installment payments and accrued interest are included in accrued in-licensed rights on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The Company may trigger additional milestone payments in the future. Should the Company commercialize any more of the compounds licensed from Pfizer or any products containing any of these compounds, the Company will be obligated to pay to Pfizer annual royalties at a fixed rate in the low-to-mid teens of net sales of all such products, subject to certain reductions and offsets in some circumstances. The Company’s royalty obligation continues, on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis, until the later of (1) the last to expire licensed patent covering the applicable licensed product in such country, or (2) the earlier of generic competition for such licensed product reaching a certain level in such country or expiration of a certain time period after first commercial sale of such licensed product in such country. In the event that the Company sublicenses the rights granted to the Company under the license agreement with Pfizer to a third party, the same milestone and royalty payments are required. The Company can terminate the license agreement at will, or for safety concerns, in each case upon specified advance notice.

Legal Proceedings:

 

The Company and certain of its executive officers were named as defendants in the lawsuits detailed below. The Company records a liability in the consolidated financial statements for loss contingencies when a loss is known or considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a known or probable loss is a range, and no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other, the minimum amount of the range is accrued. If a loss is reasonably possible but not known or probable, and can be reasonably estimated, the estimated loss or range of loss is disclosed. When determining the estimated loss or range of loss, significant judgment is required to estimate the amount and timing of a loss to be recorded. Currently, the Company has accrued estimated losses of $9.1 million related to Hsu v. Puma Biotechnology, Inc. and $22.4 million related to Eshelman v. Puma Biotechnology, Inc., et al. as detailed below. For certain legal expenses related to the verdicts listed below, the Company has received reimbursements from its insurers.      

Hsu v. Puma Biotechnology, Inc.

   

On June 3, 2015, Hsingching Hsu, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a class action lawsuit against the Company and certain of its executive officers in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Case No. 8:15-cv-00865-AG-JCG). On October 16, 2015, lead plaintiff Norfolk Pension Fund filed a consolidated complaint on behalf of all persons who purchased the Company’s securities between July 22, 2014 and May 29, 2015. A trial on the claims relating to four statements alleged to have been false or misleading was held from January 15, 2019 to January 29, 2019. At trial, the jury found that three of the four challenged statements were not false or misleading, and thus found in the defendants’ favor on those claims. The jury found liability as to one statement and awarded a maximum of $4.50 per share in damages, which represents approximately 5% of the total claimed damages of $87.20 per share. Trading models suggest that approximately ten million shares traded during the class period may be eligible to claim damages. Based on prior lawsuits, the Company believes that the number of stockholders who submit proof of claims sufficient to recover damages is typically in the range of 20% to 40% of the total eligible shares. Based on these assumptions, total damages after claims could range from $9.0 million to $18.0 million. The total amount of aggregate class-wide damages remains uncertain and will be ascertained only after an extensive claims process and the exhaustion of any appeals and it is reasonably possible that the total damages will be higher than this estimate; however, the amount is not estimable at this time.

 

On September 9, 2019, the Court entered an order specifying the rate of prejudgment interest to be awarded on any valid claims at the 52-week Treasury Bill rate. The Court’s order also established a claims process, which is expected to take about twelve months. A final judgment has not been entered. Based on the final total damages, the Company may owe a success-based legal fee to the Company’s legal counsel in the amount of $3.0 million. As the total damages remains uncertain, no liability has been recorded for the legal fee. The Company recognizes legal fees in connection with a loss contingency as incurred.

 

Eshelman v. Puma Biotechnology, Inc., et al.

In February 2016, Fredric N. Eshelman filed a lawsuit against the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and President, Alan H. Auerbach, and the Company in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (Case No. 7:16-cv-00018-D). The complaint generally alleged that Mr. Auerbach and the Company made defamatory statements regarding Dr. Eshelman in connection with a proxy contest. In May 2016, Dr. Eshelman filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the claims against Mr. Auerbach. A trial on the remaining defamation claims against the Company took place from March 11 to March 15, 2019. At trial, the jury found the Company liable and awarded Dr. Eshelman $15.9 million in compensatory damages and $6.5 million in punitive damages. The Company strongly disagrees with the verdict and, on April 22, 2019, filed a motion for a new trial or, in the alternative, a reduced damages award. The Court denied that motion on March 2, 2020. The Company has appealed that ruling, and the verdict. Additionally, after trial, the plaintiff filed a motion seeking approximately $3 million in attorneys’ fees, as well as prejudgment interest. In the Court’s March 2 ruling, it denied the motion for attorneys’ fees but granted the request for prejudgment interest, bringing the total judgment to $26.3 million. On March 30, 2020, the plaintiff filed a notice of cross-appeal and conditional cross-appeal, appealing the Court’s order denying the plaintiff’s request for attorneys’ fees and conditionally cross-appealing a Court ruling that certain communications between Mr. Auerbach and his attorneys were protected by attorney-client privilege and a related evidentiary ruling. The Company estimates the high end of potential damages in the matter could be approximately $27.2 million; however, the actual amount of damages payable by the Company is still uncertain and will be ascertained only after completion of the appeal and any subsequent proceedings, and such amount could be greater than the amount of expense already recognized or the high end of the estimate. Due to the appeal, the Company secured a bond for the potential damages, which is collateralized by an automatically renewable stand-by letter of credit in the amount of $8.9 million. The stand-by letter of credit is collateralized by a high-yield savings account which is classified as restricted cash, current on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

 

CANbridge Licensing Dispute

On July 28, 2020, the Company filed a request for arbitration against CANbridge before the ICC International Court of Arbitration. The Company is asserting that CANbridge has violated the terms of the Company’s agreement with CANbridge in which it granted CANbridge an exclusive sublicense to develop and commercialize NERLYNX throughout greater China. The Company is seeking an arbitral award that CANbridge breached, or alternatively is in anticipatory breach of, our agreement; that CANbridge’s conduct constitutes grounds for termination of the agreement; that CANbridge has failed to use commercially reasonable efforts to commercialize NERLYNX as required under the agreement; and that CANbridge must obtain the Company’s consent before transferring the agreement to a third party, subject to certain limitations that do not currently apply. The Company is also seeking damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees. The request for arbitration remains pending.