Leases, Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Leases, Commitments and Contingencies

5. Leases, Commitments and Contingencies

Operating Leases

The Company has leases for office space and certain equipment. All of the leases recorded on the condensed consolidated balance sheets are operating leases. The Company’s leases have remaining lease terms ranging from less than one year to approximately four years.  Some of the leases include options to extend the leases for up to five years. These options were not included for the purpose of determining the right-of-use assets and associated lease liabilities as the Company determined that the renewal of these leases is not reasonably certain so only the original lease term was taken into consideration. The leases do not include any restrictions or covenants that had to be accounted for under the lease guidance.

As of January 1, 2020, the Company leased office space in three multi-tenant buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, consisting of 63,017 square feet in the first building under an operating lease that will expire on August 31, 2024, 40,419 square feet in the second building under an operating lease that will expire on August 31, 2024 and 15,975 square feet in the third building under an operating lease that was to expire on February 29, 2024; and in a multi-tenant building in Raleigh, North Carolina, consisting of 15,525 square feet under an operating lease that will expire on November 30, 2024.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, the Company terminated the operating lease for office space in the third building in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

From June 2018 to January 2019, the Company entered into leases for vehicles for field-based employees.  These leases were determined to be operating leases and a right-of-use operating asset in the amount of $5.3 million was recorded on the balance sheet upon implementation of the new lease standard on January 1, 2019. The leases were for a term of three years and were to expire on various dates through January 31, 2022.  During the three months ended June 30, 2020, these leases were terminated as part of the April 2020 restructuring, and the remaining asset of $2.3 million and the liabilities related to these leases were de-recognized upon termination of the leases. During the three months ended December 31, 2020, the restricted cash of $0.7 million related to these leases was returned to the Company by the lessor.

License Agreements

CyDex License Agreement

In September 2015, the Company and CyDex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“CyDex”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., amended and restated their existing commercial license agreement. Under the terms of the commercial license agreement as amended and restated, CyDex has granted to the Company an exclusive license to CyDex’s Captisol drug formulation technology and related intellectual property for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products incorporating brexanolone and the Company’s compound known as SAGE-689, and the development and commercialization of the resulting products in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of any disease or symptom in humans or animals other than (i) the ocular treatment of any disease or condition with a formulation, including a hormone; (ii) topical ocular treatment of inflammatory conditions; (iii) treatment and prophylaxis of fungal infections in humans; and (iv) any ocular treatment for retinal degeneration. The Company is required to pay a royalty to CyDex on sales of brexanolone and will be required to pay a royalty on sales of SAGE-689, if such product candidate is successfully developed in the future.  Royalty rates are in the low single digits based on levels of net sales. As of March 31, 2021, the Company has paid to CyDex $1.0 million for licensing fees, which was recorded as research and development expense.

Under the amended and restated license agreement with CyDex, the Company agreed to make milestone payments on the achievement of clinical development and regulatory milestones in the amount of up to $0.8 million in clinical milestones and up to $3.8 million in regulatory milestones for each of the first two fields with respect to brexanolone; up to $1.3 million in clinical milestones and up to $8.5 million in regulatory milestones for each of the third and fourth fields with respect to brexanolone; and up to $0.8 million in clinical milestones and up to $1.8 million in regulatory milestones for one field with respect to SAGE-689. As of March 31, 2021, the Company has recorded research and development expense and made cash payments of $3.6 million related to these clinical development and regulatory milestones and has recorded an intangible asset and made a cash payment of $3.0 million related to these regulatory milestones.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not record any expense or intangible asset, or make any milestone payments related to clinical development or regulatory milestones for the brexanolone program or SAGE-689 under the license agreement with CyDex.

As of March 31, 2021, the Company has made no milestone payments related to clinical development or regulatory milestones for SAGE-689 under the license agreement with CyDex.

University of California License Agreements

In October 2013, the Company entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with the Regents of the University of California (“the Regents”) under which the Company was granted a non-exclusive license to certain clinical data and clinical material related to brexanolone for use in the development and commercialization of biopharmaceutical products in the licensed field, including status epilepticus and postpartum depression. In May 2014, the license agreement was amended to add the treatment of essential tremor to the licensed field of use, materials and milestone fee provisions of the agreement. The Company paid to the Regents clinical development milestones of $0.1 million, prior to December 31, 2015; no other milestones are outstanding under this non-exclusive license agreement. The Company is required to pay royalties of less than 1% on net sales for a period of fifteen years following the sale of the first product developed using the data and materials. The license will terminate on the earlier to occur of (i) 27 years after the effective date or (ii) 15 years after the last-derived product is first commercially sold.

In June 2015, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with the Regents whereby the Company was granted an exclusive license to certain patent rights related to the use of allopregnanolone to treat various diseases. In exchange for such license, the Company paid an upfront payment of $50,000 and will make payments of $15,000 for annual maintenance fees until the calendar year following the first sale, if any, of a licensed product. The Company is obligated to make milestone payments following the achievement of specified regulatory and sales milestones of up to $0.7 million and $2.0 million in the aggregate, respectively. The Company pays royalties at a low single digit percentage of net sales of ZULRESSO, subject to specified minimum annual royalty amounts. Unless terminated by operation of law or by acts of the parties under the terms of the agreement, the license agreement will terminate when the last-to-expire patents or last-to-be abandoned patent applications expire, whichever is later.  As of March 31, 2021, the Company has recorded research and development expense and made cash payments of $0.3 million related to these regulatory and sales milestones; and has recorded an intangible asset and made a cash payment of $0.5 million related to these regulatory and sales milestones.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not record any expense or make any milestone payments under the license agreements with the Regents.

Washington University License Agreement

In November 2013, the Company entered into a license agreement with Washington University whereby the Company was granted an exclusive, worldwide license under certain patent and other intellectual property rights related to SAGE-689. In exchange for these rights, the Company paid an upfront, non-refundable payment of $50,000 and is required to pay an annual license maintenance fee of $15,000 on each subsequent anniversary date until the first Phase 2 clinical trial for a licensed product is initiated. The Company is obligated to make milestone payments to Washington University based on achievement of clinical development and regulatory milestones of up to $0.7 million and $0.5 million, respectively. Additionally, the Company fulfilled its obligation to issue to Washington University 47,619 shares of common stock on December 13, 2013. The fair value of these shares of $0.1 million was recorded as research and development expense in 2013. As of March 31, 2021, the Company has recorded research and development expense and made a cash payment of $50,000 related to these clinical development milestones.

The Company is obligated to pay royalties to Washington University at rates in the low single digits on net sales of licensed products covered under patent rights and royalties at rates in the low single digits on net sales of licensed products not covered under patent rights. Additionally, the Company has the right to sublicense and is required to make payments at varying percentages of sublicensing revenue received, initially in the mid-teens and descending to the mid-single digits over time.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not record any expense or make any milestone payments under the license agreement with Washington University.