Description of Business, Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Description of Business, Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Note 1. Description of Business, Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (the “Company” or "Arcturus") is a global late-stage clinical messenger RNA medicines company focused on the development of infectious disease vaccines and significant opportunities within liver and respiratory rare diseases. The Company became a clinical stage company during 2020 when it announced that its Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for ornithine transcarbamylase (“OTC”) deficiency and its Clinical Trial Application (“CTA”) for candidate LUNAR-COV19 were approved by applicable health authorities.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Arcturus and its subsidiaries and are unaudited. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. These condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In management’s opinion, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods presented.

Interim financial results are not necessarily indicative of results anticipated for the full year. These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and footnotes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

These condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP, which requires management to make estimates and assumptions regarding the valuation of debt instruments, the equity-method investment, share-based compensation expense, accruals for liabilities, income taxes, revenue and deferred revenue, leases, and other matters that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Although these estimates are based on management’s knowledge of current events and actions the Company may undertake in the future, actual results may ultimately differ from these estimates and assumptions.

Joint Ventures, Equity Method Investments and Variable Interest Entities

Investments for which the Company exercises significant influence, but does not have control are accounted for under the equity method. Equity method investment activity is related to a 49% joint venture with Axcelead, Inc. (see the following paragraph for further details) and an 7% ownership in Vallon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (see “Note 10, Related Party Transactions” for further details). The Company’s share of the investees’ results is presented as either income or loss from equity method investees in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.

In April 2021, Arcturus and Axcelead, Inc., a company existing under the laws of Japan (“Axcelead”), formed a joint venture entity, named Arcalis, Inc. (“JV Entity”), which operates as a corporation under the laws of Japan. Axcelead is an integrated drug discovery solutions provider to the pharmaceutical industry in Japan. On July 1, 2017, Axcelead became the successor to a portion of the drug discovery research department of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. The goal of the JV Entity is to be a contract development and manufacturing organization focused on mRNA manufacturing that would provide manufacturing services to the Company and also to third parties. The joint venture includes a shareholders agreement which sets forth initial funding of the JV Entity and rights of the JV Entity shareholders, including certain approval rights of Arcturus. As part of the joint venture, the Company entered into a License and Technology Transfer Agreement with the JV Entity, pursuant to which Arcturus grants to JV Entity a nonexclusive license to certain intellectual property for use at the JV Entity’s facilities, and obligates Arcturus to conduct certain technology transfer activities.

The Company consolidates variable interest entities (“VIEs”) where it has been determined that the Company is the primary beneficiary of those entities’ operations. Management believes that power is shared between Arcturus and Axcelead, as unrelated parties. The consent of each of the parties is substantive and is required to make the decisions about the JV Entity’s significant activities. Management does not believe that Arcturus has the power to direct the activities of the JV Entity that most significantly impact the JV Entity’s economic performance. Therefore, the Company concluded it is not required to consolidate the JV Entity under the VIE model.

The equity method of accounting is applicable for the JV Entity as the Company does not own more than 50% of voting power, but has influence over the operation and financial policies of the investee. The Company accounts for its investment in the JV Entity using the equity method of accounting as specified in Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 323, Investments — Equity Method and Joint Ventures. Under ASC 323, equity method investments are recorded initially at cost. The Company’s initial investment in the JV Entity totaled $9.2 million. However, the JV Entity paid back the Company's initial investment of $9.2 million as an upfront fee/consideration for the License and Technology Transfer Agreement. In substance, there was no cash consideration paid by the Company for its 49% equity interest in the JV Entity.

Liquidity

The Company has incurred significant operating losses since its inception. As of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $455.5 million and $347.5 million, respectively.

The Company’s activities since inception have consisted principally of research and development activities, general and administrative activities, and raising capital. The Company’s activities are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including failing to secure additional funding before the Company achieves sustainable revenues and profit from operations. From the Company’s inception through September 30, 2022, the Company has funded its operations principally with the proceeds from the sale of capital stock, revenues earned through collaboration agreements and proceeds from long-term debt.

At September 30, 2022, the Company’s balance of cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, was $239.8 million.

Management believes that it has sufficient working capital on hand to fund operations through at least the next twelve months from the date these condensed consolidated financial statements were available to be issued. There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in securing additional funding, that the Company’s projections of its future working capital needs will prove accurate, or that any additional funding would be sufficient to continue operations in future years.

Segment Information

In making decisions regarding resource allocation and assessing performance, the chief operating decision-maker identifies operating segments as components of an enterprise for which separate discrete financial information is available for evaluation. The Company and its chief operating decision-maker view the Company’s operations and manage its business in one operating segment, which is the research and development of medical applications for the Company’s nucleic acid-focused technology.

Revenue Recognition

The Company determines revenue recognition for arrangements within the scope of Topic 606 by performing the following five steps: (i) identify the contract; (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract; (iii) determine the transaction price; (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (v) recognize revenue when, or as, the Company satisfies a performance obligation.

The terms of the Company’s revenue agreements include license fees, upfront payments, milestone payments, reimbursement for research and development activities, option exercise fees, transfer of drug substance, consulting and related technology transfer fees and royalties on sales of commercialized products. Arrangements that include upfront payments are recorded as deferred revenue upon receipt or when due and may require deferral of revenue recognition to a future period until the Company performs obligations under these arrangements. The event-based milestone payments represent variable consideration, and the Company uses the most likely amount method to estimate this variable consideration because the Company will either receive the milestone payment or will not, which makes the potential milestone payment a binary event. The most likely amount method requires the Company to determine the likelihood of earning the milestone payment. Given the high degree of uncertainty around achievement of these milestones, the Company determines the milestone amounts to be fully constrained and does not recognize revenue until the uncertainty associated with these payments is resolved. The Company will recognize revenue from sales-based royalty payments when or as the sales occur. The Company will re-evaluate the transaction price in each reporting period as uncertain events are resolved and other changes in circumstances occur.

A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the collaborative partner and is the unit of account in Topic 606. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation based on relative standalone selling price and recognized as revenue when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied.

Leases

See “Note 9, Commitments and Contingencies” for specific details surrounding the Company’s leases.

Research and Development, Net

All research and development costs are expensed as incurred. Research and development costs consist primarily of salaries, share-based compensation, employee benefits, costs associated with preclinical studies and clinical trials (including amounts paid to clinical research organizations and other professional services), in process research and development expenses and license agreement expenses, net of any grants, and prelaunch inventory. Payments made prior to the receipt of goods or services to be used in research and development are capitalized until the goods or services are received.

The Company records accruals for estimated research and development costs, comprising payments for work performed by third party contractors, laboratories, participating clinical trial sites, and others. Some of these contractors bill monthly based on actual services performed, while others bill periodically based upon achieving certain contractual milestones. For the latter, the Company accrues the expenses as goods or services are used or rendered. Clinical trial site costs related to patient enrollment are accrued as patients enter and progress through the trial.

Pre-Launch Inventory

Prior to obtaining initial regulatory approval for an investigational product candidate, the Company expenses costs relating to production of inventory as research and development expense in its condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, in the period incurred. When the Company believes regulatory approval and subsequent commercialization of an investigational product candidate is probable, and the Company also expects future economic benefit from the sales of the investigational product candidate to be realized, it will then capitalize the costs of production as inventory.

Statement of Cash Flows

The following table provides a reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash reported within the condensed consolidated balance sheet to the total of the same such amounts shown in the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows:


(in thousands)	September 30, 2022		September 30, 2021
Cash and cash equivalents	$	237,676	$	413,880
Non-current restricted cash		2,081		2,074
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash shown in the statement of cash flows	$	239,757	$	415,954

Net Loss per Share

Basic net loss per share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding for the period, without consideration for common stock equivalents. Diluted net loss per share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock and dilutive common stock equivalents outstanding for the period determined using the treasury-stock method.

No dividends were declared or paid during the reported periods.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted

From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the FASB or other standard setting bodies and adopted by the Company as of the specified effective date. Unless otherwise discussed, the Company believes that the impact of recently issued standards that are not yet effective will not have a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements and disclosures.