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Asset Purchase and License Agreements
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Asset Purchase and License Agreements  
Asset Purchase and License Agreements

9. Asset Purchase and License Agreements

In May 2019, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement with the previous sponsor, pursuant to which it acquired all rights and interest to patents, know-how, and inventory for assets related to seribantumab, a fully humanized immunoglobulin G2 monoclonal antibody against HER3.

Pursuant to the asset purchase agreement, the Company made an upfront, non-refundable payment of $3.5 million at closing. If the Company succeeds in developing and commercializing seribantumab, the Company may be obligated to pay the previous sponsor up to $54.5 million in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments.

Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, the Company assumed the rights and obligations of the following collaboration and license agreements previously held by the previous sponsor:

Dyax—The Company assumed all rights and obligations provided for under the amended and restated collaboration agreement executed between Dyax Corp. (“Dyax”) and the previous sponsor (the “Dyax Agreement”). Pursuant to the Dyax Agreement, Dyax utilized its proprietary phage technology to identify antibodies that would bind to targets of interest to the previous sponsor. Additionally, Dyax granted to the previous sponsor a world-wide, non-exclusive, royalty free right to use and make any and all of the antibodies identified by Dyax for certain research purposes. Seribantumab was identified as a result of the research activities performed under the Dyax Agreement.

Pursuant to the terms of the Dyax Agreement, the Company may be obligated to pay Dyax milestone payments of up to approximately $9.3 million if certain development and regulatory milestones are achieved. In addition, Dyax is entitled to mid-single digit royalties based on net sales of seribantumab. The Company’s obligation to pay royalties to Dyax continues on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis until the later of a specified number of years after the first commercial sale in such country and the expiration of the patent rights covering seribantumab in such country.

The Dyax Agreement will remain in effect, unless earlier terminated, for so long as the Company continues to develop or commercialize seribantumab. Either party may terminate the agreement in the event of an uncured material breach by the other party. The Company also has the right to terminate the agreement in its entirety or on a product-by-product basis at any time upon 90 days’ prior written notice.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals—The Company assumed all rights and obligations provided for under the amended commercial license agreement executed between Selexis SA (“Selexis”) and the previous sponsor (the “Selexis Agreement”). Pursuant to the Selexis Agreement, the Company received non-exclusive rights to technology for use in the manufacture of seribantumab and may be required to make milestone payments of up to approximately €900, per licensed product, if certain development and regulatory milestones are achieved. Additionally, Selexis may have the right to obtain a royalty of the greater of €0.2 million annually and less than one percent on net sales of seribantumab. The obligation to pay royalties with respect to each product sold in a country continues until the expiration of the patent rights covering the product in such country. Either party may terminate the agreement in the event of an uncured material breach by the other party. The Company also has the right to terminate the agreement at any time upon 60 days’ prior written notice. In November of 2021, the Selexis agreement was assigned to Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated.
National Institute of Health—The Company assumed all rights and obligations provided for under the amended commercial license agreement executed between the U.S. Public Health Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the “NIH”) and the previous sponsor (the “NIH Agreement”). Pursuant to the NIH Agreement, the Company received non-exclusive rights in the United States to patents related to certain antibodies associated with seribantumab. If certain development and regulatory milestones are achieved, the Company may be obligated to pay NIH additional milestone payments of up to approximately $0.4 million per licensed product.

The Company evaluated the asset purchase agreement with the previous sponsor under ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations, and concluded that the transaction did not meet the requirements to be accounted for as a business combination and therefore was accounted for as an asset acquisition. Accordingly, the upfront payment of $3.5 million was expensed as research and development expenses in the statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019. Additionally, the Company concluded that all consideration to be paid under the asset purchase agreement is contingent in nature and will be recognized when the respective contingency is resolved. The Company assessed the contingent events which would result in the payment of a milestone as of June 30, 2022 and 2021, and concluded no such payments were required.

Other Research Arrangements

In June 2021, the Company entered into a collaboration agreement with Caris (the “Caris Agreement”). Under the terms of the Caris Agreement, Caris will identify targets for the collaboration and provide those targets to the Company at regular intervals for review and approval. Once a target is selected by the collaboration’s joint steering committee, the collaboration will retain access to the selected targets.

The financial terms surrounding development and commercialization of each product candidate identified for the collaboration and included in the Caris Agreement vary based on the level of participation elected by each party in the development and commercialization efforts following identification of a target. There are no upfront or milestone payments or royalties due to either party under the collaboration. With respect to proceeds from any potential commercial transaction related to a product resulting from the collaboration, Caris will be entitled to a tiered initial percentage ranging from the mid-single digits to low teens based on the product candidate’s potential peak sales revenue with the remaining proceeds allocated based on each party’s pro rata share of expenses incurred in development of the product. In the case of an out-licensing transaction of an asset instead of a sale, Caris and the Company will split all consideration received in the transaction in a similar manner. The Caris Agreement provides flexibility for Caris and the Company to jointly develop and commercialize, or for either the Company or Caris to incur development and commercialization expenses. The ultimate percentage of proceeds payable to the Company and Caris will depend on the level of development and commercialization participation elected by each party.

The Company will own the intellectual property rights to the therapeutics developed under the collaboration, and Caris will own the intellectual property rights to the diagnostics developed under the collaboration.

Either party may terminate the Caris Agreement for uncured material breach by the other party or in the case of the other party’s insolvency. The term of the Caris Agreement is three years, automatically renewing for one-year terms. Either party may terminate the agreement at the end of a term by written notice to the other, subject to the continuation of exclusivity with respect to any target selected by the Joint Steering Committee, so long as commercially reasonable efforts are used to discover, identify, develop and/or commercialize a therapeutic related to such target.