Research, Collaboration, Grant and License Agreements	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Research Collaboration And License Agreements [Abstract]
Research, Collaboration, Grant and License Agreements	Note 5—Research, Collaboration, Grant and License Agreements UT Southwestern Agreement On November 19, 2019, the Company entered into a research, collaboration and license agreement (“UT Southwestern Agreement”) with the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System (“UT System”) on behalf of The University of Southwestern Medical Center (“UT Southwestern”). Under the UT Southwestern Agreement, UT Southwestern is primarily responsible for preclinical development activities with respect to licensed products for use in certain specified indications (up to IND-enabling studies), and the Company is responsible for all subsequent clinical development and commercialization activities with respect to the licensed products. UT Southwestern will conduct such preclinical activities for a two-year period under mutually agreed upon sponsored research agreements that were entered into beginning in April 2020. During the initial research phase, the Company has the right to expand the scope of specified indications under the UT Southwestern Agreement. In connection with the UT Southwestern Agreement, the Company obtained an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under certain patent rights of UT Southwestern and a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under certain know-how of UT Southwestern, in each case to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale and import licensed products for use in certain specified indications. Additionally, the Company obtained a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under certain patents and know-how of UT Southwestern for use in all human uses, with a right of first refusal to obtain an exclusive license under certain of such patent rights and an option to negotiate an exclusive license under other of such patent rights. The Company is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and commercialize at least one licensed product. On April 2, 2020, the Company amended the UT Southwestern Agreement to include the addition of another licensed product and certain indications, and a right of first refusal to the Company over certain patient dosing patents. No additional consideration was transferred in connection with this amendment. The UT Southwestern Agreement expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the expiration of the last valid claim of a licensed patent in such country for such licensed product. After the initial research term, the Company may terminate the agreement, on an indication-by-indication and licensed product-by-licensed product basis, at any time upon specified written notice to UT Southwestern. Either party may terminate the agreement upon an uncured material breach of the agreement or insolvency of the other party. In November 2019, as partial consideration for the license rights granted under the UT Southwestern Agreement, the Company issued 2,179,000 shares of its common stock, or 20% of its then outstanding fully-diluted common stock, to UT Southwestern. As additional consideration, UT Southwestern was entitled to receive additional shares if their holdings fell below 10% on a fully-diluted basis before or as a result of the completion of a qualified financing. In March 2020, following the initial closing of the Series A convertible preferred stock agreement, which met the definition of such qualified financing, the anti-dilution feature expired and no additional shares were issued. The Company does not have any future milestone or royalty obligations to UT Southwestern under the UT Southwestern Agreement other than costs related to maintenance of patents. The Company also had the right of first refusal for any shares that UT Southwestern wishes to sell that officially expired upon the closing of the IPO. UT Southwestern did not sell any shares before the closing of the IPO. The fair value of the shares issued was determined to be $980,000 which was recorded as an increase to common stock and additional paid-in capital and a corresponding research and development expense during the period from Inception through December 31, 2019. The cost to acquire this license is recorded within research and development expense in the consolidated statements of operations because the license relates to specific preclinical research and development activities that do not have an alternative future use. As the acquisition of the license was settled through the issuance of shares of the Company’s common stock, this transaction fell within the scope of ASC Topic 718 since equity was issued in exchange for goods (the license). Specifically, the Company recorded the cost of the license as a non-employee share based payment, measured at the grant date fair value of the common stock of $0.45 per share. The common shares were equity-classified. The anti-dilution provision was concluded to represent a performance condition tied to a future liquidity event, which was not considered probable of occurring at December 31, 2019 since it was deemed outside of the Company’s control. Since there was an absence of a public trading market for the Company’s common stock during the period from Inception to December 31, 2019, the valuation of the common stock issued to UT System was performed using methodologies, approaches, and assumptions consistent with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Audit and Accounting Practice Aid Series: Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. The estimated fair value of the Company’s common stock was determined with the assistance of a third-party specialist using an Option-Pricing Method (“OPM”). Under the OPM, the Company used a backsolve method so that the enterprise value equaled the contemplated value of the Company determined by the Series A convertible preferred stock financing transaction which initially closed on March 4, 2020 (see Note 7), and giving consideration to any value-generating events that may have occurred between March 4, 2020 and the date the common shares were issued to UT System on November 19, 2019. A discount for lack of marketability (“DLOM”) of 20% was applied to derive the valuation price. The DLOM used was derived from the then-current estimates of the time to a liquidity event made by the Company’s board of directors, with input from the Company’s senior management. The estimates are based, in part, on subjective assumptions. Queen’s Agreement In late December 2019, the Company entered into a research grant agreement (“RGA”) with Queen’s University at Kingston (“Queen’s”), for certain research and development activities related to the generation of AAV9 vector. The Company committed to fund $3.8 million under the RGA with Queen’s. The Company agreed to issue Queen’s a promise-to-pay note whereby any amounts paid directly by Queen’s for the manufacture of the vector for use in the funded research activities, to the extent such amounts have not already been funded by the Company to Queen’s, become a loan obligation for the Company (the “Note”), subject to an interest rate of 6%. Any amounts outstanding under the Note were required to be repaid, along with any accrued interest, by or before June 30, 2020. In the event of default, any amount outstanding shall be deemed immediately payable by RA Session II, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, as a personal guarantor (see Note 6). For the period from Inception through December 31, 2019, the Company did not incur any expenses associated with the Queen’s RGA, and no amounts were due or outstanding under the Note as of December 31, 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company paid all expenses associated with the Queen’s RGA, thus no amounts were due or outstanding under the Note as of December 31, 2020, and the promise-to-pay has therefore expired. On February 21, 2020, the Company entered into a license agreement with Queen’s (the “Queen’s Agreement”) to obtain the exclusive perpetual, royalty-bearing license, with the right to sublicense through multiple tiers, under certain patent rights and know-how of Queen’s, including certain improvements to such patent rights and know-how, to develop products in any field which use one or more valid claims of the patents licensed under the Queen’s Agreement (the “Licensed Patents”), or the technology, information and intellectual property related to the patents licensed under the Queen’s Agreement (together with the Licensed Patents, the “Licensed Products”), and to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale, import and export Licensed Products and otherwise exploit such patents and know-how for use in certain specified indications. In exchange for the rights granted to the Company, the Company made a cash payment of $3.0 million in April 2020 which is recorded in research and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and included as an investing outflow in the consolidated statements of cash flows since the acquired license does not have an alternative future use. The Company is obligated to make aggregate cash payments of up to $10.0 million upon the completion of a combination of regulatory milestones and up to $10.0 million upon the completion of a combination of commercial milestones. In further consideration of the rights granted, beginning with the Company’s first commercial sale of the Licensed Products, the Company will also pay an annual earned royalty in the low single digits on net sales of Licensed Products, subject to certain customary reductions, and a percentage of non-royalty sublicensing revenue ranging in the low double digits. Royalties are payable, on a Licensed Products-by-Licensed Products and a country-by-country basis, until expiration of the last valid claim of a Licensed Patent covering such Licensed Products in such country and the expiration of any regulatory exclusivity for such Licensed Products in such country. Abeona CLN1 Agreements In August 2020, the Company entered into license and inventory purchase agreements with Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (“Abeona”) for worldwide exclusive rights to certain intellectual property rights and know-how relating to the research, development and manufacture of ABO-202, an AAV-based gene therapy for CLN1 disease (one of the forms of Batten disease). Under the terms of the agreements, the Company made initial cash payments to Abeona of $3.0 million for the upfront license fee and $4.0 million for purchase of clinical materials and reimbursement for previously incurred development costs in October 2020. In exchange for the license rights, the Company recorded an aggregate of $7.0 million within research and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and included the license fee of $3.0 million as an investing outflow in the consolidated statements of cash flows since the acquired license does not have an alternative future use. The Company is obligated to make up to $26.0 million in regulatory-related milestones and up to $30.0 million in sales-related milestones per licensed CLN1 product. The Company will also pay an annual earned royalty in the high single digits on net sales of any licensed CLN1 products. The license agreement expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the expiration of the last royalty term of a licensed product. Either party may terminate the agreement upon an uncured material breach of the agreement or insolvency of the other party. The Company may terminate the license agreement for convenience upon specified prior written notice to Abeona. Abeona Rett Agreement On October 29, 2020, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “Abeona Rett Agreement”) with Abeona pursuant to which the Company obtained an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license, with the right to grant sublicenses under certain patents, know-how and materials originally developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Edinburgh and Abeona to research, develop, manufacture, have manufactured, use, and commercialize licensed products for gene therapy and the use of related transgenes for Rett syndrome. Subject to certain obligations of Abeona, the Company is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop at least one licensed product and commercialize at least one licensed product in the United States. In connection with the Abeona Rett Agreement, the Company paid Abeona a one-time upfront license fee of $3.0 million which is recorded in research and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and included as an investing outflow in the consolidated statements of cash flows since the acquired license does not have an alternative future use. The Company is obligated to pay Abeona up to $26.5 million in regulatory-related milestones and up to $30.0 million in sales-related milestones per licensed Rett product and high single-digit royalties on net sales of licensed Rett products. Royalties are payable on a licensed product-by-licensed product and country-by-country basis until the latest of the expiration or revocation or complete rejection of the last licensed patent covering such licensed product in the country where the licensed product is sold, the loss of market exclusivity in such country where the product is sold, or, if no licensed product exists in such country and no market exclusivity exists in such country, ten years from first commercial sale of such licensed product in such country. The Abeona Rett Agreement expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the expiration of the last royalty term of a licensed product. Either party may terminate the agreement upon an uncured material breach of the agreement or insolvency of the other party. The Company may terminate the agreement for convenience upon specified prior written notice to Abeona. Catalent Agreements During October and November 2020, the Company entered into two agreements (the “Catalent Agreements”) with Catalent Maryland, Inc. (“Catalent”) to support the development and manufacturing of the Company’s gene therapies for CLN1 and Rett syndrome at Catalent’s Maryland-based gene therapy facilities. The Company engaged Catalent, which is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), to conduct services related to technology transfer, process development, analytical development, qualification, project administration and manufacture of CLN1 and Rett syndrome gene therapies suitable for use in nonclinical, United States and European Union Phase 1/2 clinical trials. In connection with the Catalent Agreements, the Company paid Catalent an upfront project initiation fee of $2.0 million which is recorded as a prepaid expense in the consolidated balance sheets. The fee will be credited toward fees and expenses incurred under the Catalent Agreements. The Company therefore reduces the prepaid expense concurrently with expenses as they are incurred.

Research, Collaboration, Grant and License Agreements

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Research Collaboration And License Agreements [Abstract]

Research, Collaboration, Grant and License Agreements

Note 5—Research, Collaboration, Grant and License Agreements

UT Southwestern Agreement

On November 19, 2019, the Company entered into a research, collaboration and license agreement (“UT Southwestern Agreement”) with the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System (“UT System”) on behalf of The University of Southwestern Medical Center (“UT Southwestern”). Under the UT Southwestern Agreement, UT Southwestern is primarily responsible for preclinical development activities with respect to licensed products for use in certain specified indications (up to IND-enabling studies), and the Company is responsible for all subsequent clinical development and commercialization activities with respect to the licensed products. UT Southwestern will conduct such preclinical activities for a two-year period under mutually agreed upon sponsored research agreements that were entered into beginning in April 2020. During the initial research phase, the Company has the right to expand the scope of specified indications under the UT Southwestern Agreement.

In connection with the UT Southwestern Agreement, the Company obtained an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under certain patent rights of UT Southwestern and a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under certain know-how of UT Southwestern, in each case to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale and import licensed products for use in certain specified indications. Additionally, the Company obtained a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under certain patents and know-how of UT Southwestern for use in all human uses, with a right of first refusal to obtain an exclusive license under certain of such patent rights and an option to negotiate an exclusive license under other of such patent rights. The Company is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and commercialize at least one licensed product.

On April 2, 2020, the Company amended the UT Southwestern Agreement to include the addition of another licensed product and certain indications, and a right of first refusal to the Company over certain patient dosing patents. No additional consideration was transferred in connection with this amendment.

The UT Southwestern Agreement expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the expiration of the last valid claim of a licensed patent in such country for such licensed product. After the initial research term, the Company may terminate the agreement, on an indication-by-indication and licensed product-by-licensed product basis, at any time upon specified written notice to UT Southwestern. Either party may terminate the agreement upon an uncured material breach of the agreement or insolvency of the other party.

In November 2019, as partial consideration for the license rights granted under the UT Southwestern Agreement, the Company issued 2,179,000 shares of its common stock, or 20% of its then outstanding fully-diluted common stock, to UT Southwestern. As additional consideration, UT Southwestern was entitled to receive additional shares if their holdings fell below 10% on a fully-diluted basis before or as a result of the completion of a qualified financing. In March 2020, following the initial closing of the Series A convertible preferred stock agreement, which met the definition of such qualified financing, the anti-dilution feature expired and no additional shares were issued. The Company does not have any future milestone or royalty obligations to UT Southwestern under the UT Southwestern Agreement other than costs related to maintenance of patents.

The Company also had the right of first refusal for any shares that UT Southwestern wishes to sell that officially expired upon the closing of the IPO. UT Southwestern did not sell any shares before the closing of the IPO.

The fair value of the shares issued was determined to be $980,000 which was recorded as an increase to common stock and additional paid-in capital and a corresponding research and development expense during the period from Inception through December 31, 2019. The cost to acquire this license is recorded within research and development expense in the consolidated statements of operations because the license relates to specific preclinical research and development activities that do not have an alternative future use. As the acquisition of the license was settled through the issuance of shares of the Company’s common stock, this transaction fell within the scope of ASC Topic 718 since equity was issued in exchange for goods (the license). Specifically, the Company recorded the cost of the license as a non-employee share based payment, measured at the grant date fair value of the common stock of $0.45 per share. The common shares were equity-classified. The anti-dilution provision was concluded to represent a performance condition tied to a future liquidity event, which was not considered probable of occurring at December 31, 2019 since it was deemed outside of the Company’s control.

Since there was an absence of a public trading market for the Company’s common stock during the period from Inception to December 31, 2019, the valuation of the common stock issued to UT System was performed using methodologies, approaches, and assumptions consistent with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Audit and Accounting Practice Aid Series: Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. The estimated fair value of the Company’s common stock was determined with the assistance of a third-party specialist using an Option-Pricing Method (“OPM”). Under the OPM, the Company used a backsolve method so that the enterprise value equaled the contemplated value of the Company determined by the Series A convertible preferred stock financing transaction which initially closed on March 4, 2020 (see Note 7), and giving consideration to any value-generating events that may have occurred between March 4, 2020 and the date the common shares were issued to UT System on November 19, 2019. A discount for lack of marketability (“DLOM”) of 20% was applied to derive the valuation price. The DLOM used was derived from the then-current estimates of the time to a liquidity event made by the Company’s board of directors, with input from the Company’s senior management. The estimates are based, in part, on subjective assumptions.

Queen’s Agreement

In late December 2019, the Company entered into a research grant agreement (“RGA”) with Queen’s University at Kingston (“Queen’s”), for certain research and development activities related to the generation of AAV9 vector. The Company committed to fund $3.8 million under the RGA with Queen’s. The Company agreed to issue Queen’s a promise-to-pay note whereby any amounts paid directly by Queen’s for the manufacture of the vector for use in the funded research activities, to the extent such amounts have not already been funded by the Company to Queen’s, become a loan obligation for the Company (the “Note”), subject to an interest rate of 6%. Any amounts outstanding under the Note were required to be repaid, along with any accrued interest, by or before June 30, 2020. In the event of default, any amount outstanding shall be deemed immediately payable by RA Session II, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, as a personal guarantor (see Note 6). For the period from Inception through December 31, 2019, the Company did not incur any expenses associated with the Queen’s RGA, and no amounts were due or outstanding under the Note as of December 31, 2019. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company paid all expenses associated with the Queen’s RGA, thus no amounts were due or outstanding under the Note as of December 31, 2020, and the promise-to-pay has therefore expired.

On February 21, 2020, the Company entered into a license agreement with Queen’s (the “Queen’s Agreement”) to obtain the exclusive perpetual, royalty-bearing license, with the right to sublicense through multiple tiers, under certain patent rights and know-how of Queen’s, including certain improvements to such patent rights and know-how, to develop products in any field which use one or more valid claims of the patents licensed under the Queen’s Agreement (the “Licensed Patents”), or the technology, information and intellectual property related to the patents licensed under the Queen’s Agreement (together with the Licensed Patents, the “Licensed Products”), and to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale, import and export Licensed Products and otherwise exploit such patents and know-how for use in certain specified indications. In exchange for the rights granted to the Company, the Company made a cash payment of $3.0 million in April 2020 which is recorded in research and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and included as an investing outflow in the consolidated statements of cash flows since the acquired license does not have an alternative future use. The Company is obligated to make aggregate cash payments of up to $10.0 million upon the completion of a combination of regulatory milestones and up to $10.0 million upon the completion of a combination of commercial milestones. In further consideration of the rights granted, beginning with the Company’s first commercial sale of the Licensed Products, the Company will also pay an annual earned royalty in the low single digits on net sales of Licensed Products, subject to certain customary reductions, and a percentage of non-royalty sublicensing revenue ranging in the low double digits. Royalties are payable, on a Licensed Products-by-Licensed Products and a country-by-country basis, until expiration of the last valid claim of a Licensed Patent covering such Licensed Products in such country and the expiration of any regulatory exclusivity for such Licensed Products in such country.

Abeona CLN1 Agreements

In August 2020, the Company entered into license and inventory purchase agreements with Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (“Abeona”) for worldwide exclusive rights to certain intellectual property rights and know-how relating to the research, development and manufacture of ABO-202, an AAV-based gene therapy for CLN1 disease (one of the forms of Batten disease). Under the terms of the agreements, the Company made initial cash payments to Abeona of $3.0 million for the upfront license fee and $4.0 million for purchase of clinical materials and reimbursement for previously incurred development costs in October 2020. In exchange for the license rights, the Company recorded an aggregate of $7.0 million within research and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and included the license fee of $3.0 million as an investing outflow in the consolidated statements of cash flows since the acquired license does not have an alternative future use. The Company is obligated to make up to $26.0 million in regulatory-related milestones and up to $30.0 million in sales-related milestones per licensed CLN1 product. The Company will also pay an annual earned royalty in the high single digits on net sales of any licensed CLN1 products. The license agreement expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the expiration of the last royalty term of a licensed product. Either party may terminate the agreement upon an uncured material breach of the agreement or insolvency of the other party. The Company may terminate the license agreement for convenience upon specified prior written notice to Abeona.

Abeona Rett Agreement

On October 29, 2020, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “Abeona Rett Agreement”) with Abeona pursuant to which the Company obtained an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license, with the right to grant sublicenses under certain patents, know-how and materials originally developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Edinburgh and Abeona to research, develop, manufacture, have manufactured, use, and commercialize licensed products for gene therapy and the use of related transgenes for Rett syndrome.

Subject to certain obligations of Abeona, the Company is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop at least one licensed product and commercialize at least one licensed product in the United States.

In connection with the Abeona Rett Agreement, the Company paid Abeona a one-time upfront license fee of $3.0 million which is recorded in research and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and included as an investing outflow in the consolidated statements of cash flows since the acquired license does not have an alternative future use. The Company is obligated to pay Abeona up to $26.5 million in regulatory-related milestones and up to $30.0 million in sales-related milestones per licensed Rett product and high single-digit royalties on net sales of licensed Rett products. Royalties are payable on a licensed product-by-licensed product and country-by-country basis until the latest of the expiration or revocation or complete rejection of the last licensed patent covering such licensed product in the country where the licensed product is sold, the loss of market exclusivity in such country where the product is sold, or, if no licensed product exists in such country and no market exclusivity exists in such country, ten years from first commercial sale of such licensed product in such country.

The Abeona Rett Agreement expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis upon the expiration of the last royalty term of a licensed product. Either party may terminate the agreement upon an uncured material breach of the agreement or insolvency of the other party. The Company may terminate the agreement for convenience upon specified prior written notice to Abeona.

Catalent Agreements

During October and November 2020, the Company entered into two agreements (the “Catalent Agreements”) with Catalent Maryland, Inc. (“Catalent”) to support the development and manufacturing of the Company’s gene therapies for CLN1 and Rett syndrome at Catalent’s Maryland-based gene therapy facilities. The Company engaged Catalent, which is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), to conduct services related to technology transfer, process development, analytical development, qualification, project administration and manufacture of CLN1 and Rett syndrome gene therapies suitable for use in nonclinical, United States and European Union Phase 1/2 clinical trials.

In connection with the Catalent Agreements, the Company paid Catalent an upfront project initiation fee of $2.0 million which is recorded as a prepaid expense in the consolidated balance sheets. The fee will be credited toward fees and expenses incurred under the Catalent Agreements. The Company therefore reduces the prepaid expense concurrently with expenses as they are incurred.