Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

14. Commitments and Contingencies

In-License Agreements

The Company is party to a number of licensing agreements, most of which are with related parties. These agreements serve to provide the Company with the right to develop and exploit the counterparties’ intellectual property for certain medical indications. As part of execution of these arrangements, the Company paid certain upfront fees, which have been expensed as incurred because the developing technology has not yet reached technical feasibility, the lack of alternative use, and the lack of proof of potential value. The agreements cover a variety of fields, including influenza, cancer, human papillomavirus infection, (“HPV”), hepatitis B virus (“HBV”) and middle east respiratory syndrome (“MERS”). The Company’s obligations for future payments under these arrangements are dependent on its ability to develop promising drug candidates, the potential market for these candidates and potential competing products, and the payment mechanisms in place in countries where the Company retains the right to sell. Each agreement provides for

specific milestone payments, typically triggered by achievement of certain testing phases in human candidates, and future royalties ranging from 1 to 5% for direct sales of a covered product to 3 to 7% of net payments received for allowable sublicenses of technology developed by the Company. The obligation to make these payments is contingent upon the Company’s ability to develop candidates for submission for phased testing and approvals, and for the development of markets for the products developed by the Company. The Company has not made or accrued any material payments under these license agreements during the three months ended March 31, 2023, and March 31, 2022.

Leases

The Company leases certain laboratory and office space under operating leases, which are described below.

The Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire

On September 3, 2021, the Company entered into a lease agreement for the lease of approximately 31,000 square feet in Harwell, Oxfordshire which expires in September 2031. The property is the Company’s corporate headquarters. As the Company’s leases typically do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses an estimate of its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the lease commencement date, being the rate incurred to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term at an amount equal to the lease payments in a similar economic environment. The Company has provided the lessor with a refundable security deposit of $0.7 million which is included in Other assets.

Germantown, Maryland

On June 14, 2022, the Company entered into a lease agreement for the lease of approximately 19,700 square feet in Germantown, Maryland. The site will house the Company’s, state-of-the-art wet laboratory in the United States of America. The lease expires on February 28, 2034, with the Company having a single right to extend for an additional five years on the same terms and conditions other than for the base rent. The Company has a rent-free period up to February 29, 2024, and is entitled to up to $3.5 million for leasehold improvements to the premises desired by the Company. The Company has provided the lessor with a refundable security deposit of $0.2 million which is included in Other assets.

The Company recorded a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the effective date of the lease term. The Company’s right-of-use asset and lease liability are as follows (in thousands):

	March 31,			December 31,
	2023			2022
Right-of-use asset	$	7,723		$	7,753
Operating lease liability, current	$	649		$	433
Operating lease liability, non-current	$	10,005		$	8,340
Weighted average remaining lease term (years)		9.71			9.44
Weighted average discount rate		7.6	%		7.6	%
Other information
Short-term lease costs	$	152		$	529
Operating cash flows operating leases	$	220		$	1,081

Future annual minimum lease payments under operating leases as of March 31, 2023, were as follows (in thousands):

Remainder of 2023	$	(1,457)
2024		1,752
2025		1,904
2026		1,928
2027		1,952
Thereafter		9,890
Total minimum lease payments	$	15,969
Less: imputed interest		(5,315)
Total operating lease liability	$	10,654

Other contingencies

As of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we do not believe we are party to any claim or litigation the outcome of which, if determined adversely to us, would individually or in the aggreagate be reasonably expected to have a material adverse effect on our business. However, from time to time, we could be subject to various legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of our business activities. Regardless of the outcome, legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.