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LICENSES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PATENTS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
LICENSES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PATENTS [Abstract]  
LICENSES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PATENTS
14. LICENSES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PATENTS
 
On November 10, 1999, the Company entered into a license agreement with Duke University under which the Company received worldwide exclusive rights (subject to certain exceptions) to commercialize and use Duke's thermally sensitive liposome technology. The license agreement contains annual royalty and minimum payment provisions due on net sales.  The agreement also required milestone-based royalty payments measured by various events, including product development stages, FDA applications and approvals, foreign marketing approvals and achievement of significant sales. However, in lieu of such milestone-based cash payments, Duke agreed to accept shares of the Company's Common Stock to be issued in installments at the time each milestone payment is due, with each installment of shares to be calculated at the average closing price of the Common Stock during the 20 trading days prior to issuance.
 
The total number of shares issuable to Duke under these provisions is subject to adjustment in certain cases, and Duke has piggyback registration rights for public offerings taking place more than one year after the effective date of the license agreement. On January 31, 2003, the Company issued 253,691 shares of Common Stock to Duke University valued at $2.2 million as payment for milestone based royalties under this license agreement. An amendment to the Duke license agreement contains certain development and regulatory milestones, and other performance requirements that the Company has met with respect to the use of the licensed technologies. The Company will be obligated to make royalty payments based on sales to Duke upon commercialization, until the last of the Duke patents expire.  
 
For the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company has not incurred any expense under this agreement and will not incur any future liabilities until commercial sales commence.
 
Under the November 1999 license agreement with Duke, the Company has rights to the thermally sensitive liposome technology, including Duke's US patents covering the technology as well as all foreign counter parts and related pending applications.  Foreign counterpart applications have been issued in Europe, Hong Kong, Australia and Canada and has been allowed in Japan. The Japanese allowed application is expected to issue without hindrance in March of 2011. The European patent has been validated in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland. In addition, the Duke license agreement provides the Company with rights to multiple issued and pending US patents related to the formulation, method of making and use of heat sensitive liposomes. The Company's rights under the license agreement with Duke University extend for the life of the last-to-expire of the licensed patents.
 
The Company has licensed from Valentis, CA certain global rights covering the use of pegylation for temperature sensitive liposomes.
 
In addition to the rights available to the Company under completed or pending license agreements, the Company is actively pursing patent protection for technologies developed by the Company.  Among these patents is a family of pending US and international patent applications which seek to protect the Company's proprietary method of storing ThermoDox® which is critical for world wide distribution channels.
 
ThermoDox® is a registered trademark in the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Columbia, the European Communities: (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK), Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.  The Company has registered transliterations of ThermoDox® in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The Company has an additional 14 trademark protection applications pending for ThermoDox® in countries world-wide.
 
Finally, through proprietary information agreements with employees, consultants and others, the Company seeks to protect its own proprietary know-how and trade secrets. The Company cannot offer assurances that these confidentiality agreements will not be breached, that the Company will have adequate remedies for any breach, or that these agreements, even if fully enforced, will be adequate to prevent third-party use of the Company's proprietary technology. Similarly, the Company cannot guarantee that technology rights licensed to it by others will not be successfully challenged or circumvented by third parties, or that the rights granted will provide the Company with adequate protection.