Note 8 - Notes Payable

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Debt Disclosure [Text Block]

8. NOTES PAYABLE

Hercules Credit Agreement

In November 2013, the Company entered into a loan agreement with Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Hercules) which permits up to $20 million in capital to be distributed in multiple tranches (the Hercules Credit Agreement). The Company drew the first tranche of $5 million upon closing of the Hercules Credit Agreement in November 2013 and used approximately $4 million of the proceeds to repay the outstanding obligations under its loan agreement with Oxford Finance LLC and Horizon Technology Finance Corporation as discussed further below. On June 10, 2014, the Company closed the second $5 million tranche under the Hercules Credit Agreement. The proceeds were used to fund the $3.0 million upfront cash payment associated with Celsion's acquisition of EGEN, as well as the Company’s transaction costs associated with the EGEN acquisition.  Upon the closing of this second tranche, the Company has drawn down a total of $10 million under the Hercules Credit Agreement. 

The obligations under the Hercules Credit Agreement are in the form of secured indebtedness bearing interest at a calculated prime-based variable rate (11.25% per annum since inception through December 17, 2015 and 11.50% since). Payments under the loan agreement were interest only for the first twelve months after loan closing, followed by a 30-month amortization period of principal and interest through the scheduled maturity date of June 1, 2017.

In connection with the Hercules Credit Agreement, the Company incurred cash expenses of $122,378 which were recorded as deferred financing fees.  These deferred financing fees are being amortized as interest expense using the effective interest method over the life of the loan.  Also in connection with the Hercules Credit Facility, the Company paid loan origination fees of $230,000 which has been classified as debt discount. This amount is being amortized as interest expense using the effective interest method over the life of the loan.

As a fee in connection with the Hercules Credit Agreement, the Company issued Hercules a warrant for a total of 97,493 shares of the Company’s common stock (the Hercules Warrant) at a per share exercise price of $3.59, exercisable for cash or by net exercise from November 25, 2013. Upon the closing of the second tranche on June 10, 2014, this warrant became exercisable for an additional 97,493 shares of the Company’s common stock. The Hercules Warrant will expire November 25, 2018. Hercules has certain rights to register the common stock underlying the Hercules Warrant pursuant to a Registration Rights Agreement with the Company dated November 25, 2013. The registration rights expire on the date when such stock may be sold under Rule 144 without restriction or upon the first year anniversary of the registration statement for such stock, whichever is earlier. The common stock issuable pursuant to the Hercules Warrant was filed pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 on the Prospectus for Registration Statement No. 333-193936 and was declared effective on September 30, 2014.

The Company valued the Hercules Warrant issued at the inception of the loan using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and recorded $521,763 in 2013 as deferred financing fees.  In calculating the value of the warrants, the Company assumed a volatility rate of 102%, risk free interest rate of 1.37%, an expected life of 5 years, a stock price of $3.55 (closing price on date of the Hercules Warrant) and no expected forfeitures nor dividends.  In the second quarter of 2014, the Company reassessed the classification of the warrants and concluded the original amount should be reclassified from deferred financing fees and equity. Therefore, other assets and additional paid in capital were both reduced by the $521,763. The Company then valued the warrant for the initial 97,493 shares of the Company’s common stock as of the inception of the loan and recorded $260,928 as a debt discount to be amortized as interest expense using the effective interest method over the life of the loan and recognized a warrant liability for this amount. In connection with the closing of the second $5 million tranche on June 9, 2014, the Company then valued the warrant for the additional 97,493 shares of the Company’s common stock which became available and exercisable as of the date and recorded $215,333 as a debt discount to be amortized as interest expense using the effective interest method over the life of the loan and recognized a warrant liability for this amount. In calculating the value of the warrant for the additional shares of the Company’s common stock on June 10, 2014, the Company assumed a volatility rate of 104%, risk free interest rate of 1.69%, an expected remaining life of 4.5 years, a stock price of $3.07 (closing price June 9, 2014) and no expected forfeitures nor dividends.  In 2014, the warrant liability was fair valued at the end of each quarter and the resulting change in fair value will be recognized in net income.

In the second quarter of 2015, the Company concluded the warrant provision which provided for the exercise price to be adjusted downward as described above had expired. Therefore, the Company valued the warrant at $336,254 immediately prior to this event and recorded non-cash charges to net income of $18,018 and $61,246 in the second quarter and year to date periods of 2015, respectively. The Company also reduced the liability to zero and increased equity by $336,254 at this time.

Also in connection with each of the $5.0 million tranches, the Company will be required to pay an end of term charge equal to 3.5% of each original loan amount at time of maturity. Therefore, these amounts totaling $350,000 are being amortized as interest expense using the effective interest method over the life of the loan.

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company incurred $918,465 in interest expense and amortized $438,717 as interest expense for deferred fees, debt discount and end of term charges in connection with the Hercules Credit Agreement. For the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company incurred $892,188 in interest expense and amortized $433,839 as interest expense for deferred fees, debt discount and end of term charges in connection with the Hercules Credit Agreement.

The Hercules Credit Agreement contains customary covenants, including covenants that limit or restrict the Company’s ability to grant liens, incur indebtedness, make certain restricted payments, merge or consolidate and make dispositions of assets. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under the Hercules Credit Agreement, the lenders may cease making loans, terminate the Hercules Credit Agreement, declare all amounts outstanding to be immediately due and payable and foreclose on or liquidate the Company’s assets that comprise the lenders’ collateral. The Hercules Credit Agreement specifies a number of events of default (some of which are subject to applicable grace or cure periods), including, among other things, non-payment defaults, covenant defaults, a material adverse effect on the Company or its assets, cross-defaults to other material indebtedness, bankruptcy and insolvency defaults and material judgment defaults. The Company has maintained compliance with these covenants.

Following is a schedule of future principle payments before debt discount due on the Hercules Credit Agreement:

	For the year ending December 31,
2016	$	4,099,847
2017		2,245,923
2018 and thereafter		–
Total	$	6,345,770

Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement

In June 2012, the Company entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement) with Oxford Finance LLC (Oxford) and Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (Horizon). The Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement provided for a secured term loan of up to $10 million, with 50% of any loans to be funded by Oxford and 50% to be funded by Horizon. The aggregate loan amount could have been advanced in two tranches of $5 million each. The first tranche (the Term A Loan) was made available to the Company on June 27, 2012 and the second tranche was to be made available, if at all, during the period beginning on the date that the Company achieved positive data in its Phase III clinical trial of RFA and ThermoDox® (the HEAT Study) and ending on March 31, 2013.  On January 31, 2013, the Company announced it did not meet the primary endpoint of the HEAT Study.   

The Term A Loan was originally scheduled to mature on October 15, 2015.  As a result of the Hercules Credit Agreement discussed above, the Company terminated the Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement and repaid the outstanding principle, accrued interest and termination fees totaling approximately $4.1 million.

The proceeds of the Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement were used to fund the Company’s working capital and general corporate purposes. The obligations under the Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement were secured by substantially all assets of the Company other than its intellectual property and certain other agreed-upon exclusions.

As a fee in connection with the Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement, the Company issued warrants to Horizon and Oxford (the Oxford & Horizon Warrants) to purchase the number of shares of the Company’s common stock equal to 3% of each loan amount divided by the exercise price of $13.14 per share, which was calculated as the average NASDAQ closing price of the Company’s common stock for the three days prior to the funding of the loan amount.  This resulted in 11,415 warrant shares issued in connection with the Term A Loan.  The Oxford & Horizon Warrants issued in connection with the Term A Loan are exercisable for cash or by net exercise and will expire seven years after their issuance, which is June 27, 2019. The Company valued the Oxford & Horizon Warrants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and recorded $73,654 as deferred financing fees.  In calculating the value of the warrants, the Company assumed a volatility rate of 74.3%, risk free interest rate of 1.10%, an expected life of 3.5 years, a stock price of $12.60 which was the closing price on date of issuing the Oxford & Horizon Warrant) and no expected forfeitures nor dividends.  In connection with the Oxford & Horizon Credit Agreement, the Company incurred cash expenses of $217,715 which were recorded as deferred financing fees in 2012.  These deferred financing fees were amortized as interest expense over the life of the loan.   During the first three months of 2013, the Company paid $146,874 in interest expense and amortized $31,560 of deferred financing fees as interest expense. The Term A Loan bore interest at a fixed rate of 11.75%.