NOTE 4 – LICENSED TECHNOLOGY

On November 4, 2018, we entered into a license agreement with REGENXBIO to obtain rights to an exclusive worldwide license (subject to certain non-exclusive rights previously granted for MPS IIIA), with rights to sublicense, to REGENXBIO’s NAV AAV9 vector for the development and commercialization of gene therapies for the treatment of MPS IIIA, MPS IIIB, CLN1 Disease and CLN3 Disease. In return for these rights, REGENXBIO received a guaranteed $20 million upfront payment, $10 million of which was paid on signing of the agreement on November 4, 2018 and $10 million of which was originally required under the agreement to be paid by November 4, 2019. In addition, REGENXBIO will receive a total of $100 million in annual fees, payable upon the second through sixth anniversaries of the agreement, $20 million of which is guaranteed and payable on November 4, 2020. REGENXBIO is also eligible to receive potential commercial milestone payments of up to $60 million as well as royalties payable in the low double digits to low teens on net sales of products incorporating the licensed intellectual property. The license is amortized over the life of the patent of eight years. On November 1, 2019, we entered into an amendment of the original license agreement. The amended agreement replaced the $10 million payment due on November 4, 2019 with a $3 million payment due on November 4, 2019 and an additional $8 million payment (which includes $1 million of interest) due on April 1, 2020. The payment due on April 1, 2020 and the guaranteed amount of $20 million due on November 4, 2020 are recorded as payable to licensor on the consolidated balance sheet.

On August 3, 2016, we announced that we entered into an agreement (the “EB Agreement”) with EB Research Partnership (“EBRP”) and Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation (“EBMRF”) to collaborate on gene therapy treatments for EB. The EB Agreement became effective August 3, 2016 on the execution of two licensing agreements with The Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”). On August 3, 2016, we recorded the issuance of 375,000 of our common shares to each of EBRP and EBMRF and recorded licensed technology of $2.45 million, which was being amortized over 20 years. In connection with an arbitration proceeding relating to the EB Agreement, on May 15, 2019, the arbitrator issued a decision in favor of the Company requiring the Company to cancel any and all shares of its common stock issued to EBRP and EBMRF that were still in their possession. As a result, we recorded the return of 450,000 shares of our common stock and the reversal of the licensed technology from our financial statements. The net of these transactions resulted in a non-cash charge to expense of $0.3 million recorded during the year ended December 31, 2019.

On May 15, 2015, we acquired Abeona Therapeutics LLC, which had an exclusive license through Nationwide Children’s Hospital to the AB-101 and AB-102 patent portfolios for developing treatments for patients with Sanfilippo Syndrome Type A and Type B. The license is amortized over the life of the license of 20 years.

Licensed technology consists of the following:

The aggregate estimated amortization expense for intangible assets remaining as of December 31, 2019 is as follows:

Amortization on licensed technology was $5.2 million, $1.2 million and $0.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.