Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

SETTLEMENT LIABILITY

v3.23.1
SETTLEMENT LIABILITY
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
SETTLEMENT LIABILITY

NOTE 8 – SETTLEMENT LIABILITY

 

On November 4, 2018, the Company entered into a license agreement with REGENXBIO Inc. (“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 gene therapies for treating MPS IIIA, MPS IIIB, CLN1 Disease and CLN3 Disease. Consideration for the rights granted under the original agreement included fees totaling $180 million and a running royalty on net sales, including: (i) an initial fee of $20 million, $10 million of which was due to REGENXBIO shortly after the effective date of the agreement, and $10 million of which was to be due on the first anniversary of the effective date of the agreement in November 2019, (ii) annual fees totaling up to $100 million, payable in $20 million annual installments beginning on the second anniversary of the effective date (the first of which was to remain payable if the agreement were terminated before the second anniversary in November 2020), (iii) sales milestone payments totaling $60 million, and (iv) royalties payable in the low double digits to low teens on net sales of products covered under the agreement. The license was being amortized over the life of the patent of eight years. On November 1, 2019, the Company 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 included $1 million of interest) that would have been due no later than April 1, 2020. That $8 million payment that had been scheduled to be paid by April 1, 2020 and the $20 million payment that had been due to be paid on November 4, 2020 were both recorded as payable to licensor on the consolidated balance sheet. The Company disputed that it was responsible for the $8 million and $20 million payments, and those payments were the subject of an arbitration between the Company and REGENXBIO.

 

 

Prior to the April 1, 2020 deadline, the Company engaged REGENXBIO in discussions in an attempt to renegotiate the financial terms of the agreement, but the Company was unable to reach an agreement, and did not make the $8 million payment due by April 1, 2020. On April 17, 2020, REGENXBIO sent the Company a written demand for the $8 million fee, payable within a 15-day cure period after receipt of the demand letter. The license terminated on May 2, 2020, when the 15-day period expired.

 

On November 12, 2021, the Company entered into a settlement agreement (“Settlement Agreement”) with REGENXBIO to resolve all existing disputes between the parties. In accordance with the Settlement Agreement, the Company agreed to pay REGENXBIO a total of $30.0 million, payable as follows: (1) $20.0 million paid in November 2021 after execution of the Settlement Agreement, (2) $5.0 million on the first anniversary of the effective date of the Settlement Agreement, and (3) $5.0 million upon the earlier of (i) the third anniversary of the effective date of the Settlement Agreement or (ii) the closing of a Strategic Transaction, as defined in the Settlement Agreement. Under the Settlement Agreement’s terms, the prior license agreement between the parties is not reinstituted, and any future license agreement would need to be negotiated separately and require consideration in addition to the consideration set forth in the Settlement Agreement. The accounting for the Settlement Agreement resulted in a $6.7 million gain on settlement with licensor in the statements of operations and comprehensive loss during the year ended December 31, 2021 and a $6.7 million non-cash gain on settlement with licensor in the statements of cash flows during the year ended December 31, 2021.

 

As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recorded the payables due to REGENXBIO in the consolidated balance sheets based on the present value of the remaining payments due to REGENXBIO under the Settlement Agreement using an interest rate of 9.6%. The current portion of the payable due in November 2022 was nil and $4.6 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively and the long-term portion due in November 2024 was $4.2 million and $3.8 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, the Company recorded $5.0 million of restricted cash in the consolidated balance sheet that served as collateral for the payment made to REGENXBIO in November 2022.