Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies

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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies  
Commitments and Contingencies

10. Commitments and Contingencies

Leases

The Company is a party to a real property operating lease for the rental of office space in Waltham, Massachusetts of up to 4,516 square feet, that is used for its corporate headquarters. This lease was amended during the first quarter of 2020 to extend its term until March 2021. On July 6, 2016, the Company entered into a real property operating lease for office and laboratory space of approximately 2,300 square feet in Salt Lake City, Utah. This lease was amended during the first quarter of 2020 to extend its term until October 2020. Additional right-of-use assets and lease liabilities were recorded upon the extensions.

Operating lease assets and liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date at the present value of lease payments to be paid. Operating lease assets represent the Company’s right to use an underlying asset and are based upon the operating lease liabilities adjusted for prepayments or accrued lease payments. To determine the present value of lease payments to be paid, the Company estimated incremental secured borrowing rates corresponding to the maturities of the leases. The Company estimated a rate of 10% based on prevailing financial market conditions, comparable company and credit analysis, and management judgment. The Company recognizes expense for its leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Maturities of lease liabilities were as follows as of March 31, 2020:

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Operating Leases

Remainder of 2020

 

$

120,358

2021

 

 

29,354

Less: Imputed Interest

 

 

(4,648)

Lease Liabilities

 

$

145,064

 

 

License Agreements

The Company is a party to four license agreements as described below. These license agreements require the Company to pay royalties or fees to the licensor based on revenue or milestones related to the licensed technology.

On February 15, 1999, the Company entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Miami School of Medicine to license technology relating to the Company’s EyeGate® II Delivery System. This agreement, which was amended in December 2005, requires the Company to pay to the University of Miami an annual license fee of $12,500. This license also requires payments to the University of Miami upon the Company’s achievement of certain milestones. Unless terminated pursuant to the license agreement, this license will expire 12 years after the date of the first commercial sale of a product containing the licensed technology.

On July 23, 1999, the Company entered into a perpetual Transaction Protocol agreement with Francine Behar-Cohen to acknowledge the Company’s right to use certain patents that Ms. Behar-Cohen had certain ownership rights with respect to and which are used in the Company’s EGP‑437 Combination Product. The agreement also provides for the Company to pay Ms. Behar-Cohen a fee based on a percentage of the pre-tax turnover generated from sales of the Company’s EGP‑437 Combination Product relating to its inclusion of the EyeGate® II Delivery System. The fees due under the agreement expired in January 2018, but the Company continues to maintain its rights under the agreement.

On September 12, 2013, Jade entered into an agreement with BioTime, Inc. granting to it the exclusive worldwide right to commercialize cross-linked thiolated carboxymethyl hyaluronic acid (“CMHA-S”) for ophthalmic treatments in humans.  The agreement calls for a license issue fee paid to BioTime, Inc. of $50,000 and requires the Company (through its Jade subsidiary) to pay an annual fee of $30,000 and royalties to BioTime, Inc. based on revenue relating to any product incorporating the CMHA-S technology. The agreement expires when patent protection for the CMHA-S technology lapses, which is expected to occur in the U.S. in 2028.

On September 26, 2018, the Company entered into an intellectual property licensing agreement (the “SentrX Agreement”) with SentrX Animal Care, Inc. (“SentrX”), a veterinary medical device company that develops and manufactures veterinary wound care products. Under the SentrX Agreement, the Company will in-license the rights to trade-secrets and know-how related to the manufacturing of its EyeGate OBG. The SentrX Agreement will enable the Company to pursue a different vendor with a larger capacity for manufacturing and an FDA-inspected facility for commercialization of a product for human use. Under the SentrX Agreement, the Company paid SentrX an upfront payment of $250,000 recorded as intangible assets on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. SentrX is eligible to receive milestone payments totaling up to $4.75 million, upon and subject to the achievement of certain specified developmental and commercial milestones. These future milestone payments to SentrX will increase the carrying value of the intangible assets.

On July 9, 2015, the Company entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with a subsidiary of BHC through which EyeGate granted BHC exclusive, worldwide commercial and manufacturing rights to its EGP-437 Combination Product in the field of anterior uveitis, as well as a right of last negotiation to license the EGP-437 Combination Product for other indications. Under the agreement, BHC paid the Company an upfront payment of $1.0 million. The Company was eligible to receive milestone payments totaling up to $32.5 million, upon and subject to the achievement of certain specified developmental and commercial milestones. In addition, the Company was eligible to receive royalties based on a specified percent of net sales of the EGP-437 Combination Product throughout the world, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. BHC voluntarily terminated this license agreement effective March 14, 2019.

On February 21, 2017, the Company entered into an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with a subsidiary of BHC (the “New BHC Agreement”), through which the Company granted BHC exclusive, worldwide commercial and manufacturing rights to its EGP-437 Combination Product in the field of ocular iontophoretic treatment for post-operative ocular inflammation and pain in ocular surgery patients (the “New Field”). Under the New BHC Agreement, BHC paid the Company an initial upfront payment of $4.0 million, and the Company was eligible to receive milestone payments totaling up to approximately $99.0 million, upon and subject to the achievement of certain specified developmental and commercial progress of the EGP-437 Combination Product for the New Field. In addition, the Company was eligible under the New BHC Agreement to receive royalties based on a specified percent of net sales of its EGP-437 Combination Product for the New Field throughout the world, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. BHC voluntarily terminated this license agreement effective March 14, 2019.

The Company was previously a party to an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Utah Research Foundation to further the commercial development of the NASH technology, together with alkylated HA. The agreement called for payments due to the University of Utah, consisting of a license grant fee of $15,000 due within 30 days of signing, and an annual licensing fee, initially $5,000, and escalating ratably up to $20,000 in 2021. On October 8, 2019, the Company provided written notice to terminate this agreement effective 120 days from this written notice, or February 5, 2020.