The Company evaluated the Xencor
Agreement under the provisions of Accounting Standard Update
(“ASU”) No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers
and all related amendments
(collectively, “ASC 606”) and ASU 2018-18, Collaborative
Arrangements (Topic 808)
Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606. The
Company concluded that Xencor, Inc. is not a customer as there are
no distinct units of account that are reflective of a
vendor-customer relationship or exchange of consideration for the
research activities.
For the cost-sharing related to the research program, the Company
will follow the presentation and disclosure guidance of ASC 808,
Collaboration Agreements. The
Company had $74,000 of payable and $25,000 of receivable under the
research cost-sharing provision recorded in accrued expenses and
prepaid and other current assets, respectively, on the accompanying
condensed balance sheets as of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021,
respectively.
In-Licensing Arrangements – Development
In April
2022, the Company entered into an Option and License
Agreement (the “Option and License Agreement”), by and between the
Company and Zymeworks Inc (“Zymeworks”). The Company received a
license under certain of Zymeworks’ proprietary drug conjugate
patents and know-how to perform preclinical research and
development of ADCs. The aggregate consideration for the research
license is $5.0 million. The
Company also received an option to obtain an exclusive license to
research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize certain ADCs for
additional license fees and royalties. Unless earlier terminated or
extended, the term of the research license and the commercial
option is two years from the effective date.
The Company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts
to develop and commercialize at least one licensed product and the
Company will pay to Zymeworks an option exercise fee, and lump sum
payments upon the achievement of certain development and regulatory
milestones and commercial milestones. In addition, with respect to
each licensed product, the Company will pay tiered royalties on net
sales of licensed products at single-digit royalty rates.
The research license fee of $5.0 million was expensed to research
and development expense during the quarter ended June 30, 2022 in
accordance with the Company's research and development expense
policy.
Employee Retention Credit
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, as
amended by the further legislation, provides an employee retention
credit (“ERC”) to eligible employers, which is a refundable tax
credit against certain employment taxes. In calendar 2021, the ERC
was equal to 70% of qualified wages paid to employees up to $10,000
of qualified wages per employee for each of the first, second and
third calendar quarters of 2021. The Company has determined that
its aggregate eligible refundable credit for 2021 is $2.9 million.
During the quarter ended June 30, 2022, the Company filed the
requisite claims for the eligible 2021 ERC.
The Company classified the ERC amounts as a reduction to payroll
expense. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, the
Company recorded $2.4 million and $0.5 million related to the ERC
within research and development expense and G&A expense,
respectively, on the Company’s condensed statement of operations
and comprehensive loss. As of June 30, 2022, the Company has a $2.9
million receivable balance from the United States government
related to the CARES Act, which is recorded as other receivables in
“Prepaid expenses and other current assets” on the Company’s
condensed balance sheet.
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash
Cash and cash equivalents include all cash balances and highly
liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of
three months or less.
The Company maintained restricted
cash of $1.5
million as of both June 30, 2022
and December 31, 2021. This amount as of June 30, 2022 and December
31, 2021 is included in deposits and other in the accompanying condensed balance sheets
and is comprised solely of letters of credit required pursuant to
leases for Company facilities.