Commitments and contingencies

Operating leases

The Company leases office space in South Plainfield, New Jersey for its principal office under a noncancelable operating lease through February 2019 in addition to office space in various countries for international employees primarily through workspace providers. Rent expense was approximately $2.2 million, $2.2 million, and $1.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively. The Company also leases certain office equipment under operating leases. Future minimum lease payments as of December 31, 2017 are as follows:



2018	$	2,110
2019	1,095
2020	845
2021	712
2022	652
Thereafter	1,274
	$	6,688

Other contingencies

Under various agreements, the Company will be required to pay royalties and milestone payments upon the successful development and commercialization of products. The Company has entered into funding agreements with The Wellcome Trust Limited (Wellcome Trust) for the research and development of small molecule compounds in connection with its oncology and antibacterial programs. As the Company has discontinued development under its antibacterial program, it no longer expects that milestone and royalty payments from the Company to Wellcome Trust will apply under that agreement, resulting in a change to the total amount of development and regulatory milestone payments the Company may become obligated to pay for this program. Under the oncology program funding agreement, to the extent that the Company develops and commercializes program intellectual property on a for-profit basis itself or in collaboration with a partner (provided the Company retains overall control of worldwide commercialization), the Company may become obligated to pay to Wellcome Trust development and regulatory milestone payments and single-digit royalties on sales of any research program product. The Company’s obligation to pay such royalties would continue on a country-by-country basis until the longer of the expiration of the last patent in the program intellectual property in such country covering the research program product and the expiration of market exclusivity of such product in such country. The Company made the first development milestone payment of $0.8 million to Wellcome Trust under the oncology program funding agreement during the second quarter of 2016. Additional milestone payments up to an aggregate of $22.4 million may become payable by the Company to Wellcome Trust under this agreement.

The Company has also entered into a collaboration agreement with the SMA Foundation. The Company may become obligated to pay the SMA Foundation single- digit royalties on worldwide net product sales of any collaboration product that is successfully developed and subsequently commercialized or, if the Company outlicenses rights to a collaboration product, a specified percentage of certain payments the Company receives from its licensee. The Company is not obligated to make such payments unless and until annual sales of a collaboration product exceed a designated threshold. The Company’s obligation to make such payments would end upon its payment to the SMA Foundation of a specified amount.

The Company has employment agreements with certain employees which require the funding of a specific level of payments, if certain events, such as a change in control or termination without cause, occur.

The Company is currently party to the legal proceedings described in Part I, Item 3. Legal Proceedings of this Annual Report on Form 10-K related to securities class action lawsuits.

In March 2016, three purported securities class action lawsuits were commenced in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (one each on March 3, 10, and 11), naming as defendants the Company, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, and the Company’s former Chief Financial Officer. The lawsuits have been consolidated into one action captioned In re PTC Therapeutics, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 16-1224 (KM) (the “Securities Class Action”). A consolidated amended complaint was filed on January 13, 2017. The complaint alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in connection with allegedly false and misleading statements made by the Company about its business, operations, and prospects as it relates to the NDA for Translarna for the treatment of nmDMD that the Company submitted to the FDA in December 2015. The plaintiffs seek, among other things, compensatory damages for purchasers of the Company’s common stock between November 6, 2014 and February 23, 2016, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. On February 14, 2017, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the consolidated amended complaint. On August 28, 2017, the motion to dismiss was granted in part and denied in part. On September 25, 2017, defendants filed an answer and affirmative defenses to the consolidated amended complaint. On January 10, 2018, the parties agreed to a settlement in principle of all legal claims, subject to court approval, which will be funded by the Company’s insurance subject to the applicable deductible. The Company has accrued $0.5 million related to the agreement in principle for the securities class action lawsuits, which represents the remainder of the deductible payable to the Company’s insurance. There is no assurance that the settlement will ultimately be approved or that it will become final. If the settlement does not occur and litigation continues, the Company intends to defend the case.

Other than the matter above, the Company has assessed such legal proceedings and does not believe that it is probable that a liability has been incurred or that the amount of any potential liability can be reasonably estimated. As a result, the Company did not record any loss contingencies for any of these matters. While it is not possible to determine the outcome of the matters described in Part I, Item 3. Legal Proceedings of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company believes that the resolution of all such matters will not have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial position or liquidity, but could possibly be material to its consolidated results of operations in any one accounting period.