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Collaborations, contracts and licensing agreements
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2025
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Collaborations, contracts and licensing agreements Collaborations, contracts and licensing agreements
Collaborations

Qilu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

In December 2021, the Company entered into a technology transfer and license agreement (the Qilu License Agreement) with Qilu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Qilu), pursuant to which the Company granted Qilu a sublicensable, royalty-bearing license, under certain intellectual property owned by the Company, which was non-exclusive as to development and manufacturing and exclusive with respect to commercialization of imdusiran, including pharmaceutical products that include imdusiran, for the treatment or prevention of hepatitis B in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (Greater China and Taiwan).

In partial consideration for the rights granted by the Company, Qilu paid the Company a one-time upfront cash payment of $40.0 million, net of withholding taxes, on January 5, 2022, and agreed to pay the Company up to $245.0 million, net of withholding taxes, upon the achievement of certain technology transfer, development, regulatory and commercialization milestones. Qilu paid $4.4 million of withholding taxes to the Chinese taxing authority on the Company’s behalf, related to the upfront cash payment. In addition, Qilu agreed to pay the Company double-digit royalties into the low twenties percent based upon annual net sales of imdusiran in Greater China and Taiwan. The royalties were payable on a product-by-product and region-by-region basis, subject to certain limitations.

Qilu was responsible for all costs related to developing, obtaining regulatory approval for, and commercializing imdusiran for the treatment or prevention of hepatitis B in Greater China and Taiwan. Qilu was required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, seek regulatory approval for, and commercialize at least one imdusiran product candidate in Greater China and Taiwan. A joint development committee was established between the Company and Qilu to coordinate and review the development, manufacturing and commercialization plans. Both parties also entered into a supply agreement and related quality agreement pursuant to which the Company would manufacture and supply Qilu with all quantities of imdusiran necessary for Qilu to develop and commercialize in Greater China and Taiwan until the Company completed its manufacturing technology transfer to Qilu and Qilu received all approvals required for it or its designated contract manufacturing organization to manufacture imdusiran in Greater China and Taiwan.

Concurrent with the execution of the Qilu License Agreement, the Company entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (the Share Purchase Agreement) with Anchor Life Limited, a company established pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations of Hong Kong and an affiliate of Qilu (the Investor), pursuant to which the Investor purchased 3,579,952 of the Company’s common shares at a purchase price of USD $4.19 per share, which was a 15% premium on the thirty-day average closing price of the common shares as of the close of trading on December 10, 2021 (the Share Transaction). The Company received $15.0 million of gross proceeds from the Share Transaction on January 6, 2022. The common shares sold to the Investor in the Share Transaction represented approximately 2.5% of the common shares outstanding immediately prior to the execution of the Share Purchase Agreement.

In June 2025, the Company and Qilu mutually agreed to conclude the strategic partnership and terminated the Qilu License Agreement and related agreements, and the Company now once again holds global rights for imdusiran. As no obligations remain under the Qilu License Agreement, the Company recognized all previously deferred revenue in the second quarter of 2025.

For the period of time the Qilu License Agreement was effective, it fell under the scope of ASC 808 as both parties were active participants in the arrangement and were exposed to significant risks and rewards. While this arrangement was in the scope of ASC 808, the Company analogized to ASC 606 for some aspects of this arrangement, including for the delivery of a good or service (i.e., a unit of account). In accordance with the guidance, the Company identified the following commitments under the arrangement: (i) rights to develop, use, sell, have sold, offer for sale and import any product comprised of Licensed Product (as defined in the Qilu License Agreement) (the Qilu License) and (ii) drug supply obligations and manufacturing technology transfer (the Manufacturing Obligations). The Company determined that these two commitments were not distinct performance obligations for purposes of recognizing revenue as the manufacturing process is highly specialized and Qilu would not be able to benefit from the Qilu License Agreement without the Company’s involvement in the manufacturing activities until the transfer of the manufacturing know-how was complete. As such, the Company combined these commitments into one performance obligation to which the transaction price was allocated and recognized this transaction price associated with the
bundled performance obligation over time using an inputs method based on labor hours expended by the Company on its Manufacturing Obligations.

The Company determined the initial transaction price of the combined performance obligation to be $50.4 million, which included the $40.0 million upfront fee, $4.4 million of withholding taxes paid by Qilu on behalf of the Company, and the premium paid for the Share Transaction of $4.1 million. The Company determined the milestone payments to be variable consideration subject to constraint at inception. At the end of each subsequent reporting period, the Company reevaluated the probability of achievement of the future development, regulatory, and sales milestones subject to constraint and, if necessary, adjusted its estimate of the overall transaction price. Any such adjustments were recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis, which affect revenues and earnings in the period of adjustment.

Due to the conclusion of the strategic partnership with Qilu, the Company recognized the remainder of the $9.6 million of deferred revenue during the nine months ended September 30, 2025. The Company also recognized $0.5 million of revenue based on labor hours expended by the Company on its Manufacturing Obligations during the nine months ended September 30, 2025. The Company recognized $0.1 million and $0.9 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, related to labor hours expended.

The Company incurred $0.6 million of incremental costs in obtaining the Qilu License Agreement, which was capitalized in other current assets and other assets and amortized as a component of general and administrative expense commensurate with the recognition of the combined performance obligation. The Company recognized the remainder of the amortization expense at the conclusion of the strategic partnership, recognizing a total of $0.2 million of amortization expense during the nine months ended September 30, 2025. The Company recognized amortization expense of less than $0.1 million for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024.

Until the conclusion of the strategic partnership with Qilu, the Company reevaluated the transaction price and the total estimated labor hours expected to be incurred to satisfy the performance obligations and adjusted the deferred revenue at the end of each reporting period, which resulted in changes to the amount of collaboration revenue recognized and deferred revenue.

Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc

In July 2021, the Company entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc (Barinthus), formerly Vaccitech plc, to evaluate imdusiran followed by Barinthus’ VTP-300, an HBV immunotherapy, and ongoing nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy in patients with cHBV. This clinical trial was amended to include a treatment arm with the addition of an approved PD-1 monoclonal antibody inhibitor, nivolumab (Opdivo®).

The Company was responsible for managing this Phase 2a proof-of-concept clinical trial, subject to oversight by a joint development committee comprised of representatives from the Company and Barinthus. The Company and Barinthus retain full rights to their respective product candidates and split all costs associated with the clinical trial. The Company incurred $0.4 million and $0.9 million of expenses, net of Barinthus’s 50% share, during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively, and $0.5 million and $1.7 million during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively, and reflected those costs in research and development in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss).

Royalty Entitlements

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.

The Company has two royalty entitlements to Alnylam’s global net sales of ONPATTRO.
In 2012, the Company entered into the LNP License Agreement with Alnylam that entitles Alnylam to develop and commercialize products with the Company’s LNP technology. Alnylam launched ONPATTRO, the first approved application of the Company’s LNP technology, in 2018. Under the terms of this license agreement, the Company is entitled to tiered royalty payments on global net sales of ONPATTRO ranging from 1.00% - 2.33% after offsets, with the highest tier applicable to annual net sales above $500 million. This royalty interest was sold to OMERS, effective as of January 1, 2019, for $20 million in gross proceeds before advisory fees. OMERS will retain this entitlement until it has received $30 million in royalties, at which point 100% of this royalty entitlement on future global net sales of ONPATTRO will revert back to the Company. OMERS has assumed the risk of collecting up to $30 million of future royalty payments from Alnylam, and the Company is not obligated to reimburse OMERS if it fails to collect any such future royalties. If this royalty entitlement reverts to the Company, it has the potential to provide an active royalty stream or to be otherwise monetized again in full or in part. From the inception of the royalty sale through September 30, 2025, an aggregate of $26.3 million of royalties have been earned by OMERS.

The Company also is receiving a second royalty interest of 0.75% to 1.125% on global net sales of ONPATTRO, with 0.75% applying to sales greater than $500 million, originating from a settlement agreement and subsequent license agreement with Acuitas.  This royalty entitlement from Acuitas has been retained by the Company and was not part of the royalty entitlement sale to OMERS.

Revenues are summarized in the following table:
Three Months Ended September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
2025202420252024
(in thousands)(in thousands)
Revenue from collaborations and licenses
Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.$280 $644 $1,375 $1,981 
Qilu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.— 123 10,434 880 
Non-cash royalty revenue
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.249 572 1,223 1,736 
Total revenue$529 $1,339 $13,032 $4,597