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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 8—Commitments and Contingencies

We lease laboratory and corporate office space and rent equipment under operating lease agreements that include certain rent escalation terms. The laboratory space lease term extends through September 30, 2012 and as of December 31, 2011 the lease term for the corporate office space expired July 31, 2014. Rental of equipment extends into 2013. We sublease a portion of our leased properties. Future minimum payments related to the leases, which exclude common area maintenance and related operating expenses, at December 31, 2011, are as follows:

 

Year Ending December 31,

   Net Lease
Payments
 
     (in thousands)  

2012

   $ 1,334   

2013

     433   

2014

     238   
  

 

 

 

Total

   $ 2,005   
  

 

 

 

 

On January 27, 2012, we entered into a lease with BMR-201 Elliott Avenue LLC, or BMR, for approximately 64,500 square feet of office and laboratory space. The premises leased by us will replace the separate office and laboratory spaces that we currently occupy. Lease payments in connection with the BMR lease are not included in the table above and are discussed further in Note 14. On January 30, 2012, in connection with the new lease agreement, we gave notice to the landlord of our current corporate office space that we were terminating the lease for that space on January 30, 2013.

Rent expense totaled $2.2 million, $2.1 million and $2.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Rental income received under noncancelable subleases was $693,000, $793,000 and $799,000 for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Rental income is recorded as other income in the consolidated statements of operations.

In connection with the funding agreement with SMRI, beginning the first calendar year after commercial sales of a schizophrenia product, if and when a product is commercialized, we may become obligated to pay royalties based on net income, as defined in the agreement, not to exceed a set multiple of total grant funding received. Based on the amount of grant funding received as of December 31, 2011, the maximum amount of royalties payable by us is $12.8 million. We have not paid any such royalties through December 31, 2011.

In February 2009, we entered into a patent assignment agreement with an individual whereby we acquired all intellectual property rights, including patent applications, related to peroxisome proliferators activated receptor gamma, or PPARg agonists for the treatment and prevention of addictions to substances of abuse, as well as other compulsive behaviors. No payments were made related to the technology acquisition. In February 2011, we amended the patent assignment agreement to include all intellectual property rights, including patent applications, related to dietary supplements that increase PPARg activity. Under the agreement, we will be required to make payments of up to $3.8 million in total, for both PPARg agonists and dietary supplements that increase PPARg activity, to the individual upon achievement of certain development events, such as the initiation of clinical trials and receipt of marketing approval. In addition, we are obligated to pay a low single-digit percentage royalty on any net sales of drug products that are covered by any patents that issue from the acquired patent application. We recorded no research and development expense under the patent assignment agreement during the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

In March 2010, we entered into a license agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (successor-in-interest to Asubio Pharma Co., Ltd.), or Daiichi Sankyo, pursuant to which we received an exclusive license to PDE7 inhibitors claimed in certain patents and pending patent applications owned by Daiichi Sankyo for use in the treatment of movement disorders and other specified indications. In February 2011, we amended the agreement to include addiction and compulsive disorders in the field of use. Under the amended agreement, we agreed to make milestone payments to Daiichi Sankyo of up to $30.2 million upon the achievement of certain events, such as successful completion of preclinical toxicology studies; dosing of human subjects in Phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials; receipt of marketing approval of a PDE7 inhibitor product; and reaching specified sales milestones. In addition, Daiichi Sankyo is entitled to receive from us a low single-digit percentage royalty of any net sales of a PDE7 inhibitor licensed under the agreement by us and/or our sublicensee(s), provided that if the sales are made by a sublicensee, then the amount payable by us to Daiichi Sankyo is capped at an amount equal to a low double-digit percentage of all royalty and specified milestone payments that we receive from the sublicensee. We recorded research and development expense under the agreement totaling $13,000 and $25,000 for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

In April 2010, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with Helion Biotech ApS, or Helion, pursuant to which we received a royalty bearing, worldwide exclusive license in and to all of Helion’s intellectual property rights related to MASP2 antibodies, polypeptides and methods in the field of inhibition of mannan-binding lectin-mediated activation of the complement system for the prevention, treatment or diagnosis of any disease or condition. Upon execution of the agreement, we made a one-time payment to Helion of $500,000 that was recognized as research and development expense and agreed to make development and sales milestone payments to Helion of up to an additional $6.9 million upon the achievement of certain events, such as the filing of an Investigational New Drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; initiation of Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials; receipt of marketing approval; and reaching specified sales milestones. In addition, Helion is entitled to receive from us a low single-digit percentage royalty of any net sales of a MASP2 inhibitor product that is covered by the patents licensed by us under the agreement. We recorded research and development expense under this agreement totaling $15,000 and $529,000 for years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

In connection with our funding agreements with Vulcan and LSDF discussed in Note 7, we have agreed to pay Vulcan and LSDF tiered percentages of the net proceeds derived from the GPCR program. The percentage rates of net proceeds payable to Vulcan and LSDF decrease as the cumulative net proceeds reach specified thresholds, and the blended percentage rate payable to Vulcan and LSDF in the aggregate is in the mid-teens with respect to the first approximately $1.5 billion of cumulative net proceeds that we receive from our GPCR program. After we have received approximately $1.5 billion of cumulative net proceeds, the percentage rate payable to Vulcan and LSDF in the aggregate decreases to one percent. Pursuant to the agreement with Vulcan, at our option, we may pay a portion of Vulcan’s share of the one percent of net proceeds to a life sciences initiative, or LSI, to be established in accordance with the LSDF agreement. The LSI will be a non-profit, tax-exempt organization with a mission to advance life sciences in the State of Washington.

In November 2010, pursuant to our agreement with Vulcan, we purchased from Patobios intellectual property assets related to an assay technology for use in the GPCR program. We also issued to Vulcan three warrants to purchase our common stock, each with a five-year term and exercisable for 133,333 shares, with exercise prices of $20, $30 and $40 per share, respectively. The exercise price of the warrants may be paid in cash or on a “cashless” basis in which the number of shares issuable upon exercise of the warrant would be reduced by the number of shares having a fair market value equal to the applicable exercise price. Under our agreement with Vulcan, we granted Vulcan a security interest in our personal property related to the GPCR program, other than intellectual property, which security interest is junior to any existing or future security interests granted in connection with a financing transaction and which will be released automatically after Vulcan receives $25.0 million under the agreement. We also agreed not to grant any liens on intellectual property related to the GPCR program. The term of our agreement with Vulcan is 35 years, provided that the term will automatically extend until the cumulative net proceeds that we receive from the GPCR program are approximately $1.5 billion.

Under our agreement with LSDF, after LSDF receives $25.0 million from us, any remaining amounts that would be payable by us to LSDF pursuant to the agreement will instead be paid to LSI. Our obligations with respect to LSI are limited to creating LSI’s charter documents, incorporating LSI, selecting directors and applying for tax exempt status, all in consultation with LSDF. We have no other obligations, funding or otherwise, to LSI. The term of our agreement with LSDF expires on the six-month anniversary following the last date that we deliver a report related to our incurrence of grant-funded expenses described in the agreement, provided that certain obligations will survive the expiration of the term. The term of our payment obligations to LSDF is the same as that under our agreement with Vulcan. In addition, pursuant to our agreements with Vulcan and LSDF, we have agreed (1) to use commercially reasonable efforts to screen at least 75% of the currently known human Class A orphan GPCRs within 19 months from the date of the agreements, subject to possible extensions and (2) to commence a medicinal chemistry effort focused on developing a product candidate with respect to one orphan GPCR for which compounds were identified using the GPCR assay technology.