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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments and Contingencies
In December 2006, we entered into a funding agreement with The Stanley Medical Research Institute, or SMRI, to develop a proprietary phosphodiesterase 10, or PDE10, inhibitor product for the treatment of schizophrenia. We hold the exclusive rights to the technology. 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 June 30, 2013, the maximum amount of royalties payable by us under the agreement is $12.8 million. We have not paid any such royalties through June 30, 2013.
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 PPARγ, 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 PPARγ activity. Under the agreement, we will be required to make payments to the individual of up to $3.8 million in total, for both PPARγ agonists and dietary supplements that increase PPARγ activity, 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.
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 phosphodiesterase 7, or 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. In January 2013, we further amended the agreement to include all other indications except specified dermatologic conditions. Upon execution of the agreement, we paid Daiichi Sankyo $50,000 that was recognized as research and development expense. Under the amended agreement, we agreed to make milestone payments to Daiichi Sankyo of up to $33.5 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. However, if only one of the three indications is advanced through each milestone, the total milestone payments would be $23.5 million. 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.
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 mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2, or MASP-2, 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 paid Helion $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, or IND, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA; 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 MASP-2 inhibitor product that is covered by the patents licensed by us under the agreement.
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, if any, 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. If we receive cumulative net proceeds in excess of approximately $1.5 billion, 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.
Net proceeds are defined in the Vulcan and LSDF agreements as (1) all consideration received by us in any form relating directly to the GPCR program, such as from license fees, milestone fees, royalties, product sales, partnerships and a transfer of the GPCR program to a third party, subject to exceptions specified in such agreements, less (2) all expenses and expenditures in excess of $25.0 million incurred by us in connection with the GPCR program such as for research and development, related overhead, milestone and royalty payments, legal expenses, cost of goods sold and product sales deductions. Any consideration that we receive (a) from government entities (subject to specified exceptions), (b) from third parties that have designated such consideration for the purpose of funding research and development expenses and related overhead or (c) in the form of grants, as well as any expenses or expenditures that we incur that are paid for with such consideration, are excluded for purposes of determining net proceeds.
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.
We currently lease our office and laboratory in The Omeros Building under a lease agreement with BMR-201 Elliott Avenue LLC, or BMR. The initial term of the lease ends in November 2027 and we have two options to extend the lease term, each by five years. As of June 30, 2013, the remaining aggregate non-cancelable rent payable under the initial term of the lease is approximately $61.7 million and we have received net lease incentives of $4.4 million, which are recorded as deferred rent on our accompanying consolidated balance sheets.
Effective October 26, 2012, Omeros Corporation and Gregory A. Demopulos, M.D., our chairman, chief executive officer, president and interim chief financial officer and treasurer, and Richard J. Klein, our former chief financial officer and treasurer, entered into a settlement agreement and release, or the Settlement Agreement, settling and releasing all of the parties’ respective claims in the lawsuit described in Part II, Item 1 of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 7, 2012. Under an order filed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on November 5, 2012, all claims asserted by Omeros, Dr. Demopulos and Mr. Klein were dismissed with prejudice and all of Mr. Klein’s claims asserted against Omeros on behalf of the United States Government under the Federal False Claims Act, or the Qui Tam Claims, were dismissed without prejudice to the United States Government. We are currently cooperating with an administrative review by the NIH of two grants that were the subject of Mr. Klein’s claims. These grants were made in 2004 and 2007 and involved an aggregate of approximately $1.1 million. Upon completion of its review, the NIH may seek various administrative remedies, including return of all or a portion of the grant proceeds. During the quarter ended March 31, 2013, we recognized as a selling, general and administrative expense and an accrued liability our estimate of the refund that we may elect to pay to the NIH to resolve this matter.
In the Settlement Agreement, each of the parties affirmatively denies any wrongdoing or liability. In addition, the Settlement Agreement bars Mr. Klein and his attorneys from seeking any personal recovery or attorneys’ fees for the Qui Tam Claims. Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, in October 2012 we made a one-time payment of $3.94 million to Mr. Klein to release all of his claims, which included a claim for payment of his attorneys’ fees since 2009 incurred in connection with the lawsuit.
Carolina Casualty Insurance Company, or CCIC, was the carrier for our directors, officers and corporate liability insurance policy in effect at the time Mr. Klein’s employment with us was terminated. On February 21, 2012, CCIC filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment against Omeros, Dr. Demopulos and Mr. Klein in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, seeking a declaration that CCIC owes no duty to indemnify or defend Omeros or Dr. Demopulos against the allegations raised by Mr. Klein. On May 10, 2012, Omeros and Dr. Demopulos filed counterclaims against CCIC alleging that CCIC breached its duty to defend under the insurance policy, acted unreasonably and in bad faith, and unreasonably denied a claim for coverage in violation of Washington law.
CCIC paid approximately $2.0 million of our defense costs associated with Mr. Klein’s lawsuit, subject to a reservation of rights, and we paid the remaining portion of the defense costs. Additionally, in November 2012, CCIC reimbursed us $3.95 million for the $3.94 million payment we made to Mr. Klein under the terms of the Settlement Agreement as well as for the $13,000 of related employment taxes that we paid. During the quarter ended December 31, 2012, we recorded $3.95 million as a recovery on settlement. CCIC made this payment without waiving any of its rights and without affecting any of our or our chief executive officer’s counterclaims against CCIC, including for failure to defend and bad faith, in the pending lawsuit against CCIC. CCIC is attempting to amend its complaint in order to seek recovery of the defense and settlement costs it paid, as well as its own costs and legal fees associated with the policy. We are defending vigorously CCIC’s declaratory judgment action noted above, including its attempt to recover defense and settlement costs, and we are vigorously pursuing our counterclaims. While we can provide no assurances regarding the outcome of the litigation with CCIC, we believe that CCIC is required under the insurance policy to defend and indemnify us in the Klein litigation, including for our defense costs and for the $3.95 million in costs we incurred under the Settlement Agreement. In addition, we believe that CCIC acted unreasonably and in bad faith, and unreasonably denied our claim for coverage in violation of Washington law and are vigorously pursuing these counterclaims. We are seeking to recover from CCIC our damages, including those for violation of Washington State law that are subject to potential trebling. Additionally, if we elect to pay any amounts to the NIH to resolve the ongoing administrative review discussed above, we intend to seek recovery of such amount from CCIC. We can provide no assurance regarding the outcome of our counterclaims against CCIC. While the ultimate financial impact of this action cannot be determined with certainty, based on analysis, we believe that we will not be required to return the amounts paid by CCIC. Therefore, no loss associated with the CCIC actions has been recorded in the financial statements as of June 30, 2013.