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Collaboration and License Agreements
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]  
Collaboration and License Agreements Collaboration and License Agreements
Biogen MA, Inc.
On September 8, 2023, the Company entered into a non-exclusive, sublicensable, worldwide, perpetual patent license agreement, or the Biogen Agreement, with Biogen MA, Inc., or Biogen, to research, develop, make, use, offer, sell and import products or processes containing or using an engineering T-cell modified with an mRNA comprising, or encoding a protein comprising, certain sequences licensed under the Biogen Agreement for the prevention, treatment, palliation and management
of autoimmune diseases and disorders, excluding cancers, neoplastic disorders, and paraneoplastic disorders. The Company is not obligated to pay Biogen any expenses, fees, or royalties.
The Company may terminate the Biogen Agreement for any reason or no reason, and Biogen may terminate the agreement after a notice-and-cure period of 30 days if the Company fails to pay a fee owed to Biogen or for any other material breach of the agreement. The Biogen Agreement will otherwise expire when all claims of all issued patents within the patents and patent applications licensed to the Company under the Biogen Agreement have expired or been finally rendered revoked, invalid or unenforceable by a decision of a court or government agency.
The Biogen Agreement encompasses patents and patent applications in the PCT/US2010/026825 patent family, which was filed March 10, 2010. In general, all patents that issue in this family have an expected expiration date of March 10, 2030, subject to potential patent term adjustments and/or extensions. For the U.S. patents and applications in this family, U.S. Patent 9,034,324 was awarded 677 days of patent term adjustment, which would extend the expiration date of this patent to January 16, 2032, absent any challenges to the patent term. The other issued patent in this family was not awarded any patent term adjustment, so its expected expiration date is March 10, 2030.
National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health
Effective September 16, 2019, the Company entered into a nonexclusive, worldwide license agreement, or the NCI Agreement, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, represented by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, or NCI.
Under the NCI Agreement, the Company was granted a license under certain NCI patents and patent applications designated in the agreement, to make, use, sell, offer and import products and processes within the scope of the patents and applications licensed under the NCI Agreement when developing and manufacturing anti-BCMA CAR-T cell products for the treatment of myasthenia gravis, pemphigus vulgaris, and immune thrombocytopenic purpura according to methods designated in the NCI Agreement.
In connection with the Company’s entry into the NCI Agreement, Old Cartesian paid to NCI a one-time $0.1 million license royalty payment. Under the NCI Agreement, the Company is further required to pay NCI a low five-digit annual royalty. The Company must also pay earned royalties on net sales in a low single-digit percentage and pay up to $0.8 million in benchmark royalties upon the Company’s achievement of designated benchmarks that are based on the commercial development plan agreed between the parties.
Under the NCI Agreement, the Company must use reasonable commercial efforts to bring licensed products and licensed processes to the point of Practical Application (as defined in the NCI Agreement). Upon the Company’s first commercial sale, the Company must use reasonable commercial efforts to make licensed products and licensed processes reasonably accessible to the United States public. After the Company’s first commercial sale, the Company must make reasonable quantities of licensed products or materials produced via licensed processes available to patient assistance programs and develop educational materials detailing the licensed products. Unless the Company obtains a waiver from NCI, the Company must have licensed products and licensed processes manufactured substantially in the United States. Prior to the first commercial sale, upon NCI’s request, the Company is obligated to provide NCI with commercially reasonable quantities of licensed products made through licensed processes to be used for in vitro research.
Additionally, the Company must use reasonable commercial efforts to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial of a licensed product by the fourth quarter of 2024, submit a BLA with respect to a licensed product by the fourth quarter of 2026, and make a first commercial sale of a licensed product by the fourth quarter of 2028.
The NCI Agreement terminates upon the expiration of the last to expire of the patent rights licensed thereunder, if not sooner terminated. The NCI Agreement encompasses patents and patent applications in the PCT/US2013/032029 patent family, which was filed March 15, 2013. In general, all patents that issue in this family have an expected expiration of March 15, 2033, subject to potential patent term adjustments and/or extensions. For the U.S. patents and applications in this family, only two patents were awarded patent term adjustments. U.S. Patent 9,765,342 was awarded 297 days of patent term adjustment, which would extend the expiration date of this patent to January 6, 2034, absent any challenges to the patent term. The other patent, U.S. Patent 10,876,123, was awarded three days of patent term adjustment, but this patent is subject to terminal disclaimers filed against other family members, so this patent will not extend beyond the March 15, 2033 date. The other issued patents in this family were not awarded any patent term adjustment, so the expected expiration date for these patents also remains March 15, 2033. There is also a pending patent application which, if issued, will expire on March 15, 2033, but could also be subject to patent term adjustment and to any potential future terminal disclaimers.
NCI has the right to terminate the NCI Agreement, after giving written notice and providing a cure period in accordance with its terms, if the Company is in default of a material obligation. The Company has the unilateral right to terminate the agreement in any country or territory by giving NCI 60 days’ written notice. The Company agreed to indemnify NCI against any liability arising out of the Company’s, sublicensees’ or third parties’ use of the licensed patent rights and licensed products or licensed processes developed in connection with the licensed patent rights.
Genovis AB (publ.)
License Agreement
In October 2021, the Company entered into the Genovis Agreement with Genovis. Under the Genovis Agreement, the Company paid to Genovis an upfront payment in exchange for an exclusive license to the Xork enzyme technology across all therapeutic uses in humans, excluding research, preclinical, diagnostic and other potential non-therapeutic applications of the enzyme. Genovis was eligible to earn from the Company development and sales-based milestones and sublicensing fees. The Genovis Agreement was assessed for collaboration components and was determined not to be within the scope of ASC 808 as the risk and rewards are not shared by both parties. The Company was to expense costs related to the Genovis Agreement as incurred until regulatory approval was received in accordance with ASC 730. The Company would have assessed the capitalization of costs incurred after the receipt of regulatory approval and, if applicable, would have amortized these payments based on the expected useful life of each asset, typically based on the expected commercial exclusivity period. The Company was also obligated to pay Genovis tiered royalties of low double digit percentages of worldwide annual net sales of collaboration products which would have been expensed as the commercial sales occurred.
In February 2023, the Company made a $4.0 million payment to Genovis as a result of the sublicense of Xork to Astellas. See Note 13 to these unaudited consolidated financial statements for further discussion on the Astellas Agreement.
In March 2024, the Company notified Genovis of its intention to terminate the Genovis Agreement, which occurred effective September 13, 2024.
Shenyang Sunshine Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd
In May 2014, the Company entered into a license agreement, or the 3SBio License, with Shenyang Sunshine Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., or 3SBio. The Company has paid to 3SBio an aggregate of $7.0 million in upfront and milestone-based payments under the 3SBio License as of March 31, 2025. The Company is required to make future payments to 3SBio contingent upon the occurrence of events related to the achievement of clinical and regulatory approval milestones of up to an aggregate of $15.0 million for products containing the Company’s ImmTOR platform.