v3.25.2
Statera License Agreement
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2025
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Statera License Agreement

7. Statera License Agreement

 

On February 11, 2025, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement (the “License Agreement”) with Statera, pursuant to which the Company acquired (i) an exclusive worldwide license to the patented Toll-like Receptor 5 (“TLR5”) agonist lead program of Statera known as Entolimod (the “Licensed Molecules”) as it relates to the ARS indication (the “Initial Indication”) and (ii) an exclusive option (the “Exclusive Option”) to acquire the exclusive worldwide license to additional indications, including lymphocyte exhaustion, immunosenescence, neutropenia and/or for use as a vaccine adjuvant (the “Subsequent Indications”) and to the optimized TLR5 agonist follow-on program of Statera known as Entolasta.

 

Under the terms of the License Agreement, Statera granted the Company an exclusive worldwide license, with the right to grant and authorize sublicenses, under Statera’s patents, trademarks, know-how and other intellectual property, to develop, test, make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale, import and otherwise exploit the product Entolimod as it relates to the Initial Indication during the term of the License Agreement.

 

As consideration for the License Agreement, the Company agreed to pay Statera a license fee of $1.5 million, consisting of (i) $300 thousand in cash consideration and (ii) $1.2 million in stock consideration, as discussed further in Notes 9 and 10 below. As additional consideration for the License Agreement, the Company agreed to pay Statera certain royalty payments on net sales for the ARS indication as a single agent, and, if it exercises the Exclusive Option with respect to any Subsequent Indication, net sales for such Subsequent Indications, within certain royalty periods.

 

The License Agreement further provides the Company with the Exclusive Option to expand the Initial Indications to include the treatment of the Subsequent Indications or to expand the use from a single agent to include uses as vaccine adjuvant, or several or all of them, at any time during the term of the License Agreement, and on one or more occasions, at its discretion. As part of exercise of the Exclusive Option, the license grant would be expanded to include uses of Entolasta, in addition to Entolimod, both for ARS and for the Subsequent Indications for which the Company has exercised its Exclusive Option.

In conjunction with the License Agreement, Statera additionally transferred to the Company the title to approximately fifteen kilograms (15kg) of frozen manufactured Entolimod bulk drug substance and bulk/finished drug product lots and associated quality records associated with their production and applicable verification records (the “Materials”). In connection with this acquisition of ownership of the Materials, the Company will be negotiating a $1 per year lease with an affiliate of Statera for the proper care, storage and handling of the Materials. The Company determined that the fair value associated with the Entolimod lots and associated lease was not material to the transaction.

 

The License Agreement also includes a buyout provision (the “Buyout”) by which the Company maintains the right to acquire from Statera at any time all right, title and interest in and to all technology licensed or otherwise subject to the Exclusive Option under the License Agreement. Should the Company elect to invoke this buyout right, it must provide Statera with a buyout payment equal to (a) the lesser of (i) the aggregate amount of payments due to Statera for achievement of all milestone events (described below), less the amount of payments paid for the achievement of one or more of such milestone events, and (ii) an amount negotiated in good faith and mutually agreed by the parties in writing as representing the risk adjusted net present value of the aggregate royalties that would have been payable absent such exercise; less (b) the amount of payments paid or payable by the Company to extinguish an existing lien on the licensed technology.

 

The Company makes certain judgments to determine whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions of assets or as business combinations. If it is determined that substantially all of the fair value of gross assets acquired in a transaction is concentrated in a single asset (or a group of similar assets), the transaction is treated as an acquisition of assets. The Company evaluates the inputs, processes, and outputs associated with the acquired set of activities and assets. If the assets in a transaction include an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create outputs, the transaction is treated as an acquisition of a business. The Company’s assessments concluded that the transactions pursuant to the License Agreement constitute an asset acquisition.

The Company determined the acquisition constituted an acquisition of assets instead of a business combination, as substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired was concentrated in a group of similar identifiable assets, and therefore, the acquisition was not considered a business combination. In transactions accounted for as acquisitions of assets, no goodwill is recorded and contingent consideration, such as payments upon achievement of various developmental, regulatory and commercial milestones, generally is not recognized at the acquisition date. In an asset acquisition, up front payments allocated to in-process research and development (“IPRD”) projects at the acquisition date are expensed unless there is an alternative future use. In addition, product development milestones are expensed upon achievement. As the Company is recording the transaction as an asset acquisition under ASC 805, the contingent payments will be recognized upon achievement and at that time will be expensed to in-process research and development, or capitalized,

depending on the determination if there is alternative future use of the purchase. Transaction costs of approximately $243 thousand associated with the acquisition were capitalized as part of the acquisition.

 

The License Agreement obligates the Company to develop and commercialize the licensed products, at its own cost and expense, inclusive of licensed products with respect to any Subsequent Indications obtained upon exercise of an Exclusive Option. In the development and commercialization process, the Company is obligated to meet certain milestones, and must provide Statera with certain milestone payments, payable in either the form of cash or Company stock (at the sole discretion of the Company), upon accomplishing each milestone as outlined below.

Event

 

Payment

 

Validation of current inventory of Materials for distribution and sales

 

$

750,000

 

Filing of BLA with FDA for Acute Radiation Syndrome

 

 

1,000,000

 

Total Acute Radiation Syndrome Development Milestones

 

$

1,750,000

 

 

Upon exercise of an Exclusive Option with respect to one or more Subsequent Indications, the following corresponding applicable milestones and milestone payments (all milestone payments, collectively, the “Milestone Payments”), payable in in either the cash or Company stock (at the sole discretion of the Company), become obligations of the Company as well:

Event

 

Payment

 

File IND and Initiate Phase 2 Clinical Study for Neutropenia

 

$

500,000

 

Phase III Completion - successfully meets endpoint required to secure FDA approval for treatment of Neutropenia

 

 

750,000

 

File BLA with FDA and achieve FDA Approval for Neutropenia

 

 

1,500,000

 

File IND and Initiate Phase 2 study of Lymphocyte Exhaustion

 

 

500,000

 

Phase III Completion - successfully meets endpoint required by FDA for treatment of Lymphocye Exhaustion

 

 

750,000

 

File BLA with FDA and achieve FDA Approval for Lymphocyte Exhaustion

 

 

1,500,000

 

IND approval and initiation of Phase 3 study as a Vaccine Adjuvant

 

 

500,000

 

File US BLA with FDA and achieve FDA Approval for use as a Vaccine Adjuvant

 

 

500,000

 

Total Potential Development Milestones for additional Indications (as applicable)

 

$

6,500,000

 

 

Pursuant to the License Agreement, in the event that the Company exercises its Exclusive Option with respect to one or more Subsequent Indications, the Company may elect, in its sole discretion, to accelerate any of the Milestone Payments in advance of the milestone achievements.

 

On March 28, 2025, the Company notified Statera of its election to exercise its Exclusive Option to acquire the exclusive worldwide license to the neutropenia indication for Entolimod under the License Agreement (the “Neutropenia Option”) and to accelerate the first milestone payment of $500 thousand related to the neutropenia indication (the “Neutropenia Milestone Payment”), payable by the Company in connection with the filing of an IND and initiation of a Phase 2 clinical study for neutropenia. The Company paid the $500 thousand Neutropenia Milestone Payment paid in Company stock, as discussed further in Notes 9 and 10 below, and was capitalized as licensed technology.

 

As a result of the Company’s exercise of the Neutropenia Option, the Company is obligated to develop and commercialize the expanded licensed products related to the neutropenia indication, at its own cost and expense, including to meet those milestones discussed above, and is obligated to pay the milestone payments, other than the Neutropenia Option, upon accomplishing each such milestone.

 

On June 18, 2025, the Company entered into an Amended and Restated Exclusive License Agreement (the “A&R License Agreement”) with Statera, which amended certain terms of the License Agreement to, amongst other things, (i) provide that the payment of royalties pursuant to the A&R License Agreement, if any, may be made by the Company in either cash or securities of the Company, at the discretion of the Company; (ii) increase the approximate amount of the lien held by Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P. (“Avenue”) to up to $5.6 Million (the “Payoff Amount”); and (iii) provide that, other than the original license fee paid by the Company to Statera in connection with the closing of the license transaction in February 2025 and payment of the Neutropenia Milestone Payment, until such date that the Payoff Amount has been paid in full to Avenue, all subsequent payments due to Statera under the A&R License Agreement shall be paid by the Company as follows: 20% of any such payments shall be paid to Statera and 80% of any such payments shall be paid directly to Avenue on behalf of Statera.