v3.26.1
Collaborations
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2026
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Collaborations

5. Collaborations

Gilead Agreement

Agreement Terms

On June 25, 2025, the Company entered into an exclusive option and license agreement (the “Gilead Agreement”) with Gilead Sciences, Inc. (“Gilead”), to collaborate on developing novel molecular glue degraders directed against cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (“CDK2”). Under the Gilead Agreement, the Company granted to Gilead an exclusive option, exercisable during a defined option period, to exercise an exclusive, worldwide license to develop, manufacture, and commercialize certain CDK2 degraders generated under the collaboration.

Pursuant to the Gilead Agreement, the Company is responsible for all discovery and preclinical research activities through the delivery of a complete data package as defined in the agreement. If, after receiving the complete data package, Gilead exercises its option to license the program, Gilead will have global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize all products resulting from the collaboration.

If Gilead does not exercise the option during the option period defined in the agreement, then the Gilead Agreement will terminate. Following option exercise, the Gilead Agreement will expire on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis upon the expiration of all royalty obligations under the agreement. Gilead may terminate the agreement for convenience upon advance written notice. Each party may also terminate the agreement for material breach, insolvency, and the agreement may be terminated for certain other customary reasons, including Gilead’s right to terminate certain provisions of the agreement following a change of control of the Company.

In consideration for the exclusive option and rights granted under the Gilead Agreement, the Company received a non-refundable upfront payment of $40.0 million. In addition, if Gilead exercises the option, the Company is entitled to receive an option exercise payment of $45.0 million and will be eligible to receive up to $665.0 million upon the achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones. The Company is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales by Gilead ranging from high single-digit to mid-teen percentages, subject to customary reductions in certain circumstances.

Accounting Treatment

The Company evaluated the Gilead Agreement under ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, and determined that the arrangement represents a contract with a customer. The Company identified the following material promises under the Gilead Agreement: (1) the discovery and preclinical research activities and (2) an option granting Gilead the right to acquire an exclusive license to the program.

The option to acquire an exclusive license to the program was evaluated as a material right. The Company determined that the option to acquire an exclusive license in the future was not priced at a discount, and that the option exercise fee is at or above the standalone selling price for research at this stage of development; as such, the options and the underlying licenses are excluded from the performance obligation and the option exercise fees are excluded from the transaction price until the underlying option is exercised. That is, one performance obligation was identified, the discovery and preclinical research activities.

The Company determined the total transaction price to be $40.0 million, which represents the upfront payment. The option exercise payment and all future milestone and royalty payments are excluded from the initial transaction price as they are contingent on future events and were deemed constrained due to the uncertainty of achievement and the Company’s limited control over their occurrence.

The Company recognizes revenue associated with the performance obligation as the discovery and preclinical research activities are provided using an input method, according to costs incurred and the costs expected to be incurred in the future to satisfy that individual performance obligation. The transfer of control occurs over this time period and, in management’s judgment, is the best measure of progress towards satisfying each performance obligation. As of March 31, 2026, the Company's performance obligation has been fully satisfied. For the three months ended March 31, 2026, the Company recognized $34.4 million in revenue under the Gilead Agreement, all of which was recorded in deferred revenue as of December 31, 2025. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the company did not recognize any revenue under the Gilead Agreement. The aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the Company’s unsatisfied performance obligations and recorded in deferred revenue as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025 was $0 and $34.4 million, respectively. This decrease was the result of revenue recognized for the three months ended March 31, 2026.

As of March 31, 2026, all option and milestone payments were constrained as the achievement of such milestones are contingent upon the success of activities and decisions and are generally outside the control of the Company. Any amounts related to the option exercise fee or milestone payments will be included in the transaction price and recognized on a cumulative catch-up basis when the risk of revenue reversal is resolved. Royalties and commercial milestone payments, if any, will be recognized at the later of when the related sales occur or when the associated performance obligation has been satisfied.

 

Sanofi Agreement

Agreement Terms

On July 7, 2020, the Company entered into a collaboration agreement, or the Sanofi Agreement, with Sanofi, to co-develop drug candidates directed to two biological targets. Under the Sanofi Agreement, the Company granted to Sanofi a worldwide exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize certain lead compounds generated during the collaboration directed against IRAK4, or Collaboration Target 1, and one additional undisclosed target in an undisclosed field of use, or Collaboration Target 2. Such license is exercisable on a collaboration target-by-collaboration target basis only after specified milestones. For compounds directed against IRAK4, the field of use includes diagnosis, treatment, cure, mitigation or prevention of any diseases, disorders or conditions, excluding oncology and immuno-oncology.

Pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, the Company is responsible for discovery and preclinical research and conducting a Phase 1 clinical trial for at least one degrader directed against IRAK4 plus up to three backup degraders. With respect to both targets, Sanofi is responsible for development, manufacturing, and commercialization of product candidates after a specified development milestone occurs with respect to each collaboration candidate.

In addition, pursuant to the Sanofi Agreement, Sanofi will grant to the Company an exclusive option, or Opt-In Right, exercisable on a collaboration target-by-collaboration target basis that will include the right to (i) fund 50% of the United States development costs for collaboration products directed against such target in the applicable field of use and (ii) share equally in the net profits and net losses of commercializing collaboration products directed against such target in the applicable field of use in the United States. In addition, if the Company exercises the Opt-In Right, Sanofi will grant to the Company an exclusive option, applicable to each collaboration target, which upon exercise will allow the Company to conduct certain co-promotion activities in the field in the United States.

The Sanofi Agreement, unless earlier terminated, will expire on a product-by-product basis on the date of expiration of all payment obligations under the Sanofi Agreement with respect to such product. The Company or Sanofi may terminate the agreement upon the other party’s material breach or insolvency or for certain patent challenges. In addition, Sanofi may terminate the Sanofi Agreement for convenience or for a material safety event upon advance prior written notice, and the Company may terminate the Sanofi Agreement with respect to any collaboration candidate if, following Sanofi’s assumption of responsibility for the development, commercialization or manufacturing of collaboration candidates with respect to a particular target, Sanofi ceases to exploit any collaboration candidates directed to such target for a specified period.

In consideration for the exclusive licenses granted to Sanofi under the Sanofi Agreement, Sanofi paid to us an upfront payment of $150.0 million. In addition to the upfront payment, under the agreement we were eligible to receive certain development milestone payments of up to $1.48 billion, and commercial milestone payments of up to $700.0 million, in the aggregate. We will further be eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales ranging from the high single digits to high teens, subject to low-single digits upward adjustments in certain circumstances.

On November 15, 2022, we entered into an Amended and Restated Collaboration and License Agreement with Sanofi, or the Amended Sanofi Agreement, which amended the Original Sanofi Agreement to revise certain research terms and responsibilities set forth under the Original Sanofi Agreement. The Amended Sanofi Agreement also specifies details around the timing and number of Phase 2 trials required under the terms of the collaboration. The Amended Sanofi Agreement became effective on December 5, 2022.

Additionally with respect to Sanofi, on December 2, 2022, Sanofi provided the Company with written notice of its intention to advance the collaboration target 1 candidate, KT-474, into Phase 2 clinical trials. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company achieved two milestones of $40.0 million and $15.0 million relating to the dosing of the first patient in the Phase 2 clinical trial for the first and second indications, respectively. Further, in July 2024, the Company announced that Sanofi intends to expand the ongoing Phase 2 trials to more rapidly progress towards pivotal studies with the intention of accelerating overall timelines. In the first quarter of 2025, the Company achieved a development milestone related to certain preclinical activities associated with the IRAK4 program. In connection with this milestone the Company unconstrained $20.0 million of consideration in the first quarter of 2025.

In September 2023, the Company and Sanofi mutually agreed to cease activities related to Collaboration Target 2.

In June 2025, Sanofi communicated its decision to exercise its full participation election under the terms of the companies’ collaboration agreement, and to advance KT-485/SAR447971, into clinical testing. As a result, Sanofi intends to stop development of KT-474. In connection with the IRAK4 program, the Company remains eligible to receive up to $975 million in development and commercial milestones upon the achievement of certain developmental or regulatory events and upon the achievement of certain net sales thresholds.

Accounting Treatment

The Company analyzed the discovery and preclinical research activities as well as the exclusive license grants under the Sanofi Agreement and concluded that the arrangement was indicative of a vendor-customer relationship and would be accounted for under ASC 606.

The Company identified the following material promises under the arrangement: (1) research services for Collaboration Target 1, (2) research license for Collaboration Target 1, (3) exclusive license for Collaboration Target 1, (4) research services for Collaboration Target 2, (5) research license for Collaboration Target 2, (6) exclusive license for Collaboration Target 2, (7) option to extend the research term, and (8) optional research services during the development period.

The Company determined that Collaboration Targets 1 and 2 are distinct from each other. The research associated with degraders directed to each target is at different stages and the licensed field, should development activities be successful, are different from each other. As such, all promises associated with each target are considered distinct from promises associated with the other target.

The research and development services for each collaboration target were determined not to be distinct from the research license and the exclusive license and have been combined into a single performance obligation for each collaboration target. That is, two performance obligations were identified, the combined research services, research license and exclusive license for Collaboration Target 1 and the combined research services, research license and exclusive license for Collaboration Target 2. The exclusive license for each target is not distinct from the preclinical and clinical research and development services under the Sanofi Agreement, primarily due to the highly specialized nature of the research and novel technology involved with developing protein degraders – the preclinical activities and studies and first phase 1 clinical trial could not be conducted by another party in the manner required.

The option to extend the research term and optional research services during the development period were evaluated as material rights. The fees associated with each option are at or above the standalone selling price. As such, the underlying options are not performance obligations and fees associated with each option are excluded from the transaction price until the underlying option is exercised.

The Company determined the total transaction price to be $150.0 million, which consists solely of the upfront payment. All milestone payments and option payments were constrained as the achievement of such milestones are contingent upon the success of the underlying research and development activities and are generally outside the control of the Company. The reimbursement of costs for the IRAK4 backup degrader is also treated as constrained variable consideration as the criteria for reimbursement may not always be met, under which circumstances the Company would be responsible for the costs related to the backup degrader. Upon becoming unconstrained, the reimbursement consideration will be added to the transaction price and allocated to Collaboration Target 1.

The Company allocated the upfront payment to each performance obligation based on the relative standalone selling price, as follows:

Collaboration Target 1: $120.0 million
Collaboration Target 2: $30.0 million

The Company recognizes revenue associated with each performance obligation as the research and development services are provided using an input method, according to costs incurred as related to the research and development activities for each individual program and the costs expected to be incurred in the future to satisfy that individual performance obligation. The transfer of control occurs over this time period and, in management’s judgment, is the best measure of progress towards satisfying each performance obligation. Milestone and reimbursement consideration added to the transaction price will be recognized as revenue with a cumulative catch-up upon becoming unconstrained.

With Sanofi's exercise of its full participation election under the agreement for Collaboration Target 1, the performance obligations associated with Collaboration Target 1 & Collaboration Target 2 have been fully satisfied.

In the three months ended March 31, 2026, the Company recognized $0 million in revenue under the Sanofi Agreement. In the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company recognized $22.1 million in revenue under the Sanofi Agreement, all of which was associated with Collaboration Target 1. The aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the Company’s unsatisfied performance obligations and recorded in deferred revenue decreased to $0 at both March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company achieved two development milestones relating to the dosing of the first patient in the KT-474 Phase 2 clinical trials for the first and second indications, respectively. In connection with these milestones the Company unconstrained $55.0 million of consideration in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, the Company achieved a development milestone related to certain preclinical activities associated with the IRAK4 program. During the three months ended March 31, 2026, the Company recognized $0 of revenue from the unconstrained milestones. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company recognized $19.8 million of revenue from unconstrained milestones.

The following table presents the changes in accounts receivable, contract assets and contract liabilities for the three months ended March 31, 2026 (in thousands):

 

 

 

Balance at
December 31, 2025

 

 

Additions

 

 

Deductions

 

 

Balance at
March 31, 2026

 

Contract liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deferred Revenue - Gilead

 

 

34,365

 

 

 

 

 

 

(34,365

)

 

 

 

Total contract liabilities

 

$

34,365

 

 

$

 

 

$

(34,365

)

 

$