Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies

v3.23.3
Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

10. Commitments and Contingencies

Operating Lease

On January 8, 2019, the Company entered into a lease (the “HQ Lease”) with respect to approximately 52,859 square feet of space in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a lease term commencing in January 2019 and ending in February 2030. The Company has the option to extend the lease term for one additional ten-year period. The HQ Lease has escalating rent payments and the Company records rent expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the HQ Lease, including any rent-free periods.

In connection with the execution of the HQ Lease, the Company was required to provide the landlord with a letter of credit in the amount of $3.1 million (See Note 7). The Company determined that, for purposes of applying the lease accounting guidance codified in ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASC 842”), the commencement date of the HQ Lease occurred on May 1, 2019. The Company recorded a right-of-use asset and lease liability of $15.8 million using an incremental borrowing rate of 9.3%, net of tenant allowances expected to be received of $9.3 million, on the May 1, 2019 lease commencement date. The Company is amortizing the tenant allowance to offset rent expenses over the term of the HQ Lease starting at the lease commencement date on a straight-line basis. On the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets, the Company classified $2.2 million of the lease liability as short-term and $19.1 million of the lease liability as long-term as of September 30, 2023.

The Company elected the practical expedient provided under ASC 842 and therefore combined all lease and non-lease components when determining the right-of-use asset and lease liability for the HQ Lease.

The following is a maturity analysis of the annual undiscounted cash flows reconciled to the carrying value of the operating lease liabilities as of September 30, 2023 (in thousands):

 

 

Operating

 

 

 

 

 

Three Months ending December 31, 2023

 

$

1,027

 

Year ending December 31, 2024

 

 

4,166

 

Year ending December 31, 2025

 

 

4,287

 

Year ending December 31, 2026

 

 

4,412

 

Year ending December 31, 2027 and beyond

 

 

14,844

 

Total minimum lease payments

 

 

28,736

 

Less imputed interest

 

 

(7,351

)

Total lease liability

 

$

21,385

 

 

The following table outlines the total lease cost for the Company’s operating leases as well as weighted average information for these leases as of September 30, 2023 (in thousands):

 

 

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023

 

Lease cost:

 

 

 

Operating lease cost

 

$

2,316

 

Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of liabilities:

 

 

 

Operating cash flows from operating lease

 

$

3,021

 

 

 

 

Other information:

 

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023

 

Weighted-average remaining lease term (in years) - operating lease

 

 

6.67

 

Weighted-average discount rate - operating lease

 

 

9.30

 

Following the adoption of ASC 842, the Company has a right-of-use asset and lease liability that results in recording a temporary tax difference. This temporary tax difference is the result of recognizing a right-of-use asset and related lease liability while such asset and liability have no corresponding tax basis.

Asset Purchase Agreement

Orsenix, LLC

On December 4, 2020, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Asset Purchase Agreement”) with Orsenix, LLC (“Orsenix”), pursuant to which the Company acquired Orsenix’s assets related to a novel oral form of arsenic trioxide, which the Company refers to as SY-2101. Under the terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement, the Company is required to pay to Orsenix:

an upfront fee of $12.0 million, which was paid with cash on hand upon the closing of the transaction;
single-digit million dollar milestone payments related to the development of SY-2101 in indications other than APL;
$6.0 million following the achievement of a regulatory milestone related to the development of SY-2101 in APL; and
up to $10.0 million upon the achievement of certain commercial milestones with respect to SY-2101.

The Company’s obligation to pay the commercial milestone payments expires following the tenth anniversary of the first commercial sale of SY-2101. The Asset Purchase Agreement requires the Company to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize SY-2101 for APL in the United States during such period, and to use commercially reasonable efforts to dose the first patient in a Phase 3 clinical trial of SY-2101 on or before the third anniversary of the closing of the transaction; however, the Company retains sole discretion to operate the acquired assets as it determines. The assets acquired from Orsenix do not meet the definition of a business under ASC 805 “Business Combinations” (“ASC 805”) because substantially all of the fair value of the assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset, the rights to SY-2101. Furthermore, as the acquired asset does not include a substantive process, the asset does not meet the minimum requirements to be considered a business under ASC 805. As SY-2101 does not have an alternative future use, the Company recorded the $12.0 million upfront cash payment as research and development expense on the date of acquisition in December 2020. The Company will expense any future milestone payments made prior to the time an alternative future use for SY-2101 has been established. Once an alternative future use for SY-2101 has been established, the Company will capitalize milestone payments as an addition to the carrying value of SY-2101.

License Agreement

TMRC Co. Ltd.

In September 2015, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with TMRC Co. Ltd. ("TMRC") to develop and commercialize tamibarotene in North America and Europe for the treatment of cancer. This agreement was amended and restated in April 2016, and further amended in January 2021 to expand the territory under which the Company is licensed to include Central and South America, Australia, Israel and Russia.

In exchange for this license, the Company agreed to a non-refundable upfront payment of $1.0 million, for which $0.5 million was paid in September 2015 upon execution of the agreement, and the remaining $0.5 million was paid in May 2016. Under the agreement, the Company is also obligated to make payments upon the successful achievement of clinical and regulatory milestones totaling approximately $13.0 million per indication, defined as a distinct tumor type. The Company paid $1.0 million to TMRC for a development milestone achieved upon the successful dosing of the first patient in its Phase 2 clinical trial of tamibarotene in 2016. In May 2021, the Company paid $2.0 million to TMRC for a development milestone achieved upon the successful dosing of the first patient in its Phase 3 clinical trial of tamibarotene in MDS patients. In September 2021, the Company paid $1.0 million to TMRC for a development milestone achieved upon the successful dosing of the first patient in its Phase 2 clinical trial of tamibarotene in AML patients. In addition, the Company is obligated to pay TMRC a single-digit percentage royalty, on a country-by-country and product-by-product basis, on net product sales of tamibarotene using know-how and patents licensed from TMRC in North America and Europe for a defined royalty term.

The Company also entered into a supply management agreement with TMRC under which the Company agreed to pay TMRC a fee for each kilogram of tamibarotene that is produced. The Company incurred fees of $1.8 million under this supply management agreement during both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023. The Company incurred fees of $1.8 million under this supply management agreement during both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022.