RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 8 – RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

On January 30, 2012, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with LFB Biotechnologies, GTC Biotherapeutics and LFB/GTC LLC, all wholly-owned subsidiaries of LFB Group, relating to the development of ublituximab (the “LFB License Agreement”). In connection with the LFB License Agreement LFB Group was issued 5,000,000 shares of common stock, and a warrant to purchase 2,500,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.001 per share. In addition, on November 9, 2012, we nominated Dr. Yann Echelard to our Board of Directors as LFB Group’s nominee. LFB Group maintains the right to nominate a board member until such time as LFB Group owns less than 10% of the outstanding common stock.

Under the terms of the LFB License Agreement, we utilize LFB Group for certain development and manufacturing services. We incurred approximately $1,845,000 and $6,068,000 in expenses for such services during the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, which have been included in other research and development expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. As of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, we had approximately $0 and $1,745,000, respectively, recorded in accounts payable related to the LFB License Agreement. In conjunction with the development and manufacturing services discussed above, certain agreements between us and LFB Group require payments in advance of services performed or goods delivered. Accordingly, as of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2013, we recorded $3,055,345 and $1,629,340, respectively, in prepaid research and development for such advance payments.

In March 2014, we entered into a shared services agreement with Opus Point Partners Management, LLC (“Opus”) in which the parties agreed to share a rented facility and costs for certain other services.  Michael S. Weiss, our Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, is a Managing Member of Opus. During the nine months ended September 30, 2014, we incurred expenses of approximately $80,000, principally for rent, related to this agreement. See discussion in Note 9 for a related party transaction subsequent to September 30, 2014.

As discussed in Note 7 above, in connection with the licensing agreement with Ligand, Opus Point Partners, LLC, who identified the opportunity and advised us on the transaction, will be entitled to receive a 1% royalty for annual sales of up to $1 billion. Michael S. Weiss, our Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, is a Managing Member of Opus Point Partners, LLC.