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RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

LFB Biotechnologies

 

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.

 

In connection with the LFB License Agreement, LFB Group maintained the right to purchase at least $750,000 in additional shares of common stock at a purchase price per share as defined in a November 2012 securities exchange agreement. Accordingly, in February 2015, LFB Group purchased 114,855 shares of our common stock at a price of $6.53 per share for net proceeds of $750,000. In May 2015, LFB Group exercised its warrant to purchase 2,500,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.001 per share.

  

Under the terms of the LFB License Agreement, we utilize LFB Group for certain development and manufacturing services. We incurred approximately $2.3 million, $8.1 million and $9.3 million in expenses for such services during the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which have been included in other research and development expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. As of December 31, 2017, and 2016, we had zero and approximately $0.4 million, 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 December 31, 2017 and 2016, we recorded zero and approximately $1.3 million, respectively, in prepaid research and development for such advance payments.

 

Other Parties

 

In March 2014, we entered into a shared services agreement (the “Opus 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 CEO, is a Managing Member of Opus. During the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we incurred expenses of zero and approximately $0.3 million, respectively, principally for rent, related to this Opus Shared Services Agreement. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had zero accounts payable related to this Opus Shared Services Agreement. The Opus Shared Services Agreement is no longer in effect as we began occupying new space in April 2016.

 

In October 2014, we entered into an agreement (the “Office Agreement”) with FBIO to occupy approximately 45% of the 24,000 square feet of New York City office space leased by FBIO, which is now our corporate headquarters. The Office Agreement requires us to pay our respective share of the average annual rent and other costs of the 15-year lease. We approximate an average annual rental obligation of $1.1 million under the Office Agreement. We began to occupy this new space in April 2016, with rental payments beginning in the third quarter of 2016. During the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we recorded rent expense of approximately $1.2 million and $1.4 million, and at December 31, 2017, have deferred rent of approximately $1.4 million. Mr. Weiss, our Executive Chairman and CEO, is also Executive Vice Chairman of FBIO.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2017, we agreed to pay FBIO $2.8 million for our portion of the build-out costs, which have been allocated to us at the 45% rate mentioned above. The allocated build-out costs have been recorded in Leasehold Interest on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet and will be amortized over the 15-year term of the Office Agreement. After an initial commitment period of the 45% rate for a period of three (3) years, we and FBIO will determine actual office space utilization annually and if our utilization differs from the amount we have been billed, we will either receive credits or be assessed incremental utilization charges. Also in connection with this lease, in October 2014 we pledged $0.6 million to secure a line of credit as a security deposit for the Office Agreement, which has been recorded as restricted cash in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

 

In July 2015, we entered into a Shared Services Agreement (the “Shared Services Agreement”) with FBIO to share the cost of certain services such as facilities use, personnel costs and other overhead and administrative costs. This Shared Services Agreement requires us to pay our respective share of services utilized. In connection with the Shared Services Agreement, we incurred expenses of approximately $1.2 million and $0.8 million for shared services for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, primarily related to shared personnel.

 

In May 2016, as part of a broader agreement with Jubilant, an India-based biotechnology company, we entered into the JBET Agreement with Checkpoint, a subsidiary of FBIO, for the development and commercialization of Jubilant’s novel BET inhibitor program in the field of hematological malignancies. We paid Checkpoint an up-front licensing fee of $1.0 million in July 2016 and incurred expenses of $0.2 million in March 2017 for the first milestone achievement as part of the JBET Agreement recorded in other research and development in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had approximately $0.3 million and $0.8 million, respectively, recorded in accounts payable, related mostly to the JBET Agreement. Mr. Weiss is also the Executive Chairman of Checkpoint.