MAYO LICENSE AGREEMENT

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

MAYO LICENSE AGREEMENT

MAYO LICENSE AGREEMENT

MAYO LICENSE AGREEMENT 

In June 2009, the Company entered into a license agreement with Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (“Mayo”). The Company’s license agreement with Mayo was amended and restated in February 2015 and further amended in January 2016, October 2017 and January 2019. Under the license agreement, Mayo granted the Company an exclusive, worldwide license to certain Mayo patents and patent applications, as well as a non-exclusive, worldwide license with regard to certain Mayo know-how. The scope of the license covers any screening, surveillance or diagnostic test or tool for use in connection with any type of cancer, pre-cancer, disease or condition. 

The licensed Mayo patents and patent applications contain both method and composition claims that relate to sample processing, analytical testing and data analysis associated with nucleic acid screening for cancers and other diseases. The jurisdictions covered by these patents and patent applications include the U.S., Australia, Canada, the European Union, China, Japan and Korea. Under the license agreement, the Company assumed the obligation and expense of prosecuting and maintaining the licensed Mayo patents and is obligated to make commercially reasonable efforts to bring to market products using the licensed Mayo intellectual property.

Pursuant to the Company’s agreement with Mayo, the Company is required to pay Mayo a low single-digit royalty on the Company’s net sales of products using the licensed Mayo intellectual property each year during the term of the Mayo agreement. The January 2016 amendment to the Mayo license agreement established various low-single-digit royalty rates on net sales of current and future products and clarified how net sales will be calculated. As part of the January 2016 and October 2017 amendments, the royalty rate on the Company's net sales of Cologuard increased but the rate remains a low-single-digit percentage of net sales.

In addition to the royalties described above, the Company is required pay Mayo cash of $0.2 million, $0.8 million and $2.0 million upon each product using the licensed Mayo intellectual property reaching $5.0 million, $20.0 million and $50.0 million in cumulative net sales, respectively.

As part of the February 2015 amendment and restatement of the license agreement, the Company agreed to pay Mayo an additional $5.0 million, payable in five annual installments, through 2019. The Company paid Mayo the annual installment of $1.0 million in the first quarter of each of 2015 through 2019.

The license agreement will remain in effect, unless earlier terminated by the parties in accordance with the agreement, until the last of the licensed patents expires in 2037 (or later, if certain licensed patent applications are issued). However, if the Company is still using the licensed Mayo know-how or certain Mayo-provided biological specimens or their derivatives on such expiration date, the term shall continue until the earlier of the date the Company stops using such know-how and materials and the date that is five years after the last licensed patent expires. The license agreement contains customary termination provisions and permits Mayo to terminate the license agreement if the Company sues Mayo or its affiliates, other than any such suit claiming an uncured material breach by Mayo of the license agreement.

In addition to granting the Company a license to the covered Mayo intellectual property, Mayo provides the Company with product development and research and development assistance pursuant to the license agreement and other collaborative arrangements. In connection with this collaboration, the Company incurred charges of $4.8 million, $4.5 million, and $3.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Certain of Mayo's obligations to provide development assistance expired in January 2020. The Company and Mayo are in discussions to amend the license agreement to extend that date.