Note 5 - Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Commitments and Contingencies

Significant Contracts and Agreements

In February 2002, the Company entered into an agreement to license certain intellectual property with Johns Hopkins University. The agreement calls for payments to be made by the Company upon the commencement of product sales, in the form of a royalty of 2.5% on net sales of the product. As of September 30, 2015 the Company has not commenced product sales and therefore has recognized no royalties on product sales.

In July 2015, the Company entered into a manufacturing services agreement with Lonza LTD (“Lonza”) for the processing, development and manufacture of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”) in its lead product candidate, vonapanitase. Under the agreement, the Company will execute purchase orders authorizing Lonza to manufacture the batches and will pay for the services and batches in accordance with terms and assumptions in the agreement and to be set forth in a project plan.

Operating Leases

Future minimum payments required under operating leases as of September 30, 2015 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

Year Ending December 31:	Amount

2015	$	42
2016		168
2017		168
2018		84
Total minimum lease payments	$	462

Rental expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 was $139,000. In addition to the base rent, the Company is also responsible for its share of operating expenses and real estate taxes, in accordance with the terms of the lease agreement. As of September 30, 2015, the Company has provided a security deposit in the amount of $14,000 to the lessor.

Restricted cash related to facilities leases

At September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company had $14,000 and $38,000, respectively, in an outstanding letter of credit to be used as collateral for leased premises. At September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company pledged an aggregate of $14,000 and $39,000, respectively, to the bank as collateral for the letter of credit, which is included in long-term assets and both short-term deposits and long-term assets, respectively.