12. Commitments and Contingencies

Leases

In September 2017, Bicycle Therapeutics Inc. entered into a lease agreement for office and laboratory space in Lexington, Massachusetts, which commenced on January 1, 2018 and expires on December 31, 2022. Bicycle Therapeutics Inc. has the option to extend for a successive period which is not included in the lease term as it is not reasonably certain that the option will be exercised. In conjunction with the lease agreement, Bicycle Therapeutics Inc. paid a security deposit of $0.2 million as well as prepaid rent of $0.1 million for the first month of the third, fourth, and fifth year of the lease. The deposit is recorded in other assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company has recorded a right‑of‑use asset (inclusive of the impact of prepaid rent) and corresponding lease liability, by calculating the present value of lease payments, discounted at 9%, the incremental borrowing rate, over the lease term.

In October 2017, the Company entered into a lease agreement for office and laboratory space in Building 900, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, U.K., which expires on December 21, 2021. The annual rent is approximately $0.5 million. The Company has the right to renew the lease for five years commencing December 21, 2021, which is not included in the lease term as it is not reasonably certain that the right will be exercised. Service charges are also payable based on floor area and are estimated to be approximately $0.1 million per year. In conjunction with the 2017 lease agreement, the Company paid a security deposit of $0.6 million, which is recorded in other assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company has recorded a right‑of‑use asset and corresponding lease liability, by calculating the present value of lease payments, discounted at 7.75%, the incremental borrowing rate, over the lease term.

The Company identified and assessed the following significant assumptions in recognizing the right‑of‑use assets and corresponding lease liabilities:

Expected lease term — The expected lease term includes both contractual lease periods and, when applicable, cancelable option periods when it is reasonably certain that the Company would exercise such options. The Company has not included any option periods in the expected lease term as it is not reasonably certain that the Company will exercise such options.

Incremental borrowing rate — The Company’s lease agreements do not provide an implicit rate. As the Company does not have any external borrowings for comparable terms of its leases, the Company estimated the incremental borrowing rate by comparing interest rates available in the market for similar borrowings and third‑party quotations.

Lease and non‑lease components — In certain cases, the Company is also responsible for certain additional charges for operating costs, including insurance, maintenance, taxes, and other costs incurred, which are billed based on both usage and as a percentage of the Company’s share of total square footage. The amounts paid are considered non‑lease components. The Company has elected the practical expedient which allows the non‑lease components to be combined with the lease components. The payments for other operating costs are considered variable lease cost and are recognized in the period in which the costs are incurred.

The components of the Company’s lease expense, which are recorded as a component of research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss are as follows (in thousands):


	March 31,
	2020
Operating lease cost	$	223
Variable lease cost		139
Total lease cost	$	362
Weighted‑average remaining operating lease term (years)		2.4
Weighted‑average discount rate		8.56	%

The following table summarizes the maturities of the Company’s operating leases as of March 31, 2020 (in thousands):


Year Ending December 31,
2020	$	743
2021		751
2022		443
2023		—
2024		—
Present value adjustment		(245)
Total lease liabilities	$	1,692
Less: current lease liabilities		(636)
Long term lease liabilities	$	1,056

The Company has entered into various agreements with contract manufacturing organizations to provide clinical trial materials and with vendors for preclinical research studies, synthetic chemistry and other services for operating purposes. These payments are not included in the table of operating lease payments above since the contracts are generally cancelable at any time upon less than 90 days’ prior written notice. The Company is not contractually able to terminate for convenience and avoid any and all future obligations to these vendors. Under such agreements, the Company is contractually obligated to make certain minimum payments to the vendors, with the payments in the event of a termination with less than 90 days’ notice based on the timing of the termination and the exact terms of the agreement.

Legal proceedings

From time to time, the Company or its subsidiaries may become involved in various legal proceedings and claims, either asserted or unasserted, which arise in the ordinary course of business.

In September 2016, the Company’s subsidiary, Bicycle RD Limited (“BicycleRD”), filed a complaint in the District Court of The Hague (the “District Court”) against Pepscan Systems B.V. and its affiliates (“Pepscan”) to contest the right of Pepscan to terminate a non‑exclusive patent license agreement entered into with Pepscan in 2009. BicycleRD included a conditional claim for a ruling that the licensed patent relevant to BicycleRD’s activities is invalid. In response, Pepscan counterclaimed for injunctive relief and unquantified damages. The Company is vigorously prosecuting its claims and defending against those of Pepscan. The Company does not believe that a loss is probable or estimable at this time, and as such, the Company has not recorded a liability related to the Pepscan litigation as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019. Should the Company not be successful in maintaining its rights to Pepscan’s patent or in the Company’s alternative demand that the patent be invalidated, commercialization of the Company’s lead product could be delayed. As the Pepscan patent is expected to expire prior to the expected commercialization date of the product, the Company does not believe that the legal proceedings could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business and operating results.

Founder Royalty arrangements

At the time BicycleRD was organized, BicycleRD entered into a royalty agreement with its founders and initial investors (the “Founder Royalty Agreement”). Pursuant to the Founder Royalty Agreement, as amended in May 2017, the Company will pay a royalty rate in the low single digit percentages on net product sales that could be generated under the collaborations with Oxurion and AstraZeneca to its founders and initial investors, for a period of 10 years from the first commercial sale on a country by country basis. No royalties have been earned or paid under the royalty arrangements to date.

Indemnification obligations

In the ordinary course of business, the Company may provide indemnification of varying scope and terms to vendors, lessors, business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters including, but not limited to, losses arising out of breach of such agreements or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, the Company has indemnification obligations towards members of its board of directors that will require the Company, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make under these indemnification arrangements is, in many cases, unlimited. To date, the Company has not incurred any material costs as a result of such indemnification obligations. The Company is not aware of any claims under indemnification arrangements, and therefore it has not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations in its condensed consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.