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LICENSED TECHNOLOGY
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]  
LICENSED TECHNOLOGY
NOTE 3 – LICENSED TECHNOLOGY
 
On May 15, 2015, we acquired Abeona Therapeutics LLC which had a an exclusive license through Nationwide Children’s Hospital to the AB-101 and AB-102 patent portfolios for developing treatments for patients with Sanfilippo Syndrome Type A and Type B. The license is amortized over the life of the license of 20 years.
 
On August 3, 2016, we announced we entered into an agreement (the “EB Agreement”) with EB Research Partnership (“EBRP”) and Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation (“EBMRF”) to collaborate on gene therapy treatments for EB. The EB Agreement became effective August 3, 2016, on the execution of two licensing agreements with The Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”) described below.
 
We also entered into a license with Stanford for the AAV-based gene therapy EB-201 (AAV DJ COL7A1) technology, and we shall perform preclinical development and perform clinical trials of a gene therapy treatment for EB based upon such in-licensed technology. EB-201 (AAV DJ COL7A1) is a pre-clinical candidate targeting a novel, AAV-mediated gene editing and delivery approach (known as homologous recombination) to correct gene mutations in skin cells (keratinocytes) for patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). The licenses are amortized over the life of the license of 20 years.
 
On September 22, 2014, we entered into an exclusive, worldwide, licensing agreement with Plasma Technologies LLC (“Plasmatech”) to obtain rights to utilize and to sub-license to other pharmaceuticals firms, its patented methods for the extraction of therapeutic biologics from human plasma. The license was to be amortized over the life of the patent of 11 years. Under the terms of the licensing agreement, as amended on January 23, 2015, we paid a license fee of $1 million in cash, will pay $4,000,000 in cash or 1,096,151 shares of our common stock in 2017 and other possible milestones.
 
On May 26, 2017, we entered into agreements with Plasmatech and Acestor Therapeutics LLC (“Acestor”). Abeona would hold an 80% membership interest in Acestor and Plasmatech would hold the remaining 20% membership interest in Acestor. Acestor was formed for the purposes of seeking additional financing in the amount of approximately $5,000,000 to develop and commercialize the technology of that certain license agreement for certain patent rights that was granted to Abeona from Plasmatech on September 19, 2014 and amended January 23, 2015 (“License Agreement”). The License Agreement was transferred to Acestor and the amortization of the licensed technology ceased on May 26, 2017. In addition, Abeona’s payment obligation of $4,000,000 to Plasmatech was waived and replaced with an obligation of Acestor to pay Plasmatech 10% of the aggregate proceeds in respect of any financing (whether public of private) undertaken by Acestor on or before November 26, 2017. A gain of $127,000 to reflect this transaction was recorded in the second quarter of 2017. In December 2017 the agreements were terminated and the technology was returned to Plasmatech.
 
Licensed technology consists of the following:
 
 
 
December 31,
 
 
 
2017
 
2016
 
Licensed technology
 
$
4,608,000
 
$
9,608,000
 
Less accumulated amortization
 
 
631,000
 
 
1,224,000
 
Licensed technology, net
 
$
3,977,000
 
$
8,384,000
 
 
Amortization on licensed technology was $534,000 and $677,000 for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The aggregate estimated amortization expense for intangible assets remaining as of December 31, 2017 is as follows (in thousands):
 
2018
 
$
346
 
2019
 
 
346
 
2020
 
 
346
 
2021
 
 
346
 
2022
 
 
346
 
Thereafter
 
 
2,247
 
Total
 
$
3,977