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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
Commitments and Contingencies
Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies

Lease Commitments:

The Company entered into an agreement for the lease of executive office space from SLG Graybar Sublease LLC at Suite 450, 420 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10170 with a lease term effective April 1, 2009 through June 30, 2013. This serves as the Company’s corporate headquarters. The base monthly rent, which includes storage space, is currently approximately $21,500 per month, scheduled to increase to approximately $22,000 in July 2011. Pursuant to this lease, the Company is obligated to pay on a monthly basis fixed annual rent and certain items as additional rent including utility payments. The security deposit for this property was approximately $157,100.
 
In September 2009, the Company entered into an agreement for the lease of space from Rivertech Associates II, LLC, c/o The Abbey Group at 840 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts with a lease term effective September 1, 2009 through August 31, 2012 (“Main Lease”). The space is being used for general office, research and development, and laboratory space. The base rent under this lease is currently $29,737 per month, scheduled to increase to $30,750 per month in September 2011. In addition, the Company is responsible for certain costs and charges specified in the lease, including utilities, operating expenses and real estate taxes. The security deposit was $84,141. In May 2011, the Company sublet a portion of the Cambridge facility to another life science company.  Monthly-fixed rent under the sublease is approximately $9,333 and the sublet pays certain other expenses.  The Company is assessing its need for the Cambridge facility going forward given the acquisition of PCT with its Allendale, NJ and Mountain View, CA facilities.
 
In May 2009, Qingdao Niao Bio-Technology, one of the Company’s VIEs in China, entered into leases (assigned to NeoStem (China) in February 2010) with Beijing Zhong-guan-cun Life Science Park Development Corp., Ltd. pursuant to which NeoStem (China) is leasing laboratory, office and storage space in Beijing for the aggregate monthly amount of approximately $23,000. Lease payments are due quarterly in advance, and upon entering into the lease a three month security deposit was also paid. The term of the leases is for approximately three years. The Beijing Facility is located at the Life Science Innovation Center, Life Science Park, Zhongguancum, Beijing.
 
 
Qingdao Niao Bio-Technology had been leasing office space in Qingdao since August 2009. The most recent lease was effective through September 2011 at a monthly rent of approximately $1,300, payable as to half the total lease amount by September 2010 and as to the remaining half in March 2011. Qingdao Niao Bio-Technology’s operations have relocated to Tianjin to take advantage of tax and other concessions that are being made available and in May 2011 the Qingdao lease was terminated.  In connection therewith, Tianjin Niou Bio-Technology entered into a one year lease for office space in Tianjin at a monthly rent of approximately $5,000 payable quarterly.
 
In September 2005, PCT entered into a one-year lease directly with Vanni Business Park, LLC, the landlord for the Mountain View, California laboratory space leasing the entire building. This new lease commenced July 1, 2006, with monthly base rent of $26,275. In July 2006, PCT entered into an agreement to amend this lease and extended the term through June 30, 2012, for an initial monthly base rent of $33,782 with yearly escalations thereafter.

The Company leases office and laboratory facilities and certain equipment under certain noncancelable operating leases that expire from time to time through 2015. A summary of future minimum rental payments required under operating leases that have initial or remaining terms in excess of one year as of June 30, 2011 are as follows (in thousands):
 
Years ended
 
Operating Leases
 
2011
 
$
499.5
 
2012
   
723.2
 
2013
   
384.3
 
2014
   
104.2
 
2015
   
53.5
 
Thereafter
   
28.8
 
Total minimum lease payments
 
$
1,793.5
 

Expense incurred under operating leases was approximately $724,600 and $1,137,200 for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011, respectively, and $211,400  and $616,500 for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010, respectively.

Contingencies:

Under license agreements with third parties the Company is typically required to pay maintenance fees, make milestone payments and/or pay other fees and expenses and pay royalties upon commercialization of products.  The Company also sponsors research at various academic institutions, which research agreements generally provide us with an option to license new technology discovered during the course of the sponsored research.

In connection with the issuance to investors and service providers of many of the shares of the Company’s common stock and warrants to purchase common stock previously disclosed and described herein, the Company granted the holders registration rights providing for the registration of such shares of common stock and shares of common stock underlying warrants on a registration statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) so as to permit the resale of those shares. Certain of the registration rights agreements provided for penalties for failure to file or failure to obtain an effective registration statement. With respect to satisfying its obligations to the holders of these registration rights, the Company has been in various situations. The Company had previously filed a registration statement as required for some of the holders, and in May 2011 filed a registration statement for all of the holders (except for holders whose shares of Common Stock are currently salable under Rule 144 of the Securities Act or who waived certain rights), but to date, such registration statement has not been declared effective by the SEC. Certain holders who had outstanding registration rights had previously waived their registration rights or were subject to lock-up agreements. No holder has yet asserted any claim against the Company with respect to a failure to satisfy any registration obligations. Were someone to assert a claim against the Company for breach of registration obligations, the Company believes it has several defenses that would result in relieving it from some or any liability, although no assurances can be given. The Company also notes that damage claims may be limited, as (i) most shares of Common Stock as to which registration rights attached are currently salable under Rule 144 of the Securities Act or are otherwise currently subject to other restrictions on sale and (ii) during much of the relevant periods the warrants with registration rights generally have been out of the money, were subject to lock-up agreements and/or the underlying shares of Common Stock were otherwise subject to restrictions on resale. Accordingly, were holders to assert claims against the Company based on breach of the Company’s obligation to register, the Company believes that the Company’s maximum exposure from non-related parties would not be material.

 
Xiangbei Welman Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. v Suzhou Erye Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Hunan Weichu Pharmacy Co., Ltd.  involves a patent infringement dispute with respect to a particular antibiotics complex manufactured by Erye (the “Product”). The Changsha Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan Province, PRC in the foregoing case rendered a judgment on May 13, 2010 against Erye as follows: (i) awarding plaintiff Xiangbei Welman damages and costs of approximately 5 million RMB (approximately $758,500) against Erye which was fully accrued for at June 30, 2011; and (ii) enjoining Erye from manufacturing, marketing and selling the Product. The Product represented approximately 3.9% and 2.4%, respectively, of Erye’s sales for the three months ended June 30, 2011 and 2010. Erye has appealed the court judgment, and is also engaged in settlement negotiations. On March 21, 2011, Changsha Intermediate Court issued a civil decision suspending the execution of the Preliminary Injunction. Therefore, Erye is currently free to produce, sell or offer to sell the product.  Following the filing of the patent infringement dispute, in 2009 Xiangbei Welman brought a copyright infringement lawsuit against Erye claiming the package inserts with respect to the Product infringed upon their copyright and Erye was enjoined from copying and using the package inserts on the Product and selling the Product with the package inserts and Xiangbei Welman was awarded 50,000 RMB, or approximately $7,700.   In July 2011, a new copyright infringement lawsuit was brought by Xiangbei Welman against Erye claiming that Erye was not complying with the earlier judgment enjoining them from copying and using the package inserts for the Product. The Changsha Intermediate Court was applied to for property preservation and it issued a civil decision freezing Erye’s bank deposits of up to 50 million RMB, or approximately $7.7 million, or sealing up or detaining Erye’s other properties of equal value. Currently this case is pending. As of August 10, 2011, approximately $617,200 of cash has been frozen in certain bank accounts.
 
The Company has determined that it did not obtain all Chinese regulatory approvals (and associated registrations) required to reflect the legal title of its interest in Erye as being held by the proper entity within our group which is its current beneficial owner as that term is used under U.S. law.  The Company is determining what governmental approvals (and associated registrations) will need to be issued by the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Foreign Investment and Commerce and the Suzhou Administration for Industry and Commerce to remediate these deficiencies.  The Company believes these regulatory deficiencies can be remediated within a reasonable period of time and should not delay a possible divestiture of the Company’s interests in Erye that is currently under evaluation.  However, no assurance can be given that any unremediated regulatory deficiencies would not have an adverse effect on its operating results and liquidity, and will not impede or delay efforts to divest the Company’s interest in Erye.  In addition, the remediation process is expected to trigger certain tax liabilities and penalties, however the ultimate liability will be based on future discussions with the relevant Chinese authorities.  At this time the Company does not expect such amounts to be material.
 
On May 19, 2006, PCT entered into a line of credit agreement with Amorcyte Inc. (“Amorcyte”), an entity which was spun out of PCT in 2006, whereby PCT agreed to loan Amorcyte up to $500,000 at an annual interest rate of 5%.  The line of credit agreement was a condition to Amorcyte closing a Series A Preferred Stock Financing completed during 2006.  The Company has not loaned any amount to Amorcyte under this agreement through June 30, 2011.  The line of credit agreement expires on the earlier of (i) the date on which the Company declares the outstanding principal and accrued interest due and payable based on an event of default as defined within the agreement, or (ii) the date of closing of the first debt or equity financing of Amorcyte following the initial borrowing of the principal. These events have not occurred to date.  On July 14, 2011, the Company entered into a merger agreement whereby it will acquire Amorcyte.  See Note 14.  If the proposed merger with Amorcyte discussed below is approved, this line of credit will be cancelled.