Commitments and Contingencies

The Company leases facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Cambridge, Massachusetts. In March 2016, the Company amended its current lease in Cambridge to, among other provisions, extend the terms until February 2022. Under the amendment, the landlord will contribute approximately $2.0 million toward the cost of tenant improvements. The contribution toward the cost of tenant improvements is recorded as deferred rent on the Company's consolidated balance sheet and is amortized to our consolidated statement of operations as reductions to rent expense over the lease term. As of September 30, 2017, the Company has recorded $1.0 million of leasehold improvements funded by the tenant improvement allowance.

In addition to the property leases, the Company also leases an offsite warehouse, various vehicles and computer equipment. The Company's purchase commitments consist of minimum purchase amounts of material in manufacturing.

As of September 30, 2017, future minimum payments related to leases and other contractual obligations are as follows:



(In thousands)	Total		2017		2018		2019		2020		2021		More than 5 Years
Operating leases	$	20,378	$	1,317	$	4,806	$	4,473	$	4,475	$	4,546	$	761
Purchase commitments	2,940		45		681		576		546		546		546
Capital leases	43		11		32
Total	$	23,361	$	1,373	$	5,519	$	5,049	$	5,021	$	5,092	$	1,307

Rent expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 was $1.5 million and $4.1 million, respectively, and $1.2 million and $3.6 million, respectively, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016.

License Agreement

On May 10, 2017, the Company announced that it has entered into a License Agreement (License Agreement) with Innovative Cellular Therapeutics Co. Ltd, (ICT), a leading cell therapy company and developer of CAR-T cell therapy for cancer treatment, for the development and distribution of the Vericel product portfolio in Greater China, South Korea, Singapore, and other countries in Asia. ICT will acquire an exclusive license to certain patent rights, know-how and intellectual property relating to Carticel, MACI, ixmyelocel-T, and Epicel as well as enter into a warrant purchase agreement. As part of the license and warrant purchase agreements, the Company will receive an upfront payment of $6.0 million, less any applicable taxes, within 60 days of the effective date of the License Agreement. The initiation of the technology transfer, the license grants in the License Agreement and the warrant purchase are contingent upon Vericel’s receipt of the upfront payment. Vericel is eligible to receive approximately $8.0 million in development and commercial milestones. ICT has also agreed to pay tiered royalties to Vericel equal to a percentage of net sales of each Licensed Product in the low double digits for the commercial life of the applicable Licensed Product. ICT will be responsible for funding the development of the programs and manufacturing of the products for commercialization in China and the rest of the territory. The funding transfer is subject to approval by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of the People's Republic of China and has not occurred as of issuance date of the financial statements. As a result, the parties have amended the agreement monthly to provide additional time for ICT to pay and reset certain terms of the warrant. The initiation of the technology transfer, the license grants in the License Agreement and the warrant purchase have not occurred. As partial consideration for an amount included in the upfront payment Vericel will issue to ICT a warrant, exercisable for the number of shares of Vericel’s Common Stock equal to $5.0 million less the withholding tax payable thereon divided by $4.90 currently (formerly $3.05), with a strike price of $0.01 per share.