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License and Collaboration Agreements
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
License and Collaboration Agreements License and Collaboration Agreements
We have entered into various collaboration agreements including license agreements and collaborative research, development and commercialization agreements with various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Under these collaboration arrangements, we are entitled to receive license fees, upfront payments, milestone and other contingent payments, royalties, sales milestone payments, and payments for the manufacture and supply of our proprietary PEGylation materials and/or reimbursement for research and development activities. All of our collaboration agreements are generally cancelable by our partners without significant financial penalty. Our costs of performing these services are generally included in research and development expense, except that costs for product sales to our collaboration partners are included in cost of goods sold. We analyze our agreements to determine whether we should account for the agreements within the scope of ASC 808, and, if so, we analyze whether we should account for any elements under ASC 606. In accordance with our collaboration agreements, we recognized license, collaboration and other revenue as follows (in thousands):
 
 
 
 
Three months ended June 30,
 
Six months ended June 30,
Partner
 
Drug or Drug Candidate
 
2019
 
2018
 
2019
 
2018
Bristol-Myers Squibb
 
NKTR-214
 

 
1,059,768

 

 
1,059,768

Eli Lilly and Company
 
NKTR-358
 
1,200

 
3,052

 
3,700

 
5,406

Baxalta Incorporated/Takeda
 
ADYNOVATE®
 
58

 
18

 
78

 
10,028

Amgen, Inc.
 
Neulasta®
 
1,250

 
1,250

 
2,500

 
2,500

Other
 
 
 
27

 
158

 
461

 
271

License, collaboration and other revenue
 
 
 
$
2,535

 
$
1,064,246

 
6,739

 
$
1,077,973


In the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, we recognized $16.4 million and $36.1 million of revenue for performance obligations that we had satisfied in prior periods, respectively. This amount includes all of our royalty revenue and non-cash royalty revenue because these royalties substantially relate to the licenses that we had previously granted.
In the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, we recognized $17.6 million and $45.6 million of revenue for performance obligations that we had satisfied in prior periods. This amount includes all of our royalty revenue and non-cash royalty revenue because these royalties substantially relate to the licenses that we had previously granted. This amount also includes the $10.0 million development milestone payment earned and received from Baxalta in the six months ended June 30, 2018 described below.
The following table presents the changes in our deferred revenue balance from our collaboration agreements during the six months ended June 30, 2019 (in thousands):
 
Six months ended
June 30,
2019
Deferred revenue—December 31, 2018
$
24,636

Recognition of previously unearned revenue
(6,715
)
Deferred revenue—June 30, 2019
$
17,921


Our balance of deferred revenue contains the transaction price from our collaboration agreements allocated to performance obligations which are partially unsatisfied. We expect to recognize approximately $9.9 million of our deferred revenue over the next twelve months and recognize the remaining $8.0 million over several years. 
As of June 30, 2019, our collaboration agreements with partners included potential future payments for development and regulatory milestones totaling approximately $1.7 billion, including amounts from our agreements with BMS and Lilly described below. In addition, under our collaboration agreements we are entitled to receive contingent sales milestone payments, other contingent payments and royalty payments, as described below.
There have been no material changes to our collaboration agreements in the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, except as described below.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS): Bempegaldesleukin, also referred to as NKTR-214
On February 13, 2018, we entered into a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (BMS Collaboration Agreement) and a Share Purchase Agreement with BMS, both of which became effective on April 3, 2018. Pursuant to these agreements, we and BMS are jointly developing NKTR-214, including, without limitation, in combination with BMS’s Opdivo® (nivolumab) and Opdivo® plus Yervoy® (ipilimumab), and other compounds of BMS, us or any third party. The parties have agreed to jointly commercialize NKTR-214 on a worldwide basis. We retained the right to record all worldwide sales for NKTR-214. We will share global commercialization profits and losses with BMS for NKTR-214, with Nektar sharing 65% and BMS sharing 35% of the net profits and losses. The parties will share the internal and external development costs for NKTR-214 in combination regimens based on each party’s relative ownership interest in the compounds included in the regimens. In accordance with the agreement, the parties will share development costs for NKTR-214 in combination with Opdivo®, 67.5% of costs to BMS and 32.5% to Nektar, and for NKTR-214 in a triplet combination with Opdivo® and Yervoy®, 78% of costs to BMS and 22% to Nektar. The parties will share costs for the production of NKTR-214, 35% of costs to BMS and 65% to Nektar.
The BMS Collaboration Agreement superseded and replaced the Clinical Trial Agreement we entered into with BMS in September 2016 to develop NKTR-214 in combination with Opdivo®. Under the Clinical Trial Agreement, we acted as the sponsor of each Combination Therapy Trial and BMS was responsible for 50% of all out-of-pocket costs reasonably incurred in connection with third party contract research organizations, laboratories, clinical sites and institutional review boards. We recorded cost reimbursement payments to us from BMS as a reduction to research and development expense. Each party was otherwise responsible for its own internal costs, including internal personnel costs, incurred in connection with each Combination Therapy Trial.
Upon the effective date of the BMS Collaboration Agreement in April 2018, BMS paid us a non-refundable upfront cash payment of $1.0 billion. We are eligible to receive additional cash payments up to a total of approximately $1.4 billion upon the achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones and up to a total of $350.0 million upon the achievement of certain sales milestones. In April 2018, BMS also purchased 8,284,600 shares of our common stock pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement for total additional cash consideration of $850.0 million.
We determined that the BMS Collaboration Agreement falls within the scope of ASC 808. As mentioned above, BMS shares certain percentages of development costs incurred by us and we share certain percentages of development costs incurred by BMS. We consider these activities to represent collaborative activities under ASC 808, and we recognize such cost sharing proportionately with the performance of the underlying services. We recognize BMS’ reimbursement of our costs as a reduction of research and development expense and our reimbursement of BMS’ costs as research and development expense. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, we recorded $24.6 million and $53.4 million, respectively, as a reduction of research and development expenses for BMS’ share of our expenses, net of our share of BMS’ expenses. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2018, we recorded $21.5 million and $23.8 million, respectively, as a reduction of research and development expenses for BMS’ share of our expenses, net of our share of BMS’ expenses. As of June 30, 2019, we have recorded a receivable of $24.4 million from BMS in accounts receivable in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.
We analogized to ASC 606 for the accounting for our two performance obligations, consisting of the delivery of the licenses to develop and commercialize NKTR-214 and our participation on joint steering and other collaboration committees. We determined that our committee participation is not material.
We aggregated the total consideration of $1.85 billion received under the agreements and allocated it between the stock purchase and the revenue-generating elements, because we and BMS negotiated the agreements together and the effective date of the BMS Collaboration Agreement was dependent upon the effective date of the Share Purchase Agreement. We recorded the estimated fair value of the shares of $790.2 million in stockholders’ equity based on the closing date price of our common stock of $99.36, adjusted for a discount for lack of marketability reflecting the unregistered nature of the shares. We allocated the remaining $1,059.8 million to the transaction price of the collaboration agreement. We consider the future potential development, regulatory and sales milestones of up to approximately $1.8 billion to be variable consideration. We excluded these milestones from the transaction price as of June 30, 2019 due to the significant uncertainties involved with clinical development and regulatory approval. We will re-evaluate the transaction price at each reporting period and as uncertain events are resolved or other changes in circumstances occur.
Accordingly, we allocated the entire transaction price of $1,059.8 million to the granting of the licenses and therefore recognized $1,059.8 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 as license, collaboration and other revenue.
Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly): NKTR-358
On July 23, 2017, we entered into a worldwide license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), which became effective on August 23, 2017, to co-develop NKTR-358, a novel immunological drug candidate that we invented. Under the terms of the agreement, we (i) received an initial payment of $150.0 million in September 2017 and are eligible for up to $250.0 million in additional development milestones, (ii) will co-develop NKTR-358 with Lilly, for which we are responsible for completing Phase 1 clinical development and certain drug product development and supply activities, (iii) will share with Lilly Phase 2 development costs with 75% of those costs borne by Lilly and 25% of the costs borne by us, (iv) will have the option to contribute funding to Phase 3 development on an indication-by-indication basis ranging from zero to 25% of development costs, and (v) will have the opportunity to receive up to double-digit sales royalty rates that escalate based upon our Phase 3 development cost contribution and the level of annual global product sales. Lilly will be responsible for all costs of global commercialization and we will have an option to co-promote in the U.S. under certain conditions. A portion of the development milestones may be reduced by 50% under certain conditions, related to the final formulation of the approved product and the timing of prior approval (if any) of competitive products with a similar mechanism of action, which could reduce these milestone payments by 75% if both conditions occur.
The agreement will continue until Lilly no longer has any royalty payment obligations or, if earlier, the termination of the agreement in accordance with its terms. The agreement may be terminated by Lilly for convenience, and may also be terminated under certain other circumstances, including material breach.
We identified our license grant to Lilly, our ongoing Phase 1 clinical development obligation and our drug product development obligation as the significant performance obligations in the arrangement. The valuation of each performance obligation involves significant estimates and assumptions, including but not limited to, expected market opportunity and pricing, assumed royalty rates, clinical trial costs, timelines and likelihood of success; in each case these estimates and assumptions covering long time periods. We determined the selling price for the license based on a discounted cash flow analysis of projected revenues from NKTR-358 and development and commercial costs using a discount rate based on a market participant’s weighted average cost of capital adjusted for forecasting risk. We determined the selling prices for our Phase 1 clinical development and drug product development deliverables based on the nature of the services to be performed and estimates of the associated efforts and third-party rates for similar services.
Although we are entitled to significant development milestones under this arrangement, as of June 30, 2019, we have excluded such milestones from the transaction price due to the significant uncertainties involved with clinical development. We have therefore determined the transaction price to consist of the upfront payment of $150.0 million in September 2017. Based on our estimates of the standalone selling prices of the performance obligations, we allocated the $150.0 million upfront payment as $125.9 million to the license, $17.6 million to the Phase 1 clinical development and $6.5 million to the drug product development.
We recognized the $125.9 million of revenue allocated to the license upon the effective date of the license agreement in August 2017, since we determined that the license was a right to use our intellectual property, for which, as of the effective date, we had provided all necessary information to Lilly to benefit from the license and the license term had begun. We recognize revenue for the Phase 1 clinical development and drug product development using an input method, using costs incurred, as this method depicts our progress towards providing Lilly with the results of clinical trials and drug production processes. As of June 30, 2019, we have deferred revenue of approximately $4.6 million related to this agreement, which we expect to recognize through December 2019, the estimated end of our performance obligations under this agreement.
Baxalta Incorporated/Takeda: Hemophilia
We are a party to an exclusive research, development, license and manufacturing and supply agreement with Baxalta Incorporated (Baxalta), a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. (Takeda), entered into in September 2005 to develop products designed to improve therapies for Hemophilia A patients using our PEGylation technology. Under the terms of the agreement, we are entitled to research and development funding for our active programs, which are now complete for Factor VIII, and are responsible for supplying Takeda with its requirements for our proprietary materials. Takeda is responsible for all clinical development, regulatory, and commercialization expenses. The agreement is terminable by the parties under customary conditions.
This Hemophilia A program includes ADYNOVATE®, which was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2015 for use in adults and adolescents, aged 12 years and older, who have Hemophilia A, and is now marketed in the U.S., the European Union, and many other countries. As a result of the marketing authorization in the EU in January 2018, we earned a $10.0 million development milestone, which was received in March 2018. We updated the transaction price for this milestone in January 2018 since we had previously excluded it due to the significant uncertainty from regulatory approval. Based on the terms of this milestone, we allocated the entire milestone to the license grant and research and
development services, and therefore recognized the entire $10.0 million in the six months ended June 30, 2018 as we had previously satisfied those performance obligations. In December 2018, we earned an additional $10.0 million milestone for annual sales of ADYNOVATE®/ADYNOVI reaching a certain specified amount. In addition, we are entitled to an additional sales milestone upon achievement of an annual sales target and royalties based on annual worldwide net sales of products resulting from this agreement.
In October 2017, we entered into a right to sublicense agreement with Baxalta, under which we granted to Baxalta the right to grant a nonexclusive sublicense to certain patents that were previously exclusively licensed to Baxalta under our 2005 agreement. Under the right to sublicense agreement, Baxalta paid us $12.0 million in November 2017 and agreed to pay us single digit royalty payments based upon net sales of the products covered under the sublicense throughout the term of the agreement.
Our remaining unsatisfied performance obligation consists of our ongoing supply of PEGylation materials at a price less than the standalone selling price of these materials. As of June 30, 2019, our deferred revenue from this arrangement is not significant.
Amgen, Inc.: Neulasta® 
In October 2010, we amended and restated an existing supply and license agreement by entering into a supply, dedicated suite and manufacturing guarantee agreement (the Amended and Restated Agreement) and a license agreement with Amgen Inc. and Amgen Manufacturing, Limited (together referred to as Amgen). Under the terms of the Amended and Restated Agreement, we received a $50.0 million payment in the fourth quarter of 2010 in return for our guaranteeing the supply of certain quantities of our proprietary PEGylation materials to Amgen.
We determined that our obligation to manufacture and supply our PEGylation materials and to maintain the dedicated manufacturing suite solely for the production of such materials for Amgen represented an obligation to stand ready to manufacture such materials. We concluded that we should recognize revenue based on the passage of time as this method depicts the satisfaction of Amgen’s right to require production of PEGylation materials at any time. As of June 30, 2019, we have deferred revenue of approximately $6.7 million related to this agreement, which we expect to recognize through October 2020, the estimated end of our obligations under this agreement.
AstraZeneca AB: MOVANTIK® (naloxegol oxalate), previously referred to as naloxegol and NKTR-118
In September 2009, we entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca AB (AstraZeneca) under which we granted AstraZeneca a worldwide, exclusive license under our patents and other intellectual property to develop, market, and sell MOVANTIK®. AstraZeneca is responsible for all research, development and commercialization and is responsible for all drug development and commercialization decisions for MOVANTIK®. In September 2014 and December 2014, MOVANTIK® /MOVENTIG® was approved in the US and EU, respectively. As of June 30, 2019, we have received a total of $385.0 million of upfront and contingent milestone payments from this agreement, all of which was received in or before 2015. In addition, we are entitled to significant and escalating double-digit royalty payments and sales milestone payments based on annual worldwide net sales of MOVANTIK®.
In March 2016, AstraZeneca announced that it had entered into an agreement with ProStrakan Group plc, a subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd. (Kirin), granting Kirin exclusive marketing rights to MOVENTIG® in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Under our license agreement with AstraZeneca, we and AstraZeneca will share the upfront payment, market access milestone payments, royalties and sales milestone payments made by Kirin to AstraZeneca with AstraZeneca receiving 60% and Nektar receiving 40%. As of June 30, 2019, we do not have deferred revenue related to our agreement with AstraZeneca.
Other
In addition, as of June 30, 2019, we have a number of other collaboration agreements, including with our collaboration partners UCB Pharma and Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., under which we are entitled to up to a total of $45.5 million of development milestone payments upon achievement of certain development objectives, as well as sales milestones upon achievement of annual sales targets and royalties based on net sales of commercialized products, if any. However, given the current phase of development of the potential products under these collaboration agreements, we cannot estimate the probability or timing of achieving these milestones and, therefore, have excluded all development milestones from the respective transaction prices for these agreements. As of June 30, 2019, we have deferred revenue of approximately $6.0 million related to these other collaboration agreements.