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License and Collaboration Agreements
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
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. We generally include our costs of performing these services in research and development expense, except for costs for product sales to our collaboration partners which we include 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):
Year Ended December 31,
PartnerAgreement202020192018
Bristol-Myers SquibbBempegaldesleukin$50,000 $— $1,059,768 
Eli Lilly and CompanyNKTR-3581,259 7,019 11,634 
Amgen, Inc.
Neulasta®
4,167 5,000 5,000 
Baxalta Incorporated / Takeda
Hemophilia, including ADYNOVATE® and ADYNOVI®
346 378 20,328 
Other77 4,578 535 
License, collaboration and other revenue$55,849 $16,975 $1,097,265 
    For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, we recognized $129.6 million, $77.5 million and $95.3 million of revenue for performance obligations that we had satisfied in prior periods, respectively. For all years, the amount includes all of our royalty revenue and non-cash royalty revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the amount includes $50.0 million in BMS Collaboration milestones received.
    The following table presents the changes in our deferred revenue balance from our collaboration agreements during the year ended December 31, 2020 (in thousands):
For the year ended December 31, 2020
Deferred revenue—December 31, 2019$8,071 
Recognition of previously unearned revenue(5,516)
Deferred revenue—December 31, 2020$2,555 
    Our balance of deferred revenue contains the transaction price from our collaboration agreements allocated to performance obligations which are partially unsatisfied.
    As of December 31, 2020, our collaboration agreements with partners included potential future payments for development milestones totaling approximately $1.7 billion, including amounts from our agreements with BMS and Eli Lilly and Company described below. In addition, under our collaboration agreements we are entitled to receive other contingent payments, including contingent sales milestones and royalty payments, as described below.
    There have been no material changes to our collaboration agreements for the year ended December 31, 2020, except as described below.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS): Bempegaldesleukin (previously referred to as NKTR-214)
    On February 13, 2018, we entered into a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (the BMS Collaboration Agreement) and a Share Purchase Agreement with BMS, both of which became effective on April 3, 2018. Pursuant to the BMS Collaboration Agreement, we and BMS are jointly developing bempegaldesleukin, including, without limitation, in combination with BMS’s Opdivo®, and other compounds of BMS, us or any third party. The parties have agreed to jointly commercialize bempegaldesleukin on a worldwide basis. We retained the right to record all worldwide sales for bempegaldesleukin. We will share global commercialization profits and losses with BMS for bempegaldesleukin, with Nektar sharing 65% and BMS sharing 35% of the net profits and losses. The parties share the internal and external development costs for bempegaldesleukin 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 share development costs for bempegaldesleukin in combination with Opdivo®, 67.5% of costs to BMS and 32.5% to Nektar. The parties share costs for the manufacturing of bempegaldesleukin, 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 bempegaldesleukin 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 $1.455 billion (including the milestones which we have received under Amendment No. 1 described below) 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.
    On January 9, 2020, we and BMS entered into Amendment No. 1 (the Amendment) to the BMS Collaboration Agreement. Pursuant to the Amendment, we and BMS agreed to update the Collaboration Development Plan under which we are collaborating and developing bempegaldesleukin. The cost sharing under the Amendment remains unchanged. We received a non-refundable, creditable milestone payment of $25.0 million for the first patient, first visit in the registrational muscle-invasive bladder cancer trial, which was achieved on January 30, 2020, and also received a non-refundable, non-creditable milestone payment of $25.0 million for the first patient, first visit in the registrational adjuvant melanoma trial, which we achieved on July 27, 2020. For the creditable milestone, BMS is entitled to deduct the amount paid from future development milestones due to us under the original agreement.
 
    BMS has the right, at its sole discretion, to terminate co-funding its share of the development costs for the adjuvant melanoma collaboration study if the metastatic melanoma collaboration study fails to meet the primary endpoint of progression free survival. If BMS exercises such right, we have the right, in our sole discretion, to continue the adjuvant melanoma study.
    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 expenses as a reduction of research and development expense and our reimbursement of BMS’ expenses as research and development expense. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, we recorded $128.2 million and $105.4 million and $62.5 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 December 31, 2020 and 2019, we have recorded an unbilled receivable of $38.7 million and $24.0 million, respectively, from BMS in accounts receivable in our Consolidated Balance Sheet.
    Our share of development costs is limited to an annual cap of $125.0 million. To the extent this annual cap is exceeded, BMS reimburses us for the excess, but we recognize our full share of the research and development expense and recognize the reimbursement as a liability. We repay the liability to the extent that our share of development costs are less than the annual cap in a future year, or by reducing a portion of our share of net profits following the first commercial sale of bempegaldesleukin, if approved. For the year-ended December 31, 2020, our share of the development costs totaled $129.0 million, thereby exceeding the annual cap by $4.0 million. Accordingly, we have recognized $4.0 million for BMS’ reimbursement of the excess over the annual cap in our unbilled billed receivable of $38.7 million, and, due to the repayment provision, we have recognized a liability of $4.0 million in Other long-term liabilities.
We analogized to ASC 606 for the accounting for our two performance obligations, consisting of the delivery of the licenses to develop and commercialize bempegaldesleukin and our participation on joint steering and other collaboration committees. We determined that our committee participation is not material.
    During 2018, 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. We allocated the remaining $1,059.8 million to the transaction price of the collaboration agreement, which we recognized in 2018. We consider the future potential development, regulatory and sales milestones of up to approximately $1.8 billion to be variable consideration.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized $25.0 million for the achievement of the first patient, first visit in the registrational muscle-invasive bladder cancer trial and $25.0 million for the achievement of the first patient, first visit in the registrational adjuvant melanoma trial. We continue to exclude the other milestones from the transaction price as of December 31, 2020 due to the significant uncertainties involved with clinical development and regulatory approval. We re-evaluate the transaction price at each reporting period and as uncertain events are resolved or other changes in circumstances occur.
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 were responsible for completing Phase 1 clinical development and certain drug product development and supply activities, (iii) will share with Lilly Phase 1B and 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 a royalty rate up to the low twenties 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 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, through December 31, 2020, 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 received 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 our portion of 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 recognized revenue for our portion of 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 December 31, 2020, we have no deferred revenue related to this agreement.
Baxalta Incorporated/Takeda: Hemophilia
    We are a party to an exclusive research, development, license and manufacturing and supply agreement with Baxalta Inc. (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 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 we received in March 2018. During 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 worldwide net sales target and royalties based on 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 December 31, 2020, our deferred revenue related to this agreement 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 2010 Agreement) and a license agreement with Amgen, Inc. and Amgen Manufacturing, Limited (together referred to as Amgen). Under the terms of the 2010 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 PEGylation materials and to maintain the dedicated manufacturing suite solely for the production of such materials for Amgen under the 2010 Agreement 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. We recognized revenue through October 2020, the month when the 2010 Agreement expired according to its terms. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2020, we have no deferred revenue related to our agreement with Amgen.
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 costs and related decisions for MOVANTIK®. In September 2014 and December 2014, MOVANTIK® /MOVENTIG® was approved in the US and EU, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, 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 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 December 31, 2020, we have received a total of $37.6 million of milestone payments resulting from these sublicense arrangements, all of which was received in or before 2017.
    As of December 31, 2020, we do not have deferred revenue related to our agreement with AstraZeneca.
    As part of its approval of MOVANTIK®, the FDA required AstraZeneca to perform a post-marketing, observational epidemiological study comparing MOVANTIK® to other treatments of OIC in patients with chronic, non-cancer pain. As a result, the royalty rate payable to us from net sales of MOVANTIK® in the U.S. by AstraZeneca can be reduced by up to two percentage points to fund 33% of the external costs incurred by AstraZeneca to fund such post approval study, subject to a
$35.0 million aggregate cap. As a result of the 2020 Purchase and Sale Agreement as described in Note 7, AstraZeneca will deduct these costs from the royalties paid to HCR. Before we entered into the 2020 Purchase and Sale Agreement, our cumulative share of the post-approval study expenses was not significant. Any costs incurred by AstraZeneca can only be recovered by the reduction of the royalty payments. In no case can amounts be recovered by the reduction of a contingent payment due from AstraZeneca to us or through a payment from us to AstraZeneca.
In April 2020, AstraZeneca announced that it had sublicensed its global commercialization rights for MOVANTIK®, excluding Europe, Canada and Israel, to RedHill Biopharma. This sublicense does not change our rights under the agreement with AstraZeneca and our royalty rate, royalty term and future potential sales milestones remain unchanged.
Other
    In addition, as of December 31, 2020, we have other collaboration agreements, including with our collaboration partner UCB Pharma, under which we are entitled to up to a total of $40.0 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 December 31, 2020, we have deferred revenue of approximately $2.0 million related to these other collaboration agreements.