Litigation. From time to time, the Company has been, and may become, involved in various legal actions involving its operations, products and technologies, including intellectual property and employment disputes. The outcomes of these legal actions are not within the Company’s complete control and may not be known for prolonged periods of time. In some actions, the claimants seek damages as well as other relief, including injunctions barring the sale of products that are the subject of the lawsuit, which if granted, could require significant expenditures or result in lost revenue. The Company records a liability in the consolidated financial statements for these actions when a loss is known or considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a known or probable loss is a range, and no amount within the range is a better estimate, the minimum amount of the range is accrued. If a loss is possible but not known or probable, and can be reasonably estimated, the estimated loss or range of loss is disclosed. In most cases, significant judgment is required to estimate the amount and timing of a loss to be recorded.

On January 17, 2018, the Company entered into a settlement agreement fully resolving the previously disclosed litigation involving Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (“Merit”) and NorMedix.

In April 2018, a customer notified the Company that it believed it had overpaid hydrophilic coating royalties to the Company from January 2009 through December 2017. During the year ended September 30, 2018, the Company recorded $1.0 million in selling, general and administrative expenses related to this claim. During fiscal 2019, the Company settled this claim and made a payment to the customer totaling $0.4 million, resulting in a reduction of selling, general and administrative expenses of $0.6 million for the year ended September 30, 2019.

InnoRx, Inc. In January 2005, the Company entered into a merger agreement whereby the Company acquired all of the assets of InnoRx, Inc. (“InnoRx”), an early stage company developing drug-delivery devices and therapies for the ophthalmology market. The Company will be required to issue up to approximately 480,059 additional shares of its common stock to the stockholders of InnoRx upon the successful completion of the remaining development and commercial milestones involving InnoRx technology acquired in the transaction. The Company has not recorded any accrual for this contingency as of September 30, 2019 as the milestones have not been achieved and the probability of achievement is remote.

InnoCore Technologies BV. In March 2006, the Company entered into a license agreement whereby Surmodics obtained an exclusive license to a drug-delivery coating for licensed products within the vascular field which included peripheral, coronary and neurovascular biodurable stent product. The license requires an annual minimum payment of 200,000 euros (equivalent to $218,000 using a euro to US $ exchange rate of 1.0916 as of September 30, 2019) until the last patent expires which is currently estimated to be September 2027. The total minimum future payments associated with this license are approximately $1.7 million. The license is currently utilized with one of Surmodics’ drug-delivery technology customers.

Operating Leases. The Company leases certain facilities under noncancelable operating lease agreements. Rent expense for the years ended September 30, 2019, 2018 and 2017 was $0.5 million, $0.5 million and $0.1 million, respectively. In November 2017, the Company executed a lease for a 36,000 square feet of office and R&D facility in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. In September 2019, we amended this lease to add 13,000 square feet of additional office space, effective December 1, 2019 through the end of the lease term. Contractual obligations under the lease agreement, including the amendment total $5.2 million over the ten-year lease term, which commenced in May 2018. Annual commitments pursuant to operating lease agreements in place as of September 30, 2019 are as follows (in thousands):


2019	$	493
2020		538
2021		536
2022		547
2023		558
Thereafter		2,092
Total minimum lease payments	$	4,765

Clinical Trials. The Company has engaged CRO consultants to assist with the administration of its ongoing clinical trials. The Company has executed separate contracts with two CROs for services rendered in connection with the TRANSCEND pivotal clinical trial for the SurVeil DCB, including pass-through expenses paid by the CROs, of up to $26 million in the aggregate. As of September 30, 2019, an estimated $11.8 million remains to be paid on these contracts, which may vary depending on actual pass-through expenses incurred to execute the trial. The Company estimates that the total cost of the TRANSCEND clinical trial will be in the range of $35 million to $40 million from inception to completion. In the event the Company were to terminate any trial, it may incur certain financial penalties which would become payable to the CRO for costs to wind down the terminated trial.

Asset Acquisitions. In July 2019, the Company acquired certain intellectual property assets supporting ongoing development of the Company’s medical device pipeline. As a result of this acquisition, the Company made an upfront, nonrefundable payment of $0.8 million. In addition, the Company is obligated to pay up to $1.3 million of additional consideration upon achievement of certain strategic milestones within a contingency period ending in 2022, of which $0.2 million is guaranteed to be paid by December 2020. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company recorded a charge totaling $0.9 million related to this acquisition in acquired in-process research and development expense on the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended September 30, 2019.

In May 2018, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement with Embolitech, LLC (“Embolitech”) to acquire certain intellectual property assets. As part of the Embolitech Transaction, the Company paid the sellers $5.0 million in fiscal 2018. Additionally, the Company is obligated to pay $3.5 million in several installments beginning January 2020 and ending December 2023. These payments may be accelerated upon the occurrence of certain sales and regulatory milestones. An additional $2.0 million payment is contingent upon the achievement of certain regulatory milestones within a contingency period ending in 2033. The present value of the probable payments totaling $7.9 million was recorded in acquired in-process research and development expense on the consolidated statement of operations for the year ended September 30, 2018.

As of September 30, 2019, $1.0 million and $2.1 million is included in other accrued liabilities and other long-term liabilities, respectively, on the consolidated balance sheets related to the guaranteed installment payments for these asset acquisitions.