Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Licenses And Exclusive Channel Collaboration Agreements

v3.6.0.2
Licenses And Exclusive Channel Collaboration Agreements
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Licenses And Exclusive Channel Collaboration Agreements

10. Licenses And Exclusive Channel Collaboration Agreements

The Company has the following material licenses and Exclusive Channel Collaboration (“ECC”) agreements:

The University of Florida Research Foundation Licenses

MU1140 – The Company has exclusively licensed the intellectual property for our MU1140 lantibiotic technology from the UFRF. The original license agreement was dated June 22, 2000 and was subsequently amended on September 15, 2000, July 10, 2002, September 25, 2002, March 17, 2003 and April 19, 2013. The amended license agreement provides the Company with an exclusive worldwide license to make, use and sell products and processes covered by Patent No. 5,932,469 entitled “Antimicrobial Polypeptide, Nucleic Acid and Methods of Use” and includes U.S. patent numbers 6,964,760; 7,067,125; 6,391,285; 6,475,771 and the following foreign patents based on the technology in the ‘469 patent: Australian patent number 7488871, Canadian patent number 2295986, European patent number 1019084 validated in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. The Company’s license is for the period of the patents, which expire from 2017 through 2019, subject to the performance of terms and conditions contained therein. The Company has ongoing obligations and commitments with respect to the MU1140 License. The Company has agreed to indemnify and hold UFRF and other affiliated parties harmless from any damages caused as a result of the production, manufacture, sale, use, lease, consumption or advertisement of the licensed products. See Note 13 — Commitments and Contingencies. In the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 the Company paid $22,468 and $29,416 respectively to UFRF in connection with the MU1140 license.

 

Texas A&M License Agreement

The Company entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Texas A&M University System (College Station, TX) (“Texas A&M”) in December 2011 for access to new homologs of the lantibiotic MU1140 and other lantibiotics with improved pharmacological properties and structural features. The Company has ongoing obligations and commitments with respect to the MU1140 License. In the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 the Company paid Texas A&M $15,000 and $15,000, respectively, in connection with the Texas A&M license. These novel antibiotics may be useful to treat or prevent colonization and/or infections by one or more types of bacteria. The structural changes available to us from this license agreement may improve the bioactivity of MU1140. Under the terms of the Texas A&M license agreement, we filed two patent applications with the US Patent Office to secure the intellectual property related to these new lantibiotic homologs on February 27, 2012, entitled “Variants of the Lantibiotic MU1140 and Other Lantibiotics with Improved Pharmacological Properties and Structural Features” and “Replacement Therapy for Dental Carries.” On July 11, 2012 the Texas A&M license agreement was amended to add references to replacement therapy in the defined terms “Licensed Technology” and “Patent Rights”. All other terms of the Texas A&M license agreement remain unchanged.

On May 18, 2015, the Texas A&M license agreement was amended to extend the enrollment of first patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial using the licensed technology, from on or before June 1, 2015, to on or before June 1, 2016. All other terms of the Texas A&M license agreement as amended remained unchanged. In October of 2016, the Texas A&M license agreement was amended to extend the enrollment of first patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial using the licensed technology, from on or before June 1, 2016, to on or before June 1, 2019 and provides for a payment of $25,000 commencing in 2017 and each year thereafter prior to the calendar year of the first sale of products using the licensed technology, as minimum annual consideration for the continuation of the license agreement. All other terms of the Texas A&M license agreement as amended remained unchanged.

The term of the Texas A&M license agreement expires upon (i) the expiration of the applicable patent rights covered by the license agreement, (ii) the failure of any patent filed pursuant to the license agreement to issue, or (iii) the final and unappealable determination by a court that the patent rights are invalid. The Company may voluntarily terminate the license agreement upon 90 days written notice to Texas A&M. Texas A&M can terminate the license agreement if the Company materially breaches the license agreement and does not cure such breach within 60 days of receiving notice of such breach from Texas A&M. The Company has agreed to indemnify and hold the Texas A&M harmless from any damages caused as a result of alleged infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights or as a result the production, manufacture, sale, use, lease, consumption or advertisement of the product. See Note 13 — Commitments and Contingencies.

The Lantibiotic ECC

On June 5, 2012, the Company entered into the Lantibiotic ECC with Intrexon that governs a “channel collaboration” arrangement in which the Company will use Intrexon’s advanced transgene and cell engineering platforms for the development and production of lantibiotics, a class of peptide antibiotics that are naturally produced in Gram-positive bacteria and contain the characteristic polycyclic thioether amino acids lanthionine and methyllanthonine (collectively, the “Lantibiotics Program”). The Lantibiotic ECC grants the Company an exclusive worldwide license to use patents and other intellectual property of Intrexon in connection with the research, development, use, importing, exporting, manufacture, sale, and offer for sale of drug products involving the direct administration to humans or companion animals of a lantibiotic for the prevention or treatment of infectious disease (“Oragenics Products”). Such license is exclusive with respect to any clinical development, selling, offering for sale or other commercialization of Oragenics Products, and otherwise is non-exclusive. Subject to limited exceptions, the Company may not sublicense the rights described without Intrexon’s written consent. The Lantibiotic ECC establishes committees comprised of Company and Intrexon representatives that will govern activities related to the Lantibiotics Program in the areas of project establishment, chemistry, manufacturing and controls matters, clinical and regulatory matters, commercialization efforts and intellectual property matters. The Company has agreed to indemnify and hold Intrexon harmless from any damages caused as a result of (i) our negligence or willful misconduct, (ii) the use, handling, storage, or transport of Intrexon Materials (as defined in the Lantibiotic ECC), (iii) our breach of a material representation, warranty or covenant in the Lantibiotic ECC, or (iv) the design, development, manufacture, regulatory approval, handling, storage, transport, distribution, sale or other disposition of any Oragenics Product.

 

Intrexon may terminate the Lantibiotic ECC if we fail to use diligent efforts to develop and commercialize Oragenics Products or if we elect not to pursue the development of a Lantibiotics Program identified by Intrexon that is a “Superior Therapy” as defined in the Lantibiotic ECC. We may voluntarily terminate the Lantibiotic ECC at any time upon 90 days written notice to Intrexon. Upon termination of the Lantibiotic ECC, the Company may continue to develop and commercialize any Oragenics Product that has been, at the time of termination:

 

    commercialized by the Company;

 

    approved by regulatory authorities;

 

    a subject of an application for regulatory approval that is pending before the applicable regulatory authority; or

 

    the subject of at least an ongoing Phase 1, Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trial in the Field (in the case of a termination by Intrexon due to an uncured material breach by the Company or a voluntary termination by the Company).

The Company’s obligation to pay 25% of gross profits or revenue and milestone payments described above with respect to these “retained” products as well as to use diligent efforts to develop and commercialize these “retained” Oragenics Products will survive termination of the Lantibiotic ECC.

The Company has ongoing obligations and commitments with respect to the Lantibiotic ECC. See Note 13 — Commitments and Contingencies.

The Oral Mucositis ECC

On June 9, 2015, the Company entered into an the Oral Mucositis ECC with Intrexon and Intrexon Actobiotics NV (“Actobiotics”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon, through which the Company intends to research, develop and commercialize products, including the continued development and commercialization of AG013, for use in the treatment of oral mucositis in humans and/or the administration to humans of a trefoil factor via genetically modified bacteria (including L. lactis) for the treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity, throat, and esophagus, but, in any case, excluding the delivery of anti-cancer effectors for the purpose of treatment or prophylaxis of cancer (collectively, the “Program”). Contemporaneously with the Oral Mucositis ECC, the Company and Intrexon also entered into a Stock Issuance Agreement (the “SIA”) which authorized the issuance of the Technology Access Fee and the future stock issuance of our Common Stock to Intrexon upon the achievement of designated milestones. The ECC governs the “channel collaboration” arrangement in which we will use Intrexon’s proprietary technology relating to the identification, design and production of genetically modified bacteria (the “Technology”) for the purpose of developing the Program. The Oral Mucositis ECC provides for the establishment of committees comprised from us and Intrexon representatives that will govern activities in the areas of project establishment, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, clinical and regulatory matters, commercialization efforts, and intellectual property.

The Oral Mucositis ECC grants the Company an exclusive worldwide license to utilize Intrexon’s and Actobiotics’ intellectual property to develop and commercialize products, including the continued development and commercialization of AG013, for use in the treatment of oral mucositis in humans and/or the administration to humans of a trefoil factor via genetically modified bacteria (including L. lactis) for the treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity, throat, and esophagus, but, in any case, excluding the delivery of anti-cancer effectors for the purpose of treatment or prophylaxis of cancer (the “Field”). It also grants us an exclusive license in the Field under all Information Controlled by Actobiotics (or otherwise by Intrexon) and existing as of the Effective Date relating to the regulatory approval of AG013, including regulatory filings, data, clinical trial reports, and rights thereunder. Under the Oral Mucositis ECC, and subject to certain exceptions, we are responsible for, among other things, funding the further anticipated development of products toward the goal of commercialization, conducting preclinical and clinical development of candidate products, as well as for other aspects of manufacturing and the commercialization of the product(s).

The Company may voluntarily terminate the Oral Mucositis ECC upon 90 days written notice to Intrexon. Intrexon may also terminate the Oral Mucositis ECC if the Company breaches and fails to cure the breach within 60 days or the Company does not pursue development of the Superior Therapy under the probiotics identified by Intrexon that is a “Superior Therapy” as defined in the Oral Mucositis ECC. Upon termination of the Oral Mucositis ECC, the Company may continue to develop and commercialize any Company Product that, at the time of termination that satisfies at least one of the following criteria:

 

  (i) the particular Company Product is being sold by the Company triggering profit sharing payments under the Oral Mucositis ECC to Intrexon;

 

  (ii) the particular Company Product has received regulatory approval;

 

  (iii) the particular Company Product is a subject of an application for regulatory approval in the Field covered by the Oral Mucositis ECC that is pending before the applicable regulatory authority;

 

  (iv) the particular Company Product is AG013, and such Company Product has been the subject of at least one completed Phase 2 clinical trial (as such is defined by relevant FDA guidelines) during the Term; or

 

  (v) the particular Company Product other than AG013 and such Oragenics Product is the subject of at least an ongoing Phase 1, Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trial in the Field.

Among other things, Intrexon is responsible for technology discovery efforts, cell-engineering development, and certain aspects of the manufacturing process. See Note 13 — Commitments and Contingencies.