Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Commitments And Contingencies

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Commitments And Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

In December 2009, OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, OncoGenex Technologies, entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Teva for the development and global commercialization of custirsen (and related compounds). Under the Collaboration Agreement, Teva made upfront payments in the aggregate amount of $50 million, and may make additional payments up to $370 million upon the achievement of developmental and commercial milestones and royalties at percentage rates ranging from the mid-teens to mid-twenties on net sales. Teva also acquired $10 million of our common stock at a premium under a separate Stock Purchase Agreement. We are required to contribute $30 million in direct and indirect costs towards the Clinical Development Plan. As of December 31, 2011, $11.7 million of these costs have been incurred by OncoGenex, resulting in a remaining funding responsibility of $18.3 million which has been recorded under Current Deferred Collaboration Revenue. Teva will fund all other expenses under the Clinical Development Plan.

Pursuant to the Collaboration Agreement, we agreed to collaborate with Teva in the development and global commercialization of custirsen. Teva received the exclusive worldwide right and license to develop and commercialize products containing custirsen and related compounds (the “Licensed Products”). We have an option to co-promote custirsen in the United States and Canada.

In addition to the development costs noted above, Teva is also responsible for all costs relating to product commercialization including costs incurred in relation to our co-promotion option, except for start-up costs in advance of commercialization.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and University of British Columbia

Pursuant to license agreements we have with the UBC and Isis, we are obligated to pay milestone payments of up to CAD $1.6 million and $7.75 million, respectively, upon the achievement of specified product development milestones related to OGX-427 and OGX-225 and low to mid single digit royalties on future product sales.

In addition, we are required to pay to Isis 30% of all Non-Royalty Revenue (defined to mean revenue not based on net sales of products) we receive. Isis has disclosed in its SEC filings that it is entitled to receive 30% of the up to $370 million in milestone payments we may receive from Teva as part of the Collaboration Agreement; however, we believe that certain of the milestone payments related to sales targets may qualify as Royalty Revenue (defined to mean revenue based on net sales of products), and therefore be subject to the lesser payment obligations. No assurance can be provided that we will be entitled to receive these milestone payments or, if we are, that the applicable amount payable to Isis will be less than 30%. We are also obligated to pay to UBC certain patent costs and annual license maintenance fees for the extent of the patent life of CAD $8,000 per year. We paid Isis and UBC USD $750,000 and CAD $100,000, respectively, in 2010 upon the initiation of a phase 2 clinical trial of OGX-427 in patients with CRPC. We do not anticipate making any royalty payments to Isis in 2012.

The UBC agreements have effective dates ranging from November 1, 2001 to April 5, 2005 and each agreement expires upon the later of 20 years from its effective date or the expiry of the last patent licensed thereunder, unless otherwise terminated.

Unless otherwise terminated, the Isis agreements for custirsen and OGX-427 will continue for each product until the later of 10 years after the date of the first commercial product sale, or the expiration of the last to expire of any patents required to be licensed in order to use or sell the product, unless OncoGenex Technologies abandons either custirsen or OGX-427 and Isis does not elect to unilaterally continue development. The Isis agreement for OGX-225 will continue into perpetuity unless OncoGenex Technologies abandons the product and Isis does not elect to unilaterally continue development.

To facilitate the execution and performance of the Collaboration Agreement with Teva, OncoGenex and Isis agreed to amend the Isis License Agreement and OncoGenex and UBC agreed to make a corresponding amendment to the UBC License Agreement, in each case, effective December 19 and December 20, 2009, respectively.

The amendment to the Isis License Agreement provides, among other things, that if we are subject to change of control with a third party, where the surviving company immediately following such change of control has the right to develop and sell the product, then (i) a milestone payment of $20 million will be due and payable to Isis 21 days following the first commercial sale of the product in the United States; and (ii) unless such surviving entity had previously sublicensed the product and a royalty rate payable to Isis by the Company has been established, the applicable royalty rate payable to Isis will thereafter be the maximum amount payable under the Isis License Agreement. Any non-royalty milestone amounts previously paid will be credited toward the $20 million milestone if not already paid. As a result of the $10 million milestone payment payable to Isis in relation to the Collaboration Agreement, the remaining amount owing in the event of change of control discussed above is a maximum of $10 million. Because we have now licensed the product to Teva and established a royalty rate payable to Isis, no royalty rate adjustments would apply if Teva were to acquire us and becomes the surviving company. If the $30 million in advanced reimbursement of development activities has not been spent by OncoGenex prior to the third anniversary of the Collaboration Agreement between OncoGenex and Teva, OncoGenex will pay Isis an amount equal to 30% of any un-spent portion less $3.5 million.

Bayer HealthCare LLC

On June 27, 2008, Sonus completed an exclusive in-licensing agreement with Bayer HealthCare LLC for the right to develop, commercialize or sublicense a family of compounds known as caspase activators presently in pre-clinical research. Under terms of the agreement, Sonus was granted exclusive rights to develop two core compounds for all prophylactic and therapeutic uses in humans. Additionally, Sonus was granted rights to all other non-core compounds covered under the patents for use in oncology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer received an upfront license fee of $0.5 million. OncoGenex will make annual payments to Bayer on the anniversary date, or the Anniversary Payments, with an initial payment of $100,000 paid in 2008. The payments increase by $25,000 each year until the initiation of the first phase 3 clinical trial, at which point the Anniversary Payments reset to $100,000 each year and increase by $25,000 until we achieve either the first New Drug Application filing in the United States or the European Union. OncoGenex is obligated to pay royalties on net future product sales in addition to aggregate milestone payments of up to $14 million for clinical development and regulatory milestones. No milestone payments are triggered prior to the initiation of a phase 3 clinical trial. We have the option to terminate this contract upon 60 days written notice to Bayer.

Lease Arrangements

We have an operating lease agreement for office space being used in Vancouver, Canada, which expires in September 2014.

Future minimum annual lease payments under the Vancouver lease are as follows (in thousands):

 

      September 30,  
    CAD  

2012

  $ 107  

2013

  $ 107  

2014

  $ 80  
   

 

 

 

Total

  $ 294  

In November 2006, prior to the Arrangement , Sonus entered into a non-cancellable operating lease agreement for office space in Bothell, Washington, expiring in 2017 (please see Note 7 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K). In connection with the lease, Sonus was required to provide a cash security deposit of approximately $0.5 million, which is included in Other Long Term Assets. In addition, a standby letter of credit was issued by us in 2010, and $0.4 million remains in a restricted money market account as collateral. We continue to evaluate opportunities to exit or sublet portions of the leased space and has recorded a liability in the excess facilities lease charge of $7.0 million as at December 31, 2011 (please see Note 7).

If we are unable to exit or sublet portions of this leased space, the future minimum annual lease payments are as follows (in thousands):

 

      September 30,  

2012

  $ 2,117  

2013

    2,180  

2014

    2,246  

2015

    2,313  

2016

    2,382  

Remainder

    2,455  
   

 

 

 

Total

  $ 13,693  

 

Consolidated rent expense relating to both the Vancouver, Canada and Bothell, Washington offices for years ended December 31, 2011, 2010, and 2009 was $2.6 million, $2.3 million, and $2.4 million respectively.

Clinical Research Organizations

Our clinical research organization, or CRO, contracts typically call for specified prepaid amounts to be maintained and held in escrow for future services to be rendered by the CRO. An amount of $750,000 was paid in January 2012 for future services to be performed for the phase 2 trial of OGX-427 in patients with metastatic bladder cancer.

Guarantees and Indemnifications

We indemnify our officers and directors for certain events or occurrences, subject to certain limits, while the officer or director is or was serving at our request in such capacity. The term of the indemnification period is equal to the officer’s or director’s lifetime.

The maximum amount of potential future indemnification is unlimited; however, we have obtained director and officer insurance that limits our exposure and may enable us to recover a portion of any future amounts paid. We believe that the fair value of these indemnification obligations is minimal. Accordingly, we have not recognized any liabilities relating to these obligations as of December 31, 2011.

We have certain agreements with certain organizations with which we do business that contain indemnification provisions pursuant to which we typically agree to indemnify the party against certain types of third-party claims. We accrue for known indemnification issues when a loss is probable and can be reasonably estimated. There were no accruals for or expenses related to indemnification issues for any period presented.