Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

7. Commitments and Contingencies

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7. Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

License, Development and Collaboration Agreements

 

Onxeo S.A.

 

In June 2016, the Company executed an option and license agreement with Onxeo S.A. (“Onxeo”), a public French company, which gave Monopar the exclusive option to license (on a world-wide exclusive basis) Validive to pursue treating severe oral mucositis in patients undergoing chemoradiation treatment for head and neck cancers. The pre-negotiated Onxeo license agreement for Validive as part of the option agreement includes clinical, regulatory, developmental and sales milestones that could reach up to $108 million if the Company achieves all milestones, and escalating royalties on net sales from 5% to 10%. On September 8, 2017, the Company exercised the license option, and therefore paid Onxeo the $1 million fee under the option and license agreement.

 

Under the agreement, the Company is required to pay royalties to Onxeo on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis until the later of (1) the date when a given product is no longer within the scope of a patent claim in the country of sale or manufacture, (2) the expiry of any extended exclusivity period in the relevant country (such as orphan drug exclusivity, pediatric exclusivity, new chemical entity exclusivity, or other exclusivity granted beyond the expiry of the relevant patent), or (3) a specific time period after the first commercial sale of the product in such country. In most countries, including the U.S., the patent term is generally 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date of a non-provisional patent application in the applicable country, not taking into consideration any potential patent term adjustment that may be filed in the future or any regulatory extensions that may be obtained. The royalty termination provision pursuant to (3) described above is shorter than 20 years and is the least likely cause of termination of royalty payments.

 

The Onxeo license agreement does not have a pre-determined term, but expires on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis; that is, the agreement expires with respect to a given product in a given country whenever the Company’s royalty payment obligations with respect to such product have expired. The agreement may also be terminated early for cause if either the Company or Onxeo materially breach the agreement, or if either the Company or Onxeo become insolvent. The Company may also choose to terminate the agreement, either in its entirety or as to a certain product and a certain country, by providing Onxeo with advance notice.

 

The Company is internally developing Validive and has activated clinical sites for its VOICE clinical trial, which, if successful, may allow the Company to apply for marketing approval within the next several years. The Company will need to raise significant funds or enter into a collaboration partnership to support the further development, including potential commercialization of Validive. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not reached any of the pre-specified milestones and has not been required to pay Onxeo any funds under this license agreement other than the $1 million one-time license fee.

   

Grupo Español de Investigación en Sarcomas (“GEIS”)

 

In June 2019, the Company executed a clinical collaboration agreement with GEIS for the development of camsirubicin in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (“ASTS”). GEIS is the study sponsor and will lead a multi-country, randomized, open-label Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate camsirubicin head-to-head against the current first-line treatment for ASTS, doxorubicin. Enrollment of the trial is anticipated to begin in the second quarter of 2021, and will include approximately 170 ASTS patients. The Company will provide study drug and supplemental financial support for the clinical trial averaging approximately $2 million to $3 million per year. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company incurred $1.4 million in expenses under the GEIS agreement and other clinical-related expenses including clinical material manufacturing and database management expenses in support of GEIS’s Phase 2 camsirubicin clinical trial. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company incurred $0.2 million in expenses related to the GEIS collaboration. The Company can terminate the agreement by providing GEIS with advance notice, and without affecting the Company’s rights and ownership to any intellectual property or clinical data.

   

 XOMA Ltd.

 

The intellectual property rights contributed by Tactic Pharma to the Company included the non-exclusive license agreement with XOMA Ltd. for the humanization technology used in the development of MNPR-101. Pursuant to such license agreement, the Company is obligated to pay XOMA Ltd. clinical, regulatory and sales milestones for MNPR-101 that could reach up to $14.925 million if the Company achieves all milestones. The agreement does not require the payment of sales royalties. There can be no assurance that the Company will reach any milestones under the XOMA agreement. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not reached any milestones and has not been required to pay XOMA Ltd. any funds under this license agreement.

   

Operating Leases

 

Commencing January 1, 2018, the Company entered into a lease for its executive headquarters at 1000 Skokie Blvd., Suite 350, Wilmette, Illinois. The lease term was January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019, at which time the lease was on a month-to-month basis. In addition, effective February 2019, the Company leased additional office space in the same building on a month-to-month basis.

 

During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recognized operating lease expenses of $55,236 and $51,888, respectively.

 

Legal Contingencies

 

The Company may be subject to claims and assessments from time to time in the ordinary course of business. No claims have been asserted to date.

  

Indemnification

 

In the normal course of business, the Company enters into contracts and agreements that contain a variety of representations and warranties and provide for general indemnification. The Company’s exposure under these agreements is unknown because it involves claims that may be made against the Company in the future, but that have not yet been made. To date, the Company has not paid any claims nor been required to defend any action related to its indemnification obligations. However, the Company may record charges in the future as a result of future claims against these indemnification obligations.

 

In accordance with its second amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and the indemnification agreements entered into with each officer and non-employee director, the Company has indemnification obligations to its officers and non-employee directors for certain events or occurrences, subject to certain limits, while they are serving at the Company’s request in such capacities. There have been no claims to date.