Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
OVERVIEW
We are a discovery through late-stage development biopharmaceutical company focused on peptide therapeutics. Our clinical programs fall into two broad categories of diseases: (i) hematology and blood disorders, and (ii) inflammatory and immunomodulatory (“I&I”) diseases. Two novel peptides derived from our proprietary discovery technology platform, rusfertide and icotrokinra (formerly known as JNJ-2113), are currently in advanced Phase 3 clinical development, with New Drug Application (“NDA”) submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) potentially in 2025.
Rusfertide, an injectable mimetic of the natural hormone hepcidin, is currently in Phase 3 development for treatment of the rare blood disorder polycythemia vera (“PV”). Rusfertide is being co-developed and will be co-commercialized with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Takeda”) and the Company remains primarily responsible for development through NDA filing. Icotrokinra is a first-in-class investigational targeted oral peptide that selectively blocks the Interleukin-23 receptor (“IL-23R”) and is licensed to J&J Innovative Medicines (“JNJ”), formerly Janssen Biotech, Inc. Following icotrokinra’s joint discovery by us and JNJ scientists pursuant to our IL-23R collaboration, we were primarily responsible for the development of icotrokinra through Phase 1, with JNJ assuming responsibility for development in Phase 2 and beyond.
We also have a number of pre-clinical stage oral drug discovery programs to address clinically and commercially validated targets, including IL-17 oral peptide antagonist PN-881, an oral metabolic/obesity peptide program, and an oral hepcidin mimetic/ferroportin blocker program.
Rusfertide
Rusfertide is currently in Phase 3 development for the treatment of PV. VERIFY (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05210790) is a global double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trial of rusfertide in PV for approximately 250 patients. The trial evaluates the efficacy, symptom burden and safety of once-weekly, subcutaneously self-administered rusfertide in patients with uncontrolled hematocrit who are phlebotomy dependent despite standard of care treatment. The trial enrolled patients across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. We expect to announce top-line data for the trial’s 32-week primary efficacy endpoint in March 2025, potentially leading to an NDA filing in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Our rusfertide Phase 2 clinical trials include the following:
Final results from the REVIVE trial presented at the American Society of Hematology (“ASH”) 2024 Annual Meeting in December 2024 showed that 54% of patients with PV experienced more than 2.5 years of durable hematocrit control (<45%), decreased phlebotomy use, long-term tolerability and improvements in patient-reported outcomes.
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In January 2024, we entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement for rusfertide with Takeda (the “Takeda Collaboration Agreement”). We are primarily responsible for the development of rusfertide through a potential NDA filing. Under the terms of the agreement, we received a one-time, non-refundable upfront payment of $300.0 million in April 2024, and we are eligible to receive additional worldwide development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments for rusfertide of up to $330.0 million, inclusive of the following potential upcoming milestones:
We are also eligible to receive tiered royalties from 10% to 17% on ex-U.S. net sales of rusfertide and other specified second-generation injectable hepcidin memetic compounds (the “Licensed Products”). We and Takeda will also share equally in profits and losses (50% to us and 50% to Takeda) of the Licensed Products in the United States, if approved. See Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further details related to the agreement, including our right to opt-out of the 50:50 U.S. profit and loss sharing arrangement.
Icotrokinra
Our IL-23R antagonist compound icotrokinra, licensed to J&J, is an orally delivered drug that is designed to block biological pathways currently targeted by marketed injectable antibody drugs. Our orally stable peptide approach may offer a targeted therapeutic approach for gastrointestinal and systemic compartments as needed. We believe that, compared to antibody drugs, icotrokinra has the potential to provide clinical improvement in an oral medication with increased convenience and compliance and the opportunity for the earlier introduction of targeted oral therapy.
JNJ has initiated the following icotrokinra trials:
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In the fourth quarter of 2024, we announced positive topline results for the ICONIC-LEAD and ICONIC-TOTAL Phase 3 trials. In the ICONIC-LEAD trial, once daily icotrokinra showed significant skin clearance versus placebo in adults and adolescents with moderate to-severe plaque psoriasis. At week 16, nearly two-thirds (64.7%) of patients treated with icotrokinra achieved IGA scores of 0 or 1 and 49.6% achieved PASI-90, compared to 8.3% and 4.4% on placebo, respectively. In addition, topline results from the Phase 3 ICONIC-TOTAL trial showed that once daily icotrokinra met the primary endpoint of IGA scores of 0 or 1 at week 16 as compared to placebo. Comprehensive results from both ICONIC-LEAD and ICONIC-TOTAL are expected to be presented at upcoming medical congresses and shared with health authorities in planned submissions.
Topline results for the ANTHEM trial for icotrokinra in UC are expected in the first quarter of 2025. Topline results for the ICONIC-ADVANCE 1, ICONIC-ADVANCE 2, and pustular/erythrodermic psoriasis trials are expected in the second quarter of 2025.
On July 27, 2021, we entered into an Amended and Restated License and Collaboration Agreement with JNJ, which amended and restated the License and Collaboration Agreement, effective July 13, 2017, by and between the Company and JNJ, as amended by the first amendment, effective May 7, 2019 (together, the “JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement”) for the development and commercialization of icotrokinra. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we earned a $50.0 million milestone payment in connection with the dosing of the third patient in the ICONIC-TOTAL Phase 3 clinical trial of icotrokinra in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis and a $10.0 million milestone payment upon the dosing of the third patient in the ANTHEM Phase 2b trial in patients with moderately-to-severely active UC. The JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement was further amended in November 2024 to:
We earned the $165.0 million milestone payment described above during the fourth quarter of 2024. We have earned a total of $337.5 million in nonrefundable payments from JNJ from 2017 through December 31, 2024. We are eligible to receive up to $630.0 million in future development and sales milestone payments, inclusive of the following potential upcoming milestones:
We also remain eligible to receive upward tiering royalties on net product sales at percentages ranging from 6% percent to 10% percent, with 10% percent applicable for net sales over $4.0 billion. See Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
PN-881
In the fourth quarter of 2024, we announced the selection of PN-881, a potential best-in-class oral peptide IL-17 antagonist, as a development candidate for the treatment of immune-mediated skin diseases. PN-881 targets three IL-17 dimers (IL-17 AA, AF and FF), which may offer potential treatment options for hidradenitis suppurativa (“HS”), spondyloarthritis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (“PsA”). Investigational New Drug (“IND”), or foreign equivalent, enabling studies are ongoing, and we expect to initiate a PN-881 Phase 1 study in the fourth quarter of 2025.
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Discovery Platform
Our clinical and pre-clinical assets are all derived from our proprietary discovery platform. Our platform enables us to engineer novel, structurally constrained peptides that are designed to retain key advantages of both orally delivered small molecules and injectable antibody drugs while overcoming many of their limitations as therapeutic agents. Importantly, constrained peptides can be designed to potentially alleviate the fundamental instability inherent in traditional peptides to allow different delivery forms, such as oral, subcutaneous, intravenous, and rectal. Our discovery pipeline has strategically focused on (i) hematology and blood disorders, (ii) I&I diseases and (iii) metabolic diseases, including obesity.
We have a pre-clinical stage program to identify an orally administered hepcidin mimetic/ferroportin blocker, which we believe to be complementary to the injectable rusfertide for offering the best treatment options for PV and other potential erythropoietic and iron imbalance disorders, and we expect to nominate a development candidate in the fourth quarter of 2025. We also have an oral peptide-based metabolic/obesity program and expect to nominate a development candidate in the second quarter of 2025.
Risks and Uncertainties
We describe the respective risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect our business, financial condition and/or results of operations in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” herein.
Operations
We have incurred cumulative net losses from inception through December 31, 2024 of $340.5 million. Substantially all of our net losses have resulted from costs incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. We expect to continue to incur significant research and development expenses and other expenses related to our ongoing operations, product development, pre-clinical discovery programs and pre-commercialization activities. As a result, we may incur losses in the future as we continue the development of, and seek regulatory approval for, our product candidates.
Critical Accounting Polices and Estimates
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements, as well as the reported revenue generated, and the expenses incurred during the reporting periods. Our estimates are based on our historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, and the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent liabilities as of the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those related to revenue recognition, accruals for research and development activities, stock-based compensation, income taxes, marketable securities and leases. Estimates related to revenue recognition include assumptions used to determine standalone selling price utilized to allocate the transaction price between distinct performance obligations, assumptions used to recognize revenue over time for certain performance obligations for which a cost-based input method is used as the measure of
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progress and estimates of whether contingent consideration should be included in the transaction price at each reporting period. We base these estimates on historical and anticipated results, trends and various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, including assumptions as to forecasted amounts and future events. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates.
There has been uncertainty and disruption in the global economy and financial markets due to a number of factors, including geopolitical instability, inflationary pressures, high interest rates, a recessionary environment, domestic and global monetary and fiscal policy, changes in trade policies, including tariffs or other trade restrictions or the threat of such actions, banking and other financial institution instability and other factors. We have taken into consideration any known impacts in our accounting estimates to date and are not aware of any additional specific events or circumstances that would require any additional updates to our estimates or judgments or a revision of the carrying value of our assets or liabilities as of the date of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. These estimates may change as new events occur, circumstances change, and additional information is obtained. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Revenue Recognition
Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers requires us to allocate the arrangement consideration on a relative standalone selling price basis for each performance obligation after determining the transaction price of the contract and identifying the performance obligations to which that amount should be allocated. The relative standalone selling price is defined as the price at which an entity would sell a promised good or service separately to a customer. If other observable transactions in which we have sold the same performance obligation separately are not available, we estimate the standalone selling price of each performance obligation. Key assumptions to determine the standalone selling price may include forecasted revenues, development timelines, reimbursement rates for personnel costs, discount rates and probabilities of technical and regulatory success.
Whenever we determine that goods or services promised in a contract should be accounted for as a combined performance obligation over time, we determine the period over which the performance obligations will be performed and revenue will be recognized. Revenue is recognized using the proportional performance method. Costs incurred or labor hours are typically used as the measure of performance. Management’s judgment is required in determining the level of effort required under an arrangement and the period over which we expect to complete our performance obligations. If we determine that the performance obligation is satisfied over time, any upfront payment received is initially recorded as deferred revenue on our consolidated balance sheets.
Research and Development Costs
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred, unless there is an alternate future use in other research and development projects or otherwise. Research and development costs include salaries and benefits, stock-based compensation expense, laboratory supplies and facility-related overhead, outside contracted services, including clinical and pre-clinical trial costs, manufacturing and process development costs for both clinical and preclinical materials, research costs, development milestone payments under license and collaboration agreements, and other consulting services.
We accrue for estimated costs of research and development activities conducted by third-party service providers, which include the conduct of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, and contract manufacturing activities. We record the estimated costs of research and development activities based upon the estimated services provided but not yet invoiced and we include these costs in accrued expenses and other payables in our consolidated balance sheets and within research and development expense in our consolidated statements of operations. We accrue for these costs based on various factors such as estimates of the work completed and in accordance with agreements established with our third-party service providers. As actual costs become known, we adjust our accrued liabilities. We have not experienced any material differences between accrued liabilities and actual costs incurred. However, the status and timing of actual services performed, number of patients enrolled, the rate of patient enrollment and the number and location of sites activated may vary from our estimates and may result in adjustments to our research and development expenses in future
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periods. Changes in these estimates that result in material changes to our accruals could materially affect the results of our operations.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Information regarding recent accounting pronouncements applicable to us is included in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Components of Our Results of Operations
License and Collaboration Revenue
Our license and collaboration revenue is derived from payments we receive under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement and the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement. See Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses represent costs incurred to conduct research, such as the discovery and development of our product candidates. We recognize all research and development costs as they are incurred unless there is an alternative future use in other research and development projects or otherwise. Non-refundable advance payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are expensed when the activity has been performed or when the goods have been received, rather than when payment has been made. In instances where we enter into agreements with third parties to provide research and development services to us, costs are expensed as services are performed. Amounts due under such arrangements may be either fixed fee or fee for service and may include upfront payments, monthly payments, and payments upon the completion of milestones or the receipt of deliverables.
Research and development expenses consist primarily of the following:
We recognize the amounts related to our Australian research and development refundable tax offset that are not subject to refund provisions as a reduction in research and development expenses. The research and development tax offsets are recognized when there is reasonable assurance that the offset will be received, the relevant expenditure has been incurred and the amount of the consideration can be reliably measured. We evaluate our eligibility under the tax incentive program as of each balance sheet date and make accruals and related adjustments based on the most current and relevant data available. We may alternatively be eligible for a nonrefundable tax offset.
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We allocate direct and indirect costs incurred to product candidates when they enter clinical development. For product candidates in clinical development, direct costs consist primarily of clinical, pre-clinical, and drug discovery costs, costs of supplying drug substance and drug product for use in clinical and pre-clinical studies, including clinical manufacturing costs, contract research organization fees, and other contracted services pertaining to specific clinical and pre-clinical studies. Indirect costs allocated to our product candidates on a program-specific basis include research and development employee salaries, benefits, and stock-based compensation, and indirect overhead and other administrative support costs. Program-specific costs are unallocated when the related expenses are incurred for our early-stage research and drug discovery projects as our internal resources, employees and infrastructure are not tied to any one research or drug discovery project and are typically deployed across multiple projects. As such, we do not provide financial information regarding the costs incurred for early stage pre-clinical and drug discovery programs on a program-specific basis prior to the clinical development stage.
We expect our research and development expenses to increase in the near term as compared to prior year periods as we continue to focus our resources toward (i) progressing our rusfertide program into late stage clinical trials and preparing for regulatory filings and commercialization, and (ii) advancing our pre-clinical and drug discovery research programs, including progressing our recently nominated product development candidate PN-881 through IND-enabling studies, or foreign equivalents. We do not intend to dedicate further internal resources to clinical development or contract manufacturing activities for our PN-943 clinical program. The process of conducting research, identifying potential product candidates, conducting pre-clinical studies and clinical trials necessary to obtain regulatory approval and commencing pre-commercialization activities is costly and time intensive. We may never succeed in achieving marketing approval for our product candidates regardless of our costs and efforts. The probability of success of our product candidates may be affected by numerous factors, including pre-clinical data, clinical data, competition, manufacturing capability, our cost of goods to be sold, our ability to receive, and the timing of, regulatory approvals, market conditions, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products if they are approved for marketing. As a result, we are unable to determine the duration and completion costs of our research and development projects or when and to what extent we will be able to generate revenue from the commercialization and sale of any of our product candidates. Our research and development programs are subject to change from time to time as we evaluate our priorities and available resources.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses consist of personnel costs, allocated facilities costs and other expenses for outside professional services, including legal, human resources, audit and accounting services, IT and pre-commercialization expenses, including selling and marketing costs. Personnel costs consist of salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation. Allocated expenses consist of expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities, information technology, depreciation and amortization expense and other administrative supplies. We expect to continue to incur expenses to support our continued operations as a public company, including expenses related to compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and those of the national securities exchange on which our securities are traded, insurance expenses, investor relations expenses, audit fees, professional services and general overhead and administrative costs.
Interest Income
Interest income consists of interest earned on our cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, which is comprised of contractual interest, premium amortization and discount accretion.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Other income (expense), net consists primarily of amounts related to foreign exchange gains and losses and related items.
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Results of Operations
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
Year Ended December 31, Dollar %
(Dollars in thousands)
Revenue:
Operating expenses:
Other income (expense), net 250 (201) 451 *
Income tax expense 4,220 — 4,220 *
*Percentage not meaningful.
(1) Includes $20.9 million and $17.1 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
(2) Includes $16.6 million and $12.2 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
License and Collaboration Revenue
License and collaboration revenue was comprised of the following for the years presented:
Year Ended December 31, Dollar %
(Dollars in thousands)
License and collaboration revenue:
Takeda Collaboration Agreement revenue $ 269,433 $ — $ 269,433 *
*Percentage not meaningful.
License and collaboration revenue increased by $374.4 million from $60.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 to $434.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Takeda Collaboration Agreement revenue of $269.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 was comprised of (i) $254.1 million of the $300.0 million upfront cash payment allocated to the delivery of the rusfertide license to Takeda upon effectiveness of the agreement in March 2024, and (ii) $15.3 million allocated to development services provided by us during the period based on the cost input method. The remaining balance of $30.6 million was recorded as deferred revenue as of December 31, 2024, which will be recognized over time based on a measure of our efforts toward satisfying our performance obligation relative to the total expected efforts or inputs to satisfy the performance obligation (e.g. costs incurred compared to total budget).
JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement revenue represents the achievement of non-refundable milestone payments pursuant to the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, as amended in November 2024, of $165.0 million and $60.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
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We do not have any commercialized products, and our revenue is derived from licensing and collaboration agreements. Revenue from licensing and collaboration agreements, by its very nature, is highly variable and dependent upon factors such as the timing of when regulatory and sales milestones are achieved, if at all, and the accounting for any upfront payments and performance obligations associated with any existing or new agreements.
As discussed above, our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 was significantly higher than in prior years due to the partial recognition of an upfront payment of $300.0 million upon execution of the Takeda Collaboration Agreement and the achievement of a $165.0 million milestone pursuant to the terms of the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, as amended in November 2024. Our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025 is expected to be comprised of (i) the proportionate recognition of the $30.6 million recorded in deferred revenue as of December 31, 2024, and (ii) any milestones achieved during the year, which are expected to be substantially lower than in 2024. Accordingly, revenue in 2025 is expected to reduce significantly, which will also impact our net income.
Research and Development Expenses
Year Ended December 31, Dollar %
(Dollars in thousands)
Clinical and development expense — PN-943 150 1,058 (908) (86)
Clinical and development expense — other 176 99 77 78
Research and development expenses increased $18.0 million, or 15%, from $120.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 to $138.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase was primarily due to an increase of $19.0 million in pre-clinical and drug discovery research expense, including costs related to PN-881, our recently nominated IL-17 development candidate, partially offset by a decrease of $0.9 million in expenses for our PN-943 program as further development work was deprioritized in 2023.
We had 98 and 85 full-time equivalent research and development employees as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Research and development personnel-related expenses for the year ended December 31, 2024 increased by $10.0 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, including increases of $6.1 million in personnel-related expenses and $3.9 million in stock-based compensation expense.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses increased $10.0 million, or 30%, from $33.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 to $43.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily due to a $4.6 million increase in advisory and legal fees related to the Takeda Collaboration agreement and a $4.4 million increase in stock-based compensation expense.
We had 28 and 27 full-time equivalent general and administrative employees as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Interest Income
Interest income increased $11.4 million, or 77%, from $14.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 to $26.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. This increase was primarily due to higher invested balances, including the $300.0 million one-time, nonrefundable upfront payment received under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement in April 2024.
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Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense was $4.2 million and $0 for the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2024 was a result of taxable income from the recognition of revenue in connection with the Takeda Collaboration Agreement and the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement. The effective tax rate was 1.5% and 0.0% for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
See Part II, Item 7—Results of Operations—Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed on February 17, 2024, for a discussion of our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Sources of Liquidity
Historically we have funded our operations primarily from net proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock and receipt of payments under collaboration agreements.
Proceeds from Sales of Our Common Stock
In April 2023, we completed an underwritten public offering of 5,000,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $20.00 per share and issued an additional 750,000 shares of common stock at a price of $20.00 per share following the underwriters’ exercise of their option to purchase additional shares. Net proceeds, after deducting underwriting commissions and offering costs paid by us, were approximately $107.8 million.
In August 2022, we entered into an Open Market Sale AgreementSM , pursuant to which we may offer and sell up to $100.0 million shares of our common stock from time to time in “at-the-market” offerings (the “2022 ATM Facility”). During the year ended December 31, 2023, we sold 1,749,199 shares of our common stock under the 2022 ATM Facility for net proceeds of $24.3 million, after deducting issuance costs. There were no sales of our common stock under the 2022 ATM Facility during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2022.
Pre-Funded Warrants
In August 2018, we entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement with certain accredited investors (each, an “Investor” and, collectively, the “Investors”), pursuant to which we sold an aggregate of 2,750,000 shares of our common stock at a price of $8.00 per share for aggregate net proceeds of $21.7 million, after deducting offering expenses payable by us. In a concurrent private placement, we issued the Investors warrants to purchase an aggregate of 2,750,000 shares of our common stock (each, a “Warrant” and, collectively, the “Warrants”). Each Warrant was exercisable from August 8, 2018 through August 8, 2023. Warrants to purchase 1,375,000 shares of our common stock had an exercise price of $10.00 per share and Warrants to purchase 1,375,000 shares of our common stock had an exercise price of $15.00 per share.
In August 2023, prior to the expiration of the Warrants, we entered into certain agreements with the Investors and their affiliates under which we agreed to allow the Warrants to be exercised in exchange for pre-funded warrants representing the same number of Warrant Shares underlying the Warrants with an exercise price of $0.001 per share (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”). Subsequent to the execution of the agreements and prior to the expiration of the Warrants, all outstanding Warrants were exercised for gross proceeds of $34.4 million in exchange for 44,748 shares of our common stock and Pre-Funded Warrants to purchase 2,705,252 shares of common stock (subject to adjustment in the event of any stock dividends and splits, reverse stock split, recapitalization, reorganization or similar transaction, as described in the Pre-Funded Warrants) with an exercise price of $0.001 per share. The Pre-Funded Warrants will expire upon the day they are exercised in full. The Pre-Funded Warrants are exercisable at any time prior to expiration except that the Pre-Funded Warrants cannot be exercised by the Investors if, after giving effect thereto, the Investors would beneficially
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own more than 9.99% of our common stock, subject to certain exceptions. The common stock and Pre-Funded Warrants met the criteria for equity classification and the net proceeds from the transaction were recorded as a credit to additional paid-in capital. In accordance with Accounting Standards Topic 260, Earnings Per Share, outstanding Pre-Funded Warrants are included in the computation of basic net loss per share because the exercise price is negligible, and they are fully vested and exercisable after the original issuance date. During the year ended December 31, 2024, Pre-Funded Warrants to purchase 1,205,252 shares were net exercised, resulting in the issuance of 1,205,225 shares of common stock. As of December 31, 2024, Pre-Funded Warrants to purchase 1,500,000 shares of common stock remained outstanding.
Receipt of Payments Under Collaboration Agreements
In March 2024, we earned a $300.0 million one-time, nonrefundable upfront payment from Takeda upon the closing of the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, which we received in April 2024.
Pursuant to the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, we may be eligible to receive clinical development, regulatory and sales milestones, if and when achieved. Upcoming potential development milestones under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement include:
Under the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, we earned a $50.0 million milestone payment upon the dosing of the third patient in the ICONIC-TOTAL Phase 3 trial in late October 2023, which we received in December 2023. We earned a $10.0 million milestone payment upon the dosing of the third patient in the ANTHEM Phase 2b trial in patients with UC in December 2023, which we received in January 2024. The JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement was further amended in November 2024 to:
We earned the $165.0 million milestone payment described above during the fourth quarter of 2024. We earned a total of $337.5 million in nonrefundable payments from JNJ from 2017 through December 31, 2024. We have also received payments for services provided under the collaboration agreement and we may make in-kind payment reimbursements to JNJ for certain costs they have incurred pursuant to the cost sharing terms of the agreement.
Pursuant to the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, we may be eligible to receive clinical development, regulatory and sales milestones, if and when achieved. Upcoming potential development milestones under the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement include:
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Capital Requirements
As of December 31, 2024, we had $559.2 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and an accumulated deficit of $340.5 million. Our capital expenditures were $1.4 million, $0.6 million and $0.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Our primary uses of cash are to fund our operating expenses, including our research and development expenditures and general and administrative costs. We expect that our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months from the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K based on current operating plans and financial forecasts.
We may require additional funding to advance our early discovery pipeline and to develop, acquire, or in-license other potential product candidates. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:
● the success of our existing or future collaborations with third parties;
Such additional funding may come from various sources, including raising additional capital, seeking access to debt, and seeking additional collaborative or other arrangements with partners, but such funding may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all. As discussed in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” we are currently operating in a period of economic uncertainty and capital markets disruption, which has been significantly impacted by domestic and global monetary and fiscal policy, changes in trade policies, including tariffs or other restrictions or the threat of such actions, geopolitical instability, inflationary pressures, high interest rates and banking and other financial institution instability, among other factors. A future recession or market correction, including those due to significant geopolitical or macroeconomic events, could materially affect our business and our access to credit and financial markets.
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Any failure to raise capital as and when needed could have a negative impact on our financial condition and on our ability to pursue our business plans and strategies. Further, our operating plans may change, and we may need additional funds to meet operational needs and capital requirements for clinical trials, other research and development activities and pre-commercialization costs. If we do raise additional capital through public or private equity offerings or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our existing stockholders could be diluted, and the terms of these securities could include liquidation or other preferences that could adversely affect our stockholders’ rights. If we raise additional capital through debt financing, we could be subject to covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with the development and commercialization of our product candidates, we are unable to fully estimate the amounts of increased capital outlays and operating expenditures associated with our current and anticipated product development programs. For additional information, see Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors — Risks Related to our Financial Position and Capital Requirements.”
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated:
Year Ended December 31,
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Data: (Dollars in thousands)
Deferred revenue $ 30,567 $ — $ —
Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $184.2 million and consisted primarily of our net income of $275.2 million and certain non-cash items, including $37.6 million of stock-based compensation, partially offset by a net change of $122.6 million in net operating assets and liabilities. The change in net operating assets and liabilities was driven primarily by a change of $155.0 million in receivable from a collaboration partner related to a milestone payment under the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, partially offset by a change of $30.6 million in deferred revenue related to the Takeda Collaboration Agreement. The $254.4 million increase in cash provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, was primarily due to the receipt of a $300.0 million one-time, non-refundable upfront payment related to the Takeda Collaboration Agreement.
Cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $70.2 million and consisted primarily of our net loss of $79.0 million and a net change of $19.5 million in net operating assets and liabilities, partially offset by certain non-cash items, including $29.2 million of stock-based compensation expense. The $37.9 million decrease in cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, was primarily due to a $48.4 million decrease in our net loss and a $5.1 million increase in stock-based compensation expense, partially offset by a $4.0 million decrease in accretion of discount on marketable securities and an $11.7 million net change in net operating assets and liabilities.
Cash (Used in) Provided by Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $299.5 million and consisted of purchases of securities of $621.7 million and purchases of property and equipment of $1.4 million, partially offset by proceeds from maturities of marketable securities of $323.6 million. The $260.2 million increase in cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, was primarily due to the investment made with a portion of the proceeds from the $300.0 million payment from the Takeda Collaboration Agreement. Purchases of property and equipment were primarily related to purchases of leasehold improvements and laboratory equipment.
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Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $39.3 million and consisted of purchases of marketable securities of $191.1 million and purchases of property and equipment of $0.6 million, partially offset by proceeds from maturities of marketable securities of $152.4 million. The $130.7 million decrease in cash provided by investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, was primarily related to a decrease in the net activity of purchases and maturities of marketable securities. Purchases of property and equipment were primarily related to purchases of laboratory and computer equipment.
Cash Provided by Financing Activities
Cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024 was $25.9 million and consisted of net cash proceeds of $26.5 million from the issuance of common stock upon exercises of stock options and purchases of stock under our employee stock purchase plan (“ESPP”), partially offset by $0.6 million in tax withholding payments related to the net settlement of restricted stock units. The $144.6 million decrease in cash provided by financing activities for year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, was primarily due to $107.8 million of proceeds received from a public offering of our common stock in April 2023, $24.3 million of proceeds from ATM sales of our common stock in 2023, and $34.3 million in proceeds from exercises of warrants in 2023 in exchange for Pre-Funded Warrants and common stock. These changes were partially offset by a $21.7 million increase in proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon exercise of options and purchases of common stock under our ESPP.
Cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $170.5 million and consisted primarily of net cash proceeds of $107.8 million from the April 2023 public offering of our common stock, $24.3 million from sales of our common stock under the 2022 ATM Facility, $34.4 million from the exercise of the Warrants in exchange for issuance of Pre-Funded Warrants and common stock, and $4.8 million in proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options and purchases of common stock under our ESPP. The $151.6 million increase in cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, was primarily due to a $107.8 million increase in net cash proceeds from the April 2023 public offering, a $9.7 million increase in cash proceeds from ATM sales and a $34.4 million increase in net cash proceeds from the exercise of the Warrants.
Contractual Obligations and Other Commitments
In the normal course of business, we enter into agreements with contract service providers to assist in the performance of our research and development activities and clinical and commercial manufacturing activities. Subject to the required notice periods and our obligations under certain binding commitments, we can elect to discontinue the work under these agreements at any time. However, the financial terms of some of these agreements may include non-refundable upfront payments, payments by us for options to acquire certain rights, contingent obligations by us for potential development and regulatory milestone payments and/or sales-based milestone payments and royalty payments. These obligations are recorded in our consolidated statements of operations as incurred, which is generally when the corresponding events become probable. Certain payments are contingent upon the occurrence of various future events that have a high degree of uncertainty. We expect to enter into additional clinical development, contract research, clinical and commercial manufacturing, supplier and collaborative research agreements in the future, which may require upfront payments and long-term commitments of capital resources.
Our contractual obligations include minimum lease payments under our operating lease obligations. In May 2024, we entered into a third amendment to our facility lease agreement dated as of March 2017 to extend the lease term for our existing office and laboratory space from one to 66 months and to lease approximately 17,700 rentable square feet of additional office space. See Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, we may share with Takeda certain development, manufacturing and commercialization costs. The actual amounts that we may pay Takeda or that Takeda may pay us will depend on a number of factors, some of which are outside of our control and some of which are contingent upon the success, if
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achieved, of certain development and regulatory activities. See Note 3 to the Consolidated Financial Statements elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
In January 2020, we initiated arbitration proceedings with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce against Zealand Pharma A/S (“Zealand”) related to a collaboration agreement we and Zealand entered into in 2012 and terminated in 2014. The agreement provides for certain post-termination payment obligations to Zealand with respect to compounds related to the collaboration that we elect to further develop and that meet specified conditions. In August 2021, we and Zealand agreed to resolve the dispute and reached an Arbitration Resolution Agreement. Under the Arbitration Resolution Agreement, we recognized $4.0 million in development milestone payments to Zealand in the third quarter of 2021 and are obligated to pay Zealand certain milestone and royalty payments for rusfertide. The potential future payments include (i) up to $2.75 million in future development milestone payments, (ii) a low single digit royalty on worldwide net sales, and (iii) sales milestones for achievement of annual net sales amounts in specific geographies. See Note 7 and Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business. These risks primarily include interest rate sensitivities related to our interest-earning investments and inflation risk affecting labor costs and clinical trial costs.
Interest Rate Fluctuation Risk
We had $559.2 million and $341.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Our cash and cash equivalents consist of cash, money market funds, commercial paper and government bonds. Marketable securities consist of certificates of deposit, corporate bonds, commercial paper and government bonds. A portion of our investments may be subject to interest rate risk and could decline in value if market interest rates increase. Based on our interest rate sensitivity analysis, an immediate 100 basis point increase in interest rates would increase our annual interest income by approximately $2.8 million, while an immediate 100 basis point decrease in interest rates would decrease our annual interest income by approximately $2.8 million.
Approximately $0.6 million and $0.9 million of our cash balance was located in Australia at December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Our expenses, except those related to our Australian operations, are generally denominated in U.S. dollars. For our operations in Australia, the majority of our expenses are denominated in Australian dollars. To date, we have not had a formal hedging program with respect to foreign currency, but we may do so in the future if our exposure to foreign currency becomes more significant. A 10% increase or decrease in current exchange rates would not have a material effect on the results of our operations.
Inflation Fluctuation Risk
Inflation generally affects us by increasing our costs, such as the cost of labor and research and development contract costs. We do not believe inflation has had a material adverse effect on the results of our operations during the year ended December 31, 2024.
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Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
AAW
Audited Consolidated Financial Statements Page
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID: 42) 78
Consolidated Balance Sheets 80
Consolidated Statements of Operations 81
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) 82
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity 83
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 84
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements 85
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders' equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated February 21, 2025 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical Audit Matter
The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.
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Takeda Collaboration Agreement
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.
San Mateo, California
February 21, 2025
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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except share data)
December 31,
Assets
Current assets:
Receivable from collaboration partner 165,000 10,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets 7,728 3,960
Marketable securities - noncurrent 140,252 —
Property and equipment, net 3,190 1,195
Restricted cash - noncurrent 225 225
Operating lease right-of-use asset 9,417 954
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current liabilities:
Payable to collaboration partner — 3
Accrued expenses and other payables 23,693 19,358
Deferred revenue 18,891 —
Income taxes payable 2,689 —
Operating lease liability 510 1,141
Deferred revenue - noncurrent 11,676 —
Operating lease liability - noncurrent 10,356 —
Commitments and contingencies (Note 9)
Stockholders’ equity:
Accumulated other comprehensive loss (82) (105)
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 744,725 $ 357,951
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(In thousands, except share and per share data)
Year Ended December 31,
Operating expenses:
Other income (expense), net 250 (201) (80)
Income tax expense 4,220 — —
Net income (loss) per share, basic $ 4.47 $ (1.39) $ (2.60)
Net income (loss) per share, diluted $ 4.23 $ (1.39) $ (2.60)
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
(In thousands)
Year Ended December 31,
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Unrealized gain on marketable securities 23 60 89
Gain (loss) on translation of foreign operations — 194 (149)
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(In thousands, except share data)
Accumulated
Additional Other Total
Common Paid-In Comprehensive Accumulated Stockholders’
Stock Capital (Loss) Gain Deficit Equity
Shares Amount
Stock-based compensation expense — — 24,202 — — 24,202
Other comprehensive income (loss) — — — (60) — (60)
Stock-based compensation expense — — 29,293 — — 29,293
Other comprehensive income (loss) — — — 254 — 254
Stock-based compensation expense — — 37,554 — — 37,554
Other comprehensive income (loss) — — — 23 — 23
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(In thousands)
Year Ended December 31,
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Operating lease right-of-use asset amortization 2,069 2,335 2,335
Accretion of discount on marketable securities (8,875) (4,569) (549)
Other — 194 —
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Receivable from collaboration partner (155,000) (9,990) 1,556
Prepaid expenses and other assets (3,768) 1,753 3,754
Research and development tax incentive receivable — — 2,686
Payable to collaboration partner (3) (66) (830)
Accrued expenses and other payables 4,289 (5,597) (12,715)
Income taxes payable 2,689 — —
Operating lease liability (2,226) (2,743) (2,661)
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Purchases of property and equipment (1,355) (609) (795)
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
Issuance costs related to prior period common stock offering — — 25
Supplemental Disclosure of Cash Flow Information:
Cash paid for taxes $ 1,530 $ — $ —
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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PROTAGONIST THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Note 1. Organization and Description of Business
Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) is a discovery through late-stage development biopharmaceutical company focused on peptide therapeutics. The Company’s clinical programs fall into two broad categories of diseases: (i) hematology and blood disorders, and (ii) inflammatory and immunomodulatory (“I&I”) diseases. Two novel peptides derived from the Company’s proprietary discovery technology platform, rusfertide and icotrokinra (formerly known as JNJ-2113), are currently in advanced Phase 3 clinical development.
Rusfertide, an injectable mimetic of the natural hormone hepcidin partnered with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Takeda”), is currently in Phase 3 development for treatment of the rare blood disorder polycythemia vera (“PV”). Icotrokinra is a first-in-class investigational targeted oral peptide that selectively blocks the Interleukin-23 receptor (“IL-23R”), which is licensed to J&J Innovative Medicines (“JNJ”), formerly Janssen Biotech, Inc. Icotrokinra is an orally delivered drug that is designed to block biological pathways currently targeted by marketed injectable antibody drugs. Following Icotrokinra’s joint discovery by the Company and JNJ scientists pursuant to their IL-23R collaboration, the Company was primarily responsible for the development of icotrokinra through Phase 1, with JNJ assuming responsibility for development in Phase 2 and beyond.
The Company also has a number of pre-clinical stage oral drug discovery programs to address clinically and commercially validated targets, including IL-17 oral peptide antagonist PN-881, an oral metabolic/obesity peptide program, and an oral hepcidin mimetic/ferroportin blocker program.
The Company is headquartered in Newark, California and has one wholly owned subsidiary, Protagonist Pty Limited (“Protagonist Australia”), located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Liquidity
As of December 31, 2024, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $559.2 million. The Company has incurred an accumulated deficit from inception through December 31, 2024 of $340.5 million. The Company’s ultimate success depends upon the outcome of its research and development and collaboration activities. The Company may incur additional losses in the future as it continues the development of rusfertide through Phase 3 development and a potential NDA filing and invests in its pre-clinical discovery programs and may need to raise additional capital to continue to execute its long-range business plan. Since the Company’s initial public offering in August 2016, it has financed its operations primarily through proceeds from offerings of common stock and payments received under license and collaboration agreements.
Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation and Consolidation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Protagonist Australia, and have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) and applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated upon consolidation.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent liabilities as of the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates, including those related to revenue recognition, accruals for research and development activities, stock-based compensation, income taxes,
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marketable securities and leases. Estimates related to revenue recognition include assumptions used to determine standalone selling price utilized to allocate the transaction price between distinct performance obligations, assumptions used to recognize revenue over time for certain performance obligations for which a cost-based input method is used as the measure of progress and estimates of whether contingent consideration should be included in the transaction price at each reporting period. Management bases these estimates on historical and anticipated results, trends and various other assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances, including assumptions as to forecasted amounts and future events.
There has been uncertainty and disruption in the global economy and financial markets due to a number of factors, including geopolitical instability, inflationary pressures, high interest rates, a recessionary environment, domestic and global monetary and fiscal policy, changes in trade policies, including tariffs or other trade restrictions or the threat of such actions, banking and other financial institution instability and other factors. The Company has taken into consideration any known impacts in its accounting estimates to date and is not aware of any additional specific events or circumstances that would require any additional updates to its estimates or judgments or a revision of the carrying value of its assets or liabilities as of the filing date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. These estimates may change as new events occur and additional information is obtained. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Concentrations of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to a concentration of credit risk consist of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Substantially all of the Company’s cash is held by three financial institutions that management believes are of high credit quality. Such deposits generally exceed federally insured limits. The primary focus of the Company’s investment strategy is to preserve capital and to meet liquidity requirements. The Company’s cash equivalents and marketable securities are managed by external managers within the guidelines of the Company’s investment policy. The Company’s investment policy addresses the level of credit exposure by limiting concentration in any one corporate issuer and establishing a minimum allowable credit rating. To manage its credit risk exposure, the Company maintains its U.S. portfolio of cash equivalents and marketable securities in fixed income securities denominated and payable in U.S. dollars. Permissible investments of fixed income securities include obligations of the U.S. government and its agencies, money market instruments including commercial paper and negotiable certificates of deposit, and highly rated corporate debt obligations and money market funds.
Cash Equivalents
Cash equivalents that are readily convertible to cash are stated at cost, which approximates fair value. The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents.
Restricted Cash
Restricted cash consists of cash balances held as security in connection with a letter of credit related to the Company’s facility lease entered into in March 2017, as subsequently amended. The Company’s letter of credit balance was $0.2 million at December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 pursuant to the terms of the facility lease.
Cash as Reported in Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Cash as reported in the consolidated statements of cash flows includes the aggregate amounts of cash and cash equivalents and the restricted cash as presented on the consolidated balance sheets.
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Cash as reported in the consolidated statements of cash flows consisted of (in thousands):
December 31,
Restricted cash - noncurrent 225 225 225
Marketable Securities
All marketable securities have been classified as “available-for-sale” and are carried at estimated fair value as determined based upon quoted market prices or pricing models for similar securities. Management determines the appropriate classification of its marketable securities at the time of purchase and reevaluates such designation as of each balance sheet date. Short-term marketable securities have maturities greater than three months but not longer than 365 days as of the balance sheet date. Long-term marketable securities have maturities of 365 days or longer as of the balance sheet date. Unrealized gains and losses are excluded from earnings and are reported as a component of comprehensive income (loss). Realized gains and losses, if any, on available-for-sale securities are included in interest income. The cost of securities sold is based on the specific-identification method. Interest on marketable securities is included in interest income.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Fair value accounting is applied to all financial assets and liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value in the consolidated financial statements on a recurring basis (at least annually). The carrying amount of the Company’s financial instruments, including cash equivalents, receivables from its collaboration partner, accounts payable, payables to its collaboration partner and accrued expenses and other payables approximate fair value due to their short-term maturities. See Note 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the fair value of the Company’s other financial assets and liabilities.
Investment Impairment
As of each reporting date, the Company assesses each of its investments in available-for-sale debt securities whose fair value is below its cost basis to determine if the investment’s impairment is due to credit-related factors or noncredit-related factors. Factors considered in determining whether an impairment is credit-related include the extent to which the investment’s fair value is less than its cost basis, declines in published credit ratings, issuer default on interest or principal payments, and declines in the financial condition and near-term prospects of the issuer. Credit-related impairments on available-for-sale debt securities are recognized as an allowance for credit losses with a corresponding adjustment to other income (expense), net. The portion of the impairment that is not credit-related is recorded as a reduction of other comprehensive income (loss), net of applicable taxes.
Pursuant to Accounting Standard Update 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326), the Company has elected to exclude accrued interest from both the fair value and the amortized cost basis of the available-for-sale debt securities for the purposes of identifying and measuring an impairment. The Company writes off accrued interest as a reduction of interest income when an issuer has defaulted on interest payments due on a security.
Property and Equipment
Property and equipment are stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, ranging from three to five years. Leasehold improvements are amortized over the shorter of the lease term or the estimated useful lives of the assets. Maintenance and repairs are charged to expense as incurred. When assets are retired or otherwise disposed of, the cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the consolidated balance sheet and any resulting gain or loss is reflected in operations in the period realized.
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Leases
The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Pursuant to Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842, Leases (“ASC Topic 842”), operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) asset, operating lease liability, and noncurrent operating lease liability on the consolidated balance sheets. Operating lease ROU asset and operating lease liability are recognized based on the net present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at commencement date. If the Company’s leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease payments made and excludes lease incentives and initial direct costs incurred. Lease terms include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option. Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.
The Company records tenant improvement allowances as a reduction to the ROU asset with the impact of the decrease recognized prospectively over the remaining lease term. The leasehold improvements are amortized over the shorter of their useful life or the remaining term of the lease.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
The Company reviews long-lived assets, primarily comprised of property, equipment and operating lease ROU assets, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability is measured by comparison of the carrying amount to the future net cash flows which the assets are expected to generate. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured as the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the projected discounted future net cash flows arising from the asset. There have been no such impairments of long-lived assets for any of the periods presented.
Comprehensive Income (Loss)
Comprehensive income (loss) includes net income (loss) as well as other changes in stockholders’ equity that result from transactions and economic events other than those from stockholders. The Company’s foreign currency translation and unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities represent the only components of other comprehensive income (loss) that are excluded from reported net income (loss) and that are presented in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss).
Income Taxes
The Company uses the asset and liability method to account for income taxes in accordance with the authoritative guidance for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases, and tax loss and credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates applied to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.
The Company recognizes the effect of income tax positions only if those positions are more likely than not of being sustained. Recognized income tax positions are measured at the largest amount that is greater than a 50% likelihood of being realized. Changes in recognition or measurement are reflected in the period in which the change in judgment occurs. The Company records interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense. To date, there have been no interest or penalties recorded in relation to unrecognized tax benefits.
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Collaborative Arrangements
The Company analyzes its collaborative arrangements to assess whether such arrangements involve joint operating activities performed by parties that are both active participants in the activities and exposed to significant risks and rewards and therefore are within the scope of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 808, Collaborative Arrangements (“ASC Topic 808”). For collaborative arrangements that contain multiple elements, the Company determines which units of account are deemed to be within the scope of ASC Topic 808 and which units of account are more reflective of a vendor-customer relationship and therefore are within the scope of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC Topic 606”). For units of account that are accounted for pursuant to ASC Topic 808, an appropriate recognition method is determined and applied consistently, either by analogy to appropriate accounting literature or by applying a reasonable accounting policy election. For collaborative arrangements that are within the scope of ASC Topic 808, the Company evaluates the income statement classification for presentation of amounts due to or owed from other participants associated with multiple units of account in a collaborative arrangement based on the nature of each activity. Payments or reimbursements that are the result of a collaborative relationship instead of a customer relationship, such as co-development and co-commercialization activities, are recorded as increases or decreases to research and development expense or general and administrative expense, as appropriate.
Revenue Recognition
Under ASC Topic 606, the Company recognizes revenue when its customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which the Company expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services. To determine revenue recognition for arrangements that the Company determines are within the scope of ASC Topic 606, the Company performs the following five steps: (i) identify the contract(s) with a customer; (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract; (iii) determine the transaction price; (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (v) recognize revenue when (or as) the Company satisfies a performance obligation. The Company applies the five-step model to contracts when it is probable that the Company will collect the consideration it is entitled to in exchange for the goods or services it transfers to the customer. At contract inception, the Company assesses the goods or services promised within each contract, determines those that are performance obligations, and assesses whether each promised good or service is distinct. The Company then recognizes as revenue the amount of the transaction price that is allocated to the respective performance obligations when (or as) the performance obligations are satisfied. The Company constrains its estimate of the transaction price up to the amount (the “variable consideration constraint”) that a significant reversal of recognized revenue is not probable.
Licenses of intellectual property: If a license to the Company’s intellectual property is determined to be distinct from the other performance obligations identified in an arrangement, the Company recognizes revenue from non-refundable, upfront fees allocated to the license when the license is transferred to the customer and the customer is able to use and benefit from the license. For licenses that are bundled with other promises, the Company utilizes judgment to assess the nature of the combined performance obligation to determine whether the combined performance obligation is satisfied over time or at a point in time and, if over time, the appropriate method of measuring proportional performance for purposes of recognizing revenue from non-refundable, upfront fees. The Company evaluates the measure of proportional performance each reporting period and, if necessary, adjusts the measure of performance and related revenue recognition.
Milestone payments: At the inception of each arrangement or amendment that includes development, regulatory or commercial milestone payments, the Company evaluates whether the milestones are considered probable of being reached and estimates the amount to be included in the transaction price. ASC Topic 606 suggests two alternatives to use when estimating the amount of variable consideration: the expected value method and the most likely amount method. Under the expected value method, an entity considers the sum of probability-weighted amounts in a range of possible consideration amounts. Under the most likely amount method, an entity considers the single most likely amount in a range of possible consideration amounts. Whichever method used should be consistently applied throughout the life of the contract; however, it is not necessary for the Company to use the same approach for all contracts. The Company expects to use the most likely amount method for development and regulatory milestone payments. If it is probable that a significant revenue reversal would not occur, the associated milestone value is included in the transaction price. Milestone payments that are not within the control of the Company or the licensee, such as regulatory approvals, are not considered
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probable of being achieved until those approvals are received. If there is more than one performance obligation, the transaction price is then allocated to each performance obligation on a relative stand-alone selling price basis. The Company recognizes revenue as or when the performance obligations under the contract are satisfied. At the end of each subsequent reporting period, the Company re-evaluates the probability or achievement of each such milestone and any related constraint, and if necessary, adjusts its estimates of the overall transaction price. Any such adjustments are recorded on a cumulative catch-up basis, which would affect revenues and earnings in the period of adjustment.
Any potential milestone payments that the Company determines are not associated with performance obligations as defined under the contract are excluded from the transaction price and are recognized as the triggering event occurs.
Royalties: For arrangements that include sales-based royalties, including milestone payments based on the level of sales, where the license is deemed to be the predominant item to which the royalties relate, the Company recognizes revenue at the later of (i) when the related sales occur, or (ii) when the performance obligation to which some or all of the royalty has been allocated has been satisfied (or partially satisfied).
Upfront payments and fees are recorded as deferred revenue upon receipt or when due and may require deferral of revenue recognition to a future period until the Company performs its obligations under these arrangements. Amounts payable to the Company are recorded as accounts receivable when the Company’s right to consideration is unconditional. Amounts payable to the Company and not yet billed to the collaboration partner are recorded as contract assets. The Company does not assess whether a contract has a significant financing component if the expectation at contract inception is such that the period between payment by the customer and the transfer of the promised goods or services to the customer will be one year or less.
Contractual cost sharing payments made to a customer or collaboration partner are accounted for as a reduction to the transaction price if such payments are not related to distinct goods or services received from the customer or collaboration partner.
Contracts may be amended to account for changes in contract specifications and requirements. Contract modifications exist when the amendment either creates new, or changes existing, enforceable rights and obligations. When contract modifications create new performance obligations and the increase in consideration approximates the standalone selling price for goods and services related to such new performance obligations, as adjusted for specific facts and circumstances of the contract, the modification is considered to be a separate contract. If a contract modification is not accounted for as a separate contract, the Company accounts for the promised goods or services not yet transferred at the date of the contract modification (the remaining promised goods or services) prospectively, as if it were a termination of the existing contract and the creation of a new contract, if the remaining goods or services are distinct from the goods or services transferred on or before the date of the contract modification. The Company accounts for a contract modification as if it were a part of the existing contract if the remaining goods or services are not distinct and, therefore, form part of a single performance obligation that is partially satisfied at the date of the contract modification. In such case the effect that the contract modification has on the transaction price, and on the entity’s measure of progress toward complete satisfaction of the performance obligation, is recognized as an adjustment to revenue (either as an increase in or a reduction of revenue) at the date of the contract modification (the adjustment to revenue is made on a cumulative catch-up basis).
Research and Development Costs
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred, unless there is an alternate future use in other research and development projects or otherwise. Research and development costs include salaries and benefits, stock-based compensation expense, laboratory supplies and facility-related overhead, outside contracted services, including clinical trial costs, manufacturing and process development costs for clinical and pre-clinical materials, research costs, development milestone payments under license and collaboration agreements, and other consulting services.
The Company accrues for estimated costs of research and development activities conducted by third-party service providers, which include the conduct of pre-clinical and non-clinical studies, clinical trials and contract manufacturing activities. The Company records the estimated costs of research and development activities based upon the estimated
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services provided but not yet invoiced and includes these costs in accrued expenses and other payables in the consolidated balance sheets and within research and development expense in the consolidated statements of operations. The Company accrues for these costs based on various factors such as estimates of the work completed and in accordance with agreements established with its third-party service providers. As actual costs become known, the Company adjusts its accrued liabilities. The Company has not experienced any material differences between accrued liabilities and actual costs incurred. However, the status and timing of actual services performed, the number of patients enrolled, the rate of patient enrollment and the number and location of sites activated may vary from the Company’s estimate and may result in adjustments to research and development expenses in future periods. Changes in these estimates that result in material changes to the Company’s accruals could materially affect the Company’s results of operations.
Research and Development Tax Incentive
The Company is eligible under the AusIndustry research and development tax incentive program to obtain either a refundable tax offset or a nonrefundable tax offset from the Australian Taxation Office. The refundable cash offset is available to the Company on the basis of specific criteria with which the Company must comply. Specifically, the Company must have aggregated annual turnover of less than AUD 20.0 million and cannot be controlled by income tax exempt entities. The refundable tax offset is recognized as a reduction to research and development expense when the right to receive has been attained and funds are considered to be collectible. The Company may alternatively be eligible for a nonrefundable tax offset in years when the aggregated annual turnover exceeds AUD 20.0 million. The Company evaluates its eligibility under tax incentive programs as of each balance sheet date and makes accrual and related adjustments based on the most current and relevant data available. Unused nonrefundable tax offsets may be carried forward to future years, subject to satisfying specific criteria.
Stock-based Compensation
The Company has granted stock options, restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and performance share units (“PSUs”).
Stock-based compensation expense associated with stock options is based on the estimated grant date fair value using the Black-Scholes valuation model, which requires the use of subjective assumptions related to expected stock price volatility, option term, risk-free interest rate and dividend yield. The Company recognizes compensation expense over the vesting period of the awards that are ultimately expected to vest.
Stock-based compensation expense associated with RSUs is based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock on the grant date, which equals the closing market price of the Company’s common stock on the grant date. For RSUs, the Company recognizes compensation expense over the vesting period of the awards that are ultimately expected to vest. PSUs allow the recipients of such awards to earn fully vested shares of the Company’s common stock upon the achievement of pre-established performance objectives. Stock-based compensation expense associated with PSUs is based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock on the grant date, which equals the closing market price of the Company’s common stock on the grant date and is recognized when the performance objective is expected to be achieved. The Company evaluates the probability of achieving the performance criteria on a quarterly basis. The cumulative effect on current and prior periods of a change in the estimated number of PSUs expected to be earned is recognized as compensation expense or as reduction of previously recognized compensation expense in the period of the revised estimate.
The Company recognizes forfeitures of stock-based awards as they occur.
If stock-based awards are granted in contemplation of or shortly before a planned release of material nonpublic information, and such information is expected to result in a material increase in the Company’s share price, the Company considers whether an adjustment to the observable market price is required when estimating fair values.
Net Income (Loss) per Share
The computation of basic net income (loss) per share of common stock is based on the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during each period. The computation of diluted net income (loss) per share of
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common stock is based on the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period plus, when their effect is dilutive, incremental shares consisting of shares subject to stock options, RSUs, PSUs, the Company’s employee stock purchase plan (“ESPP”), and warrants. In accordance with Accounting Standards Codification Topic 260, Earnings Per Share (“ASC Topic 260”), outstanding Exchange and Pre-Funded Warrants (as defined in Note 10. Stockholders’ Equity) are included in the computation of weighted-average shares of common stock, basic because the exercise price was negligible, and they were fully vested and exercisable after the original issuance date.
In periods when the Company has net income, the dilutive effect of all potentially outstanding shares is computed using the treasury stock method. In periods in which the Company reports a net loss, all common stock equivalents are deemed anti-dilutive such that basic net loss per share of common stock and diluted net loss per share of common stock are equal.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2020-06, Debt - Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplified accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. ASU 2020-06 also removed certain settlement conditions that were required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplified the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. ASU 2020-06 is effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2024. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or related disclosures.
In November 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2023-07 Segment Reporting (Topic 280) – Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures (“ASU 2023-07”), which requires public entities to disclose incremental segment information on an annual and interim basis. ASU 2023-07 requires all public entities, including public entities with a single reportable segment, to provide one or more measures of segment profit or loss used by the chief operating decision maker to allocate resources and assess performance. Additionally, the guidance requires disclosures of significant segment expenses and other segment items as well as incremental qualitative disclosures. ASU 2023-07 is effective for the Company for fiscal years beginning on January 1, 2024, and interim periods within fiscal years beginning on January 1, 2025. The Company currently operates as one reportable segment and the impact of the adoption of this standard was limited to certain enhanced disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. See Note 15 to these consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to the adoption of this guidance.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted as of December 31, 2024
In December 2023, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2023-09 Income Taxes (Topic 740) – Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures (“ASU 2023-09”), which requires public business entities to disclose specific categories in the income tax rate reconciliation annually and provide additional information for reconciling items that meet a qualitative threshold. ASU 2023-09 also requires that entities disclose annually additional information about income taxes paid and disaggregated information for certain items. The standard can be applied prospectively or retrospectively. ASU 2023-09 is effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2025. The Company will adopt this guidance in its 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K but does not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on its financial position, results of operations or cashflows.
In November 2024, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2024-03 Income Statement – Reporting Comprehensive Income – Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses (“ASU 2024-03”), which requires detailed disclosures about specified categories of expenses (including employee compensation, depreciation, and amortization) included in certain expense captions presented on the face of the income statement. ASU 2024-03 is effective for the Company or fiscal years beginning on January 1, 2027, and for interim periods within fiscal years beginning on January 1, 2028. Early adoption is permitted. The guidance may be applied either (1) prospectively to financial statements issued for reporting periods after the effective date of ASU 2024-03 or (2) retrospectively to all prior periods presented in the financial statements. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material effect on its consolidated financial statements and continues to evaluate disclosure presentation alternatives.
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Note 3. License and Collaboration Agreements
Takeda Collaboration Agreement
In January 2024, the Company entered into the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, which became effective in March 2024.
Pursuant to the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, the Company and Takeda are jointly developing and commercializing rusfertide and potentially other specified second-generation injectable hepcidin mimetic compounds (the “Licensed Products”) in the United States (the “Profit-Share Territory”). Takeda is solely and exclusively responsible for the development and commercialization of the Licensed Products in all other countries (the “Takeda Territory”). The Company and Takeda share the costs of the development, manufacture and commercialization activities for the Licensed Products in the Profit-Share Territory, provided that (i) the Company leads, and is solely responsible for its costs associated with, completion of the ongoing Phase 3 VERIFY program evaluating rusfertide for the treatment of PV as well as associated U.S. regulatory activities; (ii) Takeda leads, and is solely responsible for its costs associated with, pre-commercialization activities related to rusfertide in the Profit-Share Territory; and (iii) Takeda leads commercialization of rusfertide in the Profit-Share Territory, with the Company holding an option to co-detail. Takeda is solely responsible for all costs for the development, manufacture and commercialization of the Licensed Products in the Takeda Territory. The Company granted Takeda a non-transferable, sublicensable and, except for certain specified exceptions, exclusive license to certain intellectual property of the Company to exercise its rights and perform its obligations under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement.
The Company received a one-time, non-refundable upfront payment of $300.0 million in April 2024. In addition, the Company is eligible to receive additional worldwide development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments for rusfertide of up to $330.0 million, and tiered royalties from 10% to 17% on net sales of the Licensed Products in the Takeda Territory. The Company and Takeda also share equally in profits and losses (50% to the Company and 50% to Takeda) for Licensed Products in the Profit-Share Territory. Takeda will book sales of the Licensed Products globally.
The Company has the right to opt-out entirely of profit- and loss-sharing in the Profit-Share Territory for rusfertide and all other Licensed Products (the “Full Opt-out Right”) (i) during the 90-day period beginning 120 days after the filing of an NDA with the FDA for rusfertide for PV (the “Initial Opt-out Period”); and (ii) for convenience without receipt of the Opt-out Payment (as defined below) (generally following the Initial Opt-out Period). In addition, if the Company does not exercise the Full Opt-out Right, the Company may opt-out of any Licensed Product other than rusfertide on a Licensed Product-by-Licensed Product basis (each, a “Partial Opt-out Right” and either the Full Opt-out Right or a Partial Opt-out right being an “Opt-out Right”). Following the Company’s exercise of an Opt-out Right, the Company has agreed to transition applicable development and commercial activities to Takeda, and Takeda has agreed to assume sole operational and financial responsibility for such activities in the United States.
The Takeda Collaboration Agreement provides for aggregate development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments from Takeda to the Company for rusfertide of up to $975 million if the Company exercises the Full Opt-out Right. In addition to these milestone payments, in the event the Company exercises the Full Opt-out Right during the Initial Opt-out Period, the Company will receive: (i) a $200 million payment following its exercise of the Full Opt-out Right; and (ii) an additional $200 million payment following FDA approval of the NDA for rusfertide for PV (together, the “Opt-out Payment”). If the Company exercises an Opt-out Right, Takeda has agreed to pay the Company royalties of 14% to 29% on worldwide net sales of the Licensed Products with respect to which the Company has exercised an Opt-out Right.
Upcoming potential development and regulatory milestones under the Takeda Collaboration Agreement include:
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The Company evaluated the Takeda Collaboration Agreement and concluded that it has elements that are within the scope of ASC Topic 606 and ASC Topic 808. As of the effective date of the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, the Company identified two distinct performance obligations: (i) the rusfertide license delivered upon the effectiveness of the Takeda Collaboration Agreement and (ii) certain development services to be provided prior to the Initial Opt-out Period, including the Company’s responsibilities to complete the VERIFY Phase 3 clinical trial in PV and to file an NDA with the FDA upon successful completion of the VERIFY trial and associated manufacturing services.
The Company determined that the initial transaction price totaled $300.0 million, comprised of the upfront payment. The Company has excluded any future estimated milestones or royalties from this transaction price to date, all of which are either currently constrained or subject to the sales-and usage-based royalty exception. As part of the Company’s evaluation of this variable consideration constraint, it determined that the potential payments are contingent upon developmental and regulatory milestones that are uncertain and are highly susceptible to factors outside of its control. The Company allocated $254.1 million of the initial transaction price to the license and $45.9 million to the development services based upon the relative standalone selling price of each performance obligation. The estimate of standalone selling price for the license was determined based on discounted cash flows for the expected development and commercialization of rusfertide and includes assumptions for forecasted revenues, development timelines and expenses, discount rates, and probabilities of technical and regulatory success. The estimate of standalone selling price for the development services was determined based on forecasted costs and expenses over the expected development period. For the license of rusfertide, the Company determined that Takeda could benefit from the license at the time the license was granted and therefore, the related performance obligation was satisfied at a point in time.
The amount allocated to the license, which represents functional intellectual property that was transferred at a point in time, was satisfied upon transfer of the license to Takeda. The amount allocated to development services will be recognized over time based on a measure of the Company’s efforts toward satisfying the performance obligation relative to the total expected efforts or inputs to satisfy the performance obligation (e.g., costs incurred compared to total budget). The Company recognized $15.3 million of revenue allocated to development services with respect to the period from the effective date of the contract through December 31, 2024.
The Company determined that the Takeda Collaboration Agreement met the definition of a collaborative arrangement under ASC Topic 808. Both parties are active participants in directing and carrying out the development of the Licensed Products and both are exposed to the significant risk and rewards related to the commercial success of the Products. If the Company does not exercise an Opt-out Right (“Company Opt-in”), the Company and Takeda would co-detail the Licensed Products in the U.S. and share in the economic results through a profit-sharing structure. The Company determined that development costs subsequent to the Company Opt-in date are within the scope of ASC Topic 808, which does not provide recognition and measurement guidance. As such, the Company determined that Accounting Standards Codification Topic 730, “Research and Development” was appropriate to analogize to based on the cost-sharing provisions of the agreement. The Company concluded that payments to or reimbursements from Takeda related to these services will be accounted for as an increase to or reduction of research and development expense, respectively.
JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement
On July 27, 2021, the Company entered into an Amended and Restated License and Collaboration Agreement with JNJ, formerly Janssen Biotech, Inc., which amended and restated the License and Collaboration Agreement, effective July 13, 2017, by and between the Company and JNJ, as amended effective May 7, 2019 and November 14, 2024 (together, the “JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement”). Prior to January 1, 2023, JNJ was a related party to us as Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. was a significant (greater than 5%) stockholder of the Company, and both companies are subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson. The JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement relates to the development, manufacture and commercialization of oral IL-23 receptor antagonist drug candidates and enables JNJ to develop collaboration compounds for multiple indications. Under the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, JNJ is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop at least one collaboration compound for at least two indications.
During the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company earned a $50.0 million milestone payment in connection with the dosing of the third patient in the ICONIC-TOTAL Phase 3 clinical trial of icotrokinra (formerly JNJ-2113) in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis and a $10.0 million milestone payment upon the dosing of the third patient in the
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ANTHEM Phase 2b trial moderately-to-severely active UC. The JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement was further amended in November 2024 to:
The Company earned the $165.0 million milestone payment described above during the fourth quarter of 2024. The Company has earned a total of $337.5 million in non-refundable payments from JNJ from inception in 2017 through December 31, 2024.
Upcoming potential development and regulatory milestones include:
● $50.0 million upon FDA approval of an NDA in any indication;
● $45.0 million upon FDA approval of an NDA for a second indication.
Pursuant to the agreement, the Company is eligible to receive future sales milestone payments and tiered royalties on net product sales at percentages ranging from 6% to 10%.
Revenue Recognition
For the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company recognized $434.4 million of license and collaboration revenue. This was comprised of $269.4 million related to the Takeda Collaboration Agreement, including (i) $254.1 million allocated to the rusfertide license delivered to Takeda upon the effectiveness of the agreement in March 2024 and (ii) $15.3 million for development services provided by the Company during the period based on the cost-based input method, and $165.0 million related to the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, as described above.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company recognized $60.0 million of collaboration revenue related to the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, which included a $50.0 million milestone payment earned in October 2023 in connection with the dosing of the third patient in the ICONIC-TOTAL Phase 3 trial of icotrokinra in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, and a $10.0 million milestone payment earned in December 2023 upon the dosing of the third patient in the ANTHEM Phase 2b trial for patients with UC.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recognized $26.6 million of collaboration revenue related to the JNJ License and Collaboration Agreement, which was primarily related to the transaction price under the Restated Agreement recognized based on proportional performance. The Company completed its performance obligation under the collaboration as of June 30, 2022.
During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, no revenue was recognized from amounts included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of the year. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recognized revenue of $0.9 million from amounts included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of the year. None of the costs to obtain or fulfill the contracts were capitalized.
The remaining unrecognized transaction price amount of $30.6 million related to the Takeda Collaboration Agreement was recorded as deferred revenue on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2024 and will be recognized over time based on a measure of the Company’s efforts toward satisfying the performance obligation relative to the total expected efforts or inputs to satisfy the performance obligation (e.g. costs incurred compared to total budget).
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Note 4. Fair Value Measurements
Financial assets and liabilities are recorded at fair value. The accounting guidance for fair value provides a framework for measuring fair value, clarifies the definition of fair value and expands disclosures regarding fair value measurements. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the reporting date. The accounting guidance establishes a three-tiered hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in the valuation methodologies in measuring fair value as follows:
Level 1—Inputs are unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date.
Level 2—Inputs (other than quoted market prices included in Level 1) are either directly or indirectly observable for the asset or liability through correlation with market data at the measurement date and for the duration of the instrument’s anticipated life.
Level 3—Inputs reflect management’s best estimate of what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability at the measurement date. Consideration is given to the risk inherent in the valuation technique and the risk inherent in the inputs to the model.
In determining fair value, the Company utilizes quoted market prices, broker or dealer quotations, or valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs to the extent possible and considers counterparty credit risk in its assessment of fair value.
The following tables present the fair value of the Company’s financial assets determined using the inputs defined above (in thousands):
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
Assets:
U.S. Treasury and agency securities — 299,217 — 299,217
Corporate debt securities — 102,705 — 102,705
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
Assets:
U.S. Treasury and agency securities — 145,085 — 145,085
Corporate debt securities — 7,672 — 7,672
The Company’s certificates of deposit, U.S. Treasury and agency securities, including U.S. Treasury bills, commercial paper, and corporate debt securities are classified as Level 2 as they were valued based upon quoted market prices for similar instruments in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active and model-based valuation techniques, for which all significant inputs are observable in the market or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets.
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The carrying amount of the Company’s remaining financial assets and liabilities, including cash, receivables and payables, approximates their fair value due to their short-term nature.
Note 5. Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities
Cash equivalents and marketable securities consisted of the following (in thousands):
Amortized Gross Unrealized
Cost Gains Losses Fair Value
Money market funds $ 19,563 $ — $ — $ 19,563
Classified as:
Cash equivalents $ 86,236
Marketable securities - current 321,664
Marketable securities - noncurrent 140,252
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities $ 548,152
Amortized Gross Unrealized
Cost Gains Losses Fair Value
Corporate debt securities 7,678 — (6) 7,672
Classified as:
Cash equivalents $ 160,379
Marketable securities - current 154,890
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities $ 315,269
All of the Company’s marketable securities are classified as available-for-sale. Current marketable securities of $321.7 million and $154.9 million held as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, had contractual maturities of less than one year. Noncurrent marketable securities of $140.3 million held as of December 31, 2024 had contractual maturities of at least one year but no more than two years. The Company does not intend to sell its securities that are in an unrealized loss position, and it is not more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell its securities before recovery of their amortized cost basis, which may be at maturity. There were no material realized gains or realized losses on marketable securities for the periods presented. The Company evaluated securities with unrealized losses to determine whether such losses, if any, were due to credit-related factors and determined that there were no credit-related losses to be recognized as of December 31, 2024 and 2023.
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Note 6. Balance Sheet Components
Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets
Prepaid expenses and other current assets consisted of the following (in thousands):
December 31,
Accrued interest receivable $ 3,242 $ 256
Prepaid clinical and research related expenses 1,830 649
Prepaid licenses 600 529
Other prepaid expenses 649 1,040
Other receivable 248 76
Prepaid expenses and other current assets $ 7,728 $ 3,960
Property and Equipment, Net
Property and equipment, net consisted of the following (in thousands):
December 31,
Furniture and computer equipment 1,447 1,143
Leasehold improvements 2,424 963
Accumulated depreciation (7,035) (6,234)
Property and equipment, net $ 3,190 $ 1,195
Depreciation expense for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, was $894,000, $977,000 and $1,032,000, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, $47,000, $56,000 and $156,000, respectively, of the Company’s property and equipment, net, was located in Australia. The remainder of the Company’s property and equipment, net was located in the United States.
Accrued Expenses and Other Payables
Accrued expenses and other payables consisted of the following (in thousands):
December 31,
Accrued clinical and research related expenses $ 11,923 $ 11,841
Accrued employee related expenses 11,078 6,786
Accrued professional service fees 618 632
Total accrued expenses and other payables $ 23,693 $ 19,358