COLLABORATION AND LICENSE AGREEMENTS | NOTE 6: COLLABORATION AND LICENSE AGREEMENTS Collaboration and License Agreement with Novartis On June 14, 2022, the Company entered into a collaboration and license agreement (the “Novartis Agreement”) with Novartis Pharma AG (“Novartis”), which became effective on June 15, 2022 (the “Novartis Effective Date”), to collaborate to discover and develop in vivo gene editing products incorporating our custom ARCUS nucleases for the purpose of seeking to research and develop potential treatments for certain diseases (as defined in the Novartis Agreement, the “Licensed Products”). Any initial Licensed Products will be developed for the potential treatment of certain hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. Pursuant to the terms of the Novartis Agreement, the Company will develop an ARCUS nuclease and conduct in vitro characterization for the Licensed Products, with Novartis then assuming responsibility for all subsequent development, manufacturing and commercialization activities. Novartis will receive an exclusive license for, and be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to conduct all subsequent research, development, manufacture and commercialization activities with respect to the Licensed Products. The Company will initially develop a single, custom ARCUS nuclease for a defined “safe harbor” target site for insertion of specified therapeutic payloads in the patient’s genome (the “Initial Nuclease”) for Novartis to further develop as a potential in vivo treatment option for certain hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. Pursuant to the terms of the Novartis Agreement, Novartis may elect, subject to payment of a fee to the Company, to replace Licensed Products based on the Initial Nuclease with Licensed Products based on a second custom ARCUS nuclease the Company designs for gene editing of a specified human gene target associated with hemoglobinopathies (the “Replacement Nuclease”). Additionally, Novartis has the option, upon payment of a fee to the Company for each exercise of the option, to include Licensed Products utilizing the Initial Nuclease for insertion of up to three additional specified therapeutic payloads at the “safe harbor” target site, each intended to treat a particular genetic disease. The exercise period for such option ends on the earlier of (a) the fourth anniversary of the Novartis Effective Date and (b) the replacement of the Initial Nuclease with the Replacement Nuclease as described above. In July 2022, the Company received a $ 50.0 million upfront cash payment under the Novartis Agreement. Additionally, on the Novartis Effective Date, Novartis made an equity investment in the Company’s common stock pursuant to a stock purchase agreement (the “Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement”) pursuant to which, on the Novartis Effective Date, the Company issued and sold to Novartis 12,407,440 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Novartis Shares”) in a private placement transaction for an aggregate purchase price of $ 25.0 million, or approximately $ 2.01 per share. The price per share of the Company’s common stock under the Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement represented a 20 % premium over the volume-weighted-average-price of the Company’s common stock over the 10 trading days preceding the execution date of the Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement. Management concluded that the Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement was to be combined with the Novartis Agreement for accounting purposes. Of the total $ 75.0 million upfront compensation, the Company applied equity accounting guidance to measure the $ 11.6 million recorded in equity upon the issuance of the shares, and $ 63.4 million was identified as transaction price allocated to the revenue arrangement. Pursuant to the Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement, subject to certain exceptions, Novartis may not sell the Novartis Shares without the Company’s approval for a period of two years following the Novartis Effective Date. In addition, for a period of two years following the Novartis Effective Date, Novartis and its affiliates may not (a) effect or otherwise participate in, directly or indirectly, any acquisition of any of our securities or material assets, any tender offer or exchange offer, merger or other business combination or change of control involving the Company, any recapitalization, restructuring, liquidation, dissolution or other extraordinary transaction with respect to the Company, or any solicitation of proxies or consents to vote any of the Company’s securities or (b) act with any other person, or publicly disclose any intention, to do any of the foregoing. The Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement also contains customary representations, warranties, and covenants of both parties. On the Novartis Effective Date, the Company and Novartis also entered into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to which the Company has agreed, within the time periods specified in the Registration Rights Agreement, to register the resale of the Novartis Shares on a registration statement to be filed with the SEC. The Registration Rights Agreement contains customary indemnification provisions, and all registration rights terminate in their entirety effective on the first date on which there cease to be any Registrable Securities (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) outstanding. The Company will also be eligible to receive milestone payments of up to an aggregate of approximately $ 1.4 billion as well as certain research funding. If Licensed Products resulting from the collaboration are approved and sold, the Company will also be entitled to receive tiered royalties ranging from the mid-single digit to low-double digit percentages on net sales of Licensed Products, subject to customary potential reductions. Novartis’s obligation to pay royalties to us expires on a country-by-country and Licensed Product-by-Licensed Product basis, upon the latest to occur of certain events related to expiration of patents, regulatory exclusivity or a period of ten years following the first commercial sale of the Licensed Product. Unless earlier terminated, the Novartis Agreement will remain in effect on a Licensed Product-by-Licensed Product and country-by-country basis until the expiration of a defined royalty term for each Licensed Product and country. Novartis has the right to terminate the Novartis Agreement without cause by providing advance notice to the Company. Either party may terminate the Novartis Agreement for material breach by the other party and a failure to cure such breach within the time period specified in the Novartis Agreement. The Company may also terminate the Novartis Agreement in the event that Novartis brings a challenge to our patents. The Company assessed the Novartis Agreement in accordance with ASC 606 and concluded that the promises in the agreement represent transactions with a customer. The Company has determined that the promises associated with the research and development activities for each of the targets are not distinct because they are all based on the ARCUS proprietary genome editing platform. The Company has concluded that the agreement with Novartis contains the following promises: (i) license of intellectual property; (ii) performance of research and development (“R&D”) services, and (iii) Joint Steering Committee (“JSC”) participation. The Company determined that the license of intellectual property and R&D services were not distinct from each other, as the license and R&D services are highly interdependent upon one another. The JSC participation was determined to be an immaterial promise as the time commitment and related cost associated with performance of JSC participation is expected to be inconsequential to the total consideration in the contract. As such, the Company determined that these promises should be combined into a single performance obligation. The Company recognizes revenue from the $ 50.0 million upfront cash payment, $ 13.4 million allocated to the transaction price from the Novartis Stock Purchase Agreement, and variable consideration on an input method in the form of research effort relative to expected research effort at the completion of the performance obligation, which is based on the actual hours of research work performed relative to expected hours of research work to be incurred in the future to satisfy the performance obligation. Management will evaluate and adjust the total expected research effort for the performance obligation on a quarterly basis based upon actual research hours incurred to date relative to research hour forecasts. The transfer of control occurs over this time period and, in management’s judgment, is the best measure of progress towards satisfying the performance obligation. During the three months ended March 31, 2023 , the Company recognized revenue under the Novartis Agreement of $ 5.9 million. Deferred revenue related to the Novartis Agreement amounted to $ 48.6 million and $ 54.2 million as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively, of which $ 20.7 million and $ 27.9 million, respectively, was included in current liabilities within the condensed balance sheets. Development and License Agreement with Eli Lilly On November 19, 2020, the Company entered into a development and license agreement, subsequently amended by the First Amendment to the Development and License Agreement dated August 9, 2021 (as amended, the “Lilly Agreement”) with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”) to collaborate to discover and develop in vivo gene editing products incorporating the Company’s ARCUS nucleases to utilize ARCUS for the research and development of potential in vivo therapies for genetic disorders. The Lilly Agreement was subsequently assigned to Prevail, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lilly. Lilly has initially nominated Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a liver-directed target and a central nervous system directed target. Under the terms of the Development and License Agreement, Lilly has the right to nominate up to three additional gene targets for genetic disorders over the initial nomination period of four years. Lilly may extend the nomination period for an additional two years from the date on which such initial Nomination Period ends, upon Lilly’s election and payment of an extension fee. Additionally, under the terms of the Lilly Agreement, Lilly has the option to replace up to two gene targets upon Lilly’s election and payment of a replacement target fee. Under the terms of the Lilly Agreement, Lilly received an exclusive license to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize the resulting licensed products to diagnose, prevent and treat any and all diseases by in vivo gene editing directed against the applicable gene target. The Lilly Agreement provides that the Company will be responsible for conducting certain pre-clinical research and investigational new drug application (“IND”) enabling activities with respect to the gene targets nominated by Lilly to be subject to the collaboration, including manufacture of initial clinical trial material for the first licensed product. Lilly will be responsible for, and must use commercially reasonable efforts with respect to, conducting clinical development and commercialization activities for licensed products resulting from the collaboration, and may engage the Company for additional clinical and/or initial commercial manufacture of licensed products. In connection with the closing of the Lilly Agreement on January 6, 2021, the Company received an upfront cash payment of $ 100.0 million. The Company will also be eligible to receive milestone payments of up to an aggregate of $ 420.0 million per licensed product as well as nomination fees for additional targets and certain research funding. If licensed products resulting from the collaboration are approved and sold, the Company will also be entitled to receive tiered royalties ranging from the mid-single digit percentages to the low-teens percentages on world-wide net sales of the licensed products, subject to customary potential reductions. Lilly’s obligation to pay royalties to the Company expires on a country-by-country and licensed product-by-licensed product basis, upon the latest to occur of certain events related to expiration of patents, regulatory exclusivity or a period of ten years following first commercial sale of the licensed product. Simultaneously with the entry into the Lilly Agreement, the Company and Lilly entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (the “Lilly Share Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which Lilly purchased 3,762,190 shares of the Company’s common stock for a purchase price of $ 35.0 million. Management concluded that the Lilly Share Purchase Agreement was to be combined with the Lilly Agreement for accounting purposes. Of the total $ 135.0 million upfront compensation, the Company applied equity accounting guidance to measure the $ 27.7 million recorded in equity upon the issuance of the shares, and $ 107.3 million was identified as the transaction price allocated to the revenue arrangement. The Company assessed this arrangement in accordance with ASC 606 and concluded that the promises in the agreement represent transactions with a customer. The Company has determined that the promises associated with the research and development activities for each of the targets are not distinct because they are all based on the ARCUS proprietary genome editing platform. The Company has concluded that the agreement with Lilly contains the following promises: (i) license of intellectual property; (ii) performance of R&D services, (iii) the manufacture of pre-clinical supply, (iv) JSC Participation, and (v) regulatory responsibilities. The Company determined that the license of intellectual property, R&D services, manufacture of pre-clinical development material, and regulatory responsibilities were not distinct from each other, as the license, R&D services, pre-clinical supply, and regulatory responsibilities are highly interdependent upon one another. The JSC participation was determined to be an immaterial promise as the time commitment and related cost associated with performance of JSC participation is expected to be inconsequential to the total consideration in the contract. As such, the Company determined that these promises should be combined into a single performance obligation. The Company recognizes revenue from the $ 100.0 million upfront cash payment, $ 7.3 million allocated to the transaction price from the Lilly Share Purchase Agreement, and variable consideration on an input method in the form of research effort relative to expected research effort at the completion of the performance obligation, which is based on the actual time of R&D activities performed relative to expected time to be incurred in the future to satisfy the performance obligation. Management evaluates and adjusts the total expected research effort for the performance obligation on a quarterly basis based upon actual research progress to date relative to research progress forecasts. The transfer of control occurs over this time period and, in management’s judgment, is the best measure of progress towards satisfying the performance obligation. During the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 , the Company recognized revenue under the Lilly Agreement of $ 2.9 million and $ 3.3 million, respectively. Deferred revenue related to the Lilly Agreement amounted to $ 72.5 million and $ 74.8 million as of March 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 , respectively, of which $ 17.6 million and $ 18.3 million, respectively, was included in current liabilities within the condensed balance sheets. Development and License Agreement with iECURE In August 2021, the Company entered into a development and license agreement with iECURE (the “iECURE DLA”) under which iECURE was to advance the Company’s PBGENE-PCSK9 candidate through preclinical activities as well as a Phase 1 clinical trial in order to gain access to a license to use the Company's PCSK9-directed ARCUS nuclease to insert genes into the PCSK9 locus to develop treatments for four pre-specified rare genetic diseases, including ornithine transcarbamylase (“OTC”) deficiency (the "PCSK9 License"). Simultaneously with the entry into the iECURE DLA, the Company and iECURE entered into an equity issuance agreement (the “iECURE Equity Agreement”), pursuant to which iECURE issued the Company common stock in iECURE as additional consideration for the PCSK9 license. Additionally, the Company is eligible to receive milestone and mid-single digit to low double digit royalty payments on sales of iECURE products developed with ARCUS. The Company adjusts the carrying value of the iECURE equity to fair value each reporting period with any changes in fair value recorded to other income (expense). During the three months ended March 31, 2023 , the Company recorded a $ 0.8 million decrease in the carrying value of its iECURE equity to adjust to fair value as a result of dilution from iECURE's Series A-1 equity issued in such period. The fair value of the costs to be incurred by iECURE to progress the Company’s PBGENE-PCSK9 candidate through the Phase 1 clinical trial (the “PCSK9 Prepaid”) was recorded to the prepaid expenses and other assets line items of the condensed balance sheets. The PCSK9 Prepaid was amortized to research and development expense on a pro-rata basis as iECURE incurred costs to progress the PBGENE-PCSK9 candidate through a Phase 1 clinical trial. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 , the Company recognized $ 0.7 million of research and development expense related to amortization of the PCSK9 Prepaid. The remaining unamortized PCSK9 Prepaid was fully impaired during the year ended December 31, 2022 as the Company made the decision to cease pursuit of PBGENE-PCSK9 for familial hypercholesterolemia with iECURE as its partner in December 2022. Accordingly, there was no PCSK9 Prepaid balance as of March 31, 2023 or December 31, 2022 . |