Indemnification Agreements
In the ordinary course of business, the Company may provide indemnification of varying scope and terms to employees, consultants, vendors, business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters including, but not limited to, losses arising out of breach of such agreements or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. To date, the Company has not incurred any material costs as a result of such indemnification agreements. The Company is not aware of any indemnification arrangements that could have a material effect on its financial position, results of operations or cash flows, and has not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations in its unaudited interim condensed financial statements as of June 30, 2023 and 2022.
Litigation
From time to time, the Company may be exposed to litigation relating to potential products and operations. The Company is not currently engaged in any legal proceedings that are expected, individually or in the aggregate, to have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Other
As of June 30, 2023 and 2022, the Company had standing agreements with consultants, contractors or service providers whose terms do not yield material long-term commitments.
16. Related Party Transactions
Viridian, LLC:
In June 2019, the Company entered into a Technology Assignment Agreement (the “TAA”) with Viridian, LLC (“Viridian”), a related party. The Company considers Viridian to be a related party because two of its members have a seat on the Board of Directors of the Company. The TAA assigns to the Company exclusively throughout the world all rights, title, and interest to all technology and know-how applicable to the research, development, commercialization, and manufacturing of human therapeutic products that target a specific protein. In exchange for the TAA, the Company issued to Viridian 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock with a fair value of $0.02 per share. There are no future obligations to Viridian in connection with the TAA. As of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, Viridian owned approximately 13% of the Company’s outstanding shares (assuming the conversion of all preferred stock into common stock).
Zenas BioPharma Limited:
The Company is a party to option and license agreements with Zenas, a related party. The Company considers Zenas to be a related party because (i) Tellus BioVentures LLC (“Tellus”), whose sole member is a significant shareholder in the Company and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, is also a significant shareholder in Zenas and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zenas and (ii) Fairmount Healthcare Fund LP and Fairmount Healthcare Fund II LP (together, the “Fairmount Funds”), who are significant shareholders in the Company and have a seat on the Board of Directors of the Company, are also significant shareholders in Zenas and have a seat on the Board of Directors of Zenas. As of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, Tellus and affiliated entities owned approximately 17%, and the Fairmount Funds and affiliated entities owned approximately 14% of the Company’s outstanding shares (assuming the conversion of all preferred stock into common stock). See Note 12 for more information. In connection with these agreements, the Company recognized $1.4 million and $4.1 million within the license revenue – related party line item in the condensed statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. As of June 30, 2023, the Company recorded a related party receivable of $0.4 million, unbilled related party receivable of $0.4 million, current deferred related party revenue of $0.1 million and noncurrent deferred related party revenue of $0.8 million on its balance sheet. As of December 31, 2022, the Company recorded a related party receivable of $4.7 million, unbilled related party receivable of $0.9 million, current deferred related party revenue of $0.1 million and noncurrent deferred related party revenue of $0.8 million on its balance sheet.
In 2020, Zenas issued 156,848 common shares to the Company in exchange for the Zenas Option. The Company determined that the fair value on the date of issuance and as of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively, was not material to its unaudited interim condensed financial statements. The Company used the measurement alternative as the measurement attribute for accounting for the Zenas common shares which does not require it to assess the fair value of the common stock at each reporting period as the fair value of the Zenas common shares is not readily determinable nor is there a reliable source for observable transactions from which the Company could determine a fair value. In addition, the Company does not have ready access to significant events occurring at Zenas. If the Company does identify observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or similar common shares of Zenas, the Company will measure the common shares at fair value as of the date that the observable transaction occurred.
17