13. Grant and Awards MTEC Grant On June 15, 2020, the Company entered into a Research Project Award agreement (the “MTEC Agreement”) with MTEC, pursuant to which the Company received a $15.0 million grant and entered into a three-year program administered by the U.S. Department of Defense through MTEC managed by the Naval Medical Research Command with funding from the Defense Health Agency and Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program. On September 29, 2022, the MTEC Agreement was modified to increase the total award by $1.3 million to $16.3 million and extend the term into the third quarter of 2024. In July 2024, the MTEC Agreement was modified to increase the total award by $5.3 million to a total of $21.6 million and extend the term into the third quarter of 2025. The MTEC funds are to partially fund a Phase 1b/2a, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose escalation clinical study of the Company’s therapeutic phage-based candidate, AP-SA02, for the treatment of complicated Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia infections. The MTEC Agreement specifies that the grant will be paid to the Company over the term of the award through a cost reimbursable model, based on agreed upon cost share percentages, and the grant money received is not refundable to MTEC. Upon license or commercialization of intellectual property developed with the funding from the MTEC Agreement, additional fees will be due to MTEC. The Company will elect whether to (a) pay a fixed royalty amount, which is subject to a cap based upon total funding received, or (b) pay an additional assessment fee, which would also be subject to a cap based upon a percentage of total funding received. The MTEC Agreement is effective through August 15, 2025. The MTEC Agreement may be terminated in whole or in part 30 calendar days following written notice from the Company to MTEC. In addition, MTEC has the right to terminate the MTEC Agreement upon material breach by the Company. The Company determined that the MTEC Agreement is not in the scope of ASC 808 or ASC 606. Applying ASC 606 by analogy, the Company recognizes proceeds received under the MTEC Agreement as grant revenue in the statement of operations when related costs are incurred. The Company recognized zero and $1.0 million in grant revenue from the MTEC Agreement during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, respectively. As of March 31, 2024, the Company recognized the entire $16.3 million award as grant revenue. Since the additional award was approved in July 2024, the Company will recognize grant revenue from July 2024 until the full amount is utilized. The Company recognized $1.0 million and $1.8 million in grant revenue from the MTEC Agreement during the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. As of June 30, 2024, and December 31, 2023, the Company had $0.5 million and $1.5 million as awards receivable from MTEC, respectively. CFF Therapeutics Development Award On March 13, 2020, the Company entered into an award agreement (the “Award Agreement”) with CFF, pursuant to which the Company received a Therapeutics Development Award of up to $5.0 million (the “CFF Award”). The CFF Award was used to fund a portion of the Company’s Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa (“P. aeruginosa”) phage candidate, AP-PA02, as a treatment for Pseudomonas airway infections in people with cystic fibrosis (“CF”). The first payment under the Award Agreement, in the amount of $1.0 million, became due upon signing the Award Agreement and was received in April 2020. The remainder of the CFF Award was payable to the Company incrementally in installments upon the achievement of certain milestones related to the development program and progress of the Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of AP-PA02, as set forth in the Award Agreement. The total amount of the CFF award was recognized through December 2023 and no additional payments are expected. If the Company ceases to use commercially reasonable efforts directed to the development of AP-PA02, or any other Product (as defined in the Award Agreement), for a period of 360 days (an “Interruption”) and fails to resume the development of the Product after receiving from CFF notice of an Interruption, then the Company must either repay the amount of the CFF Award actually received by the Company, plus interest, or grant to CFF (1) an exclusive (even as to the Company), worldwide, perpetual, sublicensable license under technology developed under the Award Agreement that covers the Product for use in treating infections in CF patients (the “CF Field”), and (2) a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, sublicensable license under certain background intellectual property covering the Product, to the extent necessary to commercialize the Product in the CF Field. Upon commercialization by the Company of any Product, the Company will owe a fixed royalty amount to CFF, which is to be paid in installments determined, in part, based on commercial sales volumes of the Product. The Company will be obligated to make an additional fixed royalty payment upon achieving specified sales milestones. The Company may also be obligated to make a payment to CFF if the Company transfers, sells or licenses the Product in the CF Field, or if the Company enters into a change of control transaction. The term of the Award Agreement commenced on March 10, 2020 and expires on the earlier of the date on which the Company has paid CFF all of the fixed royalty payments set forth therein, the effective date of any license granted to CFF following an Interruption, or upon earlier termination of the Award Agreement. Either CFF or the Company may terminate the Award Agreement for cause, which includes the Company’s material failure to achieve certain development milestones. The Company’s payment obligations survive the termination of the Award Agreement. The Company concluded that the CFF Award is in the scope of ASC 808. Accordingly, as discussed in Note 3, the Company recognizes the award upon achievement of certain milestones as credits to research and development expenses. No credits to research and development expenses were recognized during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, related to the CFF Award. In addition, the Company concluded under the guidance in ASC 730 that it does not have an obligation to repay funds received once related research and development expenses are incurred.
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