Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

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Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Organization And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies Disclosure [Text Block]
1. Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
 
The Company
 
We are a specialty pharmaceutical company developing proprietary therapeutics for the treatment of serious medical disorders. Our product development programs focus primarily on important pharmaceutical markets with significant unmet medical needs and commercial potential. We are directly developing our product candidates and also utilize corporate, academic and government partnerships as appropriate. Such collaborations have helped to fund product development and have enabled us to retain significant economic interest in our products. We operate in only one business segment, the development of pharmaceutical products.
 
Basis of Presentation
 
The accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statement presentation. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the three month period ended March 31, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2014, or any future interim periods.
 
The balance sheet at December 31, 2013 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date, but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. These unaudited condensed financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
 
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
 
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming we will continue as a going concern. At March 31, 2014, we had cash of approximately $10.2 million, which we believe is sufficient to fund our planned operations into April 2015.
 
Our efforts since receipt of the Complete Response letter (the “CRL”) to the Probuphine New Drug Application (“NDA”) on April 30, 2013 have focused on working with Titan’s partner, Braeburn Pharmaceuticals Sprl (“Braeburn”), a team of expert clinical and regulatory advisors and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) to establish a path forward for potential resubmission of the the “NDA” with the additional information requested by the FDA.
 
The FDA has recently provided clear guidance on the full clinical study protocol of Probuphine®, the company’s investigational subdermal implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. The study, which was submitted for FDA review in mid-March by Braeburn, is expected to begin enrollment by mid-year 2014, and study completion is anticipated by the middle of 2015. The clinical study is a randomized, double blind, double dummy design that is expected to enroll approximately 180 patients into two parallel treatment arms. The study population will be clinically stable patients who are receiving maintenance treatment with an approved sublingual formulation containing buprenorphine at a daily dose of 8mg or less. Patients will be randomized to receive either four Probuphine implants, or to continue the daily sublingual buprenorphine therapy. The patients are expected to be treated for six months, and the primary analysis will be a non-inferiority comparison of responders in the two arms. Updates on the progress of the study will be provided periodically.
 
Although Braeburn is proceeding with plans for commencing the clinical study expeditiously, under our December 2012 license agreement with Braeburn, as amended (the “Agreement”), Braeburn currently has the technical right to terminate the Agreement. If Braeburn were to exercise its right to terminate the Agreement, we would not have sufficient funds available to us to complete the FDA regulatory process and, in the event of ultimate approval, commercialize Probuphine without raising additional capital. If we are unable to complete a debt or equity offering, or otherwise obtain sufficient financing in such event, our business and prospects would be materially adversely impacted. Furthermore, in light of the reduced $15 million milestone payment payable to us under the Third Amendment if the FDA ultimately approves Probuphine, we may be unable to advance our current Parkinson’s disease development program to later stage clinical studies and will not be able to pursue any additional programs beyond the very initial stages without obtaining additional financing, either through the sale of debt or equity securities, a corporate partnership or otherwise. We cannot assure you that the financing we need will be available on acceptable terms.
 
Revenue Recognition
 
We generate revenue principally from collaborative research and development arrangements, technology licenses, and government grants. Consideration received for revenue arrangements with multiple components is allocated among the separate units of accounting based on their respective selling prices. The selling price for each unit is based on vendor-specific objective evidence, or VSOE, if available, third party evidence if VSOE is not available, or estimated selling price if neither VSOE nor third party evidence is available. The applicable revenue recognition criteria are then applied to each of the units.
 
Revenue is recognized when the four basic criteria of revenue recognition are met: (1) a contractual agreement exists; (2) transfer of technology has been completed or services have been rendered; (3) the fee is fixed or determinable; and (4) collectibility is reasonably assured. For each source of revenue, we comply with the above revenue recognition criteria in the following manner:
 
 
Technology license agreements typically consist of non-refundable upfront license fees, annual minimum access fees or royalty payments. Non-refundable upfront license fees and annual minimum payments received with separable stand-alone values are recognized when the technology is transferred or accessed, provided that the technology transferred or accessed is not dependent on the outcome of our continuing research and development efforts.
 
 
Royalties earned are based on third-party sales of licensed products and are recorded in accordance with contract terms when third-party results are reliably measurable and collectibility is reasonably assured. Pursuant to certain license agreements, we earn royalties on the sale of Fanapt by Novartis Pharma AG in the U.S. As described in Note 6, “Commitments and Contingencies”, and Note 7, “Royalty Liability”, we are obligated to pay royalties on such sales to Sanofi-Aventis and the Deerfield Healthcare group of entities (“Deerfield”). As we have no performance obligations under the license agreements, we have recorded the royalties earned, net of royalties we are obligated to pay, as revenue in our Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss).  On March 28, 2013, we amended the agreements with Deerfield terminating our option to repurchase the royalty rights. As a result, we no longer recognize royalty income related to the Fanapt royalty payments received from Novartis unless Fanapt sales exceed certain thresholds (see Note 7, “Royalty Liability” for further discussion).
 
 
Government grants, which support our research efforts in specific projects, generally provide for reimbursement of approved costs as defined in the notices of grants. Grant revenue is recognized when associated project costs are incurred.
 
 
Collaborative arrangements typically consist of non-refundable and/or exclusive technology access fees, cost reimbursements for specific research and development spending, and various milestone and future product royalty payments. If the delivered technology does not have stand-alone value, the amount of revenue allocable to the delivered technology is deferred. Non-refundable upfront fees with stand-alone value that are not dependent on future performance under these agreements are recognized as revenue when received, and are deferred if we have continuing performance obligations and have no evidence of fair value of those obligations. Cost reimbursements for research and development spending are recognized when the related costs are incurred and when collections are reasonably expected. Payments received related to substantive, performance-based “at-risk” milestones are recognized as revenue upon achievement of the clinical success or regulatory event specified in the underlying contracts, which represent the culmination of the earnings process. Amounts received in advance are recorded as deferred revenue until the technology is transferred, costs are incurred, or a milestone is reached.
  
Research and Development Costs and Related Accrual
 
Research and development expenses include internal and external costs. Internal costs include salaries and employment related expenses, facility costs, administrative expenses and allocations of corporate costs. External expenses consist of costs associated with outsourced clinical research organization activities, sponsored research studies, product registration, patent application and prosecution, and investigator sponsored trials. We also record accruals for estimated ongoing clinical trial costs. Clinical trial costs represent costs incurred by clinical research organizations (“CROs”) and clinical sites. These costs are recorded as a component of research and development expenses. Under our agreements, progress payments are typically made to investigators, clinical sites and CROs. We analyze the progress of the clinical trials, including levels of patient enrollment, invoices received and contracted costs when evaluating the adequacy of accrued liabilities. Significant judgments and estimates must be made and used in determining the accrued balance in any accounting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates under different assumptions. Revisions are charged to expense in the period in which the facts that give rise to the revision become known.
 
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
 
In July 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-11,  Income Taxes (Topic 740): Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists, providing guidance on the presentation of unrecognized tax benefits in the financial statements as either a reduction to a deferred tax asset or either a liability to better reflect the manner in which an entity would settle at the reporting date any additional income taxes that would result from the disallowance of a tax position when net operating loss carryforwards, similar tax losses or tax credit carryforwards exist. The amendments in this ASU do not require new recurring disclosures. The amendments in this ASU are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The amendments in this ASU should be applied prospectively to all unrecognized tax benefits that exist at the effective date. The adoption of the amendments in this ASU did not have a significant impact on our financial statements.
 
Subsequent Events
 
We have evaluated events that have occurred after March 31, 2014 and through the date that the financial statements are issued.
 
Fair Value Measurements
 
We measure the fair value of financial assets and liabilities based on authoritative guidance which defines fair value, establishes a framework consisting of three levels for measuring fair value, and expands disclosures about fair value measurements. Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. There are three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:
   
Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
 
Level 2 – quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets or inputs that are observable;
 
Level 3 – inputs that are unobservable (for example cash flow modeling inputs based on assumptions).
 
Financial instruments, including cash, receivables, accounts payable and accrued liabilities are carried at cost, which we believe approximates fair value due to the short-term nature of these instruments. Our warrant liabilities are classified within level 3 of the fair value hierarchy because the value is calculated using significant judgment based on our own assumptions in the valuation of these liabilities.
 
As a result of the fair value adjustment of the warrant liabilities, we recorded a non-cash loss on an increase in the fair value of $0.9 million and $3.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, in our Condensed Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss). See Note 8, “Warrant Liability” for further discussion on the calculation of the fair value of the warrant liabilities.
 
(in thousands)
 
Warrant
liability
 
Total warrant liability at December 31, 2013
 
$
1,817
 
Adjustment to record warrants at fair value
 
 
864
 
Total warrant liability at March 31, 2014
 
$
2,681