COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES |
12 Months Ended | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Dec. 31, 2021 | |||
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES [Abstract] | |||
| COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES |
General Legal Matters
From time to time the Company is or may become subject to certain legal proceedings and claims arising in connection with the normal course of its business. Management does not expect that the outcome of any such claims or actions will have a material effect on the Company’s liquidity, results of operations or financial condition.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The Company continues to monitor the ongoing developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the emergence of the Delta
and Omicron variants and other resistant strains of the coronavirus, and its impacts to the Company’s commercial and manufacturing operations and plasma collection facilities, including collections of source plasma, procurement of raw materials
and packaging materials, a portion of which are sourced internationally, and the testing of finished drug product that is required prior to its availability for commercial sale. A substantial portion of such testing has historically been
performed by contract laboratories outside the United States.
Due to a combination of previous state and local “shelter-in-place” orders, as well as government stimulus packages,
persisting social distancing measures and varying roll-outs of vaccinations by state, the Company has experienced lower than normal donor collections at its FDA approved plasma collection centers. The Company was also subject to delays in
shipments of source plasma from its contracted third-party suppliers, as well as delays in deliveries for personal protective equipment, reagents and other non-plasma raw materials and supplies used in the manufacture and distribution of its
products. In addition, the Company is subject to supply chain delays as a result of certain of its suppliers diverting significant resources towards the rapid development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and, as a result, the Company has
elected to carry more raw materials inventory than it has in the past. The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted, to a certain degree, the Company’s customer engagement initiatives, whereby ADMA’s sales and medical affairs field personnel have
faced difficulties communicating directly with physicians and other healthcare professionals, as well as the cancellation or postponement of a number of key scientific and medical meetings, further limiting the Company’s ability to communicate
with potential customers. The Company has implemented a comprehensive suite of virtual engagement initiatives; however, clinician engagement has been reduced due to rapidly evolving COVID-19 priorities at U.S. medical centers.
The pandemic could also impact the Company’s ability to interact with the FDA or other regulatory authorities and may result
in delays in the conduct of inspections or review of pending applications or submissions. Although the Company received several FDA approvals and two
FDA inspections of the Boca Facility were completed during the year ended December 31, 2021, no assurances can be provided as to the timing for completion of any other regulatory submissions or applications that may be impacted by restrictions
related to COVID-19.
During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, revenue attributable to international customers was approximately 13% of the Company’s total revenues. As the Company seeks to grow this aspect of its business, it may also be subject to the impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic in locations outside the United States.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the COVID-19 pandemic to date has not had a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations, and the Company does not believe that its production operations at the Boca Facility, the Company’s contract fill/finishers or its plasma collection facilities have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Company does not anticipate and has not experienced any material impairments with respect to any of its long-lived assets, including the Company’s property and equipment, goodwill or intangible assets.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has not, to date, materially adversely impacted the Company’s capital and financial resources, because the Company is unable to determine the ultimate severity or duration of the pandemic or its long-term effects on, among other things, the global, national or local economies, the capital and credit markets or the Company’s workforce, customers or our suppliers, at this time the Company is unable to predict whether COVID-19 will have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.
Vendor and Licensor Commitments
Pursuant to the terms of a plasma purchase agreement with BPC dated as of November 17, 2011 (the “2011 Plasma Purchase Agreement”), the Company agreed to purchase from BPC an annual minimum volume of source plasma containing antibodies to RSV to be used in the manufacture of ASCENIV. The Company must purchase a to-be-determined and agreed upon annual minimum volume from BPC, but may also collect high-titer RSV plasma from up to five wholly-owned ADMA plasma collection facilities. During 2015, the Company and BPC amended the 2011 Plasma Purchase Agreement to allow the Company the ability to collect its raw material RSV high-titer plasma from other third-party collection organizations, thus allowing the Company to expand its reach for raw material supply as it executes its commercialization plans for ASCENIV. As part of the closing of the Biotest Transaction, the parties amended the 2011 Plasma Purchase Agreement to extend the initial term through the ten-year anniversary of the closing date of the Biotest Transaction. Unless terminated earlier, the 2011 Plasma Purchase Agreement expires in June 2027, after which it may be renewed for two additional five-year periods if agreed to by the parties. On December 10, 2018, BPC assigned its rights and obligations under the 2011 Plasma Purchase Agreement to Grifols Worldwide Operations Limited (“Grifols”) as its successor-in-interest, effective January 1, 2019. On January 1, 2019, Grifols and the Company entered into an additional amendment to the 2011 Plasma Purchase Agreement for the purchase of source plasma containing antibodies to RSV from Grifols (see Note 16). Pursuant to this amendment, until January 1, 2022, the Company may purchase RSV plasma from Grifols from the two plasma collection centers that were transferred to BPC on January 1, 2019 at a price equal to cost plus five percent (5%) (without any additional increase due to inflation). Effective January 1, 2022, RSV plasma purchased from these two plasma collection centers will be subject to the pricing terms in effect for RSV plasma purchased from other plasma collection centers owned by Grifols. On June 6, 2017, the Company and BPC entered into a Plasma Supply Agreement pursuant to which BPC supplies, on an exclusive basis subject to certain exceptions, to ADMA BioManufacturing an annual minimum volume of hyperimmune plasma that contain antibodies to the Hepatitis B virus for the manufacture of Nabi-HB. The Plasma Supply Agreement has a 10-year term. On July 19, 2018, the Company and BPC entered into an amendment to the Plasma Supply Agreement to provide, among other things, that in the event BPC elects not to supply in excess of ADMA BioManufacturing’s specified amount of Hepatitis B plasma and ADMA BioManufacturing is unable to secure Hepatitis B plasma from a third party at a price that is within a low double- digit percentage of the price that ADMA BioManufacturing pays to BPC, then BPC shall reimburse ADMA BioManufacturing for the difference in price ADMA BioManufacturing incurs. On December 10, 2018, BPC assigned its rights and obligations under the Plasma Supply Agreement to Grifols, effective January 1, 2019.
On June 6, 2017, the Company and BPC entered into a Plasma Purchase Agreement (the “2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which ADMA BioManufacturing purchases normal source plasma (“NSP”) from BPC at agreed upon annual quantities and prices. The 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement has an initial term of five years after which the 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement may be renewed for additional two terms of two years each upon the mutual written consent of the parties. On July 19, 2018, the Company and BPC entered into an amendment to the 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement to, among other things, provide agreed upon amounts of normal source plasma to be supplied by BPC to ADMA BioManufacturing in calendar year 2019 at a specified price per liter, provided that ADMA BioManufacturing delivers a valid purchase order to BPC. Additionally, pursuant to the amendment to the 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement, BPC agreed that, for calendar years 2020 and 2021, it shall supply no less than a high double-digit percentage of ADMA BioManufacturing’s requested NSP amounts, provided that such requested NSP amounts are within an agreed range, at a price per liter to be mutually determined. Furthermore, pursuant to the amendment to the 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement, in the event BPC fails to supply ADMA BioManufacturing with at least a high double-digit percentage of ADMA BioManufacturing’s requested NSP amounts, BPC shall promptly reimburse ADMA BioManufacturing the difference in price ADMA BioManufacturing incurs due to BPC’s election not to supply NSP to ADMA BioManufacturing in such amounts as requested. On December 10, 2018, BPC assigned its rights and obligations under the Plasma Purchase Agreement to Grifols, effective January 1, 2019. Effective as of May 12, 2021, the Company and Grifols amended the foregoing 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement whereby, among other things, the term of the agreement was extended through December 31, 2022, while certain historical provisions were deleted. In order to maintain a reliable supply of raw material plasma thereafter, the Company has executed additional agreements with multiple third-party suppliers of NSP to supplement the 2017 Plasma Purchase Agreement. The Company has also increased its number of planned plasma collection center buildouts such that the Company expects to have 10 FDA-approved plasma collection centers in operation by the end of 2023, while also continuing to increase its plasma collection capabilities at its ADMA BioCenters plasma collection centers business segment.
Post-marketing commitments
In connection with the approval of the BLA for BIVIGAM, on December 19, 2012 Biotest committed to perform two additional post-marketing studies, a pediatric study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of BIVIGAM in children and adolescents, and a post-authorization safety study to further assess the potential risk of hypotension and hepatic and renal impairment in BIVIGAM-treated patients with primary humoral immunodeficiency. These studies are still pending completion. ADMA has assumed the remaining obligations, and the costs of the studies will be expensed as incurred as research and development expenses. The Company currently expects to incur expenses of approximately $3.0 million to $4.0 million to complete these studies, with both studies to be completed by June of 2023.
In connection with the FDA’s approval of ASCENIV on April 1, 2019, the Company is required to perform a pediatric study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ASCENIV in children and adolescents. The Company expects to incur expenses of approximately $2 million to complete this study, which is required to be completed by June of 2023.
Employment contracts
The Company has entered into employment agreements with Mr. Grossman and Mr. Lenz.
Other commitments
On September 28, 2021, following the approval of the Company’s Board of Directors upon recommendation of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, and in consultation with an independent compensation consultant,
the Company implemented a retention incentive program, consisting of cash payments and awards of RSUs (see Note 8), to the Company’s management, including Mr. Grossman and Mr. Lenz, and to certain other employees. The purpose of the retention
program is to promote and ensure business continuity and provide an incentive to the Company’s executive management and certain other employees considering the operational challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the competitive work environment in which the Company operates as an FDA regulated manufacturer of specialized biologic therapies. The retention awards were granted considering the nationwide labor shortages and the
increased employee turnover rates that the Company, its pharmaceutical peers and other companies outside of the Company’s industry have reported experiencing.
The cash portion of the retention program consists of two tranches. The first tranche was paid to employees on
September 30, 2021 in the amount of $1.3 million, and the second tranche aggregating to approximately $1.3 million will be paid on June 15, 2022. Based on the terms of the retention agreements the Company entered into with each applicable executive and
employee, $0.8 million of the first tranche is being recognized over the retention service period, which ends on December 31, 2022,
with the remainder having been recognized as expense on September 30, 2021. The second tranche will be recognized as compensation expense over a 15-month
period from October 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.
In the normal course of business, the Company enters into contracts that contain a variety of indemnifications with its employees, licensors, suppliers and service providers. Further, the Company indemnifies its directors and officers who are, or were, serving at the Company’s request in such capacities. The Company’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown as of December 31, 2021. The Company does not anticipate recognizing any significant losses relating to these arrangements. |