Alkermes plc. - FORM 10-Q - XML - IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT - November 3, 2011

2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

     Basis of Presentation

          The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of Alkermes for the three and six months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010 are unaudited and have been prepared on a basis substantially consistent with the audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2011. The year-end condensed consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S.”) (commonly referred to as “GAAP”). In the opinion of management, the condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments, which are of a normal recurring nature, that are necessary to present fairly the results of operations for the reported periods. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto of Alkermes, Inc. which are contained, or incorporated by reference, in Alkermes, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2011, as amended (the “Annual Report”), and the audited financial statements and notes thereto, which has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The results of the Company’s operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results of the Company’s operations for any other interim period or for a full fiscal year.

     Principles of Consolidation

          The condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Alkermes plc and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: Alkermes Ireland Holdings Limited, Alkermes Pharma Ireland Limited, Alkermes US Holdings, Inc., Alkermes, Inc., Eagle Holdings USA, Inc., Alkermes Gainesville LLC, Alkermes Controlled Therapeutics, Inc., and Alkermes Europe, Ltd. Intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

     Use of Estimates

          The preparation of the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates, judgments, and assumptions that may affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an on-going basis, the Company evaluates its estimates and judgments and methodologies, including those related to revenue recognition and related allowances, its collaborative relationships, clinical trial expenses, the valuation of inventory, impairment and amortization of intangibles and long-lived assets, share-based compensation, income taxes including the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, valuation of investments and derivative instruments, litigation, and restructuring charges. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

     Risk-management instruments

          On September 16, 2011, the Company entered into a $310.0 million first lien term loan facility (the “First Lien Term Loan”) and a $140.0 million second lien term loan facility the (“Second Lien Term Loan” and, together with the First Lien Term Loan, the “Term Loans”). Interest on the Term Loans is at a rate equal to an applicable margin plus three-month LIBOR. The Company addressed its risk to exposure to fluctuations in interest rates by entering into certain derivative financial instruments, the objective of which is to limit the impact of fluctuations in interest rates on earnings. The Company’s derivative activities are initiated within the guidelines of documented corporate risk management policies and do not create additional risk because gains and losses on derivative contracts offset losses and gains on the assets, liabilities, and transactions being hedged.

          During the three months ended September 30, 2011, the Company entered into an interest rate swap contract that was designated and qualified as a cash flow hedge. The Company reviews the effectiveness of its derivatives on a quarterly basis. The effective portion of gains and losses on the Company’s cash flow hedge is reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss and reclassified into earnings in the same period the hedged transaction affects earnings. Hedge ineffectiveness is immediately recognized in earnings.

          During the three months ended September 30, 2011, the Company entered into an interest rate cap contract that was not designated as a hedging instrument. The interest rate cap is recorded at fair value with associated gains or losses recognized in current earnings during the period of change.

     Segment Information

          The Company operates as one business segment, which is the business of developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines designed to yield better therapeutic outcomes and improve the lives of patients with serious diseases. The Company’s chief decision maker, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, reviews the Company’s operating results on an aggregate basis and manages the Company’s operations as a single operating unit.

     Business Acquisitions

          The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements include the operations of an acquired business after the completion of the acquisition. The Company accounts for acquired businesses using the acquisition method of accounting. The acquisition method of accounting for acquired businesses requires, among other things, that most assets acquired and liabilities assumed be recognized at their estimated fair values as of the acquisition date, and that the fair value of acquired in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) be recorded on the balance sheet. Also, transaction costs are expensed as incurred. Any excess of the purchase price over the assigned values of the net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill. Contingent consideration is included within the acquisition cost and is recognized at its fair value on the acquisition date. A liability resulting from contingent consideration is remeasured to fair value at each reporting date until the contingency is resolved. Changes in fair value are recognized in earnings.

     Goodwill and Intangible Assets

          Goodwill represents the excess cost of the Company’s investment in the net assets of acquired companies over the fair value of the underlying identifiable net assets at the date of acquisition. The Company’s goodwill balance solely relates to the EDT acquisition in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, as described in Note 3, Acquisitions. Goodwill is not amortized but is tested for impairment annually or when events or circumstances indicate the fair value of a reporting unit may be below its carrying value. A reporting unit is an operating segment or sub-segment to which goodwill is assigned when initially recorded.

          In September 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance related to testing goodwill for impairment. This accounting standard allows an entity to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is necessary to perform the current two-step test. If an entity believes, as a result of its qualitative assessment, that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the quantitative impairment test is required. Otherwise, no further testing is required. An entity can choose to perform the qualitative assessment on none, some or all of its reporting units. Moreover, an entity can bypass the qualitative assessment for any reporting unit in any period and proceed directly to step one of the impairment test, and then resume performing the qualitative assessment in any subsequent period. This standard is effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. However, an entity can choose to early adopt the standard if its annual test date is before the issuance of the final standard, provided that the entity has not yet performed its 2011 annual impairment test or issued its financial statements. The Company chose to early adopt the provisions of this standard as it had not yet performed its annual impairment test, which the Company performs as of October 30, 2011. The adoption of this standard did not impact the Company’s financial position or results of operations.

          The Company’s finite-lived intangible assets consist of core developed technology and collaboration agreements and are recorded at fair value at the time of their acquisition and are stated within its condensed consolidated balance sheets net of accumulated amortization and impairments. The finite-lived intangible assets are amortized over their estimated useful life using the economic use method, which reflects the pattern that the economic benefits of the intangible assets are consumed as revenue is generated from the underlying patent or contract. The useful lives of the Company’s intangible assets are primarily based on the legal or contractual life of the underlying patent or contract, which does not include additional years for the potential extension or renewal of the contract or patent. IPR&D represents the fair value assigned to research and development assets that were acquired prior to its completion. IPR&D is considered an indefinite-lived asset and is not amortized but is tested for impairment annually or when events or circumstances indicate the fair value may be below its carrying value. If and when development is complete, which generally occurs when regulatory approval to market a product is obtained, the associated assets would be deemed finite-lived and would then be amortized based on their respective estimated useful lives at that point in time. The Company’s intangible assets were all acquired as part of the EDT acquisition in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, as described in Note 3, Acquisitions.

     Foreign Currency

          The Company’s functional and reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the exchange rate prevailing on the date of the transaction. The resulting monetary assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars at exchange rates prevailing on the subsequent balance sheet date. Gains and losses as a result of translation adjustments are recorded within “Other income (expense)” in the accompanying condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss.

     New Accounting Pronouncements

          From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the FASB or other standard setting bodies that are adopted by the Company as of the specified effective date. Unless otherwise discussed, the Company believes that the impact of recently issued standards that are not yet effective will not have a material impact on its financial position or results of operations upon adoption.

          In January 2010, the Company adopted accounting guidance issued by the FASB related to fair value measurements that requires additional disclosure related to transfers in and out of Levels 1 and 2 of the fair value hierarchy. In addition, effective for the Company on April 1, 2011, this standard further requires an entity to present disaggregated information about activity in Level 3 fair value measurements on a gross basis, rather than as one net amount. As this accounting standard only requires enhanced disclosure, the adoption of this newly issued accounting standard did not impact the Company’s financial position or results of operations.

          On April 1, 2011, the Company prospectively adopted the accounting guidance related to the milestone method of revenue recognition for research and development arrangements. Under the milestone method, contingent consideration received from the achievement of a substantive milestone is recognized in its entirety in the period in which the milestone is achieved, which the Company believes is more consistent with the substance of its performance under its various licensing and collaboration agreements. A milestone is defined as an event (i) that can only be achieved based in whole or in part on either the entity’s performance or on the occurrence of a specific outcome resulting from the entity’s performance, (ii) for which there is substantive uncertainty at the date the arrangement is entered into that the event will be achieved, and (iii) that would result in additional payments being due to the entity. A milestone is substantive if the consideration earned from the achievement of the milestone is consistent with the Company’s performance required to achieve the milestone, or the increase in value to the collaboration resulting from the Company’s performance, relates solely to the Company’s past performance, and is reasonable relative to all of the other deliverables and payments within the arrangement. The Company’s license and collaboration agreements with its partners provide for payments to the Company upon the achievement of development milestones, such as the completion of clinical trials or regulatory approval for drug candidates. As of April 1, 2011, the Company’s agreements with partners included potential future payments for development milestones aggregating $17.0 million from agreements with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Amylin”), and Cilag GmbH International (“Cilag”). Given the challenges inherent in developing and obtaining approval for pharmaceutical and biologic products, there was substantial uncertainty whether any such milestones would be achieved at the time these licensing and collaboration agreements were entered into. In addition, the Company evaluated whether the development milestones met the remaining criteria to be considered substantive. As a result of the Company’s analysis, the Company considers its development milestones to be substantive and, accordingly, the Company expects to recognize as revenue future payments received from such milestones as it achieves each milestone. The election to adopt the milestone method did not impact the Company’s historical financial position at April 1, 2011. This policy election may result in revenue recognition patterns for future milestones that are materially different from those recognized for milestones received prior to adoption. During the six months ended September 30, 2011, the Company recognized into revenue $3.0 million received from Cilag upon the achievement of developmental milestones during this period. During the six months ended September 30, 2011, the Company recognized a $7.0 million milestone payment it received from Amylin as there were no remaining performance obligations under this agreement.

          Milestone payments received prior to April 1, 2011 from arrangements where the Company has continuing performance obligations have been deferred and are recognized through the application of a proportional performance model where the milestone payment is recognized over the related performance period or, in full, when there are no remaining performance obligations. The Company makes its best estimate of the period of time for the performance period. The Company will continue to recognize milestone payments received prior to April 1, 2011 in this manner. As of September 30, 2011, the Company has deferred revenue of $5.0 million from milestone payments received prior to April 1, 2011 that will be recognized ratably through 2018.

          In June 2011, the FASB issued guidance related to the presentation of comprehensive income. This accounting standard (1) eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in stockholders’ equity; (2) requires the consecutive presentation of the statement of net income and other comprehensive income; and (3) requires an entity to present reclassification adjustments on the face of the financial statements from other comprehensive income to net income. The amendments in this accounting standard do not change the items that must be reported in other comprehensive income or when an item of other comprehensive income must be reclassified to net income nor do the amendments affect how earnings per share is calculated or presented. This standard is required to be applied retrospectively and is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years beginning after December 15, 2011. As this accounting standard only requires enhanced disclosure, the adoption of this standard will not impact the Company’s financial position or results of operations.