(b)          Use of estimates in interim financial statements

The preparation of interim financial statements, in conformity with U.S. GAAP and SEC regulations, requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the interim financial statements and reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates and assumptions are made in various areas, including in relation to valuation allowances relating to deferred tax assets, revenue recognition, the fair value of assets acquired, liabilities assumed and consideration transferred in business combinations, and estimation of the incremental borrowing rate for operating leases. If actual results differ from the Company’s estimates, or to the extent these estimates are adjusted in future periods, the Company’s results of operations could either benefit from, or be adversely affected by, any such change in estimate.

(d)          Significant concentrations of credit risk

The Company held cash and cash equivalents of $90,059,000, marketable securities of $71,669,000 and restricted cash of $3,013,000 as of September 30, 2023. The cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash are held with multiple banks and the Company monitors the credit rating of those banks. The Company maintains cash balances in excess of amounts insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the United States and the U.K. Government Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the United Kingdom. The Company’s investment policy limits investments to certain types of instruments, such as money market instruments, corporate debt securities and commercial paper, places restrictions on maturities and concentration by type and issuer and specifies the minimum credit ratings for all investments and the average credit quality of the portfolio.

The Company had two customers during the three months ended September 30, 2023 which are Genentech and GSK, and three during the nine months ended, September 30, 2023, which also includes Astellas. There were accounts receivable of $789,000 as of September 30, 2023 and $7,435,000 as of December 31, 2022. The Company has been transacting with Genentech since 2021, Astellas since 2020 and GSK since 2014, during which time no credit losses have been recognized. As of September 30, 2023, no allowance for expected credit losses is recognized on the basis that the possibility of credit losses arising on its receivables as of September 30, 2023 is considered to be remote.

Management analyses current and past due accounts and determines if an allowance for credit losses is required based on collection experience, credit worthiness of customers and other relevant information. The process of estimating the uncollectible accounts involves assumptions and judgments and the ultimate amounts of uncollectible accounts receivable could be in excess of the amounts provided.

(f)          Business combinations

The Company determines whether a transaction or other event is a business combination by determining whether the assets acquired and liabilities assumed constitute a business. Business combinations are accounted for by applying the acquisition method as set out by ASC 805 Business combinations. The acquisition method of accounting requires the acquirer to recognize and measure all identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and any noncontrolling interest in the acquiree at their acquisition-date fair values, with certain exceptions for specific items.

For leases acquired in a business combination in which the acquiree is a lessee, the acquirer shall measure the lease liability at the present value of the remaining lease payments, as if the acquired lease were a new lease of the acquirer at the acquisition date. The right-of-use asset shall be measured at the same amount as the lease liability, adjusted to reflect favorable or unfavorable terms of the lease when compared with market terms. For leases in which the acquired entity is a lessee, the Company has elected not to recognize assets or liabilities at the acquisition date for leases that, at the acquisition date, have a remaining lease term of 12 months or less.

Goodwill is measured as the excess of the consideration transferred in the business combination over the net acquisition date amounts of the identifiable assets acquired and the liabilities assumed. If instead the net acquisition date amounts of the identifiable assets acquired and the liabilities assumed exceeds the consideration transferred, a gain on bargain purchase is recognized in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. The consideration transferred in a business combination is measured as the sum of the fair values of the assets transferred by the acquiring entity, the liabilities incurred by the acquiring entity to former owners of the acquired entity, and the equity interests issued by the acquiring entity.

The results of operations of businesses acquired by the Company are included in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Operations as of the respective acquisition date.

Where the acquiring entity exchanges its share-based payment awards for awards held by grantees of the acquiree, such exchanges are treated as a modification of share-based payment awards and are referred to as replacement awards. The replacement awards are measured as of the acquisition date and the portion of the fair-value-based measure of the replacement award that is attributable to pre-combination vesting is considered part of the consideration transferred. For awards with service-based vesting conditions only, the amount attributable to pre-combination vesting is the fair-value-based measure of the acquiree award multiplied by the ratio of the employee’s pre-combination service period to the greater of the total service period of the original service period of the acquiree award.

Acquisition-related costs, including advisory, legal and other professional fees and administrative fees are expensed as incurred except for the costs of issuing equity securities, which are recognized as a reduction to the amounts recognized in the Statement of Changes in Equity for the respective equity issuance.