In July 2014, Navidea formed a joint enterprise with Essex Woodlands-backed Rheumco, LLC, to develop and commercialize radiolabeled diagnostic and therapeutic products for rheumatologic and arthritic diseases. The joint enterprise, called R-NAV, LLC, combined Navidea’s proprietary Manocept CD206 macrophage targeting platform and Rheumco’s proprietary Tin-117m radioisotope technology to focus on leveraging the platforms across several indications with high unmet medical need, including the detection and treatment of RA and veterinary osteoarthritis.

Both Rheumco and Navidea contributed licenses for intellectual property and technology to R-NAV in exchange for common units in R-NAV. The contributions of these licenses were recorded using the carryover basis. R-NAV was initially capitalized through a $4.0 million investment from third-party private investors, and the technology contributions from Rheumco and Navidea. Navidea committed an additional $1.0 million investment to be paid over three years, with $333,334 in cash contributed at inception and a promissory note in the principal amount of $666,666, payable in two equal installments on the first and second anniversaries of the transaction. A principal payment of $333,333 was made on the note payable to R-NAV in July 2015. In exchange for its capital and in-kind investment, the Company received 3,500,000 Common Units and 1,000,000 Series A preferred units of R-NAV (“Series A Units”). The Company was to receive an additional 500,000 Series A Units for management and technical services associated with the programs described above performed by the Company for R-NAV pursuant to a services agreement.

Navidea initially owned approximately 33.7% of the combined entity. At December 31, 2015, Navidea owned approximately 27.3% of R-NAV. Joint oversight over certain aspects of R-NAV was shared between Navidea and the other investors; Navidea did not control the operations of R-NAV. Navidea had three-year call options to acquire, at its sole discretion, all of the equity of R-NAV’s TcRA Imaging, Inc. subsidiary (“TcRA”) for $10.5 million prior to the launch of a Phase 3 clinical trial for its development program, and all of the equity of R-NAV’s SnRA Theragnostics, Inc. subsidiary at fair value upon completion of radiochemistry and biodistribution studies for its development program.

Effective May 31, 2016, Navidea terminated its joint venture with R-NAV. Under the terms of the agreement, Navidea (1) transferred all of its shares of R-NAV, consisting of 1,500,000 Series A Preferred Units and 3,500,000 Common Units, to R-NAV; and (2) paid $110,000 in cash to R-NAV. In exchange, R-NAV (1) transferred all of its shares of TcRA to Navidea, thereby returning the technology licensed to TcRA to Navidea; and (2) forgave the $333,333 remaining on the promissory note. Neither Navidea nor R-NAV has any further obligations of any kind to either party. As a result of this transaction, the Company recognized a loss on disposal of the investment in R-NAV of $39,732 during 2016.

Navidea’s investment in R-NAV was being accounted for using the equity method of accounting. In accordance with current accounting guidance, the Company's initial contributions of cash and note payable totaling $1.0 million were allocated between the investment in R-NAV and the call option on TcRA based on the relative fair values of the assets. As a result, we recorded an initial equity investment in R-NAV of $727,000 and a call option asset of $273,000 as non-current assets at the time of the initial investment. Navidea's equity in the loss of R-NAV was $15,159, $305,253 and $523,809 for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Navidea’s equity in the loss of R-NAV exceeded our initial investment in R-NAV. As such, the carrying value of the Company’s investment in R-NAV was $0 as of May 31, 2016.

The Company’s obligation to provide $500,000 of in-kind services to R-NAV was being recognized as those services were provided. The Company provided $15,000, $64,000 and $39,000 of in-kind services during the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As of May 31, 2016, the Company had $383,000 of in-kind services remaining to provide under this obligation. This obligation ceased on May 31, 2016 under the terms of the agreement.

Navidea provided additional services to R-NAV in support of its development activities. Such services were immaterial to Navidea’s overall operations. See Note 12.