Company: VRCA
Filing Date: 2025-03-11
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-037172
Chunk: 102

Company: Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-11
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 102
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. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees.

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our patents and other intellectual property.

We may also be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators, or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents and patent applications, our future patents and patent applications, or other intellectual property. We may be subject to ownership disputes in the future arising, for example, from conflicting obligations of consultants or others who are involved in developing our product or product candidates. Although it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own, and we cannot be certain that our agreements with such parties will be upheld in the face of a potential challenge, or that they will not be breached, for which we may not have an adequate remedy. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.

Reliance on third parties requires us to share our trade secrets, which increases the possibility that a competitor will discover them, or that our trade secrets will be misappropriated or disclosed.

If we rely on third parties to manufacture or commercialize YCANTH (VP-102) or any current or future product candidates, or if we collaborate with additional third parties on the development of YCANTH (VP-102) or any current or future product candidates, we must, at times, share trade secrets with them. We may also conduct joint research and development programs that may require us to share trade secrets or other confidential information under the terms of our research and development partnerships or similar agreements. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering