Company: VRCA
Filing Date: 2025-03-11
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-037172
Chunk: 100

Company: Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-11
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 100
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 jurisdiction could hold that these third-party patents are valid, enforceable, and infringed, which could have a negative impact on our ability to commercialize YCANTH (VP-102) and any current product or future product candidates. In order to successfully challenge the validity of any such U.S. patent in federal court, we would need to overcome a presumption of validity. As this burden is a high one requiring us to present clear and convincing evidence as to the invalidity of any such U.S. patent claim, there is no assurance that a court of competent jurisdiction would invalidate the claims of any such U.S. patent. Moreover, given the vast number of patents in our field of technology, we cannot be certain that we do not infringe existing patents, or that we will not infringe patents that may be granted in the future. Because numerous parties have developed and/or commercialized, or are developing, a wide variety of applicator devices for use with topical dermatological medications, it is possible that third parties may assert that our applicator device infringes patents they own or have applied for. While we may decide to initiate proceedings to challenge the validity of these or other patents in the future, we may be unsuccessful, and courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad could uphold the validity of any such patent. Furthermore, because patent applications can take many years to issue and may be confidential for 18 months or more after filing, and because pending patent claims can be revised before issuance, there may be applications now pending which may later result in issued patents that may be infringed by the manufacture, use, or sale of our product or product candidates. Regardless of when filed, we may fail to identify relevant third-party patents or patent applications, or we may incorrectly conclude that a third-party patent is invalid or not infringed by our product, product candidates, or activities. If a patent holder believes our drug, product, or product candidate infringes its patent, the patent holder may sue us even if we have received patent protection for our technology. Moreover, we may face patent infringement claims from non-practicing entities that have no relevant drug revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may thus have no deterrent effect. If a patent infringement suit were threatened or brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay research, development, manufacturing, or sales of the drug, product, or product candidate that is the subject of the actual or threatened suit.

If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we