Company: ABUS
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001447028-25-000083
Chunk: 46

Company: Arbutus Biopharma Corp
Filing Date: 2025-03-27
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 46
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 for oral proceedings and provided its preliminary and non-binding opinion on the subject matter to be discussed at the hearing. On November 3, 2023, we responded to the summons and on January 15, 2024, Moderna and Merck filed their reply to the written opinion of the Opposition Division, as well as to our written submission of November 3, 2023. We responded to Moderna and Merck’s reply on April 5, 2024. Oral proceedings were held on June 6, 2024, and the Opposition Division upheld the ‘254 Patent but declined our and Genevant’s request to broaden certain claims in the ‘254 Patent. Both parties appealed the Opposition Division’s decision and on March 21, 2025, the Board of Appeals scheduled oral proceedings for January 15 and 16, 2026.

While we are the patent holder, the ‘127 Patent, the ‘254 Patent, the other patents in our LNP portfolio have been licensed to Genevant and are included in the rights licensed by us to Genevant under the Genevant License.

Potential Additional Payments Related to the Acquisition of Enantigen Therapeutics, Inc. 

In October 2014, Arbutus Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary, acquired all of the outstanding shares of Enantigen Therapeutics, Inc. (Enantigen) pursuant to a stock purchase agreement. The amount paid to Enantigen’s selling shareholders could be up to an additional $102.5 million in sales performance milestones in connection with the sale of the first commercialized product by us for the treatment of HBV, regardless of whether such product is based upon assets acquired under this stock purchase agreement, and a low single-digit royalty on net sales of such first commercialized HBV product, up to a maximum royalty payment of $1.0 million that, if paid, would be offset against our performance milestone payment obligations.  

Patents and Proprietary Rights

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our product candidates, novel discoveries, product development technologies and other know-how, to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. Our policy is to seek to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing or in licensing United States and foreign patents and patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are important to the development and implementation of our business. We also rely on trademarks, trade secrets, know how