Company: VERA
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-029969
Chunk: 70

Company: Vera Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 70
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, nor can we be certain that the claims in our issued patent(s) will not be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged.

The patent application process is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we or any of our potential future collaborators will be successful in protecting atacicept, MAU868, VT-109, or any future product candidates we may develop by obtaining and defending patents. These risks and uncertainties include the following:

•patent applications must be filed in advance of certain events (e.g., third-party filings, certain sales or offers for sale, or other activities that might be legally deemed to be public disclosures) and we might not be aware of such events or otherwise might not succeed in filing applications before they occur;

•the USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process, the noncompliance with which can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, and partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction;

•patent applications may not result in any patents being issued;

•patents may be challenged, invalidated, modified, revoked, circumvented, found to be unenforceable or otherwise may not provide any competitive advantage;

•there may be significant pressure on the U.S. government and international governmental bodies to limit the scope of patent protection both inside and outside the United States; and

•countries other than the United States may have patent laws less favorable to patentees than those upheld by U.S. courts, allowing foreign competitors a better opportunity to create, develop and market competing product candidates.

The patent prosecution process is also expensive, time-consuming and complex, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce or license all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner or in all jurisdictions where protection may be commercially advantageous. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection, for example, if patentable aspects are publicly disclosed, by us or a third party, such as by public use, sale or offer for sale, or publication.

In addition, although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, outside scientific collaborators, CROs, third-party manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties, any