Company: SION
Filing Date: 2025-05-12
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0002036042-25-000016
Chunk: 57

Company: Sionna Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-05-12
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 3
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 patents or patent applications that will issue as patents in the future, which could impede or preclude our ability to commercialize our product candidates. For any third-party patents that could be relevant to our product candidates, we rely in part on the “safe harbor” or research exemption under 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1), which exempts activities related to pursuing FDA approval for a drug product from patent infringement. However, while U.S. patent law provides such a “safe harbor” to our clinical product candidates under this provision, that exemption may expire when an NDA is submitted. Given the uncertainty of clinical trials, we cannot be certain of the timing of their completion and it is possible that we may submit an NDA for one of our future product candidates at a time when one or more relevant third-party patents is in force. It may therefore be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary intellectual property of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties. If we are unable to license such intellectual property, or if we are forced to license such intellectual property on unfavorable terms, our business could be materially harmed. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected product candidates, which could materially harm our business and the third parties owning such intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales or an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same intellectual property licensed to us.

Additionally, we may collaborate with academic institutions to accelerate our preclinical research or development under written agreements with these institutions. In certain cases, these institutions provide us 

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with an option to negotiate a license to any of the institution’s rights in intellectual property resulting from the collaboration. Even if we hold such an option, we may be unable to negotiate a license from the institution within the specified timeframe or under terms that are acceptable to us. If we are unable to do so, the institution may offer the intellectual property rights to others, potentially blocking our ability to pursue our program.

In addition, the licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a highly competitive area, and a number of more established companies are also pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over