APLS 2017 Annual Report

17 granted or pending in Europe, Japan and elsewhere. These licensed patent rights include issued patents with claims that recite a class of compounds generically covering our lead product candidate, APL-2, and that specifically recite the active component. These patents have terms that extend to 2026. In addition to the intellectual property licensed from Penn, as of December 31, 2017, we own a total of six U.S. patents and 19 pending U.S. patent applications, including original filings, continuations and divisional applications, as well as numerous foreign counterparts of many of these patents and patent applications. Our patent applications include families of US and foreign applications relating, for example, to certain compstatin analogs with a prolonged in vivo half-life, including APL-2, and/or to methods of treatment and dosing regimens for treating particular complement-dependent diseases. Patents issuing from these applications would expire in 2032 or 2033. Our patent applications also include families relating in part to particular doses and dosing regimens for intravitreally or subcutaneously administered APL-2. Patents based on these applications would expire between 2036 and 2038. Finally, the filings include certain U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications relating to methods of treating eye disorders associated with complement activation, which we acquired in the acquisition of Potentia’s assets. These acquired Potentia patent rights include issued U.S. patents with claims to methods of treating AMD by administration of compstatin analogs and a granted European patent with claims to a class of compstatin analogs for use in treatment of macular degeneration. These patents have terms that extend into 2026. The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term for patents in the countries in which they are granted. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term is generally 20 years from the earliest claimed filing date of a non-provisional patent application in the applicable country. In the United States, a patent’s term may, in certain cases, be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in examining and granting a patent, or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over a commonly owned patent or a patent naming a common inventor and having an earlier expiration date. The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Act, permits a patent term extension of up to five years beyond the expiration date of a U.S. patent as partial compensation for the length of time the drug is under regulatory review while the patent is in force. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent applicable to each regulatory review period may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. Similar provisions are available in the European Union and certain other foreign jurisdictions to extend the term of a patent that covers an approved drug. In the future, if and when our product candidates, including APL-2, receive approval by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities, we expect to apply for patent term extensions on issued patents covering those products, depending upon the length of the clinical trials for each drug and other factors. Expiration dates referred to above are without regard to potential patent term adjustment or extension or other market exclusivity that may be available to us. We granted rights to use our intellectual property to manage our Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in Australia and exclusive rights to distribute our product within Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and New Zealand to our wholly-owned subsidiary, Apellis Australia Pty Ltd. We may rely, in some circumstances, on trade secrets to protect our technology. However, trade secrets can be difficult to protect. We seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors and contractors. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and trade secrets by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. Patent License Agreement with The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Non-ophthalmic Fields of Use) In March 2008, Apellis AG entered into an agreement with Penn for an exclusive worldwide license, under specified patent rights controlled by Penn, to develop and commercialize products covered by the licensed patent rights for all fields except the treatment of ophthalmic indications. This license was assigned to us in 2010 in connection with our acquisition of Apellis AG, and we have the right to grant sublicenses under this license. The patent rights licensed to us by Penn include patents with claims that recite a class of compounds generically covering our lead compound, APL-2, and specifically recite APL-1. In exchange for the rights licensed from Penn, Apellis AG transferred to Penn shares of Potentia common stock that it had purchased from Potentia with a $250,000 promissory note in 2008. In 2010, Apellis AG assigned its Penn license to us together with the promissory note. We repaid the promissory note in full in 2013. Under the license agreement, we are obligated to make a $100,000 annual license maintenance payment to Penn until the first commercial sale of a licensed product, some of which may become creditable against milestone payments under specified