adverse publicity, which could negatively affect our operating results and business” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Patents and Proprietary Rights
We will be able to protect our technology from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our technology is covered by valid and enforceable patents or is effectively maintained as trade secrets. Our success in the future will depend in part on obtaining patent protection for our product candidates. Accordingly, patents and other proprietary rights are essential elements of our business. Our policy is to seek in the US and selected foreign countries patent protection for novel technologies and compositions of matter that are commercially important to the development of our business. For proprietary know-how that is not patentable, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of our drug discovery process that involve proprietary know-how and technology that is not covered by patent applications, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect our interests. We require all of our employees, consultants and advisors to enter into confidentiality agreements. Where it is necessary to share our proprietary information or data with outside parties, our policy is to make available only that information and data required to accomplish the desired purpose and only pursuant to a duty of confidentiality on the part of those parties.
As of December 31, 2021, we owned 285 issued US patents and 1,968 granted foreign patents, as well as additional pending US patent applications and foreign patent applications. The claims in these various patents and patent applications are typically directed to compositions of matter, including claims covering product candidates, crystalline forms, lead compounds and key intermediates, pharmaceutical compositions, methods of use and/or processes for making our compounds. In particular, our wholly-owned subsidiary Theravance Biopharma R&D IP, LLC owns the following US patents which are listed in the FDA Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (Orange Book) for YUPELRI (revefenacin) inhalation solution: US Patent No. 7,288,657, expiring on December 23, 2025; US Patent No. 7,491,736, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 7,521,041, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 7,550,595, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 7,585,879, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 7,910,608, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 8,034,946, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 8,053,448, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 8,273,894, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 8,541,451, expiring August 25, 2031; US Patent No. 9,765,028, expiring July 14, 2030; US Patent No. 10,106,503, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 10,343,995, expiring March 10, 2025; US Patent No. 10,550,081, expiring July 14, 2030; and US Patent No. 11,008,289, expiring July 14, 2030 (each of the aforementioned expiration dates not including any patent term extensions that may be available under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984). Thus, the last to expire patent currently listed in the Orange Book for YUPELRI (revefenacin) inhalation solution expires on August 25, 2031. On December 19, 2018, we filed patent term extension (“PTE”) applications in the US Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for US Patent Nos. 7,288,657 and 7,585,879. These PTE applications are currently pending and if granted, we will be permitted to extend the term of one of these patents for the period determined by the USPTO.
Issued US and foreign patents generally expire 20 years after their filing date. The patent rights relating to YUPELRI (revefenacin) inhalation solution currently consist of issued US patents, pending US patent applications and counterpart patents and patent applications in a number of jurisdictions, including Europe. Additionally, our patent rights relating to nezulcitinib currently include an issued US composition of matter patent that expires in 2039 (not including any patent term extensions that may be available under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984), as well as additional pending patent applications in a number of jurisdictions. Nevertheless, issued patents can be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing similar products and threaten our ability to commercialize our product candidates. Our patent position, similar to other companies in our industry, is generally uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. To maintain our proprietary position, we will need to obtain effective claims and enforce these claims once granted. It is possible that, before any of our products can be commercialized, any related patent may expire or remain in force only for a short period following commercialization, thereby reducing any advantage of the patent. Also, we do not know whether any of our patent applications will result in any issued patents or, if issued, whether the scope of the issued claims will be sufficient to protect our proprietary position.