respect to coverage and reimbursement for fundamentally novel products. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to the Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates — Even if we receive marketing approval for our HAVs, there is uncertainty with respect to third-party coverage and reimbursement of our HAVs. They may also be subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives, any of which could harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.”
Intellectual Property
We strive to protect and enhance the proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are commercially important to the development of our business, including seeking, maintaining, and defending patent rights, whether developed internally or licensed from third parties. We also rely on trade secrets relating to our proprietary technology platform and on know-how, continuing technological innovation and in-licensing opportunities to develop, strengthen and maintain our proprietary position that may be important for the development of our business. We additionally may rely on regulatory protection afforded through data exclusivity, market exclusivity and patent term extensions where available.
Our success will depend significantly on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for commercially important technology, inventions and know-how related to our business, defend and enforce our patents, preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets, and operate without infringing the valid and enforceable patents and proprietary rights of third parties.
As of September 1, 2021, our patent estate is comprised of 15 families of patents. Of these families, nine are solely owned by Humacyte, one is jointly owned by Humacyte and Global Life Sciences Solutions USA LLC, one is jointly owned by Humacyte and Yale University, two are exclusively licensed to Humacyte from Duke University and two are exclusively licensed to Humacyte from Yale University. For more information regarding these license agreements, see “— License Agreement with Duke University” and “—License Agreements with Yale University.”
Our 15 families of patents are comprised of:
(i) eight issued U.S. patents, 64 foreign patents in Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK, five pending U.S. non-provisional patent applications, one pending PCT patent application and two pending foreign applications in Europe and Hong Kong, which are solely owned by us,
(ii) three issued U.S. patents, 18 issued foreign patents in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK, one pending U.S. non-provisional patent application, and three pending foreign patent applications in Europe and Canada, which we co-own, and
(iii) three issued U.S. patents, 23 issued foreign patents in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK, one pending U.S. non-provisional patent application, and seven pending foreign patent applications in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, and Hong Kong, which we exclusively license.
Many of these patents and patent applications generally relate to the scaffolds used to make our vessels, the composition of our vessels, and systems and methods of manufacturing our vessels. Excluding any patent term adjustment or patent term extension, the U.S. patent relating to the scaffold used to make our vessels expires in 2032, the U.S. patents relating to the composition of our vessels expire in 2032 and the U.S. patents relating to the systems and methods of manufacturing our vessels expires in 2032. The U.S. patent relating to the entangler machinery used to make tubular scaffolds expires in 2035. Included in our patent portfolio are three pending, Humacyte-owned non-provisional applications relating to the manufacturing of engineered tissues at commercial scale. If these three non-provisional applications are allowed, such additional patents issuing therefrom would be expected to expire around 2040.