ANNUAL REPORT 2026 23 There is no assurance that the funding required by the Company from time to time to meet its business requirements and objectives will be available to it, on favourable terms or at all. To the extent available, any additional equity financing may dilute the holdings of existing shareholders and any debt financing may involve restrictions on the Company’s financing and operating activities. If the Company is unsuccessful in obtaining funds when required, it may be necessary for it to reduce the scope of its operations. (d) Intellectual property rights Obtaining, securing and maintaining the Consolidated Entity's intellectual property rights is an integral part of securing potential value arising from conduct of the Consolidated Entity's business. If patents are not granted, or if granted only for limited claims, the Consolidated Entity's intellectual property may not be adequately protected and may be able to be copied or reproduced by third parties. The Consolidated Entity may not be able to achieve its objectives, to commercialise its products or to generate revenue or other returns. The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies can be highly uncertain and frequently involves complex legal and factual questions. Accordingly, there can be no guarantee that the provisional patent applications will be successful and lead to granted patents or all of the claims in any application will be granted. Furthermore, should such applications be granted, there is no guarantee competitors will not develop technology to avoid those patents, or that third parties will not seek to claim an interest in the intellectual property with a view to seeking a commercial benefit from the Consolidated Entity. The Consolidated Entity has engaged patent attorneys to advise on its intellectual property strategy as it seeks to broaden the Consolidated Entity's patent protection to enable it to guard its exclusivity, maintain an advantage over competitors and provide it with a basis for enforcement in the event of infringement, but there is no guarantee that this intellectual property strategy will be successful. There also can be no assurance employees, consultants or third parties will not breach their confidentiality obligations or not infringe or misappropriate the Consolidated Entity's intellectual property. The Consolidated Entity seeks to mitigate the risk of unauthorised use of its intellectual property by limiting disclosure of sensitive material to particular employees, consultants and others on a need to know basis. Where appropriate, parties having potential access to such sensitive material will be required to provide written commitments to confidentiality and ownership of intellectual property. (e) Third party intellectual property infringement claims The Consolidated Entity's success depends, in part, on its ability to enforce and defend its intellectual property against third party challengers. The Consolidated Entity believes that the manner in which it proposes to conduct activities will minimise the risk of infringement upon another party’s patent rights. However, there can be no assurance that another party will not seek to claim a Consolidated Entity is infringing upon their rights. While the Consolidated Entity relies on the advice of its patent attorneys that its patent applications do not infringe third party patents, the Company is unable to state with certainty that another party will not claim its rights are infringed or, if litigation claiming that a Consolidated Entity Company is infringing the intellectual property rights of a third party is launched, what the result of any such litigation will be. While the Consolidated Entity is pursuing clinical development and commercialisation strategies that it believes will minimise the risk of patent infringement, there can be no certainty that there will not be action taken against a Consolidated Entity, although each Consolidated Entity is prepared to defend its position in a forthright manner if required. Further, there can be no guarantee that competitors will not seek to claim an interest in the intellectual property with a view to seeking a commercial benefit from the Consolidated Entity. If a third-party claims that a Consolidated Entity is infringing its intellectual property rights or commences litigation against that Consolidated Entity for infringement of patent or other intellectual property rights, the Consolidated Entity may incur significant costs defending such action, whether or not it ultimately prevails. Patent litigation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is typically expensive and any defence against any such action necessarily will divert the time of the Company’s Directors and other key personnel. This may, in turn, have a materially adverse effect on both the financial performance and future prospects of the Consolidated Entity.
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