Eldora Ellison
Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox
Director, Biotech/Chemical and Litigation Practice Groups
Eldora L. Ellison, PhD, is a director in Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox’s biotech/chemical and litigation practice groups. Throughout her 23 years of experience, Ellison has represented clients in more than 60 inter partes review proceedings, over 15 patent interferences, and multiple patent re-examinations and litigations. Representing clients ranging from multinational corporations to startup companies, Ellison works to resolve inventorship disputes, evaluate patent portfolios, and prepare and prosecute patent applications. She has been recognised as a National Law Journal “Litigation Trailblazer”, a Law360 “MVP of Life Sciences”, and nominated for “PTAB Litigator of the Year” by Managing Intellectual Property.
Glyn Truscott
Elkington and Fife LLP
Partner
Glyn Truscott is a UK & European patent attorney. He is a partner at Elkington and Fife where his practice spans a wide range of biotechnology subject matter, with particular focus in recent years on antibodies and immunotherapies, stem cells, and the microbiome.
The majority of his work involves the drafting and prosecution of patent applications, and the handling of post-grant opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office. Truscott has handled numerous high-value EPO oppositions and appeals involving biologics, immuno-oncology and cellular therapies, in addition to coordinating corresponding litigations in the High Court of England & Wales and elsewhere in Europe.
He particularly enjoys advising on complex strategic matters, whether that be patent portfolio-building, SPC strategies, or opposition and revocation actions.
Filko Prugo
Ropes & Gray
Partner & Chair, Life Sciences IP Litigation
Filko Prugo, MS, JD, is a first-chair litigator and USPTO-registered patent attorney. For over 20 years he has been involved in all aspects of contested patent matters, handling arguments before the PTAB, federal district courts, and the Federal Circuit. Prugo has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a master’s (2017) in biotechnology, and his practice focuses exclusively on life sciences matters. He is a frequent speaker on developments in patent law, and has been recognised for his excellence in patent litigation by Legal 500, and as a leading life sciences lawyer by LMG Life Sciences.
Rebecca Lin
Potrero Medical
VP of Strategy and Global Business Development
Rebecca Lin is a healthcare leader who specialises in formulating growth strategies for newly established businesses to achieve global scale. Potrero is a San Francisco-based medical device innovation company. Lin has held leadership positions at J&J, CR. Bard and TheraNova defining strategies across marketing, sales, training, clinical management, and business development. She graduated from Stanford Business School and holds a Master’s in marine biology from Sun Yat-Sen University. She is an editorial board member at the Chinese Journal of Medical Instrumentation and lectures on business at UCSF and UC Berkeley.
Robert Bernstein
Plexxikon
Intellectual Property Attorney
Robert Bernstein is senior director of intellectual property at Plexxikon in Berkeley, California. He manages Plexxikon’s global patent portfolio, securing patent protection for its drug discovery and development programmes, and partnered drug products. His responsibilities include patent preparation and prosecution, freedom to operate evaluations, global patent strategy planning, and IP due diligence. He works closely with scientists and business development to ensure that Plexxikon’s IP assets are closely aligned with its technical and business needs. He has more than 15 years of legal experience and is involved in post-grant proceedings and patent enforcement efforts.
Iain Armstrong Armstrong
HGF Limited
Partner
Iain’s scientific background lies in cell biology, and a continued interest in this field led him to develop a patent practice with a significant leaning towards cell-based therapies. Areas of particular focus include technologies relating to the production and development of immunotherapies (such as CAR-T cells), and the medical uses of stem cells (whether for regenerative medicine or the production of therapeutic cell types). He acts for clients ranging from universities to large pharma companies, and has nearly two decades of experience drafting and co-ordinating the prosecution of biotech patent portfolios.
Henry Huang
Ropes & Gray LLP
Associate
Henry Huang is an IP litigator who focuses on patent and trade secrets. He has experience with all aspects of federal litigation, including initial assessment of claims and defences, motions practice, electronic discovery, claim construction and Markman hearings in patent cases, taking and defending depositions, and oral argument at hearings before district courts and the PTAB. He has litigated post-grant proceedings at the PTAB, multiple appeals to the Federal Circuit, and trade dress and trade secret claims. Huang has a JD from Stanford Law School and an AB in chemistry from Harvard University.
Michael Wise
Perkins Coie LLP
Partner
Michael Wise focuses on patent portfolio management and complex contested patent matters in the life sciences. He has 30 years of patent counselling, procurement and litigation experience, handling district court patent litigation, inter partes review and interference matters before the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Wise has litigated a wide variety of technologies, including biologic and small molecule therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, software and electronics. He regularly advises academic and research institutions, and emerging, private, and publicly traded companies on protecting and enforcing their IP rights.
Takanori Abe
ABE&PARTNERS
Managing Partner
Mr. Abe, managing partner of Abe & Partners, is currently a guest professor of Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine and formerly a lecturer of the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine. He is an arbitrator in Japan and holds various positions in Japanese medical/pharmaceutical societies.
David Gindler
Milbank LLP
Partner
David Gindler is head of Milbank’s Intellectual Property Litigation and Licensing Group. Recognised in Chambers USA as Band 1 for Life Sciences: IP/Patent Litigation in California, Gindler’s work spans a broad array of technologies including biosimilars, diagnostic tests, medical devices, and advanced research tools. He has achieved extraordinary trial outcomes for both plaintiffs and defendants, including a $302 million jury verdict for breach of a research and license agreement, as well as defeating a $217 million damages claim where liability had already been established in an earlier trial handled by a different law firm.
Bethan Hopewell Hopewell
Powell Gilbert
Partner
Dr Bethan Hopewell is a partner at Powell Gilbert, a specialist IP law firm based in London. She specialises in advising clients in the life sciences sector, working on cases in the areas of molecular diagnostics, antibody engineering technologies, pharmaceutics and genome-editing. She represents clients before the UK Patents Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, as well as the European Patent Office at opposition and appeal proceedings. She also advises on pharmaceutical regulatory issues and contested SPC disputes. Hopewell has particular expertise in coordinating complex multi-jurisdictional patent disputes in the life sciences sector.
Joel Coles Coles
Powell Gilbert
Senior Associate
Dr Joel Coles is a senior associate at Powell Gilbert, a specialist IP law firm based in London. Coles has worked on a number of important patent cases before the English courts relating to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare technologies, including antibody technologies, genome sequencing, therapeutic microarrays, and wound dressings. In addition to representing clients in litigation before the UK Patents Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, he has represented clients in European Patent Office opposition proceedings, and advises on patent litigation strategies, freedom to operate, and patent term extensions.
Anna Yuan
Morrison & Foerster
Associate
Anna Yuan’s practice focuses on domestic and international patent portfolio counselling, due diligence, post-grant proceedings, and litigation support. She is a founder and co-leader of the firm’s life sciences data analytics patent group. She leverages her experience in software development and product design gained as a product manager at Microsoft and other companies to build valuable patent portfolios covering cutting-edge technologies. Yuan’s practice spans an array of technologies, including AI, autonomous driving, data analytics, virtual/augmented reality, virtual machines, network security, social media, and consumer electronics. Her clients range from emerging startups to multinational companies.
Karen Potter
Morrison & Foerster
Partner
Karen Potter focuses on patent preparation, prosecution, and strategic counselling for startup, emerging, and established life sciences and biotechnology companies. She advises clients in the development and management of comprehensive patent portfolios and helps identify and evaluate patentability, secure protections worldwide, ensure freedom to operate, and perform due diligence. Building on her technical expertise in cellular and molecular biology and immunology, she has experience managing and developing patent portfolios in the areas of cellular immunotherapies and protein therapeutics, including antibody and enzyme therapeutics, and their uses in cancer therapy, inflammation and other disease applications.
Charles Larsen
White & Case
Intellectual Property Partner
Charles (Chuck) Larsen is an intellectual property partner based in White & Case’s Boston office, with a dual practice in London. He concentrates his practice on providing strategic patent advocacy and is licensed to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office (EPO), US district courts, and the UK High Court.
Larsen’s patent practice includes advising on multijurisdictional disputes, conducting patent validity, infringement and freedom-to-operate studies, and IP due diligence for patents held in the US and Europe. He advises clients in inter partes review, European oppositions, litigation strategies and other post-grant proceedings.
He has served as counsel of record in nine Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings and reexaminations and in numerous EPO oppositions.
Swang Wang
No Account Provided
CEO & Founder
Sarah Wang trained across multiple disciplines with a focus on statistical genomics from UC Berkeley Department of Bioengineering. At CareDx, she manages research grants and contracts to universities, and IP strategies to meet business needs through patenting, licensing or trade secrets. Wang served as lead statistician and bioinformatician on 510K clearance of the first whole genome high-density DNA microarray for CNV detection at Affymetrix, designed the first SNP marker-based forensic panel on Ion Torrent platform at Life Technologies (Thermo Fisher), and was lead bioinformatician on cancer panels at Quest Diagnostics.
Nancy Pei
Smart & Biggar
Partner
Nancy Pei is a partner in Smart & Biggar’s Toronto office. With hands-on experience as a licensed pharmacist and over 20 years of patent litigation expertise, Nancy has focused exclusively in the field of life sciences. She has extensive experience representing innovative life sciences companies in patent litigation, including actions under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations. Nancy is recognized in the 2019 Expert Guides: Best of the Best under life sciences attorneys and in Who's Who Legal: Life Sciences under Patent Litigation and Regulatory since 2018.
David Kyle
Evolve BioSystems
Chairman and CSO
David J Kyle has co-founded biotech companies in the field of infant nutrition including Martek Biosciences. Martek’s DHA and ARA are now in virtually every infant formula. In 2013, Kyle joined Evolve BioSystems as CEO and led the company through several private equity financings; he became chairman of the board and CSO in 2017. Kyle combines a distinguished scientific background with commercial acumen, has published over 70 scientific articles, edited two books, and is named inventor on over 200 patents. He was inducted into the US Technology Hall of Fame in 2009.
Nick Bassil
Kilburn & Strode LLP
Partner
Nick Bassil is a partner in Kilburn & Strode’s London life sciences and chemistry team. His practice concentrates on pharmaceutical chemistry, regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, genome mapping and synthetic genome assembly. He has been significantly involved in patent applications relating to cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer), stem cells, cancer immunotherapy/CAR-T cells, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and monoclonal antibodies/novel antigen receptor proteins. His practice ranges from drafting original patent applications and devising filing strategies, to advising on IP aspects of company M&A. His European portfolio includes post-grant opposition proceedings at the EPO and SPCs for pharmaceuticals.
John Sninsky
Stanford
John J. Sninsky PhD is a translational medicine consultant. He has served in senior management positions at Cetus, Roche Molecular Systems, Celera, Quest Diagnostics and most recently CareDx. He has overseen teams of scientists who worked in cancer, cardiometabolic, autoimmune and liver diseases and solid organ transplant. Sninsky’s primary focus has been the application of genetic and genomic tools to identify and develop LDTs for CLIA setting and IVD products for diagnostic/prognostic and pharmacogenomic biomarkers. He is a member of Stanford University SPARK and UCSF CATALYST programmes that facilitate communication to accelerate translational medicine.