Drafting Effective Pharmaceutical Patents Training Course

Dr. Amanda Murphy is a Partner in Finnegan’s Washington, DC Office and focuses her practice on strategic client counseling, portfolio management, and patent prosecution for a range of clients, including small startup companies, research foundations, and large biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Amanda provides patentability opinions, prepares new patent applications, prosecutes U.S. and foreign applications, and represents appellants before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She has experience in prosecuting inter partes and ex parte reexamination applications, reissue applications, and patent term extension applications for approved pharmaceuticals, including obtaining supplemental protection certificates in Europe. In addition to her patent counseling and prosecution practice, Amanda also routinely represents petitioners and patent owners in inter partes review (IPR) and post grant review (PGR) proceedings before the PTAB. As part of that practice, Amanda works with experts to develop technical and legal bases for challenging or defending issued patents, and manages the preparation of substantive written submissions. She also provides strategic advice and pre-litigation analysis and prepares freedom-to-operate, enforceability, and infringement opinions.

Alissa Lipton’s practice involves representing biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in patent proceedings in district courts, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Her practice also involves strategic client counseling, including due diligence and opinion work, and portfolio management.

Alissa has over a decade of experience representing companies in patent litigation, from pre-litigation analysis through appeal to the Federal Circuit. She also provides strategic counsel to clients in technologies including therapeutic antibodies, CRISPR, antisense technologies, diagnostics, and small molecules. Alissa’s practice includes due diligence, freedom-to-operate, enforceability, and infringement assessments.

Alissa served at the Federal Circuit as a law clerk for the Honorable Alvin A. Schall. She has represented veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Affairs.

Victoria has a first-class degree in Biomedical Sciences from The University of Sheffield and a Ph.D. from University College London. She conducted research at the Institute of Child Health at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she focused on the genetic interactions underlying two congenital syndromes.

Sara Leiman, PhD, is an associate in Finnegan LLP’s Boston office. Sara works with domestic and international clients across the life sciences on global patent prosecution, strategic counselling, due diligence, and validity and infringement opinions. She writes and speaks regularly on topics in intellectual property--particularly patent eligibility requirements, case law, and patent office guidance in the US--and co-authored and co-edited the book Patent Subject Matter Eligibility: A Global Guide. 

James focuses on patent prosecution, opinions and counseling, patent mapping, and patent litigation in the biotechnology, chemical, pharmaceutical, and medical device fields. His experience includes prosecution before the USPTO and in multiple foreign jurisdictions, performing patentability, invalidity, and freedom-to-operate analyses, and assisting with litigation before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). He has a broad range of technical experience in the areas of organic and medicinal chemistry. Prior to joining Finnegan, he was a senior scientist in the chemical development group of Boehringer Ingelheim, where he developed robust and scalable chemical processes to support deliveries of pharmaceutical candidates.

James’s doctoral research concerned the development of new methods for the synthesis of small molecules, including biologically active natural products and pharmaceuticals. He holds a doctorate in chemistry from Stanford University

Jamie Barcombe is a part-qualified UK and European patent attorney with a background in biotechnology. His experience extends to drafting, prosecuting and opposing European patent applications directed to a wide array of technologies, including nucleotide therapies, stem cells and biomarkers.  Jamie is adept in patent drafting, prosecution, and opposition, and providing strategic advice to clients ranging from global pharmaceutical companies to start-ups. He has experience managing international portfolios for clinical and pre-clinical candidates and pursuing protection for the candidates themselves in addition to their medical uses, manufacturing methods, and patient subgroups.  Jamie’s technical expertise spans the life sciences, covering biologics, biotechnology, clean energy, food and beverage, textiles and pharmaceuticals. He previously worked in research and development (R&D) for a multinational pharmaceutical company and practiced intellectual property management for a world-leading animal health institute, as well as conducted academic research investigating the delivery of therapeutic nucleotides.