Woodcock Washburn helps clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry protect their intellectual property assets. We handle all types of pharmaceutical products whether the product is a small molecule, biological, or combination drug and inventions, including formulations, delivery systems, and isomerisms. Our attorneys also vigorously enforce and defend clients' patent and exclusivity rights, trademarks, and trade secrets through litigation, arbitration, or mediation whenever necessary.

Our client list includes large corporations, emerging pharmaceutical companies, and nonprofit institutions. Among our clients are Johnson & Johnson, Alza, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Celgene, Amgen, Cephalon, Morphotek, the National Institutes of Health, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Most Woodcock Washburn attorneys have advanced degrees and backgrounds in the life sciences, making us proficient in every area of pharmaceutical technology from molecular biology, nucleic acid therapeutics, and genetics to small molecule NDEs, delivery devices and systems, treatment regimes, and combination platforms. We are as comfortable dealing with diagnostic arrays, stem cell technologies, immunology, and drug delivery vehicles as we are with classical pharmaceutical formulations. The firm actively participates in BIO and in other biotech and life sciences organizations.

Our firm excels in portfolio planning and development. Our attorneys develop a thorough understanding of a client's specific technologies and overall business strategy, and assist them in outlining and implementing a proprietary rights strategy with a global perspective. Long-term planning is an essential component of our representations, considering that pharmaceutical portfolios are most valuable near their expiration dates. We work with our clients to maximize the value of portfolios proactively, handling everything from portfolio management, licensing, and planning to litigation avoidance, third-party diligence, and evaluation issues. Our attorneys have extensive knowledge of the FDA "Orange Book" and expertise in preparing for listings and challenges.

In some recent transactions, Woodcock Washburn:

• Represented the licenser of a breakthrough technology that provides rapid access to large numbers of genetically divergent organism lines, whereby several important technologies were retained by the owner and others were licensed to a major biotech enterprise, permitting much more effective exploitation of a proprietary portfolio.
• Counseled numerous makers of pharmaceuticals and biologicals on patent issues attendant to FDA registration activities, assisting in navigating the difficult terrain surrounding Orange Book issues and ANDA filings.
• Evaluated, planned, and executed a landmark series of patent applications related to distribution of teratogenically and otherwise dangerous pharmaceuticals that permit access to the pharmaceutical benefits while avoiding dangerous misdelivery of the drugs.
• Supported decisions with formal opinion letters, when needed to list U.S. patents in the FDA Orange Book by performing detailed analyses of those patents to ensure that each met the conditions required for listing submission.
• Represented a U.S. pharmaceutical company in an arbitration concerning the scope of its obligations as a licensee under a patent owned by a Japanese pharmaceutical company. The arbitration involved issues of Japanese contract law and U.S. patent law.

The following are some of our firm's recent pharmaceutical and life sciences engagements:

• Centocor v. Peptech Inc. Woodcock Washburn represented Centocor in an arbitration, administered by the London Court of International Arbitration, directed to whether Centocor's Remicade® infliximab antibody was covered by a Peptech patent. Following a preliminary claim construction favorable to Centocor, the matter settled.
• Classen Immunotherapies Inc. v. Biogen IDEC et al., CA WDQ 04-2607 (D. Md.). Our attorneys succeeded in having infringement claims against defendant Chiron, based on administration of Hepatitis B vaccines, dismissed.
• Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Phoenix Pharmacologics Inc., 04-1285 (D. Del). Woodcock Washburn represented Phoenix Pharmacologics in this litigation relating to the inventorship of PEGylated forms of arginine deiminase.
• Gluckman v. Lewis, Interference No. 104,553 (Bd. Patent App. and Interferences). Cephalon Inc., prevailed in an interference proceeding before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office concerning patents assigned to Genentech and Neuronz relating to the treatment of neural damage or disease using an insulin-like growth factor.
• University of Florida Research Found. v. Orthovita Inc., (N.D. Fla.). Woodcock Washburn secured a summary judgment ruling of noninfringement for Orthovita in this patent infringement action involving bioactive gases for the restoration of bone defects. The ruling was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.