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EVENTS
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MAR. 31 & APR. 1
BIO LEGISLATIVE DAY FLY-IN
Four Points Sheraton
1201 K Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
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APR. 9
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES BREAKFASTS
7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
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APR. 29
DELAWARE BIO ANNUAL AWARDS GALA
DuPONT COUNTRY CLUB
5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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MAY 13 - 15
Loews Philadelphia
Hotel
Philadelphia, PA
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MAY 18 - 21
BIO 2009
Atlanta Convention
Center
Atlanta, GA
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JUNE 9 & 10
EARLY STAGE EAST
Applications close
April 24.
Hotel DuPont
Wilmington, DE
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Walter E. Washington
Convention Center
Washington, D.C.
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SAVE THESE DATES!
2009 Upcoming BioBreakfasts
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
Delaware Biotechnology Institute
15 Innovation Way, Newark, DE.
7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. |
TUESDAY, JULY 14
John H. Ammon Medical Education Center
Christiana Care
Newark, DE
7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
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FISH & RICHARDSON EXPANDS
LIFE SCIENCES PRACTICE
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Fish & Richardson P.C. continues to expand its life sciences practice in Delaware with the addition of Jaclyn M. Mason as an associate and Nimisha G. Mukherjee, Ph.D., as a technology specialist. They join other recent hires who have bolstered the office's ability to provide a range of services to the firm's growing roster of regional and national life sciences clients.
Mason will work with the litigation group supporting the firm's innovator drug company clients in cases against generics, while Mukherjee will work with the patent procurement and counseling group, assisting life sciences clients in securing patents, and providing due diligence and freedom to operate analyses.
Fish's Delaware office relocated to a larger office space last October, in large part to accommodate the growth in its life sciences practice. The growth in the firm's life sciences practice in Delaware is no accident, as the firm has long recognized the importance of the Greater Philadelphia region as a center of pharmaceutical and biotech innovation. A recent study by the Biotechnology Industry Organization ranked the Philadelphia area third in bioscience employment. A similar study by the Milken Institute in 2005 evaluated biotech clusters based on a "life science composite index" and ranked Philadelphia third behind only Boston and San Francisco.
"We recognized the opportunity and set out to attract the best talent to serve the needs of these life sciences companies. We have built a stellar team with valuable industry, technical and judicial experience that is enormously beneficial to our pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients," said William Marsden, Managing Principal of Fish & Richardson's Delaware office. "Jaclyn and Nimisha add further depth to what was already a very strong team."
Prior to joining Fish, Mason served as a law clerk to Judge Kent A. Jordan at the U.S. District Court for the Court of Delaware and, later, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mason also has previous law firm experience as a patent litigator and has represented clients in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Villanova University School of Law in 2002 and her A.B. in biology from Brown University in 1999. Mukherjee received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow. She received her B.S. in biomedical engineering with a minor in business from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. She is also a co-inventor of patent-pending technology that would facilitate cost effective testing and rapid detection of viruses, and was CEO of a venture startup to commercialize these diagnostic kits.
With the addition of Mason and Mukherjee, the life sciences team in Fish's Delaware office now numbers more than a dozen attorneys and technology specialists, most of whom hold advanced degrees in life sciences, including doctorates in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, chemistry, biology, and biomedical engineering. Many of the members of the team also gained real-world research experience at biotech and pharmaceutical companies before joining Fish. This combination of technical and applied knowledge makes them uniquely qualified to understand the challenges faced by the firm's life sciences clients and to help them succeed.
One recent success story involved the firm's client Ception Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology firm based in Malvern, PA. In January, Ception reached an agreement with another Fish & Richardson client, Cephalon, giving Cephalon the option to purchase Ception in a deal potentially valued at $350 million. Ception is developing reslizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody for treatment of inflammation of the esophagus and asthma. Fish lawyers provided strategic counseling to Ception in connection with the development of reslizumab.
On the litigation side, Fish is representing Frazer, PA-based Cephalon in a series of suits responding to attacks by generic drug companies on the patents protecting Cephalon's FENTORA(r) (fentanyl buccal) capsules for treating breakthrough pain in cancer patients, and its skeletal muscle relaxant AMRIX(r) (cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride) extended-release capsules. Fish is also currently representing long-term client Allergan in litigation to protect Allergan's glaucoma drugs, ALPHAGAN P .15% and ALPHAGAN P .1% from a challenge by two generic drug companies. All of these cases are pending in the Delaware District Court which handles a high percentage of all the cases filed nationally in response to Abbreviated New Drug Applications, or ANDAs. In recognition of this, Fish recently began publishing memorANDA, a quarterly newsletter for its clients and other pharmaceutical and biotech company decision makers that discusses recent developments in ANDA litigation in the Delaware District Court. The newsletter will soon be expanded to cover cases filed in the District of New Jersey, another popular forum for ANDA litigation.
Fish & Richardson is a leading global law firm practicing in the areas of intellectual property, litigation, and corporate law. With more than 500 attorneys and technology specialists in 11 offices in the United States, and an office in Germany, the firm is unlike any other law firm in the world. Fish has redefined IP law for a market that values IP as a fundamental business asset. Fish's elite legal team combines corporate, technical, and legal expertise to help clients maximize the value of their IP. Surveys show that Fish is the largest IP practice in the United States (Managing Intellectual Property, October 2008), handles more patent litigation than any other law firm, both in federal district courts (IP Law & Business, July 2008) and the International Trade Commission (IP Law & Business, June 2008), and is the #1 patent firm for the world's most innovative companies (IP Law & Business, November 2008).
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