Practice Areas & Industries: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

The emerging biotechnology industry continues to accelerate our understanding of the life sciences. The Human Genome Project has provided a detailed map to the inherent causes of our health and disease. The wealth of information being amassed by genetic researchers has spawned the new disciplines of genomics and proteomics, requiring the harmonization of biology, mathematics and computer science. Advances in biotechnology are generating improvements in health care, agriculture, industrial materials and environmental safety that will greatly benefit society.

Sutherland's biotechnology attorneys are experienced in helping our clients protect and commercialize discoveries in all these areas. We use a multi-disciplinary approach involving intellectual property, corporate, litigation, tax and other lawyers. Many of our attorneys have graduate degrees in the life sciences to better understand the technical basis of these products, while others have a more commercial, business-oriented background. Overall, we attribute our success to being able to build the right team of professionals for each client, to help solve their problems and leverage their successes.

Services Available

Emerging Industries

The applications of biotechnology to human medicine extend from recombinant protein, gene and cellular therapies to biomedical devices such as catheters and microelectronically controlled implants. Importantly, many valuable advances in biotechnology, such as DNA sequencing and improved high throughput screening chips, provide research tools that will enable further discovery.

Stem cell research and therapeutic cloning have illuminated the mechanisms of the origins of life and promise to provide an immense cadre of cell-based transplantation therapies. As our understanding of molecular biology is refined, preventive therapies, such as antibody and vaccine production, earlier diagnoses with disease-specific markers, and individually-designed medicines will be increasingly emphasized.

Plant biotechnology provides one viable means for supporting the world's population in the future. Plants have been developed to provide pharmaceutical agents and supplemental nutritional sources that can drastically reduce vast numbers of human illnesses and famine. Crops that are naturally self-fertilizing and resistant to insects or extreme environmental conditions cultivate efficiently.

Biotechnology also provides alternative processes for decreasing water, soil and air pollution, and allows the development of new biocompatible materials for use in many industrial settings.

Our lawyers have substantial experience in each of these areas.

Applying Our Experience to Legal Services

Sutherland Asbill & Brennan's lawyers work actively to help protect and leverage the biotechnology discoveries of our clients, who include basic research academicians, bio-entrepreneurs, and multinational companies, including:

• Patentability Opinions
• Patent Drafting and U.S. and Foreign Patent Prosecution
• Freedom To Practice Opinions
• Patent Infringement Analysis and Strategy Counseling
• Technology Transfer, Licensing and Other Cooperative
• Commercialization Agreements
• Complex Intellectual Property Litigation and Interferences
• FDA Counseling
• Confidentiality and Material Transfer Agreements
• Organization of Corporations, Partnerships and LLCs
• Employment Agreements
• Stock Option and Employee Benefit Plans
• SBIR Grants
• Angel, Seed and Venture Capital Financing
• Initial Public Offerings
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures
• International Transactions
• Tax Counseling, Restructuring and Controversy Resolution

Using Our Resources to Help Our Clients

We establish long-term relationships with our biotech clients, and assist them in all facets of their business. Our lawyers regularly work and network with other members of the biotech community such as faculty, researchers and the administration at research institutions, executives from start-up and established companies, and funding sources such as angel investors, venture capital companies and investment banks. We believe we add value by:

• Having a technical understanding of the life sciences through graduate level training and practical experience in molecular biology, medicine, immunology, cellular development, biomedical, biomechanical, chemical and computer engineering.
• Participating in and leading local, state and national biotechnology trade associations.
• Arranging introductions to many potential sources of financing.
• Serving as outside general counsel for biotech entrepreneurs and their companies.
• Maintaining close relations with technology transfer offices at life sciences research institutions.
• Maintaining close relationships with the U.S. Patent Office and a worldwide network of foreign associates.
• Actively participating in local, state and federal level political contests and decisions.

Additionally, Sutherland attorneys represent clients in regulatory matters involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biologics, biotechnology, food products, cosmetics, veterinary drugs, consumer products and in both civil and criminal enforcement actions and litigation related to:

• The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• The Drug Enforcement Agency
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• The Federal Trade Commission
• The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services
• The Health Care Financing Administration
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture
• The Department of Veterans Affairs
• The Consumer Products Safety Commission
• The Environmental Protection Agency
• The Internal Revenue Service
• Related state administrative and enforcement agencies