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Guru Laxmikanthan Examines Building Diligence-Ready Patent Strategies in Life Science Leader
Print PDFGuru Laxmikanthan, a partner in Nutter’s Intellectual Property Department, authored an article on building diligence-ready patent strategies in Life Science Leader. In the article, “What Strong Biotech IP Strategies Get Right And Where Weak Ones Break Down,” Guru discussed strategies to preserve optionality through financing, partnering, commercialization, and eventual exit. He drew on his experience as a research scientist and a patent attorney to identify six areas where patent strategy either reinforces or undercuts the business plan: building IP around enterprise value; cleaning up ownership before the data room opens; treating the provisional application as a launch pad; coordinating filings with publications, presentations, and grants; layering claims to block easy design-arounds; and running freedom-to-operate reviews early and in stages.
“A strong patent strategy is only as valuable as the company’s ability to control it. Investors will scrutinize assignments, university licenses, sponsored research and material transfer agreements, consultant agreements, and joint development arrangements to confirm the company owns or has exclusive rights to its core technology,” Guru noted. He explained that this is especially important for biotech startups that emerge from academic labs or collaborative research settings, as inventorship can be unresolved.
"Investors are not looking for perfection. They are looking for founders who understand that science is one piece of a larger business strategy, who know where their IP gaps are, and who can articulate a credible plan to close them," Guru concluded.
