Andrea leverages her scientific background as Ph.D. and more than a decade of experience in the realm of patent law to provide her clients with valuable insight when developing and managing intellectual property. A strong patent portfolio is key for the growth of any company in the dynamic fields of biotechnology and life sciences in which Andrea specializes.
Andrea’s scientific background allows her to fully understand complex technologies and effectively communicate with in-house counsel, scientists and examiners, ultimately resulting in greater protection for her clients’ inventions. Andrea’s practice involves all aspects of services related to patents, including freedom-to-operate and patentability opinions, patent drafting, domestic and foreign patent prosecution, management of patent portfolios, coordinating IP strategies and general client counseling. On behalf of her clients, Andrea coordinates patent filings and prosecution with firms throughout the world in order to ensure patent protection in foreign jurisdictions.
Andrea has represented small, mid-sized and large biotechnology companies, mid-sized and large agricultural biotechnology companies, large pharmaceutical companies, a large medical diagnostics company, medical centers, and universities relating to technologies as diverse as antibodies, gene editing, cellular therapies, therapeutic peptides and formulations, drug delivery vehicles, diagnostics, vaccines, antisense oligonucleotides, biomarkers, RNA interference, small molecules, microbials and transgenic plants.
Professional Activities
- Admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- American Intellectual Property Law Association
- North Carolina Bar Association
- Triangle Intellectual Property Law Association
- Women in Bio
Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Assisted mid-sized agricultural company in a freedom-to-operate analysis in the cutting-edge field of gene editing and developed and managed a global patent portfolio related to RNA-guided nucleases and their use in gene editing.
- Developed and managed global patent portfolio involving antibody therapeutics for autoimmune disorders and cancers for a mid-sized biotechnology company.
- Prosecuted patent applications directed to biomarkers for female cancers for a large medical diagnostics company.
- Assisted mid-sized biotechnology company in the development of a patent portfolio directed to mammalian and plant genome editing and CAR T-cell therapeutics.
- Developed and managed patent portfolios for university client and participated in due diligence proceedings that contributed to the generation of at least three start-up companies.
- Research experience encompassed the fields of molecular and cellular biology, pharmacology and cancer biology, and led to several co-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer Research, Oncogene, Molecular Endocrinology, and Chemistry & Biology.
