There has already been a flurry of M&A activity in the life sciences and health technologies fields 2011. The time to identify any issues is before the deal closes, and therefore, understanding the key issues is vitally important to due diligence success. This audio conference provides attendees with best practices guidance on how to prepare their intellectual property (IP) for a successful partnering transaction.

Drawing upon a series of case studies involving recent transactions, the presenters discuss what worked well and why, and also the mistakes that could have been avoided. This conference should be of keen interest to companies currently involved in or contemplating entering into a partnering deal, as well the investment community.

This audio conference covers:

• Best practices for building IP
• Conducting due diligence investigations
• How to best position your company’s IP to its prospective partner
• Real-life M&A examples: what went right, what went wrong, and why

About the speakers:

Kevin W. McCabe is a director in the Biotechnology/Chemical and Litigation Groups at intellectual property specialty law firm Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. He represents clients in complex multi-jurisdiction, multi-party, and multi-patent litigations, including Paragraph IV ANDA litigations. He further specializes in complex client counseling issues, such as product clearance opinions, patent validity and infringement opinions, performing due diligence investigations, and drafting and negotiating agreements. The patent applications that Mr. McCabe has prepared and prosecuted range from medical devices and medical equipment, software, bioinformatics, immunology, microbiology, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, immunodiagnostic assays, and therapeutic methods. Before his legal career, Mr. McCabe worked for several years for a notable biotech company on creating chimeric adenoviruses. He is a frequent speaker and is often interviewed by the media on IP issues.

Dr. Eldora L. Ellison is a director in the Biotechnology/Chemical and Litigation Groups at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. She has extensive experience in representing clients in over a dozen patent interferences before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and her practice also includes representing clients in patent litigation and in patent reexamination proceedings; counseling clients on intellectual property strategy; evaluating patent portfolios, e.g., for invalidity, non-infringement, freedom-to-operate and due diligence analyses; and preparing and prosecuting patent applications. Dr. Ellison's intellectual property experience has been principally in technical areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, molecular biology, therapeutic methods, diagnostic assays, analytical instruments, immunology, virology, bacteriology and vaccines. Dr. Ellison lectures frequently on topics such as patents and licenses, managing intellectual property, and patent reform.

Who should attend?

• Corporate executives involved in mergers and acquisitions
• Patent counsel for life science companies
• Patent counsel for health technology companies
• Executives from early-stage companies