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How intellectual
How IP can support funding in life science innovation
I
Isobel Finnie
UK and european
Patent Attorney AT
Haseltine Lake LLP
Isobel Finnie specialises
in patents in life
science technologies,
specifically in the
biotechnology and
biochemistry fields
3 2 | U K S PA b r e ak t h r o u g h | S u m m e r 2 0 17
sobel Finnie, UK and European
patent attorney specialising in
Chemistry and Life Sciences, discusses
how innovators can use Intellectual
Property to help secure valuable
investment and funding…
Investment is essential for the
research and development needed to
progress novel technology from the
lab to market. This is particularly true in
the biotech, life sciences, and healthcare
sectors, where rigorous experimentation
and clinical trials are demanded.
Confidence in securing a decent
return on that investment can only
exist if there is a promise of exclusivity
in the marketplace, enabling a profit to
be made – and this is where Intellectual
Property comes in. IP, in particular
patents, is the tool by which exclusivity
can be achieved for scientific or
technical innovation.
T h o u g h t f u l att e n t i o n
c r e at e s v a l u a b l e
pat e n t p o r t f o l i o s
• Securing protection for the ultimate
commercial product. Since it can take
many years for a lead drug candidate
to be identified and optimised, or a
diagnostic test to be validated, and since
this is unlikely to be known at an early
stage when patents are first filed, the
patenting strategy needs mechanisms
to keep options open for the duration
of the drug development programme.
• Creating a protected space around the
ultimate commercial product to try