Case Study: Interwest Partners
When health care and information technology investor InterWest Partners was considering a stake in a groundbreaking biologics startup, they turned to Pabst Patent Group (PPG) for intellectual property due diligence on the deal. A biotechnology spinout company from Johns Hopkins University, this company showed tremendous promise for its development of immunotherapeutics with the potential to revolutionize treatment for cancer.
PPG conducted the IP due diligence, and was able to affirm very favorable conditions for locking down valuable legal protections – prompting InterWest to make the investment. Impressed by our depth of knowledge in biotechnology, Interwest then asked us to serve as patent counsel and to prosecute patent applications for the startup’s proposed products.
Our team then got to work on developing a robust patent portfolio that could withstand competitors’ challenges and secure maximum patent terms while being broad enough to cover potential products. We developed a comprehensive defensive patent strategy to protect the company from third parties’ patent encroachment, monitored patent applications directed at similar technologies, and filed third-party observations and/or oppositions in other competitive patents.
The startup grew rapidly, and was later acquired by a leading global biologics research and development company in a nine-figure deal. We are proud to have worked with this venture in every stage of its growth: from due diligence for investors, to startup, and all the way through to acquisition by one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.