Program

The Program Committee is pleased to announce confirmed presentations and speakers for the PIUG Biotech and PhMTI 2025 Biotech Conference. Watch this page for further speaker announcements and a detailed agenda.

The format of the 2025 conference is different than previous Biotech Conferences -- workshops are not on a separate day but part of the 2-day program.  We recommend that you consider coming early for the Tuesday program and staying through until the end on Wednesday afternoon.  For those traveling, you might want to book a room through Wednesday night and plan on traveling out on Thursday morning.  Just a thought!

Register Now!                                                                                               Book a Hotel Room!

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Time	Title	Speaker
8:00 - 8:45 am	Breakfast and Registration
8:45 - 9:00 am	Welcoming Remarks	Greg Roland, Moderna Diane Webb, PhMTI Chair
9:00 - 10:00 am	Knowledge in the Open: Using Public Information to Strengthen Patent Cases	Kelli Powell, Moderna; Jonathan Roses, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.
10:00 – 10:05 am	Gold Sponsor Product Review (BizInt)
10:05 am – 10:45 pm	A Multifaceted Approach to Uutilize Patent Analytics and Competitive Intelligence to Guide Strategic Decision Making From a Head of IP's Perspective	Bo Peng, Wave Life Sciences
10:45 - 11:15 am	Break
11:15 - 11:25 am	Gold Sponsor Product Reviews (Minesoft, Clarivate)
11:25 - 12:05 am	Leveraging AI and Patent Analytics to Uncover Trends in the Landscape of Lipid Nnanoparticles for Delivery of Therapeutics	Katie Brown, LexisNexis
12:05 – 1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 - 1:40 pm	Frontiers in Chemically Modified Biosequence Data -  Combining Competitive Intelligence, Patent Intelligence and LLMs	Sam Winders,  PatSnap
1:40 – 2:30 pm	From Search to Strategic Decisions: Accelerate Your Path to Biotech Industry Insights with Data-Centric Reports and Visualizations	John Willmore, BizInt
2:30 - 3:00 pm	Break
3:00 - 3:50 pm	Patsnap Workshop	Sam Winders, Patsnap
3:50 - 4:30 pm	How a Patent Landscape Can Reduce Your Tax Bill	Alec Griffiths, RDA U.K Ltd
4:30 - 4:40 pm	Wrap-up Remarks	Greg Roland, Moderna

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Time	Title	Speaker
8:00 - 8:45 am	Breakfast and Registration
8:45 - 9:00 am	Welcoming Remarks	Greg Roland, Moderna Diane Webb, PhMTI Chair
9:00 - 9:40 am	Bridging the Gap between Biotech Patent Intelligence and Business Solutions	Andrew Klein, Minesoft
9:40 - 9:50 am	Gold Sponsor Product Reviews (PatSnap, Aptean Genome Quest)
9:50 - 10:40 am	Resisting AI: Maybe it's not a good solution for Biotech CI and IP?	Diane Webb, BizInt
10:40 - 11:15 am	Break
11:15 – 11:25 am	Silver Sponsor Product Reviews (Questel, Digital Sciences)
11:20- 12:00 pm	Panel Discussion: How has AI helped (or not helped) solve Biotech CI and IP problems at your company?
12:00 –1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 – 1:50 pm	Strategies for managing biosequence patent risk in a fast-changing industry	Laura Bantle, Clarivate
1:50 – 2:30 pm	The use of the CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform to enhance and optimize your life science research	Gary Gustafson, CAS
2:30 - 3:00 pm	Break
3:00 - 3:40 pm	Practical Tips for Using Excel in Biosequence Patent Reports: Maximizing Efficiency and Accuracy	Anne Marie Clark, CAS IP Services
3:40 - 4:30 pm	Aptean GenomeQuest 2025 PIUG Workshop	Stephen Allen, Aptean GenomeQuest
4:30 - 4:45 pm	Wrap-up

Meeting Abstracts

Knowledge in the Open: Using Public Information to Strengthen Patent Cases
Kelli Powell, Counsel at Moderna; Jonathan Roses, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

Abstract:

Ever wondered how lawyers use the information you uncover? This presentation demystifies the U.S. patent process for non-lawyers, offering an accessible overview of key phases while revealing the critical role of searching in shaping legal strategies. From patent literature and non-patent literature to market intelligence, we’ll explore how these resources intersect with patent prosecution and litigation to produce strong patents, uncover prior art, challenge validity, and inform courtroom tactics.  The presentation will cover, at a high-level, descriptions of getting a patent and the various key stages of litigation, and delve into some of the many ways in which searching and search results can be deployed to drive impactful outcomes.

Biographies:

Kelli Powell works at Moderna, as a Senior Director, Patent Litigation. In her role she serves as a legal advisor and strategic business partner on patent litigation and related matters for the company. Prior to joining Moderna, Kelli was in private practice in the Boston Office of an international law firm.

Kelli's patent litigation experience is wide-ranging—she has represented and counseled a variety of pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients, as well as communications and technology companies. During her legal career she has also clerked on the First Circuit, served as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and spent five years as an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and as Chair of the Rules Advisory Committee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Kelli received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University and her J.D. from Boston College.

Jonathan B. Roses manages large US and international patent portfolios, advises clients on IP strategy, including regulatory matters related to small molecule and biologic drugs and medical devices, and represents life sciences companies in contested matters, such as post-grant and federal district court proceedings.

Jonathan counsels an array of clients, including life sciences companies focused on the areas of small molecule pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical formulations, medical devices, and surgical methods. He is highly skilled in conducting and managing domestic and foreign patent prosecution and pre-litigation investigations, including worldwide freedom-to-operate, patentability, and exclusivity analyses. He is also experienced in representing clients in federal district court litigation and in post-grant proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and foreign counterparts. Jonathan has also provided regulatory advice and representation to clients relating to patent term extension and Orange Book listings under the Hatch-Waxman Act, and is a frequent speaker on issues related to regulatory exclusivity and pharmaceutical patent litigation.

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A Multifaceted Approach to Uutilize Patent Analytics and Competitive Intelligence to Guide Strategic Decision Making From a Head of IP's Perspective

Bo Peng, Wave Life Sciences

Abstract

In today's rapidly evolving biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries, leveraging patent analytics and competitive intelligence is crucial for making informed strategic decisions. This presentation, from the perspective of a head of intellectual property, will delve into how these tools can be utilized to guide decision making. One of the key strategies in leveraging patent analytics for competitive advantage is to work cross-functionally, bringing together diverse expertise from the research and development organizations. This collaborative approach allows for a comprehensive analysis of patent data, leading to more informed strategic decisions. By integrating the diverse perspectives and skills of these experts, organizations can uncover hidden insights, identify innovation opportunities, and develop more robust and competitive R&D strategies that align with market needs and future opportunities.

Biography

Bo Peng is currently Head of IP at Wave Life Sciences. She oversees Wave’s IP operation, and manages Wave’s internal and external IP teams to develop and implement Wave’s worldwide IP strategy to support Wave’s business objectives. Prior to Wave, Bo was at Editas Medicine. As one of the early employees, she played an important role in developing Editas’ IP strategy and building the patent portfolio. 

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Frontiers in Chemically Modified Biosequence Data -  Combining Competitive Intelligence, Patent Intelligence and LLMs

Sam Winders,  PatSnap

Abstract

Short nucleotides, Peptides, ADCs and other chemically modified sequences are rapidly emerging modalities that are especially challenging to characterise from traditional IP and CI perspectives. Often (but not always!) combining a sequence based targeting moiety and a chemical structure delivery system, they confound traditional structure, sequence, or drug-target based definitions. In this presentation we will demonstrate how combining multiple data approaches - and by indexing over 10 million modified sequences from drugs and patents- we can totally transform how to landscape and conduct FTO for these complex modalities, and open up unprecedented insights into this valuable, yet challenging space.

Biography

Sam Winders is one of PatSnap's longest serving employees and is lead representative for the Life Sciences team. As well as working closely to communicate our top clients' needs with product development, Sam also works closely further developing and commercialising PatSnap's datasets, including our Chemical Modification Sequence datasets and mining patents to fuel Large Language and Protein Language Models.

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Leveraging AI and Patent Analytics to Uncover Trends in the Landscape of Lipid Nnanoparticles for Delivery of Therapeutics

Katie Brown, LexisNexis

Abstract

This session will focus on the patent landscape and current developments in patenting lipid nanoparticles for delivery of therapeutics. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development and use of lipid nanoparticles, particularly for mRNA vaccines. This success has spurred further research and innovation in lipid nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems for a wide range of therapeutic applications. We will review a patent landscape for lipid nanoparticles, created using LexisNexis Classification, our machine learning-powered patent classification solution. Additionally, we will analyze the top players, trends, and therapeutic applications of lipid nanoparticles in LexisNexis PatentSight+.

Biography

Katie Brown is a Senior Customer Success Manager at LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions. Since joining LexisNexis in 2021, she has been supporting clients through training and sharing best practices for leveraging our patent searching, drafting, and analytics solutions. Her goal is to enable clients to gain powerful insights and make strategic decisions using patent data and analytics, which will in turn bring success and efficiency to their organizations’ innovation.

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From Search to Strategic Decisions: Accelerate Your Path to Biotech Industry Insights with Data-Centric Reports and Visualizations

John Willmore, BizInt Solutions, Inc.

Abstract

Exploring techniques for building integrated reports and visualizations from searches on single or multiple platforms. We look at the challenges of patent and IP sequence information, but also using clinical trial and drug pipeline data.

Biography

John Willmore is Vice President, Product Development and co-founder of BizInt Solutions. He manages the development of all aspects of the BizInt Smart Charts product line.

John has over 25 years of experience in processing, analyzing and integrating IP and CI information, and works closely with patent, IP sequence, drug pipeline, and clinical trials database publishers.

John spends his free time doing woodworking, playing amateur ice hockey, and competing with his dachshunds. He is an American Kennel Club judge for agility, earthdog and dachshund field trials.

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How a patent landscape can reduce your tax bill 

Alec Griffiths, RDA U.K Ltd

Abstract:

An in-depth discussion on how using patent data can help reduce business risk by accessing innovation-based tax credit regimes and how appropriate use of that data can reduce the new risks introduced by accessing said regimes.

Biography:

Over a decade of patent searching experience in all types of search use cases. Presented in collaboration with universities, government agencies and patent attorney firms on the uses of patents and patent data. Spent the last 4 years in IP and tax consultancy, building IP service offerings for tax clients and revolutionising innovation-based tax credit regime applications through the use of patent data.

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Bridging the Gap between Biotech Patent Intelligence and Business Solutions
Andrew Klein, Minesoft

Abstract

Data and insights about your company's IP position are more important than ever. How can you go beyond the traditional value-add of the patent intelligence professional to help your key stakeholders understand your patent portfolio and competitive filings of interest? How can you communicate key relationships between patent data and your company's product pipeline and external partners for licensing/M&A concerns? What does in-house counsel really need to succeed? Join this workshop for a breakdown of key learnings from a focus group with heads of IP in the biotech/pharma space and how you can leverage your patent intelligence expertise to power your business' success.  

Biography

Andrew Klein is Principal Solution Consultant at Minesoft. Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University in Bloomington. Previous positions include Solution Consultant at Clarivate supporting the Derwent suite of solutions, technical librarian/patent searcher at 3M, and science librarian for colleges/universities. Andrew has consulted with corporations and law firms around the world on best practices for using patent intelligence for prosecution, competitive intelligence, technology landscaping, licensing, IP strategy development, portfolio management, and more. Andrew works out of his home office in Saint Paul, MN, and enjoys traveling, visiting craft breweries, nerdy board games, and chocolate chip cookies.

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Resisting AI: Maybe it's not a good solution for Biotech CI and IP?
Diane Webb, BizInt Solutions, Inc.

Abstract

Anytime a big new technology is introduced, we hear about hype about how "this changes everything." As the dust settles, we realize that everything has not changed. The new technology revolutionizes some applications, has mild impacts on others, and leaves some areas untouched. A few years into the latest generation of AI, it's becoming clear that we should be skeptical of the relevance of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLM) to pharmaceutical and biotech IP and CI applications.

Biography

Building on an academic background in the history and sociology of technology, Diane Webb has spent the last 37 years managing the application of information technology to scientific and technical analytic problems. In the 1980's, she managed a government program to apply frame-based AI, natural language processing (NLP), graphical search interfaces, and data visualization to foreign technology intelligence. In the early 1990's, Diane initiated a "defense conversion" project to apply these technologies to the pharmaceutical industry, leading to the development of the Smart Charts software. In 1996, Diane and John Willmore started BizInt Solutions and lead the development of BizInt Smart Charts tools to help analysts create IP and CI reports and visualizations.

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Panel Discussion: How has AI helped (or not helped) solve Biotech CI and IP problems at your company?

Sam Winders, Patsnap, Tim Campbell, Clarivate, Andrew Klein, Minesoft 

Abstract

The PIUG 2025 AI Panel Discussion will explore the transformative role of AI-powered search tools in competitive intelligence (CI) and intellectual property (IP) research. Industry experts from Clarivate, PatSnap, and Minesoft will provide insights into how AI is reshaping patent searching, addressing key topics such as AI tool capabilities, performance, integration challenges, data quality, and legal considerations.

Attendees will gain a real-world perspective on AI’s current impact, challenges, and future opportunities in patent intelligence. The session will conclude with an interactive Q&A, inviting participants to share experiences and insights.

Biographies

Sam Winders is one of PatSnap's longest serving employees and is lead representative for the Life Sciences team. As well as working closely to communicate our top clients' needs with product development, Sam also works closely further developing and commercialising PatSnap's datasets, including our Chemical Modification Sequence datasets and mining patents to fuel Large Language and Protein Language Models.

Tim Campbell 

TBA

Andrew Klein is Principal Solution Consultant at Minesoft. Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University in Bloomington. Previous positions include Solution Consultant at Clarivate supporting the Derwent suite of solutions, technical librarian/patent searcher at 3M, and science librarian for colleges/universities. Andrew has consulted with corporations and law firms around the world on best practices for using patent intelligence for prosecution, competitive intelligence, technology landscaping, licensing, IP strategy development, portfolio management, and more. Andrew works out of his home office in Saint Paul, MN, and enjoys traveling, visiting craft breweries, nerdy board games, and chocolate chip cookies.

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Strategies for managing biosequence patent risk in a fast-changing industry

Laura Bantle, Clarivate

Abstract

As the biotech landscape continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, the ability to quickly identify trends and assess potential risks is crucial for staying ahead of the competition. 

This session will explore how new AI tools and specialized, integrated data sources can enable more efficient, more targeted search and analysis. By narrowing focus using correlated data and unique content, biotech professionals can streamline their research process, uncovering critical insights while minimizing unnecessary complexity. Learn how to harness this evolving toolkit to gain a competitive edge, assess the litigation landscape, and reduce risk in your strategic decision-making.

Biography

Laura is a patent attorney with 10 years experience working with research librarians to support research requests in both patent and legal research software platforms. She is a Principal Solution Consultant with Clarivate.

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The Use of the CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform to Enhance and Optimize Your Life Science Research

Gary Gustafson, CAS

Abstract
CAS is proud to announce the launching of their latest solution: The CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform. This solution adds new data types, connections, and visualizations to the CAS Content Collection™, the largest source of human-curated scientific data. This world-class data helped build our renowned solutions, and now it can support your biology-based and life science inquiries.

Biography

Gary is a Senior Applications Specialist at CAS where he provides demos and trainings on CAS solutions. He also has worked with the product teams on the development of BioFinder and the Retrosynthesis tool. Prior to joining CAS, Gary worked for 25 years as a medicinal chemist at a several biotechs.

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Practical Tips for Using Excel in Biosequence Patent Reports: Maximizing Efficiency and Accuracy

Anne Marie Clark, CAS IP Services

Abstract

Excel offers powerful tools like summary reports, filters, conditional formatting, and image filters for analyzing biosequence and patent information. However, automatic data conversions, such as changing gene names resembling dates (e.g., SEPT2) into actual dates and converting large numbers into scientific notation, can introduce errors.

To create better and safer reports for your clients, set up Excel with the following practical tips:

• Safer Workflows: Disable automatic data conversions to prevent errors in sequence and patent information.
• Efficient Templates: Create and use templates tailored to your specific biosequence and patent reporting needs.
• Default Workbook Settings: Customize default settings to streamline your workflow and ensure consistency.
• Personal Macro Workbook: Store frequently used macros for easy access and improved efficiency.

This presentation emphasizes the importance of careful data handling and provides actionable suggestions for improving Excel reports related to biosequence and patent information.

Biography

Anne Marie is a senior scientist who previously held IP information and management roles at Long Eaton LLC, Bausch & Lomb, and Pfizer. She holds a doctorate in biophysical chemistry from the University of Louisville and is a member of PIUG, Licensing Executive Society, Women in Bio, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and Ophthalmic Women Leaders.

Aptean GenomeQuest 2025 PIUG Workshop

Stephen Allen, Aptean GenomeQuest

Abstract

Join the GenomeQuest team at our PIUG workshop to see the latest updates and enhancements to our Sequence Searching and Full-Text platform.  Our team has been adding functionality & features that enable searchers to quickly drill into large datasets to uncover the IP key to their research area.  Updates include new annotation functions, keyword in context highlighting, and secure data manipulation.  Using real world examples, we will demonstrate how these updates streamline your workflows to answer your IP questions.

Biography

Steve Allen joined Aptean GenomeQuest in September of 2017, he is the Senior Solutions Consultant for GenomeQuest & LifeQuest.  Steve previously worked at Dupont and his background includes work in a patent group and work as a computational biologist in an agricultural discovery group.  Steve has been working with sequence data of one form or another for over 30 years.

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