Patent Attorney

Location

Abingdon, Oxfordshire | United Kingdom

Job description

Adaptimmune is a fully integrated cell therapy company, designed and built from the ground up with four U.K.- and U.S.-based biotechnology hub locations. Our comprehensive capabilities and teams include preclinical research, clinical development, translational sciences, autologous and allogeneic manufacturing, and in-house commercial and corporate operations.
Our company culture is rooted in trust, inclusion, our capacity to collaborate, and our commitment to being honest and brave in our desire to successfully transform the lives of people with cancer.

The IP department is responsible for all patent, trademark and trade secret matters for Adaptimmune.  We cover all aspects of the patenting process, including drafting, prosecution and opposition, as well as supporting the business on FTO and licensing matters.  This is a rare opportunity to join a small in-house team with plenty of direct exposure to scientists and all functions within an emerging biopharmaceutical company.

Primary Responsibility

This is a central role in the Adaptimmune IP department driving the filing and prosecution of patent applications relevant to Adaptimmune’s T-cell therapies.  The role requires a strong scientific background combined with experience of handling all stages of the patenting process, together with the ability to collaborate with scientists to support Adaptimmune’s business objectives.

Provision of legal services will include:

• Working closely with R&D teams and IP colleagues to identify and capture inventions.
• drafting patent applications.
• partnering with outside patent counsel to prosecute Adaptimmune’s worldwide patent portfolio.
• conducting patentability, IP landscape, and FTO analyses.
• training of individuals within Adaptimmune on the various forms of intellectual property rights and best practices to identify, protect, and enforce those rights; and
• interfacing with other members of the legal team, members of management and business as necessary.

Key Responsibilities

• Managing the drafting of new patent applications and the prosecution of multi-jurisdictional portfolios, and instructing external patent associates thereon
• Working directly and closely with scientists to advise on the patentability of new developments, including invention spotting and patentability assessments.
• Monitoring third party IP, analysing the patent landscape, and performing FTO analyses
• Liaising internally within relevant Adaptimmune teams to answer IP-related questions and to enhance internal IP understanding.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• Qualified European or US Patent Attorney
• Good degree in biology/biotechnology
• Fluency in English, strong written and spoken communication skills.
• Direct experience of drafting and prosecuting patent applications
• 3+ years of patent practice experience in the biopharmaceutical industry

Desirable

• PhD in biological science
• Experience of EP oppositions, opinion work and due diligence
• Previous experience in-house
• Previous experience in immunotherapy, gene therapy, cell therapy, and/or other large molecule fields

Other Requirements

• May require occasional travel to US offices (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and/or Boston, Massachusetts) (no more than twice per year)

At Adaptimmune we embrace diversity and equality of opportunity. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of age, colour, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status or other legally protected category. It is our intent that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment.

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Salary