Olga Berson, Ph.D.

Olga has 15 years of experience litigating Hatch-Waxman and major life sciences patent cases.  Olga conducts IP due diligence investigations in connection with mergers and acquisitions, licensing of patent portfolios, venture capital financing, and other transactions. She advises clients on strategic patent portfolio development and third-party patent landscape analyses. Olga also consults clients on patentability, freedom to operate, patent validity, and non-infringement issues.

A native Russian speaker, Olga often assists her clients with IP due diligence involving technologies developed in Russia and helps with identification of invalidating prior art in Russian language against patent portfolios of interest. She conducts IP due diligence investigations for Russian venture capital firms in connection with their investments into technologies developed in the United States.

Olga received her Ph.D. in environmental science and chemistry from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Olga’s technical knowledge and training span diverse technical areas, including pharmaceutical and biological compositions, drug delivery systems, medical devices, diagnostics, cosmetics, molecular biology, microbiology, chemistry, and material science. She authored papers in the areas of environmental chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and microbiology. Olga’s technical training enables her to develop a quick understanding of the technology at issue, effectively work with inventors and experts, identify critical prior art, obtain useful admissions from opponents during discovery, and develop creative legal arguments.

• Successfully defended pharmaceutical company against infringement allegations targeting its billion-dollar drug and won summary judgment of non-infringement on both asserted patents
• Represented a biotech company in an inventorship dispute centering around peptidomimetic compounds discovered by phage display methods
• Represented a branded pharmaceutical company in patent infringement litigation brought pursuant to the Hatch-Waxman Act to protect a local anesthetic drug against multiple ANDA applicants
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in patent due diligence in connection with an acquisition of an Alzheimer’s drug
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in evaluation of a patent portfolio covering a type II diabetes drug
• Represented investors in patent diligence matters in biotechnology, chemical, material science and electronics areas
• Prepared invalidity and freedom to operate opinions for a pharmaceutical company in connection with licensing of an insomnia small molecule drug
• Drafted and prosecuted patent applications and managed worldwide patent portfolio for a biotech company covering peptide vaccines, high-throughput methods for production of vaccines and therapeutic compositions for treating anthrax