Morrison Foerster is an international law firm with lawyers practicing throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. Click to discover more.

mofo_share_image.jpg

Morrison Foerster

common-default.jpeg

Terms / Notices

Cookies

Privacy Policy

Reporting Hotline

Attorney Advertising

Alumni

  Linkedin

MoFo LinkedIN

  Facebook

MoFo Facebook

YouTube

MoFo Youtube

Morrison Foerster - Footer

Pharmaceutical Patent Prosecution

You have not solved the recaptcha challenge yet or session expired, try again.

Email Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Unsolicited e-mails and information sent to Morrison Foerster will not be considered confidential, may be disclosed to others pursuant to our <a href="https://www.mofo.com/about/privacy-policy.html">Privacy Policy</a>, may not receive a response, and do not create an attorney-client relationship with Morrison Foerster. If you are not already a client of Morrison Foerster, do not include any confidential information in this message. Also, please note that our attorneys do not seek to practice law in any jurisdiction in which they are not properly authorized to do so.

Feedback

mofo-logo-2022.svg

People

Capabilities

Resources

About

Community

Offices

Careers

Stay Connected

Our Pharmaceutical Patent Prosecution team designs and executes strategies to obtain strong patent protection around the world.

<h3>Sorry, we weren’t able to find the terms you entered.</h3>Please try a different term or keyword.

People

Capabilities

Resources

Not Found Cards

Our Pharmaceutical Patent Prosecution team designs and executes strategies to obtain strong patent protection around the world.<div><span class="rich-text-component-embed" data-component-info="{&quot;uid&quot;:&quot;bltfc9fd1ee697501fc&quot;,&quot;_version&quot;:1,&quot;locale&quot;:&quot;en-us&quot;,&quot;table_source&quot;:&quot;&lt;div style=&#x27;position: relative;width: auto;padding: 0 0 72%;height: 0;top: 0;left: 0;bottom: 0;right: 0;margin: 0;border: 0 none&#x27; id=\&quot;experience-67912074213f8\&quot; data-aspectRatio=\&quot;1.38888889\&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen src=&#x27;https://view.ceros.com/mofo/pharmaceutical-patent-prosecution-group&#x27; style=&#x27;position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;bottom: 0;right: 0;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: 0 none;height: 1px;width: 1px;min-height: 100%;min-width: 100%&#x27; frameborder=&#x27;0&#x27; class=&#x27;ceros-experience&#x27; title=&#x27;Pharmaceutical Patent Prosecution Group&#x27; scrolling=&#x27;no&#x27;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Ceros - Pharmaceutical Patent Prosecution&quot;,&quot;publish_details&quot;:{&quot;time&quot;:&quot;2025-03-21T16:36:03.439Z&quot;,&quot;user&quot;:&quot;blt02c6960575474003&quot;,&quot;environment&quot;:&quot;bltf4674cd9142c5020&quot;,&quot;locale&quot;:&quot;en-us&quot;,&quot;_trace&quot;:&quot;array_node;description;publish_details&quot;,&quot;_key&quot;:&quot;publish_details&quot;},&quot;_fetched&quot;:true,&quot;_content_type_uid&quot;:&quot;table_content&quot;,&quot;_trace&quot;:&quot;array_node;description&quot;,&quot;_key&quot;:&quot;key&quot;}" data-component-type="table_content" data-component-inline="false"></div>

Dr. Lisa Silverman’s practice focuses on patent portfolio management and strategic patent counseling in the areas of life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and chemistry. She has extensive experience in securing U.S. and global patent protection for pharmaceutical products and a deep understanding of patent lifecycle management and strategies for maximizing patent term and product exclusivity. She co-leads the firm’s Pharmaceutical Patent practice, and she is a member of the firm’s Life Sciences + Healthcare Leadership Team. Lisa works with clients on diverse technologies including small molecule pharmaceuticals, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), peptide therapeutics, pharmaceutical formulations and uses, drug-device combinations, cosmetics, digital therapeutics, clean technology, bioassays, and medical devices.As a member of the firm’s <a href="/capabilities/venture-intellectual-property" target="_self">Venture Intellectual Property Group</a>, Lisa routinely represents clients in both investor- and target-side IP due diligence, including patentability and freedom-to-operate assessments, and she provides advice to transactions teams on IP considerations for licensing, financing, and M&A deals. She has a keen interest in the intersection of patent and regulatory considerations for pharmaceutical products and medical devices.  She has prepared numerous applications for patent term extensions for approved drugs and medical devices, and she frequently advises on patent strategies for optimizing Orange Book listings.Lisa represents companies of all sizes, from start-ups to multi-national corporations, as well as venture capital, private equity, and other investment firms, and she provides advice tailored to each client’s unique business needs. She has worked with large companies to ensure robust patent protection for marketed drug products. She has worked closely with mid-size companies to expand patent protection and mitigate potential infringement risks as lead drug candidates have moved through clinical development toward commercialization. She has advised small companies on securing early foundational patents.Lisa received her J.D. from Stanford Law School. Prior to entering the legal field, Lisa obtained her Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University, where she was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Lisa Silverman

Partner

Shannon Reaney, Ph.D., is a seasoned patent attorney with over 20 years of experience specializing in life sciences intellectual property law. As chair of the firm’s 100+ person Patent Strategy + Prosecution practice and co-chair of the cross-disciplinary Intellectual Property Group, Shannon provides strategic patent counsel to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cosmetics, and agricultural companies worldwide. She excels in patent portfolio development, prosecution, and management, helping innovators protect and maximize the value of their intellectual property assets.Shannon’s advanced scientific training and extensive legal experience enable her to deliver comprehensive patent strategy and prosecution services across a broad spectrum of life sciences technologies, including:<ul><li>Pre-clinical and clinical-stage therapeutics, including small molecules, siRNA, peptide therapeutics, conjugates, blood-based therapies, and related diagnostics, pharmaceutical formulations, and methods of use.</li><li>Nanotechnology.</li><li>Skin care technology and topical formulations.</li><li>Agricultural technologies.</li></ul>In addition to her extensive experience in patent strategy and prosecution, Shannon is highly regarded for her work in:<ul><li>Patent term extensions & lifecycle management for approved drugs and biologics.</li><li>IP risk mitigation, pre-litigation portfolio assessments, and competitor IP evaluation.</li><li>Due diligence and strategic counseling for business transactions including financings and M&A.</li></ul>Shannon received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where her doctoral research concentrated on synthetic organic methodology and the use of lithium aminoborohydrides in novel hydride and amine transfer reactions. She received her B.A. in biochemistry from Occidental College, where she conducted undergraduate research investigating psoralen-DNA intercalation.Shannon has authored several first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals and presented her research at major conferences, including those sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress.

Shannon Reaney

Anita Choi has decades of experience providing strategic advice to companies and investors in the <a href="/capabilities/life-sciences-healthcare" target="_self" dir="ltr">Life Sciences</a> and <a href="/capabilities/food-agriculture" target="_self">Food + Agriculture</a> industries. She has helped start-up companies build IP portfolios around their core technologies, and counseled them on issues related to patents versus trade secrets. She has worked with larger, more established companies to manage global patent portfolios in a way that integrates IP with their business models. Combining her legal and business expertise enables her to navigate complex challenges that require complex solutions hence why she is so often called upon by clients to help with assessing, building and strengthening patent portfolios.  She has also counseled investors in IP due diligence, identifying critical issues that may affect valuation and risk assessment in deals.Anita is part of the <a href="/life-sciences-healthcare-leadership" target="_self">Life Sciences + Healthcare Leadership Team</a>, as well as the Food + Agriculture Leadership Team within the firm. She co-leads the firm’s Chemistry Subgroup within the patent practice, which covers both the Pharmaceuticals and Materials sector within the chemistry space. She also co-leads the firm’s Food + Agriculture patent practice. Anita’s clients praise her ability to quickly gain a deep understanding of their technology and business, which allows her to think critically, creatively and practically in patent portfolio management.Anita is recognized as a key lawyer by The Legal 500 US for patent prosecution. She received her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Chemistry and was named to the Order of the Coif. During law school, Anita also completed her M.B.A. at the Wharton School of Business.Anita is co-editor of our <a href="https://lifesciences.mofo.com/" target="_blank" dir="ltr">MoFo Life Sciences Blog</a>.Life SciencesAnita gained a solid technical background across disciplines during her time studying at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), where she received her Bachelor of Science with honors. She spent several years working at Pfizer, developing small molecule compounds for use in oncology therapies. She has performed research at CalTech involving unnatural amino acids, and at MIT involving fluorescent zinc sensors, both for use in developing neuroscience applications.Anita has counseled clients in a wide variety of life science technologies, including small-molecule pharmaceuticals, cannabinoids, nutraceuticals, pharmaceutical and cosmetic uses, pharmaceutical formulations, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health.Food and AgTechAnita has advised businesses in developing IP strategies for soil and crop technologies, sustainable farming, alternative protein sources, fermentation technologies, extraction technologies, new categories of food and beverage products, and food packaging.The breadth of technologies that Anita works with also enables her to provide IP advice at the intersection of multiple technical disciplines. For example, Anita’s practice is also well positioned at the convergence of data analytics in the Life Sciences and Agriculture industries.ChemistryAnita also has technical expertise in chemistry outside of Life Sciences, such as in the Materials space, including Cleantech. She has developed IP strategies for biobased materials, polymer chemistry, composite materials, catalyst-based technologies, industrial processing, batteries, and carbon capture technologies.IP Due DiligenceAnita is skillful with investor-side and company-side patent due diligence. She supports many of the firm’s corporate deals, advising on ownership and patent portfolio risks and conducting patentability and freedom-to-operate assessments. She also supports her own clients undergoing IP due diligence by investors.IP Litigation SupportAnita also works closely with the IP Litigation Group to formulate strategies for infringement contentions, validity/invalidity contentions, and claim construction positions. She actively supports the patent litigators in pre-litigation diligence matters to evaluate the strength of patents and patent portfolios.Pro BonoAnita has an active pro bono practice and has been awarded the State Bar of California's Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services for many consecutive years. She regularly represents families seeking legal guardianship. She also assists numerous non-profit organizations in developing and securing patent protection for their core technologies.

Anita Choi

Pharmaceutical Patent Prosecution

Key Contacts