Overview
AP&S helps life sciences companies protect core technology, structure licensing and collaboration transactions, and move innovations from discovery toward commercialization.
We prepare and prosecute life sciences patents with the transaction in mind – drafting and managing portfolios so they can withstand diligence, support exclusivity, and create leverage in licensing, financing, collaboration, and acquisition discussions.
Our Life Sciences Practice Group combines PhD-level scientific training, registered patent attorney experience, sophisticated intellectual property counseling, licensing and strategic transaction experience, brand protection, and practical business judgment. The team includes very experienced attorneys with in-house pharmaceutical and biomedical experience, university teaching experience, and prior practice experience at nationally recognized law firms, Boston-based life sciences and intellectual property practices, and premier intellectual property boutiques. That background allows AP&S to deliver sophisticated patent prosecution, IP strategy, licensing, diligence, brand protection, and commercialization counsel through a practical, senior-driven New England platform.
We represent biotechnology, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, medical device, digital health, research institution, university spinout, investor, and private-equity portfolio company clients, including life sciences startups emerging from Rhode Island universities. AP&S also serves hospitals, health care organizations, colleges, universities, publicly traded and privately held companies, nonprofits and other innovation-driven clients from offices across New England and beyond.
Representative Highlights
- $1.5B+ collaboration agreement for a publicly traded NASDAQ genomics company with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company.
- $125M+ exclusive licensing agreement for a privately held regenerative medicine company with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, including $15M upon signing.
- $125M specialty pharmaceutical acquisition by a publicly traded NASDAQ pharmaceutical company, plus milestones.
- $82.5M NASDAQ IPO for a molecular diagnostics company, representing the underwriters.
- Multi-year, worldwide Distribution Agreement for a privately-held biomedical diagnostic company with a Fortune 500 healthcare company.
- Private-equity portfolio company representation in the life sciences sector.
- Startup and university spinout representation for life sciences companies emerging from Rhode Island universities.
- Intellectual property, transactional, and commercialization support of a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company for VIGAFYDE, a ready-to-use vigabatrin oral solution for infantile spasms resulting in an acquisition by a premier international contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).
- Representative patent and published application experience across biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical tools and devices, digital healthcare, and neurosciences.
Why AP&S for Life Sciences IP + Transactions
- Senior attention and practical execution: clients work directly with attorneys who understand the science, the IP, the transaction, and the business objective.
- National-caliber experience, senior-level attention: members of our team have practiced in nationally recognized life sciences, intellectual property and corporate law platforms before joining AP&S, giving clients sophisticated experience in a more accessible, practical and cost-conscious environment.
- PhD-level and technical fluency across neuroscience, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices and related platform technologies.
- Patent prosecution plus deal judgment: AP&S connects patent strategy, diligence, licensing, collaborations, M&A, financing, branding, and commercialization.
- Rhode Island and Southern New England ecosystem position: AP&S supports local innovators, university spinouts, research hospitals, RI BIO, and the regional startup community.
- Cost-conscious options for emerging companies: where appropriate, AP&S can explore fixed-fee, staged-fee and deferred-fee approaches for early-stage companies and ecosystem initiatives.
- Full-service New England platform: life sciences clients can access corporate, M&A, tax, employment, litigation, health care, regulatory-adjacent, privacy and other AP&S capabilities.
- Regional access with broader reach: AP&S is a New England-based firm with offices in Providence, Newport, Boston, Manchester, and New York and relationships that help clients coordinate counsel for national and international matters.
Who We Serve
- Life sciences startups and founders
- University and hospital spinouts, including companies emerging from Rhode Island universities
- Research institutions and technology-transfer offices
- Private-equity portfolio companies in the life sciences sector
- Investors, strategic partners, acquirers, licensors, and licensees
- Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, medtech, digital health, and AI-enabled health companies
- Companies preparing for financing, collaboration, strategic partnership, licensing, acquisition or commercialization milestones
Patent Prosecution and Licensing Strategy for Life Sciences Companies
- Patent drafting and prosecution for biotech, pharma, diagnostics, med devices, medtech, digital health, and neuroscience technologies.
- Continuation and portfolio strategy aligned with financing, collaboration, licensing, and exit milestones.
- Patentability, validity, non-infringement, freedom-to-operate, and competitive landscape reviews.
- License, option, sponsored research, collaboration, material transfer, clinical trial, manufacturing, supply, services, and distribution agreements.
- IP diligence for investors, acquirers, licensors, licensees, strategic partners, and private-equity sponsors.
- University technology-transfer agreements, sponsored research arrangements, and spinout IP ownership structures.
How We Help
Patent Prosecution and Portfolio Strategy
- Patent preparation and prosecution in the United States and abroad.
- Portfolio architecture for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, medtech, digital health, and platform technologies.
- Patentability, validity, non-infringement, and freedom-to-operate assessments.
- Competitive landscape, design-around, exclusivity, and continuation strategy analysis.
- Trade secret protection programs and alternative pharmaceutical product protection.
- IP ownership, chain-of-title, and invention assignment counseling.
- Post-grant, enforcement, litigation, and dispute counseling.
Licensing, Collaborations and Strategic Alliances
- In-bound and out-bound license agreements, option agreements, and strategic collaboration agreements.
- Sponsored research agreements, university technology-transfer agreements, and cooperative research and development agreements.
- Joint development, material transfer, clinical trial, manufacturing, supply, services, and distribution agreements.
- Consulting, confidentiality, and restrictive covenant agreements.
- Transaction structures designed to preserve optionality and reduce risk for emerging companies negotiating with larger strategic partners.
Transactions, Financings and Exit Readiness
- Company formation, governance, and founder arrangements.
- IP assignments, consultant agreements, employee invention agreements, and advisor agreements.
- Private equity, institutional debt, venture and strategic financing support.
- Mergers, acquisitions, asset purchases, divestitures, and royalty monetization transactions.
- Diligence for investors, acquirers, companies, private-equity sponsors, and strategic partners.
- Commercialization planning and exit-readiness assessments.
AI-Enabled Patent Strategy and Transaction Risk
AI is changing the speed and breadth of patent diligence, but the differentiator remains legal judgment, technical fluency, and commercial analysis.
We help clients and investors interpret AI-driven patent analytics in light of claim scope, written description, enablement, prosecution history, competitive design-around paths, freedom-to-operate, reimbursement assumptions, commercial exclusivity, and transaction objectives.
Life Sciences Brand Protection
- Brand clearance, trademark prosecution, and global portfolio management.
- Product-name strategy, enforcement, coexistence, licensing, and anti-counterfeiting counseling.
- Brand diligence in financing, licensing, M&A, and commercialization transactions.
Emerging Company and Ecosystem Support
- Strategic counseling for founders, university spinouts, incubator companies, and research-stage ventures.
- Programming and strategic collaboration support for life sciences ecosystem organizations.
- Creative fee structures for emerging companies where appropriate, including fixed-fee, staged-fee, and deferred-fee models.
- Practical sequencing of legal spend around milestones such as provisional filings, FTO screens, university licenses, seed financing, Series A diligence, strategic collaborations, product branding, and exit readiness.
Rhode Island and Southern New England Life Sciences Ecosystem
AP&S is committed to supporting the growth of the life sciences ecosystem in Rhode Island and Southern New England. Our attorneys have hosted and participated in programming for life sciences startups and work with companies, investors, universities, research hospitals, and ecosystem organizations across the region.
The team is positioned to support initiatives involving the Rhode Island Life Science Hub, RI BIO, universities, research hospitals, incubators, investors, and strategic partners through programming, education, strategic collaborations, IP counseling, commercialization planning, and flexible fee structures where appropriate.
Industries and Technologies
Our experience includes work across the following life sciences sectors and technologies:
- Biotechnology
- Pharmaceuticals
- Diagnostics and molecular diagnostics
- Medical devices and medical tools
- Digital health and healthcare AI
- Drug delivery and drug discovery tools
- Research tools
- Genomics and proteomics
- Neurosciences
- Immunology and vaccines
- Cancer therapeutics
- Gene therapy
- Cell therapy
- Regenerative medicine
- Stem cell and transgenic technologies
- Blood cells and blood products
- Tissue and organ regeneration
- Novel antibiotics and antiviral therapeutics
- Nanotechnologies
- Antioxidants
- Nutraceuticals and dietary supplement technologies
- Rare childhood diseases
- Orphan drugs
Representative patents/published applications related to biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical tools and devices, digital healthcare, and neurosciences can be viewed by clicking the appropriate button below:
Med Tech Digital Health Neurosciences
Experience
Strategic Collaborations / Licensing
- Represented a privately held biomedical diagnostic company in a multi-year, worldwide Distribution Agreement with a Fortune 500 healthcare company.
- Represented a publicly traded NASDAQ genomics company in a Collaboration Agreement with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company worth over $1.5 billion USD.
- Represented a privately held biotech regenerative medicine company in an Exclusive Licensing Agreement with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company worth over $125 million USD, with $15 million USD upon signing.
- Represented a subsidiary of a publicly traded TYO pharmaceutical company in a Sponsored Research Agreement and an Exclusive License Agreement with an American university.
- Represented a privately held drug delivery company in an Exclusive License Agreement with a non-profit research hospital.
- Represented a privately held oncology company in a multi-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute.
- Represented a large multinational pharmaceutical corporation for in-licensing a clinical candidate in a deal worth over $200 million USD.
- Represented a pharmaceutical company in integrating in-licensed approved therapeutics.
- Represented a pharmaceutical company in transferring technology and assets in a deal valued over $50 million USD.
- Represent private-equity portfolio company clients in the life sciences sector.
- Represent startup companies in life sciences that are spinouts of local universities in Rhode Island.
Mergers & Acquisitions / Financings
- Represented a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company in an acquisition by a publicly traded NASDAQ pharmaceutical company for $125 million USD plus milestones.
- Represented a privately held biomedical cancer therapeutic company in an acquisition/asset purchase by a publicly traded NASDAQ biotech company for $55.3 million USD.
- Represented a publicly traded NASDAQ biopharmaceutical company focused on rare pediatric and orphan diseases in an acquisition of another publicly traded NASDAQ biopharmaceutical company in an all-stock transaction valued at over $15 million USD, plus contingent value rights for up to an additional $6.5 million USD in subsequent payments.
- Represented a private, pre-clinical medical technology company in the sale of its royalty rights to a major institutional investor for $8 million USD.
- Represented a publicly traded NASDAQ regenerative medicine company in the merger with two privately held biotech companies to form a new publicly traded NASDAQ regenerative medicine company.
- Represented a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company in an IPO on NASDAQ for $70 million USD.
- Represented the underwriters in the IPO of a privately held molecular diagnostic company on NASDAQ for $82.5 million USD.
- Represented the underwriters in the IPO of a privately held biotechnology company on TSX for $42.4 million CDN, representing the largest Life Science IPO in Canada at the time.
- Represented a publicly traded NASDAQ biopharmaceutical company in a bond deal priced at $150 million USD.
Case Studies
Publications
- Driving Revenue and Deal Flow Through an Intelligent IP Strategy: Strategies for Smaller and Early-Stage Life Science Companies – The Licensing Journal by Michel Morency, PhD, John Prince, PhD, and Vinit Kathardekar.
- AI, Patent Strategy, and What Actually Drives Outcomes in 2026 – Part 1: Due Diligence and Opinions – JD Supra Legal News by Dan Holmander and Michel Morency, PhD.
- AI, Patent Strategy, and What Actually Drives Outcomes in 2026 – Part 2: AI and Patent Prosecution – Why Strategy Still Determines Portfolio Value – JD Supra Legal News by Dan Holmander and Michel Morency, PhD.
- AI, Patent Strategy, and What Actually Drives Outcomes in 2026 – Part 3: Agentic AI and the New Economics of Transaction Risk – JD Supra Legal News by Dan Holmander and Michel Morency, PhD.
- Why Brands Matter for Life Science Companies – JD Supra Legal News by Cheryl A. Clarkin.
- Michel “Mike” Morency: selected by The Legal 500 for inclusion in the inaugural 2026 Elite City Focus Edition – Boston Life Sciences; selected as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer from 2020-2026; recognized by Marquis Who’s Who.
- Daniel J. Holmander: recognized by IP Stars as a Patent Star in 2025; recognized by Chambers USA for Intellectual Property; recognized by Super Lawyers; AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
- Cheryl A. Clarkin: selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in Trademark Law from 2019-2026; recognized by Chambers USA in Intellectual Property.
