Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

Life Sciences

Stephen’s work has a particular focus on biological therapies, often contentious and involving complex immunological aspects in their mechanisms of action. Stephen’s involvement on these matters ranges from co-ordination and support roles on pan-European litigations, attacking and defending patents in EPO opposition proceedings and on appeal, through to pressure testing patents before their assertion in litigation, including in the anti-TNF, anti-IL12, anti-IL23, anti-IL6, anti-integrin and more recently the anti-PCSK9 and immuno-oncology fields. He also has a prosecution and advisory practice relating to European patent applications, SPCs and regulatory exclusivities, encompassing biosimilars.

Stephen has a real understanding of the business drivers of his work, which was developed through a six month secondment working in-house at the US patent law department of a global pharmaceuticals company.

Following his PhD, Stephen worked at GlaxoSmithKline in antibody discovery and engineering. Here he trained in the wet-lab techniques that underpin the matters he works on day-to-day, from phage display to assays for the biophysical and functional characterisation of the antibodies he made. His work at GSK led to patent applications for anti-TNFR antibody-based molecules.Stephen also sits on the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) litigation committee which assists the UK IPO by commenting on draft legislation and coordinates litigation training for UK patent attorneys.

MA Natural Sciences (University of Cambridge)PhD (University of Cambridge)Chartered Patent AttorneyEuropean Patent Attorney