Tamera M. Weisser

Weisser, who has a Ph.D. in immunology, has spent years working on antibody therapeutics and vaccines, knowledge that has increased importance as drug companies work to develop treatments or cures for the COVID-19 virus.

She declined to name clients or their work but said companies are busy filing patent applications to treat the coronavirus.

The longtime co-leader of Jones Day’s global patent prosecution group also said she and her colleagues are also working on legal protection for cancer treatments.

“We follow the science where it leads us,” Weisser said. “You need to be able to dive into the data companies are developing so we can be sure it’s all in a thorough patent application.”

“Having this additional data helps support the application but also fends off challenges in litigation or in [inter partes reviews]” in which the validity of patents are challenged at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, she said.

Weisser changed jobs earlier this year, switching from helping lead the global patent prosecution group to running the firm’s San Diego office. But she has spent the last eight months working from home due to the pandemic.

“We really have been busier than ever,” Weisser said.

Last year, Weisser served as lead intellectual property counsel in connection with the $107 million initial public offering of South San Francisco-based NGM Biopharmaceuticals Inc., which makes a human hormone variant to treat liver disease.

Earlier in 2019, she defended AbbVie Biotechnology Ltd. in an inter partes review petition in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board brought by Sandoz Inc. and other companies that were developing biosimilar versions of the antibody therapeutic adalimumab.

The medication, marketed as Humira, is the top-selling drug in the world. Sandoz Inc. et al. v. AbbVie Biotechnology Ltd., IPR2017-01823 (PTAB, filed February 9, 2018).

Weisser said she “fell into” her career after a decade of lab experience. She started out working as a patent agent while attending Georgetown University Law Center in the evenings.

— Craig Anderson