Vicki G. Norton

Vicki G. Norton is a partner with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics at Duane Morris LLP.

She’s been with the firm since 2008 and is the team lead for its life sciences and medical technologies industry group. She chairs the life sciences, pharmaceuticals and biotech division of the Duane Morris IP practice group.

She coordinated the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s midwinter institute for 2023.

Norton calculates that in more than two decades of life sciences patent counseling and litigation, she has devised strategies for clients to successfully counter patent claims and demands totaling more than $2 billion; has performed IP diligence for transactions and at-the-market offerings worth more than $2.5 billion; and has formulated worldwide patent strategies for clients entering public markets with valuations greater than $6 billion.

“There are high stakes involved in the matters we work on, both in dollars and in human health outcomes,” Norton said.

Her clients include Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Inc., Quest Diagnostics Inc., Sekisui Diagnostics and Sekisui Medical, OcuNexus Therapeutics/Inflammx, Catalent Pharma Solutions Inc., SVB Leerink LLC, Roth Capital Partners LLC, JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC and B. Riley Inc.

Norton said that during the pandemic, work increased because diagnostics companies like Quest and Sekisui sought her counsel as they scaled up to meet increased demand.

In one current case, Norton handled the patent strategy and management and diligence for an innovative stem cell technology that is now in dispute.

San Diego-based Allele Biotechnology alleges that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. developed its COVID-19 antibody cocktail using Allele’s fluorescent protein, mNeonGreen, without licensing or permission. The neon green technology is used in developing vaccines. Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 7:20-cv-08255 (S.D. N.Y., filed Oct. 5, 2020).

“We obtained the patent. We’re not litigation counsel, but if the case doesn’t settle, I will probably be a witness,” Norton said.

Another defendant, Pfizer Inc., was similarly accused and settled on mutually agreeable terms.

She added that she’s glad to have transitioned from science to the law. “I was one of those for whom science was 99 percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. Now I get to use my science background in a field that’s intellectually stimulating in the matters that I work on for clients.”

—John Roemer