Protein

Therapeutics

We have extensive experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications in the field of engineered peptide therapeutics, gaining insight into the different challenges that working in this area raises as compared to patenting antibody or polypeptide therapeutics. Our experience includes work on portfolios covering approved and candidate peptide therapeutics, such as Lixisenatide, Danegaptide, Glepaglutide and Dasiglucagon.

Many of these challenges revolve around the evolution of an initial wild-type peptide to become a candidate peptide therapeutic, modifying or truncating the wild-type peptide and often incorporating other types of derivatisation and cyclisation to optimise the properties of the therapeutic molecule. This work requires an understanding of underlying biochemistry and chemistry of the molecules.

In addition, the team at Mewburn Ellis working in this area have extensive experience of freedom-to-operate analysis, EPO opposition and appeals and other strategies to manage the competitive landscape, while maximising the protection of the products of the applicants we represent.

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Opposition Trends in the Life Sciences Sector

Special Report

In spring 2019, Mewburn Ellis undertook 350 hours of research, analysing more than 5,000 opposition cases filed at the European Patent Office over the last ten years, studying the timelines for hundreds of life sciences oppositions both before and after the EPO’s opposition streamlining initiative.

View the 2020 addendum for this report, based on information as it appeared on the EPO Register on 10 January 2021 and from bulk data sets extracted on this date.

Download the Report

Read our Blogs

UPC Weekly -  Purpose-based interpretation avoids infringement of medical device claim but defendant still on the hook for costs

UPC Weekly -  Purpose-based interpretation avoids infringement of medical device claim but defendant still on the hook for costs

by Matthew Naylor

2026 Week 3 Being sued for patent infringement at the UPC is a full-on experience. The front-loading of the procedure and the urgent time limits mean that far-reaching strategic decisions need to be ...

Front loading and pointers to the solution – the view from the UPC Court of Appeal

Front loading and pointers to the solution – the view from the UPC Court of Appeal

by Matthew Naylor

2026 Week 2 After the Edwards and Amgen decisions in late November 2025, we now have a further UPC Court of Appeal (CoA) decision, reviewing the outcome of first instance revocation proceedings at ...

The UPC going into 2026 – three key takeaways

The UPC going into 2026 – three key takeaways

by Matthew Naylor

2026 Week 1 2025 was a seriously busy year for the UPC. We came into the year with one case management system and we left it with a shiny new one. We go into 2026 with a new court fee schedule. In ...

Careful with that saisie application

Careful with that saisie application

by Matthew Naylor

2025 Week 52 They can be conveniently bundled together informally as “provisional measures” at the UPC. But orders for preserving evidence (saisie orders) and preliminary injunctions are different in ...

When success does not mean survival – Generics knock out Sanofi’s cancer drug patent at the UPC

When success does not mean survival – Generics knock out Sanofi’s cancer drug patent at the UPC

by Julie Carlisle

2025 Week 51 Generic pharmaceutical companies scored their first big win at the UPC last week, with the Munich Local Division (LD) revoking Sanofi’s patent EP 2493466 B1 for a medical use of the ...

The Vaginal Microbiome – the hidden key to success in IVF?

The Vaginal Microbiome – the hidden key to success in IVF?

by Natalie Vaughan

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) as the names suggests, is a fertility treatment where an egg is fertilised by a sperm outside of the body. For many couples diagnosed with infertility, IVF offers hope of ...

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Mewburn Ellis

FORWARD MAGAZINE

Mewburn Ellis Forward is a biannual publication that celebrates the best of innovation and exploration. Through its pages we hope to inform and entertain, but also to encourage discussion about the most compelling developments taking place in the scientific and entrepreneurial world. Along the way, we’ll engage with the IP challenges that international organisations face every day.