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

Most opposed patents of 2025

Most opposed patents of 2025

by Katherine Green

Writing this year’s overview prompted déjà vu and a quick check of 2024’s most opposed patents confirmed that the same innovators feature at the top of the list: patents in the name of Novartis (for ...

UPC Weekly -  Limits on jurisdiction outside the UPC when invalidity looms

UPC Weekly -  Limits on jurisdiction outside the UPC when invalidity looms

by Matthew Naylor

2026 Week 4 The extent of the jurisdiction asserted by the UPC is a hot topic at the moment. On 22 January 2026, the UPC Court of Appeal (CoA) held the oral hearing in the appeal against the ...

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 ...

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Forward Magazines Overlapping 8

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.