Spotlight on

BioProcessing & Industrial BioTech

Making bioproducts is far from easy, often requiring an in-depth understanding of cellular culture dynamics, cell biology & metabolism, fluid dynamics, process engineering, bioreactor design, biochemical and dynamic aspects of purification processes, process control, and data driven modelling. This work is absolutely crucial, without bioprocessing there is no product!  Conversely, improvements in any aspect of bioprocessing can have enormous value as even small productivity or quality improvements to such high value products are impactful, and improvements can often apply to multiple products.  

Our advanced bioprocessing team has extensive experience obtaining and defending IP in this complex field, both in relation to upstream and downstream processes innovation. We have a multidisciplinary team that mirrors the complexity and diversity of technical expertise of our clients working in this field, including experts in cell biology and biochemistry and their specific implications to bioprocessing, traditional bioprocessing including running and optimising fermentation processes, data & AI driven analysis of bioprocesses including for monitoring, prediction and optimisation of bioprocesses, dynamical modelling of bioprocesses, process engineering, and bioreactor design. 

We work together across different technical fields to make sure that all aspects are properly considered, so that the value of your IP is maximised. We understand intimately the complex technical, practical and commercial realities of working in this high value, highly regulated industry. We have successfully defended high value patent portfolios in this field, as well as helped our clients navigate freedom to operate. We are experts in drafting for success in all aspects of upstream and downstream processes. 

Read our Blogs

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 ...

30 months in – UPC case load, locations and languages

30 months in – UPC case load, locations and languages

by Matthew Naylor

2025 Week 50 A niche skill of patent attorneys is to be able to think in blocks of 30 months. The UPC opened its doors for business on 1 June 2023 and the 30 month milestone duly rolled around at the ...

UPC first instance decisions on inventive step after Court of Appeal guidance

UPC first instance decisions on inventive step after Court of Appeal guidance

by Matthew Naylor

2025 Week 49 Last week, we reported on the landmark Amgen v. Sanofi / Regeneron and Edwards v. Meril 25 November 2025 decisions from the UPC Court of Appeal (CoA), which together set out the ...

UPC Weekly - Court of Appeal settles the UPC framework for inventive step

UPC Weekly - Court of Appeal settles the UPC framework for inventive step

by Matthew Naylor

2025 Week 48 If you only read one UPC decision this year, read one of these. You can take your pick, based on technical background. Amgen v. Sanofi / Regeneron is in the field of antibodies for ...

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Bioprocessing & Industrial Biotechnology - Protecting Innovation

With the development of increasingly advanced therapeutics and other products - from vaccines and cell therapies to food products and biofuels - bioprocessing and industrial biotechnology are becoming more important than ever.

Developing and scaling up biotechnological processes can be technically challenging and require significant investment in research and development.

Patent protection enables to secure these advancements and creates a competitive advantage for the innovators in this field.  It  is no surprise that patents covering platform technologies in biotech manufacturing are highly valuable and often challenged  by third parties.

Our team has significant  experience in drafting and defending bioprocessing patents.  We have successfully defended patents protecting antibody manufacturing and processing methods, including in multi-opponent EPO opposition proceedings.

We understand the challenges associated with developing bioprocessing and manufacturing methods.  Inventions in this field often lie on great technical stories that involve creative solutions to technical problems that only arise, or become particularly acute during large scale industrial processes.  For example, the recognition of a previously unnoticed problem during early-stage development, such as the discovery that certain cell culture components are the cause for problematic visual characteristics in the bioproduct, or that surprising loss of intact antibody yield during scaled-up manufacture is due to specific redox reactions in the cell culture fluid following fermentation, or that purification methods successfully used at laboratory scale introduce undesirable impurities into product that needs to be overcome when purification is scaled-up.  The research leading to the recognition of these problems and the steps taken to solve them in an imaginative way may form the basis of a strong inventive story which is worthy of patent protection, but one where an understanding of bioprocessing is needed to properly draft the strong patent applications.

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.