Ying-Zi Yang, PhD

Ying-Zi has significant transactional experience in IP due diligence assessments and contract drafting relating to licensing, collaborations, and acquisitions and mergers in various technology areas. She provides patent portfolio assessments, freedom-to-operate analyses, counsel regarding FDA regulatory issues (Orange Book listings, patent term extensions, and regulatory exclusivities for both small molecules and biologics), and evaluation and drafting IP-related provisions.

A registered patent attorney, Ying-Zi helps clients with patent prosecution in various technology fields, including biotechnology and chemicals. Before becoming a lawyer, she was a longtime in-house patent agent in a large biopharmaceutical company, where she managed a large U.S. and foreign patent portfolio.

Ying-Zi previously studied and published on the mechanism and treatment of malarial infections, etiology of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and the mechanism and action of nuclear receptors.

• Instrumentation Laboratory Company v. HemoSonics LLC, PGR2019-00047
  
• Instrumentation Laboratory Company et al v. HemoSonics LLC, PGR2019-00033
  
• Jennewein Biotechnologie GmbH v. Glycosyn LLC, PGR2019-00023
  
• Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd v. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., D. Del. (2018)
  
• Galderma Laboratories, LP et al v. Medinter US LLC et al., D. Del. (2018)
  
• HemoSonics LLC et al v. CA Casyso GmbH, IPR2018-00950
• Instrumentation Laboratory Company et al v. HemoSonics LLC et al., IPR2018-00264
  
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company v. EMD Serono, D. Del. (2017)
  
• Instrumentation Laboratory Company et al v. HemoSonics LLC, IPR2017-00855
  
• Instrumentation Laboratory Company et al v. HemoSonics LLC et al., IPR2017-00852
  
• Certain Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Methods of Producing the Same, ITC (2018)
  
• High-Potency Sweeteners, Processes for Making Same, and Products Containing Same; 337-TA-1030 (2016)
  
• Shire Orphan Therapies LLC et al v. InnoPharma, Inc., D. Del. (2016)
  
• Shire Orphan Therapies LLC et al v. Sandoz Inc., D. Del. (2015)
  
• Shire Orphan Therapies LLC et al v. Fresenius Kabi USA, LLC, D. Del. (2015)

Representative Transactional Experience

• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in a strategic collaboration deal with Cartography Biosciences to discover new targets for breast and lung cancer medicines using Cartography’s ATLAS and SUMMIT drug discovery platforms
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in an exclusive licensing deal with Massachusetts biotech company Xilio Therapeutics, to develop and commercialize a clinical stage tumor-activated IL-12 therapy with a potential to treat a variety of cancers.
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in a research collaboration, option and license agreement with Merus N.V. for the discovery of novel cancer treatments by combining Gilead’s novel T-cell engager antibodies with Merus’s Triclonics® technology (i.e., trispecific antibodies)
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in its $4.3 billion acquisition of CymaBay Therapeutics, expanding Giliead’s product portfolio for treating primary biliary cholangitis
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in an $848 million licensing deal with Compugen for its antibody-based therapies targeting cancer developed with Compugen’s AI platform
• Advised Roivant Science on IP issues related to its $7 billion sale of Telavant to Roche
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in a collaboration and licensing deal with Tentarix Biotherapeutics to design and develop multifunctional antibody-based therapies targeting cancer and inflammation using the biotech company’s Tentacles™ platform
• Represented Gilead Sciences (Gilead) as IP counsel in a collaboration and licensing deal with A-Alpha Bio (A-Alpha), a life sciences machine learning company, to design and develop biologic HIV treatments
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in connection with its acquisition of all outstanding shares of XinThera, a privately held biotech company in San Diego, complementing Gilead’s existing clinical development priorities and providing Gilead rights to a portfolio of small molecule inhibitors targeting PARP1 for oncology and MK2 for inflammatory diseases
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in the $660 million collaboration and licensing deal with EVOQ Therapeutics to develop treatments for autoimmune diseases based on EVOQ’s proprietary NanoDisc technology
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in its $405M acquisition of MiroBio to expand Gilead’s footprint in the immune inhibitory receptor agonist space to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in its $785M collaboration with Gritstone Oncology to co-develop a therapeutic vaccine for HIV as a long-hoped-for cure for the disease
• Represented Gilead Sciences as IP counsel in connection with a clinical collaboration with Vir Biotechnology Inc. to evaluate novel therapeutic combination strategies aimed at developing a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B virus
• Advised Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Alexion") on IP issues in its acquisition of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Portola") in a deal valued at $1.4 billion
• Represented Gilead Sciences on its strategic collaboration with Nurix Therapeutics to develop novel therapies for cancer and other difficult to treat diseases
• Represented Bristol-Myers Squibb as IP counsel in connection with its divestiture of two marketed pharmaceutical products in Mexico to an affiliate of Aspen Global Inc.