About

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Dr. Nathan P. Letts has over twenty years of experience in life science intellectual property law, specializing in the building, development, licensing, and management of patent portfolios, in addition to providing invalidity, infringement, and clearance opinions relating to intellectual property rights.

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Dr. Letts has extensive experience in preparing patent applications for a broad range of advanced technologies, including alternative energy, biotechnology, diagnostics, medicinal chemistry, and specialty chemicals. He has prosecuted patents for small and large biotechnology companies, chemical and pharmaceutical companies, and research universities. Furthermore, he also has several years of litigation experience working as an associate in a series of veterinary patent litigations.

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Previously, Dr. Letts was Vice President for intellectual property and licensing at diaDexus, Inc. (South San Francisco); an attorney position in the firm of Pennie & Edmonds LLP (New York); and a scientific advisor/patent agent in the firm of Cooper & Dunham LLP (New York). In particular, he was sole in-house counsel for a biotechnology start-up, including responsibility for in-licensing and out-licensing, corporate compliance, patent strategy and patent portfolio management, led to a patent portfolio that formed the basis for a multi-million dollar spin-out.

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Dr. Letts regularly lectures on intellectual property and technology, predominantly focusing on issues concerning university start-ups and federally-funded inventions.

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Areas of Practice

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• Agricultural biotechnology

• Antibodies

• Cardiovascular disease

• Combinatorial chemistry

• Drug discovery

• Gene therapy

• Genetically engineered plants and animals

• Heterocyclic chemicals

• Kinase inhibitors

• Meta-genomics and microbiomics

• Nanomaterials

• Next-Generation Sequencing

• Nutraceuticals

• Mass spectrometry

• Oncology

• Peptide Chemistry

• Recombinant biologicals

• Ribozymes

• Vaccines and viruses