Melissa Paddock

Senior Counsel

Overview

Melissa Paddock is a seasoned transactional attorney who counsels clients in structuring, drafting, and negotiating a wide range of licensing, collaboration, and related R&D agreements with industry partners and academic institutions.

Her prior experience in-house and as an IP litigator enables Melissa to advise clients effectively and pragmatically on the intersection of complex scientific, intellectual property, and business issues in life sciences deals.

Melissa represents biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies in the intellectual property, R&D, and commercial transactions necessary to drive value, including:  

  • Intellectual property licenses,
  • Research, development, and commercialization collaborations,
  • Sponsored research,
  • Materials transfer and technology evaluations,
  • Manufacturing, and
  • Research and development services.

Career & Education

    • Director, Senior Corporate Counsel, Solid Biosciences Inc.
        • Structured, drafted and negotiated a wide range of life science agreements, aligning business objectives with corporate and legal requirements
        • Managed the company’s contract function to budget, including the supervision of contracts personnel
    • Strategic Technology Transactions and Licensing Associate, AmLaw 50 firm
        • Represented biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device clients on complex strategic partnering, academic, and commercial transactions, which included collaboration, joint research and development, license, co-promotion, and manufacturing agreements
        • Counseled life science clients in M&A transactions and financings, focusing on IP-related issues
        • Drafted and negotiated settlement and license agreements
        • Secondment at Novartis AG in Basel, Switzerland; drafted and advised on various license and collaboration agreements
    • IP Litigator, AmLaw 50 firm
        • Represented life science companies in patent infringement and related litigation, including under the Hatch-Waxman Act
    • IP Litigator, AmLaw 100 firm
        • Represented life science and chemical companies in various stages of patent litigation
        • Drafted patent validity and infringement opinions
    • Chemical Engineer, Hoffman-LaRoche
        • Supervised transfer of technology from Germany to a U.S. facility for the manufacture of vitamins and fine chemicals in collaboration with R&D and operations teams
    • Director, Senior Corporate Counsel, Solid Biosciences Inc.
        • Structured, drafted and negotiated a wide range of life science agreements, aligning business objectives with corporate and legal requirements
        • Managed the company’s contract function to budget, including the supervision of contracts personnel
    • Strategic Technology Transactions and Licensing Associate, AmLaw 50 firm
        • Represented biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device clients on complex strategic partnering, academic, and commercial transactions, which included collaboration, joint research and development, license, co-promotion, and manufacturing agreements
        • Counseled life science clients in M&A transactions and financings, focusing on IP-related issues
        • Drafted and negotiated settlement and license agreements
        • Secondment at Novartis AG in Basel, Switzerland; drafted and advised on various license and collaboration agreements
    • IP Litigator, AmLaw 50 firm
        • Represented life science companies in patent infringement and related litigation, including under the Hatch-Waxman Act
    • IP Litigator, AmLaw 100 firm
        • Represented life science and chemical companies in various stages of patent litigation
        • Drafted patent validity and infringement opinions
    • Chemical Engineer, Hoffman-LaRoche
        • Supervised transfer of technology from Germany to a U.S. facility for the manufacture of vitamins and fine chemicals in collaboration with R&D and operations teams
    • Worcester Polytechnic Institute, B.S., High Distinction, Chemical Engineering
    • Boston University School of Law, J.D., cum laude
    • Worcester Polytechnic Institute, B.S., High Distinction, Chemical Engineering
    • Boston University School of Law, J.D., cum laude
    • Massachusetts
    • New York
    • Massachusetts
    • New York

Representative Matters

  • Collaboration and co-development agreement with an international biopharmaceutical group utilizing a proprietary blood-brain barrier crossing platform technology to develop therapeutics to treat rare diseases
  • Various venture-backed start-up companies’ in-licenses of foundational and other intellectual property assets from academic and research institutions
  • A global medical device company on the development and deployment of template license, manufacturing, and technology transfer agreements with institutions and industry partners for the pharmaceutical diagnostic business segment
  • A publicly traded, clinical stage life sciences company’s grant to a European pharmaceutical company of exclusive, worldwide rights to an ALK2 inhibitor for the treatment of a rare disease, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive, with a total deal value of over $500 million
  • Collaboration between a biotechnology company and a microbial agricultural solutions company to research, develop, and commercialize a new class of microbes that benefits crop health and protection
  • A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company’s $1 billion strategic collaboration with a global biopharmaceutical to research, develop, and commercialize exosome therapeutics to treat cancer
  • A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company’s $200 million strategic collaboration with a Japanese pharmaceutical company for the clinical development and commercialization in Japan of an investigational drug for the treatment of two rare and serious autoimmune diseases
  • A global, commercial stage biopharmaceutical company’s collaboration with a clinical stage company to research, develop, and commercialize platform-based immunotherapies in oncology
  • A biotechnology company’s strategic collaboration with a clinical-stage oncology focused biotechnology company to research, develop and commercialize oncology products using cell therapies
  • A biotechnology company’s $1 billion collaboration with a leading EU-based biotechnology company to develop T cell receptor-based immunotherapies
  • A transnational pharmaceutical company’s exclusive collaboration and license agreement to develop and commercialize pediatric products utilizing proprietary drug delivery platform
  • A cardiovascular biotechnology company’s collaboration to identify novel drug targets, with an exclusive option to progress identified targets into drug discovery, clinical development and commercialization in exchange for milestone and royalty payments
  • A biotechnology company’s development and option agreement with a central nervous system (CNS) focused pharmaceutical company for the discovery and development of mTORC1-targeted therapeutics, with a potential deal value of $475 million plus royalties