Digital Life Sciences
We deploy a multidisciplinary team of attorneys in the areas of digital healthcare, bioformatics and diagnostics to protect, defend and effectively leverage the resulting IP
Data science is transforming healthcare, from research and development through to commercialisation and beyond. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly driving innovation by accelerating drug discovery, increasing the availability of personalised medicine and advancing diagnostics. Bioinformatics tools have become indispensable for gaining insight from large and complex biomedical datasets, often created by the latest genomics sequencing technologies. Digital technologies are converging with medicine to improve health outcomes and patient care.
Aside from the challenging technical nature of the technology, in-depth sector knowledge and experience of a variety of legal issues is required. This includes identifying the best approach for successfully navigating the patentability of computer-implemented and information-based inventions.
Examples of work in this space by our team:
- Advising on what protection may be possible and helping develop a patent strategy
- Undertaking or assisting with drafting or re-drafting of AI and software related cases in the life sciences space
- Taking on EP prosecution of cases in the digital life sciences space
Our collective expertise and collaborative approach enable us to provide a multidisciplinary team of specialist attorneys with the required technical and legal knowhow – combining the comprehensive sector knowledge of our Life Sciences team with our Software & AI team’s expertise in bioinformatics, computer and software technology, devices and sensors. We work seamlessly together and collaborate with our clients to develop a thorough understanding of the technology on which to build bespoke and robust IP strategies.
Meet the Digital Life Sciences & Bioinformatics team
Protecting genetic testing assays and computer-implemented methods
Carpmaels & Ransford represents a clinical and direct-to-consumer medical genetics company offering test panels covering many clinical areas, with a particular focus on pre pregnancy carrier screening, non-invasive prenatal screening, cancer screening, and detecting patient-specific genetic variations.
The technology involves the detection of genetic variations in patient blood samples. In maternal blood, this enables the determination of fetal genetic abnormalities (such as a chromosomal trisomy, e.g. Down’s syndrome) without the risks associated with invasive diagnostic tests such as amniocentesis.
The firm has helped to overcome complex excluded subject matter objections in these patents relating to computer-implemented inventions. Our understanding of the technology underlying the company and the associated patent challenges has helped us maximise patent protection available, and ensure the company’s patent portfolio is tailored to its business model.
