Ivor Elrifi

Dr. Ivor Elrifi is the chair of Cooley's global patent counseling and prosecution practice group. He advises pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences and medical device companies, research institutions, universities, hospitals and governments throughout the world, particularly in the US and Europe. His practice includes patent prosecution, litigation, arbitration, licensing and transactional work with a focus on novel therapeutic treatments, biotechnology, genetics, diagnostics, biomarkers, drug formulations and medical devices.

Ivor counsels clients worldwide in developing and implementing patent strategies and in the prosecution, licensing and enforcement of patents. He has extensive experience in advising clients on transactional work and regularly counsels clients with respect to investments, mergers and acquisitions. He has also advised plaintiffs and defendants in patent litigation and arbitration cases.

Ivor is widely recognized as one of the top life sciences patent lawyers in the world by numerous prominent legal directories and publications. He has been singled out multiple times as the “Patent Strategy and Management Attorney of the Year” by LMG Life Sciences. In addition, year after year, he is named a "Life Sciences Star" by LMG Life Sciences, an "IP Star" by Managing Intellectual Property, a leading patent lawyer by IAM Patent 1000, honored as one of the world's leading experts on patent law by Euromoney, and named a leading lawyer in the patent and healthcare categories by Chambers, Legal 500 and Super Lawyers. In a recent edition of Chambers, Ivor is recognized as "a phenomenal biotech expert" with "a brilliant mind and a great penchant for detail," with one client noting "we could not have survived without him." In addition, Ivor is an elected member of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars.

Prior to joining Cooley, Ivor was co-chair and section manager of Mintz Levin's intellectual property practice and a member of the firm's management committee. Earlier in his career, he served as patent counsel and then general counsel and vice president for CytoTherapeutics in Providence, Rhode Island, and as patent counsel to Modex Therapeutics in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has spoken at numerous international conferences, and he has written numerous articles for leading legal and scientific publications.

Recent matters include:

• Outside patent counsel for a global diagnostics/healthcare company in prosecuting numerous patents that cover emulsion PCR and massively parallel nucleic acid sequencing technology.
• Outside patent counsel for a global healthcare company in prosecuting to issuance numerous patents for an oncology drug, the first in class FDA-approved HDAC inhibitor for the treatment of cancer.
• Lead patent counsel in the acquisition of a US-based biotechnology to a global pharma company in a deal valued in excess of $2 billion.

Speaking Engagements

• MassBio 2011 Annual Meeting, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (March 21, 2011).
• "Healthcare Technology Innovation," LAHAV, the Tel Aviv University (December 6, 2009).
• "One Plus One Equals Three: How to Avoid Disaster in Collaboration and Joint Development," Association of Corporate Counsel (January 8, 2009).