About Marcelo

Marcelo focuses his practice on the development and execution of worldwide intellectual property strategies for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He has extensive experience securing, defending and challenging patents to provide clients with the necessary protection and freedom to operate to monetize their inventions. Marcelo has counseled many prominent life sciences companies and investors on US Food and Drug Administration exclusivity strategies and helped emerging companies and investors navigate diligence matters in venture capital, M&A and public company offerings. He has also supported patent litigation in federal courts and inter partes review challenges before the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Passions

Traveling

Fitness

Scuba diving

Surfing

I combine deep legal and technical knowledge to arrive at creative solutions for emerging therapeutic and biotechnology clients.

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Experience

  • Cerberus Ventures Leads Syntis Bio’s $38 Million Financing

    • Cerberus Ventures Leads Syntis Bio’s $38 Million Financing

    July 1, 2025

    Cooley advised Cerberus Ventures, a venture fund established in 2023 to invest in early-stage companies in sectors important to government and innovators, as lead investor in Syntis Bio’s $38 million financing. Partners Matthew Bartus, Marc Recht and Christophe Beauduin led the Cooley team advising Cerberus Ventures.

    Related contacts

    Matthew Bartus
    Partner, San Francisco
    Marc Recht
    Partner, Boston
    Christophe Beauduin
    Partner, New York
    Andrew Leonard
    Associate, Washington, DC
    Alex Abelson
    Associate, New York
    Dr. Marcelo Pomeranz
    Associate, San Diego
    Michael Fernando
    Associate, London

    Related Practices & Industries

    Emerging Companies
    Venture Capital
    Life Sciences

  • Cooley advises Provivi on $45.5M Series C-2 Round

    • Cooley advises Provivi on $45.5M Series C-2 Round

    January 8, 2021

    Cooley advised emerging crop protection company Provivi on its $45.5 million series C-2 financing round led by Vivo Capital, with participation from returning shareholders. Provivi has developed a truly disruptive technological platform that enables the scalable production of environmentally friendly insect pheromone products. These products are able to naturally disrupt the mating cycle of insect pests and reduce the current overreliance upon non-sustainable synthetic insecticides. "The Series C-2 financing is a new milestone in the growth of our company. It builds upon a very successful year where Provivi achieved several product registrations worldwide and launched our first product commercially in Mexico," said Dr. Pedro Coelho, cofounder and CEO of Provivi.

    Related contacts

    Dr. Chris Holly
    Partner, Washington, DC
    Rachel Proffitt
    Partner and Chief Executive Officer, San Francisco
    Julia Gage
    Associate, San Francisco
    Ron Metzger
    Paralegal Specialist, San Francisco
    Dr. Marcelo Pomeranz
    Associate, San Diego

  • Cooley secures key patent on agricultural disease-fighting bacterium for Montana State University's College of Agriculture

    • Cooley secures key patent on agricultural disease-fighting bacterium for Montana State University's College of Agriculture

    December 13, 2018

    The patented process uses a naturally occurring BmJ bacterium to activate the natural immune defenses of plants against bacterial, viral, and fungal diseases. The BmJ bacterium was originally isolated from the healthy leaves of beet plants in an otherwise disease-ridden sugar beet field. Dr. Barry Jacobsen, a professor of plant sciences and plant pathology, discovered BmJ's role in natural plant resistance, and played a key role in developing the bacterium into a commercial product.

    This novel treatment is expected to provide farmers with an effective and natural alternative to traditional chemical crop treatments. The patented BmJ spray was recently approved by the EPA for use in the United States, and is expected to become available soon to farmers all over the world through MSU's partnership with Certis USA.

    Cooley attorneys were instrumental in counseling MSU throughout the patent procurement and licensing phases of BmJ's development. Cooley is now home to the largest life sciences patent practice in the US, and is a leader in working with universities, as well as startup and established companies in developing next-generation Ag-Biotech solutions

    Related contacts

    Dr. Chris Holly
    Partner, Washington, DC
    Dr. Marcelo Pomeranz
    Associate, San Diego

    Related Practices & Industries

    Patent Counseling and Prosecution – Agricultural Science
    Life Sciences

Admissions and credentials

  • California
  • District of Columbia Bar Association
  • Registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

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