The Intellectual Property Advisory Committee (IPAC) leads the BIA’s policy development, drawing on the expertise and experience of the membership.
Our strong relationship with the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and international connections ensure the UK biocience sector’s interests are supported in both UK and international jurisdictions. The UK has one of the most innovation-friendly patent protection regimes in the world.
IPAC helps shape the environment for IP ownership and ensures strong IP protection is available for member companies. The committee includes technical experts and IP professionals from member companies and experienced lawyers from the top private practice IP member firms.
IPAC Priorities
1. Connect
- Invite guest speakers and connect to other BIA advisory committees to ensure IPAC are servicing the full BIA membership.
- Complement the BIA’s work to expand into digital health and data by providing advice in these areas and continue to support BIA’s expanding and priority areas, incl. TechBio, engineering biology, deep biotech (non-health) and genomics.
2. Inform/Support
- Ensure strong IP protection is available to member companies in terms of influencing legal frameworks and advising member companies in the wider BIA community of appropriate strategies and considerations.
- IPAC’s subcommittees monitor the IP landscape and raise important topics to IPAC of which the BIA Board and member companies need to be aware of, so it can voice its opinion on relevant and appropriate matters.
3. Expert Advice
- Contribute on issues relevant to the life science industry where BIA has a unique perspective which should be heard.
- Provide advice to BIA Board and BIA members on relevant IP developments to help them to take appropriate measures in response.
IPAC Chair and Vice-Chair
Michelle Jones
Michelle Jones joined Astex in 2000. Michelle’s role involves research portfolio planning, strategic alignment of the business, and managing a global patent portfolio protecting preclinical, clinical and marketed pharmaceutical compounds.
Michelle is a European and Chartered (UK) Patent Attorney. Michelle has been recognised in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists, an annual list of individuals who lead the way in the development and implementation of strategies that maximise the value of IP portfolios. She was also named a Managing IP Corporate IP Star, which recognises in-house practitioners for their contributions to the protection and management of their company’s IP assets and/or influence in the IP community.
Michelle is experienced in a wide range of areas of patent practice, as well as freedom-to-operate and IP license strategies. She has extensive experience of IP due diligence activities to support collaboration and licensing initiatives, external fund-raising and investment decisions as well as involvement in research collaboration agreement negotiations. As part of the deal team for agreement negotiations, including alliances with major pharmaceutical companies such as MSD, Janssen and Novartis, she has significant experience of implementing R&D collaborations.
She is Chair of the BioIndustry Association IP Advisory Committee, member of the CIPA Life Science Committee and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Jodie Albutt
Jodie serves as VP, Intellectual Property and is a Chartered (UK) and European Patent Attorney with particular experience of intellectual property in the cell and gene therapy field. She joined Quell after more than 4 years acting as the internal patent attorney and Head of Intellectual Property at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, where she was responsible for the patent portfolio and for assessing freedom to operate in a multitude of different areas of cell and gene therapy. Prior to that, Jodie worked for fourteen years in the biotech team at private practice patent attorney firm Dehns in London, looking after IP on behalf of multinational companies, SMEs and Universities. She has a BSc from Imperial College, London and a PhD in molecular biology from King’s College, London.
Gareth Morgan
Gareth advises life sciences clients on all exclusivity rights around pharmaceuticals and medical device products. Whether it is patents, SPCs or regulatory exclusivities, Gareth has decades of experience advising on these rights and has litigated in UK and EU courts.
IPAC Members
Coming soon...
Improving technology transfer
The UK’s world-leading academic research community produces high-quality early-stage IP that can be developed and commercialised by the bioscience industry. The BIA works with our public, government, and industry partners to improve technology transfer. The Science and Innovation Community leads this work.
The USIT Guide
The UK’s potential as a science super-power has been given a significant boost with the launch of unique guidance that will accelerate and support the founding of a new generation of start-ups.
Leading investors and universities launched the USIT Guide to put rocket boosters under the way that the Higher Education sector spins out new companies that take advantage of research breakthroughs.