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Intellectual Property Department

The market protection
of your products.

Patents, exclusivity, trade secrets, and trademarks — six courses of the Core Curriculum cover the fundamentals of protection.

IP Department CHair

Tom LaGrandeur

PhD, JD

Tom LaGrandeur is a USPTO-registered patent attorney with nearly 27 years of experience across law firms, tech transfer, and corporations such as Eli Lilly and Zimmer. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and a JD (magna cum laude) from Indiana University. Tom has drafted foundational patents across multiple industries—including authoring a cornerstone patent for a $200M biotech acquisition—and relies on his deep experience as counsel, and as a client, to deliver top-tier legal service.

Core Curriculum

Six courses. One complete picture.

Learners who complete the Core Curriculum can participate capably in discussions about pharmaceutical and biotech patents, regulatory exclusivities, trade secrets, and trademarks.

$250 per course, or all six for $900

Save 40% with the full Intellectual Property Core Curriculum — same self-paced, on-demand access.

Expert Courses - Coming Soon

Going deeper with expert courses.

Courses build on the Core Curriculum, each taught by a practitioner with direct experience in that specialty. They're in development now — preview what's coming and join the waitlist to hear when they open.

7Coming soon

Small Molecule Patents

Landscape of chemical synthesis
Variations on salts, phosphates, etc.
Successes and failures

8Coming soon

Biologic Patents

Evolution and status of patentability
Protein scopes of exclusion
Claim writing for RNA, DNA, and antisense

9Coming soon

Digital Health IP Strategies

System-embodiment protection
Software patents and copyrights
Data capture and leverage

10Coming soon

AI in Patents

Inventorship by AI
Current strategies of development
Information control — not feeding the beast

11Coming soon

Licensing & Transactions

Effective due diligence
Matching terms to strategy
Team dynamics and expectations

12Coming soon

Life Cycle Extension

Innovation examples and vectors
Visualize and time investment
Rx to OTC

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Complementary Resources Available Now

Reference materials for your work.

PowerPoint for Patent Terms Course

Download the deck and modify it as you see fit to teach people in your organization, or your clients. Review the deck with a patent attorney before finalizing and teaching it — and if you improve it, submit your changes back so we can continue to evolve the course.

WIPO Invention Disclosure Form

Your company or institution should have an established process for capturing ideas that may be patentable. Use these template forms as a starting point for working with your patent attorneys to develop your company's version, or to document new discoveries that may be patent-eligible.

Reference & Media

Stay current on IP developments.

Country Resources

China
India
Canada
Mexico
European Union

Podcasts

Top episodes relevant to pharmaceutical and biotechnology:

May 10, 2022 Bob Giles – Qualcomm’s New Chief IP Counsel
March 15, 2022 Louis Carbonneau on Brokering Patents
June 29, 2021 Mark Han: Helping Innovative Doctors

Top episodes relevant to pharmaceutical and biotechnology:

February 1, 2023 IP Investing- What is it? Who does it? Why it Matters?
April 12, 2023 What Entrepreneurs and Students Need to Learn Today.
September 9, 2022 The Secret is Out – Trade Secrets Are Driving Competitive Advantage.

Top episodes relevant to pharmaceutical and biotechnology:

May 1, 2021 AI Based Prior Art Search – Open Source Project PQAI
January 28, 2023 Daniel Scola, Jr. Practical Trademark Tips and Strategies

Blogs

In the U.S. about 200,000 patents are issued each year.

In the U.S. about 350,000 patent applications are filed each year.

There are about 8,000 patent examiners in the USPTO

USPTO Technology Center 1600 handles drug and biologic therapies and diagnostics Most patent examiners are attorneys

Patent examiners are divided among nine centers, each with a different technology focus.

The average amount of time a USPTO examiner spends with a patent is 19 hours.

Most patents have no, or very limited, commercial value.

About 3% of patents have a Patent Trials and Appeals Board hearing or litigation

Article 1, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides for a patent and trademark system

Length of time a patent lasts is 20 years plus extensions

The content on this site is only for educational purposes so that the user may better understand and manage business operations generlly. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Rigorous professional development for pharmaceutical and biotech professionals — from practitioners who've held the roles.

Main: (800) 590-5663
Learner Services: (888) 420-6212

contact@poa-global.com

68 Woodland Drive

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

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Relevance and Application.
Not just random facts -- With each course, we are attempting to materially improve one of your skills.

This differs from some of the presentations we have seen at conferences. Some conference

presentations communicate a few interesting facts about the topic, but do not leave us

feeling as though we really improved on our skills.

Thus, at the Academy we are working to take the

best from the conference presentations and mold each one into a cohesive course, with application tools so that you can apply the knowledge to your job performance

What's a Provost?
A provost is the chief academic officer at a university. Well, that is one definition.
At many universities the Provost supervises the deans, and spends a lot of time on budgets and personnel matters.

Not our Provost. At the Academy our Provost is focused on learning effectiveness. Leading our

instructional design efforts, the Provost works with the Department Chairs and faculty members to design the courses so that the instruction is as effective as possible, with application of consistent teaching principles and techniques across all of our courses.

By ensuring that all courses in all departments are structured with a flow from basic to advanced, with section breaks and memorization

techniques appropriate for the complexity of the material the Provost works to minimize your

administrative time and maximize your learning.

Faculty -- not just instructors.
We work to have faculty members that are experts in their subject matter, but who also are skilled at teaching the material. Good teaching is difficult, and not as easy as it looks.

Our instructors are selected for their commitment to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry by providing training that will contribute to the capabilities and performance of the students;

We seek out people who see clarity where others see only chaos. People who have a vision of what the basics are, and who want to teach those basics. We deliberately avoid having faculty members who “hide the ball” or convey only that the topic is difficult and that their consulting services are the path forward.

Our faculty members work to provide you with useful skills and insight

The market protectionof your products.

Tom LaGrandeur

Six courses. One complete picture.

$250 per course, or all six for $900

Going deeper with expert courses.

Small Molecule Patents

Biologic Patents

Digital Health IP Strategies

AI in Patents

Licensing & Transactions

Life Cycle Extension

Reference materials for your work.

PowerPoint for Patent Terms Course

WIPO Invention Disclosure Form

Stay current on IP developments.

Country Resources

Podcasts

Blogs

In the U.S. about 200,000 patents are issued each year.

In the U.S. about 350,000 patent applications are filed each year.

There are about 8,000 patent examiners in the USPTO

USPTO Technology Center 1600 handles drug and biologic therapies and diagnostics Most patent examiners are attorneys

Patent examiners are divided among nine centers, each with a different technology focus.

The average amount of time a USPTO examiner spends with a patent is 19 hours.

Most patents have no, or very limited, commercial value.

About 3% of patents have a Patent Trials and Appeals Board hearing or litigation

Article 1, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides for a patent and trademark system

Length of time a patent lasts is 20 years plus extensions

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The market protection
of your products.