About Us – Innoventiv IP

Robert T. Hrubiec, Ph.D., J.D.

Bob is a seasoned intellectual property attorney and business executive with over 30 years in-house experience as a scientist and in-house IP counsel in both large and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Bob served as Vice President and Chief IP Counsel of Cephalon, Inc., a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company and as an Intellectual Property Attorney for GlaxoSmithKline, a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company.

Bob earned his doctoral degree in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Connecticut. He also served a post-doctoral fellowship (Pharmacology/Biochemistry) at Yale University School of Medicine and earned his law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law (evening division). Bob has been a member of the North Carolina Bar since 1998, the Pennsylvania Bar since 2010 and a member of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Bar as a Patent Agent since 1992 and as a Patent Attorney since 2000. Prior to his admission to the Patent Bar, Bob had various roles as a scientist in academics and the pharmaceutical industry.

Bob’s passion for science, technology and the law along with his entrepreneurial spirit create smart, strategic solutions to the management of IP.

Selected Accomplishments*

Evaluated and advised on IP estates of several target companies/products which led to the acquisition of several companies and in-licensing of several development/commercial products (small molecules, formulations, monoclonal antibodies and stem cells) and billions in revenue
Identified issues with target products/companies patent estates which significantly reduced the overall deal value and resulted in hundreds of millions in savings
Managed outside counsel resulting in significant cost savings
Identified and implemented strategies that significantly reduced patent costs and resulted in savings of hundreds of thousands for a single patent family
Received Deals of Distinction award from the Licensing Executives Society which recognized a creative IP-based licensing and business arrangement in the stem cell business sector
Identified and implemented IP and regulatory strategies that significantly increased IP protection for key products and extended product protection by several years
Identified and obtained additional patents to prevent design around products and significantly increased patent protection for major products (identified several new patents around a single key product)
Assisted in managing patent litigation for a major product which resulted in several years of exclusivity and billions in revenue
Identified and obtained creative patent protection for a key product which extended exclusivity for fifteen years
Devised a combined patent/FDA creative strategy for a key product which extended protection for several years
Leveraged the patent estate of a product which resulted in a significant negotiated reduction in payments to a collaborator

Todd W. Spradau, Ph.D., J.D.

Todd is a highly accomplished life sciences counsel with nearly twenty years of experience working for both branded and generic pharmaceutical companies.

He has a proven track record of obtaining strong, long lasting patent protection, maximizing Hatch-Waxman and other regulatory exclusivities, evaluating and improving patent estates, and providing clear guidance on freedom to operate, patentability, patent scope and validity.

Todd also has extensive experience drafting and negotiating life sciences agreements of all kinds, including clinical trials, consulting, in- and out-licensing, API/drug product supply, and services agreements.

Todd earned his doctoral degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his law degree from New York University School of Law. Todd has been a member of the New York bar since 2001, the Pennsylvania bar since 2014, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office bar since 2002.

Selected Accomplishments*

As the sole in-house attorney for small biotech startup, Todd expanded the scope and duration of patent protection for the company?s oncology clinical candidate and negotiated all of the company?s business agreements.
- Designed new patent prosecution strategies focused on method of treatment instead of formulation, which resulted in stronger and broader patents that eliminated the danger of generic design-around
- Filed new patent applications to protect improved methods of drug administration, combinations with other drugs, new indications, and next generation compounds
- Negotiated and drafted commercial agreements to further clinical development, discovery research, collaboration, in- and out-licensing, and other business needs
As the sole IP attorney on the business development team of mid-sized pharmaceutical company, Todd performed IP due diligence on third party drugs for potential in-license/acquisition.
- Searched and analyzed patent landscapes of target products and provided clear guidance on freedom to operate, regulatory exclusivity, and strength and duration of patent protection, resulting in completed acquisitions and in-license deals worth more than $4 billion
- Performed appropriate levels of patent estate analysis, from preliminary to in-depth, on hundreds of in-licensing opportunities
- Negotiated IP provisions of term sheets and license agreements
As the lead IP attorney on the product development and commercialization teams of a mid-sized pharmaceutical company, Todd prepared and prosecuted numerous patent applications, searched and evaluated freedom to operate and patentability, and negotiated the IP provisions of relevant agreements.
- Obtained pharmacokinetics patents for an extended release pain medicine, which survived validity challenge by a generic ANDA filer, providing years of additional market exclusivity
- Drafted compound claims in an otherwise unimportant case to encompass a competitor?s oncology clinical development candidate, resulting in an out-licensing deal worth $350 million
- Refocused prosecution strategy from formulation specifics to administration protocol for an in-licensed injectable product, which resulted in Orange Book patents that survived validity challenge by a generic ANDA filer and provided more than two years of additional market exclusivity
As the lead IP attorney on the pipeline development team of a small generic pharmaceutical company, Todd analyzed innovator patents, advised on invalidity and design-around strategies, and worked closely with scientists on product development.

*See ?Limitations on Representation Including Issues, Admission and Conflicts of Interest? section of the link to the Legal Notices, Disclaimers, Terms of Use and Privacy.