Philip Webber

About Me

Background 

After obtaining a degree in Natural Sciences (Genetics) from Cambridge University and a PhD in molecular biology from Warwick University, Philip joined Dehns in 1992. He is a qualified UK and European patent attorney, and a partner in Dehns’ Life Sciences Group.

Type of clients and client work 

Philip’s work is largely with start-ups, small/medium size companies and universities with inventions in the pharmaceutical or biotechnological fields.  He has over 25 years’ experience in dealing with the issues which are important to such entities, such as the financial constraints of start-ups, the need to develop IP strategies for a company’s products and the pressures upon academics to publish their work.

Philip’s work involves writing and filing patent applications, and getting them granted for my clients all around the world. He has particular expertise in obtaining European patents (including dealing with EPO Opposition and Appeal procedures) and US patents. He also provides advice on IP landscapes and Freedom to Operate (FTO) advice on competitors’ patents.

Expertise

Using his background in molecular biology, Philip deals with patents and formulates IP strategies in all pharmaceutical and biotechnological fields, including recombinant DNA and protein products, antibodies, biosimilars, transgenic plants and animals, bioinformatics, stem cells, biofuels, diagnostics assays, therapeutic treatments, virology and vaccines. 

He has particular expertise in antibody patents having worked one day/week as an “in-house” patent attorney with a therapeutic antibody company for 2 years. During that time, he helped to develop their world-wide IP strategy for protecting their newly-developed targets, monoclonals and ADCs.

Philip currently works one day/month as an “in-house” patent attorney with another of his clients, a biofuels company which uses advanced fermentation technology to produce biobutanol.  His close relationship with them allows him to understand their commercial strategy better, and to ensure that the patent applications that he writes satisfy the requirements of that commercial strategy.

More recently, he has been involved in the patenting of a number of CRISPR/Cas9-based inventions and recombinant vaccines.