Getnick, Michael E.

Nick George's practice focuses on patent issues relevant to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields. He has extensive experience in the strategic development, management, and prosecution of patent portfolios involving a wide range of technologies, with a particular emphasis on biologics and molecular diagnostics. Nick also advises clients regarding patentability, validity, infringement, and freedom-to-operate issues and performs due diligence evaluations of patent portfolios for possible investment, licensing, or acquisition.

Nick has developed patent strategies involving therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies; peptide therapeutics; stem cells; antisense therapeutics; nutraceuticals; nucleic acid-, antibody-, and cell-based molecular diagnostics; biopolymers; and needleless drug delivery systems. More specifically, he has developed patent strategies for Fuzeon® (enfuvirtide, an HIV therapeutic peptide co-marketed by Hoffmann-La Roche and Trimeris), Fabrazyme® (agalsidase beta, an enzyme replacement therapeutic for the treatment of Fabry disease marketed by Genzyme), and Syvek®, Marine Polymer Technologies' biopolymeric patch for rapid control of bleeding. He has also developed patent strategies for Monogram Biosciences' Phenosense™, GeneSeq™, and Replication Capacity,™ which are individualized medicine products, and Bio-Rad's Bioplex™ 2200 instrumentation for multianalyte detection.

Nick holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley (1990). Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University, he joined the biotechnology group of Pennie & Edmonds LLP in 1992 as part of that firm's law clerk program, during which time he also attended the evening program of Fordham University Law School.