Jeremiah B. Frueauf is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group. Jeremiah counsels domestic and international clients on patent procurement, product development and clearance strategies, and protection of complex worldwide patent portfolios. Jeremiah leverages his experience in numerous inter partes disputes, including district court litigation, PTAB litigation (inter partes reviews and post grant reviews), and Section 337 investigations before the USITC to help patent owners and challengers craft and execute patent strategies that best align with their business needs.

Jeremiah counsels clients across the life sciences spectrum, from small and large molecule development, to bio-based products for the bioeconomy, to personalized medicine, molecular diagnostics, and biosensors. His clients span from early-stage start-ups and SMEs to multinational corporations, and he is frequently sought after to provide strategic advice to support clients’ product development—from conception to launch. Jeremiah practices primarily in the fields of small molecules, chemistry, next-generation sequencing and massive parallel sequencing technologies, immunology, immunotherapy, antibody technologies, microbiome-based technologies, synthetic biology, biologics, biotherapeutics, and drug delivery. He has extensive experience advising clients on freedom-to-operate and patentability issues, validity and infringement issues, and due diligence investigations in connection with acquisitions and investments.

Jeremiah’s IP due diligence evaluation and counseling are critical to his clients’ businesses in the context of raising and investing growth capital, executing strategic partnerships and M&A transactions and going public. Representative recent matters in which he served as IP lead:

  • Represented licensee company acquiring exclusive licenses and development rights for two small molecule assets in late clinical development for treatment of metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes, for deals valued at $20 million upfront and $513.8 million in milestones and $35 million upfront and $615 million in milestones.
  • Represented company acquiring exclusive licenses and development rights for spin-out RNA therapeutics company jointly owned with patent owner for deal involving $37.5 million in transaction-related seed capital. Involved technology included RNA lipid delivery platform.
  • Represented venture funds in $30 million Series B financing for biologic asset in clinical development for metastatic bladder cancer.
  • Represented acquired company for dermatological therapeutic in mid-stage clinical development for deal valued at $229 million upfront and $618 million in milestones.

He is a contributing author of Patent Office Litigation, a two-volume set focused on the new contested proceedings under the America Invents Act published in 2012 by Thomson Reuters Westlaw. This book examines how the proceedings interact with other aspects of patent procurement and enforcement, and delivers practical analysis and advice. In particular, Jeremiah co-authored Chapter 6, entitled “The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB),” which is a comprehensive review of practice before the PTAB in inter partes proceedings.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Jeremiah was a Biologist at the National Cancer Institute where he studied the molecular signaling pathways related to programmed cell death using various molecular, biochemical, and proteomic technologies. He also assisted in the administration of phase II clinical trials related to an ovarian cancer therapeutic.

Jeremiah’s graduate work at Michigan State University as a member of the Starch Bio-Engineering Group focused on analysis of the structure/function relationships of the enzymes involved in starch and glycogen biosynthesis. His work included successful alteration of the catalytic activity and inhibitor specificities of these enzymes to affect the recombinant production of starch or glycogen molecules.

Technical Publications

  • Frueauf J. B., Ballicora M. A., and Preiss J. (2003) “ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase from Potato Tuber. Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Homologous Aspartic Acid Residues in the Small and Large Subunits” Plant J. 33: 503-11.
  • Frueauf J. B., Ballicora M. A., and Preiss J. (2002) “Alteration of Inhibitor Selectivity by Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Arg294 in the ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase from Anabaena PCC 7120” Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 400: 208-14.
  • Frueauf J. B., Ballicora M. A., and Preiss J. (2001) “Aspartate Residue 142 is Important for Catalysis by ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase from Escherichia coli”J. Biol. Chem. 276: 46319- 25.
  • Ballicora M. A., Frueauf J. B., Fu Y. B., Schurmann P., and Preiss J. (2000) “Activation of the Potato Tuber ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase by Thioredoxin” J. Biol. Chem. 275: 1315-20.

Law Review Articles

  • Jeremiah B. Frueauf, “A Comparison of Section 337 Decisions at the ITC and Parallel District Court Proceedings: The Commission’s Decisions Affect Dispositions at the District Courts,” Vol. XXII 337 Rep., ITC Trial Law. Ass’n, 4th Ann. Summer Associate Edition 31 (2006).
  • Jeremiah B. Frueauf, Note, “Making Your Business Fly Above Section 183: Fair Skies Following Rabinowitz v. Commissioner,” 59 Tax Law. 887 (2006).

Jeremiah’s representative inter partes matters include:

  • Eli Lilly and Company v. Teva Pharmaceuticals International GmbH et al, Nos. IPR2018-01711, -01712, -01710, -01422, -01423, -01424, -01425, -01426, -01427 (P.T.A.B. 2018) (Representing patent owner Teva Pharmaceuticals International GmbH in defense of 9 patents challenged in IPR proceedings).
  • In Re: BRCA1- and BRCA2- Based Hereditary Cancer Test Patent Litigation, Nos. 2-14-md-02510; 2-13-cv-00954 (D. Utah 2013, 2014) (Represented patent challenger GeneDx, Inc. against University of Utah Research Foundation and Myriad Genetics in district court litigation and IPR challenges to 13 asserted patents related to BRCA1/2 sequence mutations).
  • Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Nos. IPR2016-01219, -01217, -01218, -01221 (P.T.A.B. 2016) (Represented patent owner Ono Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. in defense of 2 patents challenged via 4 IPR petitions).
  • Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC v. Gevo, Inc. (Represented patent owner Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC in defense of several patents, as well as in challenge of several patents owned by Gevo, Inc., before the PTAB in inter partes and ex parte reexamination proceedings).

  • Bisnow, “Trending 40 Lawyers Under 40″ (2016)

  • J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
  • M.S., Biochemistry, Michigan State University
  • B.S., Chemistry/Biochemistry, Ohio University, summa cum laude

  • District of Columbia
  • Ohio
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • United States Patent & Trademark Office

Speaking Engagement

How to Pitch to Biotech VCs

New Haven, CT, Edward P. Evans Hall, Yale School of Management, June 1, 2023 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PST

Speaking Engagement

2023 Focus on Pharma

Washington, DC, April 14, 2023 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM PST

Speaking Engagement

U.S. Life-Sciences Patent Prosecution Year in Review

Virtual, May 3, 2022 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PST

Speaking Engagement

Evolving Trends in Life Sciences IP: Harvesting Innovation Without a Crystal Ball

Coral Gables, FL, The Biltmore Hotel Miami Coral Gables, December 5, 2021 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM PST

Speaking Engagement

Adapting Your IP Strategy to New Challenges in the 2020s

VIRTUAL, April 14, 2021 11:05 AM - 11:55 AM PST

Speaking Engagement

Cambridge IP Summit

Cambridge, United Kingdom, The Tamburlaine Hotel, October 16, 2018 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM PST

Speaking Engagement

MIP PTAB Forum 2018 – East

New York, New York, May 3, 2018

Speaking Engagement

The 2017 Algae Biomass Summit

October 30, 2017

9th Annual Algae Biomass Summit

September 29, 2015

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GAO Proposals To Boost Patent Quality Met With Skepticism

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June 15, 2016

Sterne Kessler Director Named Top Lawyer Under 40

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May 9, 2016

USPTO Issues Subject Matter Eligibility Update

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Obama Administration Releases Much Anticipated Text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

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New International Searching Authority Available for Green Technology Companies

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Practice Considerations Post Kimble v. Marvel

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June 22, 2015

Attorneys React to Supreme Court Patent Royalties Case

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In the News

June 22, 2015

Justices' Expired-Patent Royalties Ban to Spur Clever Deals

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Bylined Articles

May 1, 2015

IPR: A Key To District Court's Assignor Estoppel Lock

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Press Release

January 8, 2015

Sterne Kessler Announces Election of Largest Director Class in Firm History

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Books and Chapters

January 1, 2012

Patent Office Litigation

Thomson Reuters Westlaw Multiple Authors