Melanie Szweras is a partner with Bereskin & Parr LLP and a member of the Life Science’s practice group. She is also co-leader of the Privacy/Regulatory, Advertising, Marketing & Regulatory practice group.

Melanie’s practice focuses on drafting and prosecution of applications relating to biologics, diagnostics, biotechnology, food and pharmaceuticals. Melanie offers strategic advice and expertise to her clients, provides validity and freedom to operate opinions and is involved in related patent litigation and licensing.

Melanie’s privacy work includes advising organizations on compliance with Canadian privacy laws, including PIPEDA, assisting with preparation of privacy policies, terms and conditions, outsourcing agreements and general management of personal information. Her regulatory work includes advising on Health Canada regulated labelling and advertising and on health-related regulations, such as those relating to notices of compliance, certificates of supplementary protection and the Patented Medicines Price Review Board.

Melanie lectures on aspects of Biotechnology and The Application Process at the University of Toronto’s Patent & Trade Secrets Law course and Osgoode Hall’s LLM Patent Law course. Melanie is the Vice-Chair of the Continuing Professional Development Committee for the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) . Melanie also is the Issues Leader of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Biotechnology Committee.

Melanie received numerous awards throughout her education, including the Medical Research Council Studentship and a University of Toronto Open Scholarship. She was also the Bronze Medalist for her class of 2003 at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Kevin E. Noonan is co-Chair of MBHB’s Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Practice Group. Dr. Noonan is an experienced patent lawyer, molecular biologist and renowned thought leader in biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent law. Over the past 30 years, he has counseled some of the largest biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the world on intellectual property issues.

He helps these companies protect their innovations and advance business goals by developing effective patent portfolio strategies. His work includes helping companies develop global patent filing and prosecution strategies, evaluate litigation risks, and manage patent term extensions. Dr. Noonan also has successfully represented clients in numerous interference proceedings. He has filed amicus briefs in landmark cases involving pharmaceutical and biotechnology patent issues to district courts, the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dr. Noonan is the co-founder of and regular contributor to Patent Docs, a website featuring news and commentary on patent law. He is a co-editor and contributing author of the book, “Claim Construction and the Federal Circuit,” and a contributing author of “Antitrust Issues in Intellectual Property Law.” He also regularly speaks about intellectual property issues at events around the world.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Dr. Noonan was a molecular biologist, earning a doctorate from Princeton University, and a National Cancer Institute postdoctoral fellow.