LSIPR 50 2016: Steve Bossone and Stephen Breyer
Name: Steve Bossone
Organisation: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Position: Vice president of intellectual property
Steve Bossone has worked at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals since 2010 and is vice president of intellectual property at the company. He achieved his JD in IP from Suffolk University Law School, and since graduating he has had various roles in pharmaceutical companies, including working as a patent counsel at EMD Serono from 2004 to 2007 and Shire Human Genetics Therapies from 2007 to 2010.
Alnylam has developed an extensive patent estate in the field of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, enabling multiple business relationships which have furthered the development of the therapeutics. To add to its capabilities, in 2014 Alnylam paid Merck $175 million for its subsidiary Sirna Therapeutics, a firm specialising in RNAi therapeutics.
John Maraganore, chief executive of Alnylam, said: “We believe that the acquisition of Merck’s RNAi technologies and intellectual property will further our efforts to build a new class of medicines, advancing them to patients in need.”
Bossone is an advocate of protecting IP in the life sciences industry, having spoken before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary about limiting ‘patent troll’ abuse. He suggested that making sweeping changes to the patenting and licensing system without due consideration to how these changes could affect small businesses and legitimate patent owners would “do serious harm to the life sciences ecosystem”.
