Thomas A. Cawley, Jr., Ph.D.

Partner Tom Cawley is a highly regarded patent lawyer. He concentrates his practice on biotechnology patent prosecution, opinion work, and client counseling, including the design and implementation of global intellectual property strategies. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Cawley has served a wide range of clients, from universities to large pharmaceutical companies. Aware of a client’s business needs and budget constraints, he consistently works to control costs and improve efficiencies for his clients.

Dr. Cawley has experience with a range of technologies including gene therapy, transgenic animals, genomics, recombinant herpes simplex viruses, recombinant production of procaryotic and eucaryotic gene products, small molecule technologies, antibody technologies (therapeutic antibodies/antibody drug conjugates), immunocontraception, RNA interference technologies, novel adjuvant therapies, screening methods for the identification of novel drug candidates, cancer therapy, agricultural biotechnology, and methods and compositions for the treatment of a variety of neurological conditions.

Dr. Cawley received his doctorate in Physiology and Biophysics with a concentration in molecular pharmacology. His graduate research involved elucidating the effects of chronic treatment with various pharmacological agents used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic like behaviors, specifically addressing effects on cell-surface receptors in the central nervous system as well as the periphery.

Representative Experience

• Conducted successful due diligence of multiple large patent portfolios on behalf of a multinational pharmaceutical company for potential in-license opportunities.
• Prosecuted patent applications to the successful issuance of multiple patents related to transgenic plants for a large multinational agricultural biotechnology company.
• Prosecuted patent applications to the successful issuance of multiple patents encompassing antibody technologies (antibody-drug conjugates/therapeutic antibodies) for the treatment of a variety of neoplastic and related disease states for a number of large pharmaceutical / large biotechnology companies.
• Prosecuted patent applications to the successful issuance of multiple patents related to the treatment of amyloidosis for a mid-level biotechnology company.
• Prosecuted patent applications to the successful issuance of multiple patents for a variety of biotechnology inventions on behalf of a number of public and private universities and research institutions.