Senior intellectual property counsel Samantak Ghosh may have only spent five years at Gilead, but he has already helped the pharma company to victory in several high-stakes patent litigations.
For instance, with Ghosh’s help in Juno Therapeutics v Kite Pharma, the litigation team wiped out a $1.2 billion jury verdict against Gilead’s subsidiary Kite Pharma and invalidated a patent that BMS subsidiary Juno had accused Kite of infringing.
BMS’s subsequent petitions for rehearing by the Federal Circuit and certiorari to the Supreme Court were denied.
Ghosh’s nominator says his leadership and focus on the long-term case strategy drove Gilead’s decisive win.
“He is a true asset to Gilead’s legal team. I am continually impressed by him and look forward to seeing all that he accomplishes.”
Ghosh also achieved significant success for the pharma company in other cases.
He secured a favourable settlement in a patent trial against several generics in a suit concerning HIV and HBV therapies. He also successfully defended Gilead’s rights in its HCV therapies in a litigation filed by the University of Minnesota.
“Throughout these high-stakes litigations, Samantak maintains a calm demeanour and approaches each issue with creativity and comprehensive consideration of all facets of the case,” says the nominator.
Ghosh has a PhD in chemistry from Stanford University and worked as a patent associate at WilmerHale for five years before joining Gilead.
In addition to his in-house work, Ghosh is passionate about LGBTQIA+ rights and has submitted amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court on these issues.
Ghosh says Gilead is a wonderful place to work and has provided many opportunities to him to develop his career in patent law.
“Now, I’m trying to go beyond patent litigation and learn new areas of law.”
Managing IP’s full interview with Ghosh can be accessed here.
