In Conversation With Paul Martin, Lorraine Bracy And Natalie Bilci Of PTC Therapeutics Legal Department

Headquartered in South Plainfield, New Jersey, PTC Therapeutics discovers, develops, and markets small molecule drugs worldwide, targeting rare genetic disorders and cancer. The company sought to maximize the efficiency of its in-house Intellectual Property (IP) process so all activities, including patent prosecution and annuity payments, could be managed in a single, secure online environment.

Previously, PTC had been using an IP management solution that was no longer meeting its needs. Conducting a measured, systematic search for the best solution, they thoroughly reviewed 5 different systems and ultimately chose Lecorpio, the leader in cloud-based enterprise IP management and analytics solutions.

Elisa Cooper, VP of Marketing at Lecorpio, recently interviewed three PTC Therapeutics legal department members who were involved in the decision-making process: Patent Attorney Paul Martin, Senior Coordinator of IP Lorraine Bracy, and Patent Liaison Natalie Bilci. Elisa asked Paul, Lorraine and Natalie about why PTC Therapeutics chose Lecorpio and how the system will meet their company’s diverse needs.

Elisa: What issues were you hoping to resolve by replacing your IP management solution?

Paul: We were planning to grow our patent group, so we started looking with that in mind. Our current IP management solution had become dated. Our ideal solution would incorporate document management, text-mining, USPTO integration and clear, easy-to-understand reporting to show real-time status of our patent portfolio. Being able to find and search for documents was extremely important as well.

Lorraine: The solution we were using was just a repository with limited search capabilities, so we needed to upgrade to a more full-featured system. Specifically, we were looking for something more high-functioning that had USPTO integration, and we really liked Lecorpio’s reporting capabilities.

E: How did you go about conducting the search for the right solution?

P: We looked at five different vendors, receiving three demos from each of them. It was a long process, but we wanted to take the time needed to make the right decision.

Our first impressions were pivotal: Lecorpio immediately stood out, impressing us with their dashboard format, integration, reporting, and annuities, and their single interface for docketing and annuity payments.

On the annuities front, we needed a vendor with transparent and economic pricing. The fact that Lecorpio offered a more transparent, well-priced annuity option was a major advantage.

E: Why did you ultimately choose Lecorpio’s product?

Natalie: From our first look, we saw that Lecorpio is on the cutting-edge and sets the standard for state-of-the-art product development.

P: Lecorpio appeared to be sophisticated on the back-end, and seemed more able to accommodate customization. Also, when we spoke with Lecorpio’s references, one talked to us enthusiastically about Lecorpio’s adaptability and willingness to customize the system for clients.

Another aspect we appreciated about Lecorpio is the reporting for annuities and the depth of visualizing the entire portfolio or that of a select patent family. Lecorpio’s reporting allows us to see the real-time status of PTC’s portfolio – which is immensely important. We frequently need to establish and run reports for inventors and corporate management. Now we will be able to provide meaningful reports to our stakeholders.

E: What specific savings have you realized by using Lecorpio’s solution?

P: By bringing budgetary control of annuities in-house and boosting our efficiency, we’ll be able to reduce costs a great deal.

E: How do you feel about the level of security provided by Lecorpio?

P: Ensuring security was crucial for us. Lecorpio’s clientele includes Google, Adobe and Mastercard, and it’s reassuring to know that PTC received the same level of security in Lecorpio’s cloud-based system.

E: What improvements in functionality has Lecorpio’s product brought you compared to the previous system?

P: Documents within Lecorpio will be text-searchable. This is critically important because we will be able people to find documents more quickly and easily. We will no longer have to go looking for documentation or the source email since it will be organized and electronically accessible in Lecorpio. Our IT department also likes this feature because it saves them time and server space. It’s a win-win.

We will also be able to pull from the USPTO’s Private PAIR through the Lecorpio software, so when data is entered into the Lecorpio system, we can verify the information from Private PAIR. This will allow us to have a more efficient workflow, with the reassurance that data in our system is accurate.

E: How would you summarize the benefit you gained from using Lecorpio?

P: Lecorpio’s secure, cloud-based interface for docketing and annuities will streamline PTC’s workflow. It will save time by integrating emails and documents in one place, and will provide text-searching so users can quickly locate documents. We look forward to completing implementation in the next several months. Having a modern, full-featured IP management system like Lecorpio will certainly serve our department and company very well for many years into the future.

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