Joseph W. Arico Ph.D.

Joseph W. Arico, Ph.D. focuses his practice on patent prosecution and counseling in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. He assists pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from the startup through post-approval stages in developing robust patent portfolios and strategies. His areas of particular expertise include drafting and prosecuting both U.S. and international patent applications involving active pharmaceutical ingredients, prodrugs, salt forms and polymorphs, formulations, methods of use, and manufacturing syntheses; conducting freedom-to-operate, patentability, validity, and infringement analyses; and performing IP due diligence in connection with in-licensing and acquisition opportunities.

Dr. Arico draws on his nearly 20 years of post-graduate chemistry and pharmaceutical patent law experience to assist clients in developing and executing their patent strategies across the spectrum of pharmaceutical innovation. This includes novel small molecules, heterobifunctional molecules, peptides, oligonucleotides, prodrugs, rescued and repurposed drugs, methods of treating diseases, polymorphs, salt forms and cocrystals, formulations, clinical-stage patient populations and dosing, pharmacokinetics, active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing methods, and medical devices. Dr. Arico routinely advises clients on various aspects of pharmaceutical life-cycle management such as loss of exclusivity (LOE) analyses, Orange Book listing, Patent Term Adjustment (PTA), and Patent Term Extension (PTE).

Prior to Dr. Arico’s legal career, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame, where his research included the total synthesis of Tolypothrix polyethers and analogs of neopeltolide and epothilone natural products. Dr. Arico earned his Ph.D. at Boston College where he synthesized and studied 3-deazapurine nucleoside analogs and developed glycosylation methodologies.

Dr. Arico was recognized as “One to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America 2025 for Intellectual Property Law. In 2023, he was recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers in their intellectual property category.