Leo Takaoka

Background and Experience

Leo is a former in-house counsel with extensive experience in patent portfolio development and business strategy. He is well-versed in both legal and intellectual property functions aligned with business objectives, particularly within the fields of biotherapeutics, biologic formulations, and automated peptide manufacturing.

Prior to his in-house role, Leo worked as a patent practitioner with a strong background in domestic and international patent prosecution, portfolio development and management, due diligence, patentability assessments, competitive landscape analysis, and freedom-to-operate analyses in the field of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, materials and life sciences. Before beginning his legal career, Leo worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist with extensive oncology experience in small molecule drug discovery programs targeting protein-protein interactions and enzymes. His specialties include target and hit-to-lead validation, lead optimization, and structure-based drug design. He is also proficient in the multi-gram synthesis of complex small molecules and was instrumental in the discovery of compounds nominated for clinical development. Leo received his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. He also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute and earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine.