Susan Abelleira is a partner in Foley Hoag's Intellectual Property Department, where she focuses her practice in the areas of patent prosecution and patent portfolio development and management in the fields of biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals. Susan assists clients with non-infringement, invalidity and freedom-to-operate opinions, due diligence for investment and acquisition and agreements that involve intellectual property rights. She also advises clients regarding product lifecycle management.

Susan's clients benefit from her personal industry experience. She worked as a research scientist at Alkermes, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts, where her specialty was synthetic medicinal chemistry, and her areas of research included synthesis of peptides and small molecules with biological activity. She was also responsible for directing the research activities of the Biochemical Pharmacology Department. Before joining Alkermes, Susan was a chemist in New Product Development for W.R. Grace & Co.