Michael Witten Ph.D.

Michael Witten is a registered patent agent in Goodwin’s Intellectual Property practice and a member of the firm’s Life Sciences group. He advises biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and other life sciences companies on intellectual property strategy, including patent portfolio development, patent prosecution, due diligence, and strategic counseling across all stages of innovation.

Michael partners with scientists, inventors, and in-house counsel to develop intellectual property strategies that align with clients’ scientific, commercial, and transactional objectives. He advises clients on building and managing global patent portfolios, patentability and freedom-to-operate analyses, US and international patent prosecution, and intellectual property due diligence. Drawing on firsthand experience in pharmaceutical research as both a medicinal chemist and an inventor, Michael helps clients translate complex scientific innovations into practical intellectual property strategies.

Michael’s experience includes advising biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and life sciences companies on a broad range of intellectual property matters, including:

• Drafting and prosecuting US and international patent applications directed to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other life sciences innovations.
• Developing and managing global patent portfolios supporting early-stage companies, emerging growth companies, and established life sciences organizations.
• Advising clients on patentability, freedom-to-operate, validity, and intellectual property strategy.
• Advising on intellectual property due diligence in venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, licensing transactions, and other strategic business transactions.
• Collaborating with scientists, inventors, and in-house counsel to identify and protect patentable innovations.
• Coordinating global patent prosecution strategies with foreign counsel across multiple jurisdictions.

Before joining Goodwin, Michael was a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, where he contributed to innovative drug discovery programs. His experience spans medicinal chemistry, structure-based drug design, lead optimization, and structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, giving him practical insight into the scientific and commercial challenges faced by biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovators. As an inventor on multiple patent families, he brings first-hand experience navigating the patent process from the perspective of both inventor and practitioner.

Michael earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University, where he conducted research in asymmetric organocatalysis under Professor Eric Jacobsen. He subsequently completed postdoctoral research at Yale University with Professor Jonathan Ellman, focusing on medicinal chemistry and transition metal catalysis. His research has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications and patents spanning synthetic chemistry and pharmaceutical drug discovery.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NIH) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, 2010

• “Discovery of a Selective and Potent Inhibitor of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 12/13 Employing a Noncovalent Mechanism,” ACS Med. Chem. Lett. (2026) 17 (3): 704–710.
• “Discovery of INCB126503 as a Potent and Selective FGFR2/3 Inhibitor,” ACS Med. Chem. Lett. (2025) 16 (6): 1182–1189.
• “Discovery of Orally Bioavailable FGFR2/FGFR3 Dual Inhibitors via Structure-Guided Scaffold Repurposing Approach,” ACS Med. Chem. Lett. (2023) 14 (3): 312–318.
• “Discovery of Potent and Selective Inhibitors of Wild-Type and Gatekeeper Mutant Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) 2/3,” J. Med. Chem. (2022) 65 (22): 15433–15442.
• “Discovery of Novel Pyrazolopyrimidines as Potent, Selective, and Orally Bioavailable Inhibitors of ALK2,” ACS Med. Chem. Lett. (2022) 13 (7): 1159–1164.
• “Inhibition of ALK2 with Bicyclic Pyridyllactams,” Biorog. Med. Chem. Lett. (2022) 55: 128452.
• “Rhodium(III)-Catalyzed Imidoyl C–H Activation for Annulations to Azolopyrimidines,” Org. Lett. (2018) 20 (8): 2464–2467.
• “X ray Characterization and Structure-Based Optimization of Striatal-Enriched Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Inhibitors,” J. Med. Chem. (2017) 60 (22): 9299–9319.
• “A Simple Primary Amine Catalyst for Enantioselective α Hydroxylations and α Fluorinations of Branched Aldehydes,” Org. Lett. (2015) 17 (11): 2772–2775.
• “Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Versatile 8-Oxabicyclooctanes by Intermolecular [5 + 2] Pyrylium Cycloadditions,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2014) 53 (23): 5912–5916.
• “Dual Catalysis in Enantioselective Oxidopyrylium-Based [5 + 2] Cycloadditions,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2011) 133 (37): 14578–14581.
• “Solid Phase Synthesis of Hydrogen Bond Surrogate Derived α-Helices: Resolving the Case of a Difficult Amide Coupling,” Org. Biomol. Chem. (2010) 8 (8): 1773–1776.