Sona De

Practice Areas

SONA DE is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with over 26 years of experience advocating for clients in intellectual property cases. She has represented companies across a range of technology sectors, with a focus on life sciences litigation in the pharmaceutical, biologic, biotech, medical device, med-tech, crop science, agribusiness, and chemical fields. Sona has led numerous victories in both bench and jury trials through appeal. She has also argued before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and the Multidistrict Litigation Panel, represented clients in arbitration, and defended witnesses overseas under the Hague Convention. Her work is well recognized, has received several awards, and has been widely reported in the press. Sources describe her as “a sophisticated trial lawyer” (Chambers USA 2022) who “knows how to win cases” (Chambers USA 2023).

In biologics, Sona represented Bayer HealthCare in its jury trial and appeal wins against Baxalta’s flagship hemophilia product. Her segment of the closing argument addressed Baxalta’s non-infringement and invalidity defenses. The jury handed Bayer a complete victory across every liability issue and awarded the largest damages verdict in Delaware for a biologic. The District Court awarded supplemental damages through final judgment, bringing the award to US$182 million. In a sweeping 37-page precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit affirmed in Bayer’s favor on every issue that Baxalta appealed. It cited Sona’s direct examination of various experts and cross examination of Baxalta's primary technical expert from the trial record. The case was inducted into The National Law Journal’s “Verdicts Hall of Fame, won LMG Life Sciences’ 2019 “Patent Impact Case of the Year,” and was selected as a “Legal Lion” by Law360 for continued success in post-trial motions.

Sona also represented Amgen/Immunex in its trial win against Sandoz’s biosimilar of Enbrel®, the first time a biologics maker has fully succeeded in blocking a biosimilar under the Biologics Act through the courts. Following a stipulation on infringement and a nearly month-long trial on numerous validity challenges, the district court found in Amgen’s favor across the board. The Federal Circuit affirmed. The case won LMG Life Sciences’ 2020 “Impact Case of the Year.”

In the medical device/med-tech space, Sona was featured as “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer and received the Financial Times’ highest ranking for her role in the innovative strategies and success in the landmark Therasense case involving glucose metering technology. Therasense created a new legal standard for the inequitable conduct doctrine and has been named as one of the top 10 patent decisions of this decade by Law360.

In Hatch-Waxman litigation, she was profiled by InsideCounsel for her role in Bayer HealthCare’s trial win on a formulation patent based on the doctrine of equivalents. Her work for the University of Texas and Purdue in serial trials against multiple generics on three different patent families also won LMG Life Sciences’ 2013 “Hatch-Waxman Impact Case of the Year.”

Sona is ranked by Chambers USA in Intellectual Property for her “notable track record” in life sciences litigation (2021–2023). She is also recommended by The Legal 500 US (Healthcare: Life Sciences); is recognized for her patent litigation work by the IAM Patent 1000 (2017-2023); is ranked among “The Top Women Attorneys in the New York Metro Area”; was shortlisted for LMG Life Sciences’ 2017 “General Patent Litigator of the Year” in New York; is recognized in the 2019-2023 LMG Life Sciences guides for Patent Litigation; and has received In Motion’s “Commitment to Justice Award."