Ethan H. Townsend

I'll research this attorney's professional background before drafting the summary.

Let me verify the Neurelis matters and check for PTAB/IPR activity.

One more round to pin down firm history and PTAB counsel appearances.

Ethan H. Townsend — patent litigation summary

Focus and side of the docket. Townsend is a Wilmington, Delaware litigator whose practice centers on Delaware state and federal court work — corporate, securities, and complex commercial litigation, plus intellectual property litigation in the District of Delaware (Chambers USA ranks him Band 4 for Delaware Chancery). Within patent litigation, his tracked appearances are entirely Hatch-Waxman/ANDA pharmaceutical work for brand-side plaintiffs: all six tracked matters are on the plaintiff side (no defendant-side appearances), chiefly Neurelis, Inc.'s VALTECO® (diazepam nasal spray) Orange Book campaign against generic filers. Beyond the tracked list, docket records show him as Delaware counsel in other patent suits spanning mRNA/lipid-nanoparticle technology (Alnylam Pharmaceuticals v. Pfizer/BioNTech and Alnylam v. Moderna), Acuitas Therapeutics v. Alnylam, software (DataCore Software v. Scale Computing), and, earlier in his career at DLA Piper, a mechanical patent case (Mastercool v. Irwin Industrial Tool). The plaintiff-only count reflects a brand/innovator client base rather than an NPE/PAE practice; no evidence was found of PAE representation.

Role and firm context. He functions primarily as Delaware local counsel (5 of 6 tracked appearances) and once as trial/Delaware counsel, rather than as first-chair national patent counsel — lead substantive roles in the Neurelis matters are held by McDermott's San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston patent team. He is at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, which appears in 2025–2026 filings as McDermott Will & Schulte LLP (same Wilmington office and mwe.com addresses); his prior firm was DLA Piper (Wilmington), where Law360 records patent and Chancery matters through at least 2016–2018. One tracked Neurelis/Lupin appearance lists Richards, Layton & Finger; I could not independently verify a tenure there beyond that entry.

Notable matters. The most prominent is the consolidated Neurelis, Inc. v. Padagis LLC litigation (D. Del. C.A. No. 24-562-MN, Judge Noreika), in which Neurelis asserts six Orange Book patents (including the '414, '786, '546, '664, and the method-of-treatment '852 and '061 patents) covering VALTECO, with claim construction briefed in 2026 and trial set for 2028; related suits against Amneal, Lupin, and Strides were consolidated into the lead case. On the other side of the ledger, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals v. Pfizer/BioNTech (D. Del. C.A. No. 22-336-CFC) ended adversely for his client: after the court denied Alnylam's claim-construction/Daubert motion in April 2025, Alnylam withdrew its opposition to summary judgment and judgment of non-infringement was entered for the defendants.

PTAB/IPR experience and credentials. Neurelis's asserted patents are subject to three Padagis IPRs (IPR2025-00464, -465, -466), all instituted for trial with a June 2026 hearing date, and the '876 patent in the same family was previously invalidated and affirmed by the Federal Circuit. However, PTAB mandatory notices and deposition transcripts list Michael Sitzman (lead), Timothy Best, David Tobin, and DLA Piper attorneys as Neurelis's counsel — Townsend does not appear in those PTAB filings, so his personal IPR/PGR appearances are not documented in the sources reviewed. Education/bar: Villanova University School of Law (J.D. 2011); Delaware bar since 2012; selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars 2019–2022 (per Super Lawyers profile).