Rao Vepachedu, JD, PhD, LLM

Managing Director
Intellectual Property Risk Management and Strategy
Email: rao.vepachedu@crm-ip.com
Phone: (847) 859-3077

Dr. Vepachedu is a Managing Director overseeing Cardinal Risk Management's Intellectual Property Risk Management and Strategy (IPRMS) division working directly with clients, and is responsible for managing the technical and logistical issues directly related to various IPRM issues involving patentability, invalidity, infringement, freedom to operate, due diligence, valuation of patent portfolios, clearance, assertion and defense studies, patent preparation and prosecution, and IP transactions to enable clients to reduce or avoid risk associated with IP and products, and he coordinates with the IP insurance agents and underwriters. In addition, Rao has reviewed and written more than 700 PCT international written opinions in biotech, chemical and pharmaceutical areas. He is responsible for overall quality control and every aspect in the education of docketing managers and IP analysts, which includes the preparation of all training materials, the revisions to the PCT and docketing intranet, and the training and continuing education of docket associates and PCT analysts.

Dr. Vepachedu has more than 25 years of combined experience in research and intellectual property management. Prior to joining Cardinal, Rao worked for Abbott Labs as an in-house patent counsel, where he was recognized with several spot awards and team awards for his contributions to the company. Rao began his scientific career as an organic chemist at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, where he was recognized with the best research fellow award for his research contributions. He continued his research and teaching in chemistry at Rutgers University at Piscataway, University of Maryland at College Park, and National Institutes of Health at Bethesda. Later, he joined Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis as a medicinal chemist and worked in cancer chemotherapy and multidrug resistance. He also taught medicinal chemistry and combinatorial chemistry at Illinois Institute of Technology, as an adjunct professor. At MediChem Life Sciences (DeCODE) at Woodridge, Rao switched from research to IP management and became the Manager of Legal Affairs overseeing transactional and patent and trademark operations. Later, he worked as a patent prosecutor and in-house counsel at Incyte Genomics (biologics), Vepachedu PC (biotech, chemicals and pharmaceuticals), Scully Scott Presser and Murphy PC, and Rosenbaum and Associates PC (biotech, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and medical devices), and Abbott Labs (small molecules and biologics).

Rao earned his MS in organic chemistry with a gold medal for obtaining first rank in the class (Kakatiya University), JD in law (Osmania University), PhD in organic chemistry (Kakatiya University and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology), and LLM in intellectual property and international law (Howard University School of Law). Rao is a registered patent attorney (USPTO) and a member of the State Bars of Michigan and Illinois, the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh (India) and the US District Court of Northern District of Illinois.