Specialist regulatory consultancy ARC Regulatory Limited has been a success story since its start in 2010. We spoke to ARC’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Heather Taylor, to find out more about the organisation’s rapid rise and how protecting its intellectual property (IP) has played a significant part in ARC’s growth journey.
Tell us about ARC - what services does it provide?
The ARC team provides expert consultancy services in precision medicine. Heather captured its function succinctly: “ARC helps clients bring kinder patient treatments to the market”.
Where did ARC’s story start?
Heather described how this niche regulatory consultancy grew up in Moneymore, Northern Ireland. In time, the business expanded both at home and abroad. The ARC team was soon joined by Heather, an experienced marketer and former US-based Chief Marketing Officer, to help elevate ARC’s brand health.
All about ARC:
ARC Regulatory is a niche provider of clinical research and regulatory compliance solutions, supporting Pharma and Biotech partners in their precision medicine development.
ARC Research Laboratories provides assay development and clinical research testing, taking ownership of manufacturer and sponsor responsibilities for early clinical trial assay performance studies.
ARC360® helps to accelerate typical timelines for initiating complex trials by mitigating regulatory risks, leveraging biomarker and regulatory teams’ global IVD research knowledge, expediting precision medicine trial initiation, supporting clinical trial strategy development and implementation and providing a cross departmental collaboration tool.
When did the ARC team recognise the need for IP protection?
An early audit showed that the brand had little protection. By now ARC’s CCO, Heather knew that in order to safeguard the company’s global growth plans, it was essential to mitigate brand risk. Simultaneously, the company was investing heavily in ‘Software as a Service’, or SaaS (a cloud-based service that allows users to access and use applications over the Internet) to support its customers.
“Not only did we need to look at brand protection for ‘ARC’ as a name but also the IP of our new digital product, ARC360, too,” she said.
You can view ARC's trade marks, including ARC360, here (link)
Tell us about your experience accessing IP funding, support and advice
Invest Northern Ireland, working closely with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) helped ARC navigate the IP pathway right from the outset. “They kindly recommended the most suitable grant funding available - IP Audit and IP Access grant support complemented by Invest Northern Ireland’s Technical Development Incentive (TDI) grant” Heather told us.
“We recognised that finding funding for IP could be a challenge, not least because experience told us that legal costs can escalate tenfold quickly,” explained Heather. “Exploring funding mechanisms was key. That’s where the support and guidance of Invest Northern Ireland came in”.
How was the IP support delivered?
ARC successfully applied for IP Audit funding from the IPO in November 2022, which provided the organisation with a comprehensive review of its IP assets. ARC was subsequently successful in applying for IP Access funding from the IPO in March 2023, allowing the team to take forward some of the recommendations from the IP Audit. This support was delivered in partnership with Invest Northern Ireland.
Following research, ARC connected with someone Heather describes as ‘really supportive’, Sean McDonagh, Trade Mark Director at HGF, to get the ball rolling. “Half the battle was determining just what markets mattered most and how to maximise your coverage through blanket trade marking in the EU, to name but one saving”, Heather said.
ARC’s IP funding timeline
ARC’s IP journey took approximately 18 months from start to end. The team focused on the home market first, UK, then expanded to Europe, USA and China.
“We learnt early on about road blocks and met with the HGF trade mark team to reconsider our options. After careful consideration, we reduced our geographic expansion, focusing first on getting the UK IP completed, abandoning China and refocusing fewer trade marks in the US”.
In early February 2025, the organisation secured both US and EU registrations for both ARC and ARC360 to conclude its IP package commitments. Heather was delighted with the results, concluding “brand protection should not be underestimated today. Thanks to the collaborative approach of our partners, Invest Northern Ireland, IPO and HGF, ARC Regulatory, now Belfast-based, has positioned itself for our exciting global expansion plans. This includes a new research laboratory to support pharmaceutical and diagnostic clients at home and abroad.’’
What advice can you give to SMEs for their own brand protection journey?
Heather shared her top IP tips based on ARC’s own experience.
- Focus on what matters most – secure your priority IP first. Know you can always add later.
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew: you’ll get inundated quickly with legal comms flying in from all directions. There’s a lot of noise.
- Look at what your competition has done as a guide. They have looked at the risk register too.
- Do your research on the law firm to liaise with. Find one that’s a cultural fit and manageable financially.
- Pricing – challenge the costs the law firm presents and be ready to negotiate them down, especially as a SME. There are often concessions made so don’t be afraid to ask.
- Be patient – getting IP doesn’t happen overnight. There are countless questions and you need to find time to reflect and provide comprehensive answers to save it biting you again.
- Don’t be afraid to change course – sometimes certain markets are just too difficult. Re-assess, acknowledge and move on. Focus on what you can influence.
- Don’t forget to update your marketing materials (especially website, brochures, social pages) once you’ve received your trade mark registration.
- Close the loop – acknowledge all those involved in your IP success. A thank you goes a long way.
- It doesn’t stop there… recognise that your law firm is monitoring on your behalf post registration and trade mark infringements happen. Allocate funding to legal to be able to oppose any new submissions that arrive in your inbox.
If, like ARC, you’re a business wanting to understand more about how to protect your IP, take a look at our free guidance: Welcome to IPO’s online support tools. These have been designed to help you: | Intellectual Property Office
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