Timelines for achieving drug R&D breakthroughs, business development and raising funds, and executing an IP protection strategy ideally fully overlap. Welcome to the real world in which aligning the pace of R&D, business, investments, patents requires careful and balanced management. Within this context, in this IP Strategies session, the questions relating to when to file what for which patent protection where, will be discussed. Timing of filing of patent applications based on which data, also in view of planned publication or presentation of new results, needs ongoing attention, and is not an art that is out of reach for anybody involved in drug development. Some basic knowledge on key fundamentals suffice to be able to contribute to a successfully build patent portfolio.