Nessim Abu-Zahra is a graduate of Queen’s University (BSc, 1996) and the University of Toronto (MSc, 2000 and JD, 2003). He was admitted to the bar of Ontario in 2004.
Nessim began his career with an intellectual property boutique firm in Ottawa, where his work included pharmaceutical patent litigation and other intellectual property matters.
Nessim joined the Department of Justice (Health Canada Legal Services) in October 2008, where his practice involves advising Health Canada officials and other government decision-makers on the drug approval processes under the Food and Drugs Act and Food and Drug Regulations, and the associated intellectual property regimes, namely, the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations, the Certificate of Supplementary Protection regime, the data protection portions of the Food and Drug Regulations, and the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board.
Nessim is also a registered patent agent and from August 2015 to September 2016 was on a secondment as a Member of the Patent Appeal Board (PAB).
Nessim is a co-author (with Simon Carvallo and David K Edwards) of The Regulation of Drugs in Canada: The Food and Drugs Act and Related Intellectual Property Regimes, published by Irwin Law in 2024, and currently teaches Studies in Public Law: Pharmaceutical IP & Regulation at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Common Law Section.