"The firm has bright, level-headed lawyers who are enthusiastic about their areas of expertise and who have a great understanding of their client's objectives in any transaction."
— Chambers USA (2010)
Our lawyers structure, negotiate and implement the full range of strategic collaborations, licensing and co-development agreements, and other technology transfer and partnering arrangements -- from early discovery and research to late-stage and commercial deals and from highly complex, multi-party global alliances to more standard licensing arrangements. This work is a hallmark of our transactional practice, and we are widely recognized as leaders in this field.
Transactional lawyers with backgrounds in corporate, commercial, regulatory and IP law devote substantially all of their time to advising our clients on their collaborations and other strategic transactions in the life sciences sector. With this commitment to the industry and our multi-disciplinary approach, our transactional team fully understands the practical considerations, regulatory regimes and sophisticated structures relevant to research and development, marketing, distribution and promotion of pharmaceutical products.
We have completed numerous cross-border and other corporate partnering transactions for a vast range of clients in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America, including major multinational innovator pharmaceutical companies, established and emerging biotechs, and animal health and medical device companies.
We are regularly called upon to assist clients restructure and, sometimes, unwind existing agreements Working closely with a team of dedicated life sciences litigators, we are able to provide seamless advice to renegotiate and -- when necessary -- litigate to resolve underperforming relationships. We have found that this integrated approach often avoids the need for litigation and results in highly favorable outcomes for our clients.
Recent Highlights
- Astellas Pharma Inc. in a global agreement with Medivation Inc. to develop and commercialize MDV3100, Medivation’s Phase 3 investigational drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. Under the terms of the agreement, Medivation received an up-front cash payment of $110 million, and was eligible to receive payments of up to $335 million upon the attainment of development and regulatory milestones plus up to an additional $320 million in commercial milestone payments.
- AstraZeneca:
- in an exclusive, worldwide collaboration with Targacept Inc. to develop and commercialize a late-stage investigational product for major depressive disorder; and
- in a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to develop two different products to treat diabetes.
- Eisai in an exclusive supply and distribution agreement with Arena Pharmaceuticals GmbH under which Eisai will commercialize the compound lorcaserin for obesity in the US.
- Gilead Sciences:
- in negotiating a license agreement with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals for the development and commercialization of an HIV combination product including Gilead’s Truvada and Tibotec’s TMC278; and
- in a distribution arrangement with Merck through which Gilead assumed the lead role for the distribution of Atripla in 12 countries located primarily in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
- Salix Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of worldwide (except for Japan) rights to the Relistor product from Progenics Pharmaceuticals.
- The World Bank in its efforts on behalf of the G8 to develop and implement an incentive-based market mechanism, known as an Advanced Market Commitment, to stimulate the development and commercialization of vaccines to address critical unmet health needs in the developing world, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
- UCB Pharma in a strategic alliance with Wilex AG in which UCB granted rights to its entire preclinical oncology portfolio consisting of two small-molecule programs and three antibody programs and in connection with which UCB retained exclusive opt-in rights to re-purchase each of the five programs.
Representative Matters
- Astellas Pharma Inc.:
- in a worldwide agreement with Ambit Biosciences Corporation to jointly develop and commercialize FLT3 kinase inhibitors in oncology and non-oncology indications. Under the terms of the agreement, Ambit received up-front cash payment of $40 million and was eligible to receive pre-commercialization payments of up to $350 million; and
- in a global agreement with Medivation Inc. to develop and commercialize MDV3100, Medivation’s Phase 3 investigational drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. Under the terms of the agreement, Medivation received an up-front cash payment of $110 million, and was eligible to receive payments of up to $335 million upon the attainment of development and regulatory milestones plus up to an additional $320 million in commercial milestone payments.
- AstraZeneca:
- in an exclusive, worldwide collaboration with Targacept Inc. to develop and commercialize a late-stage investigational product for major depressive disorder;
- in an exclusive worldwide collaboration with Map Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize a Phase III product for the treatment of pediatric asthma, which involved upfront fees, milestones and funding commitments in excess of $900 million;
- in a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to develop two different products to treat diabetes; and
- in a collaboration with Abbott to combine AstraZeneca’s statin, CRESTOR ®, with Abbott Pharmaceutical’s next generation fenofibrate product, TriCor, into a fixed-dose combination for the treatment of dyslipidemia.
- Eisai in an exclusive supply and distribution agreement with Arena Pharmaceuticals GmbH under which Eisai will commercialize the compound lorcaserin for obesity in the US.
- Emergent BioSolutions in the creation of its joint venture and related licensing and commercial arrangements with the University of Oxford and its technology transfer office, Isis Innovation Limited, to further develop MVA85A, thought to be the world’s most clinically advanced vaccine candidate for the prevention of tuberculosis.
- Gilead Sciences:
- in negotiating a license agreement with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals for the development and commercialization of an HIV combination product including Gilead’s Truvada and Tibotec’s TMC278; and
- in a distribution arrangement with Merck through which Gilead assumed the lead role for the distribution of Atripla in 12 countries located primarily in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
- GPC Biotech (now Agennix AG):
- in a development and commercialization collaboration with Pharmion (now Celgene Corp.) for GPC Biotech’s Phase III oncology product, satraplatin; and
- in granting Yakult Honsha (Tokyo, Japan) exclusive rights to develop and commercialize satraplatin in Japan.
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