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John A. Hurvitz

Partner

Washington +1 202 662 5319

  • About
  • Representative Matters
  • Credentials
  • About

    John Hurvitz advises both established and emerging life sciences companies on their most important strategic transactions. For more than 25 years, John's practice has focused exclusively on meeting the specialized corporate, commercial, and transactional needs of the life sciences industry. As such, he serves as a trusted adviser to many of today’s leading biotech and pharma companies, counseling his clients on all aspects of complex strategic alliances, M&A, and other transactions.

    John co-chairs Covington's Life Sciences-Pharma and Biotech Industry Group and heads the firm's Life Sciences Transactions Practice.

    John’s broad experience representing both innovators and acquirers of technology across a range of transactions and technologies enables him to assist clients both in finding practical solutions to their most complex problems and in efficiently and cost-effectively handling routine corporate and commercial matters.

    John’s clients and deal experience extend throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia as well to emerging markets and include all segments of the industry—pharma, biotech, vaccines, medtech, diagnostics, animal health, digital health, and healthcare services. He has extensive recent experience with complex deals involving gene and cell therapies, regenerative medicine, immuno-oncology, and the central nervous system (CNS).

    John’s extensive pro bono work includes a range of global health projects, including work on Advanced Market Commitments (AMCs), Global Health Forecasting Group, the AIDS Enterprise, and a program to incentivize the development of a Food and Mouth Disease vaccine for East Africa.

    He is widely recognized as a leading life sciences transactions lawyer in the U.S. and globally, including by Chambers (Band 1 (Global and USA)). According to Chambers, “John is skilled at advising businesses on both transactions and strategic matters such as dispute resolution, industry best practice and benchmarking, asset management and business development. ‘He's an excellent, thoughtful, and inspiring lawyer.’ ‘He is a very good lawyer who practices at the highest level.’ ”

    Areas of Expertise

  • Practices and Industries
  • Representative Matters
    • AbbVie in expanding its collaboration with Capsida Biotherapeutics to develop to develop genetic medicines for eye diseases with high unmet need.
    • Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in a collaboration and license agreement with Zedira GmbH and Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH to develop ZED1227/TAK-227, a Phase 2b investigational therapy for the treatment of celiac disease. TAK-227 is a potential first-in-class therapy designed to prevent the immune response to gluten in celiac disease, a serious autoimmune disease where the ingestion of gluten leads to inflammation and damage to the small intestine. There are currently no approved therapies for the treatment of celiac disease.
    • Bristol-Myers Squibb in a license and collaboration agreement with GentiBio to develop genetically-modified regulatory T-Cell (Tregs) to re-establish immune tolerance and repair tissue in patients living with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
    • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the purchase of Sanofi's stake in immune-oncology drug Libtayo® (cemiplimab).
    • AbbVie in its global collaboration agreement with I-Mab for the development and commercialization of lemzoparlimab (also known as TJC4), an innovative anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody internally discovered and developed by I-Mab for the treatment of multiple cancers, which involved a $180M upfront payment, $20 million in a milestone payment based on the Phase 1 results, and $1.74B in success-based milestone payments.
    • Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in its research collaboration and license agreements with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to discover and develop novel chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) products for the treatment of multiple myeloma, acute myeloid leukemia and additional solid tumor indications.
    • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in a strategic collaboration with Zai Lab Limited for the development and commercialization of REGN1979 (CD20xCD3 bispecific antibody) in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, which involved global development cost-sharing, a $30 million upfront payment and up to $160 million in regulatory and sales milestones.
    • AbbVie in its exclusive strategic collaboration and option agreement with Voyager Therapeutics to develop and commercialize vectorized antibodies directed against tau for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
    • AbbVie in a collaboration and option agreement with Capsida Biotherapeutics to develop tissue-targeted gene therapies for CNS disease targets using Capsida’s AAV engineering and screening platform with AbbVie’s cargo therapeutic technologies.
    • AbbVie in a research and license agreement with Pure MHC to discover and validate peptide targets for use with T-cell receptor therapeutics in several types of cancers.
    • Bristol-Myers Squibb in a drug discovery collaboration with Schrödinger, Inc. to use Schrödinger’s physics-based software platform to advance small molecule therapeutics for targets in oncology, immunology and neurological disorders, with a total deal value of up to $2.7 billion plus royalties.
    • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in its global collaboration with Sanofi to develop novel antibody-based immuno-oncology treatments.
    • Merck in connection with the sale of its Consumer Care Business to Bayer AG for $14.2 billion. 

    • AbbVie in a novel collaboration with the Google-backed life sciences start-up company Calico focused on aging and age-related diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
    • Regeneron in an agreement with Bayer Healthcare to jointly develop an innovative antibody for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.
    • Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company in a collaboration agreement with Mersana to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) using Mersana’s proprietary Fleximer technology.
    • AstraZeneca in its global agreement with Pfizer to switch AstraZeneca’s blockbuster GI drug, Nexium, to over-the-counter, which involved an upfront payment of $250 million as well a right of first refusal to switch another of AstraZeneca’s Rx Products.
    • Eli Lilly in its agreement to terminate its alliance with Amylin Pharmaceuticals for Byetta and Bydureon and to resolve the outstanding litigation between the companies, involving a two-year transition of responsibilities outside the US and payments of up to $1.6 billion.
    • AstraZeneca in an agreement with Moderna Therapeutics to develop and commercialize pioneering messenger RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal diseases, as well as cancer, which involved an upfront payment of $240 million and up to an additional $180 million in technical milestones.
    • Eisai in an agreement with Epizyme and Roche Molecular Systems to collaborate on the development of a companion diagnostic to advance personalized therapeutics for patients with lymphomas possessing genetic mutations in the epigenetic enzyme EZH2.
    • Takeda in its acquisition of Intellikine, a privately-held company focused on the discovery and development of innovative, small molecule drugs, for $190 million at closing and up to $120 million in additional potential clinical development milestone payments.
    • AstraZeneca in its agreement with Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop and market Ironwood’s linaclotide in China.
    • AstraZeneca in its strategic diabetes alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb in connection with BMS’s acquisition of Amylin Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at $7 billion (approximately half the cost of which was borne by AZ).
    • Abbott Laboratories in its $3.7 billion acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
    • Medarex on its $2.4 billion merger with Bristol-Myers Squibb.
    • King Pharmaceuticals in its $3.6 billion merger with Pfizer Inc.
    • Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica in its acquisition of certain animal health products divested by Wyeth and Pfizer Inc. pursuant to an FTC consent order entered into in connection with Pfizer Inc.’s acquisition of Wyeth.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Credentials
    Education
    • Yale Law School, J.D., 1991
        • Coker Fellow
        • The Yale Law & Policy Review, Executive Editor 
    • Haverford College, B.A., 1986
        • magna cum laude
        • departmental honors
        • Phi Beta Kappa
    • Queens' College Cambridge, 1985
    Bar Admissions
    • Connecticut
    • District of Columbia
    • New York
    • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
    Judicial Clerkship
    • Hon. Louis F. Oberdorfer, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, 1991 - 1992
    Pro Bono
    • Advisor, World Bank and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) in their efforts on behalf of the G7/8 to develop and implement a pilot Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to stimulate the development and introduction of new vaccines to address critical unmet health needs in the developing world, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
    • Member, Expert Group on AMCs convened by the World Bank and GAVI to advise on the design and implementation of an AMC pilot project.
    • Member, Global Health Forecasting Working Group, convened by the Policy Research Network at the Center for Global Development to analyze demand forecasting for health products, with a particular emphasis on products that are procured largely with external funding, to identify areas for improvement and to develop analytically-based policy recommendations.
    • Outside Counsel, Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Assisting the Enterprise with corporate structure, governance and other matters.
    • Outside Counsel, Zero to Three, a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the healthy development of infants and toddlers by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who work on their behalf.
    • Legal Advisor, Consortium for Child Welfare, the association of the non-governmental child welfare organizations serving the District of Columbia. Represented the Consortium in its efforts to overhaul the child welfare laws and create a dedicated family division within the Superior Court in the District of Columbia.
    • On behalf of the District of Columbia Bar’s Community Economic Development Project, prepared a comprehensive legal practice and issues manual for non-profit day care centers and provided training for attorneys who agreed to represent non-profit day care centers on a pro bono basis so as to help stimulate the creation of high quality, affordable day care in the District of Columbia for low- and moderate-income families.
    • Legal Advisor, Housing and Urban Development Occupancy Task Force on People with Disabilities in Public Housing. Advised the Task Force in connection with its efforts to improve access to public housing and related services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities.
    • On behalf of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, successfully represented a multi-ethnic group of highly prominent Bosnian citizens in their efforts to obtain political asylum in the United States at the height of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
    Accolades
    • The National Law Journal, “Healthcare and Life Sciences Trailblazers” (2020)
    • Chambers USA, recognized for Life Sciences Corporate/Commercial (Band 2)
    • Chambers Global, recognized as a leading lawyer for Life Sciences Corporate/Commercial
    • Washington DC Super Lawyers   
    • Best Lawyers in America, recognized for FDA
    • Law360, Life Sciences “MVP”   
    • Who's Who Legal, Life Sciences – Transactional
    • Legal 500 US, “Leading Lawyer” – Healthcare: Life Sciences
    • Legal 500 US, M&A - Commercial Deals and Contracts (2016)
    • Legal 500 US, Patents - Portfolio Management and Licensing (2016)
    • PLC Which Lawyer?, consistently recognized as a "leading commercial and partnering" lawyer, and one of only five "leading" corporate partnering lawyers in the US.
    • LMG Life Sciences, “Life Science Star”
    • IAM Patent 1000 - The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners
    Memberships and Affiliations
    • Haverford College, member of the Corporation
    Previous Experience
    • Salomon Brothers, Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures Group, Financial Analyst
    • Georgetown University Law Center, Food and Drug Law, Adjunct Professor

    Areas of Expertise

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