Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology
Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP’s market-leading life sciences regulatory practice shows ‘excellent tactical awareness in negotiating and strategic planning’. Regulatory guru Ian Dodds-Smith heads the team, whose recent work includes advising Eisai and Pfizer on judicial review proceedings against the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in respect of its guidance regarding the use of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s, the first proceedings to challenge NICE guidance. Dodds-Smith is also active in product liability litigation, while Tim Frazer advises on competition matters in the sector. Alison Brown is advising Sanofi-Aventis in group litigation relating to the use of Sanofi’s anti-epileptic drug Epilim, while Ian Kirby is advising GSK on a major patent licensing dispute with Abbott Laboratories.
Bird & Bird LLP patent litigator Trevor Cook is also active on regulatory and data protection issues in the sector, and is ‘an extremely good and knowledgeable person to go to with a difficult question’. Gerry Kamstra specialises in advising life sciences clients on EPO opposition proceedings, and has also been advising Retroscreen Virology on clinical trials. The life sciences competition practice, of which Richard Eccles is the leading light in London, has also been boosted by a lateral hire in Paris. Corporate partner Matt Dennis has been advising life sciences private equity and venture capital investor Apposite Capital.
Simmons & Simmons’ Richard Binns heads an ‘excellent’ team. He is active on licensing and regulatory work, and his key clients for clinical trials agreements include Takeda. Gavin Weir’s corporate work in the sector has recently included advising Alliance Medical - with which the firm has maintained its longstanding relationship following its acquisition by Dubai International Capital last year - on four acquisitions of companies which own diagnostic centres.
Taylor Wessing LLP’s team - headed by ‘very experienced licensing lawyer’ Dr Malcolm Bates - gives an ‘excellent service’ to life sciences clients. New partner Len Murray has joined from Baker & McKenzie LLP, where he was a senior associate, to establish a public law practice. This will boost the regulatory and judicial review capability of the firm in the sector. Prior to his arrival, the firm handled high-profile judicial reviews for life sciences clients including Generics UK (now part of Mylan). Cambridge-based partner David Mardle is ‘excellent on corporate financing issues’. Dr Gareth Morgan is active in advising on SPCs. New clients for transactional work include listed biotechs Asterand plc and Biota Holdings. Daniel Pavin has moved to Covington & Burling LLP.
Allen & Overy LLP advised Pfizer on an innovative agreement with GSK to create a major new specialist company focused on the research and development of HIV medicines. This work was led by corporate partner Anna Buscall. Nicola Dagg is active in patent litigation, and the firm has recently been appointed to the approved panel of Novartis for work including patents. Commercial partner Colleen Keck ‘possesses focus and dedication’.
Bristows has ‘outstanding industry knowledge’ and is well known for high-level patent litigation. Regulatory partner Maria Isabel Manley recently handled what is only the second appeal to NICE, on behalf of Servier Laboratories. Co-head of life sciences Sally Field is particularly active in life cycle management work, where the firm has a leading reputation, acting for clients including Novartis. Pat Treacy handles competition work in the area, while head of corporate Mark Hawes has been active on some high-profile acquisitions in the sector and commercial partner Laura Anderson attracts high praise from clients.
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP’s Nick Beckett is highly visible in the life sciences sector, particularly in relation to parallel imports, and financing clients say commercial partner Sarah Hanson is ‘delightful, very responsive and helpful’. Corporate and regulatory clients comment on ‘great strength in depth’ and a ‘very high standard of service’. Recent work includes advising biotech company Antisoma on an acquisition.
Covington & Burling LLP is ‘stellar’; there is ‘no-one better in regulatory matters’. Grant Castle is the main London-based regulatory partner, and he gives ‘imaginative and broad-ranging advice’. Key regulatory clients include Merial, and other regulatory work includes handling litigation at the ECJ on behalf of Johnson & Johnson and Shire Pharmaceuticals. Anne Ware handles some major commercial product liability disputes, while the transactional life sciences practice has been strengthened by the hire of Daniel Pavin, formerly a partner at Taylor Wessing LLP. London deputy managing partner Louise Nash is also active in life sciences corporate work.
Clients say they ‘know they can rely on’ DLA Piper UK LLP. Global life sciences group co-chair Bonella Ramsay is highly respected, and is active on non-contentious patents, regulatory work and product liability, for clients such as UCB Pharma SA. Caroline Stockwell, a new appointment to the partnership, leads the healthcare regulatory team, and her clients include the international R&D legal team at Pfizer. Patent litigator George Godar is also recommended.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP ‘is absolutely first class and provides a Rolls-Royce service’. Corporate partner Julian Long advised Wyeth Pharmaceuticals on its acquisition of a privately held UK-based biotech company. The competition practice - where Simon Priddis is a key player - has been advising on the EU pharmaceutical sector enquiry.
Herbert Smith LLP is particularly strong in patent litigation, has a leading competition practice, and a strong focus on Japan. Team head Sophie Rich is ‘the best I have ever worked with in any jurisdiction’. She and the ‘extremely talented’ David Wilson are retained by Daiichi Sankyo to manage pan-European litigation over a blockbuster antibiotic. The firm is also ‘one of the very few with expertise in the specialist area of plant breeders’ rights’.
Linklaters LLP offers clients a ‘very good service, responsiveness and industry knowledge’, particularly in relation to patent litigation. Its multi-office and cross-practice healthcare group is active in corporate and competition work. London-based healthcare sector co-head Nigel Jones advised ALZA Corp and Janssen-Cilag in relation to complex multi-jurisdictional patent disputes.
Lovells LLP is highly visible on patent work but also has a very broad life sciences practice, including regulatory work through the life cycle of products and clinical trials. John Meltzer’s product liability practice is extremely strong, while Stephen Bennett successfully acted for Eli Lilly in a patent dispute over a chemotherapy drug. Clients say ‘service levels and industry knowledge are excellent’.
Morrison & Foerster (UK) LLP has an ‘excellent’ corporate team in the life sciences sector, with a global practice that is strong in the US and Asia. London corporate lawyer James Halstead has been promoted to the partnership, and been seconded to the firm’s Tokyo office to build relationships between its clients and London. Commercial partner Julian Thurston has been advising Singapore-based S*BIO Pte on a development collaboration, while corporate partner James Gubbins has ‘done more deals than anyone’.
Olswang is strong in patent litigation - where GSK is a new client win - and also licensing and corporate life science work. Clients praise the firm’s transactional work in the sector. New team head Stephen Reese, who is ‘competent and pragmatic’, and delivers a ‘quick turnaround’ for clients, recently advised Dr Reddy’s Laboratories on commercial IP matters, while Michael Burdon advised Boston Scientific Corp on three substantial patent enforcement matters.
Life sciences boutique Roiter Zucker Solicitors is known for advising generics companies. Clients include Teva. Warren Roiter is active on venture capital work in the sector, and on competition matters. He is also advising Norton Healthcare in relation to its defence of a prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office against the client and other major generics houses. Clare Tunstall is a strong patent litigator.
SJ Berwin LLP is strong on patents, corporate, competition - where the team has been boosted by the promotion of Cameron Firth to the partnership - and related regulatory work in the sector, where it is known for advising generics. Jeremy Schrire has also been very active recently in licensing, and his ‘greatest strength is his ability to reason with the other side. He will concede trivial points if he has to, but always wins the ones that need winning.’
Wragge & Co LLP’s ‘highly impressive’ team provides ‘excellent and wise counsel’ and is headed by Pat Duxbury, who is ‘invaluable’ in life cycle management and licensing matters. It has been boosted by the promotion of Dr Luke Kempton - who has particular expertise in regulatory matters - to the partnership, and by the hire of regulatory director Liz Fuller, formerly general counsel at a Geneva-based biotech development consultancy. The firm’s very strong patents practice has been given added strength by the opening of a new Munich office.
Addleshaw Goddard LLP offers ‘commercial advice’ to a plethora of FTSE 350 corporates in the life sciences sector. Team head John Kelleher has a strong product liability practice, and has been advising GSK on its defence against multi-party litigation over the use of the drug Seroxat. Paul Bentham is active in licensing.
Ashurst LLP corporate partner Anthony Clare has ‘good commercial judgement and the ability to clearly set corporate regulations into the biotech framework’. The team is headed by the ‘affable’ Mark Lubbock, who advised Silence Therapeutics on a second collaboration with AstraZeneca.
Baker & McKenzie LLP was one of the law firms whose competition team was instructed by industry body EFPIA to represent its members in the EU pharmaceutical sector enquiry. Regulatory partner Beatriz Pessoa de Araujo is ‘one of the rare lawyers who has the ability to keep the legal framework in mind while looking at the situation with a business slant’. The firm’s patent litigators have been representing Eli Lilly in relation to a multi-jurisdictional IP enforcement programme.‘User-friendly’ corporate partner Jane Hobson heads the team.
Davies Arnold Cooper LLP has a leading product liability defence practice, and advises Gerling, the insurer for the manufacturer of the TeGenero antibody used in the Northwick Park clinical trial. Simon Pearl and Alison McAdams also have significant life sciences regulatory expertise.
Fasken Martineau LLP has hired transactional life sciences partner Charles Waddell - who is ‘very, very good and has a familiarity with the sector which meant we could dispense with the niceties and get down to business’ - from Dechert LLP. Licensing partner Gary Howes is ‘extremely experienced and a strong member of a negotiating team’. Regulatory partner Paul Ranson is ‘extremely knowledgeable, patient enough to listen to a client’s opinion and questions, and has a nice sense of humour, very human’. The firm has also recently hired a new patent litigation partner.
Powell Gilbert LLP has ‘one of the highest international profiles of anyone doing biotech work in the UK’. Though its reputation is built on patent litigation, it is also active in regulatory matters - where clients include France-based Guerbet - licensing, and advising pharmaceutical clients on advertising. New clients include Novartis. ‘Nobody is better at biotech litigation in the UK’ than Penny Gilbert, while Zoë Butler is also ‘a very competent chemist’.
Reed Smith’s ‘responsive, commercial’ practice has lost partner Alison Dennis to Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP and senior associate George Pickering, who moved in-house at GSK. Regulatory and product liability partner Paul Llewellyn has relocated from Birmingham to London. He has been advising a US pharmaceutical company on claims related to the development of pathological gambling habits allegedly attributable to prescribed medication.
Clifford Chance’s ‘bright and very commercial’ team has particular strength in work relating to regenerative medicine, and a global, sector-focused approach which has been strengthened by the opening of a new Kiev office. In London, team head Julian Acratopulo advised Paion Deutschland on the regulatory aspects of its acquisition of CeNes.
At Eversheds LLP, transactional partner Janet Knowles has been advising DxS Ltd in relation to licences from Genzyme Genetics of worldwide rights for diagnostic testing, and Indian pharmaceutical company Famy Care on a development and manufacturing agreement.
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP has hired a new regulatory partner, the ‘personable, courteous’ Alison Dennis from Reed Smith, and associate Julian Hitchcock, who specialises in stem cells and regenerative medicine, from the Cambridge office of Mills & Reeve LLP. Dennis brings clients including Alliance Healthcare.
Howrey LLP has a strong patent litigation practice and has been advising two trade association bodies in the EU pharmaceutical sector enquiry.
Latham & Watkins has a corporate practice in the sector, and Larry Cohen is well regarded for patent litigation. Cohen also advised Guthy-Renker LLC on the regulatory aspects of its launch of pharmaceutical products into the UK market.
At Mayer Brown International LLP, competition partner Frances Murphy gives an ‘outstanding performance’, and ‘stands head and shoulders above other competition law practitioners in the pharma field, has in-depth understanding of the issues facing the industry, first-rate contacts in the Commission and a formidable intellect’. She advised AstraZeneca on an appeal to the European Court of First Instance.
McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP gives an ‘exceptional service in every respect’, and was recently bolstered by the arrival of patent litigation partner Gary Moss from Taylor Wessing LLP. Hiroshi Sheraton handles regulatory work, while Rohan Massey is active on clinical trials. Counsel Clare Sellars is ‘very responsive, articulate and concise’. Patent attorney Justin Hill, who has been advising Cardinal Health on the prosecution and management of its European patent portfolio, is ‘an enthusiastic, personable adviser’.
Morgan Lewis’ team, headed by Anthony Warnock-Smith, has been acting for United Drug plc in relation to the acquisition of The Specials Laboratory.
Norton Rose LLP gives a ‘good service’ and has a strong life sciences AIM-related and competition practice. It has been advising some large pharmaceutical companies on the co-ordination of their responses to the EU sector enquiry. IP partner Mike Knapper advised new client Paion Deutschland GmbH on its acquisition of a patent portfolio.
Osborne Clarke’s life sciences clients say they are ‘impressed with all points of contact in the firm’. Reading-based Janita Good heads the team, which has recently won increased work from Japanese pharmaceutical clients, including Mitsubishi Pharma Europe. Bristol-based associate Dr Sean Jauss focuses on regulatory work, where clients include Penn Pharmaceuticals.
Slaughter and May has been advising GSK on the agreement with Pfizer to create a major specialist HIV company. ‘Outstanding’ competition partner Michael Rowe ‘handles complex questions and projects very well’. In the corporate team, Robert Stern advised Shire plc on the move of the residency of its holding company outside the UK.