Switzerland > Healthcare and life sciences > Law firm and leading lawyer rankings

Bär & Karrer Ltd. covers transactions, regulatory matters, product marketing and distribution, as well as IP advice and litigation in the health and life sciences sector. Recent highlights include advising Galenica Santé on its CHF1.9bn IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange and assisting EQT with the acquisition of Fertin Pharma from Bagger-Sørensen. Novartis is another key client. Markus Wang and Markus Schott are recommended.

Homburger focuses on IP, regulatory, transactional and alternative dispute resolution. Andri Hess represented Illumina in an infringement claim against Genoma related to NIPT patents before the Swiss Federal Patent Court and the group also advised Eli Lilly on an investigation regarding alleged vertical price fixing for pharmaceutical products. Johnson & Johnson also receives legal advice from the practice. Corporate partner Dieter Gericke, competition and regulatory lawyer Franz Hoffet and IP team lead Georg Rauber are the main contacts.

Vischer provides transactional, financing, capital markets, product launch and regulatory advice to health and life sciences industry clients and further represents them in contentious matters. The practice assisted JSR Corporation with its acquisition of Selexis and advised Axovant Sciences on its debt financing agreement with Hercules Capital. Stefan Kohler jointly heads the practice with Matthias Staehelin; Christian Wyss is another name to note.

CMS offers advice on regulatory and pricing issues, commercial cooperation agreements, product advertising and compliance programs. The team assisted Synlab International with its compliance program roll-out of in Switzerland and continues to represent Bayer in Swiss administrative proceedings concerning a pricing matter. Patrick Sommer and Alain Raemy lead the practice. IP counsel Simone Brauchbar Birkhäuser joined from Rentsch Partner AG in 2017.

Kellerhals Carrard advises life sciences companies, medical professionals and hospitals on regulatory, product liability, competition and contractual matters and is also adept at assisting start-ups with financing rounds and corporate transactions. The team is representing Roche Pharma and Interpharma in an ongoing price reduction litigation against the Federal Office of Public Health. KPT Versicherungen is another active client. Thomas Eichenberger is the main contact.

Lenz & Staehelin regularly handles IP, competition, corporate, M&A and contentious liability matters for a wide range of pharmaceutical, biotechnical and medical devices companies, as well as healthcare providers and academic institutions. Thierry Calame, Harold Frey and Stephan Erni are the main contacts in Zurich, while Benoît Merkt heads the Geneva team.

Considered one of the ‘top patent law firms’ in Switzerland, Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Ltd (MLL) also provides ‘excellent expertise in pharmaceutical patent litigation’; other focus areas are regulatory and commercial advice, transactions and litigation. The team is representing Gilead Sciences in all patent disputes concerning its tenofovir patents and supplementary protection certificates and advised the Swiss Cosmetics Association on labelling obligations for Swiss cosmetic products. The ‘responsive’ Simon Holzer impresses with a ‘strong scientific background’ and ‘works well in international teams’; IP litigator Michael Ritscher is also recommended.

Pestalozzi is ‘very strong in the life sciences industry’, where it provides ‘stellar service’, ‘high quality advice and invaluable solutions to strategic questions’; the team is particularly recommended for its expertise in distribution contracts, product liability, advertising law and IP. Recent highlights include advising Dow Chemical Company on its all-stock merger of equals with DuPont, which also required assistance with pre-merger restructurings. Lorenza Ferrari Hofer is a ‘trusted adviser who truly understands the clients’ business and specific legal challenges’, while associate Janine Demont is ‘very helpful regarding product liability litigation’. Christian Roos and Christoph Lang are other names to note.

Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd’s ‘responsive and knowledgeable’ team provides ‘value for money and appropriate advice’ to international companies on contentious and non-contentious regulatory and transactional matters. The team defended Actavis in a patent dispute brought by Eli Lilly and also advised Lovance Biotherapeutics on the import and export of human biological materials as well as on clinical trials for cell therapy as a cancer treatment. Litigator Philipp Groz is the main adviser; Andrea Mondini joined Times Attorneys in October 2017.

Walder Wyss Ltd focuses on regulatory, pricing, IP and licensing, transactional and corporate matters, thereby impressing with ‘very good business acumen, concrete industry knowledge, comprehension of complex issues and pleasant team interaction’. The group defended a major international pharmaceutical company in pricing-related litigation brought by the Swiss Government and also advises the client on strategic and reactive market access law. Andreas Wildi, Michael Isler, Alexander Gutmans, Markus Frick and Stefano Codoni are the key contacts.

Apart from general corporate and transactional experience, Wenger & Vieli offers expertise in pricing, marketing authorisation, advertising, data protection, IP, clinical trial, competition and product liability matters. The practice counts pharmaceutical and medical devices companies, as well as hospitals among its clients and is representing several pharmaceutical companies in their appeals against price reductions. Frank Scherrer has longstanding experience in pharmaceutical matters, while Beat Speck is the key contact for transactional issues.