CENTRAL COURT, 25 SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS, LONDON, WC2 1AL
- Tel:
- Work 020 3 178 8900
- Fax:
- Fax 020 3 178 3298
- DX:
- 193 CHANCERY LANE
- Web:
- www.roiterzucker.co.uk
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Roiter Zucker is the UK’s only dedicated Life Sciences’ practice.
The firm: With a reputation based upon its ability to combine technical legal expertise and industry knowledge with entrepreneurial flair and commercial acumen, the firm has consistently delivered unparalleled successes for its diverse range of clients, many of whom the firm has taken up from start-up to full listing.
The firm strives not just to meet clients’ expectations but also to exceed them. The majority of its instructions come from long-established clients, some of whom have been with the firm for more than 25 years.
The firm is recognised as a leading adviser to the life sciences sector and being one of the best in its core areas of expertise, intellectual property, competition and commercial law.
Types of work undertaken: Life sciences: RZ acts for many of the major international generic manufacturers, almost every parallel distributor of pharmaceuticals in the UK and their trade association, small R&D companies, and an increasing number of biotechs, university spin-out companies and specialist venture capital funds. In addition to undertaking IP, competition and company commercial work for clients in this business sector, the firm also advises in relation to investigations and enforcement proceedings commenced by the MHRA under the Medicines Act and related legislation.
Intellectual property: RZ has a formidable reputation for advising in relation to all types of intellectual property: patents, trade marks, copyright, design rights (registered and unregistered) and confidential information. It also provides transactional advice and due diligence support.
RZ is considered to ‘punch above its weight’ and to be ‘a force to be reckoned with’. It has acted in many of the leading pharma patent cases, including: Lundbede v Teva and HN Norton & Co v Merrell Dow.
Competition work: RZ regularly advises on the interface between monopolistic intellectual property rights and competition issues. It acted for pharmaceutical parallel importers Dowelhurst Limited and Swingward Limited (Medihealth) in their successful defence of proceedings commenced against them by GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim. The case resulted in two separate references to the European Court of Justice and is considered the leading case in Europe on trade mark infringement and exhaustion of rights.
The firm also has strong antitrust expertise. RZ was instructed in relation to the SFO’s failed prosecution of varios generic companies for alleged conspiracy to defraud – a prosecution rumoured to be one of the largest brought by the SFO to date.
Company/commercial: RZ has drafted and negotiated almost every type of agreement relating to the creation, exploitation and disposal of intellectual property as well as Contract Research Organisation agreements, Investigator Initiated Trial agreements and Clinical Research Grant agreements. It has also advised on the formation of new companies and joint ventures worldwide, as well as on acquisitions, disposals and funding issues.
Breakdown of work %
IP (including life sciences) 70
Company/commercial 20
Regulatory 10
Number of UK partners 4
Number of other UK fee-earners 7
Above material supplied by Roiter Zucker Solicitors.