About

Executive director, legal affairs and general counsel Isabelle Robitaille, leads the legal team at Sandoz Canada, an innovative pharmaceutical company pioneering the medical cannabis industry in Canada. Including Robitaille, the in-house legal team is made up of 12 professionals including three IP experts, patent agents and an IP attorney as well as other attorneys, M&A specialists and junior lawyers. Recently, the team has focused on its business-oriented output including the sale of its manufacturing plant and development centre to Avara Pharmaceuticals. Sandoz is recognised as a pioneer by becoming the first pharmaceutical company to partner with a licensed cannabis producer to offer medical cannabis to the Canadian population. Robitaille identifies that the team’s motto is to ‘be the best’ and ‘be a smart risk-taking team [that] celebrates failures [by learning] from them. This is our motivation and we do it while having fun and knowing when to make the difficult calls’.