Stephenson Harwood‘s team is skilled in addressing a range of issues for clients, including strategic collaborations, funding rounds, and life sciences M&A. The unit is led by the ’commercially astute’ Alexandra Pygall, whose practice spans partnering agreements and IP disputes linked to partnering deals. Dan Holland has deep knowledge of clinical and commercial supply agreements. Anthony Clare is equipped to handle public and private life sciences M&A. Early-stage research, collaboration and licensing agreements are key practice strengths of Naomi Leach.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The Stephenson Harwood life sciences team is a high-performing and knowledgeable group who follow industry trends closely and use their broad experience to advise clients appropriately.’
‘Alexandra Pygall is an excellent individual who has a very broad range of experience and interest across life sciences. She is highly skilled from a technical legal perspective but is also commercially astute and provides pragmatic advice. She works well with her junior members of staff and provides them with good client exposure. ’
‘Very dynamic, business-focused and pragmatic law firm. ’
‘Rob Jacob has a fantastic understanding of the pharma business and delivers very practical legal advice on how to achieve our commercial goals, Rob is a true star.’
‘The team is approachable and listens clearly to instructions. Work product is precise and no unnecessary complexities added. ’
‘Naomi Leach shows attention to detail and straightforward advice and drafting. ’
‘The team I've worked with is very knowledgeable, pragmatic, professional, business-minded. ’
‘The firm has a wide spread of expertise so is able to put forward a partner or team to handle the variety of legal matters on which we need support.’
Key clients
- Bicycle Therapeutics
- BioNTech
- BenevolentAI
- Flarin Holdings Limited
- GlaxoSmithKline PLC
- Johnson & Johnson Innovation
- LifeArc
- Novacyt
- Oxford Biomedica (UK) Ltd
- Aptamer
Work highlights
Acting on behalf of Primer Design Limited ("PD") and its French parent company, Novacyt S.A., in defending a £134m claim brought by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ("DHSC") and PD's £81m counterclaim to recover sums due from DHSC under unpaid invoices.
Advised UCB Ventures, BGF and 4Bio Capital, who led the over-subscribed Series A funding round of $25million in ViaNautis Bio.
Advised Bicycle Therapeutics simultaneously on two complex collaboration and licence agreements in the radiopharm space, one with Novartis and one with Bayer, to discover and develop multiple targeted radioligand therapies in oncology. Under both deals Bicycle is eligible for payments of up to USD 1.7 billion.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Alexandra Pygall
Other key lawyers
Dan Holland; Anthony Clare; Naomi Leach; Rob Jacob; Tom Page; Kristian Shearsby; Michelle Gomes