Life sciences and healthcare

A&O Shearman’s global life sciences and healthcare team advises our clients on their most important opportunities and challenges.

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We act for many of the leading industry players in pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotech, medtech, medical devices, consumer healthcare, and healthcare services.

Our advice covers everything from M&A to collaborations and licensing, IP litigation, disputes and investigations, antitrust, commercial transactions, cyber and data privacy, debt and equity financings, and regulatory compliance.

Lawyers with world-class industry knowledge

Our dedicated team comprises market-leading lawyers with world-class industry knowledge and technical expertise, enabling us to deliver successful outcomes for our clients across the world.

Many of our team have backgrounds in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics, ensuring we can quickly grasp technical concepts and provide nuanced and tailored advice.

Whether they are developing their product portfolios, securing strategic partnerships, protecting IP and data, raising capital, or ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, we have the experience and resources to help our clients achieve their goals.

Our lawyers are renowned for advising on cutting edge matters as the industry and our clients evolve and grow; in particular our expertise advising on collaboration deals between AI providers and life sciences companies is unrivalled and has helped shape the market.

Representative matters

Bayer on the coordination of pan-European validity and infringement proceedings in more than 25 European Patent Convention (EPC) countries as well as in handling the national enforcement and defense of its patents protecting its blockbuster blood thinner Xarelto® in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and the UK. We also advised on the sale of Bayer’s men’s health product Nebido™ (testosterone undecanoate) to Grünenthal in a complex asset deal spanning more than 90 jurisdictions.
GSK on several transactions including the USD2.2 billion acquisition of RAPT Therapeutics, the acquisition of CELLphenomics GmbH, and a number of licensing and collaboration arrangements, including agreements with SiranBio, Noetik, and Frontier Biotechnologies Inc. Alongside these we advised on its strategic collaborations with CureVac for the research, development, and commercialization of mRNA-based vaccines targeting infectious diseases and on the subsequent restructure of those collaborations into a COVID/flu licensing arrangement. Most recently, we supported GSK on the settlement and licensing arrangements with CureVac, BioNTech and Pfizer for COVID/flu vaccines. We have also advised on the establishment of the GSK–Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Programme, under which GSK and the University of Oxford are exploring precancer biology to generate insights into how cancer develops in humans, with the aim of informing new approaches to cancer vaccination.
Guardant Health as Plaintiff in Lanham Act false advertising jury trial against competitor Natera, Inc. in the Northern District of California. Jury awarded Guardant USD292.5 million in damages (including USD175.5m in punitive damages), representing one of the largest Lanham Act jury verdicts ever.
Boston Scientific Corporation on a number of transactions, including the pending acquisition of Penumbra Inc., the strategic investment in MiRus, its USD3.7bn acquisition of Axonics, Inc., its USD615m acquisition of Apollo Endosurgery, and its USD4.2bn acquisition of BTG plc.

A leading German pharmaceutical company against generics in patent litigation concerning its medicinal product for increasing walking speed for patients with multiple sclerosis. We are instructed in their landmark case before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) for which we secured the first preliminary injunction ever granted by the UPC based on a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC). We are also instructed in France, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Genmab on the acquisition of Merus N.V., in an all-cash transaction with a value of approximately USD8bn, the acquisition of ProfoundBio for USD1.8bn, a clinical-stage biotechnology company and its USD505.88m IPO and Nasdaq listing.
Bayer and Regeneron in proceedings involving multiple biosimilar companies concerning the infringement and validity of formulation patents relating to the blockbuster biological drug Eylea® (aflibercept).
Shionogi on the equity investment into, and hearing function collaboration with, Salubritas and a number of licensing and collaboration agreements with Cilcare relating to two compounds aimed at treating cochlear synaptopathy, Apnimed to develop therapies for obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, F2G to develop and commercialize a new antifungal agent and the Medicines Patents Pool for Shionogi’s COVID-19 antiviral candidate.
Haleon on the acquisitions totalling 45% of the equity interest in Tianjin TSKF Pharmaceutical Co., its joint venture in China, from its partners Tianjin Pharmaceutical Group and Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group Corporation Limited, the sale of the ChapStick lip balm brand to Suave Brands for approximately USD510m and the divestiture of its Lamisil brand across 70+ jurisdictions to Karo Healthcare AB for an aggregate consideration of GBP235m.
1-800 Contacts in an action by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleging improper agreements with competitors to refrain from certain types of paid internet search advertising, and a parallel consumer class action. Obtained reversal and dismissal of the adverse FTC judgment by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.