Overview
Our Life Sciences industry team works with companies throughout the world, focusing on solutions for innovative life sciences companies at all stages—from startups to established companies, pre-clinical through commercialization. We are nationally recognized in the Licensing & Collaboration category of the LMG Life Sciences rankings, the only law firm based in North Carolina to receive this honor, among other accolades. Smith Anderson's Life Sciences practice has led transactions that have received premier awards such as the Life Science sector Deals of Distinction™ award by the Licensing Executives Society, and multiple LMG Life Sciences Collaboration Impact Deal of the Year awards.
Our clients include publicly-traded companies, privately held multi-nationals, private equity and venture capital-backed companies, alongside start-up companies and university spin-outs. These companies span the life sciences industry, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical technology, diagnostics, manufacturers, and contract research organizations. We also advise life sciences-focused investors, including venture capital and private equity firms, as well as corporate investors.
We have decades of experience providing a broad range of services, including structuring and negotiating mission critical licensing, collaboration, and corporate partnering transactions, mergers and acquisitions, manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements, research and development agreements, clinical trial and CRO agreements, and a variety of other strategic and complex transactions. These matters involve transactions across a range of stages of product development. Among other areas of deep experience, our firm is internationally known for its extensive experience in representing companies in licensing and collaboration transactions related to genome editing technology in both the human health and the agricultural technology sectors, covering all major gene editing technologies.
As a full-service law firm, we also support our life sciences clients in achieving their business objectives by advising on intellectual property protection, strategic alliances and joint ventures, venture capital and other private and public financings and fundraising, corporate governance, securities law compliance, labor and employment matters, employee compensation and benefits, tax strategies, real estate and facility leasing, buildouts, and acquisitions, government relations, and litigation and dispute resolution.
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Services
- Research, development and commercialization collaborations
- Partnering, strategic alliance and joint venture arrangements
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Product and asset acquisitions and divestitures
- Intellectual property and technology licensing and transfer
- Early stage financing, venture capital, initial public offerings and other equity and debt financings
- Clinical trial and CRO agreements
- Manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements
- Vendor contracting
- Company formation, structuring and governance
- Dispute resolution
Experience
Corporate Partnering and Licensing, Including R&D, Manufacturing and Commercialization
- Development and license agreement, valued at approximately $2.7 billion, between venture capital-funded genome editing company and a global pharmaceuticals company to develop and commercialize in vivo gene editing therapies for treatment of various genetic disorders, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This agreement won a 2021 "Impact Deal of the Year" award from LMG Life Sciences.
- Worldwide partnership, worth up to $1.6 billion, including an upfront payment of $105 million, with a global, publicly-traded pharmaceutical company to develop and commercialize allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies for multiple cancers. The transaction was awarded the 2016 Life Science sector Deals of Distinction™ award by the Licensing Executives Society.
- Licensing transaction for an international health care group and its U.S. specialty pharmaceutical company subsidiary in obtaining multinational rights to three cardiovascular drugs from a large public pharmaceutical company for $264 million in cash at closing, up to $480 million in milestone and royalty payments, and the assumption of up to $50 million in milestone payment obligations.
- Licensing counsel to a leader in developing innovative products from the Earth’s microbial communities in a transaction under which one of its subsidiaries joined the portfolio of a Cambridge-based cell and gene therapy holding company.
- Development agreement for a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing inhaled therapies to treat severe respiratory and chronic diseases in its global license with a British pharmaceuticals business to commercialize inhaled imatinib for the treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH).
- Collaboration between clinical stage pharmaceutical company with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to co-fund development of LBP-EC01, a CRISPR Cas3-enhanced bacteriophage (crPhage™) product that will target Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria causing recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs).
- Lead counsel to a clinical stage pharmaceutical company in its contract with a global non-profit to fund a program for development of LBP-KP01, a CRISPR Cas3-enhanced bacteriophage (crPhage™) product targeting the bacterial pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae).
- Research and commercial collaboration between plant sciences company with one of the three largest banana producers in the world, to develop genome-edited varieties of bananas resistant to a new strain of “Panama disease” (fusarium wilt).
- Formation and funding of pharmaceutical company by our clients, a group of venture capital investors, and the related in-license of pharmaceutical product rights from a global pharmaceutical company.
- Collaboration/strategic alliance between our client, a leading pharmaceutical development company, and a global, Japanese-based pharmaceutical company for the development of pharmaceutical products on a risk-sharing basis.
- Worldwide exclusive license of genome engineering technology by our client, a charitable organization that supports development of agricultural disease resistance technologies, to a global biotechnology tools company.
- Worldwide exclusive license and research collaboration between our client, a biotechnology company and a leading global animal health company, to develop and commercialize animal vaccines.
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Represented a publicly traded biotechnology company in the sale of certain assets and license of certain rights related to certain cell therapy platforms, in the amount of up to $227 million of upfront cash and equity plus milestone payments.
- Advised a Nasdaq-listed medical device company in the acquisition of a global leader in neuromodulation and rehabilitation medical devices for up to $110 million in up-front and contingent consideration.
- Advised a Nasdaq-listed pharmaceutical development company in the acquisition of a specialty dermatology company for up to $51 million in up-front and contingent consideration.
- Advised a clinical-stage biotech company and its founder in a definitive agreement to be acquired by a private biotech company, in exchange for equity ownership in the buyer.
- Advised a provider of identity verification data in its acquisition by a global financial information company.
- Advised a provider of clinical trial contracting and payment services, and its investors, in its merger with a provider of complementary services.
- Divestment by our client, a global pharmaceutical company, of pharmaceutical product rights to a specialty pharmaceutical company.
- License and acquisition by our client, a specialty pharmaceutical company, of pharmaceutical intellectual property from a global pharmaceutical company and related sub-licenses from other global pharmaceutical companies.
- $400 million acquisition of our client, a venture-backed agricultural biotechnology company, by a global pharmaceutical and agricultural company.
- $155 million acquisition of our client, a biotechnology company, by a global pharmaceutical and animal health company.
- $150 million acquisition by our client, a public specialty pharmaceutical company, of a private specialty pharmaceutical company.
- Acquisition by our client, a middle market private equity fund, of a single-source regulatory, compliance, pharmacovigilance and medical information service provider.
- Acquisition by our client, a private equity fund, of a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).
- Acquisition by our client, a global contract research organization and drug development services company, of a mobile-connected self-service platform solutions for decentralized clinical trials.
- Execution of an option agreement by our client with a private biotechnology company to acquire rights in a proprietary recombinant therapeutic.
Capital Markets and Financing
- $145.4 million initial public offering by our client, a genome editing company.
- $525 million notes offering by our client, a global biopharmaceutical services company.
- $60 million venture capital financing by our client, a biotechnology company.
- Private placement offering of securities by our client, a university spin-out, to accredited investors.
Accolades
Professionals
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Insights
News
- News
- LMG Life SciencesRecognition
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- LMG Life SciencesNews
- IFLR1000: The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial and Corporate Law FirmsNews
- News
- LMG Life SciencesRecognition
- Business North CarolinaQuoted
- U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
- Recognition
- IFLR1000: The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms
- WRAL Tech Wire
- U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
- Triangle Business Journal and Business North Carolina Daily Digest
- The M&A Advisor
- U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
- Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
- Triangle Business Journal
- Triangle Business Journal
- U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
- Precision BioSciences Inks Strategic Collaboration with Gilead Sciences Valued at Up to $445 Million
- Public Company Appoints Smith Anderson Attorney Santo J. Costa as Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Venture with Virtue “Achieving Real Success” Podcast Series
- Chambers USAAlert
- Triangle Business Journal
- Triangle Business Journal
- U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
- Council for Entrepreneurial Development, Website
- Chambers USAAlert
- Alert
- Credit to WRAL TechWire (reprinted with permission)
- Chambers USAAlert
- News & Observer
- Alert
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- U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
Publications & Alerts
Events & Programming
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