Life sciences and healthcare

Advised biotech research firm Kynos Therapeutics on its spin out from the University of Edinburgh and its £9 million financing round, consisting of £6.5 million led by Epidarex Capital together with IP Group and Scottish Enterprise. A further £2.5 million in Innovative UK grant funding was awarded for a Phase 1 clinical trial of lead KMO inhibitor. The Withers tech team also advises Kynos on commercial matters such as its license with the University of Edinburgh, clinical trial agreements, share options and employment and consultancy agreements.

Advised NatureMetrics on their $15M investment is led by urban sustainability-focused VC fund 2150 with participation from Ananda Impact Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean and BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund, and follow-on from Systemiq Capital and their acquisition of the environmental DNA business of Canada-based Precision Biomonitoring. We also advise on commercial contracts and data protection.

Advised a New York based global life sciences investor on a £20,000,000 investment into an Imperial College London spin-out company, VaxEquity Ltd, which accelerated the production of a vaccine to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and is dedicated to developing saRNA vaccines for serious and life-threatening diseases.

We advised biologics company Elasmogen Ltd on securing a £8 million investment round. The funding round was led by BGF and Scottish National Investment Bank with additional support from existing investor Scottish Enterprise.The Withers tech team also advises Elasmogen on commercial matters such as complex licensing and collaboration agreements and IP protection.

Acted for Medovate Limited, in respect of the set up and venture capital funding of this company established to enable and promote the commercialisation of intellectual property and medical products from NHS Trust in East Anglia.

Acting as General Counsel for In3Bio, an international biotech company on all legal matters worldwide dealing with high value negotiations and contracts with third parties including pre-clinical trials and Phase III clinical trials.

Advised on the formation of GADx by the acquisition of two companies, Mologic and Global Access Diagnostics, by a consortium of social impact investors called Global Access Health. As part of this transition, GADx became a social enterprise, dedicating its profits and mission to improving the health and wellbeing of underserved populations around the world. We also advise on licensing and facilities agreements, manufacturing agreement and customer contracts.

We acted for Lupin in relation to its acquisition of the minority shareholding in a pharmaceutical company in Australia.

Advised an Italian company in its acquisition of the U.S. subsidiary of a U.K. company in the pharmaceutical industry.

Advised in the acquisition of and merger into a biotech/healthcare company based in North Carolina.

Advised, as lead investor counsel, in a reorganization, US$1 million bridge loan, and US$7 million strategic investment by a leading pharmaceutical company in a biotech/medical company based in California.

We represented the founders of the South Beach Diet in the sale of the South Beach Diet brand to MidOcean Partners, a leading private equity firm.

Acted for an international pharmaceutical company in an evaluation project for the licensing of a new drug product as well as intellectual property litigation matters.

We acted for the CEO of an international and award winning pharmaceutical company in relation to her acrimonious exit. As a co-founder of the business and a minority shareholder, we negotiated the terms of her multi-million pound settlement, working closing with one of the top four accountants on valuation issues.

We were instructed to form a master LLC (limited liability company) to buy, build, own and occupy a state-of-the-art medical office building in the US. We also negotiated the permanent financing and construction, and arranged all the leases for our client.