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> Experience > Sectors and focus areas > Life sciences and healthcare

Life sciences and healthcare

Your trusted global life sciences advisors.


From corporate strategy and financing to protecting your innovations, we have the reach and sector experience to work with start-up ventures to multinational corporations across their life cycle.

Our experienced team of life sciences lawyers spanning the UK, Europe, US and Asia, advise a variety of clients, from leading academic institutions, established pharmaceutical and medical device companies, start-ups and tech accelerators to renowned charities.

We’ve helped companies, specifically at inception or the early stages, bring innovative drugs, therapies and devices to market.  Our team includes lawyers with scientific backgrounds, regulatory and diverse industry experience, which gives us a unique perspective of the opportunities and issues faced by our clients in the life sciences sector.


As trusted advisors to our clients, we often work as general counsel thereby extending the capabilities of their teams, as well as providing intellectual property and regulatory strategy and other legal services, including effective business structuring and capital raising advice, managing intellectual property and commercial arrangements, employment and tax.

Our dedicated life sciences team has extensive experience advising entrepreneurs, investors, and technology companies, operating in a range of sectors, including biotech, med-tech, food tech and health-tech (including digital health).

From inception to exit, we are familiar with the life cycle of life sciences companies and the demands on scaling your business.  From structuring and fundraising for early stage companies to M&A and IPO for later stage companies.

We provide advice on a range of strategic regulatory matters, including:

  • preclinical, clinical trials and post approval pharmacovigilance across multiple jurisdictions
  • Interaction with regulatory authorities in the US and Europe
  • advertising and promotional activities
  • product recall and liability
  • industry codes of conduct and compliance
  • regulatory compliance regarding advertising and promotional activities
  • petitions regarding matters before regulatory authorities

We understand the importance of protecting, enforcing and monetising your IP, and help with:

  • IP strategy
  • protecting IP developed by your employees, consultants and other third party service providers
  • IP portfolio management and brand strategies to maximise the value of your IP across jurisdictions
  • dispute resolution of IP infringement
  • practitioners with advanced degrees in molecular biology and medicinal chemistry
  • execution in IP prosecution in worldwide portfolios
  • protection of bio-tech pharmaceutical and medical device technologies
IP and data protection

We understand how critical it is for your business to have a strong development pipeline and commercialise your intellectual property. We help you:

  • put in place valuable R&D, option and pipeline agreements to develop IP
  • negotiate in-licensing and out-licensing agreements for early or late-stage products
  • effectively bring your products to market through various outsourcing agreements for product manufacture, supply and distribution

For organizations whose business is simply growing beyond their existing legal capacity or which do not yet have budget for full time in-house lawyer, we offer general counsel support, whether at project specific fees and/or on a fixed monthly budget to meet your needs.

Our renowned charities team advises some of the leading charities in healthcare and research. We advise charities on governance and structuring issues where research is funded through charitable grants, social and financial investments. The team also advises organisations receiving charitable funding or investment.

Our team has a successful record of transferring technology and launching spin-out companies from notable universities, research institutions and tech accelerators. Our experience includes advising on investment and shareholder rights, and drafting and negotiating licensing documents and technology transfer agreements, including technology access through pipeline agreements, options and rights of first refusal.

Track record

Key contacts

Christopher Cowles, Ph.D.

Christopher Cowles, Ph.D.

Partner | Boston

Christopher Cowles, Ph.D.

Partner | Boston

Intellectual property and technology

Gina Bibby

Gina Bibby

Partner | Los Angeles

Gina Bibby

Partner | Los Angeles

Intellectual property and technology

James Shaw

James Shaw

Partner | London

James Shaw

Partner | London

Corporate

John Serio

John Serio

Partner | Boston

John Serio

Partner | Boston

Intellectual property and technology

Alvin Lim

Alvin Lim

Special counsel | Singapore

Alvin Lim

Special counsel | Singapore

Technology and Intellectual Property

Richard B. Emmons, Ph.D.

Richard B. Emmons, Ph.D.

Partner | Boston

Richard B. Emmons, Ph.D.

Partner | Boston

Intellectual property and technology

Richard Penfold

Richard Penfold

Partner | London

Richard Penfold

Partner | London

Intellectual property and technology

Susanna Stanfield

Susanna Stanfield

Partner | Cambridge

Susanna Stanfield

Partner | Cambridge

Corporate

Thomas  Meyers

Thomas Meyers

Partner | Boston

Thomas Meyers

Partner | Boston

Intellectual property

Zachary D. Hyde

Zachary D. Hyde

Partner | Boston

Zachary D. Hyde

Partner | Boston

Intellectual property

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Our website will give you a flavour of the advice we provide - if you would like to talk to us for more information, please contact our client services team who will be happy to assist.

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