The lawyers and technical specialists of the Life Sciences Practice at Ropes & Gray understand the unique needs of clients in a dynamic and developing industry.  We represent a spectrum of clients, from venture backed start-ups to some of the world’s leading biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies. We believe the depth and breadth of our practice and our ability to service clients on sophisticated cross-disciplinary issues is unsurpassed.  Many of our lawyers hold PhDs, MD’s and other advanced degrees in the biologic and engineering sciences.  Our understanding of the legal and business issues facing companies in the industry enables Ropes & Gray to help clients formulate critical solutions to difficult problems and to avoid pitfalls that can limit or impair prospects.  We perform a full range of services for life sciences clients, including:

• Financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, collaborations, licensing, and corporate transactions of all forms;
• Corporate governance, securities, executive compensation, and other general business law matters for private and public companies;
• Patent prosecution, opinions, and due diligence;
• Intellectual property advice and litigation;
• Market exclusivity;
• FDA regulatory matters;
• Health care advice regarding fraud and abuse and government enforcement in marketing, distribution, and pricing arrangements;
• Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement;
• International tax advice on transfer pricing and the structure of transactions;
• The antitrust implications of market competition strategies; and
• Regulation and labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and human therapeutics derived from animal and plant sources.

How We Help Our Clients

• Life sciences companies, ranging from public to private venture capital backed companies to major international pharmaceutical and medical device companies, rely on Ropes & Gray for strategic licensing, corporate partnering, financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and other business and securities law matters.
• Our patent lawyers serve as counsel to a number of the leading biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies in the nation, as well as to venture-backed development stage companies. We also perform patent/intellectual property due diligence for our venture capital and investment banking clients.
• Both domestic and international pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies turn to Ropes & Gray to navigate through FDA regulatory, market exclusivity, antitrust, and intellectual property matters.
• Investment banking firms regularly turn to Ropes & Gray as counsel to their life sciences groups in regard to many of the largest financings for the life sciences industry.
• Research institutions utilize our intimate knowledge of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules regarding technology transfer, regulation of research under government grants, and patent privacy regulations.
• As issues with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) continue to arise and take precedence, we have particular expertise, since several of our attorneys previously served in the EPA as counsel overseeing the regulation of GMOs.  We also regularly serve as counsel to food manufacturers and distributors on labeling issues for GMOs.
• We serve as international tax counsel to life sciences companies on transfer pricing and cross-border investments.

Our Clients

The Life Sciences Practice represents a diverse list of clients who manufacture or provide the following products and services:

• Pharmaceuticals;
• Biotechnology therapeutics;
• Diagnostics, medical device, and other health care equipment;
• Investment banking, venture capital, institutional, and individual investors focused on funding life sciences related companies;
• Veterinary, agricultural, consumer products, and industrial applications;
• Genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and reagents product development; and
• Public and private research institutions.

Contact

For more information on this area of practice, please contact:

• Steven A. Wilcox

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