A broad range of life sciences companies and investors turn to Brad Flint for his combination of experience, deep industry knowledge and business-oriented legal guidance. Recognized as a Chambers USA leading lawyer for business, Brad draws on a decade of experience representing both emerging and established companies, as well as institutional investors, to guide clients through the complex array of issues they face, from formation through initial public offering.
Brad co-leads Ropes & Gray’s venture investing and emerging company practice, and is a member of the firm’s M&A, and capital markets and governance practices. He advises on minority equity investments, and also on startup and formation matters, corporate governance, debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property licensing, employment and consulting arrangements, commercial agreements, and other general corporate matters. Often serving as general or principal outside counsel to emerging companies, Brad provides both strategic advice and ongoing general corporate counsel, working closely with colleagues across the firm to provide clients with comprehensive business and legal guidance while leading significant transactions on their behalf. Clients consider Brad to be a critical partner in helping them to achieve their business goals.
Brad represents clients from a variety of industries, including biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, software and technology. He has been counsel to some of the world’s leading life sciences companies, including Pfizer, Sarepta Therapeutics and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, among others. He also regularly represents investors in connection with venture capital, growth equity and other minority equity investment transactions.
Experience
- Represented genetic medicine company Arbor Biotechnologies in multiple transactions including:
- an oversubscribed and up-sized $215 million Series B financing.
- a strategic research collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals focused on the discovery of novel proteins, including DNA endonucleases, to further develop new gene-editing therapies for cystic fibrosis and other diseases.
- Represented leading global financial technology platform iCapital Network in raising $440 million in new financing giving the company an approximate valuation of $4 billion.
- Represented Genesis Therapeutics in completing a $52 million Series A financing to accelerate artificial intelligence innovation and a drug discovery & development pipeline. Genesis will use the funds to drive its drug discovery and development programs by hiring more AI researchers, software engineers, medicinal chemists and biotechnology talent; accelerate innovation in AI technologies and advance its therapeutics pipeline.
- Regularly represents Bain Capital Ventures, Northpond Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, Sands Capital Ventures, Silversmith Capital Partners, and other institutional investors in various venture and growth capital equity investments.
- Represented biopharmaceutical company Sarepta Therapeutics in a strategic investment and licensing transaction with Lacerta Therapeutics, a gene therapy company, in which Sarepta entered into a license and option agreement for up to three new CNS-targeted gene therapy programs, including exclusive rights to Lacerta’s gene therapy candidate for Pompe Disease and options to two additional candidates, and made an equity investment of $30 million in Lacerta.
- Represented Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in a partnership with Ambys Medicines, a company launched by Takeda and Third Rock Ventures, to discover and develop novel cell and gene therapies for liver disease. Takeda has committed $100 million and retains options to develop and commercialize products in certain geographies, including participation in the Series A financing.
- Represented Pfizer, a leading American pharmaceutical company, in a transaction with Allogene Therapeutics for Pfizer's portfolio of assets related to allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy, an investigational immune cell therapy approach to treating cancer.
- Represented Prevail Therapeutics, Inc., a startup focused on new biologics and gene therapies for Parkinson’s disease, in its formation, Series Seed financing, initial IP in-licensing, and with respect to various general corporate matters as ongoing outside counsel to the company. Prevail was launched and initially financed by The Silverstein Foundation and OrbiMed. In conjunction with its launch, Prevail entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with REGENXBIO Inc. to develop and commercialize gene therapy products using REGENXBIO’s NAV AAV9 vector for the treatment of Parkinson’s and other related neurodegenerative diseases.
- Represented Acceleron Pharma, a Cambridge-based biotech company that develops protein therapeutics for cancer and rare diseases, in its initial public offering and concurrent private placement by Celgene with aggregate proceeds of $94 million. The IPO was underwritten by Citigroup, Leerink Swann, JMP Securities and Piper Jaffray.