Sarah Smith
Associate
Sarah Smith joined Ropes & Gray in 2019 in the corporate department, and has represented a broad range of private equity and strategic clients in a variety of transactions including complex licenses and collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial agreements.
Sarah graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2019. During law school, Sarah was a senior editor for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, co-director of the Civil Rights Law Project, and received Penn Law’s Herbert F. Schwartz Award for distinguished achievement in the field of intellectual property and technology.
Experience
- Advised ImmunoGen, a leader in the field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) for the treatment of cancer, in:
- a research collaboration with Biosion USA, a global research & development biotechnology company, to create novel antibody-drug conjugates; and
- a term loan financing for up to $175 million with entities managed by Pharmakon Advisors.
- Advised Sanofi in an exclusive worldwide collaboration with Skyhawk Therapeutics for up to more than $2 billion to discover and develop novel small molecules that modulate RNA splicing for challenging oncology and immunology disease targets with limited or no therapeutic options.
- Represented CANbridge Pharmaceuticals, a China-based biopharmaceutical company, in connection with its exclusive license agreement with Mirum Pharmaceuticals relating to the development and commercialization of maralixibat in Greater China for the treatment of certain rare diseases.
- Represented a multinational biotechnology company in a license and collaboration agreement with a China-based biopharmaceutical company to develop and commercialize small molecule drugs for the treatment of certain autoimmune diseases outside China.
- Represented a global biopharmaceutical company in a collaboration and option agreement with a biotechnology company to discover, develop, and commercialize innovative small molecule drugs against certain oncology and immunology targets.
- Represented Becton Dickinson in its acquisition of the medical business of CUBEX.
- Represented MiNK Therapeutics, a clinical-stage precision oncology company, in its initial public offering.
- Advised Novavax, a biotechnology company which discovers, develops, and delivers vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases, in disclosure and governance matters.
- Advised private equity funds on a variety of intellectual property matters relating to acquisitions of companies, including companies in the software, healthcare information technology, pharmaceutical, and consumer products industries.
- Served as a member of the firm's confidentiality agreement review team, a group of attorneys who review, evaluate, and negotiate confidentiality agreements on behalf of the firm's clients.
Publications
- “Copyright and Reality,” 167 U. PA. L. REV. 1269 (2019).
Education
- JD, magna cum laude, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2019; Order of the Coif; Senior Editor, University of Pennsylvania Law Review
- BA (English Literature & History), summa cum laude, State University of New York at Geneseo, 2015
Admissions / Qualifications
Qualifications
- Massachusetts, 2019