Robert Baxter is an associate in Ropes & Gray’s health care group who provides transactional, regulatory, and compliance advice to a range of health care clients, including pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, health care-focused private equity funds, pharmacies, hospitals, health systems, and educational institutions. Robert also advises academic medical centers, life sciences companies, and other clients that sponsor, support, and conduct research.
Robert has significant experience advising on health care transactions, including mergers and acquisitions of pharmaceutical and medical device companies and regulatory due diligence and compliance counseling in connection with private equity investments and strategic transactions. He regularly counsels clients on compliance with health care regulatory laws, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, drug pricing and government price reporting requirements, and research-related regulations.
In addition to his transactional and advisory work, Robert collaborates with the firm’s litigation practice on government and civil investigations involving fraud and abuse in the health care space, including False Claims Act investigations and matters involving the Anti-Kickback Statute.
Robert previously served as corporate counsel for Pfizer, where he provided transactional, compliance, and risk management support across the company’s research and development organization. During law school, Robert interned at an international medical device manufacturer and was a senior staff editor for the Georgetown University Law Center’s Food and Drug Law Journal.
As part of his pro bono practice, Robert helped establish a non-profit health clinic for disadvantaged and rural communities.
Experience
Transactions
- Advised Blackstone and TPG as health care and FDA regulatory counsel in an agreement to acquire Hologic, Inc. in a transaction valued at up to $79 per share, representing an enterprise value of up to $18.3 billion.
- Represented Eli Lilly in its pending up to $3.8 billion acquisition of AtaiBeckley.
- Represented Eli Lilly in its up to $1.5 billion acquisition of Curevo.
- Represented Eli Lilly in its up to $1.55 billion acquisition of Vaccine Company.
- Represented Eli Lilly in its up to $2.3 billion acquisition of Ajax Therapeutics.
- Represented Eli Lilly in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Ventyx Biosciences.
- Represented AbbVie in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Capstan Therapeutics.
- Represented Johnson & Johnson in connection with numerous acquisitions and divestitures of pharmaceutical and medical device assets and businesses.
- Represented Becton Dickinson in its acquisition of Venclose, a provider of solutions for the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency.
- Represented New Mountain Capital in its acquisition of Office Ally, a health care technology company providing a suite of cloud-based clearinghouse and software solutions to health care providers, partners, and health plans.
- Represented Avista Healthcare Partners in the carve-out acquisition of EBI, the bone healing division of Highridge Medical, a global medical device company.
- Represented EBI in its acquisition of Xstim, a division of Precision Medical Products Inc.
Regulatory Advisory, Research & Investigations
- Provides medical device and pharmaceutical companies with advice regarding the implementation of compliance programs, including compliance advice regarding discounts, evaluation products, and innovative sales models.
- Advises multiple clients navigating complex licensure change of ownership requirements for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and pharmacies.
- Advises academic medical centers, contract research organizations, and research sponsors on the negotiation and structuring of clinical trial agreements and human subjects research compliance and Institutional Review Board (IRB) matters.
- Advises research institutions on compliance with federal animal research regulations, including counseling Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) on regulatory requirements, protocol review, and reporting obligations to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, and the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care.
- Counsels public and private research universities on research security and foreign influence risk, including associated conflicts of interest, under evolving federal oversight.
- Represented a dental services organization in a False Claims Act investigation involving research funding, coding and billing compliance, and other regulatory risks.
- Represented a large medical device manufacturer in connection with an investigation concerning alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
- Represented a federally qualified health center in a joint civil investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and state attorney general focused on alleged violations of the federal and state False Claims Acts.