Catherine Choi is an associate in the corporate department of Ropes & Gray LLP. She advises life sciences, technology, and consumer products companies, including private-equity backed businesses, on strategic transactions, including licensing and collaboration agreements, platform partnerships, and IP-driven M&A. She also advises U.S. and international clients on cross-border matters, including biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Catherine received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as an editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, was an Endowed Opportunity Scholar, and received a CALI Award in International Business Negotiations.
Prior to law school, Catherine worked at an international consulting firm and co-authored reports for the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics analyzing federal sex trafficking networks through data visualization techniques. She also served as a director of the Massachusetts Small Claims Advisory Service in partnership with Harvard University’s Philips Brooks House Legal Committee.
Experience
Life Sciences Licenses, Collaborations, Strategic M&A
- Advised ImmunoGen, Inc. on intellectual property matters relating to its $10.1 billion sale to AbbVie Inc.
- Advised HUTCHMED (China) Limited in a $1.13 billion exclusive worldwide license to Takeda to develop, manufacture and commercialize HUTCHMED's colorectal cancer treatment, fruquintinib, outside of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. At signing, this was the largest deal in China’s history involving a small-molecule drug discovered and developed by a China biotechnology company.
- Advised Eli Lilly and Company on several matters, including:
- its $1 billion option to acquire Radionetics Oncology, a clinical stage company with an expertise in developing novel radiopharmaceutical technologies for the treatment of a broad range of solid tumors.
- its global, exclusive collaboration and license agreement with a Korea-based biotechnology company focused on RNA interference therapeutics targeting the MARC1 gene.
- its carve-out acquisition of certain assets of a U.S-based preclinical drug research company.
- its collaboration and supply agreement with a China-based clinical stage biotechnology company.
- Represented Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of 2seventy Bio Inc.’s platforms for the development of next-generation R&D cell medicines.
- Advised a Korea-based biotechnology company on material transfer agreements, technology evaluation and licensing matters.
Private Equity-Backed Acquisitions and Sales in Consumer and Retail Industries
- Represented American Industrial Partners in its intellectual property matters relating to the United States and Canadian architectural coatings business of PPG, including trademark and patent assignments and related chain-of-title filings.
- Advised FB Debt Financing Guarantor LLC and its subsidiaries, a producer of luxury beauty brands, on intellectual property and trademark issues in connection with their Section 363 sale transaction.
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Advised New Mountain Capital on data and privacy diligence matters relating to its billion-dollar acquisition of a healthcare company.