FIRM ANALYSIS FINANCE & TRANSACTIONAL
Firm Briefings
PRACTICE BREAKDOWN PER INDUSTRY SECTOR
We asked finance/transactional attorneys to breakdown their practice by industry. The following represents a percentage of all respondents’ answers.
Agri-tech Medical Devices Pharmaceutical (Generic) Pharmaceutical (Branded) Biotechnology 0 10 20 30 40 50
firms in the US life sciences market,” according to one peer. “They have a bench full of superstar attorneys in this part of the industry and will be a leader in this space for quite some time,” adds another competitor. Latham has represented a bevy of prominent industry companies such as the Boston Scientific Corporation and Watson Pharmaceuticals. Alan Mendelson co-chairs Latham’s Emerging Companies and Life Sciences groups and is a leader in the industry. “He is one attorney that is not only recognized for his contributions to the industry, but will also be remembered for it long after he retires,” is how one rival describes Mendelson’s life sciences work. He represented drug developer Ardelyx in its worldwide exclusive licensing agreement with AstraZeneca regarding Ardelyx’s NHE3 inhibitor programme in Phase 2 clinical trials concerning a lead compound for the treatment of complications associated with end-stage renal disease. Global co-chair of the Life Sciences industry group Mark Roeder has also cemented his reputation in the industry and colleagues note his “ability to get any deal done and his awareness of his client’s needs” as the main reasons for Roeder’s success. Last year, Roeder represented pharmaceutical discovery company Envoy Therapeutics in an agreement for Takeda Pharmaceuticals to acquire 100% of the equity in Envoy for a total consideration of up to $140 million. “We loved working with Latham on our deals,” exclaims one client. “During our time working with them, we always felt as if our needs were put first and that they knew exactly what we were looking for in a business partner.” Mayer Brown Competing firms are noticing the uptick in work that Mayer
Brown is seeing in the corporate life sciences market. “Their partners’ names keep coming up in completed deals we see in the space, and I would imagine it is a product of the great corporate work they have done in other industries,” remarks one peer. The firm played a large role in Abbott Laboratories $14.7 billion notes offering by subsidiary AbbVie Inc. that were issued in connection with the proposed spin-off of AbbVie Inc. to Abbott’s stockholders. Mayer Brown handles corporate matters for the traditional segments of the life sciences industry, and also deals with more specialized areas such as food and nutrition. Partner David Carpenter, who one attorney believes is “as smart as they come in the dealmaking world,” worked with Nestle in its $11.85 billion acquisition of Pfizer Nutrition, a producer of premium-quality pediatric nutritional products. Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo uses its know-how in intellectual property and technology to assist clients with their life sciences transactions. “Their corporate group does a lot of technology transfer agreements with the support of their IP attorneys,” notes one rival. The firm counseled BeiGene, LLC on exclusive inlicensing and co-development agreements with divisions of Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, and CNA Development. Jeffrey Wiesen has been working in the industry for over 30 years and is currently the chair of the firm’s life sciences group. A peer of Wiesen observes, “He works with many different clients as their chair and is responsible for a lot of the work they have brought in over the years.” Wiesen’s life sciences group led the rep-
LMG LIFE SCIENCES 2013
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