Life Sciences
We advise national and international clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices sectors, from start-ups to market leaders. We act both behind the scenes and in court where necessary.
Thanks to our extensive experience and active participation in many large professional organisations (for example, HollandBio, Bio.be and Flandersbio) we have built a powerful network and a comprehensive knowledge base of the sector. We are a co-founder of the Belgian Master Class in Biotechnology, run by the Institute of Pharmaceutical Business Administration. Our lawyers publish and speak regularly on such subjects as handling regulation, competition, IP and financing in the pharmaceutical, biotechnical and medical devices sectors.
NautaDutilh's Life Sciences team takes a holistic approach and is composed of associates from various practice groups (including regulatory, IP, public procurement, privacy, competition, M&A and finance specialists). This enables us to provide the full range of advisory, litigation and transactional services, tailored to meet our clients' needs.
Full-service approach
Our experience and full-service approach enable us to tailor our services to meet the needs of our life sciences clients at all stages of their product and business cycles: from company start-up, financing rounds and investment arrangements through to acquisition by listed companies or another form of exit such as an IPO. For business operations we assist with contracting (including licensing), regulatory work, patent issues, risk management and compliance. As a result of our dedication and attention to the life sciences sector, we are now widely recognised among industry players as one of the go-to full- service advisers in the Benelux.
We offer high-quality legal expertise coupled with in-depth market knowledge. Our Life Sciences team advises both domestic and international clients – ranging from start-ups to industry leaders – in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices fields, including behind the scenes, in transactional matters and dealings with the regulators and, if necessary, before the courts.
Highlighted work
The Life Sciences team boasts the largest Dutch pharma deal (in size) ever: AstraZeneca's up to USD 7 billion acquisition of Acerta Pharma, a privately-owned biopharmaceutical company based in the Netherlands and US. It advised ThermoFisher on its acquisition of Patheon, Mylan on its USD 22 billion merger with Pfizer's spin-out Upjohn, Sanofi on its acquisition of Ablynx and Janssen/Johnson&Johnson on its collaboration with argenx.
In addition, the team has worked on various high-level corporate projects (e.g. the integration of Pfizer's and Wyeth's businesses) and a number of IPOs and other capital market transactions: and it has also performed ongoing venture capital work concerning various successful biotech, pharma, agrotech and medical devices companies. At the same time, it provides high-end regulatory and litigation services with regard to product launches and distribution, advertising, clinical trials, generic entry, patent litigation and product liability issues, to name a few.
We work for a number of reputable pharmaceutical and biotech companies such as AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eurand, Gadeta, Galapagos, Gilead, Grunenthal, GlaxoSmithKline, Illumina, Incyte, InflaRx, Johnson & Johnson, Kite Pharma, Mediq, Medtronic, Merus, Monsanto, Mylan, Pfizer, Pharming, Qiagen, Sanofi, Shire Pharmaceuticals and uniQure. Our client portfolio also includes various high-potential life sciences venture capitalists and their investors as well as investment banks involved in IPOs and capital market transactions, such as Cowen and Company, Kempen & Co, Jefferies LLC, JPM Securi-ties, Leerink Partners LLC, Piper Jaffray & Co, UBC and Wedbush Securities.
