John Kappos
610 Newport Center Drive, 17th Floor
Newport Beach, CA, 92660
Phone: +1 (949) 823-6954
Fax: +1-949-823-6994
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Warren T. Lazarow
2765 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA, 94025
Phone: +1 (650) 473-2637
Fax: +1-650-473-2601
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David Murphy
610 Newport Center Drive, 17th Floor
Newport Beach, CA, 92660
Phone: +1 (949) 823-6960
Fax: +1-949-823-6994
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Sam Zucker
2765 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA, 94025
Phone: +1 (650) 473-2638
Fax: +1-650-473-2601
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Richard Goetz
400 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90071
Phone: +1 (213) 430-6400
Fax: +1-213-430-6407
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George Riley
Two Embarcadero Center, 28th Floor
San Francisco, CA, 94111
Phone: +1 (415) 984-8741
Fax: +1-415-984-8701
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David Deaton
400 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90071
Phone: +1 (213) 430-6191
Fax: +1-213-430-6407
PROFESSIONALS
- Related Practices
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Affymetrix, Inc.
Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Cell Genesys
Celula, Inc.
Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
Insite Vision
Johnson & Johnson
Merck & Co., Inc.
Nektar Therapeutics
New Leaf Venture Partners
Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics
Novo Nordisk
Sirna Therapeutics
Sprout Group
Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
WuXi Pharmatech Co., Ltd
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Life Sciences
The life sciences industry operates in a dynamic market characterized by consolidation among major industry players, shifting public policy attitudes, the expiration of “blockbuster” drug patents, and intense scrutiny from consumers, regulators, and the public markets. To keep pace with the latest changes requires a law firm committed to innovative strategies and creative problem solving.
O’Melveny’s life sciences group counsels industry clients in all areas of law ranging from mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, licensing transactions, challenging labor and personnel issues, and debt and equity financings, to serving as counsel in intellectual property, products liability, class action, and multi-district litigation. Our ability to drive groundbreaking deals, structure precedent-setting transactions, and handle bet-the-company litigation, demonstrate the type of innovative legal advice that our clients expect from us.
In one of the largest financings of 2011, for example, we represented Nektar Therapeutics in its completion of a public offering that raised over US$220 million. In litigation, we represented Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics in a recent patent trial victory over Genetics Institute LLC; we serve as one of Merck’s national counsel in Vioxx litigation; and we are lead counsel for Amylin in product liability suits relating to the diabetes drug Byetta.
Key Facts
- Chambers USA (2010-11) recognizes us as one of the top life sciences practices, praising our “comprehensive, multidisciplinary service,” including our ability to provide seamless coverage for cross-border undertakings. And the US Legal 500 (2010-11) quotes sources referring to our lawyers as “uniformly excellent.”
- Our life sciences team has strong relationships with the entrepreneurs, scientists, and venture capital firms that drive innovation in the life sciences community, as well as with larger, more established companies.
- We have one of the United States’ most active life sciences teams, closing more than 40 transactions in 2011.
- We are experienced in all forms of business partnering transactions. Beyond traditional M&A, our team has the depth of experience and breadth of capability to handle all forms of strategic industry transactions—including licensing deals, joint ventures, and strategic investments—and can readily switch between them as needed. In our representation of Sirna Therapeutics in its US$1.1 billion acquisition by Merck & Co, Inc., for example, we originally negotiated a licensing transaction before it grew into an acquisition.
- We handle complex and innovative transactions, and have worked on some of the most innovative transactions in the industry, including representing the buyer of DeCODE Genetics' assets in one of the only successfully completed acquisitions of biotech assets out of bankruptcy; handling the divestiture of the pulmonary division of Nektar Therapeutics to Novartis and the related licensing transactions with Novartis and Bayer; and public company financings of Affymax, Cadence Pharmaceuticals, NxStage Medical, Worldheart, and XenoPort.
- We handle large transactions. Some of our notable large deals in recent years include:
- representing WuXi PharmaTech in its proposed sale to Charles River Laboratories International in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately US$1.6 billion. The transaction represents one of the largest foreign takeovers of a Chinese company;
- representing Sirna in its US$1.1 billion sale to Merck;
- representing Vicuron in its US$1.9 billion acquisition by Pfizer Inc;
- representing a consortium of venture capital investors in the largest private biotech deal ever made, the US$670 million merger of the biotech company Ikaria Inc. with INO Therapeutics;
- representing Advanced Bionics Corporation in its merger with Boston Scientific Corporation and subsequent sale to Sonova Holding AG for US$489 million; and
- representing American Capital in its leveraged buy-out of Axygen, Inc. and subsequent sale of Axygen BioScience to Corning for approximately US$400 million.
- We are a leader in representing “healthcare efficiency” companies, innovative companies that through the private sector seek to reform key aspects of our healthcare systems. We represent Castlight Health, for example, including in its US$60 million 2010 financing. Castlight is a leader in making healthcare costs more transparent and named in 2011 by the Wall Street Journal as the number one venture-backed company. We also represent CodeRyte, one of the fastest growing companies in automated and natural language medical billing and compliance, and Alliance Health, the leading portal for social health networks.
- Many of our lawyers hold advanced scientific degrees (including Ph.D.s in chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, and microbiology) or have worked in-house at life sciences companies—permitting us to offer practical counseling backed by real world experience.
- We appreciate the high-risk environment that life sciences companies face. With decades of experience litigating high-stakes matters, including multi-venued, high-profile, pharmaceutical, products liability, and patent litigations, we have the insight needed to provide solid strategic advice to clients on the verge of acquiring new technology, or launching a new product—placing them ahead of the curve on risk assessment, management, and avoidance.
- Indeed, O’Melveny’s compelling mix of industry experience, intellectual property strength, and first-class Asian and European resources offers life sciences clients a competitive edge in the dynamic and ever-changing life sciences landscape.
- Over the past 30 years, we have defended hundreds of consumer class actions in 45 states and regularly serve as lead counsel to large pharmaceutical and medical device companies in high-profile mass tort proceedings, class actions, and government enforcement actions, including wrongful death and personal injury cases. Clients include Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and McNeil-PPC, Inc.
- We also have extensive experience litigating multi-faceted intellectual property and technology disputes in forums around the nation. In 2010, we achieved victory on behalf of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. at trial in the District of Delaware against Genetics Institute, LLC, affirmed on appeal in 2011. The complex patent case involved recombinant Human Factor VIII, a protein used to treat hemophiliacs.
Industry Reach
We represent clients in a wide range of industries, including:
- Biotechnology
- Drug discovery
- Genomics
- Medical devices
- Nanotechnology
- Pharmaceuticals
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B. Braun (Central Admixture Pharmacy Services, Inc.)
Fabrus
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
OrthoClear, Inc.
Sirna Therapeutics
New Leaf Venture Partners
Affymetrix, Inc
Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
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