Drafting Commercial Contracts for the Pharmaceutical Industry Training Course

Niels Ersbøll (More...)

Niels Ersbøll, Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP, advises clients on EU competition law in relation to cartels and restrictive practices, merger control, abuse of dominance and State aid. He is currently involved in several pending EU cartel investigations. He advises on merger control investigations by the European Commission and competition authorities worldwide for clients such as General Electric, Boston Scientific, Pfizer, and Sanyo. Where investigations (mergers or cartels) are run by several authorities in parallel, he assists with overall strategy and coordination. Niels also has significant experience helping clients with designing and implementing compliance measures and conducting internal investigations and audits.

Sean Constable (More...)

Sean Constable is an associate in the life sciences group at Mewburn Ellis LLP and is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney based in London. His work focusses on patent prosecution before the European Patent Office (EPO) and he has experience of both offensive and defensive opposition proceedings. He has experience filing and prosecuting patent applications on a broad variety of different technologies, with particular expertise in gene editing, protein engineering and antibody-based therapeutics. Sean also has experience working in-house at a biotechnology company in Cambridge, having been seconded there during his training and where he assisted the company with their patent portfolio and due diligence. He has a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Imperial College London and a PhD in Neuroscience from University College London.

Winsome Cheung (More...)

Winsome Cheung is an associate at Covington & Burling LLP assisting clients in the life sciences sector on their strategic transactions and investments, and intellectual property and commercial matters relating to the discovery, development, and commercialisation of their products. Winsome has a particular focus on the structuring, drafting, and negotiation of collaboration, co-development, license, and other complex strategic agreements, as well as manufacturing, clinical trial, and other agreements fundamental to the day-to-day running of life sciences businesses. She also advises on intellectual property and commercial aspects of M&A transactions and venture capital investments.

Daniel Pavin (More...)

Daniel Pavin is a partner in the Corporate Practice of Covington & Burling LLP’s London office. He has broad non-contentious and contentious experience, with an emphasis on advising companies for whom intellectual property rights are of paramount importance. In particular, Daniel advises life sciences clients on their licensing, partnering, collaboration and other strategic and commercial agreements, and on the IP aspects of mergers, acquisitions and strategic investments in the life sciences and technology sectors.

Stephen Reese (More...)

Stephen Reese is a partner at Clifford Chance and advises clients on both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters including patents, trade marks, trade secrets and copyright. Stephen represents and advises a broad range of clients in relation to the protection, exploitation and enforcement of their intellectual property rights. With significant experience representing clients within the life sciences and technology fields, Stephen has acted on some of the most significant licensing transactions in the life sciences industry. Since 2010, Stephen has been listed as one of IAM’s Top 250 Patent Licensing specialists.

Mario Subramaniam (More...)

Mario Subramaniam is a Legal Director in the Life Sciences Transactions team at Pinsent Masons. As a former research scientist, he has a passion for the life sciences and has expertise in advising clients on intellectual property, commercial and regulatory aspects of the pharma, biotech, medtech and digital health sectors. He has advised on agreements that span the product life cycle, including strategic licensing and research collaboration arrangements, clinical trials, manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements. Having previously been in-house counsel at a number of prominent life science companies, Mario has a deep understanding of clients’ needs in this sector and is renowned for his clear and practical advice.

Ben Thomas (More...)

Ben Thomas is a Supervising Associate at Simmons & Simmons. He has experience of working across a range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters, with a focus on patent and supplementary protection certificate litigation. Assisted by his strong technical background in biochemistry, Ben has a particular interest in the life sciences sector. He has acted for clients in a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, vaccines and medical devices, TMT and consumer goods (e.g. laundry detergents, vaping devices). He has acted for clients in disputes before the English Patents Court, the UK and European Union Intellectual Property Offices, and the General Court and Court of Justice of the European Union.

James Agnew (More...)

James Agnew is a supervising associate at Simmons & Simmons. He has worked on a range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters including commercial licensing, collaboration agreements, software protection, settlement proceedings and the intellectual property aspects of corporate transactions, financings and commercial arrangements. James also advises on life sciences regulatory issues including the promotion of medicines and devices and interactions with healthcare professionals. He has experience in a wide range of industries, including life sciences, TMT, finance, Fintech, energy and defence, with a focus on transactions involving intellectual property.

Tom Carver (More...)

Tom Carver is a partner at White & Black Legal. He has broad experience in patent litigation (infringement and validity) in pharmaceuticals, medical and mechanical devices and electronics, including advice concerning threats provisions. Tom co-ordinates and manages litigation in multiple jurisdictions, and has particular expertise in biotech patent litigation. Tom has a degree in genetics and worked on the first patent case in the UK relating to genetically modified organisms, Monsanto v Cargill, and the first patent case in the UK on DNA sequences, Eli Lilly v Human Genome Sciences. He has been involved in some of the most significant patent cases in the UK in recent years. Tom lived in China for three years, where he managed intellectual property enforcement for Western clients, including Dyson. His experience includes patent (design, utility and invention), trade secret, trade mark and copyright litigation against companies in provinces across China in sectors including capital and consumer goods, cosmetics and medical devices. He also has experience of non-judicial IPR enforcement in China at trade fairs, online and by Customs seizures.

Graham Roberts-Phelps (More...)

Graham Robert-Phelps is an international trainer and consultant, specialising in sales management. He shares his ideas and insights with thousands of people and organisations every year in all parts of the world. With an extensive background in management and business development, Graham works with organisations of many different types and sizes.

Ellen Lambrix (More...)

Ellen is a senior associate in the Bristows Commercial IP team. Ellen has a broad IP experience and specialises in advising clients on non-contentious IP matters with a focus on transactions which involve the development, exploitation and transfer of IP rights. She advises clients across a range of sectors including life sciences and consumer products and her clients range from large multinational companies, start-ups and growing companies to spin outs and research organisations.

Ellen frequently advises on high value research and development collaborations and licensing and option deals. She also advises on a range of other commercial agreements including franchising agreements and manufacturing and supply arrangements. Ellen also supports our IP litigation practice by advising on settlement agreements, and supports our corporate and financing teams advising on IP issues arising in the context of corporate transactions.

Claire Smith (More...)

Claire is a partner at Bristows specialising in commercial and intellectual property transactions, most notably in the life sciences and technology sectors. She advises on a wide range of commercial arrangements (the large majority of which are cross-border) and on corporate and investment deals where IP is an important asset. Her work includes advising pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and digital health companies on joint ventures, R&D collaborations, strategic partnerships and licensing deals (with commercial and academic partners), and on manufacturing, supply and distribution contracts and clinical trial agreements.

Before becoming a lawyer, Claire spent a number of years working for Abbott Laboratories’ medical device business in quality assurance and operations roles. Since being at Bristows, Claire has also spent time seconded to the in-house legal team of a leading global pharmaceutical company. She is also a member of the UK Bio Industry Association’s Intellectual Property Advisory Committee. Claire’s expertise is recognised by legal directories, including as a next generation partner for Life Sciences and Healthcare in the Legal 500.

Nick Finnie (More...)

Nick is a European and UK Patent Attorney with over 25 years’ experience in the patent profession, both in private practice and in-house.   Prior to his current position at ADC Therapeutics, a small pharma company developing cancer therapies, he spent 11 years at Novartis in various senior positions as well as two years at Lonza, a contract manufacturer for the pharmaceutical industry. 

George Jenkins (More...)

George Jenkins sits in Covington’s Band 1 ranked Life Sciences Transactions team, specializing in advising life sciences and digital health clients on complex, strategic commercial agreements. In particular, he advises clients on structuring, negotiating and drafting their collaborations, joint ventures, IP licensing, co-development arrangements, and agreements for the manufacture, distribution, and supply of goods. George also regularly works closely with the firm's Corporate Practice Group on product divestments, asset transfers, and related transitional agreements.

George has experience in advising on regulatory matters in the life sciences sector, including advising on regulatory and licensing requirements to enable clients to develop and commercialize their products in the EU. He understands the regulatory environment affecting the life sciences industry and is able to assist clients in setting their commercial arrangements and transactions in their wider regulatory context.

George has also spent time in the in-house legal teams of a number of clients, including at the headquarters of a global pharmaceutical company.