Pharmaceuticals and life sciences

We provide our pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients in the Middle East with high quality legal expertise and a highly commercial approach to doing business in this dynamic sector.

We specialise in acquisition of rights, transactions involving licensing and transfer of technology, technology joint ventures, research and development, supply and distribution agreements, and dispute resolution. We also advise on fund raisings, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and public offerings in this field.

We can also advise clients on legal issues connected with introducing products to the market such as patent issues, branding, product information leaflets and advertising.

We can

• advise on all types of agreement relating to the acquisition, transfer or licensing of rights, including in-licences, research and development contracts, marketing, supply and distribution agreements;
• provide support on issues and transactions specific to the sector, including product recall, safety and pharmacovigilance;
• advise on fund raisings, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and public offerings in the fields of pharmaceuticals and life sciences;
• support major construction projects and financing arrangements in relation to healthcare facilities and hospitals;
• develop product liability risk management programmes to avoid or reduce potential exposure and costs.

Clients and experience

We act for established and developing businesses in the pharmaceuticals and life sciences sector, as well as the venture capital and private equity firms that invest in them.

In the Middle East, we have:

• advised one of the largest pharmaceutical and personal care products companies in the region on the procurement of an IT system for its chain of retail stores in Saudi Arabia;
• advised a company specialising in in-licensing and marketing of innovative healthcare products to the rapidly growing emerging markets of Africa and the Middle East on licence agreements with international drug manufacturers, sub-distribution arrangements in various jurisdictions and other legal issues;
• advised an Abu Dhabi medical devices company on confidentiality and patent licensing issues;
• advised a GCC government in connection with the real estate aspects of the privatisation and development of a hospital/clinic;
• advised a specialist US diabetes centre in relation to the provision of its expertise to a UAE company for the purpose of establishing a number of specialist centres throughout the UAE.