Life sciences transactions: look before you leap

06-12-2016

Karen Mangasarian and Ryan Murphey

Life sciences transactions: look before you leap

Vaclav Volrab / Shutterstock.com

Anyone seeking a deal with a life sciences company must understand the value and potential risks of its IP, as Karen Mangasarian and Ryan Murphey of Ropes & Gray explain.

Whether it is to replenish innovator pharmaceutical companies’ diminishing new product pipelines or because of the allure of new platform technologies, the life sciences industry has been an active sector for transactions of various kinds.

These transactions have come in the form of partnerships, joint ventures, licences, and mergers and acquisitions. Life sciences companies typically rely on patent and regulatory exclusivity to recover the enormous costs associated with developing and bringing a product to market before generic or biosimilar competition drives profits down.

This means that intellectual property (in particular, patents) is often one of the most valuable assets of a life sciences company, particularly an early stage company, which does not have a revenue stream. Anyone seeking a deal with a life sciences company must understand the value and potential risks of its IP.


Karen Mangasarian, Ryan Murphey, Ropes & Gray, freedom to operate, patent, trademark, copyright, FTO, USPTO, PTE, FDA,

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