Life Sciences Lawyers

• Funding – from venture capital, private equity, angels, capital markets, grant funders, innovation agencies and NHS commissioners

• Corporate advice – company formation, shareholder agreements and disputes

• Intellectual property protection and exploitation – including licensing and collaboration agreements, to give an edge over competitors and provide reassurance to investors

• Regulatory advice – including licence applications, compliance, classification (for medical devices and novel, advanced and borderline products) and dispute resolution

• Data governance – compliance solutions for data-driven products and services, including AI

• Commercial contracts – including franchising, supply and distribution agreements, technology transfer agreements, clinical trial agreements, research study agreements and infrastructure/platform/software-as-a-service (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS) agreements

• Consumer-facing terms and conditions – end user licence agreements, terms of service, privacy notices and privacy dashboards

• Commissioning models – how to buy and sell Medtech, digital health and devices into NHS and private clinical pathways, including strategic partnerships between providers and suppliers.

• Joint ventures and collaborations – including involving domestic and international research organisations and hospitals

• Spinouts - advising on spinout transactions involving public sector and research institutions, including technology transfer and exploitation arrangements

• Transactions - disposals, mergers, acquisitions and restructuring

We are committed to providing the highest quality service through a real understanding of your priorities and requirements, together with a common sense and commercial approach.

Our dedicated relationship leads ensure regular contact and communication, providing a proactive partnership with you through pragmatic advice and an innovative, commercial approach.

Our approach to fees is designed to be flexible, recognising the differing needs of businesses depending on their stage in the development cycle.

As an international law firm, we manage and co-ordinate cross-border transactions, disputes and advisory projects involving our closely-knit network of partner law firms around the world.

• Funding – from venture capital, private equity, angels, capital markets, grant funders, innovation agencies and NHS commissioners
• Corporate advice – company formation, shareholder agreements and disputes
• Intellectual property protection and exploitation – including licensing and collaboration agreements, to give an edge over competitors and provide reassurance to investors
• Regulatory advice – including licence applications, compliance, classification (for medical devices and novel, advanced and borderline products) and dispute resolution
• Consumer-facing terms and conditions – end user licence agreements, terms of service, privacy notices and privacy dashboards
• Joint ventures and collaborations – including involving domestic and international research organisations and hospitals

• Advising Genflow Biosciences plc (LON: GENF), the first pure-play longevity biotechnology firm to list in Europe, on a £3.7 million oversubscribed placing and the company’s admission to the standard segment of the main market of the London Stock Exchange
• Advising Psych Capital on the completion of it’s IPO on the ASQE Growth Market, marking the first UK listing of a company operating in the nascent medical psychedelic sector
• Advising The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust on a US Partnership with Guardant Health to improve patient access to personalised cancer treatment.
• Advising Juvenescence Limited, a private bio-pharma development company that develops therapies that will allow people worldwide to live longer, healthier lives, on various fundraisings, including its US$50 million Series A Fundraising
• Advising Cenkos Securities Plc on various placings for leading clinical-stage stem cell business, Reneuron Plc
• Advising on the AIM IPO of drug discovery and development business C4X Discovery Plc and subsequent fundraising
• Advised an NHS foundation trust in relation to the first in-man use of a monoclonal antibody to treat sporadic CJD (reported as University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v KG)
• Advised in relation to the regulation of cell therapies by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• Advised the EU CEN working group on the development of an electronic coding and traceability framework for human tissue and cells across the EU

We offer advice on:

• Importing and exporting cannabis
• Manufacturing and distributing cannabis
• Setting up medical cannabis clinics for prescribing
• Establishing joint ventures to invest in cannabis-based therapeutic treatments
• Setting up funds to invest in cannabis businesses and raising capital

• Advised EMMAC Life Sciences on US$345M acquisition by CuraLeaf in medical cannabis sector’s largest ever UK deal. More info here
• Advised Scotland’s first medical cannabis production facility on a £2 million fundraise from UK investment house Traditum Private Equity and a number of private investors. More info here
• Advised the board of Hellenic Dynamics plc (formerly UK SPAC plc) on its successful acquisition of Hellenic Dynamics SA, a Greek company involved in the cultivation and production of THC-dominant strains of medical cannabis flowers designed to be prescribed by doctors, and its admission to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. More info here
• Advised Psych Capital plc on the successful completion of its IPO on the AQSE Growth Market on 9 June 2022. The transaction marks the first UK listing of a company operating in the nascent medical psychedelic sector. More info here

We advise a large number of NHS and private clinics licensed by the HFEA, together with researchers, companies and service providers working in this area. We can support you with:

• consent to treatment and storage, including statutory storage periods, withdrawal of consent, and consent to legal parenthood
• retention and disposal of gametes and embryos
• drafting patient contracts and third party agreements
• confidentiality and data protection issues
• corporate transactions relating to fertility clinics, including acquisitions and private equity investments
• disputes between patients and clinics, including complaints, clinical negligence and breach of contract claims against clinics
• the import and export of gametes and embryos
• drafting written representations and representing clinics before the HFEA Licence Committee and Appeal Committee
• judicial reviews relating to the HFEA

The use of human embryos in research is still opposed by many. Applications for, and awards of, HFEA research licences are therefore closely scrutinised and sometimes contested by those fundamentally opposed to embryo research. This often leads to a precautionary approach on the part of the regulator, reflected in a reluctance to grant licences in novel and contentious areas, though recent changes in the law have helped to clarify HFEA’s remit in this area.

We advise universities, companies and clinics in relation to applications for HFEA research licences, HFEA licence committee procedures, regulatory investigations and litigation relating to research.

• Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration and regulatory action: Acting for The Fertility Partnership in relation to a complex and novel breach of contract claim for the costs of raising an unwanted, healthy child (reported as ARB -v- IVF Hammersmith & R)
• Acting for BMI Healthcare Limited and their former patient, Samantha Jefferies, in her successful application for a declaration that the amendment of her late husband’s consent was invalid, enabling their embryos to remain in storage (reported as Jefferies -v- BMI Healthcare & HFEA)
• Acting for numerous clinics in relation to applications for declarations of legal parenthood by former patients following errors with their consent forms, and advising in relation to surrogacy arrangements and disputes arising in relation to them Advised in relation to the application for a HFEA licence to use germline genome editing in human embryos for research
• Advising on the regulation and licensing of human embryonic stem cell research, including the relevant consent requirements and ethics approval and on the regulation and licensing of mitochondrial DNA transfer research and therapy
• Acted in a judicial review regarding the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for research purposes (reported as R (on the application of Quintavalle and the Christian Legal Centre) -v- HFEA)

We offer a full spectrum of advice to public and private companies, including on:

• IPOs on the London Stock Exchange
• Cross-jurisdictional investment and acquisition opportunities in line with clients’ investment strategies
• Further equity fundraisings once listed on the London Stock Exchange; and
• General commercial and corporate governance matters such as advices in relation to investment strategies and the adoption of relevant policies
• Food hygiene and food safety investigations and prosecutions
• Hygiene improvement notices
• Hygiene prohibition notices
• Hygiene emergency prohibition notices and orders
• Pest infestations
• Allergens
• Labelling and packaging
• HACCP

• Advising gluten-free market leader Dr. Schär UK on acquisition of GDR Food Technology
• Listing Agritech businesses on stock exchanges including Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market, Standard Segment of the Main Market, and AIM