WilmerHale is proud to announce that Oxford BioTherapeutics has been selected as a nominee for the Deloitte Recap 2013 Breakthrough Alliance Award—an annual award which honors the creative partnering efforts of business development licensing professionals. Oxford BioTherapeutics, a client of WilmerHale’s London office under the guidance of Partner Joe Pillman, has been nominated for its recent licensing deal with Menarini.
In October, 2012, Oxford BioTherapeutics and Menarini announced a major innovative and strategic alliance to develop a portfolio of antibody based drugs in the field of cancer. WilmerHale’s Steve Singer represented Oxford BioTherapeutics in the $1 billion deal that covers five of Oxford BioTherapeutics antibody and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) programs, each of which addresses a different cancer indication via a different novel oncology target. Under the collaboration, Menarini will lead the efforts in the manufacture and clinical development of each program, supported by Oxford BioTherapeutics, while Oxford BioTherapeutics will provide the proprietary cancer target, antibody and arming technologies. Once clinical proof of concept has been achieved, Oxford BioTherapeutics will complete the clinical development and commercialize these novel antibody based products in North America and Japan, while Menarini will develop and commercialize the products in Europe, CIS, Asia and Latin America.
“This deal was complicated and innovative and very rewarding to see completed,” said Steve Singer, co-chair of WilmerHale’s Life Sciences Group and Chair of its Transactional Department. “We are pleased to see Oxford BioTherapeutics recognized in this way.”
The life sciences industry is a significant part of WilmerHale’s practice, with more than 100 of its lawyers devoting a significant portion of their practice to this industry. The firm has represented life sciences clients in boardrooms and courtrooms across the United States and Europe for four decades. As a result of its successful representation of public and private companies, investment banks and venture capitalists in all aspects of the life sciences industry, the firm is ranked among the top six firms in the nation for life sciences work by Chambers USA 2012 and among the leading practices in the world by Chambers Global 2012 in its Life Sciences Global-wide category.
Deloitte Recap analysts examined hundreds of biopharma license deals negotiated in 2012 and used both subjective and objective criteria, including a minimum disclosed deal size of $100 million, to identify the top five contenders for deal of the year. The award is bestowed upon the deal that receives the most votes by individuals in the biopharma and life sciences industry. Voting is open until 5 p.m. ET on April 29, 2013. The award will be presented at Deloitte Recap’s ALLICENSE conference on April 29, 2013.
Voters must work in the biopharma or life science industry and must not be employed by Deloitte or a party (or affiliate to a party) of a nominated deal.