Life sciences—including pharma, biotech, and medtech—is a core sector for WilmerHale. Globally, more than 100 of our lawyers provide legal advice specifically to life sciences clients (Learn more about our global Life Sciences practice). About 30 of our life sciences lawyers are located in our European offices.
Our European track record for the pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech and life sciences industries spans M&A, general corporate and contract advice, assistance with general and industry-specific intellectual property (including licensing) and support with all types of industry-specific regulatory issues. Our clients include large, midsized, and small pharma and biotech companies, including clinical research organizations, corporations, and companies from the medtech industry as well as strategic and financial investors. We provide legal know-how, a deep understanding of technology, industry insight and internationally oriented advice from an entrepreneurial perspective. Chambers Europe recognized WilmerHale as a leader in life sciences in Germany in its 2013–2017 editions.
Our European life sciences regulatory lawyers advise on clinical trial and marketing approval procedures and pharmacovigilance issues. We assist our clients in product launches as well as on advertising strategies. We also are knowledgeable on compliance issues, including promotional compliance and anti-kickback safeguards, on GMO approval procedures and on product liability. Our lawyers are experienced in social security/public health care matters (including reimbursement questions). We have advised on issues such as the inclusion of innovative medical devices and future-orientated e-Health solutions in public reimbursement schemes and have assisted with bid processes, negotiations and litigation concerning agreements between health insurers and pharma companies, doctors’ associations and other health care providers.
Putting the specific needs of our life sciences clients first, our teams are staffed across legal disciplines to ensure that excellent legal know-how is combined with a thorough understanding of the industry. Thus, our life sciences regulatory lawyers work hand-in-hand with our corporate, intellectual property and antitrust and competition lawyers to tailor the teams to the specific issues at stake. Our public policy and legal strategy lawyers add insight into the policy and legislative processes in Brussels and in the Member States, particularly in Germany. For example, we regularly advise our clients on the reforms of the public health care system in Germany, help them to overcome regulatory and legislative obstacles when introducing new products and assist them in benefiting from initiatives such as the introduction of e-Health systems. In addition, we have handled a broad range of complex regulatory and legislative issues raised by EU initiatives in the field of health, safety and product standards applied to life sciences.