Life Sciences, Pharma & Healthcare

De Brauw advised Silverfleet Capital on the sale of the STAXS Group, a leading value-added distributor of consumable products for cleanrooms in Life Sciences and other industries. The acquirer is a portfolio company of Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, a family-owned company with a diversified portfolio of investments. The parties entered into a sale and purchase agreement on 6 May 2022 after which the transaction was completed on 19 May 2022.

De Brauw advised BC Partners, together with Kirkland & Ellis, on the sale of Pharmathen, a leading European pharmaceutical company, to Partners Group. The transaction values Pharmathen at approximately EUR 1.6 billion.

De Brauw advised BC Partners, together with Kirkland & Ellis, on the sale of Pharmathen, a leading European pharmaceutical company, to Partners Group. The transaction values Pharmathen at approximately EUR 1.6 billion. Founded in 1969, Pharmathen is the leading European drug delivery technology company. With a highly differentiated business model and strong management team, the company is a specialist in the development of "sustained release" technologies, with best-in-class R&D capabilities. The company is a global leader in complex long lasting injectables and has also established a long-acting therapeutic technologies platform which will fuel growth for many years. Partners Group will work with Pharmathen on initiatives to scale the business in Europe and globally, and supporting the company to accelerate its expansion in the US. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021.

2020 marked the start of Europe's Digital Decade, an ambitious policy programme that sets the groundwork for having a complete digital transformation of Europe by 2030. When first announced by the Commission, the programme threatened to be yet another drawn-out project, destined to be mired in political debate and unlikely to have any real-world impact for the foreseeable future. But a mere two years into the project, a different story unfolds: the European Union has kicked one of the most significant reforms in Europe into high gear. With no fewer than 13 fast-tracked legislative proposals, it looks like the Digital Decade will be completed in half of the expected time.

After a long period of uncertainty, it looks like the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) will become a reality, possibly by the end of this year. This change in the European patent system has implications for both existing and future patents. Companies will have to choose between European bundle patents or Unitary Patents, and whether they want their patents to be subject to the UPC's jurisdiction. This article summarises the basics of the "Unitary Patent package" and outlines the important choices that patent holders will face soon.

A bill was recently submitted to parliament establishing a national security screening regime where target undertakings active in the Netherlands in vital processes or sensitive technology, are being acquired. In 2020, the Dutch government indicated its intention for the screening mechanism to apply retroactively. Under the current bill, the regime would apply to qualifying investments made after 8 September 2020.