Healthcare & Life Sciences

Lennard KeijzerGaby Smeenk + 18 other experts

The largest life sciences practice at a top-tier full-service firm in the Netherlands

Life sciences matters rarely sit in one area of law. A licensing deal raises IP questions; a funding round raises governance and securities questions; a product dispute can touch litigation, regulatory and compliance at the same time. Our Health Care & Life Sciences practice spans virtually the entire spectrum of legal services relevant to pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, as well as biotech firms, so clients get one team across a deal or dispute rather than coordinating advice across separate firms.

Corporate transactions and financing. Public and private M&A, carve-outs and financing transactions across pharma, biotech and healthcare services, including cross-border strategic M&A, venture capital funding rounds and licensing transactions, often on a global scale. For private equity-backed clients, we act on both sides of the table and lead counsel the management incentive plan on buy-side deals, and advise on the carve-outs and joint ventures that often accompany them.

Capital markets. Advice on IPOs on Euronext Amsterdam, NASDAQ and other venues, and the corporate and governance work that follows, plus follow-on offerings and at-the-market financing programmes, drawing on the largest equity capital markets team in the Netherlands for Dutch law advice to issuers and underwriters.

Intellectual property. The patent litigation firm of choice for multinationals coordinating their patent strategy throughout Europe, with the practice embedded in our 150+ lawyer litigation practice. We act in Unified Patent Court proceedings, including before the Local Division The Hague, European Patent Office opposition proceedings, and litigation before all levels of the Dutch courts and the CJEU.

Our litigation department handles several of the largest healthcare and life sciences cases in the Netherlands, from patent litigation to class actions concerning faulty medical devices and medicine, and our corporate teams advise on the sector's major transactions.

Phenster De Brauw7 Mrt 0203

THE UNIFIED PATENT COURT

The UPC has become the main forum for patent disputes in Europe and an important player internationally: it delivers fast, high-quality, cross-border decisions covering a large part of Europe, and the Local Division The Hague has become the most popular UPC venue for pharmaceutical disputes.

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Phenster De Brauw7 Mrt 0644

US LISTINGS THROUGH A DUTCH NV

The US remains the venue of choice for European biotechs, and the Dutch NV the structure of choice for getting there, offering flexibility in governance and capital requirements and direct listing of shares rather than through depositary receipts.

Learn more about our capital markets practice
Phenster De Brauw7 Mrt 0368

PRIVATE EQUITY IN HEALTHCARE

Healthcare is a core private equity sector, where we combine top-tier transactional capability with deep sector and regulatory expertise, across acquisitions, exits and buy-and-build strategies, with integrated M&A, financing, regulatory, competition and IP expertise. We act as lead counsel on the management incentive plan for all our private equity buy-sides, and advise leading private equity sponsors on strategic healthcare investments, portfolio transactions and exits across the full deal lifecycle.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PRIVATE EQUITY PRACTICE