Ropes & Gray Guides Up to $10.1 Billion in Life Sciences Licensing & M&A Deals Over Two Weeks

During the last two weeks, Ropes & Gray has guided five significant life sciences licensing and M&A deals, with a total maximum value of $10.1 billion. The transactions underscore the strength of Ropes & Gray’s award-winning global life sciences licensing, collaboration, joint ventures and M&A team, which is renowned for its work guiding clients in structuring and negotiating all forms of complex agreements. The team’s recent accomplishments include among others:

Novo Nordisk in an exclusive license agreement valued at up to $2 billion with China-based United Laboratories International Holdings Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary United Bio-Technology (Hengqin) Co. Ltd. for the rights to United Biotechnology’s UBT251, a drug in clinical development for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, obesity and other diseases. The team included life sciences licensing partner Hannah England and life sciences licensing associate Ryan Kramer.

Novo Nordisk in an exclusive license agreement valued up to $1 billion with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals for LX9851, a first-in-class oral drug candidate for obesity and related metabolic disorders. The team included Hannah England and life sciences licensing associates Mallory Ursul and Ian Nilsen.

Sanofi in an agreement worth up to $1.9 billion to acquire Dren Bio’s deep B-cell depleter program, DR-0201. The targeted bispecific myeloid cell engager has the potential to reset the adaptive immune system and might lead to sustained treatment-free remission in patients with refractory B-cell mediated autoimmune diseases such as lupus, where significant unmet medical needs exist. The team was led by life sciences licensing partner Abigail Gregor, mergers & acquisitions partner Matt Byron and IP transaction associate Dan Freshman and included tax partner Scott Pinarchick, employment & benefits partner Renata Ferrari and IP transactions counsel Joshua Talicska, mergers & acquisitions associate Alexandra Charron andIP transactions associate Giancarlo Lee.

Black Diamond Therapeutics in a global licensing agreement with French pharmaceutical company Servier for the development and commercialization of BDTX-4933, a therapy designed to target RAS and RAF alterations in solid tumors. The collaboration valued up to $780 million aims to advance the asset across multiple indications, including non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors. The team was led by life sciences licensing partner Abigail Gregor and life sciences licensing associate Esteban De La Torre and included litigation & enforcement partner Lisa Kaltenbrunner and litigation & enforcement associate Vincenzo Volpe.

A multinational pharmaceutical company in a strategic transaction with a Chinese biotechnology company to develop potential first-in-class peptide therapeutics worth up to $3.5 billion. The team was led by life sciences licensing partner Hannah England, M&A partner Matt Byron and life sciences licensing associate Ryan Kramer.