About

Senior legal counsel and company secretary Anne-Marie Dempsey and legal counsel Jennifer Lee run the legal operations of Horizon Pharma which has gone through a recent major growth period. The number of employees in the Dublin office alone has increased from 20 in May 2015 to nearly 70 today. Dempsey joined Horizon in May 2015 as the first ex-US lawyer for the company, advising on all European legal matters. She works with cross-functional, multi-jurisdictional teams on a daily basis, advising on all aspects of law arising, including corporate, commercial and employment law matters and, in 2018, became a member of the firm’s Inclusion Council, which leads Horizon’s inclusion initiative. In addition, she has recently taken on the role of company secretary. Jennifer Lee joined the team in September 2017 and today provides commercial legal support to Horizon’s global operations, working closely with Horizon’s tax, technical operations, supply chain and regulatory teams. Dempsey highlights that, ‘Lee’s corporate governance qualification has enabled her to step seamlessly into management of our subsidiary entities, providing company secretarial support and advising on corporate governance obligations in Ireland, Europe and the US’. In 2017, Horizon implemented a new digital contract management system, which allows it to draft, manage and maintain all contracts efficiently, while facilitating information sharing across the organisation. The paperless system manages all stages of the contract from initial request, through negotiations and up to final approval and execution, allowing for deals to be completed quickly while ensuring appropriate contractual provisions are in place to protect the company. In September 2016 Horizon acquired Raptor Pharmaceuticals, providing the company with two new products, Procysbi and Quinsair thus increasing its number of products to 11. Similarly, in May 2017, Horizon acquired River Vision Development, bringing Teprotumumab, an exciting developmental opportunity, to the company. Dempsey identified the challenges the company faces in terms of the global political situation saying, it ‘has impacted the pharmaceutical industry. The introduction of GDPR has impacted our team’s work, as have increased corporate governance standards and responsibilities, such as the new directors’ compliance statement requirement, from 2016 onwards, under the Companies Act 2014’.