Fielding a ‘very strong team across the board,’ Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP advises across a range of issues in the life sciences, including disputes concerning patents and licensing and royalty deals, while also advising issuers, underwriters and investors on IPOs in the sector. Leading the team alongside each other are Stephen Thau, a New York and Silicon Valley-based specialist in life sciences M&A, licensing deals and strategic alliances, and Thora Johnson, who helps clients navigate regulatory challenges arising out of privacy issues and HIPAA, among others. ’True advocate’ David Gindler is a patent litigation expert, tackling infringement and validity claims, while also assisting with the structuring of IP license agreements.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Orrick has a very strong team across the board, with a deep bench. They also have excellent partners in other specialty areas outside of IP (appellate practice, arbitration practice).'
- 'David Gindler is a true advocate and dives in deep on issues. He is incredibly thoughtful and creative.'
- 'We use Orrick for our health privacy compliance efforts. They have demonstrated a strong subject matter expertise while helping assess the practical risks we face.'
- 'We use Thora Johnson for our health information privacy and HIPAA compliance matters. She provides exceptional guidance and is very practical in her approach.'
Key clients
- Genentech, Inc.
- Miltenyi Biomedicine
- Ipsen
- SFJ Pharmaceuticals
- BioAtla
- Corteva Agriscience
- Catalyst Biosciences
- Gilead Sciences, Inc.
- ANI Pharmaceuticals
- Johnson & Johnson
Work highlights
- Represented Genentech in a dispute worth over $200m dollars with competitor Novartis, in which Novartis seeks to avoid paying royalties owed on Novartis’ drugs, Cosentyx and Ilaris.
- Represented Gilead in a matter involving a patent infringement verdict of over $1.2bn dollars against its cancer therapy.
- Advised Ipsen on its acquisition of Albireo Pharma Inc.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Stephen Thau, Thora Johnson