Gowling WLG's award-winning Life Sciences team has advised long-standing client Sosei Heptares on a global collaboration and exclusive option-to-licence agreement.
At the centre is a joint mission to create new treatments for Schizophrenia by developing a new treatment that targets specific parts of the brain involved in multiple symptoms associated with the disease.
Under the agreement, Sosei Heptares will receive a €25 million upfront payment from Boehringer Ingelheim. They will also be eligible for future milestone payments that may exceed €670 million, plus royalties on future sales of any approved treatments.
Head of Life Sciences Patrick Duxbury led the deal, together with fellow life sciences partner Sharmela Kalmer.
Pat Duxbury said: "This is a significant collaboration between Sosei Heptares and Boehringer Ingelheim, which holds the promise of revolutionising Schizophrenia treatment. In our advisory role, we are committed to driving innovative solutions that address critical medical needs".
Sosei Heptares is an international biopharmaceutical group that focuses on the design and development of new medicines originating from its proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and Structure-Based Drug Design platform capabilities. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and with R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK, the group employs more than 170 people and has established partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Novartis, Lilly, Pfizer and Takeda, and additionally with multiple emerging technology companies.
Gowling WLG's global Life Sciences Group has the technical understanding required to advise on the unique challenges companies face throughout their life cycles. They draw on first hand industry experience and extensive legal expertise to guide and support business, intellectual property, human resource and regulatory teams in key areas of life sciences.