Mathilda Davidson Legal Director


Speaks:  English

Qualified: 2010 - Solicitor of England & Wales


Primary office:  London




Mathilda Davidson

Mathilda Davidson helps clients to exploit and protect their intellectual property (IP) across a range of different markets and sectors. A transactional IP specialist, she is at home in the complex world of licensing, technology transfer and R&D in life sciences, high tech and manufacturing. She advises on the full spectrum of IP transactional issues in the life sciences sector and wider IP industries.

Mathilda advises companies and research institutions of all sizes on research and development, collaboration and licensing deals. She has also spent time on secondment in the legal team of Cancer Research Technology (now Cancer Research Horizons, part of Cancer Research UK), where she advised on R&D partnerships with the international research community and industry, including an innovative international collaboration with public cancer registries around the world and the UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Mathilda has been identified as a "rising star" by Managing Intellectual Property in 2018-2023.

Experience

Mathilda has extensive transactional IP experience, including advising:

AstraZeneca on a range of transactions, including strategic collaborations with Scorpion Therapeutics to develop precision medicines against previously hard-to-target cancer proteins, Merck to co-develop and co-commercialise AstraZeneca's Lynparza (olaparib) for multiple cancer types, Mitsubishi Tanabe to develop and commercialise products generated via a longstanding research collaboration, Regeneron building on the discovery from the Regeneron Genetics Genetics Center® of rare genetic mutations in the GPR75 gene associated with protection against obesity, and Takeda to jointly develop and commercialise the alpha-synuclein antibody MEDI1341. The Lynparza transaction won the Scrip licensing deal of the year for 2018.

Sosei Heptares on a range of transactions, including a partnership with Cancer Research UK's Centre for Drug Development, collaborations with GSK in the field of immune disorders of the digestive system and a spin out to Tempero Bio (a collaboration between Aditum Bio and Sosei Heptares) in the field of neurological diseases.

Oxford BioTherapetuics on a range of partnering deals, including a multi-target drug discovery collaboration with ImmunoGen, a collaboration with Kite (a Gilead company) in relation to novel oncology targets and an alliance with Boehringer Ingelheim to discover additional selective targets for strategic cancer indications to deliver first-in-class treatments for cancer patients.

Amphista Therapeutics on its strategic collaborations with Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb to leverage Amphista's proprietary Eclipsys™ TPD platform and advance the company's work developing protein degrading therapies for treating a wide range of diseases.

etherna on a multi-target alliance with Almirall to discover and develop new mRNA-based therapies in medical dermatology.

Eisai on the divestment of its rights for the antiepileptic agent Zonegran® (zonisamide) in Europe and other regions to Advanz Pharma.

The safety division of a multinational consumer products company on a large range of R&D contracts, including multi-party collaborations, sponsoring university research, material transfer agreements and contract research agreements. The subject-matter of these agreements is cutting edge and frequently relates to large scale regulatory change.

Crescendo Biologics on a clinical trial and option agreement with Cancer Research UK's Centre for Drug Development, for the development of novel bispecific immunotherapies in the treatment of cancers of highly unmet medical need.

arGEN-X on a number of academic partnerships and on a worldwide exclusive license to RuiYi (formerly Anaphore) to develop and commercialize ARGX-109, a novel anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody discovered and developed by arGEN-X.

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals on the divestment of its Lojuxta® (lomitapide) product to Amryt Pharma in Europe and EMEA. Lojuxta® is one of very few treatments for the rare disease Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia.

ProStrakan (part of Kyowa Hakko Kirin) on the acquisition of rights from AstraZeneca to Moventig® (naloxegol) in Europe.

Cancer Research Technology (part of Cancer Research UK) on R&D partnerships with the international research community and commercialisation deals with industry, including an innovative international collaboration with public cancer registries around the world and the UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

A range of small biotech companies on all their agreements and arising contractual issues such as MTAs, licensing agreements, consultancy agreements, university sponsorship agreements, manufacturing agreements and agreements with CROs and CDMOs.

Career & Recognition

Filter timeline:
  • 2022

  • 2021

  • 2020

  • 2019

    • Career
      July 2019
      Gowling WLG (UK), director
  • 2016

    • Career
      July 2016
      Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, principal associate
    • Career
       2016
      Gowling WLG (UK) LLP, senior associate
  • 2015

    • Education
      June 2015
      University College London, Intellectual Property Transactions
    • Career
       2015
      Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, senior associate
  • 2014

    • Career
       2014
      Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, associate
  • 2010

    • Qualifications (Year of Call/Admission, etc.)
       2010
      Qualified, Solicitor of England & Wales
    • Education
       2010
      University of Oxford, Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice
  • 2008

    • Career
       2008
      Wragge & Co LLP, trainee - associate
  • 2006

    • Education
       2006
      BPP Law School, London, Legal Practice Course
  • 2005

    • Education
       2005
      BPP Law School, London, Graduate Diploma in Law
  • 2004

    • Education
       2004
      University of Durham, MA English Literary Studies
  • 2000

    • Education
       2000
      University of Oxford, MA(Hons) English Language and Literature