Healthcare & Life Sciences Transactions
Overview
Navigating transactions in the healthcare and life sciences industry can be extraordinarily complex. Our attorneys have vast institutional knowledge and extensive experience counseling clients in the industry’s dynamic and distinct sectors, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices, healthcare services and healthcare technology. With comprehensive involvement through all stages of the business life cycle, Kirkland attorneys are able to analyze matters from all perspectives and guide clients through the intricate issues unique to healthcare and life sciences in complex transactions, including M&A, financing, carve-outs, collaborations and joint ventures, among others.
Our renowned platform brings together best-in-class lawyers across the spectrum of practice areas that are essential to healthcare and life sciences transactions, including M&A, regulatory, finance, tax, antitrust, intellectual property and executive compensation. We pride ourselves on working together as an integrated, multidisciplinary team to provide seamless service to our global clients.
Public Company News and Insights - Healthcare & Life Sciences
Private Equity News and Insights - Healthcare & Life Sciences
Services
Mergers & Acquisitions
As a leading adviser to healthcare and life sciences companies and investors on their most complex, high-profile M&A transactions, Kirkland’s M&A Practice Group is consistently recognized for innovation, creativity, energy and, above all, a profound commitment to quality.
Our Firm has been ranked by Bloomberg as one of the most active law firms in this industry, advising clients on more than 110 transactions valued at over $128 billion in 2021. Kirkland attorneys have led the industry’s most cutting-edge transactions, including the two largest biopharmaceutical deals in history, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s $90 billion acquisition of Celgene Corporation and AbbVie’s $63 billion acquisition of Allergan.
Both our acclaimed Public Company and Private Equity practices have unparalleled breadth of scope and depth of experience across all healthcare and life sciences market segments. In the last two years, the Kirkland team handled five of the 10 largest transactions for public companies and more than 80 transactions for private equity funds and their portfolio companies, including more healthcare services transactions than any other firm.
Antitrust
Our antitrust attorneys also have significant experience counseling and representing healthcare and life sciences clients in key matters arising under the Hatch-Waxman Act, including matters relating to generic and branded drugs and reverse payment claims.
Tech & IP Transactions
Our Technology & IP Transactions Practice Group is a core component of and fully integrated into our leading M&A practice. We have more than 70 deal lawyers dedicated to M&A matters and strategic commercial agreements. Our close integration with the M&A practice and our extensive experience with complex commercial agreements allow us to deliver significant value to our clients in private equity and M&A matters that include a complex commercial component, such as transactions including product line carve-outs.
We have substantial experience in the full range of transactions in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life science industries. Our representations in this field range from the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to biotechnology companies still in the development stage, as well as private equity and venture capital investors. Our work includes a number of different transaction types—both in the context of M&A and standalone transactions—such as joint ventures, collaboration and development agreements, acquisitions and sales of product lines, NDAs and ANDAs, technology transfers and university collaborations, and distribution, manufacturing, and supply agreements.
Regulatory
Our Healthcare & Life Sciences Regulatory team has deep experience advising clients on a broad range of issues including federal and multi-state matters, structuring, the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute, state anti-kickback laws, the Federal False Claims Act, and fraud and abuse related regulatory issues, with additional experience in federal and state licensure, corporate practice of medicine and professionals doctrine, compliance, enrollment and reimbursement matters.
In addition to our internal capabilities, we have long-standing, strategic relationships with specialty healthcare regulatory counsel allow us to select the right partnership based on specific deal characteristics and unique industry niche, and to provide seamless, best-in-class, cost-efficient service on healthcare M&A and regulatory issues.
Capital Markets
Named a Law360 2020 Capital Markets Practice Group of the Year, Kirkland’s award-winning Capital Markets Practice Group assists healthcare and life sciences clients navigate key capital inflection points and guide transformative transactions. Our capital markets attorneys provide sophisticated and strategic advice to a full range of companies at every stage of development and growth. We advise on capital-raising transactions that achieve strategic and commercial objectives and result in long term and meaningful partnerships between investors, founders and entrepreneurs and management teams.
Debt Finance
Investment Funds
100+ Healthcare & Life Sciences Transactions
Bloomberg, 2022
$30B Total Value of Healthcare & Life Sciences Transactions
Bloomberg, 2022
2023 Healthcare Private Equity Outlook and Considerations
Kirkland Alert