Baker McKenzie advised Allecra Therapeutics on an exclusive licensing agreement with ADVANZ PHARMA Corp. Limited ("ADVANZ PHARMA"), a specialty pharmaceutical company with a strategic focus on hospital medicines in Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, ADVANZ PHARMA gains the rights to develop and commercialize Allecra’s antibiotic drug candidate cefepime/enmetazobactam within the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Norway. In addition, Baker McKenzie advised on the supply agreement between the two companies under which Allecra will supply the cefepime/enmetazobactam finished product in the agreed upon territories.
In exchange for the exclusive license, Allecra will receive an upfront payment and development and sales milestones for cefepime/enmetazobactam, as well as double-digit tiered royalties.
Baker McKenzie advised Allecra with a team of life science lawyers under the lead of Julia Braun on all legal aspects of the licensing including IP, Corporate, FDIC and Anti-Trust
"Once again, we were able to support our client in a landmark license transaction and the signing of an exclusive license agreement and related supply agreement. The licensing is an exceptional achievement in the development and global commercialization of Allecra's lead candidate for the treatment of Urinary Tract Infections, and it reflects the understanding that there remains a need worldwide to address the dangerous increase of resistance to standard-of-care antibiotics", comments Julia Braun, LL.M., Corporate/M&A partner at Baker McKenzie, who led the transaction.
Just over a year ago the Baker McKenzie team advised Allecra Therapeutics on an exclusive license agreement with Shanghai Haini Pharmaceuticals.
Allecra Therapeutics, founded in 2013, is a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies to combat antibiotic resistance by overcoming emergent resistance mechanisms. Lead product candidate, cefepime/enmetazobactam, has successfully completed a randomized, controlled, double-blind, global Phase 3 trial compared to standard of care in patients with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs), and the Company is preparing submissions for marketing approval in the U.S. and EU based on these results.
ADVANZ PHARMA is a specialty pharmaceutical company with a strategic focus on hospital medicines in Europe. With an agile and experienced team, including direct sales, marketing and medical capability across many of Europe’s major markets, the Company supplies, innovates and enhances the critical medicines patients depend on, ensuring continued patient access and improving health outcomes.
Baker McKenzie's Corporate / M&A and life sciences team regularly advises big pharma, financial investors and early stage biotech companies on domestic and international healthcare transactions.
Most recently, Baker McKenzie advised MODAG on a strategic collaboration with Teva, Chord Therapeutics on its sale to Merck KGaA, LSP as lead investor on a EUR 20 million Series A Equity Financing in Innovative Molecules, Numab Therapeutics on a CHF 100 million Cross Over Financing, CatalYm on a EUR 50 million Series B financing led by Vesalius Capital, Casdin Capital on a USD 50 million extension of the Series B Equity Financing in DNA Script, and Chr. Hansen Holding on the acquisition of Jennewein Biotechnologie.
Legal advisor to Allecra Therapeutics:
Baker McKenzie
Lead:
Corporate/M&A: Julia Braun (partner, Munich)
Team:
Transactional IP: Dr. Julia Schieber (senior associate, Zurich), Sylvia Polydor (associate, Zurich)
Corporate/M&A: Dr. Julia Rossié, Michelle Karrer (both associates, Munich)
Foreign Trade Law: Anahita Thoms (partner, Berlin), Alexander Ehrle (associate, Berlin)
Antitrust: Dr. Christian Burholt (partner, Berlin), Ann-Kristin Freiheit (associate, Frankfurt)