Healthcare & Life Sciences

As part of the firm's global matrix, members of the Global Healthcare, Life Sciences & Chemicals sector team focuses on both in specific subsectors and the relevant practice areas to pool our collective resources and experience to benefit our clients.

Clifford Chance's deep understanding of the healthcare, life sciences & chemicals industries is integral to our ability to offer the highest quality advice and solutions wherever we operate. We focus on industry sectors so that we can provide you with:

access to our combined knowledge, expertise and experience by sector; and
lawyers who know the risks and challenges within your industry and who proactively bring insights to you.

Our sector approach ensures that our lawyers truly understand the healthcare, life sciences & chemicals industries with their regulatory and commercial challenges. At the same time, it avoids the built-up of silos between different areas of law so that we are able to deliver to our clients commercially sound and legally robust solutions focused to their business objectives.

Having cultivated an expertise in the healthcare, life sciences and chemicals industries as well as in adjacent areas like the food and cosmetics sector over two decades and having worked with many of the world's leading and emerging pharmaceutical, medical devices, chemicals and healthcare service companies, we know the importance of anticipating regulatory and contractual issues in the context of corporate investment, finance, competition, digital transformation, strategy and operations.

Established in the early 1990s, the Global Healthcare, Life Sciences & Chemicals sector team consists of more than 140 dedicated lawyers in 30 centres including Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.

Client experience

Cinven on its acquisition of pan European laboratories business, synlab from BC Partners for approximately EUR1.7 billion
Fresenius Kabi on the acquisition of Merck KGaA’s biosimilars business
Acino International and Acino Pharma AG on the sale of Acino's transdermal patch and implant businesses to Luye Pharma
SCA Group, Stockholm, Sweden, with a cross-border team on the takeover of medical solutions company BSN medical. The purchase price amounts to EUR 2.74 billion
Cambian Group plc, one of the UK's leading specialist behavioural health service providers, on the proposed disposal of its Adult Services Business to Cygnet Health Care Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc., for cash consideration of £377 million
Moelis Advisory Australia Pty Ltd in its roles as underwriter to the AUD$212 million initial public offering (IPO) of OneView Healthcare PLC on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)
Pfizer on the sale of its Nutrition business to Nestle. Pfizer’s Nutrition business sells specialty infant and toddler formulas, follow-on formulas, maternal and adult nutrition products and recorded revenues of approximately US$2.1 billion in 2011, an increase of 15% versus 2010. Pfizer acquired the business as part of its US$68 billion purchase of Wyeth in 2009, which Clifford Chance also advised on
Takeda GmbH (formerly: Nycomed GmbH) in connection with the sale of its self-medication business (OTC) for the German market to DR.KADE Pharmazeutische Fabrik. DR. KADE, well known for its brands Posterisan and KadeFungin acquires amongst others brands like Faktu, Sanostol, Riopan and Buer Lecithin