LONDON (Bywire News) - Fresh from their leading role in the development of Oxford University’s much anticipated COVID 19 vaccine, AstraZeneca has completed the take over of US biotech company Alexion.
The takeover comes with news that the virus they worked on with Oxford University could be set for approval from the UK’s independent regulator by the end of the year. It’s been hailed as a statement of intent by the British company which establishes it as one of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Coming on the eve of Brexit, it is the company’s largest deal since it was founded in 1999. It is now the third-largest business on the FTSE 100 behind Unilever and BHP.
Law firms Freshfield Macfarlanes and Wachtell took the lead on the mega-deal worth an estimated £39bn ($29.5bn). Freshfields advised AstraZeneca on both the US and UK legal aspects of the transaction. Their team was led New York corporate partners Ethan Klingsberg, Sebastian Fain and John Fisher, as well as corporate partners Julian Long, Jennifer Bethlehem and Kate Cooper and antitrust partner Simon Priddis in London.
Their team in the US included employee benefits partner Lori Goodman, tax partner Robert Scarborough, finance partner Kyle Lakin, antitrust partners Mary Lehner and Justin Stewart-Teitelbaum, intellectual property partner Mena Kaplan and litigation partners Adam Siegel and Meredith Kotler.
Wachtell, meanwhile provided services to Alexion in the US which specialises in rare diseases. It was led by corporate partners Daniel Neff, Mark Gordon and Sabastian Niles as well as partner Damian Didden on the antitrust side and partner Gregory Pessin on the restructuring and finance side.
Macfarlanes corporate partners Harry Coghill and Charles Martin acted for Alexion on UK legal aspects of the deal, alongside senior counsel Tim Redman, tax and reward partner Peter Abbott and senior solicitor Rose Swaffield.
In April, Martin stepped down as senior partner for Macfarlanes. He was succeeded by private client partner Sebastian Prichard Jones, marking the end of his fourth term in the firm’s leadership. Boston-headquartered Alexion’s top-selling drug is Soliris, a treatment for a rare, life-threatening disease that destroys red blood cells.
Earlier this year AstraZeneca became a partner for the development of a vaccine led by Oxford University. Gowling WLG is leading for AstraZeneca on the development and distribution of the vaccine, with Bristows leading for Oxford University.
The vaccine has completed successful stage three trials and looks set to be made available in the new year.
(Written by Tom Cropper, Edited by Klaudia Fior)