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Life Sciences & Healthcare

Discovery, innovation, market awareness and understanding are key to those life sciences and healthcare entities providing services and finance towards, and developing therapies and services for, the improvement of patient outcomes.

Due to the highly regulated nature of the industry, as an operator, investor, adviser, developer or licensee, you will be dealing with complex legal and regulatory requirements to launch, maintain and deliver your products and services to the market.

Our Life Sciences team is immersed in the sector and we appreciate our clients' technology; we are not just lawyers, we are immunologists, geneticists, chemists and engineers. With this background we are ideally placed to really understand your business, how it is changing and what you want from a trusted advisor. Highly relevant to this sector is our fully integrated European patent attorney practice. Spanning multiple disciplines, both legal and scientific, our lawyers and patent attorneys operate as one team with a common outlook and objective for our clients - providing pragmatic, innovative and effective advice, efficiently.

Our Healthcare team is truly immersed in the sector with over 25 years of advising and shaping the sector through in depth experience, knowledge and sector associations and collaborations. We have significant experience of working within the public and private sectors, giving us a complete perspective of the issues you face, allowing us to offer you commercial and well rounded advice.

We all also immersed in the sector’s clusters of expertise. This is part of our firm’s emphasis on global breadth with local depth, particularly in our local relationships. Our London office has excellent links within the “Golden Triangle”. We also have local teams who work closely with the Scottish clusters. For more information on our Scottish expertise, please see our specialist page, here.

With active memberships in major industry bodies such as the ABPI, ABHI, BIVDA, EUCOMED / MedTech Europe, Healthcare UK and the BPF, we help shape the legal and compliance frameworks impacting the life sciences and healthcare sectors.

As well as clients' significant, complex and strategic transactional, financing and structuring matters, we regularly advise on day-to-day business operations, covering areas such as public procurement, tax, competition, IP protection, exploitation and enforcement, product liability, supply chain, outsourcing and other commercial agreements and employment and pensions matters, as well as regulatory, disputes, risk and compliance advice. Truly a full service.

"Extensive pharmaceutical expertise with advice always provided in a business context. They understand our business and what we are trying to achieve with our IP strategy."

Legal 500, 2021

"CMS is one of the strongest city firms in this sector. They have real and deep rooted expertise. They deliver a Rolls-Royce service to some of the world’s most successful life sciences companies – many of whom they have deservedly achieved coveted “trusted adviser” status. They are one of the elite departments in this field. It is unsurprising that they have such a loyal client base."

Legal 500, 2021

"A one-stop-shop for us: its remarkable and successful mix of talent makes it stand out from the rest, and makes our lives much easier."

Chambers UK

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Biotech
Recent years have seen an increase in the numbers of biotech IPOs and more investment in the sector, however it can still be challenging accessing the
microscope looking at a slide
Devices & Diagnostics
In an increasingly competitive healthcare market, medical device and diagnostics companies need to ensure return on investment when developing innovat
Laptop and stethoscope
eHealth
With technology and digital innovation at the forefront of many advancements in the lifesciences industry and in healthcare delivery, organisations lo
Stethoscope lying on an ECG graph
Healthcare
We support clients across primary, acute, community, residential and social care including mental health, special education and children’s servi
scientist working with petri dishes
Life Sciences Disputes
Our Life Sciences disputes and investigations specialists advise clients across the breadth of the sector, including pharmaceutical, medical device an
Various bottles of chemicals
Pharmaceuticals
With ever increasing costs of gaining marketing authorisations for new drugs, fewer opportunities for blockbuster products and ongoing pressure on pri
equIP Life Sciences: from lab bench to business
Highlights of our experience in Life Sciences & Healthcare in the UK
Almirall, S.A., on the transfer of its respiratory franchise for an initial consideration of USD 875m on completion, and up to USD 1.22bn in development, launch and sales-related milestone payments. Johnson...
Law-Now: Lifesciences
Visit Law-Now for legal know-how and commentary

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13/06/2024
CMS Real Estate webinar: Repurposing the High Street for Life Sciences...
Candice Blackwood and Henrietta Oliver will share the key findings of our recent thought leadership piece about the transformation of the UK High Street, and the opportunities for life sciences and healthcare (including medical diagnostics) to fill the voids left by retailers.
18/04/2024
In View: Life Sciences & Healthcare - What's new in AI Regulation and Data...
 We are delighted to invite you to the CMS In View: Life Sciences & Healthcare - What’s New in AI Regulation and Data Protection? event taking place on Thursday 18 April at our London Cannon Place offices. The seminar will focus on key AI and data protection topics relevant to life sciences and healthcare where you will hear from industry and regulatory experts and CMS specialists. If you would like to attend this event, please register via the button below.
13/03/2024
Court of Appeal rules that defence of illegality in civil claim is not...
In Lewis-Ranwell v G4S Health Services (UK) Ltd and others [2024] EWCA Civ 138, the Court of Appeal recently held, by a majority of 2 to 1, that where a person has committed a crime, but has been found...
20/02/2024
Court of Appeal confirms position on damages for breach of public procurement...
The much anticipated judgment in the Braceurself appeal has been handed down by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal (led by LJ Coulson) has reaffirmed the position established by the High Court that...
30/01/2024
What’s in a name? Updated EMA guideline on naming medicinal products processed...
The updated EMA Guideline on the acceptability of names for human medicinal products processed through the centralised procedure was adopted by CHMP in December 2023 and came into effect on 1 January...
26/01/2024
Commissioning Health Care Services in England: The new PSR regime
Following a lengthy consultation process, the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (the “PSR”), were laid before Parliament on 19 October 2023. The PSR has been designed...
24/01/2024
Research Misconduct: Limitation Clauses Effective for Fraud
A recent case has important implications for universities undertaking research under contract. The High Court held that parties are able to rely on contractual exclusions or limitations of liability even...
18/01/2024
Out with the old, in with the new – what do healthcare and social care...
And so it has begun – the rollout of the long-awaited CQC’s new assessment regime is underway.   Having commenced in the South of England and working region by region, registered providers in London...
09/01/2024
Ofsted under scrutiny – School inspections to resume on 22 January 2024...
The inquest into the devastating suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry sparked a national conversation about the impact of Ofsted inspections on school leaders and their well-being and whether the current...
20/12/2023
Scottish QOCS case law for 2023 – the lessons learned so far
It is two and a half years since Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) was introduced to personal injury claims in Scotland. There has been much interest in how case law will develop the application...
18/12/2023
Digital health apps and telemedicine in England and Wales
Digital Health Apps/Software 1. How is the software within digital health apps classified in your jurisdiction, and what regulation(s) apply? 1.1 Is it considered a “medical device,” and if so...
Comparable
08/12/2023
COP28: Global Health Under the Spotlight
Health took centre stage at the first ever ‘Health Day’ at COP28 on 3 December. The program focused the attention of world leaders on the profound public health-related issues stemming from climate...