Open House - Global Healthcare 2022: Current Trends and Hot Topics in Biopharma Partnering | Edison Group

Alison Dennis, Global head of Life Sciences and Healthcare, Taylor Wessing

Alison co-heads the international Life Sciences and Healthcare group. She works with international life sciences companies to cut through the complexity of EU regulation of medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and get their products to market. In a career of over 20 years, Alison has helped hundreds of life sciences companies manage the range of legal challenges involved in commercialising medical devices and medicinal products. She combines an encyclopaedic knowledge of the EU and UK life sciences regulatory environment with an analytical understanding of strategy and business in the life sciences sector. Alison supports clients on outright acquisitions and licences, as well as in due diligence for sizeable corporate transactions and listings. She also helps clients navigate the nuances of structuring and negotiating arrangements with various commercial and health care partners within the complex framework of EU regulations, national laws and industry and deontological codes.

Robin Cohen, Chief Commercial Officer, Emergex Vaccines

Robin Cohen is Chief Commercial Officer at Emergex Vaccines where he is responsible for leading the business development program and driving Emergex’s commercial strategy. Robin joined Emergex Vaccines at the start of 2021,coming from Janssen Cilag, where he worked in a number of senior level commercial and business development roles in the fields of Oncology, Haematology and Infectious Diseases. In the regional Business Development role for Janssen Cilag, Robin worked on a range of deals, ranging from global asset acquisitions to local co-promotion arrangements to build share of voice in a crowded market.

Michael Bennett, Director of Business Development, Kyowa Kirin Pharmaceuticals

Whilst Michael is part of the global Business Development team, he also has regional responsibilities in the EMEA and LATAM regions supporting the geographical expansion of the company, assigning new distributors and opening new territories. An experienced negotiator who has closed tens of multi-million US dollar revenue generating agreements such as in and out licences, collaboration, service and settlement agreements. Previously Michael has held a number of executive management positions and was part of the executive management team at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult where, in addition to managing worldwide business development, he was responsible for the intellectual property portfolio, legal and contractual obligations of the organisation. Vice President of Business Development and Licensing for Oxford Gene Technology Ltd, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Molecular Sensing Plc, Market Manager for Roche Diagnostics and Product Manager for Hybaid after spending four years as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bristol and the Royal Free Hospital in London. He is a chartered biologist (CBiol) holds a BSc (Hons) in Biology from the University of the West of Scotland along with a doctorate (D.Phil) from the University of Oxford.

Adrian Toutoungi, Global head of Life Sciences and Healthcare, Taylor Wessing

Adrian is a seasoned IP lawyer who acts for clients in the pharma, biotech, medical device, diagnostic and digital health verticals. He has a particular focus on biopharma partnering and strategic alliances and IP strategy. He works with clients throughout their life cycle (all the way from start-ups/spin-outs to multinational listed companies). He counsels them from their earliest in-licensing and lab-service deals through substantial R&D collaboration and option arrangements to late-stage development and licensing deals and joint marketing arrangements. He also advises on commercial matters such as manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements and the life science regulatory issues that are crucial to these arrangements. He has a wealth of experience in handling the IP aspects of fundraisings, IPOs and major corporate transactions, including for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 corporations. Adrian has a degree in BioPhysics from the University of Oxford and is a board member of the Pharmaceutical Licensing Group UK.