Life Sciences & Health

Few sectors place higher demands on the commercial management of intellectual assets than life sciences and health. The pathway from discovery to market is long, capital-intensive and heavily regulated – and at every stage, the value of the enterprise rests on the strength and reach of its intellectual asset portfolio, and on the agreements that govern access to it. This is as true for the medtech startup and the health innovator navigating the innovation support system as it is for the established pharmaceutical innovator.

In life sciences, intellectual assets are not merely a legal formality, they are the core business asset. Patents define competitive position; confidentiality provisions govern what can be shared in collaborations and what cannot. Licensing structures determine whether platform technologies generate lasting revenue or become stranded assets.

The commercial logic of the sector is inseparable from its legal and contractual architecture. Co-development structures and other early contractual arrangements are never merely pre-commercial – how they are designed will directly shape the path to commercialisation. Licensing frameworks can determine whether capital can be raised at a later stage. Research collaborations must be structured before data and materials change hands. Clinical trial agreements, commercial option structures and milestone-based licensing deals must be designed with regulatory timelines and patent lifecycles in mind, including the implications of market authorisation on exclusivity, revenue and partnership obligations.

IAM brings experience from across the life sciences landscape – from early-stage biotech, medtech and health innovation, to growth-oriented enterprises – with particular focus on the design and negotiation of collaboration and commercialisation agreements that generate long term value for all parties.