As Chair of Foley Hoag's Licensing & Strategic Alliances Practice, partner Hemmie Chang regularly handles high profile intellectual property matters. Her career-spanning dedication to clients and significant influence on the life sciences industry earned her an induction into the LMG Life Sciences Hall of Fame in 2019.
Clients routinely benefit from Hemmie's strategic business perspective and legal acumen from her two-plus decades of experience within the bio pharmaceutical, medical device, gene and cell therapy and genomics sectors. She advises both established and emerging companies on a wide variety of licensing matters, from development to marketing deals - all of which involve a broad range of intellectual property assets, from patents to trade secrets, brand names to copyright. Hemmie is also Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Group and active within the firm’s Business Department and Technology practice groups.
Hemmie has closed more than $12 billion in deals in recent years across diverse therapeutic areas. Most recently, Hemmie represented Dicerna Pharmaceuticals in two transactions: a global collaboration agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S (announced November 2019) to discover and develop novel therapies for the treatment of liver-related cardio-metabolic diseases that included an upfront payment of $175 million, a $50 million equity investment and up to $357.5 million per target in development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments, and a global collaboration and license agreement in excess of $1.67 billion in upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties, with F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (announced October 2019) to develop and commercialize DCR-HBVS for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection. She also represented Bridge Biotherapeutics in its €1.1 + billion collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim, LegoChem Bio in a $400+ million multi-target research collaboration and license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) in a $650+ million collaboration peptide deal with Zealand Pharma.
In 2018, Hemmie represented Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRNA) in three collaborations (two announced in October 2018 and one last November 2017) totaling over $4.5 billion in potential deal value and $250 million in upfront and equity investments: (i) global licensing and research collaboration with Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) focused on potential new medicines in the areas of cardio-metabolic disease, neurodegeneration and pain (recipient of the 2019 Deal of Distinction Award, Life Sciences Sector category, by the Licensing Executives Society); (ii) collaboration with Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN) to discover and develop RNA interference therapies for complement-mediated diseases; and (iii) research deal with Boehringer Ingelheim to discover and develop novel GalXC™ RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of chronic liver diseases, initially nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
She also advised LG Chem Life Sciences in 2018 in its $900+ million deal with CUE Biopharma for Asian rights to CUE’s 101, 102 and 103 Immuno-STAT Biologics programs and a worldwide option for another Immuno-STAT Biologic and Pear Therapeutics in a collaboration with Novartis for the first US FDA approved “app” that is designed to be a therapeutic treatment for conditions such as schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis.
In other notable transactions, Hemmie counseled Korean pharmaceutical company Dong-A ST in a $525 million exclusive license agreement with U.S. pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc.; represented Genomics Medicine Ireland Ltd. in a 15-year partnership with AbbVie Ireland as well as WuXi NextCode to conduct population genomics research in Ireland ; represented Chromocell Corporation in its $500+ million collaboration and licensing agreement with Astellas Pharma; represented Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC) in its $1+ billion collaboration, manufacturing and equity investment agreements with Biogen; and advised Microchips Biotech in its partnership with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. She also advised Calithera Biosciences on IP aspects of its global license agreement with Incyte; represented AGTC in its IPO and follow on offerings; and advised PrEP Biopharm Limited in the closing of a £21 million (approximately US$32 million) Series A financing round and in-licensing from Janssen Ireland.
In addition, Hemmie has advised NextCODE Health in its license with Amgen and sale to WuXi; negotiated a major collaboration for a Korean client (OliPass) with innovative PNA oligomer and tissue technology opposite Bristol-Myers Squib; advised Alere in its $600 million sale of its Alere Health division to healthcare company, Optum; represented Metamark Genetics in its $365 million collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals; and advised on early stage research agreements with AstraZeneca, GSK, Medtronic, Merck and Sanofi.
Hemmie is often sought out for comment as an expert on licensing and strategic alliance topics. She was invited to write "What Small and Emerging Companies Need When Entering Into Dealmaking Discussions" for Big4Bio.com (October 2018); "Partnering Prenuptials: Translating Priorities into Deal Terms" for The Burrill Report (June 2013); and has been quoted in the World Intellectual Property Review and The Pink Sheet, "In 2012, Buyer’s Market Made Alliances Rarer," January 7, 2013.
