Hemmie Chang

Representative Experience

Represents clients in collaboration and licensing transactions and investments with major pharmaceutical and emerging high-growth companies, and successfully counsels clients on investments, mergers and acquisitions and financings in energy and renewables (solar, wind) and other projects, including:

• Represented Korean pharmaceutical company Dong-A ST in its $525 million exclusive license agreement for the global development and commercialization of its investigational immuno-oncology drug Mer tyrosine kinase inhibitor (Mer TKI) with U.S. pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc.
• Represented Genomics Medicine Ireland Ltd. (GMI) in its 15-year partnership with pharmaceutical company AbbVie Ireland and WuXi NextCode to conduct population genomics research in Ireland and examine potential genetic triggers for major chronic diseases. GMI's investors included ARCH Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures), the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and corporate partner Amgen and its subsidiary deCODE genetics.
• Advised clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Calithera Biosciences, Inc. on the IP aspects of its global license agreement with Incyte, granting Incyte exclusive rights to research, develop and commercialize TransTech's portfolio of hexokinase II inhibitors.
• Represented U.K.-based biopharmaceutical company PrEP Biopharm Limited in a £21 million (approximately US$32 million) Series A financing round, led by a large publicly traded U.K. clinical research organization and top pharma venture investor, to complete development of a compound designed to help patients with respiratory viral infections in-licensed from the pharma investor’s affiliate.
• Represented biotechnology company Chromocell Corporation in its collaboration and licensing agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. to develop and commercialize new therapies to treat neuropathic pain. Under the collaboration, Chromocell is eligible to receive upfront and milestone payments exceeding $500 million plus royalties.
• Advised Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: AGTC) in one of the largest publicly announced gene therapy deals, a $1+ billion collaboration with equity investment and manufacturing agreements with Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB).
• Advised Microchips Biotech, Inc. in a $35 million upfront partnership with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., under which the companies will explore ways to apply Microchip Biotech's implantable drug delivery device to Teva’s line of products.
• Represented Applied Genetic Technologies (NASDAQ: AGTC) in its recent initial public and follow on offerings of common stock raising over US $80 million, after previously completing a $37.5 million Series B financing with Alta Partners, S.R. One, InterWest Partners, MedImmune Ventures and Intersouth Partners.
• Advised NextCODE Health, LLC (organized by deCODE/AMGEN founders, ARCH and Polaris) in its sale of its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, NextCODE Health Luxembourg, S.a.r.l. to WuXi Genomics, Inc. 
• Negotiated on behalf of OliPass Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing antisense medicines based on peptide nucleic acid (PNA) technology, in its strategic partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY).
• Advised medical diagnostics company Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR) on licensing and intellectual property matters in its $600 million sale of the Alere Health division to healthcare company Optum.
• Advised lead investors Alopexx and Inventages (Nestlé’s venture capital arm) in $15.6M Series D financing of emerging medical device company Cognoptix (formerly Neuroptix Corporation), targeting the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.
• Advised Good Start Genetics, Inc. in a collaboration agreement for prenatal and other tests with PerkinElmer, Inc.
• Represented Zosano Pharma, Inc. in its agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S to develop a new transdermal presentation of semaglutide.
• Advised Living Proof, Inc., in its global venture with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. to develop, distribute and commercialize products for aesthetic dermatology.
• Assisted NextCODE Health with securing an exclusive license for sequence-based clinical diagnostic applications using technology developed by deCODE genetics, and also with securing $15 million in Series A financing from Polaris Partners and ARCH Venture Partners.
• Advised High Performance Optics in its exclusive and global license agreement with Essilor.
• Successfully advised Metamark Genetics-Janssen Biotech in an early stage discovery collaboration deal in cancer - the largest at the time (up to $365 million in milestone payments).
• Worked on the development and supply agreement of robotic surgical instruments for the U.S. subsidiary of a major Japanese conglomerate.
• Crafted an early stage discovery and equity investment biofuels deal with a major European partner.
• Represented Arisaph Pharmaceuticals in a major reset of royalty and other payments to monetize $26.25 million in upfront and ongoing payments from Royalty Pharma.
• Represented Bioneer, a Korean public biotech, in a siNRA research collaboration with Sanofi.
• Worked on the Translational Therapeutics Inc.-Clavis Pharma, Inc. oncology candidate in-license (named BioWorld International Deal of the Week; May 2011).
• Spinoff of assets (e.g. Bayer Healthcare oncology assets programs, IntElect Medical deep brain stimulation technology from from one of the top five U.S. ranked hospitals).
• Advised on early stage development deals for NYU spinoff with Medtronic, NuVasive and Stryker, agreements with Life Technologies and Illumina and option and development deals with GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and research collaboration with AstraZeneca.
• Advise on numerous academic licenses from Harvard, MIT, Whitehead Institute, Johns Hopkins and UCSF.

Professional Experience

• Biotechnology Industry Organization, Moderator and Speaker
• Licensing Executives Society, Moderator and Speaker
• Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Faculty
• Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Faculty