JUVE Comment

In less than two years since it was founded, Bonabry has established itself in the market. The firm’s strong reputation across its Hamburg, Munich and Paris offices rests on two pillars: the team led by highly-regarded Daniel Hoppe enjoys wide recognition for representing generic drug companies in their most commercially significant disputes. The team recently demonstrated its pragmatic approach and robust international network in pan-European proceedings for regular clients such as MSN/Vivanta, Stada and Aliud Pharma.

The second pillar stems from the classic Preu Bohlig legacy in the form of relationships with mid-sized clients such as Bora, combined with a strong focus on international and UPC work. This part of the practice has recently gained ground compared to the firm’s established generics foothold by securing several new international clients, such as Xingmai Innovation in its dispute with Aiper Intelligent over pool-cleaning technology.

Sustainable team expansion is now crucial for the firm’s continued development, as the team remains relatively small by market standards. The next step in the expansion strategy is already on the horizon. At the turn of the year, Bonabry will merge with patent attorney firm Hamm&Wittkopp. This is a shrewd move, as the two teams have worked closely for years on behalf of regular clients such as Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Accord Healthcare.

Although the merged firm will still need to rely on its existing excellent relationships with numerous other patent attorneys for matters outside the generics field, this nonetheless represents a significant step that sends a strong signal, even internationally. It will enable Bonabry to position itself early as the go-to firm for generics companies at the UPC, with a mixed team handling both coordination and EPO proceedings. There is already a precedent for this collaboration, as they jointly handled one of the first UPC proceedings in the pharmaceutical sector for long-standing client Stada against Sanofi.

Strengths

Litigation across a broad technical spectrum, primarily in pharmaceuticals, biosimilars, and SPCs.

Recommended individuals

Daniel Hoppe(“highly responsive”, competitor)

Team

11 lawyers

Clients

Litigation: MSN/Vivanta against Newron over Parkinson’s drug safinamide/Xadago; MSN/Vivanta and Dr Reddy’s/betapharm against Sanofi over teriflunomide/Aubagio; Stada against Acorda over multiple sclerosis fampridine/Fampyra; Stada and Aliud Pharma against Takeda over ADHD drug lisdexamfetamine dimesylate/Elvanse; Synthon against Millenium over leukaemia drug bortezomib; Accord against Bayer over rivaroxaban/Xarelto; Dr Reddy’s Laboratories against Bayer over rivaroxaban/Xarelto including IP case against IFA; Abdi Farma against Bayer over rivaroxaban/Xarelto; Accord against Tewa over anticoagulant dabigatran; Accord against Astellas over SPC for enzalutamide/Xtandi; Formycon against Regeneron/Bayer over biosimilar Eylea; Abdi Farma against Grünenthal over pain medication naproxen and esomeprazole; Helmholtz Munich against Poseida over gene-splicing technology; Stada and Aliud Pharma against Biogen over dimethyl fumarate/Tecfidera; Synthon against Teva over MS drug glatiramer acetate/Copaxone; Bora against Miele over induction hobs; Girard Sudron against Liquidleds Lighting over LED lamps; Shenzhen Woody Vapes Technology against Pixan over e-cigarettes.