JUVE Comment

Herbert Smith Freehills’ well-positioned UK patent practice continues to successfully leverage its relationships with innovator pharmaceutical companies, ensuring a steady flow of work for its growing team of partners and associates. Young talented associate Emily Bottle, who works closely with partner Sebastian Moore on various blockbuster drug disputes, has been promoted to partnership. The London practice now has four partners.

Currently, the firm’s lawyers rarely appear in UK courts, as no UK proceedings are pending in ongoing battles for Biogen over MS drug Tecfidera, for example, or for Sanofi over MS drug Aubagio. Nevertheless, the London team remains heavily involved in coordinating these pan-European disputes. Other examples include Foundation Medicine’s dispute with Guardant Health over sequencing biopsy tests and Millennium Pharmaceuticals’ fight against multiple generic drug companies over bortezomib/Velcade. A UK revocation case for Hoffmann-la Roche concerning breast cancer drug Herceptin is set for trial in 2025.

Herbert Smith Freehills’ strong focus on pharmaceutical litigation belies the London team’s broader technical expertise. As typical for a full-service firm, the patent team provides extensive advisory work, for example across battery, military, and cigarette technology. Partners Andrew Moir and Andrew Wells recently led a significant semiconductor dispute for R2. The London office is also handling a UPC case concerning online gaming software, alongside a parallel UK case involving copyrights and trade secrets.

European set-up

Herbert Smith Freehills coordinates cross-border disputes from London, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector. Work for Biogen, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi represents standout instructions for recommended partner Sebastian Moore, who operates from the UK and Italy. Most pharmaceutical originator work involves European-level coordination, with the London-based team either collaborating with other litigation firms or the firm’s own teams in Düsseldorf, Milan, or Paris.

Herbert Smith Freehills’ work for Sanofi in the first major originator-generics dispute at the UPC, concerning prostate cancer drug cabazitaxel/Jevtana, is particularly noteworthy. While a Paris partner leads this case, lawyers from across the firm’s pan-European patent practice are involved.

Despite handling the largest pharmaceutical lawsuit at the UPC, the firm made a slower start at the new court compared to rivals such as Hogan Lovells or Simmons & Simmons. Its core pharmaceutical client base remains hesitant to bring their own UPC cases. In the meantime, the continental teams need to secure UPC cases from other industries and work to close the gap with the firm’s main competitors. The joint effort between the Paris and London practices for Games Global and MT RealTime in a UPC case over online gaming software marks an early success in this direction.

Strengths

Litigation for originator companies in the pharmaceutical sector. Advice to clients on SPC regulation.

Recommended individuals

Sebastian Moore, Jonathan Turnbull, Andrew Wells

Team

21 lawyers

Clients

Litigation: Hoffmann-la Roche against Accord over breast cancer drug trastuzumab/Herceptin; Biogen against generic drug companies over MS treatment Tecfidera, including EPO opposition; Games Global Operations against Playtech in UK trade secret and copyrights case over software for online gaming; Seoul Semiconductor against General Electric over LED technology (settled 2024); R2 Semiconductor against Intel over processor designs (settled in 2024). Advice: BAT regarding heat-not-burn and vapour products as well as transactions and collaborations; various pharma originators on SPCs.