JUVE Comment

A look at Carpmaels & Ransford’s steadily growing UPC client list shows that this excellently positioned UK firm is using its early success to launch a full-scale assault on the market-leading UPC firms such as Bardehle Pagenberg, Bird & Bird and Hogan Lovells.

Carpmaels has successfully leveraged its strong position in UK and EPO life sciences proceedings for its UPC work. “They are doing excellent EPO and coordination work for us. When we have a UPC case we will certainly entrust it to Carpmaels,” says a long-standing client from the life sciences sector. A host of new high-profile clients such as Ascendis Pharma, Neurocrine, Align Technology, Merz Pharmaceuticals, and Guardant Health have entrusted the firm with new UPC cases related to pharmeceuticals and biotech over the past year. Novartis is another high-profile long-term client that frequently relies on Carpmaels when it comes to UPC work.

Furthermore, Carpmaels has maintained its key role in the long-lasting life sciences battle for Sanofi and Regeneron against Amgen. The collaboration with Hoffmann Eitle in this case led to a further development. Carpmaels recruited two experienced pharmaceutical litigators from the German firm. Junior partner Mike Gruber joined Carpmaels in September 2025, senior partner Nils Holder follows in January 2026. This move demonstrates Carpmaels’ intensive investment in its legal team for UPC litigation. The strategy is further underscored by significant staff reinforcements in London, where Carpmaels recruited a partner from Simmons & Simmons. However, it is the bolstering of its Munich-based legal team that sends a clear signal of its ambition to directly challenge established German market leaders on their home turf. Carpmaels not only intends to grow the Munich team with additional young lawyers but will also compete for national cases.

The firm has also made progress in other areas recently. While Carpmael’s UPC work initially focused primarily on cases in the life sciences sector, its patent attorneys now represent SharkNinja (alongside Freshfields lawyers) concerning air fryers and Micron (together with Bardehle) concerning memory chips. They also conduct EPO proceedings for Micron and coordinate proceedings before the UPC. If Carpmaels manages to handle UPC cases in these technical fields with mixed teams, as it already does in most life sciences cases, UPC market leaders should keep a close eye on the UK firm. Carpmaels has long been operating on an equal footing with them in the life sciences sector.

Strengths

Pharma and biotech disputes for originators. Mixed approach.

Recommended individuals

Agathe Michel-de Cazotte (“acts very thoughtfully and experienced in UPC cases”, “always well prepared in oral hearings”, competitors), Cameron Marshall, Daniel Wise

Partner moves

Niels Hölder, Mike Gruber (both from Hoffmann Eitle)

Team

12 lawyers, 76 patent attorneys, 13 dual qualified

Clients

Sanofi and Regeneron against Amgen over cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab/Praluent; bioMérieux against Labrador Diagnostics over diagnostic devices;

Cuirio Bioscience against 10X Genomics over a method and product for localised or spatial detection of nucleic acid in a tissue sample; Neurocrine against Spruce over androgene -lowering drug Crinecerfont; Align Technology against Angelalign over dental aligner system; Ascendis Pharma against BioMarin over C-type natriuretic peptides; Merz Pharmaceuticals against Viatris Santé over multiple sclerosis drug fampridine/Fampyra; Guardant Health against Sophia Genetics over a liquid biopsy test to detect cancerous tumours; SharkNinja against SEB over air fryers; Micron against Yangtze Memory Technologie.