Beth Ashbridge is an attorney for life sciences and healthcare companies, including biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, and digital health companies at all stages of development. Beth is based in London, and is a member of Goodwin’s Technology and Life Sciences group.
Beth focuses her practice on commercialization of intellectual property rights, particularly in the life sciences and technology sectors. She advises on transactions, including licenses, collaborations, distribution, manufacturing, outsourcing and R&D projects, as well as regulatory matters, contract and patent disputes, fundraisings, M&A transactions, and IPOs.
Beth joined Goodwin in 2013 as a Science Advisor and later qualified in 2019 as a JD from the part-time evening program at Fordham University School of Law with honors (cum laude), and was extended the Paul Fuller Scholar designation. Beth has been involved in several Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA patent litigation cases on both the brand and generic side and has contributed to the firm’s work in patent opinions and due diligence. Beth is an active contributor to the firm’s biosimilars blog, Big Molecule Watch, which is dedicated to providing resources and observations through Goodwin’s active watch of the world of biologics, biosimilars and the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA). Beth is an editor of Goodwin’s Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the US, which provides expert guidance and practical know-how for lawyers working in this burgeoning area of the law.
Beth brings to her practice an exceptional combination of patent law expertise and technical proficiency in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. Prior to joining Goodwin, Beth carried out her graduate research in the Chemical Biology program at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Sir Professor Shankar Balasubramanian FRS FMedSci and later worked as a post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Cell Biology Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City under the guidance of Dr. Malcolm A.S. Moore.
Beth also has a very active pro bono practice working on projects on both sides of the Atlantic, including working with:
- Kids in Need of Defense UK (KIND UK), a nonprofit organization that arranges legal representation for refugee and immigrant children in the UK
- The Advocates for Human Rights, a legal organisation developing a library of Country Conditions Reports for pro se asylum seekers and volunteer attorneys who use the reports to persuade the court of the challenges they/their clients would face if forced to return to their respective countries of origin
- Goodwin’s Dobbs Task Force on a number of US-based projects relating to reproductive rights issues in the wake of Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which returned authority for regulating abortion to the states. Goodwin’s Dobbs Task Force brings experts together from across the firm to help companies navigate this new and rapidly evolving landscape
Experience
- Advised Synaffix B.V., a biotechnology company focused on commercializing its clinical-stage platform technology for the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with best-in-class therapeutic index, in its $740 million licence agreement with SOTIO Biotech, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company
- Advised Synaffix B.V. in its licence agreement with ABL Bio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotech focusing on immuno-oncology and neurodegenerative diseases, to enable ABL Bio to use Synaffix’s ADC technology platform to develop bispecific ADCs
- Advised Synaffix B.V. in its licence agreement with Chong Kun Dang Pharm (CKD), a pharmaceutical company based in South Korea, for global, target-specific rights to Synaffix’s proprietary ADC technology, adding a new ADC drug candidate to CKD’s pipeline
- Advised Synaffix B.V. in a licence agreement with Amgen with a total potential deal value of up to $2 billion, to provide Amgen access to its proprietary antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technologies
- Advised Synaffix B.V. in a licence agreement with Hummingbird Bioscience, a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company using its Rational Antibody Discovery (RAD) platform to discover and engineer antibodies against optimal epitopes. Under the terms of the agreement, Synaffix is set to receive up to $150m in upfront and milestone payments plus royalties
Professional Experience
Beth brings to her practice an exceptional combination of patent law expertise and technical proficiency in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. Prior to joining Goodwin, Beth carried out her graduate research in the Chemical Biology program at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Sir Professor Shankar Balasubramanian FRS FMedSci and later worked as a post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Cell Biology Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City under the guidance of Dr. Malcolm A.S. Moore.
Credentials
Education
JD2019
Fordham University School of Law
PhD2011
University of Cambridge
MSc2006
Durham University
Admissions
Bars
- New York
- England and Wales
Publications
- Contributor, “Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the U.S. 2023-2024 ed.,” published by Thomson Reuters, January 2024
- Contributor, “Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the U.S., 2022-2023 ed.,” published by Thomson Reuters, December 2022
- Special Contributor, “Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the U.S., 2020-2021 ed.,” published by Thomson Reuters, January 2021
- Speaker, “Clinical Trials, Marketing, and Labeling: Strategies for Proving and Defending Induced Infringement of Biosimilars,” Webinar, October 2020
- Contributor, “Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the U.S., 2019-2020 ed.,” published by Thomson Reuters, November 2019
- Speaker, “What Can You Be with a PHD?: A Science & Technology Career Symposium in Partnership with Springer Nature,” October 2019