Nancy L. Urizar

Nancy Urizar is counsel in the firm’s Technology & Life Sciences group. Nancy represents biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, and other life sciences companies in a variety of intellectual property and commercial matters, including in connection with the acquisition, development, manufacture and commercialization of intellectual property.

Nancy regularly drafts and negotiates collaboration, licensing, supply and distribution, manufacturing, material transfer, clinical trial and other strategic commercial agreements.

Prior to her legal career, Nancy spent ten years conducting basic science research in the areas of molecular and cellular biology and neuroscience, including at Baylor College of Medicine, where she earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Nancy’s deep scientific background provides her with a unique perspective on her clients’ legal needs and their short- and long-term technology goals.

Representative Matters

• Deciphera Pharmaceuticals on its worldwide license agreement with Sprint Biosciences for Sprint’s cancer drug program VPS34, for $4 million upfront payment, up to $273 million in total milestones and royalties.
• Graphite Bio on its worldwide license agreement with Integrated DNA Technologies to develop and commercialize products incorporating HiFi Cas9 protein variants for use in human therapeutic applications for SCD, XSCID and Gaucher disease, for an upfront and milestones.
• Esperion Therapeutics on its collaboration agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, for the development and commercialization of bempedoic acid / ezetimibe combination tablet in additional countries around the world, for $30 million upfront, up to $175 million in total milestones and royalties.
• Nektar Therapeutics on its collaboration and license option agreement with Biolojic Design.
• Biond Biologics Ltd. on its exclusive worldwide license agreement with Sanofi, for the development and commercialization of BND-22, for an upfront payment of $125 million and up to more than $1 billion in development, regulatory, and sales milestones, as well as tiered double digit royalty payments.
• Skyhawk Therapeutics on its strategic collaboration agreement with Vertex, for $40 million upfront, up to $2.2 billion in milestones and royalties.
• Esperion Therapeutics on its exclusive license agreement with Serometrix for the development and commercialization of Serometrix’s oral, small molecule PCSK9 inhibitor program, for an upfront payment, milestones and royalties.
• Acadia Pharmaceuticals on its exclusive global license agreement with Adamed Pharma for the development and commercialization of Adamed’s lead compound, a dual 5-HT2a and 5-HT6 receptor antagonist, for an upfront payment, milestones and royalties.
• Blueprint Medicines on its global collaboration with F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Genentech for pralsetinib to treat cancer driven by oncogenic RET alterations, for an upfront of $675 million, equity investment of $100 million, up to $927 million in milestones, and a 50/50 US profit share and ex-US royalties.
• Esperion in its collaboration agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. for the development and commercialization of NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET tablets in Japan, the largest Japan territory pharmaceutical licensing deal in the last 10 years.
• Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. on its exclusive license agreement with Japan Tobacco Inc. to develop and commercialize JTZ-951, a hypoxia inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitor, in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, for an upfront, milestones and royalties.
• Blackstone Life Sciences in its joint investment alongside Ferring Pharmaceuticals of over $570 million USD in nadofaragene firadenovec (rAd-IFN/Syn3), an investigational novel gene therapy in late-stage development for patients with high-grade, Bac.
• SpringWorks Therapeutics on its clinical trial collaboration agreement with GSK.
• Johnson & Johnson on the sale of one of its drug product lines to Baxter.
• Arvelle Therapeutics in its license agreement with SK Biopharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize cenobamate in Europe, for $100 million upfront, $430 in milestones and royalties.
• Esperion Therapeutics on its agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Europe regarding bempedoic acid and combinations in Europe, for $300 million upfront, up to $900 million in total milestones and royalties.

• Compulsory Patent Licensing in Response to COVID-19: Recent International Developments, Blog in Life Sciences Perspectives.
• “March-In” Rights in the Era of COVID-19: An Unlikely Scenario for Remdesivir, Blog in Life Sciences Perspectives.
• Chapter: Alternative dispute resolution, litigation strategies, and bankruptcy considered in the context of cloud agreements, Cloud 3.0: Drafting and Negotiating Cloud Computing Agreements, 2019.
• Blockchain Technology Can Help Fight Counterfeit Drugs, Jun 26, 2018, Law360.
• Supreme Court of the United States to Hear Oral Arguments in Patent Exhaustion Case, Mar 19, 2017, IP Watchdog.

Scientific Publications (First Author)

• Drosophila Homer Is Required in a Small Set of Neurons Including the Ellipsoid Body for Normal Ethanol Sensitivity and Tolerance, Apr 25, 2007, The Journal of Neuroscience.
• Gugulipid: A Natural Cholesterol-Lowering Agent, Jul 2003, Annual Reviews.
• A Natural Product That Lowers Cholesterol As an Antagonist Ligand for FXR, May 31, 2002, Science.
• The Farnesoid X-activated Receptor Mediates Bile Acid Activation of Phospholipid Transfer Protein Gene Expression, Sep 20, 2000, Journal of Biological Chemistry.