Patrick Duxbury

IP partner and head of the six-partner Life Sciences sector team delivering a unique mix of IP, corporate and dispute resolution advice to many of the sector's key players.

Tel: +44 (0)121 214 1080

Email: patrick_duxbury@wragge.com

So, what do you do at Wragge & Co?

Typically my work includes advising on complex licence and collaboration deals, product acquisitions, joint ventures, fund raising, commercial agreements, M&A, protection and exploitation strategy and a variety of regulatory issues.

Best brains in ...

Life sciences transactional work and IP.

Highlight of your career so far?

Our first instruction for Japanese company Eisai – a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo employing over 8,000 people in Asia, Europe and the US - on its $100 million acquisition of the European rights to pain suppressant Prialt ™. Under the agreement, Eisai obtained development, manufacturing and marketing rights for non-opioid severe chronic pain agent Prialt in Europe. Prialt is the synthetic equivalent of a peptide found in a marine snail. It suppresses pain by selectively blocking N-type calcium channels on nerves.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

That would have to be the work we did for Astex Therapeutics on its $520 million licensing and drug discovery agreement with Switzerland-based Novartis. The strategic alliance focused on the research, development and commercialisation of novel cell cycle control drugs for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. It was our second deal for Astex in six months and its largest-ever licensing deal.

What about outside the UK?

All our work is international, usually involving Japan, US and Europe.

What's your top tip for great client service?

Make your client feel like they are your only client. That means being well-organised and constantly available and if that means you have to work all night, well, you work all night!

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

A client once asked my advice about the sums that they should require when out-licensing a drug. Because of my experience in the field, I advised them that the price they were asking was too low. They were surprised but reluctant to put the price up too high in case the other company walked away from the deal. I managed to persuade them to go in at the higher price and the other side accepted without question. For my clients it generated literally millions of dollars of income.

What's your single greatest contribution to Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility?

I'm a member of the firm's Eco Team which is working towards a greener Wragge & Co. I try and 'walk the talk' and encourage other partners to do the same by switching off monitors, encouraging re-cycling, catching the train and so on.

One of the best things about my job as a lawyer is that I get to work with a lot of companies with some really exciting technology which helps to save lives.