Legal Partner, Research & Development Transactions

Legal Partner, Research & Development Transactions

About Astellas:

At Astellas we are a progressive health partner, delivering value and outcomes where needed.

We pursue innovative science, focussing initially on the areas of greatest potential and then developing solutions where patient need is high, often in rare or under-served disease areas and in life-threatening or life-limiting diseases and conditions.

We work directly with patients, doctors and health care professionals on the front line to ensure patient and clinical needs are guiding our development activities at every stage.

Our global vision for Patient Centricity is to support the development of innovative health solutions through a deep understanding of the patient experience. At Astellas, Patient Centricity isn’t a buzzword - it’s a guiding principle for action. We believe all staff have a role to play in creating a patient-centric culture and integrating an awareness of the patient into our everyday working practices, regardless of our role, team or division.

We work closely with regulatory authorities and payers to find new ways to ensure access to new therapies. We deliver the latest insights and real-world evidence to inform the best decisions for patients and their care-givers, to ensure the medicines we develop continue to provide meaningful outcomes.

Beyond medicines, we support our stakeholder communities to drive initiatives that improve awareness, education, access and ultimately standards of care.

The Opportunity:

As Legal Partner, R&D Transactions (Associate Director) you will provide legal support and legal service in relation to R&D legal transactions of the Research, Medical Affairs and Development Functions within the Established and International (EST and INT) markets.

Working as part of a diverse, agile, and global R&D Legal team you will be the primary point of contact for complex contracting issues and legal support for the Research, Medical Affairs and Development organisation in the EST and INT markets.

Responsibilities:

• You will provide practical, timely, proactive, strategic, high quality legal services for the R&D organisation on all R&D transactional matters, considering the global objectives of the organisation and the unique and varying global, local, and regional legal and regulatory requirements in a risk-balanced manner in order to effectively minimize and mitigate risk.
• Provide legal support for a broad range of R&D transactions within Astellas, including collaborations, licensing, clinical and pre-clinical agreements, and other services agreements, as well as alliance management and other deals. This may include but is not limited to support to business-people on (i) contract drafting and negotiations with potential business partners and collaborators in and/or outside EST and INT markets and (ii) strategic projects and key initiatives of the R&D organisation.
• You will be involved in identifying, participating in, and contributing to contract enhancement initiatives for R&D businesses including by suggesting, preparing, and reviewing new templates of contracts, check lists, guidance etc.
• Aligning, coordinating, and working closely with the members of the Legal Research & M&D and Global Contracting Office (GCO) Tower and other members of Legal & IP Division.
• Retaining, supervising, and directing outside counsel effectively, and efficiently managing legal expenses consistent with approved global budget, coordinating closely with the Head of Legal Research & M&D and GCO and the General Counsel Office.
• You will be responsible for providing updates to management and business clients on changes in legal developments affecting the pharmaceutical industry, especially in the research field, and the innovative new technologies and coordinating with other leaders in the Legal & IP function, as may be appropriate.

Essential Knowledge & Experience:

• Solid understanding of the legal issues relating to pharmaceuticals or medical device businesses or affecting the pharmaceutical industry. This may include understanding of patent, trademark or copyright licensing, joint research and development, regulatory processes for medical devices, over-the-counter drugs or prescription drugs, anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, and anti-bribery and anti-corruption.
• Demonstrated experience and ability in working with cross-functional matrix teams.

Preferred Experience:

• Considerable experience working in a law firm or pharmaceutical or medical device legal department.

Education:

• Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LL.M.) or equivalent.
• Extensive experience working in a legal department of the company or a law firm.
• Bar membership in the country of location.

Additional information:

• This is a permanent full-time position that is primarily based in the UK or EU4 major markets and will work across global, regional, and local R&D teams.
• This position is 100% home/remote based.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.