Our lawyers are recognized in the field of global health in the development of public policy and structuring seminal agreements. We have supported the rapid expansion of global health initiatives in recent years to tackle some of the complex issues of ensuring access to existing vaccines, drugs and other tools to fight diseases of the developing world and to conduct research to develop new products for such uses that are effective, affordable and practical.
We provide assistance to foundations, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, government agencies and intergovernmental organizations in the drafting and negotiation of agreements to accelerate the development and purchase of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for the developing world. The agreements include collaborations, license agreements, clinical trial agreements, material transfer agreements and manufacture and supply agreements.
Many of our lawyers carry joint degrees in science and have significant experience working in the field of global health. As a result, our team is able to fluently communicate with our clients' scientists and to construct agreements that effectively balance precise technical concepts with practical business goals through a well-structured legal framework.
Recent assignments include:
- We provide legal services in connection with the global health work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We assisted the foundation in the negotiation of agreements to implement two significant projects - the Grand Challenges in Global Health and the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery.
- For the Medicines for Malaria Venture, Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and the U.S. Agency for International Development, we have provided policy-oriented and legal advice pertaining to all aspects of the discovery and development of, respectively, drugs for the treatment of malaria and TB, and vaccines for malaria.
- We are also counsel to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund)– a multi-billion dollar non-profit foundation organized under Swiss law. At its inception, we assisted in the development of their overall procurement strategy. More recently, we prepared reports on litigation risk exposure from a system for in-kind donations and on the question of whether the Board of the Global Fund may delegate its power to make funding decisions to the Secretariat. Further, we have acted as primary trademark counsel to the Global Fund.
- For the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board, we were called upon to identify and analyze options to satisfy the Stop TB Partnership’s needs for the oversight and management of pooled financial resources including protection of public funds, assumption of full fiduciary responsibility (including contracting), smooth, simple and rapid operating procedures, low overhead and quick disbursement.
- We also advised the Roll-Back Malaria Partnership Board on matters pertaining to their hosting agreement with the World Health Organization and drafted and negotiated the memorandum of understanding to formalize that hosting agreement.
- We provide legal advice to the Coordinating Board of the Stop TB Partnership through the Global Drug Facility’s Business Advisory Committee. The Global Drug Facility is hosted by the World Health Organization and has the mandate to build approaches to ensure universal access to, and efficient national systems of procurement and distribution of, anti-TB drugs.