Alison M. Lehner

ALISON LEHNER focuses her practice on the life sciences and healthcare industries, representing companies at every life cycle stage. As a member of the Global Life Sciences team, Alison leverages a broad knowledge base to advise clients in a variety of complex transactions, including equity and debt financings, licensing, collaborations, co-promotions, M&A, structured finance arrangements, including royalty and revenue financing, and other strategic transactions. As part of this practice, Alison has advised clients on a broad range of issues related to cutting edge technology, such as digital heath and cell and gene therapies.

Alison represents private companies and publicly traded companies, and a significant portion of Alison’s practice involves working with entrepreneurs and inventors to develop companies that allow them to finance continued research and development outside of the academic environment. As part of this practice, Alison counsels inventors regarding formation, financing, licensing, and development transactions, as well as general corporate and commercial matters. Alison also regularly works with investors in the life sciences industry in connection with financing activities, as well as academic medical centers in licensing and strategic transactions, allowing her to bring experience to all sides of emerging company transactions. In connection with her emerging company experience, Alison has experience helping clinical-stage companies prepare for commercialization, including establishing global corporate activities, developing supply chains, and engaging with commercialization partners.

• BigHat Biosciences, Inc. in strategic collaborations with Eli Lilly and Janssen Biotech to advance AI-driven antibody therapeutics.
• Radiant Biotherapeutics, a preclinical biotechnology company developing an antibody platform to deliver transformative therapies for patients facing life-changing disease, in its US$35 million Series A financing.
• Shinobi Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a new class of immune-evasive iPS-T cell therapies, in its US$51 million Series A financing.
• Novo Nordisk Inc. (NYSE: NVO) in its collaboration with Evotec SE (NASDAQ: EVO) to launch LAB eN², a translational drug discovery accelerator that aims to nurture early research from academic institutions into novel therapeutics. The focus of the collaboration is to accelerate the translation of academic ideas to therapeutic product candidates in the cardiometabolic space.
• GE Healthcare (NASDAQ: GEHC) in its exclusive global licensing agreement with SOFIE Biosciences to develop, manufacture, and commercialize SOFIE’s Gallium-68 and Flourine-18 labelled diagnostics targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP).
• Pyxis Oncology (NASDAQ: PYXS), a preclinical oncology company, in its upsized US$168 million initial public offering. 
• Intellia Therapeutics in its collaboration agreements with ONK Therapeutics and Kyverna Therapeutics to advance allogeneic cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
• Interius BioTherapeutics, a preclinical stage gene therapy company developing a paradigm-shifting platform for in vivo cell-specific gene delivery, in its US$76 million Series A financing.
• Pyxis Oncology on its worldwide license agreement with Pfizer Inc. for the development and commercialization of antibody-drug conjugate candidates.
• D1 Capital in its investment in the US$165 million Series C financing for PathAI, a global provider of artificial intelligence-powered technology for pathology.
• The underwriters in the upsized US$198.7 million initial public offering by Tyra Biosciences, Inc., a precision oncology company focused on developing purpose-built therapies to overcome tumor resistance and improve outcomes for patients with cancer.
• Acrivon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACRV) in its exclusive license from Eli Lilly to develop DNA damage inhibitor, prexasertib. 
• Delfi Diagnostics in connection with its formation, license, and sponsored research agreements with Johns Hopkins University, US$101 million Series A offering, and US$250 million Series B offering.
• AavantiBio in connection with its license agreements with University of Florida and its US$107 million Series A offering.
• Lesaffre in its strategic collaboration and investment with Recombia Biosciences, and its acquisition of Recombia. 
• Intellia Therapeutics in its research collaboration and license agreement with GEMoaB to develop allogeneic cellular immunotherapies for treating cancers and inflammatory diseases.
• NextCure in connection with its formation, US$67 million Series A offering, US$93 million Series B offering, and IPO.
• New Enterprise Associates in its venture capital equity and debt financings for healthcare-related portfolio companies.
• A high-technology company in connection with its life sciences business ventures, including exclusive licenses and joint ventures.
• Vivus on its acquisition of Pancreaze from Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

*Some of the above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.

• Maryland Bar Association
• District of Columbia Bar Association
• American Bar Association