Some firms have worked hard at creating a pharma - life-science practice. Top of mind- NDA under the leadership of Dr. Milind. Other top firms have Pharma- MnA mix for helping deals close faster (eg Trilegal and Khaitan has partners who know pharma enough to complete deals faster than others).
For future, I think this area is bound to grow- from pure pharma to healthcare as a space (hospitals, health food, wearable digital devices, assisted living/ old age homes) - our population is expanding and aging and health laws (not just pure pharma/ drugs) will be around.
Two aspects to consider - one is that it is an industry focused practice, and the other is that it is a highly regulated space. Both offer it’s own advantages, but of course it may not be for everyone.
An industry focused practice (as opposed to a area focused practice such as M&A, PE/VC, labour, IP, etc.) gives you the benefit of being able to work on various legal aspects, but specifically for this industry. That means that you could be drafting contracts for drug distribution or clinical trials (commercial), handling a litigation/administrative hearing against a regulator/competitor/consumer or even intra-industry complaints before industry bodies (disputes), advising on confidentiality breaches where an employee shares proprietary data or technology with a competitor company (HR), advising on compliances for sharing clinical data or preparing a privacy policy/ToU for a digital health platform (data privacy/tech), advising and preparing documentation for a brand license/transfer/acquisition, sale/purchase of a manufacturing facility (Corp), or even structuring activities for digital health companies due to FDI restrictions/regulatory restrictions (exchange control++). Ultimately, you deal with quite a bit of various areas of law, which broadens your thinking and application.
Because it’s heavily regulated, you also advice the business on every aspect of its functioning. From R&D, import, manufacture, marketing, promotion, wholesale, retail to pricing. New age companies are looking to disrupt every area of the product/service lifecycle as well. Commercial activities of the sector are shaped a lot by its regulations, so advising on and being exposed to this side on a daily basis really develops your commercial acumen. You also quickly learn what actually matters to clients and companies, which improves your own service delivery.
The takeaway really is that the practice helps you develop yourself holistically as a lawyer. Contrary to what people may think, the only ‘real’ work is not limited to transactions. It’s an important aspect, yes, but only a small part of what is otherwise a very vast area with many sub-sectors and specialities. As the space grows, we may see even more specialised practices (for example, teams handling only medical devices or digital health, or just regulatory litigations for pharma/medical device) as in other foreign firms, but we are a long way off.
In terms of firms, there are transaction focused pharma / life science teams and there are full fledged industry focused teams. There is a growing interest in this space, and more firms are looking to expand their practices. There are only a handful of lawyers in this space, so it’s a great opportunity to join the bandwagon early on and make a career out of it. Even if not long term, the learnings are definitely transferable and will help you in other areas/industries, and even more so if you decide to go in-house later on.
Other top firms have Pharma- MnA mix for helping deals close faster (eg Trilegal and Khaitan has partners who know pharma enough to complete deals faster than others).
For future, I think this area is bound to grow- from pure pharma to healthcare as a space (hospitals, health food, wearable digital devices, assisted living/ old age homes) - our population is expanding and aging and health laws (not just pure pharma/ drugs) will be around.
Hope this helps.
An industry focused practice (as opposed to a area focused practice such as M&A, PE/VC, labour, IP, etc.) gives you the benefit of being able to work on various legal aspects, but specifically for this industry. That means that you could be drafting contracts for drug distribution or clinical trials (commercial), handling a litigation/administrative hearing against a regulator/competitor/consumer or even intra-industry complaints before industry bodies (disputes), advising on confidentiality breaches where an employee shares proprietary data or technology with a competitor company (HR), advising on compliances for sharing clinical data or preparing a privacy policy/ToU for a digital health platform (data privacy/tech), advising and preparing documentation for a brand license/transfer/acquisition, sale/purchase of a manufacturing facility (Corp), or even structuring activities for digital health companies due to FDI restrictions/regulatory restrictions (exchange control++). Ultimately, you deal with quite a bit of various areas of law, which broadens your thinking and application.
Because it’s heavily regulated, you also advice the business on every aspect of its functioning. From R&D, import, manufacture, marketing, promotion, wholesale, retail to pricing. New age companies are looking to disrupt every area of the product/service lifecycle as well. Commercial activities of the sector are shaped a lot by its regulations, so advising on and being exposed to this side on a daily basis really develops your commercial acumen. You also quickly learn what actually matters to clients and companies, which improves your own service delivery.
The takeaway really is that the practice helps you develop yourself holistically as a lawyer. Contrary to what people may think, the only ‘real’ work is not limited to transactions. It’s an important aspect, yes, but only a small part of what is otherwise a very vast area with many sub-sectors and specialities. As the space grows, we may see even more specialised practices (for example, teams handling only medical devices or digital health, or just regulatory litigations for pharma/medical device) as in other foreign firms, but we are a long way off.
In terms of firms, there are transaction focused pharma / life science teams and there are full fledged industry focused teams. There is a growing interest in this space, and more firms are looking to expand their practices. There are only a handful of lawyers in this space, so it’s a great opportunity to join the bandwagon early on and make a career out of it. Even if not long term, the learnings are definitely transferable and will help you in other areas/industries, and even more so if you decide to go in-house later on.