Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50879
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Biotech woes Wearing multiple hats, in-house lawyers in biotech companies serve an increasingly distressed Canadian industry. By Jeremy Hainsworth Ask lawyers in Canada's $84-billion biotech sector what the main concern confronting them in their work is, and the answer comes down to one point from which most others flow. "It's to ensure that there are safeguards around any intellectual property the company may have," says John R. Rudolph, general counsel and corporate secretary for Eli Lilly Canada Inc. But that task can be made hard- er if a fair and egalitarian regulatory framework is not in place to uphold the safety and efficacy of products, or when that framework is burdensome or protracted. There is currently a need for more appropriate regulatory pathways for research and development in agricul- tural and pharmaceutical products in Canada, says Jane Clark, Ottawa-based leader of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP's life sciences industry group. To that end, Gowlings' business law partner Michael Herman adds in-house counsel frequently find themselves working on licensing and royalty agreements as well as searching for funds and risk capital for research and development. But the requirement for general counsel is to wear multiple hats, and that's a very significant part of their job, Herman says. Eli Lilly's counsel in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, for example, work to ensure fair and reasonable market and advertising environments, says Rudolph. And that's the case at other companies too. "Our department supports all aspects of the business — research and development, manufacturing, marketing," says Robin Keslassy, head lawyer of Toronto's Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., the vaccines division of the Sanofi-Aventis Group. However, in wearing those hats, counsel work around a number of grey areas in Canada, according to Rudolph. There are uncertainties about patent INHOUSE FEBRUARY 2011 • 35