Canadian Lawyer InHouse

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 44 INHOUSE WHILE SHE WAS THE in-house lawyer for generic drug company Teva Canada in Toronto for eight years, Ildiko Mehes helped the Israeli-owned company acquire several smaller generic fi rms. "At that time," she recalls, "I used to joke how lucky I was being a patent lawyer doing M&A work." If only she could have seen the future. Fast-forward to 2015, and Mehes is U.S.- based general counsel for Teva Pharma- ceutical Industries Ltd.'s largest business unit, North American Generics. (Teva is the world's largest generic drug maker.) She is playing the snakes-and-ladders game in which big pharma companies attempt to be- come even bigger. In April 2015, Teva offered to acquire Mylan NV, the second-largest generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company in the world for US$40 billion – a fortnight after Mylan tried to buy Perrigo Company PLC for US$29- billion as a poison-pill defence. In July, Teva abandoned its bid for Mylan, and instead bought Allergan Inc.'s generic business for US$40.5 billion, solidifying Teva's position as the world's leading maker of generics. Allergan, known for its Botox anti-wrinkle treatment, had become the third-largest generic drug maker in the U.S. after merging with Actavis PLC in March. "It's been extremely busy, but very exciting," says Mehes. "The Allergan deal came about very quickly. We worked around the clock to make it happen. That's the nature of M&A. Things change. New opportunities arise." And while the takeover bids were in progress, Mehes was also busy negotiating a US$1.2-billion settle- ment with the U.S. Fed- eral Trade Commission to resolve claims that Cephalon Inc., which Teva acquired in 2012, unlawfully delayed ge- neric drugs from being marketed in compe- tition with its sleep- disorder drug Provigil. But let's rewind. The Budapest-born Mehes arrived in Canada at age sev- en. Retaining Hungarian as her mother tongue, she mastered English and French while growing up in Montreal, later moving to Toronto to study at Osgoode Hall Law School. She spent fi ve years as an articling stu- dent and an associate at Goodmans LLP, specializing in intellectual property and commercial litigation. Through one of her clients, Apotex Inc., the country's largest generic drug manufacturer, she was ex- posed to the pharmaceutical industry. "I always wanted to be a litigator," she says. "When I got to Goodmans, I real- ized very quickly that the lawyers who were working on patent litigation matters repre- senting clients like Apotex were in court a lot, and that appealed to me. Most of the cases didn't settle. Apotex and Goodmans Litigator fi nds thrill of M&A in-house After a decade of cross-border deal making in big pharma, Ildiko Mehes is now U.S.-based general counsel at generic giant. BY SHELDON GORDON came about very quickly. We worked around the clock to make it happen. That's the nature of M&A. Things change. New opportunities arise." And while the takeover bids were in progress, Mehes was also busy negotiating a US$1.2-billion settle- ment with the U.S. Fed- eral Trade Commission to resolve claims that Cephalon Inc., which Teva acquired in 2012, unlawfully delayed ge- neric drugs from being marketed in compe- tition with its sleep- disorder drug Provigil. But let's rewind. The Budapest-born Mehes arrived in Canada at age sev- en. Retaining Hungarian as her mother tongue, she mastered English Litigator fi nds thrill of M&A in-house Litigator fi nds thrill of M&A in-house Litigator fi nds thrill

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