Access to capital is essential for healthcare and life sciences companies. At Sidley, we empower healthcare and life sciences companies to raise capital with confidence—armed with the strength of our interdisciplinary Global Life Sciences (GLS) platform.
Sidley’s GLS Capital Markets team brings to clients:
- Industry-Focused Deal Execution: Sidley doesn’t just know capital markets, we know healthcare and life sciences. Our lawyers understand the unique clinical, regulatory, and commercial hurdles healthcare and life sciences companies face. We provide practical advice tailored to industry-specific dynamics in IPOs, follow-on offerings, convertible notes, at-the-market (ATM) programs, and high-yield and investment-grade debt offerings.
- Global Capital Markets Leadership: Sidley delivers results on the world’s largest capital markets transactions. Consistently ranked in leading legal directories worldwide, including Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Chambers Asia-Pacific, IFLR1000, Legal 500, and LMG Life Sciences, Sidley lawyers guide healthcare and life sciences companies through landmark IPOs and follow-on offerings across the U.S., Europe, India, and Southeast Asia.
- Comprehensive Product Coverage: From traditional debt and equity to hybrid capital and cutting-edge equity-lined instruments, we structure offerings that meet the market and our clients’ business where they are:
- investment-grade debt offerings;
- high-yield debt offerings;
- debt offerings;
- IPOs, add-on equity offerings, and equity offerings by selling stockholders;
- spin-offs and privatizations;
- exchangeable securities offerings;
- offerings of preferred stock and other hybrid capital instruments;
- offerings of structured notes, including equity, commodity and currency-linked, indexed, and other derivative products; and
- medium-term note, commercial paper, extendible note, at-the-market, and other funding programs.
- Integrated Regulatory and Transactional Insight: Sidley’s capital markets lawyers are backed by our market-leading regulatory teams. We bring deep FDA, CMS, and global regulatory insight to deal structuring and disclosure, giving our clients a strategic edge few firms can match.
Sidley’s Global Life Sciences (GLS) Emerging Companies and Venture Capital (ECVC) team advises healthcare and life sciences startups, growth-stage companies, and their investors through all phases of the innovation and investment lifecycle. From groundbreaking biotechnology and medical device ventures to digital health, diagnostics, and healthcare services platforms, our lawyers bring deep industry insight and legal acumen to help build and scale transformative businesses.
We counsel companies and founders on formation, fundraising, governance, IP strategy, and regulatory preparedness, and we support investors in evaluating and executing venture capital and strategic growth transactions. With decades of experience advising on innovation-driven businesses, we provide practical, forward-looking legal advice tailored to the evolving dynamics of the healthcare and life sciences ecosystem.
Our GLS ECVC team provides:
- Industry-Focused Legal and Business Strategy: Our lawyers guide healthcare and life sciences clients through all stages of development—from seed financing and early product development through clinical trials, regulatory approval, commercialization, and exit. We advise on entity formation, founder arrangements, IP protection, clinical partnerships, licensing and collaborations, employment matters, and corporate governance—with a focus on aligning legal strategy with business goals and future capital needs.
- Robust Investment and Capital Markets Experience: We represent companies and investors in a full spectrum of venture capital and growth equity transactions, including preferred equity financings, convertible notes, SAFEs, and later-stage investments. Our deep experience in both company- and investor-side deals allows us to offer market-tested insight into deal structuring, valuation, and term negotiation. We regularly guide companies from early-stage financings through strategic asset transactions and exits, IPOs, and SPAC transactions.
- Unmatched Corporate Venture Capital Capabilities: Sidley has a nationally recognized corporate venture capital practice. We advise life sciences companies and strategic investors—including pharmaceutical and medtech leaders, healthcare systems, and corporate venture arms—in structuring and executing direct and syndicated investments. Our team has handled hundreds of transactions involving emerging companies, with long-standing relationships across the healthcare innovation and investment community.
- Integration With Leading Regulatory and IP Practices: Startups in the healthcare and life sciences sector must navigate not only business and financing challenges but also a complex web of regulatory and intellectual property issues. Sidley’s ECVC team works closely with the firm’s leading FDA, CMS, DEA, and international regulatory lawyers, as well as with our patent and licensing professionals, to ensure clients receive comprehensive support that anticipates regulatory milestones and positions businesses for growth and investor confidence.
- Global Reach With Local Execution: Our team advises clients across major global innovation hubs, including Boston, New York, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, London, Singapore, China, and India. We also support non-U.S. life sciences companies that are establishing a presence and growth in the United States, leveraging our global platform and cross-border experience to facilitate U.S. market entry and compliance.
- Trusted Counsel to Innovators and Their Investors: Sidley’s healthcare and life sciences ECVC lawyers are consistently recognized by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms”, and Who’s Who Legal for their work with emerging companies and investors. Our multidisciplinary strength—spanning corporate, regulatory, IP, and litigation—enables us to guide clients through the complex legal, scientific, and commercial challenges that define this space.
Sidley’s Global Life Sciences (GLS) Licensing and Partnering practice helps life sciences innovators and investors build the partnerships that drive discovery, development, and growth. From early-stage platform collaborations to global commercialization agreements, we deliver high-stakes transactions with scientific precision, business savvy, and regulatory strength.
Sidley’s GLS Licensing and Partnering team delivers:
- Full Lifecyle Support for Companies of All Sizes: From formation through exit, we guide clients at every stage through:
- Licensing, collaborations, and commercialization deals
- Clinical, supply chain, manufacturing, and other commercial contracts
- Academic, research, and IP transfer agreements
- Royalty financings, carve-outs, spin-offs, and joint ventures
- Deals Built on Science: We know the technologies and the business drivers behind them. Our team executes high-value licensing, R&D collaborations, option-based structures, joint ventures, and co-commercialization agreements across biopharma, medtech, diagnostics, and digital health.
- Leveraged Regulatory Intelligence to Get the Best Deal Possible and Maximize Post-Deal Success: Our deal teams include Sidley’s top-tier food and drug, healthcare, antitrust, IP, and privacy lawyers—bringing sharp, coordinated counsel on clinical strategy, data rights, pricing, and market access. We don’t just identify risks, we unlock value by fully understanding the regulatory landscape and helping companies find new opportunities.
- Global Reach and Seamless Execution for Cross-Border Deals: With 200+ life sciences lawyers in the U.S., EU, UK, and Asia, we close cross-border deals efficiently, navigating evolving rules and complex structures with speed and pragmatism.
- Recognized Excellence: With 65+ life sciences transactions lawyers and 75+ regulatory specialists, Sidley is a go-to firm for the industry’s most complex deals. Clients call us “the standard” for leading sophisticated transactions (Chambers USA 2024).
Sidley’s Global Life Sciences (GLS) M&A team is a trusted partner to healthcare and life sciences companies, navigating the full spectrum of M&A transactions, including transformative acquisitions, divestitures, corporate combinations, licensing, and more. With a long track record of success across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics, healthcare provider services, and digital health sectors, we bring deep industry knowledge and multidisciplinary legal insight to the most complex M&A transactions in the market.
We offer clients:
- Execution and Advice for All Sizes and Types of M&A Transactions: We represent strategic and private equity, public and private buyers, sellers, and investors in public and private transactions throughout the U.S. and across the globe. Whether advising on the carve-out of a legacy product line, joint ventures, and collaborations, or the acquisition or sale of a pre-commercial platform company or revenue-generating company with significant milestones or contingent value rights (CVRs), Sidley helps clients structure and execute deals that are aligned with commercial and regulatory realities and built for long-term success.
- Industry Insight That Drives Value: Sidley understands the scientific, regulatory, and commercial considerations that impact dealmaking in the healthcare and life sciences industries. We tailor our M&A strategies to reflect the nuances of this highly regulated space, including clinical development pipelines, FDA approvals, pricing and reimbursement risk, cGMP, compliance obligations, and other factors that directly influence valuation, diligence, and transaction structure.
- Integrated Regulatory and Transactional Counsel: Our M&A lawyers excel in GLS transactions and work side-by-side with nationally recognized healthcare, food, drug, and medical device, and antitrust and competition lawyers to provide seamless advice across every phase of a transaction. We regularly advise on:
- Change of ownership and successor liability issues under FDA and CMS regulations
- Fraud and abuse (False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law) and privacy/HIPAA implications
- Medicare/Medicaid enrollment and coverage risks
- FDA regulatory matters including labeling, cGMP compliance, and post-market obligations
- Ongoing investigations or regulatory enforcement actions affecting deal exposure
- Cross-Border Reach and Global Coordination: With dedicated life sciences M&A lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, Sidley executes cross-border GLS M&A transactions with precision. We advise clients on global diligence and deal structuring considerations, local regulatory approvals, antitrust clearance, and integration strategies across key jurisdictions.
- Deal Structuring That Reflects Industry Complexity: We bring creative solutions to M&A deal architecture for healthcare and life sciences companies, including:
- Milestones and CVR structuring, negotiation, and drafting
- Post-closing risk allocation for regulatory liabilities
- Escrow and indemnity structures tied to clinical, regulatory, or reimbursement risk
- Carve-outs and spin-offs of regulated business units and post-closing transition services agreements
- Management of product-specific consents and supply chain transitions
Sidley stands at the forefront of private equity investments in healthcare and life sciences. Our Global Life Sciences (GLS) Private Equity team empowers funds and investors to identify, structure, and execute transformative deals in a sector that demands more than just capital—it demands deep industry fluency.
Sidley’s GLS Private Equity practice offers:
- Industry-Driven Deal Craftsmanship: Our lawyers blend top-tier private equity experience with a granular understanding of the healthcare and life sciences landscape. From clinical development risks to evolving reimbursement models, we anticipate the deal-impacting nuances others miss. This enables our team to deliver practical, actionable advice on acquisitions, investments, recapitalizations, carve-outs, and exits across every sub-sector of healthcare and life sciences.
- Full Transaction and Investment Lifecycle Assistance: We advise on the full investment cycle—from initial investment, to growth stage (including add-on transactions, platform growth, and interim and non-dilutive financing), to evaluating and implementing exit strategies (including M&A and public and private capital markets).
- Expansive Industry Coverage: Our team helps clients structure investments across:
- Life Sciences: Pharmaceutical Drugs and Biologics; Medical Devices and Equipment; Development-Stage Life Sciences Companies; Cell and Gene Therapy; Digital Health and AI Technologies; Wholesalers and Distributors; Contract Manufacturers and Other Supply Chain Participants; Agribusiness and Food; Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Products; Medical Foods.
- Healthcare: Hospitals and Health Systems; Physician Practices; Laboratories; Revenue Cycle Management; Home Health; Skilled Nursing Facilities; Pharmacies; Telehealth; Healthtech (EHR and more).
- Built-In Regulatory Intelligence: Sidley’s deep bench of global regulatory lawyers represent life sciences and healthcare companies on their most important commercial, regulatory and compliance matters. We bring that experience and deep understanding of the risks and opportunities that all GLS companies and providers currently face to provide tailored advice to investors and their portfolio companies to evaluate regulatory risk, develop mitigation strategies, and enhance enterprise value through insight that shapes deal strategy.
- Global Reach with Local Insight: Sidley executes cross-border transactions at scale, guiding clients through complex, multi-jurisdictional healthcare investments in the U.S., Europe, Asia-Pacific, and beyond. With lawyers ranked by Chambers, Legal 500, IFLR1000, and LMG Life Sciences, our team supports sponsors and strategic investors across geographies, deal structures, and asset types.
Sidley’s Global Life Sciences (GLS) and Restructuring practices bring extensive experience collaborating on complex restructurings in the life sciences sector. This industry is uniquely challenging, with companies navigating not only financial and operational pressures but also stringent regulatory requirements from agencies such as the FDA, CMS, and their global counterparts. Our restructuring lawyers work seamlessly with Sidley’s leading regulatory and transactional teams to ensure that every restructuring strategy is grounded in the latest regulatory developments and aligned with commercial realities.
For example, in the Chapter 11 cases of Eiger Pharmaceuticals and Tricida Pharmaceuticals, Sidley’s ability to coordinate between restructuring counsel and regulatory professionals was critical. These companies faced challenges related to ongoing clinical trials and the preservation of valuable intellectual property. Sidley’s integrated approach enabled the development of restructuring plans that protected core assets, maintained regulatory compliance, and maximized value for stakeholders. This seamless collaboration is especially important when addressing issues such as the transfer of drug approvals, the continuation of clinical programs, and the negotiation of government reimbursement obligations during bankruptcy proceedings.
Sidley’s GLS Restructuring team advises on a comprehensive range of restructuring transactions tailored to the life sciences sector, including:
- Chapter 11 Reorganizations and Prepackaged Bankruptcies: Sidley has guided companies through traditional and prepackaged Chapter 11 processes, enabling them to restructure debt, address operational challenges, and emerge as viable entities.
- Cross-Border Insolvency Proceedings: Sidley’s global platform allows it to manage insolvency matters that span multiple jurisdictions, ensuring compliance with local laws while achieving coordinated outcomes.
- Liability Management Transactions: The team structures transactions to manage and reduce liabilities, such as debt-for-equity swaps and recapitalizations.
- Distressed M&A and Asset Sales: Sidley has represented both sellers and buyers in the sale of assets and business units during bankruptcy, maximizing value for creditors and preserving critical operations.
- Workouts, Forbearance Agreements, and Foreclosures: The firm negotiates with creditors to achieve consensual solutions that avoid formal bankruptcy when possible; including transactions involving exercise of UCC remedies.
- DIP and Exit Financing Arrangements: Sidley supports debtor-in-possession and exit financing to provide companies with the liquidity needed to operate during restructuring and to support successful emergence from bankruptcy.
Balancing Competing Interests Among Life Sciences Stakeholders
Life sciences restructurings often involve a diverse array of stakeholders, including secured and unsecured creditors, equity holders, boards of directors, employees, patients, and regulatory authorities. Sidley excels at balancing these competing interests to drive consensus and achieve successful outcomes.
Sidley has represented a myriad of companies in negotiations with creditors, investors, and potential acquirers. The firm’s deep understanding of the life sciences business model and regulatory environment allows it to craft solutions that preserve the value of ongoing clinical programs, protect patient interests, and maximize recoveries for creditors. Sidley’s stakeholder-focused approach ensures that all parties’ concerns are addressed, whether through the structuring of asset sales, the negotiation of plan terms, or the management of regulatory obligations.
Sidley’s GLS Restructuring team offers life sciences companies a unique combination of industry-specific knowledge, integrated regulatory and transactional insight, and global reach. Through its work on high-profile Chapter 11 cases such as Eiger Pharmaceuticals, Impel Pharmaceuticals, Tricida Pharmaceuticals, and Ventec Inc., Sidley has demonstrated its ability to deliver innovative, value-maximizing solutions for clients facing the most complex restructuring challenges in the life sciences sector.