Adriana V. Tibbitts

ADRIANA TIBBITTS is a partner and a member of the firm’s Global Life Sciences team. Adriana works with clients in the life sciences industry on a broad range of transactional matters, including collaboration and license agreements, co-promotion and other commercialization agreements, joint ventures, M&A, financing transactions, including royalty financing, and the acquisition of pharmaceutical royalty streams. She also represents clients on general corporate and commercial matters. Clients consult Adriana for her experience with technologies that have been the subject of significant interest within the life sciences industry over the past five years, including cell and gene therapies and digital health. 

Adriana represents the full spectrum of life sciences clients, including privately held and publicly traded pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies at all stages of development as well as universities, academic medical centers, private equity and venture capital funds, and their portfolio companies. She regularly works with inventors and entrepreneurs and a significant portion of her practice is dedicated to supporting formation, financing, licensing and development activities for emerging companies with novel technologies. Adriana also has experience helping clinical-stage companies prepare for commercialization, including expanding their global footprint and helping them engage commercialization partners. She also regularly handles cross-border matters, including transactions in China. 

Prior to joining Sidley, Adriana was a partner at another global law firm.  Before attending law school, Adriana traveled across the United States as a trial clerk with the U.S. Tax Court.

Accolades

• “Top Latino Lawyers,” Latino Leaders Magazine, 2022
• “US Rising Star - Financial & Corporate,” LMG Life Sciences Americas Awards, 2021 
• Healthcare: Life Sciences (Next Generation Partner), Legal 500 US, 2019-2020

• NextCure, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering and developing novel, first-in-class and best-in-class therapies to treat cancer, in a strategic partnership with Simcere Zaiming to develop SIM0505, a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting CDH6 (cadherin-6 or K-cadherin) for the treatment of solid tumors.
• Sagard Healthcare Partners in providing up to US$250 million in non-dilutive financings to Nuvation Bio Inc. (NYSE: NUVB), a global biopharmaceutical company tackling some of the greatest unmet needs in oncology.
• OMERS Life Sciences in the $650 million strategic financing of Verona Pharm plc (NASDAQ: VRNA) together with funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., consisting of up to US$400 million in term loans and up to US$250 million in funding from the sale of a redeemable capped interest in future ensifentrine-related revenue.
• OMERS Life Sciences in its acquisition of a capped, tiered, declining royalty on direct annual net sales of ORLADEYO® (berotralstat) from BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for US$150 million.
• OMERS Life Sciences in the negotiation of a definitive credit facility agreement for BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. with a syndicate of lenders for up to US$750 million in financing.
• Sagard Healthcare in purchasing a 1% royalty in net sales of Tyvaso DPI® (treprostinil) inhalation powder from MannKind Corporation (Nasdaq: MNKD), in exchange for up to US$200 million, including the purchase price of US$150 million and an additional potential milestone payment of up to US$50 million.
• Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRAX) in an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Tenacia Biotechnology (Shanghai) Company, Ltd. for the development and commercialization of ulixacaltamide for the treatment of essential tremor in Greater China.
• Pfizer Inc. in connection with the formation of SpringWorks Therapeutics, including its $103M Series A financing and the license of rights to four Pfizer product candidates.
• The University of Pennsylvania in connection with the formation and $115.5M Series A financing of Passage Bio.
• Pyxis Oncology on its worldwide license agreement with Pfizer Inc. for the development and commercialization of antibody-drug conjugate candidates. 
• MacroGenics, Inc. in connection with its agreement with Eversana to commercialize margetuximab in the United States.
• OPKO, Inc. on its development and commercial licensing agreement with Pfizer Inc.
• OPKO, Inc. on its licensing agreement with Japan Tobacco for the international development and marketing of Rayaldee.
• Kiadis Pharma in connection with the acquisition of CytoSen Therapeutics, Inc.
• Galera Therapeutics on the development of drugs targeting oxygen metabolic pathways in connection with an US$80m royalty financing with Clarus (later acquired by Blackstone).
• DRI Capital in its acquisition from MRC Technology of a portion of its royalty interest in pembrolizumab (marketed by Merck & Co., Inc. as Keytruda®).
• TESARO in its collaboration and license agreement with Janssen Biotech involving niraparib for the treatment of prostate cancer.
• TESARO in its exclusive licensing agreement with Takeda for the commercialization and clinical development of niraparib in Japan.
• New Enterprise Associates and Apple Tree Partners in several venture capital financings of companies at various stages of development.
• The University of Pennsylvania in connection with its exclusive license and collaboration of CAR-T technologies to Novartis.
• Immune Design Corp. in connection with its exclusive licenses to a pharmaceutical company for food allergies and HSV.
• Braeburn Pharmaceuticals on its US$110m mezzanine round of financing led by Wellington Management Company.
• Novartis in its acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline's oncology business and divestiture of its animal health business to Eli Lilly.
• Advising a high-technology company in connection with its life science business ventures, including exclusive licenses and joint ventures, to develop digital health products.

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