Elese Hanson

Elese advises public and private companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, digital health, medical technology and software sectors. She focuses on structuring strategic collaborations and negotiating complex licensing agreements for clients at all stages of development. Elese also provides counsel on transactions involving emerging technologies, data rights and artificial intelligence (AI), offering forward-thinking advice to companies navigating associated legal and business considerations.

Elese is a registered patent attorney with prior experience as in-house counsel for a boutique pharmaceutical company, where she managed a portfolio of patent litigation matters. This background gives her a unique perspective when advising clients on complex agreements.

Elese played a key role in launching Women In Bio’s Boardroom Ready Program, which has successfully placed and promoted numerous executive women in the life sciences industry on corporate boards. She also maintains a strong pro bono practice, providing counsel to charitable organizations in the Boston area.

Representative matters:

• Represented a multinational pharmaceutical company in its $5.3 billion exclusive worldwide collaboration and license agreement with a biotechnology company to co-develop and co-commercialize a foundational therapy for overweight and obesity patients* 
• Represented a biotechnology company dedicated to advancing neurogenetic medicines in its strategic collaboration agreement with a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company to advance multiple gene therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases*
• Advised an early-stage genetic medicines company in the following transactions:
  • A $1.2 billion strategic research collaboration*
  • A collaboration to develop allogeneic cell therapies*
  • A global nonexclusive license agreement for engineered cell therapy programs*
• Represented an international contract research organization in a multiyear, AI-enabled drug discovery partnership*
• Negotiated an exclusive license agreement for a preclinical-stage asset on behalf of a computational biotechnology company*
• Advised a next-generation gene-editing company developing potentially curative therapeutics for patients with serious diseases based on its proprietary and modular toolbox of DNA-editing technologies in its strategic partnership focused on advancing new adeno-associated virus-based gene-editing therapies for central nervous system diseases with high unmet medical needs*
• Represented a clinical-stage genome editing company in its out-licensing of, and strategic collaborations related to, its gene editing technologies*
• Advised multiple international pharmaceutical companies on collaboration and license agreements for prescription digital therapeutics*
• Represented an AI software company in data access agreements with academic medical centers to use de-identified clinical data for drug discovery and development, under a cloud model protecting patient privacy*
• Represented a conversational AI and ambient intelligence technology company in its strategic partnership with a global technology company aimed at accelerating the delivery of ambient clinical intelligence (ACI) technologies to reduce clinician burnout*
• Negotiated a four-year global research collaboration for a biotechnology company focused on cardiovascular disease*

* Representation handled before joining Cooley