Marty Schenker

Cooley advised ViaCyte, a biotechnology company focused on delivering novel stem cell-derived cell replacement therapies as a functional cure for Type 1 diabetes (T1D), on its definitive agreement to be acquired by global biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals for $320 million in cash. Partners Rowook Park and Carlos Ramirez, along with associate Lindsey O’Crump, led the Cooley team advising ViaCyte.

Successfully represented Pacific Gas and Electric in its bankruptcy confirmation trial, widely believed to be one of the most complex confirmation proceedings in the history of the US Bankruptcy Courts. The case concluded with the confirmation of PG&E's bankruptcy plan, enabling the company to emerge from bankruptcy.

Cooley is advising biopharmaceutical company Medivation on its agreement to sell to Pfizer for approximately $14 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter. Prior to the announced agreement, Cooley also advised Medivation as the target of a hostile takeover bid by Sanofi.

Successfully represented Qualcomm in its global patent-licensing dispute with Nokia concerning Qualcomm's cellular communications technology. The case settled favorably for Qualcomm at the start of trial, resulting in a 15-year multibillion-dollar license agreement between Qualcomm and Nokia.

When F. Hoffmann-La Roche sought to strip Gilead of its rights to a blockbuster drug, Gilead turned to Cooley. At stake were Gilead's exclusive rights to sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), approved by the FDA in 2013 as a breakthrough drug for the treatment of hepatitis C. Within the first six months of going to market, Sovaldi earned nearly $6 billion in sales, making it one of the most successful drug launches in history.

Roche alleged exclusive rights based on an earlier collaboration agreement. Cooley presented this "bet the company" case before a panel of three arbitrators during a two-week arbitration hearing. In August 2014, the arbitration panel issued its award, ruling in favor of Gilead and finding that Roche failed to establish any of its contract or patent-based claims to sofosbuvir. This was a huge win for Gilead, with Sovaldi generating billions of dollars in revenue each year.

The Financial Times, The American Lawyer and its sister publications The Recorder and National Law Journal all profiled the victory when announcing Cooley as the winner of multiple litigation awards, including AmLaw's recent selection of the case as "Global Dispute of the Year: Commercial Arbitration."