Stephen Abreu

Stephen counsels biotechnology companies in their most critical strategic transactions, with a focus on complex intellectual property collaborations, licenses, acquisitions and cross-border partnerships.

In structuring and negotiating these matters for his clients, Stephen leverages his graduate scientific training as a molecular biologist and his experience leading monoclonal antibody research and development programs to translate scientific complexity into practical, business-focused deal terms.

Stephen has significant experience in university-industry transactions developed during his service as industry contracts manager at the University of California, San Francisco, for the Diabetes Center and the Immune Tolerance Network. In that role, he managed industry relationships between academic researchers in those departments and companies in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and digital health, gaining insight into how academic discovery moves into commercial application.

Representative matters

• Represented a China-based, publicly traded biopharmaceutical company in the out-licensing of a potential first-in-class antibody drug conjugate to a biopharmaceutical company*

• Represented a biopharmaceutical company in a collaboration and licensing agreement with a biopharmaceutical oncology company to out-license a breakthrough bispecific antibody for development and commercialization in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan*

• Represented a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in its collaboration with a Chinese pharmaceutical company to develop two products enabled by its proprietary non-natural amino acid incorporation technology platforms*

• Represented a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in the following transactions:
  • A multiyear, multitarget strategic collaboration agreement with a global biotechnology company to advance a new class of medicines for use in cancer treatment*
  • A global strategic collaboration deal with a multinational biopharma company to discover, develop and commercialize a pipeline of innovative drugs for patients with challenging diseases in multiple therapeutic areas*
  • A global strategic collaboration deal with a Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical company to discover, develop and commercialize a pipeline of innovative drugs for patients with cancer and other challenging diseases*
  • A strategic collaboration with a Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical company for the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutics in oncology, inflammation and immunology*
• Represented a global leader in the food space in connection with a collaboration agreement to develop a manufacturing process for a fruit-based food additive*

• Represented a global pharmaceutical company in negotiating a license to key delivery technology for one of its largest pharmaceutical drug franchises*

• Represented a clinical-stage immunotherapy company in the following transactions:
  • A license agreement with a Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical company under which the company obtained worldwide rights to a potential first-in-class antibody that targets the LILRB2 receptor on macrophages*
  • A strategic collaboration with a Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical company to develop and commercialize immuno-oncology products*

• Represented a biopharmaceutical company in the following transactions:
  • A license agreement under which it obtained exclusive, global rights from two global biotechnology companies to develop and commercialize a clinical-stage antibody for atopic dermatitis*
  • An option and license agreement whereby a global pharmaceutical company acquired an option to license rights to develop and exclusively commercialize a treatment for atopic dermatitis and certain other indications in Europe*

• Represented a California-based drug discovery company in the following transactions:
  • A license agreement with a cancer biotech company to research, develop, manufacture and sell worldwide a clinical-stage BRAF-inhibiting compound for the treatment of solid tumors*
  • A license agreement with a biotechnology company for worldwide rights to develop and commercialize a clinical-stage BRAF-inhibiting compound for the treatment of solid tumors*
  • A trial collaboration agreement under which the parties will evaluate the combination of an investigational CSF-1R inhibitor and an anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with advanced melanoma or solid tumors*

• Represented a pharmaceutical royalty company in the following transactions:
  • An exclusive license agreement with a leading research organization to commercialize its investigational one-year vaginal system for contraception in the US*
  • A license agreement with a Pan-American specialty pharmaceutical company that grants it the rights to commercialize a product for the treatment of moderate-to-severe dyspareunia and a hormone therapy for the treatment of moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms due to menopause*
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in a restructuring of its worldwide collaboration with a biotechnology company to expand their existing agreement to jointly develop and commercialize investigational Alzheimer’s disease treatments*
• Represented a global biopharmaceutical company in the following transactions:
  • An exclusive licensing agreement with a late-stage biopharmaceutical company granting it rights to develop, promote, market, distribute and sell a novel first in-class therapy being developed for the treatment of oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer*
  • An exclusive license agreement with a Barcelona-based biopharmaceutical company under which the company in-licensed Greater China rights to a solid tumor drug candidate*
  • A development and commercialization agreement with a biopharmaceutical company specializing in respiratory and neurologic diseases*
  • A license agreement and product commercialization agreement with a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for cardiovascular diseases*
  • A collaboration and option agreement with a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on oncology therapeutics*
  • A collaboration and license agreement with a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company*

• Represented a clinical-stage biotechnology company in the following transactions:
  • A strategic research collaboration and license agreement with the developer of a novel glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor (GITR) antibody program*
  • An exclusive license agreement with a multinational biotech company specializing in gene therapies to develop chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors*
  • An exclusive collaboration agreement with a leading global biopharmaceutical company to discover novel immune-oncology therapies*
  • A research collaboration agreement with a biologics discovery and engineering provider to develop and optimize therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, initially focused on cancer immunotherapy*

• Represented a medical laboratory and diagnostic software developer in a software license and services agreement with an integrated regional healthcare system*

• Represented a clinical trial design and development company in the sale to a global contract research organization of certain assets related to sequential parallel comparison design, which is a clinical trial methodology developed at Harvard University that reduces the placebo effect*

• Represented a San Diego-based allergy and immunology research facility in a six-year extension of its existing research alliance with a wholly owned subsidiary of a global specialty pharmaceutical company, under which the facility will receive a combination of discretionary research funding and funds dedicated to specific projects to be selected by a steering committee*
• Represented a biomedical research organization in multiple research agreements related to Huntington’s disease*

• Represented an innovative therapeutics and healthcare technology company in its spinoff of and cross-license agreement with a biotechnology company*

• Represented a behavioral analytics platform in its collaboration agreement with a healthcare company to develop an analytics software-based platform to provide real-time tools for clinicians to use with patients who have been diagnosed with depression*

* Representation handled before joining Cooley