Life sciences

• represented a major transnational producer of pharmaceuticals and consumer goods in a transaction to acquire a business to distribute OTC drugs from an Indian company in Russia, CIS countries and certain other jurisdictions (a total of 14 jurisdictions);
• represented a private equity fund with a long track record in Russia in transactions to invest in companies in the country, including support in transactions to acquire new companies that held rights to medicines as well as transactions in which key portfolio companies of the fund acquired rights to medicines.
• provided ongoing legal support (over several years) to two biotechnological start-ups in Russia that were created by foreign investors jointly with a Russian development institution. The work included ensuring all agreed corporate management procedures, the development of a number of internal regulations of companies, and advising with respect to the import of chemical agents, pre-clinical and clinical trials, the transfer of foreign technologies, the obtaining of grants, as well as complicated state budget and legal aspects of performing and terminating state contracts;
• provided legal support to international and Russian pharmaceutical and healthcare companies on a wide range of issues, for instance, among others:
• assessing advertising materials for OTC medicines, and evidence that can be used to confirm the statements;
• devising solutions with respect to problematic aspects of labelling medical products;
• assessing the procedure of dealing with representatives of the medical community;
• developing and assessing the provisions of commercial policies and distribution agreements.

• representing a pharmaceutical company during a pre-audit analysis on the issue of the representative office’s preparatory and auxiliary activity being reclassified as activity conducted in the interests of third parties (manufacturers of medicines and distributors in the Russian Federation);
• protecting the interests of a large pharmaceutical holding company during a field tax audit focusing on the structure of intra-group payments;
• developing a contractual model for selling foreign software (a medical item) in Russia (including accepting payments for updates and additional functionality of the software) taking account of the tax risks and providing support to the client at the stage of implementing this model;
• providing support during the restructuring of a major Indian pharmaceutical company in Russia;
• completing a number of mandates that included advice on tax and regulatory issues of cooperation with healthcare professionals for producers of medicines and medical products;
• providing legal support under a project that involved the tax classification of a contract for arranging clinical trials, as well as developing the line of reasoning and a defence file in case the tax authority decided to file claims;
• advising on tax and regulatory issues of liaising with patient organisations;
• completing a series of consulting projects that were focused on tax aspects of promoting medicines and food supplements;
• supporting the client in the process of preparing for and entering into a contract for the production of medicines.

His key achievements

• provided successful legal support for a major transaction on the market of Russia and the CIS with respect to the disposal of a portfolio of medicines, and other transactions with assets in Russia and the CIS;
• provided legal support for transfers of the production of medicines from production sites in the EU to production sites in Russia;
• was actively involved in the development of recommendations to apply legislation on advertising of OTC medicines adopted by major associations of pharmaceutical producers under the auspices of the FAS (the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service);
• prepared legal opinions on various issues related to launching generic drugs on the market, and registering biologically active supplements and medical products;
• developed and implemented commercial and credit policies of a pharmaceutical company in Russia and the CIS.