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Morrison & Foerster’s European practice has extensive experience representing both European and non-European companies in the formation of strategic alliances and joint ventures, both in Europe and worldwide.

Representative Transactions

• Acambis Plc. Advising Acambis on a €30 million strategic alliance with sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, for ChimeriVax™-JE, Acambis' single-dose vaccine against Japanese encephalitis.
• Amadeus Global Travel S.A.  Advising on two landmark IT agreements with Lufthansa AG and United Air Lines Inc. worth between €250m and €500m over the next ten years.  The project creates a new common IT platform for the Star Alliance group of airlines led by Lufthansa and United. 
• Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc.  Representing CAT in connection with a transforming strategic alliance with AstraZeneca to discover and develop human antibody therapeutics primarily in the area of inflammatory disorders.  This collaboration was awarded “Business Development Deal of the Year” at the 2005 Pharmaceutical Achievement Awards conference in Boston.
• Fujitsu.  Advising Fujitsu on antitrust issues relating to strategic alliances entered into with a number of multinational companies in the following industries: flash memory, server operating systems, and automatic teller machines.
• GW Pharmaceutical plc. Representing GW Pharmaceutical, an AIM-listed pharmaceutical research and development company, on a $273 million long-term strategic cannabinoid alliance with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Under the terms of the license agreement, GW has granted Otsuka an exclusive license to develop and market Sativex®, GW’s lead product, in the United States. Sativex® is being developed by GW and is a novel prescription pharmaceutical product derived from components of the cannabis plant.
• Korn/Ferry International (“KFI”).  Advising KFI in connection with the development of its innovative award-winning ASP Executive Centre offering, an on-line, web-based talent and performance management platform for global business clients, including in connection with the development of its ASP licensing model, the data protection aspects of the service and cross-border data protection compliance requirements and in connection with contractual negotiations for provision of the service by KFI.  The Executive Centre platform is capable of providing service simultaneously to multiple clients with potentially thousands of users in multiple locations per client.
• PIramed Limited. Represented PIramed. A privately owned UK biotechnology company, in a $230 million R&D collaboration with one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies, Genetech, Inc., for the development and commercialization of a new class of cancer drugs.
• Saba.  Advising Saba, a leading provider of human capital development and management solutions, on a global licensing and services arrangement with Germany-based Allianz Group, one of the world's largest integrated financial services organizations.
• Vernalis plc.  Representing Vernalis plc in a $400 million transforming deal with Endo Pharmaceuticals comprising a North American licence and co-promotion rights agreement for FROVA and related loan and security arrangements.  This is the largest such deal ever entered into by a European headquartered biotech.