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Sophie is a leading patent litigator in the UK with particular expertise in pharmaceuticals and life sciences.

Sophie works with clients on a wide range of contentious matters, particularly concerning patents involving technically complex subject matter, and is a trusted advisor to a number of the world's largest originator life science companies.

As well as running litigation in the English courts, Sophie has considerable experience of managing multi-jurisdictional patent enforcement actions, frequently against generic companies.

Accolades

  • Ranked one of the Top 30 Patents Practitioners globally, Best of the Best Global 2020 Expert Guide
  • Legal 500 Hall of Fame TMT: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 2018
  • Leading Individual TMT: Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Legal 500 2018
  • Who's Who Legal Thought Leader: Life Sciences, 2019
  • WIPR Influential Women in IP, 2019
  • Ranked Band 1 – Life Sciences: IP/Patent Litigation, Chambers & Partners UK, 2019
  • Ranked Band 1 – Intellectual Property: Patent Litigation – London, Chambers & Partners UK & Global, 2019.

Background

With over 20 years experience, she is recognised by all the major legal directories as a leader in the intellectual property, patent and life sciences fields.

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

  • F. Hoffmann La-Roche AG and Roche Products Limited (Roche) in a significant High Court victory against Pfizer, in an action concerning Avastin®, Roche's blockbuster treatment for various forms of cancer. The action centred on whether a UK court should grant a form of negative declaratory relief known as an "Arrow declaration" in circumstances where our client had no relevant patent rights in the UK, and the claimant (Pfizer) intended to use the declarations and judgment solely for the purposes of influencing foreign courts
  • AbbVie in a number of high value multi-jurisdictional actions concerning its blockbuster drug, Humira and its auto-injector delivery device
  • Sanofi in various commercially important matters including the pan-European defence and enforcement of the SPCs protecting irbesartan
  • Roche on a number of commercially important patent matters including the multi-jurisdictional patent litigation concerning the rights to the human hormone erythropoietin and the defence of a patent action concerning Herceptin and Fuzeon
  • Daiichi Sankyo on the pan-European defence and enforcement of patents protecting its blockbuster anti-microbial drug Tavanac, including successfully defending revocation proceedings in the UK at first instance and on appeal
  • a global pharmaceutical company in the successful defence of a high value arbitration concerning the royalties payable to a third party.