Orrick has added a trio of regulatory partners to the firm’s Life Sciences & HealthTech platform, including: Georgia Ravitz, who focuses on matters before the FDA, and Amy Joseph and Jeremy Sherer, who advise digital health innovators and other healthcare providers on healthcare regulatory and transactional matters nationwide. Together, they will support the firm’s clients as they innovate across the Life Sciences & HealthTech sector.
Most recently head of the FDA regulatory practice at Wilson Sonsini, Georgia joins in Washington, D.C. She counsels U.S. and international clients through all phases of the corporate lifecycle, focusing on food and drug law and regulatory policy.
Amy and Jeremy join Orrick from national healthcare boutique Hooper, Lundy & Bookman in Boston. They counsel healthcare industry stakeholders, from digital health startups to publicly traded companies and investors, on issues involving regulatory compliance, digital health, and the utilization of artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare delivery.
With these additions, Orrick continues the rapid growth of the firm’s Life Sciences & HealthTech platform, which has more than quadrupled in size to 53 partners over five years. The firm today acts for more than 600 life sciences, healthtech and digital health clients, including 12 of the top 20 biopharma companies in the U.S. and 350+ growth companies and leading investors.
Regulatory uncertainty is a top concern of both high-growth disruptors and global leaders in Life Sciences & HealthTech, as in all of the sectors on which Orrick focuses – and AI-driven innovation is only heightening this focus,” said Orrick Chair Mitch Zuklie. “Combining this 7-lawyer team with our privacy practice, we now offer destination-quality regulatory solutions for our growing portfolio of clients innovating in Life Sciences & HealthTech. We’re also excited to build our healthcare platform, a core piece of the puzzle in delivering innovative patient care.”
“The growth of our Life Sciences & HealthTech platform has outpaced even our most ambitious goals, with the sector now comprising 20% of our corporate, IP litigation and commercial/products liability litigation practices,” said Thora Johnson, a privacy advisor and co-leader of Orrick’s Life Sciences & HealthTech initiative. “We’re excited to build out a world-class regulatory practice, covering FDA, healthcare, privacy, antitrust and strategic partnerships, to deliver holistic solutions for the most innovative clients.”
“The convergence of technology and life sciences is generating tremendous opportunities for the discovery and delivery of therapies to treat life-changing disease,” said Stephen Thau, a member of Orrick’s Tech Companies practice and co-leader, with Thora, of the Life Sciences & HealthTech initiative. “Our clients are responding with innovation in all types of therapies and in the delivery of care. At the same time, we’re entering a period of uncharted regulatory developments. With the additions of Georgia, Amy and Jeremy, we are even better positioned to help disruptors scale, develop strategic partnerships, protect IP and navigate a plethora of new regulation.”
“There’s a transformation underway in life sciences and tech-enabled healthcare delivery like nothing we have seen in our lifetimes,” said Orrick Life Sciences Sector Leader David Gindler. “These additions enable Orrick’s clients across the corporate lifecycle to meet the moment.”
Georgia Ravitz - Georgia guides healthcare and consumer products clients, including high-growth companies, investors and public companies, through the FDA’s regulation of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and agribusiness and emerging healthtech innovations. She advises U.S. and foreign companies through all phases of their product lifecycle.
“I’m excited to join Orrick’s thriving Life Sciences & HealthTech platform and look forward to collaborating with Amy, Jeremy, Thora and Orrick’s outstanding emerging companies practice to offer something truly special at this incredible moment in the market,” Georgia said.
Amy Joseph - Amy, a Chambers-ranked attorney, counsels healthcare companies on a wide range of regulatory and transactional matters. Her areas of expertise include compliance with federal and state anti-kickback and self-referral laws, patient privacy laws, and otherwise establishing compliant frameworks for companies as they scale. She regularly counsels on strategic affiliations, value-based care arrangements and other innovative business models.
“We’ve collaborated over the past several years with the tremendous Orrick team – and now we are thrilled to join forces with them, and with Georgia, to advise clients on the most cutting edge issues facing today’s healthcare industry,” Amy said.
Jeremy Sherer - Jeremy, most recently the co-chair of Hooper, Lundy & Bookman’s digital health practice, is a Chambers-ranked healthcare advisor. He regularly counsels healthcare clients on establishing and scaling multi-state virtual care delivery models, and navigating the myriad regulatory issues that arise in digital health ventures. His expertise includes corporate practice of medicine issues, the full range of telehealth scope of practice issues, and establishing business arrangements between medical practices and investor-backed management services organizations (also known as “PC-MSO” arrangements).
“We are truly inspired by the array of talent and portfolio of clients that Orrick has assembled,” Jeremy said. “Orrick is developing the regulatory team that digital health and healthtech companies need to navigate them through the industry’s complex regulatory landscape. Combined with the firm’s industry-leading technology and innovation, artificial intelligence and data privacy capabilities, to name a few, this platform is intentionally designed to meet the needs of scaling healthcare companies – and we’re thrilled to be a part of that effort.”
This news story was originally published on the firm’s website.