Arnold & Porter advised long-time client Novartis on its recent licensing agreement with Spark Therapeutics. The licensing agreement covers development, registration and commercialization rights to voretigene neparvovec in markets outside the US. Voretigene neparvovec, known as Luxturna in the US, received FDA approval on December 19, 2017 as a one-time gene therapy to restore functional vision in children and adult patients with biallelic mutations of the RPE65 gene. Currently there is no existing therapy for this disease outside the US.

The Arnold & Porter team was led by Derek Stoldt, Kristen Riemenschneider and Ewan Townsend, each of the Life Science Transactions group of the Corporate Finance Department. The team also included Henry Clinton-Davis of the London Labor and Employment group.