Dr. Kate Hillier

Kate’s practice focuses on the representation of public and private life sciences companies discovering, developing and marketing biopharmaceutical, vaccine, medical device, diagnostic and digital health products.

Kate counsels clients in relation to transactions involving complex intellectual property, business, operational and legal issues, with the aim of maximizing the value of her clients’ products and technology. She works closely with her clients in connection with their overall licensing and partnering strategy and in structuring and negotiating critical transactions. In addition, she counsels clients on matters involving foundational in-licenses and complex commercial arrangements. Kate has been ranked as a top practitioner by Chambers USA in Life Sciences: Corporate and Commercial since 2022, and as a Next Generation Partner in Healthcare and Life Sciences by The Legal 500 since 2020.

Before qualifying as an attorney, Kate worked as a qualified anesthesiologist in Australia and the UK, completing her residency in anesthesiology and intensive care and working as a consultant anesthesiologist in the UK, where she was a member of the hospital’s ethics committee. She draws heavily on her academic and clinical experience in medicine and anesthesia in developing a deeper understanding of her clients’ technology and in advising them in the context of complex transactions in the life sciences field.

Kate’s representative transactions include representing:

• Merus NV in its:
  • 2024 multiprogram collaboration with Gilead to discover and develop novel dual tumor-associated antigens targeting trispecific antibodies, including a total of $81 million in upfront cash and equity and up to $1.5 billion in potential milestones, plus tiered royalties and a potential co-development option
  • Collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Eli Lilly to develop up to three CD3-engaging T-cell re-directing bispecific antibody therapies, including $60 million in aggregate upfront cash and equity investment and up to $1.6 billion in milestone payments, plus royalties
• SystImmune in its 2023 global co-development and co-commercialization collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) for SystImmune’s novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) compound BL-B01D1, with an $800 million upfront and an additional $500 million in near-term payments, with up to an additional $7.1 billion in milestone payments, plus profit share
• Cellares in its 2024 global collaboration with BMS for capacity reservation and integrated cell therapy manufacturing and supply of BMS’s chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies on Cellares’ Cell Shuttle platform, including $380 million in upfront and milestone payments, along with an ongoing supply relationship
• Serina Therapeutics in its 2024 collaboration with Enable Injections to develop and commercialize a novel delivery system for Serina’s SER-252 compound for advanced Parkinson’s disease
• Scripps Research in its:
  • 2023 expanded collaboration with AbbVie to advance several preclinical and early-stage clinical assets
  • 2022 global collaboration with AbbVie to develop and commercialize novel antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19
• Vir Biotechnology in its:
  • Expansion of its 2020 collaboration with GSK to include multiple respiratory viral diseases, including Vir’s influenza program, as well as additional antibody and expanded functional genomics programs, with an upfront payment of $225 million and $120 million in additional equity, plus option and milestone payments and profit sharing on all programs
  • Multiprogram profit-sharing COVID collaboration with GSK to develop multiple therapeutic approaches to COVID-19, including antibody, vaccine and functional genomics programs
• Sana Biotechnology in its 2021 agreement with Beam Therapeutics for commercial rights to Beam’s CRISPR-Cas12b gene-editing system in connection with multiple Sana development programs
• 23andMe in its strategic collaboration with GSK for the research and development of novel targets leveraging 23andMe’s novel database and equity investment, as well as an ongoing advisory role with respect to multiple amendments to the collaboration to address different programs under development
• ArsenalBio in its multiyear discovery collaboration with BMS to advance next-generation T-cell therapies for the treatment of solid tumors, for a $70 million upfront payment and substantial additional development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, plus royalties
• CStone Pharmaceuticals in its $200 million investment by a Pfizer affiliate and subsequent strategic collaboration between CStone and Pfizer Investment to develop and commercialize CStone’s sugemalimab in mainland China, for up to $280 million in milestone payments, plus royalties, in addition to a collaboration on other late-stage assets in China
• Bicycle Therapeutics in its strategic collaboration agreement with Genentech to discover, develop and commercialize novel Bicycle-based immuno-oncology therapies, for up to $1.7 billion in upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties
• Harpoon Therapeutics in its:
  • Licensing and option collaboration with AbbVie to advance Harpoon’s BCMA-targeting trispecific activating construct, totaling up to $510 million in upfront, option and milestone payments, plus royalties on product sales
  • Major expansion of its existing discovery collaboration with AbbVie to include up to six additional targets, for up to $310 million per target in upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties
• Adaptive Biotechnologies in its worldwide collaboration and license transaction with Genentech to develop and commercialize novel neoantigen directed T-cell therapies in a range of cancers, including transformational personalized therapies directed to individual patients and cancers, for a $300 million upfront payment and up to $2 billion in potential milestone payments, plus royalties
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals in its strategic collaboration with Biogen to develop novel antisense drug candidates in neurological diseases directed to targets selected by Biogen, including a $375 million upfront cash payment and purchase of $625 million in Ionis stock, as well as milestones and royalty payments on product sales
• The Scripps Research Institute (formerly Calibr) in its:
  • Two separate collaborations with AbbVie to develop:
    • Calibr’s proprietary modular “switchable” CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of certain cancers
    • Novel therapeutics for a broad range of diseases in oncology, immunology, neurology and fibrosis
  • Each including upfront, milestones and royalty payments
• Allogene Therapeutics and its investors (including TPG Capital) in the carve out from Pfizer of its Allogeneic T-cell therapy business, including an equity raise of $300 million

Before joining Cooley, Kate was an associate at a US-based international firm.