The firms are placed in alphabetical order. The research period is the year 2021. Since 24 February 2022 when the russian federation started its aggressive war against Ukraine, many law firms in Ukraine have announced their termination of representing russian clients. For ethical and moral reasons, as many people have joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and found themselves in difficult life situations, we have taken the decision not to publish ranking tables this year. We genuinely believe that we should be united as never before, and hope that you support our decision.

Having large pharma and life sciences companies in its client portfolio, AEQUO has a wide sector offering including regulatory compliance, complex trademark and patent disputes, M&A transactions and competition law. In a recent highlight the firm represented big pharma company Darnitsa in complicated litigation on recognition of a trademark called “Citramon” as a well-known trademark in Ukraine, and cancellation of a conflicting “Citramon” trademark owned by Lubnypharm, a local pharmaceutical company located in Poltava Region; won two victories for Darnitsa in patents invalidation battles against Zdorovye. Furthermore, the firm advised BSN medical GmbH, a global leader in wound care and related vascular diseases, on complex customs and distribution issues for the supply and imposition of legal restrictions for export of consumer products from Ukraine to foreign contractors as well as obtained in-depth customs statistics. Also, the team has represented Isida, one of the largest private IVF, women’s health and family planning centres in Eastern Europe, before the AMCU, defending against allegations of dissemination of misleading information. IP partners Nataliya Dryuk and Tetiana Kudrytska are co-heads of the life sciences and healthcare industry team.

Ante Law Firm advises both international and domestic market players, as well as pharmaceutical and medical devices distributors clients. The workload spans IP, media, labor, drugs and medical devices regulations, taxation, commercial, antitrust and competition. In 2021 the team successfully represented Sanofi-Aventis Ukraine in several litigations and AMCU investigations; defended Zdravo LLC at several court cases regarding medical equipment supply. Among other clients are Perrigo Ukraine, Servier, Altris AI, Esparma GmbH, Aristo, Harwind LLC, Opella Healthcare Ukraine LLC. Andriy Guck manages the firm’s practice.

Asters has a dedicated pharmaceuticals and healthcare practices encompassing multidisciplinary approach, advising on regulatory, antitrust issues, in particular, clearing mergers and horizontal arrangements, R&D and cooperation agreements, streamlining pricing, marketing, advertising and other commercial practices, unfair competition, patent litigation. The firm’s positions are enhanced with strong following for corporate, tax structuring of commercial operations, anti-corruption compliance and internal investigations. Further expertise includes advising on clinical trial issues. The previous year Asters represented clients before the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the AMCU, the State Service for Medicinal Products and Drug Control, the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, tax, customs, and consumer protection authorities. The firm also continued its pro bono legal support to Charity Fund Tabletochki in connection with various regulatory and advocacy initiatives in the  healthcare sector. The practice is headed by Viktoriya Podvorchanska, counsel. Firm’s partners Julia Semeniy (IP) and Igor Svechkar (competition) guides sectoral clients across their assignments.

Baker McKenzie advises research-based multinational pharmaceutical and medical devices companies, and stands out for its strong corporate offering in the life science sector. The Kyiv office is sought after for complex transactional, tax, IP, antitrust, investigations and compliance matters. Healthcare M&A, including large cross-border deals, and support of outbound investments is a recognized strength. This past year the firm acted as the Ukraine legal counsel for the shareholders of Acino in connection with its sale to ADQ, one of the largest holding companies in the Middle East; handled post-closing work advising the shareholders of Biopharma, a leading Ukrainian manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, on the carve-out of its non-plasma business and its further sale to Stada AG. The office acts as the official legal adviser of the Association of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (APRaD), and prepared changes to legislation along with acting as a policy expert in interactions with various state authorities regarding reforms in the Ukrainian healthcare sector, including draft policy and legislation acts on intellectual property issues related to pharmaceuticals, e.g. patent linkage and data exclusivity, TRIPs flexibilities. The firm is assigned for merger control filing, distribution, pharma regulations, tax matters, and is also experienced in advising on clinical trials issues. The healthcare industry group in Kyiv is led by partner Olha Demianiuk. Olha Sviatenka is the regulatory lawyer whose primary focus is healthcare.

In addition to its impressive global life sciences group, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang possesses a well-versed practice team in Kyiv. The office is a preferred legal counsel for major pharmaceutical multinationals, seeking support with regulatory and compliance, market access, localisation of manufacturing, clinical trials in Ukraine, competition, IP, dispute settlement and criminal related matters. The team continued advising eight leading global pharmaceutical companies on the most significant criminal investigation into medicines counterfeiting in Ukraine regarding 160+ medicines which were believed to be counterfeit. The team further provided legal advice to a Ukrainian subsidiary of Takeda on commercial terms and conditions of collaboration with local distributors; acted for Odonate Therapeutics and Bayer on various matters related to their research and development activities in Ukraine. Further, the team provides a comprehensive legal advice to a Ukrainian subsidiary of a Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche with implementation of the first stage of the Anti-Counterfeiter and Grey Import Campaign. As part of the international consortium of experts, the practice team reviewed the New Draft Law On Medicinal Products and provided recommendations on draft’s alignment with the EU legislation and approaches, as well as with previous Consortium recommendations on the topic. Borys Danevych is a partner and head of life sciences and healthcare practices in Kyiv.

The life sciences and healthcare group of Dentons in Ukraine advises local and multinational life sciences companies on regulatory compliance matters, corporate M&A, employment, tax, commercial. Further expertise includes biobanking and regulation of biobanks activities in Ukraine, regulatory requirements relating to innovative medical devices, and software as medical device, advice on clinical trial matters, data protection and related pitfalls in life sciences industry. The practitioners advising life science clients are Volodymyr Monastyrskyy and Igor Svitlyk.

Renowned Ukrainian IP boutique Doubinsky & Osharova focuses on complex infringement cases in life sciences and pharmaceuticals. The firm represented the interests of Novartis AG in the case of invalidating the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on state registration of medicines “Екзо-Дерм” in various forms of release at all stages of its consideration by the courts of all instances; represents Organon Canada Inc. on protection of intellectual property rights for the invention under patent of Ukraine in the medicine “Etoricoxib” containing the compound etoricoxib, which is the active ingredient of the medicine “АРКОКСІЯ ®”. The boutique continued acting as an IP counsel of Sandoz, one of the world leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, and revealed a new series of trademarks of the third party confusingly similar to the famous EXODERIL brand and reported Sandoz on the said unfair filings. Partner Victoria Sopilnyak is known for her long-standing representation of pharmaceutical and healthcare clients.

EY Ukraine continues to assert its expertise in complex tax matters in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and assists with general business issues. The Kyiv office is notably known for its advising on healthcare reform in Ukraine. Thus, the team assisted with liquidation procedure of the Ukrainian representative office of a  global healthcare company; provided tax and legal advice on potential restructuring of the Ukrainian presence of a leading Latvian manufacturer in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector; advised on the tax registration of one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine as well as American multinational pharmaceutical corporation in Ukraine. The key partners are Borys Lobovyk, Vladimir Kotenko and Iryna Kalyta. 

Healthcare practice is a new area for Gramatskiy & Partners. Over the research period the firm acted on reproductive medicine, reorganization of healthcare organizations, regulatory compliance. This past year the team supported the contract between SmartTender and the National Health Service of Ukraine for the supply of software necessary for the procurement of medical services; assisted Nanotechnoloies LLC and Biosphere LLC for the production of alcohol-free sanitizers based on silver; advised its client with acquisition of a share of MedPrylad LLC, negotiations on the restructuring of debt to suppliers, restart of production; advised two pharmacy chains Diaveca Pharm LLC, Viridis Pharmaceutical LLC in compliance with new licensing conditions. Ernest Gramatskiy is the central figure and the main contact.

ILF, a Ukrainian law firm with offices in Kharkiv and Kyiv, is highly esteemed for its unique experience in healthcare regulations, acting for hospitals, medical institutions, private healthcare operators across different regions. The team advised on hospital transformation and financing in over 100 territorial communities all over Ukraine. The recent workload included drafting and implementing collective employment agreements for medical institutions, creating and implementing quality indicators in medical institutions, as well as consultations and disputes involving employment. Tetyana Gavrysh, managing partner, is known for her contribution to healthcare reform. 

Ilyashev & Partners has a broad profile of representations of both patients and healthcare institutions, and also stands out for advising insurance companies and medical assistances involved in cases occurring abroad. One recent highlight included ongoing representation of the interests of a private client in a precedent case at the stage of pre-trial investigation on the confirmation of a medical error. The dedicated team acts on the number of representations in cases involving clinical negligence. The firm also advises on a spectrum of pharma regulations, in particular, handled advisory of Macleods Pharmaceuticals Ltd on the production and sale of medicines. Competition law and IP rights protection are another vivid commitment of the firm. In a recent highlight the firm acted for Biopharma, a leading Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer concluding inequivalence of agreements with wholesale purchasers of immunoglobulins and appealing the AMCU’s decision on violation of competition law on the market of immunoglobulins at state level; defended the patent rights of Kalceks, AS on certain medical drugs. Alla Tsymanovska leads the high-profile medical cases. Olga Samoilenko advises on competition in the pharmaceutical industry. 

INTEGRITES acts for companies operating in the pharmaceutical industry, being approached for corporate, employment and tax issues, IP rights protection services. This past year the firm was drawn for handling sectoral M&A and joint ventures assignments, competition and public procurement assistance. For example, the firm advised a large UAE-based investment company on a landmark multimillion deal related to the acquisition of assets in the pharmaceutical sector; advised Market Universal Ltd on obtaining two merger clearances on the acquisition of FARM-SOYUZ and DA SIGNA LVIV Ltd, pharmacy networks; advised Glenmark and developed the corporate policy on the ethical promotion of pharmaceutical products. Other areas of focus included regulatory disputes, personal data protection, supply of medicines. Illya Tkachuk, corporate and M&A partner, guided subsequent projects in the sector. Vyacheslav Korchev, relationship partner, is the main point of contact. 

KPMG Law Ukraine renders legal support to producers and suppliers of medicines, medical equipment, distributors, as well as companies performing clinical research. The previous year the team provided Lekhim with analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine on state regulation of prices for medicines, namely, the vaccine against acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; acted for a large US pharmaceutical producer in a multinational assignment related to restructuring of business model in the CIS. Sergey Popov, partner, is the main point of contact.

Pharmaceutical regulation and healthcare make up the core focus of Legal Alliance Company, which is known for a full-circle offering for the sector. The firm is sought after for regulatory work, advising on public procurement, state price regulation, and its policy-making efforts, contribution to the development of the healthcare infrastructure in the regions of Ukraine. Among other areas of recent workload are legal support for the import of medicines to Ukraine, compliance, clinical trial issues. Furthermore, the firm provided legal support for a series of public-private partnership projects aimed at modernization of hospitals in five selected cities of Ukraine: Sumy, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Odesa. Among disclosable clients are GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda, Adamed, Yuria Farm, Acino, Orion Pharma, ReFuture Clinics. The key point of contact are the firm’s partners – Dmytro Aleshko and Oleksii Bezhevets.

Boutique firm Mamunya IP is enlisted by major foreign innovative and generic pharmaceuticals manufacturers, as well as Ukrainian patients’ organizations. The firm handles patent and trademark prosecution, enforcement, including litigation, anti-counterfeiting, regulatory advice, protection from unfair competition, advertising regulations, cancellation of marketing authorization of pharmaceuticals based on IP infringement, and supplementary protection certificates litigation. The firm is known for its representation of Synthon B.V., an international pharmaceutical company specialized in science-centred developing and manufacturing high-quality generic and hybrid medicines, in the Supreme Court in a long-running patent battle; continues handling unique cases for Ukraine – patent cancellation actions initiated by the patients’ organization CO “100% life”. Oleksandr Mamunya, founding partner, has an established track record of patent litigation in the pharmaceuticals sector.

Vdovychen & Partners advises clients on medical and healthcare matters. Among other things, the recent workload included advising on unfair competition matters, taxation and rendered legal support of a medical center on its day-to-day activity. Managing partner Oleh Vdovychen is the main point of contact.

Arzinger and its partner Lana Sinichkina is a visible market player, often refereed for strong experience in the pharmaceuticals industry[1].

 

 

[1] The firm has not submitted information for the current research.