Drew & Napier LLC is a full service legal practice and one of the largest in Singapore with about 150 legal professionals experienced in a diverse range of transactions locally and internationally, acting for leading corporate clients as well as governments. We also have the largest intellectual property practice in Singapore and a team of highly qualified patent lawyers and executives. Our team of dedicated patent specialists has both the legal and technical expertise to deal with cutting-edge electrical, IT, software, medical and biotechnology innovation and protection of IP, particularly in the area of patent searching and drafting, patent litigation and competitive patent monitoring. The team's technical background is a vital part in servicing our clients' needs in patent work. We also bring our business skills and experience in the preparation of collaborative research agreements, intellectual property strategic plans and commercialisation strategies.

Headed by director,Tony Yeo, our Biomedical Sciences Business Group is, in part, an active response to the Singapore government's initiatives in biotechnology, and in part a natural evolution of our broad-spectrum of legal services. The biotechnology sector is one that calls for a multi-disciplinary approach to legal services. Biomedical sciences legal issues arise from intellectual property, regulatory, corporate/commercial and dispute resolution perspectives. We have both the experience and expertise across all these disciplines which enables us to be a market leader in Singapore in providing legal services to the biotechnology sector.

Intellectual Property
The Biomedical Sciences Business Group is given weight by one of the best Intellectual Property practices in Singapore. With a solid international clientele, Drew & Napier LLC's Intellectual Property Practice is recommended by leading independent publications:

• Asia Pacific Legal 500 2004/2005 Edition ranks Drew & Napier LLC in the top tier for IP in Singapore for the sixth consecutive year: "Morris John heads a practice which handles around a third of all IP registration on Singapore, and almost all overseas registration."
• Drew & Napier LLC has been named the top IP firm in Singapore for the last eight years in the World IP Survey conducted by Managing Intellectual Property.
• The Global Counsel Intellectual Property Handbook recommends Drew & Napier LLC as a leading IP practice in Singapore.

Corporate/Commercial
Biotechnology companies are advised on corporate/commercial matters ranging from financing to tax concerns by our Banking & Corporate Department.

• Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers 2007 ranks Drew & Napier as one of the leading Banking & Finance, and Corporate/M&A practices in Singapore.
• IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms 2007 Edition recommends Drew & Napier LLC as one of the leading practices in Singapore for Banking, Capital Markets, Insolvency & Restructuring and Mergers & Acquisitions.

The application of Drew & Napier LLC's corporate and financing experience to biotechnology-related matters is increasing. Some recent examples include:

• Acted for the EDBI in its investment in Sciclone on the development of the anti-cancer drug, Thymosin alpha-1
• Acted for the EDB and the National University of Singapore on the drafting of research agreements
• Acted for Schering-Plough and Novartis on clinical trials with hospitals and doctors
• Acted for Chiron in its recent joint venture with the EDBI
• Acting for Becton Dickinson in its biotech incubator joint venture with the EDBI, Johns Hopkins and the JTC

Litigation and Dispute Resolution
To round up the multi-disciplinary approach, we also bring to our Biomedical Sciences Business Group, the experience of one of Singapore's premier Litigation and Dispute Resolution practices.

• Asia Pacific Legal 500 2006/2007 Edition ranks Drew & Napier LLC standalone in the top tier for Dispute Resolution: "...Singapore's leading disputes firm is supported by an outstanding team... and a stellar client list… [there is] The multi-talented Davinder Singh SC... [and] Leading figures in the 15-director practice include the highly rated Jimmy Yim SC, Indranee Rajah SC and the 'first-rate' Harpreet Singh Nehal…"

We acted for Institut Pasteur and Pasteur Sanofi Diagonostics in the groundbreaking case against Genelabs Diagnostics Pte Ltd and Nagase Singapore (Pte) Ltd on the infringement of our clients' patent over inter alia, the HIV-2 virus and products and processes for detection of the said virus. [Genelabs Diagnostics Pte Ltd v Institut Pasteur & Pasteur Sanofi Diagnostics Civil Appeal No. 14 of 2000; [2001] 1 SLR 121]. Led by director Tony Yeo, our team was successful at both High Court and the Highest Court of Appeal level. The HIV-2 case, as it is commonly called within the legal circle, remains the leading biotechnology case in Singapore. Tony Yeo has been invited to write articles about the case and to speak at foreign conventions including at the Asia Pacific Biotechnology Forum in Vancouver.

For further information on our Biomedical Sciences business group, please contact:

Tony Yeo