Benjamin H. Pensak

In his transactional work, Ben handles arrangements related to discovery, development, manufacture and supply, marketing, and outsourcing for life sciences companies and other innovative and developed technology companies. He also works with research organizations and institutions.

While earning his undergraduate degree in religion, Ben conducted a range of microbiology research focused primarily on gene therapy.

• Represented Eli Lilly in the following transactions:
  • Collaboration agreement with Evotec for the discovery of potential drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes and chronic kidney diseases
  • Collaboration and exclusive licensing agreement with Abbisko Therapeutics for the development and potential commercialization of novel molecules against an undisclosed target for cardiometabolic diseases with critical unmet medical needs
  • Agreement with AbCellera to co-develop antibody products for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19, among other targets
  • Research collaboration and exclusive worldwide license agreement with Nimbus Therapeutics for the development and commercialization of novel targeted therapies that activate a specific isoform of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) for the treatment of metabolic diseases
  • In-license agreement with Aduro Biotech Inc. for the research and development of novel immunotherapies for autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases based on Aduro’s cGAS-STING Pathway Inhibitor program
  • Collaboration and license agreement with Evox Therapeutics to leverage Evox's proprietary platform for the potential treatment of neurological disorders
  • Collaboration and exclusive worldwide license agreement with TRexBio for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases
  • In-license agreement with Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for OWL833, an oral, non-peptidic GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of type 2 diabetes
  • In-license and collaboration agreement with, and equity investment in, Sigilon Therapeutics related to the development of encapsulated cell therapies for the potential treatment of type 1 diabetes and the subsequent acquisition of Sigilon
  • In-license and collaboration agreement with, and equity investment in, CureVac AG related to the development and commercialization of cancer vaccine products based on CureVac’s proprietary RNActive technology that targets tumor neoantigens
  • In-license agreement with Nektar Therapeutics to develop and commercialize NKTR-358, an IL-2 targeting drug designed to treat autoimmune diseases
  • Out-license agreement with, and equity investment in, Ignyta related to taladegib, an orally available hedgehog/smoothened inhibitor
  • Development and commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca related to BACE-inhibiting molecules
  • Development and in-license agreement with Immunocore related to Immunocore’s Immune Mobilising Monoclonal T-Cell Receptor Against Cancer technology
  • Out-license agreement with Sanofi for the potential Rx-to-OTC switch of Cialis
  • Co-development and co-commercialization agreement with Pfizer relating to tanezumab and other hNGF antibodies for the treatment of pain
• Represented Takeda in its sale of two clinical-stage compounds for cancer treatment to Calithera Biosciences, Inc.
• Represented Takeda in its acquisition of Inviragen
• Represented MEI Pharma in its out-license agreement with Kyowa Hakko Kirin for the development and commercialization in Japan, and then globally, of MEI-401, an oral inhibitor of PI3K delta
• Represented MEI Pharma in its in-license agreement with Presage Biosciences for voruciclib, an oral and selective cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor
• Represented MEI Pharma in its out-license agreement with Helsinn Group for the development and commercialization of pracinostat, an oral histone deacetylase inhibitor
• Represented Affini-T Therapeutics Inc. in its agreement with Metagenomi Inc. enabling Affini-T’s next generation ex vivo T cell receptor cell therapies for solid tumor patients using Metagenomi’s novel proprietary gene editing systems
• Represented Xencor in its agreement with Aimmune Therapeutics Inc. allowing Aimmune to develop and commercialize the investigational humanized monoclonal antibody as a treatment for patients with food allergies
• Represented Xencor in its research and license agreement with Genentech to develop and commercialize IL-15 cytokine therapeutics
• Represented Xencor in its collaboration and out-license agreement with Novartis related to the development and commercialization of therapeutics based on Xencor’s bispecific antibody technology or XmAb® Fc technologies
• Represented Xencor in its out-license agreement with Amgen to Xencor’s XmAb® technologies for use in cancer immunotherapy and inflammation
• Represented Xencor in its discovery and out-license agreement with Novo Nordisk to jointly discover novel biologic drug candidates combining multiple Xencor XmAb® technologies
• Represented Innovent Biologics in its strategic research and development collaboration with Roche covering multiple cell therapies and bispecific antibodies
• Represented Innovent Biologics in its co-development and co-commercialization agreement with Hanmi Pharmaceutical related to a bispecific antibody to be constructed using intellectual property contributions from both Hanmi and Innovent and enabling immunotherapy and targeted therapy at the same time
• Represented Innovent Biologics in its development and in-license agreement with EpimAb Biotherapeutics for the development of bispecific antibodies using EpimAb’s Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin platform
• Represented Gilead in its collaboration agreement with Scholar Rock Holding for the development and commercialization of Scholar Rock’s novel therapies for fibrotic diseases targeting latent TGF-beta1
• Represented Gilead in its agreement with DURECT for the exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize a long-acting injectable HIV product and the exclusive option to license additional products directed to HIV and HBV
• Represented Gilead in its sale of its spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor portfolio to Kronos Bio