About Kristen O. Riemenschneider

Kristen represents life sciences companies on their most significant transactions, from strategic license and collaboration transactions to complex supply chain arrangements. She has a deep technical understanding of the life sciences industry, and has negotiated agreements in respect of cutting-edge technologies including gene editing and cell therapies.

Kristen is also nationally recognized for her work counseling life sciences and other companies that engage in US Government-funded research and development. In 2020, Kristen represented several of the most high-profile vaccine manufacturers in their agreements to develop and deliver billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the United States. 

Kristen has a degree in electrical engineering and is a registered patent attorney. 

Recent work

Life Sciences Transactions

• BioCryst in its license agreement with Clearside Biomedical, Inc. to to develop and commercialize BioCryst’s proprietary compound, BCX-4161 or avoralstat, in combination with Clearside’s proprietary drug delivery device, for the treatment and prevention of certain eye diseases. 
• Novartis, as global transaction counsel, on the separation and spin-off of Sandoz, its generics and biosimilars division. 
• Moderna on its collaboration with CARsgen Therapeutics for the development of a combination therapy consisting of an mRNA-based cancer vaccine and an autologous CAR-T therapy.
• Moderna on a strategic collaboration and license of CytomX's Probody technology for use with Moderna's mRNA therapeutics, including a $35 million upfront cash payment and up to $1.2 billion in milestones.
• AbbVie on a strategic research collaboration and option to license HotSpot Therapeutics' discovery-stage IRF5 small molecule allosteric therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including a $40 million upfront cash payment, an additional $295 million in option fees and R&D milestones, and the potential for commercial milestones and royalties.
• AbbVie on a research collaboration and licensing agreement with Caribou Biosciences for Caribou's next-generation Cas12a CRISPR hybrid RNA-DNA genome editing and cell therapy platforms, including a $40 million upfront cash and equity payment, an additional $300 million in payments upon achieving various development milestones and royalties.
• Affimed on a strategic cooperation with Artiva Biotherapeutics for the joint development of a combination therapy in the field of immuno-oncology.
• AstraZeneca on agreements for the funding and global distribution of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine as well as the establishment of its global manufacturing and supply chain for the vaccine, including agreements with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the Serum Institute of India (SII) and the governments of Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
• A global pharmaceutical company on the negotiation of an agreement for the supply of a COVID-19 vaccine under an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense.
• Moderna on its ten-year agreement with the State of Victoria to establish a state-of-the-art, domestic mRNA manufacturing facility at Monash University.
• Sanofi on a long-term research collaboration with Kymera Therapeutics to discover, develop and commercialize first-in-class protein degrader therapies for patients with immune-inflammatory diseases for $150 million upfront and more than $2 billion in potential milestones plus royalties.
• AstraZeneca on the negotiation of a multi-target research collaboration with Silence Therapeutics to discover, develop and commercialize small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic and respiratory diseases, including a deal value of $4 billion in development and sales milestones, as well as tiered high single digit to low double-digit royalties.
• Novartis on the negotiation of license and supply agreements with Spark Therapeutics for ex-US development and commercialization of Luxturna, the first approved gene therapy for an inherited disease, including a deal value of $170 million in achievable milestones as well as royalties.
• Novartis on the negotiation of an investment with Blackstone for the formation of Anthos Therapeutics, and the related license of MAAA868, an anti-coagulant, to Anthos.
• Novartis on the negotiation of a supply agreement for the EU production of Kymriah, the first CAR-T cell therapy approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Insmed on the negotiation of a license and collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca regarding an early-stage respiratory drug, including $150 million in achievable milestones and double-digit royalties.
• Omada Health on a long-term strategic collaboration with Abbott Diabetes Care to integrate Abbott's continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology with Omada's professional coaching and digital care platform, aiming to create a new paradigm for people with Type 2 diabetes.
• AstraZeneca on the negotiation of an agreement for the development and supply of its COVID-19 long-acting antibody under an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense.
• A biotechnology company on the acquisition of a solid tumor neoantigen T cell receptor R&D platform and clinical manufacturing facility, which will support the further development of its pipeline of novel cell therapies.
• Numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on their negotiations with HHS, BARDA, NIAID and other agencies for the government-supported research and development of COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.