Latham & Watkins Advises LEO Pharma in Acquisition of Replay Gene Therapy Platform

LEO Pharma, a global leader in medical dermatology delivering innovative solutions for skin health, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Replay, a gene therapy company focused on developing treatments for rare genetic dermatological conditions. The acquisition adds deep expertise and a next‑generation gene therapy platform to LEO Pharma’s pipeline through Replay’s high‑payload herpes simplex virus (HSV) delivery vector. Replay’s equity holders will receive US$50 million upfront, plus milestone payments and tiered royalties.

Latham & Watkins LLP represents LEO Pharma in the cross‑border transaction with a multidisciplinary corporate deal team led by Washington, D.C. M&A partners David Brown and Marc Granger, with associates Samantha Wheeler and Jane Lee, and New York Healthcare & Life Sciences partner Aaron Gardner, with London counsel Oliver Mobasser and associate Luke Nauth. Advice was provided on executive compensation and benefits matters by Washington, D.C. partner Matthew Conway, with associate Rebecca Fishbein; on tax matters by Washington, D.C. partner Andrea Ramezan‑Jackson, with associate Eni Kassim; on intellectual property matters by Bay Area partner Roger Chin, with associate Cecelia Bain; on real estate matters by San Diego partner Stephanie Fontanes; on European healthcare matters by Paris/Brussels partner Eveline Van Keymeulen, with associate Jeanne Fabre; on FDA matters by Washington, D.C. partner Elizabeth Richards, with associate Evan Miller; on HSR matters by Washington, D.C. partner Patrick English, with associate Nathaniel Amann; on regulatory matters by Washington, D.C. partner Jim Barker; on foreign direct investment matters by Hamburg partner Jana Dammann de Chapto, with associate Enno Mensching; on export controls and sanctions matters by Washington, D.C. partner Andrew Galdes, with associate Ankita Satpathy; on anti‑bribery and anti‑corruption matters by Washington, D.C. partner Joseph Bargnesi, with associate Capri Gaines; on environmental matters by Los Angeles partner Aaron Potash, with associates Tal Carmeli and Gina Kwon; and on data privacy and cybersecurity matters by Bay Area partner Heather Deixler, with associates Zac Alpert and Sarah Zahedi.