Jekkie Kim advises life sciences and technology companies that leverage upon artificial intelligence and their investors and lenders on a broad range of matters.

With her background as a medical doctor with clinical experience, Dr. Kim has developed a unique and extensive expertise guiding clients through a wide spectrum of complex transactional issues while proposing creative, efficient, and effective strategies.

Dr. Kim advises clients on matters, including:

  • Strategic licensing and collaborations, including university spin-outs
  • Royalty monetizations and other diverse financing transactions
  • Joint ventures
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • IPOs and follow-on offerings
  • Complex commercial transactions, including research and development agreements, manufacturing, supply, and distribution agreements
     

Her medical and business knowledge and perspectives as well as her experiences as a member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) enables Dr. Kim to quickly understand the ins and outs of her client’s business and enables her to advise diverse clients in the most effective way.

She regularly speaks and writes on healthcare, life sciences, and digital health related topics. She is an advisor to SPARK NS, an independent nonprofit translational research organization dedicated to efficiently advancing promising neuroscience discoveries from the lab to the clinic, and SPARK Program at the Stanford University that allows Stanford students and professors to generate drug and diagnostic proofs-of-concept for potential commercialization, using academic approaches combined with industry standards.

Dr. Kim’s representative experience includes advising:

 

Strategic Intellectual Property Transactions

  • Octagon Therapeutics in its research alliance with Novo Nordisk to target discovery approach and novel chemistry strategy around inflammatory disease
  • National Resilience in a strategic alliance with The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) to develop next-generation cancer therapies generated from PICI’s network of leading immunotherapy research centers
  • Senda Biosciences in a strategic collaboration with Nestlé Health Science for the development of novel nutritional therapies for metabolic conditions, including obesity and glycemia 
  • Agenus in a US$1.85 billion collaboration to develop and commercialize up to five novel immuno-oncology treatments

 

Joint Ventures and M&A

  • Coherus Biosciences in its pending US$170 million divestiture of its CIMERLI® ophthalmology franchise to Sandoz 
  • Cerevel Therapeutics in its pending US$8.7 billion acquisition by AbbVie
  • Imago BioSciences in its US$1.35 billion acquisition by Merck
  • Corvus Pharmaceuticals on its joint venture with Angel Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize Corvus’ drug candidates in China

 

Royalty Monetizations and Financings

  • BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. in its strategic investment (combination senior secured debt and royalty investment) from Blue Owl Capital and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board of up to US$1.25 billion 
  • Ascendis Pharma A/S in its US$150 million non-dilutive and capped synthetic royalty funding agreement with Royalty Pharma
  • Innocoll Biotherapeutics in its US$125 million term loan provided by funds managed by Oaktree Capital
  • Coherus Biosciences in its US$300 million credit financing with Pharmakon Advisors
  • Alignment Healthcare in its US$250 million senior secured term loan facility with Oxford Finance
  • Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in its US$100 million non-dilutive revenue interest financing with HealthCare Royalty Partners

Bar Qualification

  • California
  • Massachusetts
  • New York

Education

  • J.D., Boston University School of Law
  • Masters of Business Administration, Case Western Reserve University
  • LL.M., Yonsei University Department of Medical Law and Ethics
  • MD, Yonsei University College of Medicine