Talitha Shkopiak

Talitha Shkopiak is a counsel in Goodwin’s Life Sciences group. She specializes in advising on commercial agreements relating to the creation and commercialization of intellectual property rights, and has particular experience acting for biotechnology companies. Her work ranges from the structuring of development and collaboration agreements for early stage companies, through the completion of complex global licensing and commercialization deals; and includes advising on settlement of patent disputes, intellectual property aspects of corporate transactions, and early stage contract disputes.

Prior to joining Goodwin in 2019, Talitha was a senior associate at Taylor Wessing LLP.

Acted for SynAffix and its selling shareholders on its sale to Lonza. Under the terms of the sale and purchase agreement, Lonza have paid Synaffix’s shareholders an upfront payment of €100 million, with the potential for shareholders to receive an additional payment of up to €60 million contingent on financial performance

Acted for MiNA Therapeutics on their Research and Collaboration Agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (a leading pharmaceutical company) under which MiNA would utilize its platform technology for the discovery of novel small activating RNA compounds to identify compounds directed to up to five targets selected by Lilly. 

Acted for Kymab Limited on their strategic partnership with LifeArc (a leading UK medical research charity) under which Kymab would receive a US$30 million equity investment and downstream revenues in connection with granting LifeArc access to Kymab's advanced suite of antibody discovery technologies.

Acted for TxCell SA on a research collaboration with, and subsequent commercialization license from, the University of British Columbia, in relation to cell therapy for prevention of chronic transplant rejection.

Acted for Oxford Biomedica plc on the grant to Axovant Sciences of an exclusive worldwide license in respect of Biomedica’s gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease, under which Biomedica would receive US$30 million upfront and additional revenue.

Acted for Plethora Solutions Limited on the licensing to Wanbang Pharmaceutical of commercialization rights in China for Fortacin™, whilst retaining full commercialization rights in all other territories.

Acted for Oxford Biomedica plc in relation to a collaboration agreement with the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Imperial Innovations for the development of a gene therapy product manufacturing process and concurrent option and license agreement for commercialization by Boehringer Ingelheim.

Acted for Artios Pharma Ltd. in relation to a research collaboration with Masaryk University for the development of novel cancer treatments with an option to commercialization rights.

Acted for Oxford Biomedica plc on the collaboration and license agreement with Novartis pursuant to which Oxford Biomedica will receive ongoing royalties from sales of Novartis' product Kymriah – the first CAR-T cell therapy to be approved by the FDA.

Talitha has undertaken secondments at a London university technology transfer arm and a large pharmaceutical company, giving her broad insight into the sector and the challenges faced by her clients.

Before qualifying in the UK, Talitha qualified and practiced in New Zealand as a patent attorney.

Talitha is recognized by The Legal 500 UK (2023) as a ‘Rising Star’ in the Biotechnology in Cambridge category. Client testimonials describe her as “very tenacious and able to redraft the incomprehensible so that it makes sense.”