Xixi Sun

Xixi Sun is an associate in Goodwin’s Business Law department. Xixi enjoys assisting his clients in seeking valuable patent opportunities and in navigating through the risks of the existing patent landscape.

Xixi’s practice focuses on strategic patent counseling and domestic and foreign patent prosecution, with an emphasis on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Xixi’s practice also includes assisting companies, investors, and underwriters with intellectual property due diligence for licensing, partnership, and private and public financial transactions. He also advises companies in patent portfolio management at regulatory filing and post-regulatory approval stages (e.g., Orange Book listings and patent term extensions). Prior to entering the patent field, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he developed new covalent organic frameworks as crystalline polymeric materials. Xixi received his PhD in 2013 from Boston College, where he developed new catalytic systems for selective functionalization of carbohydrates and alkenes.

• Advising Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals on its global license agreement with Merck (MSD) for a Lp(a) inhibitor ($200 million upfront, and up to $1.7+ billion total payments)
• Advising Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals on its global license and collaboration agreement for three innovative GLP-1 drugs to Kailera Therapeutics established and funded by a $400 million investment from Bain Capital, Atlas Venture, RTW Capital, and Lyra Capital (19.9% equity stake, $100 million upfront, up to $5.7+ billion total payments)
• Advising Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals on its global license agreement with Merck KGaA for a PARP1 inhibitor and an Claudin 18.2 antibody-drug conjugate ($160+ million upfront, and up to $1.4+ billion total payments)
• Advising CinCor Pharma on its acquisition by AstraZeneca (up to $1.8 billion value)
• Advising various public companies, including Moderna, Black Diamond Therapeutics, and Ascentage Pharma, on their US IPOs, ATMs, and Follow-On Offerings
• Advising the underwriters of the IPOs, ATMs, and Follow-On Offerings of various public companies, including Altimmune, Akuous, GH Research Schrodinger, Xilio Therapeutics, and Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Publications:

• Co-author, “Weaving of Organic Threads into a Crystalline Covalent Organic Framework,” Science, January 2016 
• Co-author, “Catalyst Recognition of cis-1,2-Diols Enables Site-Selective Functionalization of Complex Molecules,” Nature Chemistry, August 2013