Matt Wetzel

Matt Wetzel provides strategic counseling to life sciences companies on the full spectrum of healthcare regulatory and compliance matters — from healthcare fraud and abuse to clinical research regulation, market access and reimbursement, privacy, price reporting, and commercial and clinical contracting — including from the pre-clinical stage through commercial launch and beyond.

Matt co-leads Goodwin’s Medtech practice and co-chairs the firm’s Rare Disease Initiative. Matt represents biotech, medical technology, diagnostic, and laboratory testing innovators and their investors and stakeholders as they navigate complex regulatory and compliance challenges.

Matt brings a distinctive perspective shaped by senior in-house roles across the life sciences industry. Before joining Goodwin, he served as Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of GRAIL, the Silicon Valley oncology diagnostics company; Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of AdvaMed, the world’s largest medical technology trade association; and Senior Counsel, Global Compliance and Ethics, at Boston Scientific. Matt’s experience directly informs his practical, commercially grounded guidance, calibrated to how life sciences companies actually operate.

He is ranked by Chambers USA in Healthcare: Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory in Washington, DC.

Matt counsels pharmaceutical, biologics, medtech, diagnostic, and laboratory testing companies and their investors across a broad range of matters, including:

• Federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, Sunshine Act, Stark Law, and Beneficiary Inducement Law
• HIPAA, clinical research regulation, and patient privacy
• Government price reporting under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, including Best Price, AMP, and ASP obligations
• Medicare and Medicaid coverage, reimbursement, and market access strategy
• Specialty pharmacy and patient services contracting, including hub services, copay support, and PAP programs
• Inflation Reduction Act drug pricing provisions, for which Matt serves as the firm’s lead
• BIOSECURE
• Healthcare regulatory diligence and deal support for life sciences and medtech transactions, including IPOs, private M&A, collaboration and licensing arrangements, and venture and strategic investment deals

Matt’s work spans internal investigations, compliance program design and assessment, commercial launch planning, and the structuring of financial relationships with healthcare providers and patient advocacy organizations. He also regularly counsels clients in connection with Congressional oversight and government investigations, federal agency engagement before CMS, OIG, and FDA, and Washington policy developments — including the Inflation Reduction Act, BIOSECURE, most-favored-nation pricing, and PBM reform.

Matt is also a recognized expert on the BIOSECURE Act, advising clients on compliance across transactions, supply chain contracts, licensing arrangements with Chinese entities, and research agreements.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Matt held several executive positions in the life sciences industry.

• Associate General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer of GRAIL, Inc.
• Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, AdvaMed
• Senior Counsel, Global Compliance & Ethics, Boston Scientific

Matt serves on the Board of Directors of the American Health Law Association (AHLA) and was the 2023 recipient of AHLA’s Patricia J. Meador Fraud & Abuse Award for his contributions to healthcare fraud and abuse education. He also previously served on the Board of Directors of the World War II Foundation.

Matt co-founded and co-chairs Goodwin’s Rare Disease Initiative, through which the firm provides integrated regulatory, transactional, and compliance counsel to companies developing therapies for rare and ultra-rare diseases; supports patient advocacy organizations in the rare disease space on a pro bono basis; and builds convening forums for rare disease leaders, executives, investors, researchers, and advocates. More information is available at the Goodwin Rare Disease Initiative page: Rare Disease Initiative | Goodwin.

Matt is a featured expert contributor to the Washington Legal Foundation, where he writes on life sciences regulation, pharmaceutical law, and government healthcare policy. He hosts the American Health Law Association Fraud & Abuse Podcast and serves on the Editorial Board of the Policy & Medicine Compliance Update. Matt has been invited by the US government to advise the GAO on the regulatory future of wearable medical technologies.

Matt is ranked by Chambers USA in Healthcare: Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory in Washington, DC.

Some of Matt’s notable recent publications and presentations include:

• Author, “CMS Finalizes Changes to Bona Fide Service Fee Requirements,” Employee Benefit Plan Review, January 2026
• Co-Author, “Final FY 2026 NDAA Includes BIOSECURE Provisions,” Goodwin Alert, December 2025
• Speaker, “Chief Compliance Officer Lightning Round: Top Developments for Medtech Business Leaders in 2023,” The MedTech Conference, October 2023
• Speaker, “The IRA’s Drug Price Program: What You Need to Know,” Washington Legal Foundation Webinar, October 2023
• Author, “Federal Court Strikes Down Copay Accumulator Programs,” Washington Legal Foundation Legal Pulse, October 12, 2023
• Author, “Initial Lawsuits Claim IRA’s Compelled Drug-Price Negotiation is Broad Break with Rule of Law,” Washington Legal Foundation, June 2023
• Co-Author, “Top 5 Compliance Issues for Medtech Firms Transitioning to Data-Enabled Solutions,” MedCity News, January 2023
• Co-Author, “4 Key Issues Driving Drug Discount Abuse Must Be Addressed,” Law360, January 2023
• Author, “Medicare’s Initial Plans for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program,” Washington Legal Foundation, January 2023
• Author, “Mandated Rebates and ‘Negotiation’: The IRA Paves a Rocky Road for Pharma and Biotech Innovation,” Washington Legal Foundation, November 2022
• Host, American Health Law Association Fraud & Abuse Podcast, 2020–2022