Lily Vakili Photo

Industry Experience

Director and Counsel

UBS, New York Branch

Lily guides biotechnology companies in the negotiation of complex product development and commercialization transactions. She advises early and mid-stage companies, many in the cell and gene-therapy space and assists drug sponsors and contract development and manufacture organizations in the negotiation of clinical and commercial manufacturing and supply arrangements.

Lily also represents public and private companies in strategic collaborations, product licensing, and distribution and co-promotion agreements.

experience +

experience –

New York Branch of UBS

Director and Counsel

  • Represented the bank in connection with domestic and international syndicated loan and complex financings

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Corporate Department Associate

  • Represented both international and domestic lending institutions and borrowers in connection with banking and project finance transactions

Sidley Austin

Member of business transactions group

Recent Client work +

RECeNT CLIENT WORK –

  • Advising Bicara Therapeutics, Inc., a Boston-based subsidiary of Biocon Biologics focused on the development of a pipeline of bifunctional antibodies that exploit recent advances in immuno-oncology, in establishing customized CMC supply chain documentation
  • Representation of investor syndicate led by 5AM Venture Management in the negotiation of a development and manufacturing agreement for clinical supply of an exclusively in-licensed drug product for the treatment of respiratory diseases
  • Advising Anthos Therapeutics, a Blackstone Life Sciences and Novartis biotechnology company, in the negotiation of a global process development and manufacturing arrangement with Lonza Group AG  
  • Representation of Rheos Medicines, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company launched by Third Rock Ventures and focused on developing novel medicines that modulate immune cell metabolism, in establishing and negotiating comprehensive legal documentation for early-stage non-clinical and clinical services, with both academic and non-academic institutions
  • Representation of ImmunoGen Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, in the drafting and negotiation of multiple development, clinical manufacturing, and commercial manufacturing agreements
  • Advising Atara Biotherapeutics with respect to manufacturing and clinical supply documentation in connection with an exclusive license of clinical-stage T-cell therapy technology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Community +

Community –

  • Member of Harvard Law School Women’s Association of New York
  • Volunteer with Montclair, New Jersey Township’s Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities
  • Panelist – 7th Annual ACI Conference on Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law – Pre-conference Workshop – Career Advancement Boot Camp: Employing Strategies for Communication, Negotiation and Management (Nov. 16, 2020)
  • Speaker - Faber Webinar – Manufacturing Agreements During the COVID-19 Pandemic (May 4, 2020)
  • Panelist – Celebration 60 – Harvard Law School – Leaders for Change – Returning to the Workforce: A Panel Highlighting Successful Re-entry Experiences (Sept. 27, 2013)
Bar Admissions
  • New York
Education 
  • ‍Harvard Law School, J.D.
  • University of Minnesota, B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Language
  • Spanish