Norton Rose Fulbright awarded Canadian Impact Deal of the Year Award and Canadian Financial & Corporate Attorney of the Year

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada was honoured with a firm and individual award at the eighth annual LMG Life Sciences virtual awards ceremony held on September 23.

The LMG Life Sciences Awards recognize and honour the achievements of leading life sciences lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel in the United States, Canada, and Europe that have played a significant role in the life sciences industry.

About the Canadian Financial & Corporate Attorney of the Year

Vanessa Grant, the recipient of the LMG Life Sciences Canadian Financial & Corporate Attorney of the Year has been called a "thought leader in Canadian life sciences" for her experienced counsel to start-ups and multinationals in the sector. Among other things, Grant’s practice focuses on structuring and negotiating complex financings and agreements involving pharmaceuticals, therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health technologies. 

Randy Sutton, the global co-head of our life sciences and healthcare industry group stated: 

“This award is well deserved given Vanessa’s accomplishments and work in the life sciences sector. Vanessa is not only a leader in Canada, but also in our global transactions team, and we are pleased that she is able to provide such experienced and thoughtful counsel to our clients both in Canada and globally. We are pleased that the deal team, headed by Janet Grove, also received an award from LMG Life Sciences. This award is a testament to the innovative clients we work with and the work our global life sciences practice undertakes.”

Norton Rose Fulbright received the Impact Deal of the Year – Canada award for our work on Zucara Therapeutics US$21m Series A Financing. The team was led by Janet Grove (Vancouver) and included Jung-Kay Chiu (Toronto), Andrea LeJay (Vancouver), and Chanelle Wong (Vancouver).

About the Impact Deal of the Year 

Our client, Zucara Therapeutics is developing the first once-daily therapeutic to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in people with diabetes. Our Canadian team has worked with Zucara since its inception and most recently advised the company in its US$21m Series A Financing, led by Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund. The proceeds from the financing will fund phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials of Zucara’s lead product, ZT-01, which has the potential to restore the body’s ability to recover from hypoglycemia, which could improve disease management and prevent dangerous hypoglycemic episodes, potentially reducing long-term complications.

Janet Grove, the Canadian head of our life sciences and healthcare industry practice commented: 

 “Zucara is a great ‘made in Canada’ story of developing a product that has the potential to help children and others with type 1 diabetes, which to this day remains a life-changing and serious medical condition. We owe our client, Zucara, the real thanks for this award. We believe it reflects the quality of the collaboration that we have with the Zucara team. We are proud that it also reflects the knowledge of our global healthcare and life sciences bench strength. We are looking forward to seeing how Zucara’s ZT-10 will help patients suffering from type 1 diabetes in the future.”  

About Norton Rose Fulbright

Our global life sciences and healthcare team provides a full range of legal advice to innovative pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology companies and industry investors at every stage of the product life cycle, from intellectual property protections to commercial transactions and M&A. We also provide our clients with a broad range of regulatory advice, covering such diverse topics as marketing authorizations and post-market surveillance, competition matters, governmental healthcare and procurement programs, trade controls, and anti-bribery and corruption compliance.

Our lawyers also act for healthcare clients around the world, including hospitals and health systems, clinics, health insurers, academic medical centers and retail pharmacies on a wide variety of regulatory, transactional and litigation matters. Our life sciences, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and medical device litigators have extensive trial experience, as well as the industry knowledge to skillfully handle disputes at the local, national and international level.