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A Seasoned Practitioner
John has nearly 40 years of experience in the life sciences industry.
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A Recognized Leader
Two deals for which he served as lead counsel have won the California Life Science Association's Pantheon award for outstanding partnering deal of the year and another was named by the Financial Times as one of the four most innovative deals of the year. He was named 2022 Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers for his life science practice in San Diego.
John Wehrli is a partner in the San Diego office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati where he leverages nearly 40 years of professional experience in law, business, and science exclusively in the life sciences industry and has long been recognized as one of the top life science attorneys globally. John has worked on a wide range of bet-the-company deals worth a total of over $132 billion, two of which, as lead counsel, won the California Life Science Association's Pantheon award for outstanding partnering deal of the year and another named by the Financial Times as one of the four most innovative corporate deals of the year across all deal types and industries. He was named 2022 Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers for his life science practice in San Diego.
Practice Focus
John counsels life sciences companies, including neurotechnology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, space pharma, AI, diagnostics, and medical device companies and their investors, in structuring and negotiating complex bet-the-company strategic intellectual property transactions, including strategic alliances, joint ventures, global partnering deals, collaborations, spinouts, and strategic mergers and acquisitions. He also represents financial institutions as lead intellectual property advisor and conducts and defends scientific, business, and intellectual property due diligence for life sciences public and private financings, merger and acquisition transactions, and arbitrage. Over 90% of his strategic deals have been cross-border and he has extensive experience in Asia, Europe, and South America.
Legal, Government, and Industry Experience
Before joining the firm, John was an equity partner at Jones Day for several years in San Diego, where he focused on greater Asia strategic cross-border life science transactions, and prior to that, he was an equity partner at Latham & Watkins for ten years in that firm's Silicon Valley and San Diego offices, where he focused on global cross-border life sciences intellectual property strategic transactions. He joined Latham as a senior associate in 2003 and had previously been a life sciences associate for Cooley for several years in their patent prosecution, patent litigation, and licensing groups.
John also leverages his in-house and government legal experience, as well as industry experience as an entrepreneur and research scientist. This includes C-Suite experience as chief legal officer and corporate secretary at two public biotechnology companies and as a patent and licensing associate at a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. He is also a co-founder of several biotechnology companies, and his scientific industry experience includes a decade as a research chemist and computational systems chemist and software engineer for Syntex/Roche.
Scientific Experience and Training
John has an extensive background in applying the tools of computational science and engineering, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL); and mathematical modeling (predictive AI) to systems biology, chemistry, and neuroscience and is a certified expert in both machine learning and AI and has additional certifications in systems biology, fMRI statistics; biomathematics, bioinformatics and computational biology; mathematical and computational biostatistics, and complex and nonlinear computational mathematics. He has hands-on technical experience in physical organic, analytical, and protein chemistry; drug delivery, robotics, neurophysiology (including functional neuroimaging); and in computational neuroscience, computational biology, computational chemistry, and computational pharmacokinetics, where he is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He has therapeutic experience in neurology, immunology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, and oncology.
John’s Ph.D research focused on computational and behavioral neuroscience where he sought to identify and decompose novel phylogenetically proximate neurobiological, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological endophenotypes of behavioral phenotypes and polygenic genotypes of dopaminergic neural network systems, including polymorphic dopaminergic allelic genotypes. His research interests focus on using these validated endophenotypes to develop mathematical and neurocomputational predictive AI models (using machine learning, deep learning using artificial neural networks, and genetic algorithms) of dynamical systems comprising neuropathological mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic neural networks in conjunction with qEEG/ERP-eLORETA spatiotemporal optimized computational neuroimaging. He has also conducted research related to neuropathological nigrostriatal and mesocortical dopaminergic neural networks in left-onset and right-onset Parkinson’s Disease as a core member of, and neuroscience specialist for, the PaRC Project Research Team under an FRSA and a $6.3 million research grant from the Templeton Foundation under Dr. Joel Goodin and Dr. Patrick McNamara from Northcentral University and the evolutionary neurobehavior lab of the department of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine.
Professional and Community Involvement
John is a member of numerous legal, engineering, and scientific organizations and is currently Emeritus Member of the Deans Leadership Council for the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. John immigrated to the United States from South America as a child and speaks Spanish and Japanese, in addition to English, and is a veteran of the United States Navy.
John has long had a multi-award winning pro-bono practice in criminal law (including false confessions by children and adolescents), child centered intimate partner domestic violence, and children’s rights and protection (including guardianship and child custody cases), and currently focuses on child psychological abuse, including estrangement and alienation. He is a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. He also conducts collaborative research and policy work in the fields of law and psychology, mental health law, and law and neuroscience.
John Wehrli is a partner in the San Diego office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati where he leverages nearly 40 years of professional experience in law, business, and science exclusively in the life sciences industry and has long been recognized as one of the top life science attorneys globally. John has worked on a wide range of bet-the-company deals worth a total of over $132 billion, two of which, as lead counsel, won the California Life Science Association's Pantheon award for outstanding partnering deal of the year and another named by the Financial Times as one of the four most innovative corporate deals of the year across all deal types and industries. He was named 2022 Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers for his life science practice in San Diego.
Practice Focus
John counsels life sciences companies, including neurotechnology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, space pharma, AI, diagnostics, and medical device companies and their investors, in structuring and negotiating complex bet-the-company strategic intellectual property transactions, including strategic alliances, joint ventures, global partnering deals, collaborations, spinouts, and strategic mergers and acquisitions. He also represents financial institutions as lead intellectual property advisor and conducts and defends scientific, business, and intellectual property due diligence for life sciences public and private financings, merger and acquisition transactions, and arbitrage. Over 90% of his strategic deals have been cross-border and he has extensive experience in Asia, Europe, and South America.
Legal, Government, and Industry Experience
Before joining the firm, John was an equity partner at Jones Day for several years in San Diego, where he focused on greater Asia strategic cross-border life science transactions, and prior to that, he was an equity partner at Latham & Watkins for ten years in that firm's Silicon Valley and San Diego offices, where he focused on global cross-border life sciences intellectual property strategic transactions. He joined Latham as a senior associate in 2003 and had previously been a life sciences associate for Cooley for several years in their patent prosecution, patent litigation, and licensing groups.
John also leverages his in-house and government legal experience, as well as industry experience as an entrepreneur and research scientist. This includes C-Suite experience as chief legal officer and corporate secretary at two public biotechnology companies and as a patent and licensing associate at a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. He is also a co-founder of several biotechnology companies, and his scientific industry experience includes a decade as a research chemist and computational systems chemist and software engineer for Syntex/Roche.
Scientific Experience and Training
John has an extensive background in applying the tools of computational science and engineering, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL); and mathematical modeling (predictive AI) to systems biology, chemistry, and neuroscience and is a certified expert in both machine learning and AI and has additional certifications in systems biology, fMRI statistics; biomathematics, bioinformatics and computational biology; mathematical and computational biostatistics, and complex and nonlinear computational mathematics. He has hands-on technical experience in physical organic, analytical, and protein chemistry; drug delivery, robotics, neurophysiology (including functional neuroimaging); and in computational neuroscience, computational biology, computational chemistry, and computational pharmacokinetics, where he is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He has therapeutic experience in neurology, immunology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, and oncology.
John’s Ph.D research focused on computational and behavioral neuroscience where he sought to identify and decompose novel phylogenetically proximate neurobiological, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological endophenotypes of behavioral phenotypes and polygenic genotypes of dopaminergic neural network systems, including polymorphic dopaminergic allelic genotypes. His research interests focus on using these validated endophenotypes to develop mathematical and neurocomputational predictive AI models (using machine learning, deep learning using artificial neural networks, and genetic algorithms) of dynamical systems comprising neuropathological mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic neural networks in conjunction with qEEG/ERP-eLORETA spatiotemporal optimized computational neuroimaging. He has also conducted research related to neuropathological nigrostriatal and mesocortical dopaminergic neural networks in left-onset and right-onset Parkinson’s Disease as a core member of, and neuroscience specialist for, the PaRC Project Research Team under an FRSA and a $6.3 million research grant from the Templeton Foundation under Dr. Joel Goodin and Dr. Patrick McNamara from Northcentral University and the evolutionary neurobehavior lab of the department of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine.
Professional and Community Involvement
John is a member of numerous legal, engineering, and scientific organizations and is currently Emeritus Member of the Deans Leadership Council for the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. John immigrated to the United States from South America as a child and speaks Spanish and Japanese, in addition to English, and is a veteran of the United States Navy.
John has long had a multi-award winning pro-bono practice in criminal law (including false confessions by children and adolescents), child centered intimate partner domestic violence, and children’s rights and protection (including guardianship and child custody cases), and currently focuses on child psychological abuse, including estrangement and alienation. He is a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. He also conducts collaborative research and policy work in the fields of law and psychology, mental health law, and law and neuroscience.
- Ph.D., Computational & Behavioral Neuroscience (completing dissertation), Northcentral University
- J.D., University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
- M.B.A., Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
- M.O.T. Graduate Studies Program, Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering (Computational Biology Machine Learning & Deep Learning), College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
- Emeritus Member, Dean's Leadership Council, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego
- Senior Member, American Institute of Chemical Engineers
- Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Member, Organization for Computational Neuroscience
- Member, International Society of Psychiatric Genetics
- Member, International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
- Recognized by the Daily Journal among its list of the top 25 biotech lawyers in California in 2011
- Named as a top life sciences attorney in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business
- Recognized by the Financial Times among its list of "Most Innovative Lawyers"
- Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America, including 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” for his work in the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice in San Diego
- Selected for inclusion in The Legal 500 US
- Named by LMG Life Sciences as a "Life Sciences Star" in Europe and U.S.
- Recognized in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine's IAM Licensing 250 – The World's Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Practitioners guide
- Consistently recognized in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine's IAM Patent 1000 — World's Leading Patent Practitioners guide
- Recognized in Latin Lawyer 250
- Named in the 2014 edition of Northern California Super Lawyers
- Recipient of the Angel Award from California Lawyer magazine as one of the top 15 pro-bono lawyers in the state
- Recipient of the Advocate Award from the Pro-Bono Project of Silicon Valley
- State Bar of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Ph.D., Computational & Behavioral Neuroscience (completing dissertation), Northcentral University
- J.D., University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
- M.B.A., Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
- M.O.T. Graduate Studies Program, Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering (Computational Biology Machine Learning & Deep Learning), College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
- Emeritus Member, Dean's Leadership Council, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego
- Senior Member, American Institute of Chemical Engineers
- Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Member, Organization for Computational Neuroscience
- Member, International Society of Psychiatric Genetics
- Member, International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
- Recognized by the Daily Journal among its list of the top 25 biotech lawyers in California in 2011
- Named as a top life sciences attorney in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business
- Recognized by the Financial Times among its list of "Most Innovative Lawyers"
- Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America, including 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” for his work in the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice in San Diego
- Selected for inclusion in The Legal 500 US
- Named by LMG Life Sciences as a "Life Sciences Star" in Europe and U.S.
- Recognized in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine's IAM Licensing 250 – The World's Leading Patent and Technology Licensing Practitioners guide
- Consistently recognized in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine's IAM Patent 1000 — World's Leading Patent Practitioners guide
- Recognized in Latin Lawyer 250
- Named in the 2014 edition of Northern California Super Lawyers
- Recipient of the Angel Award from California Lawyer magazine as one of the top 15 pro-bono lawyers in the state
- Recipient of the Advocate Award from the Pro-Bono Project of Silicon Valley
- State Bar of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Representative Transactions
Strategic Alliances, Partnering Deals, and Collaborations
- Two winners of the Pantheon Award for outstanding partnering deal of the year
- A series of deals for seminal cancer drug Zelboraf®, winner of the Pantheon Award for outstanding therapeutic product of the year
- Financial Times' fourth most innovative strategic transaction of 2012 in its Innovative Lawyers Report
- 42 partnering deals/strategic alliances, each valued over $100 million that totaled $50 billion
- 84 multimillion-dollar strategic alliances and corporate partnering and collaboration agreements
- Over 600 life science intellectual property transactions
- Numerous strategic joint ventures, spin-outs, and co-promotion agreements
- Numerous headline strategic alliances in HCV, cancer, autoimmune disease, and other indications, including:
- Aspect/Novo-Nordisk $2.7 billion deal for bioprinted tissue therapeutics in diabetes and obesity
- Arcellx/Kite-Gilead $4.2 billion deal for CART-ddBCMA for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma
- Regor/Eli Lilly $1.6 billion metabolic disorder pre-clinical collaboration for a Chinese client
- Alios/Vertex $1.6 billion HCV nucleoside/nucleotide pro-drug global collaboration
- Intermune/Roche $530 million HCV Protease inhibitor (Danoprevir) global collaboration
- Tacere/Pfizer $145 million HCV expressed RNAi global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Roche $706 million Zelboraf (vemurafenib) BRAF cancer global collaboration
- CG Oncology/Kissei $140 million global cancer collaboration
- Chiasma/Roche $600 million oral somatostatin analog Octreolin for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors global collaboration
- Novacea/Schering-Plough $500+ million VDR (Asentar) prostate cancer global collaboration
- Geron/Merck telomerase vaccine cancer global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Wyeth $464 million (PPAR) Type II diabetes global collaboration
- Bayhill/Genentech-Roche $350+ million Type I diabetes global collaboration
- Kythera/Bayer $373 million submental fat reduction global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Roche $335 million RAF kinase polycystic kidney disease global collaboration
- Renovis/Pfizer $187 million vanilloid receptor (VR1) pain global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Servier $112 million rennin inhibitor cardiovascular global collaboration
- Coherus Biosciences in a series of interlocking transactions selected by Financial Times as one of the four most innovative strategic transactions of 2012
- Over 90 percent of major deals are cross-border or involve global rights
- Negotiated many of these transactions opposite the world's largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Novo-Nordisk, Gilead, Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Wyeth, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, Kissei, Chugai, Genentech, Daiichi Sankyo, Takeda, Astellas, Otsuka, Ono, Thermo Fisher, Medtronic, Abbott, and Boston Scientific
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Over 72 life sciences M&A transactions valued at over $60 billion, including asset purchases, tender offers, stock mergers, forced divestitures, and leveraged buyouts, including:
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of ImClone for $6.5 billion
- Plexxikon in its acquisition by Daichi-Sankyo for $935 million
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of Johnson & Johnson’s animal health business
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of a portfolio of Pfizer’s European animal health products
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of Alnara Pharmaceuticals
- Santarus in its acquisition by Salix Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion
- A pharma-pharma acquisition for $7 billion
- A pharmaceutical subsidiary acquisition for $1 billion
- An animal health acquisition for $1.6 billion
- Watson Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Arrow Pharmaceuticals for $1.75 billion
- Cougar Biotechnology in its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for $1 billion
- A pharma-pharma division acquisition for $8 billion
- A medical device leveraged buy-out for $4 billion
- A medical device acquisition for $2.8 billion
- Ulthera in its acquisition by Merz for $600 million
- Alios BioPharma in its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for $1.75 billion
Capital Markets and Venture Capital IP Due Diligence
- IP due diligence counsel to over 300 life sciences corporate transactions
- IP due diligence counsel to over 170 life sciences public offerings that have raised over $22 billion in aggregate
- Investment banking clients have included Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Oppenheimer, US Bankcorp Piper Jaffray, Cantor Fitzgerald, AG Edwards & Co., Jeffries & Co, Pacific Growth, Wells Fargo Securities, CIBC World Markets, UBS Securities, SG Cowen, Deutsche Bank, Hambrecht & Quist, Robertson Stephens, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns
Representative Transactions
Strategic Alliances, Partnering Deals, and Collaborations
- Two winners of the Pantheon Award for outstanding partnering deal of the year
- A series of deals for seminal cancer drug Zelboraf®, winner of the Pantheon Award for outstanding therapeutic product of the year
- Financial Times' fourth most innovative strategic transaction of 2012 in its Innovative Lawyers Report
- 42 partnering deals/strategic alliances, each valued over $100 million that totaled $50 billion
- 84 multimillion-dollar strategic alliances and corporate partnering and collaboration agreements
- Over 600 life science intellectual property transactions
- Numerous strategic joint ventures, spin-outs, and co-promotion agreements
- Numerous headline strategic alliances in HCV, cancer, autoimmune disease, and other indications, including:
- Aspect/Novo-Nordisk $2.7 billion deal for bioprinted tissue therapeutics in diabetes and obesity
- Arcellx/Kite-Gilead $4.2 billion deal for CART-ddBCMA for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma
- Regor/Eli Lilly $1.6 billion metabolic disorder pre-clinical collaboration for a Chinese client
- Alios/Vertex $1.6 billion HCV nucleoside/nucleotide pro-drug global collaboration
- Intermune/Roche $530 million HCV Protease inhibitor (Danoprevir) global collaboration
- Tacere/Pfizer $145 million HCV expressed RNAi global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Roche $706 million Zelboraf (vemurafenib) BRAF cancer global collaboration
- CG Oncology/Kissei $140 million global cancer collaboration
- Chiasma/Roche $600 million oral somatostatin analog Octreolin for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors global collaboration
- Novacea/Schering-Plough $500+ million VDR (Asentar) prostate cancer global collaboration
- Geron/Merck telomerase vaccine cancer global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Wyeth $464 million (PPAR) Type II diabetes global collaboration
- Bayhill/Genentech-Roche $350+ million Type I diabetes global collaboration
- Kythera/Bayer $373 million submental fat reduction global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Roche $335 million RAF kinase polycystic kidney disease global collaboration
- Renovis/Pfizer $187 million vanilloid receptor (VR1) pain global collaboration
- Plexxikon/Servier $112 million rennin inhibitor cardiovascular global collaboration
- Coherus Biosciences in a series of interlocking transactions selected by Financial Times as one of the four most innovative strategic transactions of 2012
- Over 90 percent of major deals are cross-border or involve global rights
- Negotiated many of these transactions opposite the world's largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Novo-Nordisk, Gilead, Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Wyeth, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, Kissei, Chugai, Genentech, Daiichi Sankyo, Takeda, Astellas, Otsuka, Ono, Thermo Fisher, Medtronic, Abbott, and Boston Scientific
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Over 72 life sciences M&A transactions valued at over $60 billion, including asset purchases, tender offers, stock mergers, forced divestitures, and leveraged buyouts, including:
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of ImClone for $6.5 billion
- Plexxikon in its acquisition by Daichi-Sankyo for $935 million
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of Johnson & Johnson’s animal health business
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of a portfolio of Pfizer’s European animal health products
- Eli Lilly in its acquisition of Alnara Pharmaceuticals
- Santarus in its acquisition by Salix Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion
- A pharma-pharma acquisition for $7 billion
- A pharmaceutical subsidiary acquisition for $1 billion
- An animal health acquisition for $1.6 billion
- Watson Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Arrow Pharmaceuticals for $1.75 billion
- Cougar Biotechnology in its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for $1 billion
- A pharma-pharma division acquisition for $8 billion
- A medical device leveraged buy-out for $4 billion
- A medical device acquisition for $2.8 billion
- Ulthera in its acquisition by Merz for $600 million
- Alios BioPharma in its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for $1.75 billion
Capital Markets and Venture Capital IP Due Diligence
- IP due diligence counsel to over 300 life sciences corporate transactions
- IP due diligence counsel to over 170 life sciences public offerings that have raised over $22 billion in aggregate
- Investment banking clients have included Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Oppenheimer, US Bankcorp Piper Jaffray, Cantor Fitzgerald, AG Edwards & Co., Jeffries & Co, Pacific Growth, Wells Fargo Securities, CIBC World Markets, UBS Securities, SG Cowen, Deutsche Bank, Hambrecht & Quist, Robertson Stephens, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns
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