Top ten global pharmaceutical company saves over $9 million via strategic, flexible legal partnership with Axiom
A top ten global, research-and-development-driven pharmaceutical company that leads innovation in medicine has reduced their outside legal counsel spend by more than 70%, to realize a savings of over $9M, by partnering with Axiom. With a relationship spanning over nine years, Axiom has provided the company with highly credentialed attorneys across multiple practice areas to address business-as-usual and overflow work, such as M&A due diligence, research and development contracting, and clinical trial contracting.
Challenges
Axiom’s relationship began in 2011, providing qualified talent for commercial contracts, research and development, and IP workstreams. At the time, the company’s priority was to drive revenue in five key business areas across 14 strategic brands, which represented 80% of its total revenue. This increased the workload for the legal department, which had more work than they had capacity to handle in-house. After the initial engagement, the relationship grew, and Axiom proved to be a valuable partner providing corporate commercial contracting, business development, mergers and acquisitions due diligence, marketing and advertising review, and IP support. As the relationship deepened, the pharmaceutical company demonstrated steady year-on-year growth.
In addition to business-as-usual support, the company also leaned on Axiom for episodic support to handle surges of legal work, and when they needed to access additional expertise. In 2018, the client was preparing for a multibillion-dollar acquisition. With commercial activities across the US, Europe, Canada, and Asia-Pacific, the client needed a trusted partner to assist with both buyer and seller contract review as part of the due diligence process.
The Solution
Axiom began our relationship with the pharmaceutical company providing lawyers with legal expertise supporting specific practice areas such as R&D, compliance, and technology contracting. It has grown to a team of Axiom lawyers supporting:
- Commercial legal activities
- M&A due diligence activities
- R&D contracting
- Clinical trial contracting in Asia
- Oncology brand support
- Promotional materials review
- Specialist IT and technology contracts
- Business development and collaboration agreements
The Result
The Axiom team used a bespoke reporting model to help the company identify cost savings and efficiencies. The company realized a 70% reduction in spend on external counsel and $9 million in savings. Axiom’s support also enabled internal team members to focus on strategic work that was core to the business.
Axiom provided a scalable team according to the fluctuations in work volume, and was able to provide support across various business lines. Axiom’s flexible support model and remote team of lawyers already in place proved especially valuable during the global pandemic, as the company did not have to invest in a shift to remote working, and could remain agile as business conditions changed rapidly.
Value and Benefit from Working with Axiom
- Support for major >$50B acquisition
- 70% reduction in outside counsel spend
- $9M in savings
- Global support in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Japan
- Lawyers with expertise in multiple practice areas
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Axiom provides flexible legal talent to help meet businesses’ ever-changing needs. Axiom is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal advice.