Simmons & Simmons has advised Danish biotech company Genmab on its £1.1bn licensing deal with drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in one of the largest ever commercial agreements in the life sciences sector.

Simmons head of intellectual property Richard Binns advised longstanding client Genmab on its deal with GSK to co-develop an antibody product and release it to the market. The product could potentially be used in the treatment of certain cancers and rheumatoid arthritis.