Executive Insights Series – Demystifying Strategic Partnerships In Life Sciences

Charity brings a wealth of business acumen to her legal practice, representing both public and privately held life sciences companies in complex licensing and corporate partnering transactions. With a focus on strategic collaborations, license agreements, territory-specific licenses, and co-development, co-promotion and profit-sharing relationships, Charity offers a unique blend of legal and business insight and is recognized for her comprehensive advisory role. Her experience extends to handling options to purchase and earn-out structures in the context of mergers and acquisitions, and she also offers guidance on day-to-day matters encompassing licensing, supply, distribution, clinical trials and vendor services.

Having served as a dedicated member of the board of directors of Athena for six years, concluding her term in December 2023, Charity is deeply committed to leadership development for women in the life sciences, healthcare, defense, technology and related business communities.

Prior to rejoining Cooley, Charity navigated the entrepreneurial path, running her own practice where she successfully represented life sciences and technology companies in corporate and intellectual property litigation matters.

Dr. Jie D’Elia is the Chief Executive Officer of SystImmune, Inc., a pioneering clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutic multi-specific  antibodiesand antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

Before joining SystImmune in April 2024, Dr. D’Elia was the Senior Vice President of Business Development, Oncology, Hematology, and Cell Therapy at Bristol Myers Squibb (“BMS”). During her eleven years at BMS, she made significant impact to BMS’s pipeline evolution through multiple strategic partnerships and acquisitions in therapeutic areas ranging from oncology, hematology, cardiovascular, virology, fibrosis, and cell therapy. Prior to BMS, Dr. D’Elia served as the Vice President and Global Head of Business Development at Simcere Pharmaceutical. She previously worked at AstraZeneca, Boston Consulting Group and Baxter Healthcare. Throughout her career in the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr. D’Elia has orchestrated over $40 billion in strategic partnerships and mergers and acquisitions, leveraging her strong business expertise and deep industry knowledge.

Dr. D’Elia received her Ph.D. from the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas at Austin and her MBA from Columbia Business School.