DLA Piper announced today that former US Representative Jim Greenwood, who previously served as president and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), has joined the firm's Litigation and Regulatory practice as a senior policy advisor based in Washington, DC.

Greenwood represented Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District from 1993 to 2005. During his time in Congress, he was a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and widely viewed as a leader on healthcare and the environment. He crafted legislation to reform the Food and Drug Administration, to create the pediatric exclusivity and pediatric autism research acts and he led the fight in Congress to allow stem cell research to be conducted by US scientists to treat disease.

From 2001 to 2004, Greenwood served as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. In this role, he led investigations into corporate governance at Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom, to reform the NIH and into waste and fraud in federal government agencies. Before his election to Congress, from 1981 to 1992, Greenwood served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, including six years in the State House and six years in the State Senate. He received his B.A. from Dickinson College.

For the last 15 years, Greenwood has served as president and CEO of BIO, a trade association that represents 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions and state biotechnology centers across the US and in more than 30 countries. Its members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the annual BIO International Convention, as well as other major investor and business conferences across the world.

Greenwood will serve as chair of DLA Piper’s newly created Life Sciences, Health, Policy and Regulatory subgroup. The group will advise clients on a variety of legislative, regulatory and policy issues impacting the healthcare and life sciences sectors.

“Jim is well known and respected in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and his addition to our team demonstrates our continued commitment to increasing our healthcare and life sciences policy and regulatory capabilities, particularly in the area of drug pricing, for the benefit of clients,” said Matt Holian, global co-chair of DLA Piper’s Life Sciences sector.

“In addition to his decades of experience and deep understanding of the biotech and pharma sectors, Jim’s experience as a legislator and chair of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be highly valuable to our clients,” said Loren Brown, global and US co-chair of DLA Piper’s Litigation and Regulatory practice.

Greenwood’s arrival follows the firm’s recent affiliation with healthcare economist Kirsten Axelsen, a senior policy advisor to DLA Piper who works with healthcare clients on issues including Medicare reimbursement, payer contract negotiations and designing innovative reimbursement contracts. Axelsen works with biopharma companies, trade associations and health IT companies on pricing, reimbursement, patient assistance, public affairs, industrial organization and strategic matters.

The firm also recently welcomed several new partners in the Litigation and Regulatory practice who focus on healthcare and life sciences, including Donna Thiel, who advises on regulatory issues affecting healthcare providers and practitioners in their operations, transactions and compliance efforts, with a particular focus on Medicare and Medicaid payment systems. Thiel has a comprehensive healthcare litigation background in administrative appeals and defense of enforcement actions.

Daniel Garen, a healthcare compliance and technology lawyer, develops and helps implement best-in-class compliance and risk management strategies at public and private pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and industrial companies around the world. He focuses on quantitative integrations and process optimization with an overlay of data visualization to create robust control frameworks and predictive analytics.

Christopher Mikson advises and represents clients in FDA regulatory matters and complex litigation and transactional matters involving healthcare and the life sciences.