Associate General Counsel (Commercial)

More than one million people in the United States today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft vs. host disease. Orca Bio is a commercial-stage biotechnology company redefining the transplant process by developing next-generation cell therapies with the goal of providing significantly better survival rates with dramatically fewer risks. With our purified, high-precision investigational cell therapies we hope to not only replace patients' blood and immune systems with healthy ones, but also restore their lives.

Summary: Reporting into our SVP, Legal, the Associate General Counsel will lead the commercial legal function with primary responsibility to support our first U.S. product launch. This individual serves as a trusted strategic partner and provides practical, timely and business-savvy legal advice to the Commercial (Sales, Marketing, Market Access), Medical Affairs and Patient Support functions. This role is the subject matter expert (SME) on U.S. healthcare laws, FDA promotional regulations and industry codes to enable legal and compliant pre-launch, launch and ongoing commercial and medical activities. This role partners with and may oversee Compliance to ensure that the Company’s U.S. compliance program remains risk-based, fit-for-purpose and aligned with our corporate values, while supporting cross-functional teams through advisory responsibilities, training and policy development. The ideal candidate will combine a strategic and seasoned mindset with hands-on tactical and operational excellence. 

Serve as key legal partner and SME to commercial and medical teams

Provide practical legal advice on pre-launch activities and launch strategy, including medical (e.g., MSL activities and programs), disease awareness, sales, marketing (brand messaging, activities and campaigns), marketing analytics, patient advocacy programs, advisory boards, incentive compensation for commercial personnel and other business activities

Counsel market access on pricing, reimbursement, distribution and contracting structures; advise on payer engagement issues including PIE and FDAMA 114; draft and lead the development of market access and patient support agreements; advise patient support team on legal issues related to patient support and hub services

Act as Legal representative reviewing content and messaging on Promotional Review Committee, Medical Legal Regulatory (Medical) Review Committee, Publications Review Committee, ISR reviews, grants and sponsorships committees and similar bodies

 Training of applicable personnel

Oversee outside counsel; conduct and respond to diligence for financings, business development activities and the like as needed; and review other external corporate content such as press releases

• JD required with 12+ years of relevant legal experience in the biopharmaceutical industry (biotech preferred)
• Deep knowledge of FDA promotional regulations, Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, OIG Guidance, and industry codes, and ability to stay current on evolving trends and enforcement
• Experience reviewing promotional and medical materials
• Ability to interpret and apply healthcare laws to complex business plans
• Experience supporting product launch planning and cross functional review committees (experience building for first US launch preferred)
• Strong business partnering skills with ability to balance risk and business goals
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment; comfortable working in a demanding start-up culture with evolving processes; flexible and able to adapt to new situations as the business demands