Nishimura & Asahi offers unparalleled strength in a range of dispute resolution areas including financial disputes, general commercial and product liability. The firm often receives instructions from domestic and foreign corporations in the automotive, pharmaceuticals, insurance, financial institutions and electronics sectors. In particular, the firm is a front-runner in international arbitration, with a practice led by Hiroyuki Tezuka and Akihiro Hironaka. Yutaro Kawabata and Lars Markert are also noteworthy international arbitration practitioners.
In the field of intellectual property, the firm achieved success by representing an individual in a series of patent disputes concerning the widely acclaimed cancer drug Opdivo (nivolumab). The firm's client made a significant breakthrough by discovering PD-1 – a negative co-receptor with implications for immune response during the effector phase – and demonstrating the role of PD-1 modulation in treating tumours, viral infections, and autoimmune diseases. Therapies developed based on this discovery have displayed remarkable efficacy in the battle against cancer. The firm represented the client in four patent invalidation cases brought forth by the alleged co-inventor from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The rest of the cases handled during the research period are confidential.
The firm’s IP practice welcomed Gai Matsushita as a counsel in April 2023. Prior to joining the firm he was with Atsumi & Sakai.
