South African life-sciences counsel

Commercial counsel for life sciences and healthcare. Ten years inside the industry before the practice.

JW van Zyl Inc provides regulatory and commercial counsel to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical-research and healthcare organisations.

Engaged for defined projects, transactions and outside-counsel support.

// Est. 2025 / Cape Town, ZA / Healthcare & life sciences / Regulatory & commercial

Discuss a South African Matter View Experience

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The practice at a glance

Depth across the work regulated businesses actually bring.

Sectors: Pharmaceutical · Biotechnology · Clinical research: sponsors, CROs, sites · Medical devices & diagnostics · Funded health programmes · Healthcare investors & manufacturers
Engagements: Clinical-research agreements · Distribution, supply & licensing · M&A & legal due diligence · Market-entry & operating structures · Grants, consortia & IP · Outside-counsel capacity
Regulatory & governance: SAHPRA · POPIA / PAIA · Research ethics & governance · Company & director governance · A Legal Practice Council–regulated practice

Why clients instruct the firm

South African legal capacity for life-sciences teams.

Global and regional life-sciences teams frequently reach a point where a South African agreement, legal structure or regulatory responsibility must be resolved locally.

JW van Zyl Inc provides that local legal capacity on a defined basis.

Project counsel: A specific agreement, diligence exercise, transaction or governance matter.
Outside counsel: Ongoing South African legal capacity for an in-house or operational team.
Local workstream counsel: The South African legal component of a wider African or global programme.

Core practice areas

What clients engage the firm to do.

Clinical Research & Development

Resolve the contracts that delay study activation, payment and site performance.

Regulatory & Market Access

Get the regulatory structure right before the commercial terms are fixed.

Commercial & Technology

Sign commercial terms the operation can actually perform.

Corporate, M&A & Life-Sciences Transactions

Structure the transaction around the risk that does not transfer.

Outside Counsel for Life Sciences

Continuing access to the firm's capabilities without appointing additional permanent internal counsel.

Free tools Healthcare M&A due-diligence checklist Clinical trial agreement checklist SA market-entry checklist

Representative matters

Selected relevant experience

Anonymised matters, comparable to the work clients instruct, each labelled with its source. Full situation-and-work detail on the Experience page.

African clinical-research network: Firm mandate
Responsible Pharmacist deployment: Firm mandate
Institutional research governance: Firm mandate
Clinical-research contracting: Prior professional experience

View Experience

The principal

Wilhelm van Zyl

Director & Attorney

Every matter is led personally, by an attorney whose background spans the clinical-research and pharmaceutical industry and South African commercial law, the same ground the firm advises on.

View full profile on LinkedIn

Selected publication

“South Africa in Clinical Trial Supply: An Underrecognized Capability”

Published Q&A · Wilhelm van Zyl · Clinical Supply Leader · July 2026

Read the publication Read the Analysis

How the firm is engaged

A defined scope, agreed in writing before work begins.

Most engagements begin with a single agreement, a scoped diligence exercise or a bounded outside-counsel arrangement: one clearly-scoped piece of work, not a standing relationship.

Discuss a South African Matter

01Conflicts check against the parties named.
02Assessment of subject matter, jurisdiction, urgency, budget and required expertise.
03Written response from info@jwvanzylinc.com within two business days: terms, or a decline.