Gary Messplay is a partner in King & Spalding’s Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Messplay has been representing pharmaceutical and medical device companies for over 20 years and is widely recognized as one of the leading regulatory and healthcare compliance lawyers in the country. His practice focuses on the regulation and commercialization of drugs, biologics, medical devices, food, cosmetics, and tobacco by the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, Drug Enforcement Administration, and other federal and state agencies.
Mr. Messplay represents large multi-national product manufacturers as well as mid-sized and emerging companies. He provides strategic regulatory and compliance counseling in matters involving the FDA, OIG and other government agencies. He has substantial experience advising on all aspects of product launches and commercialization, leading product and compliance-related investigations, developing and implementing regulatory and healthcare compliance programs, and managing competitor disputes. He regularly advises clients on complex regulatory and administrative law matters, compliance counseling, advertising and promotion, responding to government and Congressional investigations, specialty pharmacy programs, litigation, legislative initiatives, due diligence in financings, mergers and acquisitions, healthcare fraud and abuse, clinical trials, drug safety issues, recalls, product approval issues, drug and device quality and manufacturing issues, life cycle management, and transactional work related to FDA- and USDA-regulated products.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Messplay was in-house counsel at Eli Lilly and Company, where he had global legal, regulatory, and compliance responsibility for the company's top-selling pharmaceutical product at the time with annual sales exceeding $3 billion.
Mr. Messplay’s pro bono experience includes representing abused and neglected children in adoption proceedings, preparing wills and estate documents for low-income seniors, and serving as a grader for the Virginia State Bar Exam.
