The Department of Health has announced a new panel of law firms to advise on civil litigation and arbitration matters against companies in the pharmaceutical industry.

The firms to have made it onto the Department of Health's civil litigation and arbitration in medicine and pharmaceuticals (CLAMP) panel are Peters & Peters, Capsticks, Hill Dickinson, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Trowers & Hamlins.

The panel is set to run until 2020 for three years, with an option to extend it for a further two years. It is worth an estimated £6.5m-£10m per year.

The tender documents for the panel state: "The requirement will be for the provision of exploratory legal and professional advice, market structure analysis (incorporating financial analysis) and representation within civil proceedings.

"The scope of civil proceedings may include but shall not be limited to investigation into deceit, anti-competitive agreements, patent infringement and the abuse of dominant market positions by companies."

Hill Dickinson and Capsticks are also on the NHS's clinical negligence panel, which was reviewed earlier this year.

The panel win for Hill Dickinson comes soon after the firm announced it was opening a new office in Leeds. The firm confirmed that the office would focus on the health sector and will be jointly led by corporate health partner Robert McGough and health litigation partner Mike McKenna.

Other recently announced government panels include the central £400m general legal services framework, its £50m rail legal services panel, a new legal panel for finance and highly complex legal advice, and the London Borough of Lambeth's £25m legal services framework.