Life Sciences

  • March 20, 2024

    Future Of Judge-Shopping Reform Hazy After Rule Proposal

    The policymaking body for U.S. courts provoked a stir last week when it proposed a rule designed to curb "judge shopping," with observers saying that the policy does address one type of the practice but that it remains to be seen if individual federal district courts will be willing to adopt even that limited reform.

  • March 19, 2024

    OptumRx Can't Get Motley Rice Disqualified From Opioid MDL

    An Ohio federal judge has denied a bid by pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing plaintiffs in the national opioid litigation, saying the company hasn't shown that the firm's prior representation of states investigating opioids puts the company at a disadvantage in the multidistrict litigation.

  • March 19, 2024

    IFF Selling Pharma Unit To French Co. Roquette In $2.85B Deal

    IFF, a maker of ingredients and additives for food, health and home-based products, said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its Pharma Solutions business to French plant-based ingredient maker Roquette at an enterprise value of up to $2.85 billion. 

  • March 18, 2024

    Patent Suit Over AstraZeneca's Tagrisso Heads To Jury

    A Delaware federal judge said Monday that there are too many "genuine factual disputes" to end a lawsuit from a Pfizer brand claiming it developed a cancer treatment that's being infringed by a drug that has racked up billions in sales for rival AstraZeneca.

  • March 18, 2024

    2nd Circ. Rejects 'New Standard' Of Patent Monopolies

    A Second Circuit panel on Monday revived antitrust allegations accusing Novartis of concealing the true history of an eye syringe treatment's development from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to edge Regeneron out of the market, faulting a district court for holding that antitrust markets can't be "coextensive" with the patent.

  • March 18, 2024

    4th Circ. Sends Opioid 'Nuisance' Question To W.Va. Top Court

    The Fourth Circuit asked West Virginia's high court Monday to determine whether the state's public nuisance law can be used to target companies that shipped drugs to pharmacies in a community ravaged by addiction, a crucial question in litigation spawned by the opioid crisis.

  • March 18, 2024

    Conn. Pharmacy, FDA Say They've Settled Suit Over Probe

    Medication compounding firm SCA Pharmaceuticals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration together have asked a Connecticut federal judge to dissolve an emergency temporary restraining order blocking the agency from publishing comments related to its contested investigation of the pharmacy, with the parties saying they have executed a settlement.

  • March 18, 2024

    Biotech Ardelyx Beats Shareholder Suit Over Kidney Drug

    Biotechnology company Ardelyx Inc. has for now beaten a shareholder class action alleging the company and its top brass made false and misleading statements about regulatory approval of Ardelyx's drug for patients with chronic kidney disease.

  • March 18, 2024

    High Court Doubts Feds Coerced Social Media Cos.

    A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared unconvinced Monday that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment by working with social media platforms to combat the spread of misinformation, often chiding Louisiana's solicitor general for presenting confusing and overly expansive arguments.

  • March 18, 2024

    Kimberly-Clark Gets OK For $6M Deal Over Tainted Wipes

    A Texas federal court has granted final approval to a deal worth as much as $17 million — with $3.6 million going to plaintiff attorney fees — that would resolve claims that paper products manufacturer Kimberly-Clark sold flushable wipes contaminated with a bacteria particularly dangerous to those with weak immune systems.

  • March 18, 2024

    Leerink Enticed Goldman Exec With False Promises, Suit Says

    An investment banker says she was lured away from a senior position at Goldman Sachs to Boston-based Leerink Partners with what turned out to be a meaningless job title and false promises of guaranteed bonuses, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Massachusetts state court.

  • March 18, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Amyris Gets OK To Settle Pot Co.'s $15M Trade Secret Suit

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved biotechnology company Amyris' $15.1 million settlement with cannabinoid manufacturer Lavvan, resolving yearslong litigation and arbitration proceedings alleging the debtor misused its then-business partner's trade secrets.

  • March 18, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Multimillion-dollar e-cigarette settlements, $4 billion in stock buybacks and a $6.1 million appraisal tweak were among the big-dollar items logged in the Delaware Court of Chancery's ledger last week. Also on the docket: a Panama port project, a news outlet's defamation case, drone disputes and a flood of mail from Tesla shareholders. In case you missed it, here's all the latest from the Chancery Court.

  • March 18, 2024

    Pfizer To Reduce Stake In Haleon To 24% Through Share Sale

    Haleon PLC said Monday that U.S. pharmaceutical titan Pfizer Inc. will reduce its stake in the British consumer healthcare company to 24%.

  • March 16, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Gov't Jawboning & Retaliatory Arrests

    The U.S. Supreme Court has a packed oral arguments calendar this week that includes disputes over the Biden administration's work with social media companies to combat misinformation, the appropriate evidence standard for bringing retaliatory arrest claims and whether the federal government can object to a consent decree entered into by three states.

  • March 15, 2024

    Judiciary Clarifies Judge Shopping Policy After Senator Letter

    The Judicial Conference of the United States said Friday that its updated policy aimed at preventing litigants from shopping for the judge of their choice is not intended to overstep judges' authority or discretion under the law, issuing guidance one day after Republican senators pushed back against the policy.

  • March 15, 2024

    8th Circ. Nixes Arbitration Bid In $9M Chinese PPE Fight

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday refused to force a Chinese manufacturer of personal protective equipment to arbitrate its $9 million dispute over unpaid invoices with a U.S. distributor, ruling in a published opinion that the underlying pact containing an arbitration clause was never consummated.

  • March 15, 2024

    'Cobra Venom' Painkiller Co. Inks Deal To Settle SEC Claims

    A penny stock company that previously held itself out as a maker of cobra venom-infused pain drugs has agreed to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud claims, according to court filings that note the company's two principals have also reached a settlement.

  • March 15, 2024

    Enfamil Maker Hit With $60M Jury Verdict In Infant Death Suit

    An Illinois jury has awarded $60 million to the mother of an infant who died after using Mead Johnson's Enfamil formula, a loss for the company in the first of hundreds of suits to go to trial alleging certain cow's milk-based formulas cause a fatal illness in premature infants. 

  • March 15, 2024

    Hospitals Say Constitutional Defenses Valid In FTC Merger Row

    Two North Carolina hospital systems shot back at the Federal Trade Commission's contention that constitutional defenses are immaterial to the agency's challenge of a $320 million merger plan, arguing that case law shows that striking the positions would be premature.

  • March 15, 2024

    Ex-Fugitive Behind Fake Silver COVID Cure Pleads Guilty

    A former fugitive who was accused of peddling a phony, silver-based treatment for diseases such as COVID-19 pled guilty Thursday just before opening statements were set to begin at his fraud trial.

  • March 15, 2024

    Conservative Law Group Asks Justices To Hear FDA Vape Suit

    A free-market advocacy group and a vape industry association are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to upend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision denying a manufacturer permission to sell flavored vapes, arguing that the FDA is "moving the goalposts" when it comes to what kind of data is needed when applying.

  • March 14, 2024

    Pharma Co. Misled Investors On Research Methods, Suit Says

    Pharmaceutical company Anavex has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that it misled the public about research methodologies it was using in its clinical studies for neurological treatments.

  • March 14, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: Trump-Musk, Icahn-Illumina, Paramount

    Donald Trump asked Elon Musk to buy Truth Social, Carl Icahn drops latest Illumina board Challenge but presses on with lawsuit, and PE firm Apollo is still eyeing Paramount. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • March 14, 2024

    Feds Seek 20 Mos. For Aegerion Fraud 'Puppet Master'

    A pharmaceutical sales representative who gloated about being a "puppet master" for false insurance claims for Aegerion's cholesterol drug should serve 20 months in prison, the U.S. government has told a Boston federal judge.

Expert Analysis

  • Forecasting The Impact Of High Court Debit Card Rule Case

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    John Delionado and Aidan Gross at Hunton consider how the U.S. Supreme Court's forthcoming ruling in a retailer's suit challenging a Federal Reserve rule on debit card swipe fees could affect agency regulations both new and old, as well as the businesses that might seek to challenge them.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Mexico

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    ESG has yet to become part of the DNA of the Mexican business model, but huge strides are being made in that direction, as more stakeholders demand that companies adopt, at the least, a modicum of sustainability commitments and demonstrate how they will meet them, says Carlos Escoto at Galicia Abogados.

  • Opinion

    FDA And Companies Must Move Quickly On Drug Recalls

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    When a drug doesn't work as promised — whether it causes harm, like eyedrops recalled last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or is merely useless, like a widely used decongestant ingredient recently acknowledged by the agency to be ineffective — the public must be notified in a timely manner, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • Opinion

    A Telecom Attorney's Defense Of The Chevron Doctrine

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    The Chevron doctrine, which requires judicial deference to federal regulators, is under attack in two U.S. Supreme Court cases — and while most telecom attorneys likely agree that the Federal Communications Commission is guilty of overrelying on it, the problem is not the doctrine itself, says Carl Northrop at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • What's At Stake In Bystolic 'Side Deals' Litigation

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    In re: Bystolic Antitrust Litigation, which has oral argument set for next month, will likely shed light on how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit views side deals, and could create a circuit split in pleading standards for reverse payment cases, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • 2 HHS Warnings Highlight Anti-Kickback Risks For Physicians

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    Two recent advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General involve different scenarios and rationales, but together they illustrate the OIG's focus on and disapproval of contractual joint ventures and other revenue-maximizing physician arrangements, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Cross-Market Implications In FTC's Anesthesia Complaint

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent complaint against a private equity firm's acquisition of anesthesiology practices highlights the controversial issue of cross-market harm in health care provider mergers, and could provide important insights into how a court may view such theories of harm, say Christopher Lau and Dina Older Aguilar at Cornerstone Research.

  • FTC Orange Book Move Signals New Pharma Patent Scrutiny

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent dispute against improper listing of drug patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book indicates heightened surveillance of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly where competition-related consequences of patent or regulatory processes are concerned, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • How Legal Teams Can Prep For Life Sciences' Tech Revolution

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    The life sciences and health care industries are uniquely positioned to take advantage of new efficiencies created by cloud computing and generative artificial intelligence, but the sensitivity of their data also demands careful navigation of an expanding legislative and regulatory landscape, say Kristi Gedid, Zack Laplante and Lisa LaMotta at Ernst & Young.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

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