Life SciencesRSS

  • October 17, 2007

    FDA Nets New Counsel Masoudi From DOJ

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has snagged Gerald Masoudi from his former post in the Department of Justice's antitrust division to serve as its associate general counsel.

  • October 16, 2007

    Former Government Adviser Joins Sonnenschein

    Larry Kocot, a former senior adviser at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has joined the health care group at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, the firm said Tuesday.

  • September 24, 2007

    Cadwalader Forms New IP Group

    International law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP has established a new intellectual property group, bringing on an experienced IP partner to lead the practice group and adding two special counsel with expertise in the area.

  • September 21, 2007

    Biotech Expert Becomes Dechert IP Partner

    Samuel B. Abrams, formerly a partner in Jones Day’s intellectual property practice, will now serve in the same position in Dechert LLP’s New York City office, Dechert announced Thursday.

  • September 12, 2007

    Hogan & Hartson Lures FDA Attorney

    Hogan & Hartson LLP has lured a Food and Drug Administration veteran into private practice, where he will help companies navigate the federal regulatory system.

  • September 14, 2007

    McKool Smith Opens ITC-Focused D.C. Office

    In response to a spike in the U.S. International Trade Commission's involvement in patent spats, McKool Smith PC, long a mainstay on the eastern Texas district court docket, has opened a Washington, D.C., office and stocked it with two intellectual property litigators it grabbed from Adduci Mastriani & Schaumberg LLP.

  • September 6, 2007

    Greenberg Traurig Lures GlaxoSmithKline VP

    After years of leading some of the world's biggest companies through trademark, transactional and litigation matters, GlaxoSmithKline PLC's current Vice President of Global Trademarks Scott Thompson has decided to return to private practice with a new position at Greenberg Traurig LLP.

  • August 27, 2007

    Dewey Ballantine Adds IP Litigation Partner

    Dewey Ballantine LLP’s intellectual property litigation group has continued its growth with the addition of yet another partner.

  • July 25, 2007

    Patent Group Moves From Greenberg Traurig To Dreier

    In a major push to boost its patent litigation potential, New York-based law firm Dreier LLP has lured an entire patent group away from Greenberg Traurig LLP, Dreier announced Tuesday. The five patent attorneys have a particular expertise in complex biotechnology and pharmaceutical cases.

  • July 24, 2007

    Schulte Roth & Zabel Adds To Employment Group

    Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP has scooped up another member for its employment and employee benefits group with the addition of seasoned employment attorney Scott Landau as special counsel, the firm announced Monday.

  • July 20, 2007

    Assistant AG Joins Fulbright's Healthcare Practice

    In an effort to strengthen its white collar defense expertise in the healthcare arena, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP has turned to the public sector, welcoming former New York Special Assistant Attorney General Glenn Jones to its health law practice.

  • July 5, 2007

    MWE Appoints New Head Of Italian Competition Group

    McDermott Will & Emery LLP has enhanced its international competition group with the addition of Veronica Pinotti, who will head the firm's Italian practice.

  • June 25, 2007

    Dewey Ballantine Grabs Three Robins Kaplan Partners

    Dewey Ballantine LLP has welcomed three new partners to its intellectual property litigation group, and has named one of the newest additions co-chair of the practice group.

  • June 21, 2007

    Litigator Reunites With Colleagues At Heller Ehrman

    Growth within Heller Ehrman LLP's IP team shows no signs of slowing. Seasoned patent litigator Joy Arnold has left King & Spalding LLP to join three former colleagues there as a shareholder, Heller Ehrman said Thursday.

  • May 31, 2007

    Townsend Steps Up Its Biotech Team

    A patent attorney will be returning to Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP’s biotechnology and chemistry practice, and is bringing an associate with her.

  • May 7, 2007

    Reed Smith Nabs Experienced FDA Partner

    When it comes to regulatory and compliance issues involving the Food and Drug Administration, not many people have more expertise than Fred Branding. This month, Branding took his skills from McGuire Woods LLP to Reed Smith LLP, where he is now a partner in its health care practice group.

  • May 2, 2007

    EBG Launches Clinical Trial Help Group

    In order to help its clients face an increasingly complicated clinical trials regulatory environment, Epstein Becker & Green PC has created a team of legal, clinical and financial experts devoted specifically to solving clinical trials issues.

  • May 2, 2007

    Bingham McCutchen Joins Forces With Litigation Firm

    Bingham McCutchen LLP has pulled in a team of 40 lawyers after combining with high-stakes litigation firm Alschuler Grossman LLP in a move that will expand its key practice areas of intellectual property, securities and mergers and acquisitions.

  • April 24, 2007

    Pepper Hamilton Welcomes Two Health Specialists

    Pepper Hamilton LLP has lured two longtime litigators who specialize in health care and medical device cases to its health effects litigation group in its New York office.

  • April 20, 2007

    Loeb & Loeb Picks Up Patent Litigator

    Loeb & Loeb LLP has snagged a seasoned patent litigator who has been heavily involved in a number of high-profile pharmaceutical cases to round out the firm’s litigation team.

Expert Analysis

  • K-Dur: The Rejection Of 'Scope Of The Patent' Test

    George Gordon

    The Third Circuit’s rejection of the "scope of the patent" test in In re K-Dur Antitrust Litigation not only makes settling patent disputes more difficult, but also introduces a great deal of uncertainty by deepening a circuit split regarding the standard that governs the legality of pay-for-delay settlements, say George Gordon and Steven Bradbury of Dechert LLP.

  • Mayo Overlap Between Sections 101 And 102/103 — Not New

    Laurence Rogers

    The U.S. Supreme Court Mayo decision has been criticized as embodying a new approach to §101, one that undesirably grafts §102 and §103 considerations onto the patentable subject matter inquiry. But close analysis of Supreme Court precedent suggests that Mayo does not set the patentable subject matter inquiry on an unprecedented new tack, says Laurence Rogers of Ropes & Gray LLP.

  • A New View For Pharma Product Liability Litigation

    Zach Hughes

    Two judicial decisions in the past four months — by the Fifth Circuit in Lofton and by the Texas Supreme Court in Centocor — may have forever changed the landscape for pharmaceutical products liability in Texas. The pharmaceutical industry can and should try to build on the momentum of these victories to extend the courts' reasoning beyond Texas, says Zach Hughes of Baker Botts LLP.

  • Snapshot: The Latest Medical Device FCPA Settlement

    Richard Smith

    Orthofix International NV recently announced it had settled Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to pay a total of $7.44 million in fines and penalties. The latest case in an industrywide probe, Orthofix underscores the need to implement an effective anti-corruption compliance program designed to prevent and detect bribery, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.

  • Examining Sequenom Prenatal Testing Patent Litigation

    Calvert Crary

    U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston in San Francisco recently denied a motion by Sequenom Inc. for a preliminary injunction barring Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. from marketing its noninvasive prenatal test. In my analysis, Judge Ilston’s views were quite cogent and indicate that she will again rule in favor of Ariosa on a likely motion for summary judgment or after trial, says Calvert Crary of Litigation Notes: Independent Investment Research.

  • Preempting State Law To Protect Patient Privilege

    Michael Callahan

    The Illinois Second District Appellate Court's decision in Department of Financial and Professional Regulation v. Walgreens is significant because it represents the first appellate court decision in the country to interpret and hold that the privilege protections afforded under the Patient Safety Act effectively preempt more restrictive state law, says Michael Callahan of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.

  • FCA's First-To-File Rule — Mass. Weighs In

    Kirsten Mayer

    In U.S. ex rel. Heineman-Guta v. Guidant Corp., a Massachusetts federal court recently found that a relator’s complaint was barred by the False Claims Act’s first-to-file requirement and dismissed the relator’s complaint, intensifying a developing divide among courts about the breadth of the FCA’s first-to-file rule, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.

  • GSK Settlement: Changing The Way Drug Cos. Do Business?

    Joel Levin

    The recent $3 billion GlaxoSmithKline LLC settlement is the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, and it is likely that provisions like those found in the GSK corporate integrity agreement will be replicated in future settlements and may well find their way into model compliance guidance for pharmaceutical and medical device companies, say Jerica Peters and Joel Levin of Perkins Coie LLP.

  • How A Texas Plaintiff Found A Way To Causation

    David Oliver

    In Constancio v. Shannon Medical Center, a Texas medical malpractice case, the plaintiff's expert has created out of various bits of data and a dollop of professional judgment a causal narrative that survived on appeal, says David Oliver of Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP.

  • Awaiting The High Court Amgen Decision

    Michael Biles

    Class certification can be the make or break decision in a securities fraud case — it often determines whether defendants face damages of hundreds of dollars or tens of millions. Accordingly, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans could be a watershed event for the securities class action bar, say Michael Biles and Royale Price of King & Spalding LLP.