Deals & Corporate Governance

  • May 20, 2024

    Ga. Judge OKs $5M Atty Fees In $41M Acella Thyroid Deal

    A Georgia federal judge has signed off on a nearly $41.5 million class action settlement with Acella Pharmaceuticals LLC over faulty thyroid medication, while awarding the class attorneys another $5 million in legal fees courtesy of the pharma company.

  • May 20, 2024

    Shah Ends Novavax Proxy Fight Following Sanofi Deal

    Hedge fund Shah Capital Management Inc. told fellow Novavax Inc. shareholders Monday that it is ending its fight to remove certain members of the biotech company's board, citing its favorable view of Novavax's licensing deal with Sanofi earlier this month.

  • May 17, 2024

    Pfizer Unit Wins $107.5M Patent Verdict Against AstraZeneca

    A Delaware federal jury on Friday said that AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP should pay $107.5 million in royalty damages for infringing a Pfizer-brand cancer treatment patent, although a final decision won't be issued until after a bench trial on some of AstraZeneca's additional defenses. 

  • May 17, 2024

    Steward Health Ch. 11 Lifts Lid On PE In Healthcare

    Steward Health's $9 billion Chapter 11 has come under scrutiny from state attorneys general seeking to uncover why a once-rapidly growing hospital network ended up buried in debt, with authorities taking the unusual tack of turning a special eye toward its former private equity owner Cerberus Capital Management, experts told Law360.

  • May 17, 2024

    Healthcare Co. Sues Steward In Ch. 11 Over Military Contract

    A healthcare company that provides services to members of the military and their families sued debtor Steward Health Care on Thursday in Texas bankruptcy court, asking a judge there to declare that the provider properly terminated a subcontract with Steward due to its declining financial state.

  • May 17, 2024

    EndoStim Emerges From Delaware Insolvency Proceeding

    Delaware's Court of Chancery has approved the final accounting for medical device company EndoStim Inc.'s state-administered insolvency proceeding after no creditor or other party raised any objections at a final hearing on Friday.

  • May 17, 2024

    Cano Health Strikes $7M Deal With Unsecured Creditors

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Friday that she was prepared to send Cano Health Inc.'s Chapter 11 plan out for a creditor vote after hearing the medical care group has reached a $7 million settlement with its unsecured creditors.

  • May 16, 2024

    3rd Circ. Shuns Teva's 'Novel' Appeal On Israeli Investor Class

    The Third Circuit on Thursday turned away an appeal brought by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., saying the class certification stage was not the right time to hear arguments over the "novel" question of the applicability of U.S. securities laws to Israeli-listed shares.

  • May 16, 2024

    FTC Deputy Director Rao On Healthcare Antitrust Agenda

    The reason behind the Federal Trade Commission's changed attitude toward antitrust in healthcare in recent years isn't simple, according to Rahul Rao, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

  • May 16, 2024

    Ex-Pharma Exec Cops To Contempt For Barred Finance Work

    A Boston federal judge on Thursday accepted a former pharmaceutical company executive's guilty plea to a criminal contempt charge for using an alias to work on a finance venture despite a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ban.

  • May 16, 2024

    $5.5M Apotex Generic Drug Price-Fixing Deal Gets Initial OK

    A Pennsylvania federal judge gave preliminary approval to yet another settlement in the sweeping generic drug price-fixing multidistrict litigation, this time signing off on pharmaceutical company Apotex's $5.5 million settlement with clinics, hospitals and independent pharmacies.

  • May 15, 2024

    UnitedHealth Concealed DOJ Merger Investigation, Suit Says

    UnitedHealth Group has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that it failed to disclose that the U.S. Department of Justice had reopened an antitrust investigation into the health insurance giant following its acquisition of a healthcare data company, and that top executives had sold more than $120 million of shares knowing about the investigation before a news report revealed it to the public.

  • May 15, 2024

    Data On Harm Intrigues Pa. Justices In Hospital Closure Spat

    While tasked with considering how much deference appellate panels must give trial courts in matters involving preliminary injunctions, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday was equally curious about whether one such injunction needed to be supported by data showing that a hospital's closure would irrevocably hurt a Delaware County community.

  • May 14, 2024

    Healthcare Deals This Week: AbbVie, Takeda And More

    From a research collaboration focused on obesity management to blockbuster collaboration deals that included names like AbbVie, Takeda and Sanofi, it was a busy week for the healthcare industry this past week.

  • May 14, 2024

    Holland Adds Healthcare Transactions Partner In Chicago

    Holland & Knight on Tuesday announced the arrival of attorney John Saran on its healthcare transactions team, who joins after nine years at Ropes & Gray LLP.

  • May 14, 2024

    Vein Tech Maker Faces Investor Suit Over DOJ Kickback Probe

    Vein disease device maker Inari Medical Inc. and three of its current and former executives face a proposed investor class action over claims that the company's share price fell after it disclosed an investigation into its compliance with federal anti-kickback laws.

  • May 14, 2024

    Healthcare Labor Activity Reaches Historic Healthcare Union

    Surging union activity in the healthcare industry has reached a new front: employees of the nation's largest healthcare union.

  • May 14, 2024

    Meet The Atty-Turned-Investor Focused On Women's Health

    Before stepping into her current role as a lead partner at women's health-focused investment firm Portfolia, O'Rourke was a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP, where she was chair of the firm's women's health and wellness industry practice. O'Rourke spoke with Law360 about how a background steeped in assessing risk informs her investment thesis.

  • May 14, 2024

    FTC Cleared To Sue Texas Anesthesia Co., But Not PE Firm

    A Texas federal judge highlighted the limits of the Federal Trade Commission's ability to go after private equity firms accused of anti-competitive "roll-up" strategies, tossing antitrust claims against a private equity firm while preserving monopolization allegations against the anesthesia group the firm created.

  • May 13, 2024

    Biogen Investors Seek Class Cert. In Alzheimer's Drug Suit

    A proposed class of Biogen shareholders urged a Massachusetts federal court to certify their now-revived class action alleging the drugmaker made misleading statements about a deficient Alzheimer's drug, arguing it can sufficiently lead the suit with Block & Leviton LLP as class counsel.

  • May 13, 2024

    2nd Circ. Affirms Dismissal Of Bystolic Antitrust Suit

    The Second Circuit issued its first decision under the high court's Actavis "pay for delay" ruling on Monday, affirming the dismissal of a case alleging that an AbbVie predecessor delayed competition for its hypertension treatment Bystolic through deals with several generic makers.

  • May 13, 2024

    Ex-Police Chief Gets 3 Months For Alexion Insider Trading

    The former police chief of a town in Massachusetts was sentenced Monday to three months in prison after pleading guilty to trading on confidential information about a pending Alexion Pharmaceuticals merger that he said was provided by a "lifelong friend."

  • May 10, 2024

    Atty Says Panoramic Fired Her For Raising Compliance Issues

    Panoramic Health faces a wrongful termination suit filed Thursday in Colorado federal court by its former assistant general counsel who claims she was fired after raising concerns about its alleged noncompliance with federal anti-kickback statutes and regulations over its federally funded kidney care contracting program.

  • May 09, 2024

    Masimo Makes Offer To End Activist Politan's Proxy Contest

    Medical technology company Masimo Corp. revealed Thursday that it is willing to appoint one of the director nominees put forth by activist investment firm Politan Capital Management LP in exchange for the company dropping its proxy fight, though Politan signaled distaste with the proposed deal.

  • May 09, 2024

    DOJ Task Force To Target Healthcare Monopoly, Collusion

    The U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division sharpened its focus Thursday on healthcare platforms that combine doctors with insurers, data and more in what the administration's top competition official called the "alarming" accumulation of assets.

Expert Analysis

  • What Workplace Violence Law Means For Texas Healthcare

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    While no federal laws address violence against healthcare workers, Texas has recently enacted statutory protections that take effect later this year — so facilities in the state should understand their new obligations under the law, and employers in other states would be wise to take notice as well, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • 5 Models For Structuring Health Provider-Payor Partnerships

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    With recent data showing that the U.S. continues to spend more and get less for healthcare services compared to other industrialized nations, providers and payors should consider a variety of partnership structures that can help achieve the so-called triple aim of improving the health of individuals and populations while reducing per capita costs, says John Howard at Thompson Coburn.

  • What FTC's 'Killer Acquisition' Theory Means For Pharma Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit to block Sanofi's acquisition of a pharmaceutical treatment developed by Maze Therapeutics builds on previous enforcement actions and could indicate the agency's growing willingness to use its so-called killer acquisition theory against perceived attempts to eliminate nascent competition, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Lessons For D&O Policyholders From Pharma Co. Ruling

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    A California federal court's recent decision in AmTrust v. 180 Life Sciences, requiring insurers to advance defense costs for a potentially covered claim, provides a valuable road map for directors and officers insurance policyholders, rebutting the common presumption that a D&O insurer's duty to advance costs is more limited than under other policies, say attorneys at Pasich.

  • ESG Around The World: Gulf Cooperation Council

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    The Gulf Cooperation Council is in the early stages of ESG policy implementation, but recent commitments by both states and corporations — including increases in sustainable finance transactions, environmental commitments, female representation on boards and human rights enforcement — show continuing progress toward broader ESG goals, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Oregon Law Would Compromise Management Service Orgs

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    If passed, a proposed Oregon law would materially limit physician corporate practice of medicine structures, causing significant disruption to the provision of medicine and hindering professional corporations' ability to focus on the clinical components of their practice, say Christina Bergeron and William Shefelman at Ropes & Gray.

  • The Latest Antitrust Areas For In-House Counsel To Watch

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    The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's increasingly aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement means in-house counsel should closely monitor five key compliance issues, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Navigating New Regulations In Healthcare And Other M&A

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    While notice requirements recently enacted in several states are focused on the healthcare industry for now, this trend could extend to other industries as these requirements are designed to allow regulators to be a step ahead and learn more about a transaction long before it occurs, say Kathleen Premo and Ashley Creech at Epstein Becker.

  • New CMS Rule Will Change Nursing Facility Disclosures

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    A new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services significantly expands disclosure requirements for nursing facilities backed by private equity companies or real estate investment trusts, likely foreshadowing increased oversight that could include more targeted audits, say Janice Davis and Christopher Ronne at Morgan Lewis.

  • Healthcare Collabs Can Alleviate Labor, Antitrust Challenges

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    Two major challenges facing hospitals and health systems include labor shortages and increased antitrust scrutiny at both federal and state levels, but collaborative efforts may help with addressing these difficulties, says Sumaya Noush at McDermott.

  • How Biotech Cos. Can Utilize Synthetic Royalty Financing

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    Synthetic royalty transactions have been on the rise as a funding structure for biotechnology companies, but questions have arisen surrounding how such transactions work, and structuring them correctly requires a nuanced understanding, say Todd Trattner and Ryan Murr at Gibson Dunn.

  • How Biotech Deals May Help Competition, Despite FTC View

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    The Federal Trade Commission's complaint against Sanofi's proposed partnership with Maze Therapeutics highlights increasing skepticism of so-called killer acquisitions, but a closer look reveals potentially legitimate reasons behind why entities might decide to delay or abandon the development of acquired products, say consultants at Analysis Group.

  • Notes Of Interest From 5th Circ. Illumina-Grail Merger Ruling

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    Attorneys at Simpson Thacher consider the Fifth Circuit's recent decision upholding the Federal Trade Commission's challenge of the Illumina merger with Grail, its much-needed boost to the Biden administration's antitrust agenda, and some silver linings the decision offers to merging parties.