Life Sciences

  • January 08, 2026

    Apple Beats Antitrust Suit Over Heart Rate Data At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel affirmed Apple's win Thursday against startup AliveCor Inc.'s antitrust claims alleging it illegally blocked third-party access to Apple Watch medical data to create rival software, finding that Apple has no "duty to deal" with AliveCor and therefore the startup's claims fail as a matter of law.

  • January 08, 2026

    FTC Battles Edwards On Eve Of Heart Valve Merger Deadline

    The Federal Trade Commission asked a D.C. federal judge for a last-minute extension on an order blocking Edwards Lifesciences' $945 million acquisition of JenaValve Technology Inc., fearing difficulty with unscrambling the egg if the block expires Friday, the judge rejects its merger challenge and the deal closes before the agency can appeal.

  • January 08, 2026

    AbbVie Sues Over Bids To Market Generic Migraine Drugs

    AbbVie and its Allergan unit have filed patent infringement lawsuits against MSN Pharmaceuticals and Hetero in New Jersey federal court, alleging the two pharmaceutical companies are infringing on patents for the migraine drug Qulipta.

  • January 08, 2026

    Organ Procurer Says CMS Rule Will Toss Industry Into Chaos

    A North Carolina-based organ procurement organization wants a federal court to toss aside a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule taking effect this year that will alter how organ procurers are certified, arguing the rule pits them against one another in a "Hunger-Games-style" competition.

  • January 08, 2026

    ITC To Investigate Smartwatch Giants Over Fall Detection IP

    The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday said it will review whether Apple, Google, Garmin and Samsung are infringing UnaliWear Inc.'s patents with their smartwatch imports.

  • January 08, 2026

    2 Firms Guide Eli Lilly's $1.2B Ventyx Biosciences Acquisition

    Eli Lilly and Co. has agreed to acquire Ventyx Biosciences Inc., a San Diego-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, for about $1.2 billion in cash, with Ropes & Gray LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC advising.

  • January 08, 2026

    Cooley Adds Longtime Sidley Healthcare Attorney In DC

    A longtime Sidley Austin LLP attorney has moved to Cooley LLP's global life sciences and healthcare regulatory practice in Washington, D.C. 

  • January 08, 2026

    Leason Ellis Hires 9 Life Sciences Pros From Haley Guiliano

    Leason Ellis LLP announced Thursday that it has hired nine professionals with backgrounds in the life sciences from Haley Guiliano LLP, a patent practice that originated as a spin-off from Ropes & Gray LLP.

  • January 08, 2026

    Cooley-Led Eir Partners Wraps $1B Health Tech Fund

    Cooley LLP-advised private equity shop Eir Partners Capital LP on Thursday announced that it wrapped its third fund with $1 billion of investor commitments, which will be used to invest in health technology and technology-enabled services businesses.

  • January 08, 2026

    Trump Admin Can't Undo Block On Drug Rebate Program

    A First Circuit panel has refused to lift a district judge's block on a Trump administration plan to pilot a rebate model for a federal drug discount program that benefits low-income patients, saying the federal government is unlikely to win its appeal.

  • January 08, 2026

    Husch Blackwell Expands With 18-Person Immigration Team

    Husch Blackwell LLP has hired an 18-person immigration team made up of two lawyers, eight paralegals and eight business professionals from an Illinois boutique, the firm announced this week.

  • January 07, 2026

    Biotech Co. Says HHS Infringed Patent With Moderna Vax Deal

    A biotech company that developed a patented protein technology that allegedly expedited the development of Moderna's COVID-19 Spikevax vaccine sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday, claiming the feds infringed its patent through a contract to develop a vaccine with the pharma giant.

  • January 07, 2026

    Amazon Seeks To Halt Supplement Suit As FDA Nixes Rule

    Amazon called on a Seattle federal judge to pause a proposed class action accusing the e-commerce platform of failing to make certain disclosures on supplement product pages, saying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to revoke the so-called each panel labeling rule at the center of the case.

  • January 07, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Suggests Sepsis Test IP Needs Claim Construction

    U.S. Circuit Judge Todd M. Hughes appeared largely persuaded Wednesday that a Delaware federal jury improperly engaged in post-trial claim construction when overriding Magnolia Medical Technologies Inc.'s $2 million infringement verdict, in an appeal that also had the Federal Circuit jurist thanking God that he doesn't try patent cases.

  • January 07, 2026

    Potomac Law Adds Former DOJ, HHS Civil Rights Atty

    Potomac Law Group has hired a healthcare attorney with over 15 years working on LGBTQ+ protections and other civil rights issues at the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.

  • January 07, 2026

    Kaplan Fox Remains Lead In Securities Suit After Ex-Client DQ

    Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP will continue leading a putative securities class action against Spectrum Pharmaceuticals after a previously appointed lead plaintiff was removed from the case for allegedly going behind his lawyers' backs to push his own settlement plan and unrelated conspiracy theories.

  • January 07, 2026

    Detroit Pension Fund Wins 'Close' Call To Lead Investor Suit

    A Detroit pension fund should lead a proposed shareholder class action against MoonLake Immunotherapeutics, though a competing bid by a France-based lab worker and screenwriter alleges a "marginally larger" investment loss, a Manhattan federal judge has determined.

  • January 06, 2026

    Bayer Targets Pfizer, Moderna, J&J For Covid Jab Royalties

    Bayer wants a cut of the profits Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech have reaped from sales of their COVID-19 vaccines, which the German biotech company alleges were only made possible through infringement of its intellectual property, according to lawsuits filed Tuesday in New Jersey and Delaware federal courts.

  • January 06, 2026

    Cigna Accused Of Rigging Market For Life-Saving Drugs

    Patients with chronic health conditions sued Cigna in an Illinois federal court alleging in a proposed class action Tuesday that the company and its pharmacy and pharmacy benefit manager subsidiaries use exclusive agreements to lock users into a network where Byzantine refill processes have been deliberately erected to limit payouts for life-saving drugs.

  • January 06, 2026

    FDA To Ease Regulation Of Wearables, Decision Software

    U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary touted new federal guidance on Tuesday that he said would promote innovation by making it easier to bring certain kinds of wearable devices and clinical-decision software to market without a strict regulatory review.

  • January 06, 2026

    1st Circ. Questions Feds' Mootness Claim In NIH Grant Suits

    The First Circuit appeared to push back Tuesday on assertions by the government that new guidance for terminating medical research grants over supposed links to issues like DEI, gender identity and vaccines — along with a partial settlement last week — moot a pair of lawsuits challenging the directives.

  • January 06, 2026

    RFK Jr. Can't Avoid Medical Groups' Challenge To Vax Policy

    A Boston federal judge on Tuesday rebuffed U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to dismiss a challenge to vaccine policy changes, saying medical associations have plausibly alleged a federal vaccine committee is not fairly balanced.

  • January 06, 2026

    NJ Judge Signals Green Light To Revive J&J Unit's Libel Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge has indicated she is planning to grant a bankrupt Johnson & Johnson talc subsidiary's bid to revive its trade libel claim over a scientific article linking asbestos in talc to mesothelioma.

  • January 06, 2026

    Public Health Atty Talks Botulism, Infants And FDA Staffing

    Three years ago, a bacterial outbreak at a Michigan manufacturing plant sparked a shutdown and a national infant formula shortage. Another episode last year at a formula plant in Iowa should be a red flag for the public and a short-handed FDA, according to Sarah Sorscher of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

  • January 06, 2026

    Drugmakers Fight Multifront Legal Battles Over GLP-1s

    In the wake of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, surging public demand and massive profits have inspired a broad range of drugmaker litigation against competitors, alleged counterfeits and telehealth providers.

Expert Analysis

  • A Meaningful Shift In FDA's Biosimilarity Analysis

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's potential pivot away from routinely requiring comparative efficacy studies for interchangeable biosimilar applications would not lower regulatory standards, but instead allow applicants to allocate resources toward establishing more probative evidence, says Theodore Thompson at Stinson.

  • 4 Developments That Defined The 2025 Ethics Landscape

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    The legal profession spent 2025 at the edge of its ethical comfort zone as courts, firms and regulators confronted how fast-moving technologies and new business models collide with long-standing professional duties, signaling that the profession is entering a period of sustained disruption that will continue into 2026, says Hilary Gerzhoy at HWG Law.

  • Navigating AI In The Legal Industry

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    As artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly integral part of legal practice, Law360 guest commentary this year examined evolving ethical obligations, how the plaintiffs bar is using AI to level the playing field against corporate defense teams, and the attendant risks of adoption.

  • How Fractional GCs Can Manage Risks Of Engagement

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    As more organizations eliminate their in-house legal departments in favor of outsourcing legal work, fractional general counsel roles offer practitioners an engaging and flexible way to practice at a high level, but they can also present legal, ethical and operational risks that must be proactively managed, say attorneys at Boies Schiller.

  • 2025 Legal Milestones That Will Shape Psychedelics Sector

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    As 2025 draws to a close, psychedelic drug development stands at an inflection point, experiencing unprecedented momentum through recent sweeping regulatory changes and landmark clinical milestones, amid rapidly evolving regulatory expectations, say Odette Hauke at Odette Alina LLC and Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nature photography reminds me to focus on what is in front of me and to slow down to achieve success, and, in embracing the value of viewing situations through different lenses, offers skills transferable to the practice of law, says Brian Willett at Saul Ewing.

  • What Defense Teams Must Know About PFAS Testing Methods

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    Whether testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances produces results meaningful for litigation depends on the validity of the sampling methodology — so effectively defending these claims requires understanding the scientific and legal implications of different PFAS testing protocols, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

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    Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

  • Intellectual Property Challenges In AI-Driven Drug Discovery

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    Given the adoption of artificial intelligence-based drug discovery platforms and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent guidance on determining inventorship in AI-assisted inventions, practitioners must consider unprecedented questions regarding inventorship, patentability standards and infringement liability, says Paul Calvo at Sterne Kessler.

  • Reel Justice: 'The Mastermind' And Juror Decision-Making

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    The recent art heist film “The Mastermind” forces viewers to discern the protagonist’s ambiguous motives and reconcile contradictions, offering lessons for attorneys about how a well-crafted trial narrative can tap into the psychological phenomena underlying juror decision-making, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • Learning From 2025 FCA Trends Targeting PE In Healthcare

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    False Claims Act enforcement trends and legislative developments from this year signal intensifying state and federal scrutiny of private equity's growing footprint in healthcare, and the urgency of compliance, says Lisa Re at Arnold & Porter.

  • Software Patents May Face New Eligibility Scrutiny

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    November guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with recent litigation trends from the Federal Circuit, may encourage new challenges in the USPTO and district courts to artificial intelligence and software patents that rely on generic computing functions without concrete details, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Opinion

    A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

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    To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

  • Riding The Changing Winds For AI Innovations At The USPTO

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    As recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office moves reshape how artificial intelligence inventions will be examined and put them on firmer eligibility footing, practitioners need to consider how this shift is both an opportunity and a challenge, say Ryan Phelan at Marshall Gerstein and attorney Mark Campagna.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Integrating Practice Groups

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    Enacting unified leadership and consistent client service standards ensures law firm practice groups connect and collaborate around shared goals, turning a law firm merger into a platform for growth rather than a period of disruption, says Brian Catlett at Fennemore Craig.

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