Life Sciences

  • March 25, 2024

    COVID 'Cure' Claims Can't Sustain Fraud Suit, 9th Circ. Rules

    A biopharmaceutical company's "enthusiastic" statements to Fox News and others about a potential COVID-19 cure do not amount to fraud and cannot sustain a shareholder lawsuit accusing the company and its top executives of deceiving the market by pretending that a breakthrough was much more consequential than it actually was, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Monday.

  • March 25, 2024

    J&J Exec 'Shocked' Over Atty's Ties With Talc Plaintiffs

    Johnson & Johnson's vice president of litigation said on Monday he was "utterly shocked and appalled" upon learning an attorney who served as the company's outside counsel was working with its adversary Beasley Allen Law Firm and one of its attorneys in litigation over the alleged link between the company's talcum powder products and ovarian cancer.

  • March 25, 2024

    Amgen Sues Colorado After Drug's 'Unaffordable' Rating

    Amgen has sued the Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board in federal court after receiving a determination that one of its arthritis drugs is "unaffordable," saying the board is using unconstitutionally "unguided discretion" to impose arbitrary price controls on patent-protected drugs.

  • March 25, 2024

    PacBio CEO's Words Haunt Patent Invalidity Arguments

    A California federal judge concluded Monday that statements made by the chief executive officer of biotech company Pacific Biosciences to investors at an earnings call undermined the company's invalidity arguments in a patent suit it's facing.

  • March 25, 2024

    PTAB Splits On Medtronic Bladder And Bowel Control Patents

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued split decisions that upheld one Medtronic patent covering an electrical stimulation system used to treat loss of bladder and bowel control and trimmed another patent in challenges brought by a smaller rival in the medical device field.

  • March 25, 2024

    What To Watch As Opioid Litigation Goes To Ohio High Court

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday will become only the second state high court to hear oral arguments on whether the opioid epidemic is a public nuisance, the controversial legal theory underpinning numerous suits across the country including a $650 million award that two Ohio counties won against Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

  • March 25, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Dissent Raises Alarm Over IP Safe Harbor Use

    A California federal judge rightly dismissed Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s infringement suit against Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., the Federal Circuit held Monday, with a dissent arguing such a holding would "create future mischief."

  • March 25, 2024

    FTC Intervenes In Teva-Amneal Row To Push Patent Delisting

    The Federal Trade Commission waded into another patent fight Friday with a New Jersey federal court amicus brief targeting the same Teva Pharmaceuticals asthma inhaler patents it has already included in a roster of over 100 it believes were improperly listed in a key federal database.

  • March 25, 2024

    Fla. Pharmacy Says It Was Cut From Federal PrEP Program

    A Florida pharmacy says it was abruptly shut out of a federal program that provides free access to preexposure prophylaxis HIV-prevention medication, asking a D.C. federal judge on Monday to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and two contractors to reinstate the pharmacy to the program.

  • March 25, 2024

    Pilot For UK Billionaire Says Stock Tips Case Is Too Vague

    A pilot charged with trading on insider stock tips from U.K. billionaire Joe Lewis told a New York federal judge Friday that prosecutors had failed to identify a piece of information that he knew was non-public, urging the court to toss the case.

  • March 25, 2024

    Paul Weiss-Led AbbVie Inks Up To $212M Deal For Landos Bio

    AbbVie Inc., represented by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, said Monday it will pay up to $212.5 million for Cooley LLP-led Landos Biopharma Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for autoimmune diseases.

  • March 25, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Rethink AbbVie Privilege Ruling

    The Third Circuit refused Monday to reconsider a ruling that found AbbVie was unable to show a lower court went against precedent or made errors when ordering the drugmaker to turn over attorney communications from a patent case allegedly meant to delay an AndroGel rival.

  • March 25, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, litigants battled as Truth Social went public, Carl Icahn and Tripadvisor hit a roadblock, and more shareholders wailed about "invasive" bylaws. Oil drilling and pharmaceutical mergers sparked new lawsuits, and a sewing machine trademark owner sued to end a contract.

  • March 25, 2024

    Novo Nordisk Inks $1.1B Deal For German Pharma Biz

    Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk A/S said Monday it has signed a deal to acquire Cardior Pharmaceuticals of Germany for just over €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to widen its focus on cardiovascular diseases.

  • March 25, 2024

    Kirkland Guides Ingersoll Rand On $2.3B ILC Dover Buy

    Kirkland & Ellis LLP is representing Ingersoll Rand on a new agreement to buy ILC Dover from private equity firm New Mountain Capital for more than $2.3 billion, part of Ingersoll's plan to bolster its life sciences business, the industrial products company said Monday. 

  • March 22, 2024

    Gilead's Win Upheld In Billion-Dollar HIV Drug Patent Case

    A Delaware federal judge on Friday largely upheld a jury's verdict rejecting the government's potentially billion-dollar claim that Gilead Sciences Inc. infringed patents covering HIV drugs, ruling that the jury was correct in finding Gilead didn't cause doctors and patients to infringe.

  • March 22, 2024

    Jury Says Dexcom Infringed 1 Abbott Patent In Mixed Verdict

    A Delaware federal jury decided Friday that Dexcom infringed a glucose monitor patent owned by an Abbott Laboratories unit, cleared it of infringing two others and hung on a fourth, setting up a later damages trial in the latest facet of a globe-spanning legal dispute between the companies.

  • March 22, 2024

    Robitussin Buyers' Lack Of Receipts Dooms Labeling Cert.

    A New York federal judge on Thursday denied class certification in litigation claiming GlaxoSmithKline lied about the "Maximum Strength" label on certain Robitussin cough syrup products, saying although the plaintiffs' lack of receipts does not warrant GSK's bid for summary judgment, it's enough to dismiss the customers' request for certification.

  • March 22, 2024

    Expert's Sanctions Off Limits In SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Trial

    A California federal judge overseeing a "shadow trading" trial starting Monday against a pharmaceutical executive ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can't introduce banking sanctions evidence against the defendant's mergers and acquisitions expert as long as he doesn't give opinions on securities law.

  • March 22, 2024

    Pharma Co. Brass Overhyped ALS Drug Efficacy, Suit Says

    Executives and directors of neurodegenerative disease drugmaker Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics have been hit with a proposed class action alleging they damaged the company by overstating the effectiveness of its Lou Gehrig's disease drug even after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected its license application.

  • March 22, 2024

    Up Next At High Court: Abortion, Jury Trials And Estate Tax

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision expanding access to popular abortion pill mifepristone as well as whether juries should determine a defendants' eligibility for repeat offender enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act and how long federal employees have to appeal adverse employment decisions.

  • March 22, 2024

    Md. University Says Psilocybin Trade Theft Suit Belongs In US

    A London-based biochemical company cannot be allowed to escape across the pond with trade secrets related to using psilocybin as a mental health treatment, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, told a federal court, saying the company's minimum contacts with the state was its "months-long fraudulent scheme" to swipe intellectual property.

  • March 22, 2024

    $900M Trade Secrets Case Against Kaiser Foundation Flops

    A California state judge has ruled that, after more than five years of litigation against the Kaiser Foundation, a pastor's small medical technology startup cannot "explain what was unique or secret about its conception for transmitting patient data" that was purportedly worth beyond $900 million.

  • March 22, 2024

    Final OK Sought For Economic Loss Deal In CPAP Recall MDL

    Users of Philips' recalled CPAP breathing machines have asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to give her final OK to their $467.5 million settlement with the company to cover economic loss claims, arguing only a few objections to the deal remain.

  • March 22, 2024

    Radiology Co., Trustee Must Face Ex-Worker's ESOP Suit

    A Colorado federal judge refused to toss a proposed class action accusing a radiology company and its trustee of overcharging the company's employee stock ownership plan in a $163.7 million sale, saying the former workers' complaint puts forward enough details to back up their allegations.

Expert Analysis

  • Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.

  • How Purdue High Court Case Will Shape Ch. 11 Mass Injury

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent arguments in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, addressing the authority of bankruptcy courts to approve nonconsensual third-party releases in Chapter 11 settlement plans, highlight the case's wide-ranging implications for how mass injury cases get resolved in bankruptcy proceedings, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.

  • Opinion

    Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave

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    To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.

  • Managing ANDA Venue Issues As Del. And NJ Filings Rise

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    Delaware and New Jersey have prevailed as the primary forum for pharmaceutical litigation as more generic companies file abbreviated new drug applications, but this venue scheme presents traps for the unwary, and legislation may still be necessary to ensure fairness and predictability, say Timothy Cook and Kevin Yurkerwich at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Lawyers Must Know About Calif. State Bar's AI Guidance

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    Initial recommendations from the State Bar of California regarding use of generative artificial intelligence by lawyers have the potential to become a useful set of guidelines in the industry, covering confidentiality, supervision and training, communications, discrimination and more, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Industry Must Elevate Native American Women Attys' Stories

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    The American Bar Association's recent research study into Native American women attorneys' experiences in the legal industry reveals the glacial pace of progress, and should inform efforts to amplify Native voices in the field, says Mary Smith, president of the ABA.

  • The Fed. Circ. In Nov.: Factual Support And Appellate Standing

    The Federal Circuit's recent Allgenesis Biotherapeutics v. Cloud Break Therapeutics decision shows that appellate standing requires specific factual support, underscoring the necessary requirements for a patent challenger in an appeal from an inter partes review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.

  • White House Activity Is A Band-Aid For Regulating AI In Health

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    In the medium term, recent White House actions will have a greater impact on AI in the health care industry than Congress' sluggish efforts to regulate it, but ultimately legislation of AI's development and use in the health space will fall to Congress, say Wendell Bartnick and Vanessa Perumal at Reed Smith.

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Kochava Ruling May Hint At Next Privacy Class Action Wave

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    The Southern District of California's recent ruling in Greenley v. Kochava and increasing complaints alleging that a consumer website is an illegal “pen register” due to the use of third-party marketing software tools foreshadow a new theory of liability for plaintiffs in privacy litigation, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • 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.

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