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Life Sciences
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April 23, 2024
Fenwick, Covington Build $750M Sale Of Pharmaceutical Biz
Global biopharmaceutical company Incyte, advised by Covington & Burling LLP, on Tuesday announced plans to buy clinical-stage drug discovery company Escient Pharmaceuticals, led by Fenwick & West LLP, for $750 million.
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April 23, 2024
Pre-Merger Deal Prompts Pharma Co. Derivative Suit In Del.
An Ayala Pharmaceuticals stockholder has launched a derivative suit against the company's board and controlling investors in Delaware's Court of Chancery, accusing directors of issuing new shares to the controllers at far below market value, timed to take advantage of an asset sale worth up to $85 million.
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April 23, 2024
Colo. Neural Privacy Law Has Attys Scratching Their Heads
Colorado's governor signed the nation's first law specifically protecting neural data last week, but privacy attorneys say key caveats in the legislation leave them unsure how far the measure really goes.
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April 22, 2024
HHS Finalizes Rule Bolstering Abortion Privacy Protections
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday issued a finalized version of its new rule that aims to protect the privacy of abortion providers and patients by prohibiting the disclosure of information related to "lawful reproductive health care," according to an announcement made by the agency.
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April 22, 2024
Eli Lilly Tells Fed. Circ. $177M Patent Loss Was Rightly Axed
Eli Lilly & Co. has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold a Massachusetts federal judge's decision that wiped out a $176.5 million verdict against it for infringing Teva migraine drug patents, saying the lower court correctly found the patent claims to be invalid.
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April 22, 2024
9th Circ. Backs Class Cert. In Pet Supplement False Ad Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld certification of a consumer class accusing health supplement company Nutramax of falsely marketing Cosequin as promoting healthy joints in dogs, saying an economics expert could use a generic and "otherwise reliable" damages model without applying it specifically to the class at this stage.
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April 22, 2024
J&J Fired Worker For Old Case Against New Boss, Suit Claims
A former senior medical affairs director for Johnson & Johnson's research unit sued the company on Friday in New Jersey state court, alleging she was fired in retaliation for a separate lawsuit filed years earlier in which she named a boss from her prior employer who had recently joined Johnson & Johnson.
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April 22, 2024
J&J Hit With $45M Talc Verdict In Illinois Cancer Trial
An Illinois state jury has awarded $45 million to the estate of a woman who died from mesothelioma after using Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder for years, finding that her exposure to asbestos fibers in the powder led to her cancer.
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April 22, 2024
Opioid Marketer Completes $1.5M Damages Settlement With Del.
Delaware's chancellor signed off Monday on a $1.5 million payment to the state by a company that helped Purdue Pharmaceuticals market its opioid products, the latest step in a $358 million, 50-state damages settlement reached with Publicis Health LLC.
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April 22, 2024
Broker In Penny Stock Scheme Says SEC Is Forum Shopping
A former California securities broker serving a prison term for a $150 million pump and dump scheme said Monday that a companion civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission does not belong in Massachusetts.
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April 22, 2024
DEA Tells 9th Circ. 'Right To Try' Doesn't Rewrite CSA
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is urging the Ninth Circuit to reject an appeal by a doctor who seeks to administer psilocybin to terminal cancer patients to treat depression, saying the Right to Try Act doesn't waive the Controlled Substances Act's prohibitions or authorize the DEA to do so.
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April 22, 2024
J&J Says Worker's Drug Costs Suit Misses Big Picture
Johnson & Johnson asked a New Jersey federal judge to toss a worker's suit claiming employees were overcharged for their prescriptions under a drug benefit program because of a contract with a pharmacy benefits manager, saying employees didn't show they could've gotten a better deal elsewhere.
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April 22, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week, Delaware's Chancery Court news included a Tesla announcement about moving to Texas, a midcase appeal of Tripadvisor's move to Nevada, and United Airlines' escape from a stockholder suit. Disputes about board entrenchment, squeeze-out mergers, co-founder fallouts and deadly ice cream moved ahead.
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April 22, 2024
Thermo Fisher Says Rival Is Raiding Its Workforce
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is seeking to block Repligen Corp. from hiring one of its top executives, according to a suit in Massachusetts state court accusing the rival of a "systematic raiding" of its workforce.
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April 22, 2024
Supreme Court Won't Review Vanda's IP Obviousness Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s request for review of how the Federal Circuit is deciding whether patents are invalid as obvious, ending the company's attempt to revive patents covering its sleep disorder drug Hetlioz.
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April 19, 2024
Allergan To Face Kickback Claim In Suit Over Child Botox Use
A Texas federal judge has axed allegations that pharmaceutical company Allergan Inc. defrauded the U.S. government when it promoted the unapproved use of Botox to treat migraines in children but will allow claims that the company bribed doctors to conduct the procedure to move forward.
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April 19, 2024
Judge Mulls Axing Biomedical Cos.' $25M Punitive Damages
Not enough evidence supports Skye Orthobiologics' $25.5 million punitive damages award against an ex-employee found to have breached his fiduciary duties by leveraging Skye's proprietary information, a California federal judge has ruled, asking for briefing on whether the proper remedy is to cut the damages or grant a new trial.
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April 19, 2024
Flint Class Urges Approval Of $25M Water Firm Settlement
A proposed class of 45,000 Flint, Michigan, property owners, businesses and adult residents on Friday urged a Michigan federal court to give the go-ahead to a $25 million settlement with Veolia North America, the last remaining engineering defendant in sprawling litigation over the city's water crisis.
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April 19, 2024
Walgreens Inks $110M Deal To End Philly Opioid Crisis Suit
Walgreens will pay the city of Philadelphia $110 million over the next five years to settle claims that it contributed to the opioid epidemic by ignoring suspicious prescriptions for addictive opioid painkillers, city officials announced Friday.
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April 19, 2024
J&J Unit Sued Over Defective Knee Replacements
A woman is suing Johnson & Johnson unit DePuy Orthopaedics in New Jersey federal court, alleging it marketed and sold a faulty knee replacement system that's prone to failing, requiring additional surgery to fix the issue.
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April 19, 2024
Blumenauer: This 4/20 Will Be The Last For Schedule I Pot
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., one of the most ardent champions of marijuana policy reform on Capitol Hill, said Friday that he was optimistic 2024 would be final year that cannabis would remain a Schedule I substance under federal law.
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April 19, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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April 18, 2024
USPTO Reveals Scaled-Back Plan For New Patent Board Rules
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unveiled proposed Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules Thursday that would codify current policies on when multiple challenges to one patent are permitted and set a new briefing process about discretionary denials, which attorneys say should add clarity.
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April 18, 2024
NY Fertility Clinic Must Face Lost, Damaged Embryos Suit
A New York appellate panel issued a published opinion Thursday reviving a suit over the loss or damage of embryos due to a fertility clinic's alleged negligence, saying the routine storage and maintenance of frozen embryos can be considered ordinary negligence rather than medical malpractice.
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April 18, 2024
EU Antitrust Chief Says Merger Tool Not A 'Power Grab'
The European Commission's top competition enforcer said Thursday the agency has taken a measured approach to using its newly asserted power to review mergers that fall short of local thresholds, as the European trading bloc's high court mulls a challenge of that authority from DNA sequencing company Illumina.
Expert Analysis
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Fed. Circ. Patent Lesson: No Contradiction, No Indefiniteness
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Maxwell v. Amperex Technology highlights the complexities of construing patent claims when seemingly contradictory limitations are present, and that when a narrowing limitation overrides a broader one, they do not necessarily contradict each other, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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11th Circ. FMLA Ruling Deepens Divide Over Causation
The Eleventh Circuit's recent ruling in Lapham v. Walgreen distinguishes the circuit as the loudest advocate for the but-for causation standard for assessing Family and Medical Leave Act retaliation claims, though employers in other jurisdictions may encounter less favorable standards and the U.S. Supreme Court will likely have to address the circuit split eventually, say attorneys at Benesch.
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Decline In Same-Industry M&A Tells A Nuanced Policy Story
In light of newly available Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data suggesting that intraindustry mergers are down overall and pharmaceutical and hospital intraindustry transactions tend to face greater antitrust scrutiny than in the past, attorneys at Morgan Lewis explore whether Biden administration enforcement policies may be curbing pro-competitive strategic M&A.
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What's At Play In Rising Lanham Act Cases At The ITC
Amid an uptick in Lanham Act claims involving false advertising related to medical devices at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Brian Busey and Maryrose McLaughlin at MoFo discuss recent ITC complaints from Eli Lilly and R.J. Reynolds, Lanham Act claim limits under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the issues practitioners face in this realm.
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BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling
The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.
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Key Factors In Establishing Compelling Merits At The PTAB
A look at over 450 Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions between June 2022 and now provides insights into strategies for petitioners and patent owners in establishing compelling merits arguments in post-grant proceedings, say David Holman and Tyler Liu at Sterne Kessler.
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Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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What FTC's 'Killer Acquisition' Theory Means For Pharma Cos.
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.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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The Road Ahead For Florida's Drug Importation Program
Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Florida's drug importation program in January, a series of hurdles — including requisite buy-in from Canada — and potential legal challenges must be addressed before importation can begin, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Assessing CDC's Revised Guideline On Opioid Prescriptions
Kenneth Weinstein, Nicholas Van Niel and Kate Uthe at Analysis Group look at newly available data to evaluate the impact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's revised opioid monitoring guideline have had on prescription trends in recent years, highlighting both specific and overall decreases.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.
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Opinion
Suits Against Insulin Pricing Are Driven By Rebate Addiction
A growing wave of lawsuits filed by states, cities and counties against insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers improperly allocate the blame for rising insulin costs, when in actuality the plaintiffs are partially responsible, says Dan Leonard at Granite Capitol Consulting.
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Lessons For D&O Policyholders From Pharma Co. Ruling
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.