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May 30, 2024
FTC, Novant Ask To Delay In-House Trial On Merger Challenge
The Federal Trade Commission and Novant Health have asked to postpone an upcoming administrative hearing over the nonprofit's proposed purchase of two North Carolina hospitals, a purchase that regulators are concerned will dampen competition in the region, according to a notice filed in federal court.
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May 30, 2024
Retired NBA Star Ends Coverage Suit Against BCBS
Former NBA player Rodney Rogers on Thursday dropped claims that Blue Cross Blue Shield abruptly ended at-home nursing care in violation of his policy but kept the door open to refile the claims.
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May 30, 2024
Pa. Court Blocks State's Recall Over Cannabis Vape Additives
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has permanently blocked the state Department of Health from enforcing a 2022 recall of medical cannabis products containing certain additives, on the grounds that the department's reversal on the additives' approval was a "de facto regulation" that was enacted without the proper procedures.
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May 30, 2024
Ozempic Maker Says Texas Pharmacy Selling Knockoff Drug
The manufacturer behind the Ozempic weight loss drug has asked a federal court to prohibit a Houston-area pharmacy from selling compounded, non-FDA-approved medications that claim to contain the drug's key ingredient.
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May 30, 2024
Slapping Groping Patient Isn't Protected Action, 4th Circ. Says
A former certified nursing assistant at a nursing home operator didn't show that smacking the hand of a patient whom she alleged groped her constituted protected activity under West Virginia law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, affirming the company's win in a lower court.
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May 30, 2024
Sen. Warren Pushes CMS On 'Medical Loss Ratio' Data
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to collect more data to determine whether private healthcare insurers in Medicare Advantage that employ vertical integration are evading a statutory requirement that they spend the bulk of their earnings on medical claims.
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May 29, 2024
Fla. Medicare Companies Get Class Cert. In Suit Against USAA
A Florida state court judge granted certification to a class of Medicare-contracted businesses suing USAA Casualty Insurance Co. over allegations the insurer withheld policy information and intentionally passed its obligation to pay automobile injury claims downstream to other companies, according to attorneys representing the group of businesses.
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May 29, 2024
Benefits Trade Group Urges Changes To New York PBM Regs
A trade group representing large employers who sponsor employee benefit plans warned New York's insurance regulator that a proposal affecting pharmacy benefit managers — which act as intermediaries between pharmacies, drugmakers and insurers — will trigger litigation without changes before they're finalized to eliminate conflicts with federal benefits law.
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May 29, 2024
FDA Sued Over Controversial Lab Test Rule
A clinical lab trade group that has been highly critical of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new final rule on laboratory-developed tests filed a lawsuit late Wednesday, saying the agency doesn't have the authority to regulate the tests as medical devices.
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May 29, 2024
Wash. Panel Ends Quest Diagnostics' COVID Coverage Quest
Quest Diagnostics' insurers don't owe the medical testing lab COVID-19-related business loss coverage, a Washington appeals court said, ruling the company failed to show that the presence of the virus resulted in physical loss or damage to its property.
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May 29, 2024
Conn. Hospital Settles Exonerated Doctor's Race Bias Suit
A Connecticut hospital and a doctor of Nigerian heritage have settled a race and gender discrimination lawsuit that followed a supervisor's assertion during a sexual harassment and assault probe that Nigeria was home to a "typically misogynistic and chauvinistic" culture, according to a Wednesday dismissal order.
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May 29, 2024
Acting Boston US Atty Says Fraud Cases Still High Priority
Prosecuting a range of fraud cases despite finite resources will remain a priority for Massachusetts acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy as he enters his second year in the job, he told reporters on Wednesday in a question and answer session at his office.
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May 29, 2024
Wilson Sonsini Adds 2 Attys In Salt Lake City From Kirkland
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC has continued to expand its growing, three-year-old Salt Lake City, Utah, office with the recent addition of two experienced litigators who moved their practices from Kirkland & Ellis.
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May 29, 2024
Greenberg Traurig Adds Jackson Lewis Litigator In Orlando
Jackson Lewis PC's former Orlando litigation manager has joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as a labor and employment shareholder.
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May 29, 2024
Greenberg Traurig Adds IP Atty From Eversheds Sutherland
Greenberg Traurig LLP has bolstered its California bench of attorneys with an Eversheds Sutherland lawyer who has years of experience advising digital health and medical device companies on intellectual property issues.
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May 29, 2024
Whistleblower Counsel Can't Get 'Exorbitant' $11.5M Fee
A Boston federal judge slashed an "exorbitant" $11.5 million fee request made by counsel for a False Claims Act whistleblower in a case involving lab testing company Fresenius Medical Care, hammering the attorneys for inflated hourly rates, inflated time entries and a host of questionable billing practices.
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May 28, 2024
Pa. Court Says Vaccine Refusal Valid Cause For Firing Nurse
A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel on Tuesday tossed a suit accusing a hospital of wrongfully firing a nurse practitioner who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the nurse can't invoke the state's medical malpractice statute in a wrongful termination suit.
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May 28, 2024
J&J To Pay $1.25B For Global Rights To Eczema Treatment
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to buy the rights to an experimental treatment for eczema from Baker McKenzie-advised Numab Therapeutics for approximately $1.25 billion, the companies announced on Tuesday.
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May 28, 2024
5th Circ. Flips Cancer-Drug Maker's Defeat In Hair Loss MDL
The Fifth Circuit has vacated a summary judgment ruling in favor of four women who say two drugmakers failed to warn consumers that their chemotherapy drug could cause hair loss, saying it was impossible for the companies to simultaneously comply with federal and state failure-to-warn laws.
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May 28, 2024
Anesthesia Machine Failure Not Med Mal Claim, Panel Rules
An Indiana state appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a wrongful death suit against a hospital over a patient who allegedly died as a result of an anesthesia machine malfunction, saying it was wrongly deemed a medical malpractice case subject to the state's Medical Malpractice Act.
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May 28, 2024
HIV Drug Buyers Fight Bid To Combine 9th Circ. Appeal Briefs
Drug buyers that allege Gilead Sciences Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals delayed generic versions of HIV medications told the Ninth Circuit it would be unfair to grant the companies' call for a single brief addressing the 17 appeals filed after a jury rejected the claims last year.
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May 28, 2024
Healthcare Tech Co. To Pay $1.5M To End Class Wage Claims
A healthcare software consulting company agreed to a $1.5 million deal resolving claims it violated Washington state wage law by requiring its software training staff to work up to 80 hours and seven days a week, according to a motion to approve the deal filed in federal court.
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May 28, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware Court of Chancery watchers shifted their focus last week from the courtroom to Dover's legislative hall, as proposed amendments to Delaware's corporate code were finally introduced to state lawmakers. Hearings, decisions and reversals involved Kraft-Heinz, AMC Entertainment and the merger of cryptocurrency companies BitGo and Galaxy. In case you missed it, here's the latest from Delaware's Chancery Court.
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May 28, 2024
Wisconsin Atty Gets 5½ Years For $2.3M Fraud, Tax Evasion
An attorney licensed in Wisconsin has been sentenced to 5½ years in federal prison and ordered to pay around $2.3 million in restitution for her involvement in multiple fraud schemes, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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May 28, 2024
5 Firms To Steer Pair Of Large IPOs That Could Net $1.8B Total
Private-equity backed hospital billing firm Waystar Holding Corp. and aluminum recycling giant Novelis Inc. on Tuesday launched plans for two initial public offerings that could raise an estimated $1.8 billion combined, guided by five law firms, potentially testing the strength of the IPO market's recovery.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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How HHS Discrimination Rule Affects Gender-Affirming Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new final rule, which reinterprets the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination provision, greatly clarifies protections for gender-affirming care and will require compliance considerations from sponsors and administrators of most group health plans, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Opinion
'Natural Person' Or Not, AI-Made IP Deserves Protection
The entire legal edifice rests on a determination that an artificial system is not a so-called natural person, and although this may appear to be straightforward on its face, rapid advances in technology may soon force us to revisit our understanding of a natural person, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.
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Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony
In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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FTC Noncompete Rule's Impact On Healthcare Nonprofits
Healthcare entities that are nonprofit or tax-exempt and thus outside of the pending Federal Trade Commission noncompete rule's reach should evaluate a number of potential risk factors and impacts, starting by assessing their own status, say Ben Shook and Tania Archer at Moore & Van Allen.
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Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors
Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe
A comparison of recent U.S. and European patent decisions — concerning the effect of disclosures in clinical trials on the patentability of products — offers guidance on good practice for companies dealing with public use issues and prior art documents in these commercially important jurisdictions, say lawyers at Finnegan.
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Opinion
State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E
Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.
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Key Takeaways From FDA Final Rule On Lab-Developed Tests
Michele Buenafe and Dennis Gucciardo at Morgan Lewis discuss potential consequences of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently finalized rule regulating lab-developed tests as medical devices, and explain the rule's phaseout policy for enforcement discretion.
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Examining Illinois Genetic Privacy Law Amid Deluge Of Claims
After a federal court certified an Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act class action in August, claims under the law have skyrocketed, so employers, insurers and others that collect health and genetic information should ensure compliance with the act to limit litigation risk, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Assessing HHS' Stance On Rare Disease Patient Assistance
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recent advisory opinion, temporarily blessing manufacturer-supported copay funds for rare disease patients, carves a narrow path for single-donor funds, but charities and their donors may require additional assistance to navigate programs for such patients, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.
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Opinion
Feds' Biotech Enforcement Efforts Are Too Heavy-Handed
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent actions against biotech companies untether the Anti-Kickback Statute from its original legislative purpose, and threaten to stifle innovation and undermine patient quality of care, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Del. Ruling Highlights M&A Deal Adviser Conflict Disclosures
The Delaware Supreme Court recently reversed the Court of Chancery's dismissal of challenges to Nordic Capital's acquisition of Inovalon, demonstrating the importance of full disclosure of financial adviser conflicts when a going-private merger seeks business judgment rule review, say attorneys at Debevoise.