Life Sciences

  • April 17, 2024

    WashU Medical School Settles Claims Of Asylee Bias, Firing

    The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has settled claims that it fired a worker who complained that he was being forced to prove he held asylum, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • April 17, 2024

    Ex-Pharma Exec's Contempt Plea Rejected By Judge

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday rejected a former pharmaceutical executive's agreement to plead guilty to contempt for using an alias to get around a consent judgment in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case, saying both the former executive and the government knew he'd view the sentence as too low.

  • April 17, 2024

    Elliott Waives BioMarin Board Deal, Moots Del. Suit

    Elliott Investment Management LP has waived an agreement with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. that gave the activist investor three new seats on the biopharmaceutical company's board, mooting a Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit that a BioMarin shareholder filed earlier this month.

  • April 16, 2024

    House Panel Takes Aim At Change Healthcare, FTC Over Hack

    A House subcommittee exploring ways to boost cybersecurity in the healthcare industry on Tuesday blasted Change Healthcare for failing to take appropriate steps to block a damaging cyberattack that echoed another recent strike on critical infrastructure and the Federal Trade Commission for not stopping the provider from controlling such a large market share. 

  • April 16, 2024

    Eli Lilly's Insulin Price Cap Deal Collapses After Cert. Denial

    Eli Lilly & Co. and insulin buyers have called off a proposed nationwide settlement that would've capped insulin prices and been worth up to $500 million over several years, a decision that was made after the buyers lost a class certification bid early this year, according to the buyers' counsel.

  • April 16, 2024

    NC Treasurer Backs FTC On Hospital Merger Challenge

    North Carolina's treasurer agreed Monday that Novant Health's $320 million plan to pick up a pair of hospitals is a bad idea, throwing its weight behind the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to the deal in federal court.

  • April 16, 2024

    IBM Gained Most AI Patents By Far In 2023

    IBM obtained more U.S. artificial intelligence patents in 2023 than any other company, with its closest competitors falling behind by more than 300 patents, according to a Harrity Patent Analytics report announced Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    Life Sciences Group Of The Year: Fenwick

    Defending Novo Nordisk's patents for diabetes drug Ozempic and guiding Dice Therapeutics through its $2.4 billion acquisition by Eli Lilly & Co. are among the achievements that put Fenwick & West LLP among Law360's 2023 Life Sciences Groups of the Year.

  • April 15, 2024

    Taro Inks $36M Investor Deal Over Generics Price-Fixing

    Taro Pharmaceutical Industries shareholders asked a New York federal judge Monday to greenlight a $36 million settlement resolving proposed class claims that the company misled investors about alleged generic drug price-fixing that led to a drop in stock price upon news of a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust investigation.

  • April 15, 2024

    Chancery Denies Forte Biosciences' Bid To Toss Investor Suit

    Board members of a struggling clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company who allegedly took defensive measures to stay in power after activist investors pushed the company to liquidate must face a stockholder's Delaware Chancery Court derivative suit that they breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders, a vice chancellor said Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Years After Args, 7th Circ. Continues Mootness Fee Attack

    A Seventh Circuit panel said Monday that a Chicago federal judge improperly barred a class action objector from intervening in a suit involving controversial "mootness fees" the appellate court has long criticized, saying he failed to articulate a valid legal reason for doing so.

  • April 15, 2024

    TTAB Sides With Pharma Co.'s Opposition To 'SageForth' TM

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has ruled in favor of biopharmaceutical company Sage Therapeutics Inc.' opposition to a psychological service provider's attempt to register "SageForth" as a trademark, saying the name is likely to cause confusion with Sage Therapeutics' treatments for postpartum depression.

  • April 15, 2024

    Hold This COVID Vax Patent Case, Judge Recommends

    One of the suits over Pfizer's blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine hit a snag in Virginia federal court Friday when a judge recommended pausing the case to wait for a ruling in a related dispute over patent ownership involving one of BioNTech's other partners.

  • April 15, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware justices mulled whether one Chancery Court vice chancellor properly voided four company bylaws — just as another vice chancellor voided one more. Fights among Truth Social investors continued, and shareholders launched new cases involving Macy's, United Airlines, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC and Stone Point Capital LLC.

  • April 15, 2024

    Orrick Adds Kramer Levin Life Sciences Head In NY

    The former head of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP's life sciences practice has jumped to the intellectual property litigation team at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in New York, Orrick said Monday. 

  • April 15, 2024

    Pharmacy, Courier Co. Settle Driver's Classification Suit

    A delivery driver and a CVS-owned pharmacy and a logistics and courier firm told an Illinois federal court that they have reached a settlement resolving claims that the company misclassified workers as independent contractors and paid them neither minimum nor overtime premium wages. 

  • April 15, 2024

    Justices Won't Nix FDA Labeling Preemption For State Claims

    The Supreme Court on Monday let stand lower court findings that the unique authority of the federal Food and Drug Administration preempted and, therefore, justified dismissing a proposed class action that alleged a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary broke Massachusetts law by misbranding Lactaid drug products as dietary supplements.

  • April 15, 2024

    Life Sciences Group Of The Year: Cooley

    Cooley LLP advised Horizon Therapeutics during its massive sale to Amgen Inc. — defeating an antitrust challenge along the way — and helped Moderna Inc. win a patent case centering on its COVID-19 vaccine, earning the firm a place among Law360's 2023 Life Sciences Groups of the Year.

  • April 12, 2024

    Moderna, Pfizer COVID Vax IP Suit Paused Amid PTAB Review

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday agreed to pause Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine patent infringement suit against Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech until the Patent Trial and Appeal Board weighs in on a pair of patents, issuing a stay despite objections from Moderna.

  • April 12, 2024

    Ex-Biotech CEO Gets 7 Years In Fake COVID Test Case

    A former biotech CEO accused of defrauding investors by touting a phony rapid finger-prick COVID test was sentenced to seven years in prison in D.C. federal court Friday.

  • April 12, 2024

    DEA Unlawfully Pushing Psychedelics Ban, Researcher Says

    A psychedelic research company has asked a Washington federal judge to block the Drug Enforcement Administration from proceeding with its plan to ban two psychedelic substances, saying the agency's process for bringing the matter before an administrative judge has been unlawful.

  • April 12, 2024

    Abbott Labs Gets Price Claims Tossed In Baby Formula MDL

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday threw out a suit from parents alleging that Abbott Laboratories benefited from increased prices during a shortage of baby formula kicked off when one of its facilities was shut down, saying they haven't shown that the company's profits during that time were unjustly retained.

  • April 12, 2024

    Ex-Pfizer Worker's Pal Avoids Prison In Insider Trading Case

    An electrical engineer was sentenced to probation Friday for trading Pfizer Inc.'s stock using confidential tips about the efficacy of its COVID-19 drug, after a Manhattan federal court recognized his decision to voluntarily assist prosecutors with the trial conviction of his friend, a former Pfizer employee who leaked insider information.

  • April 12, 2024

    Trade Groups Urge Senators To Advance Patent Reform Bills

    Groups representing inventors, startups and medical technology companies are putting pressure on U.S. senators to pass bills that would prospectively limit the ability of courts to throw out patent lawsuits, a month after tech industry groups argued the legislation would trigger an onslaught of patent litigation.

  • April 12, 2024

    Woman Pleads Guilty To $1.3M COVID Tax Credit Fraud

    A California woman pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $2 million in COVID-19 government loans and falsely claiming $1.3 million in tax credits, crimes that could result in a 20-year prison sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Suits Against Insulin Pricing Are Driven By Rebate Addiction

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    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.

  • 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.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power

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    In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Series

    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.

  • Opinion

    J&J Bankruptcy Could Thwart Accountability For Victims

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    Johnson & Johnson's latest attempt at a "Texas Two-Step" bankruptcy proceeding exemplifies the way in which corporate defendants can use bankruptcy to evade accountability, limit resources available to victims, and impose flawed, one-size-fits-all resolutions on diverse groups of plaintiffs, says Michelle Simpson Tuegel at Simpson Tuegel Law.

  • Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Opinion

    Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation

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    The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • What's On The Horizon In Attorney General Enforcement

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    A look at recent attorney general actions, especially in the areas of antitrust and artificial intelligence, can help inform businesses on what they should expect in terms of enforcement trends as 10 attorney general races play out in 2024, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases

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    After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Reducing The Risk Of PFAS False Advertising Class Actions

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    A wave of class actions continues to pummel products that allegedly contain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, with plaintiffs challenging advertising that they say misleads consumers by implying an absence of PFAS — but there are steps companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

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