Life Sciences

  • March 13, 2025

    Merck Asks Justices To Block Fosamax Failure-To-Warn Suits

    Merck has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Third Circuit ruling that allowed more than 1,000 state-law failure-to-warn claims over its osteoporosis drug Fosamax, arguing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's formal rejection of a such a proposed warning label should block such lawsuits under federal law.

  • March 13, 2025

    Calif. AG Appealing State Limits On Pay-For-Delay Ban

    California enforcers are appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court found that a new state law restricting "reverse payment" settlements between brand-name and generic-drug makers cannot be used to regulate deals that were struck outside the state.

  • March 13, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Dings Antibody Patent App For Lacking Description

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday affirmed a decision from top U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials in a highly watched and technical dispute over an antibody patent application, concluding that preambles for so-called Jepson claims need sufficient written descriptions.

  • March 13, 2025

    PBMs Tell FTC 5-Month Delay Too Long For In-House Insulin Trial

    The nation's "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers say they want to get to trial in the Federal Trade Commission's administrative suit against them sooner rather than later, arguing that the agency's request for a five-month delay would be too long, but they're open to a three-week postponement.

  • March 13, 2025

    HHS Calls Back Terminated Attys Clearing Medicare Appeals

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday moved to reinstate about 15 attorneys who were cut loose in recent weeks, restoring staff many in the agency saw as critical to clearing a backlog of Medicare appeals.

  • March 13, 2025

    9th Circ. Ends Idaho Abortion Law Row After Mutual Dismissal

    A Ninth Circuit panel has dropped an appeal from Idaho claiming the state's strict abortion ban doesn't conflict with a federal law protecting emergency abortions, after the Trump administration announced its decision to drop the Biden-era legal challenge. 

  • March 13, 2025

    6 Firms Steer $6.7B Mallinckrodt, Endo Pharma Merger

    Six law firms are guiding a $6.7 billion merger between Ireland's Mallinckrodt PLC and Pennsylvania-based Endo Inc. on a deal announced Thursday that the companies said will create a global pharmaceutical industry leader with projected 2025 revenues of $3.6 billion.

  • March 13, 2025

    Full 4th Circ. Urged To Rethink Drug Price-Fixing Class Action

    The Fourth Circuit's dismissal of a proposed class action accusing drug companies of conspiring to inflate the price of a drug for Huntington's disease has deepened a circuit split on proving injury under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a group of reimbursement recovery entities has said in asking the full court to rethink the ruling.

  • March 13, 2025

    J&J Unit Drops Noncompete Suit Against Ex-Marketing Exec

    Johnson & Johnson's vision unit has agreed to drop its claims against a former marketing director after reaching a settlement on allegations that she breached a noncompete agreement, according to a Thursday order in New Jersey federal court.

  • March 13, 2025

    Days Into New Role, FDA's Top Lawyer Is Out

    The top lawyer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration resigned just two days after she was selected for the role, according to a Thursday announcement by the agency on social media site X.

  • March 13, 2025

    Lacking Votes, White House Pulls Weldon Nomination At CDC

    The White House pulled Dr. Dave Weldon's nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday after support among GOP lawmakers wavered, and it became clear he didn't have the votes to clear a Senate committee.

  • March 12, 2025

    Cancer Cause Or Red Herring? Jury Weighs Plant Bellwether

    A medical sterilization company told a Colorado jury Wednesday that four women can't get millions in damages based on the "possibility" that emissions from a sterilization plant caused their cancer, at the close of a six-week trial in which the plaintiffs argued the company should be punished for its negligence.

  • March 12, 2025

    Del. Justices Told Conflicts Tainted AstraZeneca Co.'s $3B Sale

    A stockholder class attorney told Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday that a vice chancellor never addressed the undisclosed conflicts cited in a Court of Chancery suit accusing AstraZeneca PLC of lining up a conflicted, underpriced $3 billion sale of clinical stage biopharmaceutical venture Viela Bio Inc.

  • March 12, 2025

    Labcorp Warns Fed. Circ. Of 'Balkanization' In Prenatal IP Row

    Labcorp, one of the world's largest chains of clinical lab providers, told the full Federal Circuit that a loss it incurred there over a patent tied to a $384 million judgment in Texas was the result of the "balkanization" of the court's patent obviousness jurisprudence.

  • March 12, 2025

    Law360 Cheat Sheet: Novartis' Fight Over Generic Entresto

    Novartis has led a wide-ranging litigation campaign to block generic versions of its bestselling cardiovascular drug Entresto that has involved multidistrict litigation, trips to several circuit courts and cases against the federal government. Here, Law360 breaks down how the various cases intersect and what's still playing out.

  • March 12, 2025

    SEC Says Ex-Allarity Execs Concealed Doomed FDA Approval

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives of clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Allarity Therapeutics Inc. in Massachusetts federal court, alleging Wednesday that they schemed to conceal from the public that the company's new drug application for its flagship drug had no chance of gaining regulatory approval.

  • March 12, 2025

    Caribou Biosciences Brass Face Investor's Clinical Trials Suit

    Executives and directors of Caribou Biosciences Inc. have been hit with a shareholder's derivative suit alleging that they overstated the safety and efficacy of Caribou's cell therapy and concealed that the company was at risk of being unable to fund its operations.

  • March 12, 2025

    COVID Test Device Maker Settles Fed. Circ. Feuds With Rival

    A company that makes saliva collection devices used for COVID-19 tests says it will drop out of Federal Circuit appeals fights with Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics stemming from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling 183 of Longhorn's patent claims as a punishment for "egregious abuse of the PTAB process."

  • March 12, 2025

    Publix Policies Don't Cover Opioid Claims, Court Says

    Insurers for Publix have no duty to defend or indemnify the supermarket chain in dozens of public nuisance lawsuits related to the opioid crisis, a Florida federal court said Wednesday, following Publix's renewed request that the court enter a final judgment so it could proceed with appeal.

  • March 12, 2025

    NC Organ Procurer Sues CMS Over Hospital Waiver

    A North Carolina-based organ procurement organization told a federal court Wednesday that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has violated federal law by giving a waiver to a hospital to work with another organ procurement service from a different region. 

  • March 12, 2025

    Cannabis Tech Co. Seeks Over $1M Interest On $4.2M Verdict

    A software company that won a $4.2 million judgment last year on claims that it was wrongly pushed out of a state government contract is urging a Pennsylvania federal court to award more than $1 million in pre- and postjudgment interest on the award.

  • March 12, 2025

    HHS To Eliminate 6 Regional Offices For Legal Staff

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday it will close six out of 10 regional offices where attorneys for the agency work.

  • March 12, 2025

    Harvard Docs Say Gov't Censored Articles With Gender Terms

    A pair of Harvard Medical School researchers sued the Trump administration in Massachusetts federal court on Wednesday, claiming their work was erased from a government-run patient safety website because their articles contained terms like "LGBTQ" and "transgender."

  • March 12, 2025

    Mallinckrodt Investors Ask NJ Court To Approve $46M Deal

    A group of Mallinckrodt PLC investors has asked a New Jersey federal judge to grant final approval to a $46 million settlement they reached with executives and directors of the pharmaceutical company to resolve claims that they misrepresented the prospects of a drug the company developed.

  • March 12, 2025

    McCarter & English Wins $3.77M From Ex-Client In Billing Spat

    McCarter & English LLP is entitled to nearly $3.77 million from Jarrow Formulas Inc., a nutritional supplement company that refused to pay its legal bills after losing a trade secrets trial and a subsequent malpractice claim against the firm, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • Next Steps In The $2.8B Blue Cross Payout To Providers

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    Healthcare providers deciding whether to participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield network's recent $2.8 billion antitrust class action settlement must weigh key recovery factors, including provider type and litigation cost, say attorneys at Hall Render.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • What To Expect Next From Federal Health Tech Regulation

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    Healthcare organizations should pay close attention to federal health information technology regulators' recent guidance concerning barriers to accessing electronic health information, which signals that more enforcement in this area is likely forthcoming, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Trump Rollback Of Biden Enviro Policies: What To Expect

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    Donald Trump's upcoming second presidential term will usher significant shifts in U.S. environmental and natural resource law and policy — and while the Biden administration is racing to secure its legacy, the incoming Trump administration is making plans to dramatically roll back most, if not all, of Biden's environmental initiatives, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Takeaways From State Votes On Abortion In The 2024 Election

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    Attorneys at Epstein Becker discuss how 10 states voted on ballot initiatives to either protect or restrict access to abortion in the 2024 general election, and analyze overarching trends.

  • Key Territory-Split Licensing Lessons For Life Sciences Cos.

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    Territory-split deals can allow life sciences companies to maximize products' potential across a range of geographic areas, but these deals also present unique challenges requiring highly bespoke structures that can make or break the value of an asset, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • Justices Must Weigh Reach Of Civil RICO In Cannabis Case

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    Oral arguments in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn suggest that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court may agree that a truck driver's losing his job after unknowingly ingesting THC and failing a drug test does not merit a racketeering claim — but the court may not buy the other side's theory of the case either, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • Litigation Strategies In View Of New Double Patenting Rulings

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    Recent Federal Circuit decisions, including in Allergan v. MSN, raise several issues that patent owners should understand and consider addressing proactively regarding obviousness-type double patenting, at least in their prosecution strategies, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Opinion

    PREVAIL Bill Is Another Misguided Attempt To Restrict PTAB

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    The decade-long campaign against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board — currently focused on the PREVAIL Act that's slated for markup in the Senate — is not really about procedural issues, and it is not aimed at securing more accurate patentability decisions, says Clear IP's Joseph Matal, former acting director at the USPTO.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

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