Life Sciences

  • March 21, 2024

    6th Circ. Doubtful Of Hospital Workers' Vax Exemption Claim

    A Sixth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Thursday of an argument from a class of former employees of Ohio Children's Hospital that their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion were violated under the hospital's COVID-19 employee vaccination policy.

  • March 21, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Upholds Edwards' PTAB Win On Heart Valve Patent

    The Federal Circuit has affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that various parts of medical technology maker Cardiovalve's patent on an artificial heart valve implant were invalid as obvious.

  • March 21, 2024

    6th Circ. Zeroes In On CBA In Vax Bias Preemption Battle

    A Sixth Circuit panel pressed on Thursday a cargo airline and pilots who say they were unlawfully fired for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations about the pilots' union contract, with one judge asking whether the open questions about their collective bargaining agreement meant the discrimination case was preempted.

  • March 21, 2024

    Chancery Denies Icahn Midcase Appeal In Illumina Board Suit

    Carl Icahn can't interrupt his Chancery Court lawsuit against biotech Illumina Inc.'s board to appeal a decision about redactions to the Delaware Supreme Court, a vice chancellor ruled Wednesday, saying there are no "exceptional circumstances" that call for a midcase review.

  • March 21, 2024

    Greenberg Traurig Adds Jackson Walker FDA Pro In Houston

    Greenberg Traurig LLP's most recent Houston addition is a shareholder who came aboard from Jackson Walker LLP, where he established and led its U.S. Food and Drug Administration practice.

  • March 20, 2024

    4th Circ. Backs Rockefeller Group in Guatemalans' Syphilis Suit

    A group of Guatemalans who sued The Rockefeller Foundation over venereal disease experiments conducted on prisoners and psychiatric patients in the 1940s did not show an American doctor involved in the gruesome activities acted on behalf of the organization, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Wednesday.

  • March 20, 2024

    Endo Plan To Trim $5B In Debt Confirmed By NY Judge

    Drugmaker Endo International got a New York bankruptcy judge's approval for its Chapter 11 plan that aims to cut more than $5 billion in debt and hand over ownership to its lenders, roughly a month after it finalized a $465 million deal to resolve criminal and civil opioid claims.

  • March 20, 2024

    PTAB To Analyze Moderna COVID Vaccine Patents

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has agreed to review two Moderna COVID-19 vaccine patents challenged by rivals Pfizer and BioNTech as having "unimaginably broad claims directed to a basic idea that was known long before."

  • March 20, 2024

    Jenner & Block-Led Lonza To Buy Roche's $1.2B US Facility

    Swiss healthcare company Lonza said on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire one of the largest medicine manufacturing facilities in the world from biotech giant Roche for $1.2 billion to increase its manufacturing capacity.

  • March 20, 2024

    Digital Comms Filings Bolster Record EPO Applications

    Companies and inventors filed the highest number of European patent applications to date in 2023, buoyed by marked increases in filings for digital communications and energy technologies.

  • March 20, 2024

    Int'l Olympic Committee Rips Russia For Politicizing Sports

    The International Olympic Committee has slammed Russia's newly created "Friendship Games" as a cynical ploy to politicize sports, saying that the Russian government's plan to host its own summer and winter games runs contrary to resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly.

  • March 20, 2024

    Top Attorney For Bristol-Myers Squibb Earned $5.9M In '23

    The longtime general counsel for biopharma giant Bristol-Myers Squibb earned more than $5.9 million in compensation for last year, a figure that was down slightly from $6.1 million in 2022 but still buoyed by her work on its recent CEO transition and other matters.

  • March 20, 2024

    Boehringer Wins Diabetes Treatment Patent On Appeal In EU

    Boehringer Ingelheim saved its diabetes drug patent from the chopping block after a European appellate board ruled that the treatment for patients with moderately damaged kidneys was new and innovative despite eight oppositions.

  • March 20, 2024

    How The Supreme Court Could Narrow Chevron

    After hours of oral argument in a closely watched administrative law case, it appeared that some U.S. Supreme Court justices could be open to limiting the opportunities for lower courts to defer to federal agencies' legal interpretations in disputes over rulemaking — and legal experts said there are a number of ways they could do it.

  • March 20, 2024

    2 Biotechs Unveil Separate Fundings Totaling $325M

    Life sciences companies Clasp Therapeutics and Cooley-advised Capstan Therapeutics, which develop treatments for a range of health conditions including cancer and autoimmune diseases, separately announced funding rounds Wednesday that together total $325 million.

  • March 20, 2024

    Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2024 Editorial Boards

    Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2024 Editorial Advisory Boards.

  • March 20, 2024

    US Chamber's Litigation Funding Concerns Spur 2 State Laws

    Amid concerns from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about third-party litigation funding, including from potentially hostile foreign entities, state legislatures in Indiana and West Virginia have recently passed bills imposing restrictions on the practice.

  • March 19, 2024

    Healthcare Policy Roundup: HHS Budget, Telehealth, PBMs

    Amid a government funding battle, work of interest to healthcare lawyers and agency watchers was getting done on federal legislation and policy in recent days.

  • March 19, 2024

    Schumer Scolds McConnell For Judge-Shopping Policy Rebuff

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday lauded the Judicial Conference's updated policy on random case assignments to prevent litigants from judge-shopping, saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing back against the policy since it'd make it tough for hard-right partisans "to hijack our courts for their purposes."

  • March 19, 2024

    Acorda Says Tribunal Ignored Patent Law In MS Drug Feud

    Acorda Pharmaceuticals is pressing the Federal Circuit to award it nearly $66 million more than the $16.5 million it won in arbitration against Irish biopharmaceutical company Alkermes in a licensing fight over a multiple sclerosis drug, arguing that the tribunal disregarded clear patent law.

  • March 19, 2024

    Law Firm Hit With Suit Over Abandoned Patent Application

    A Louisiana-based medical software company has sued a law firm that was hired to help it with an application for a patent for its platform, saying the firm's alleged negligence led to the application being abandoned.

  • March 19, 2024

    NBA Fraudster Dodges Prison After Cooperation, Testimony

    A former NBA shooting guard avoided prison Tuesday for participating in a $5 million retiree healthcare fraud scheme after Manhattan federal prosecutors lauded his assistance and testimony at a trial this past fall.

  • March 19, 2024

    Skin Care Drug Co. Can Ask Creditors To OK Ch. 11 Plan

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Tuesday she will give a debtor formerly known as Timber Pharmaceuticals Inc. permission to send its Chapter 11 plan out for a vote by the dermatology drug developer's creditors, after counsel for the company explained it had expanded the creditors' ability to opt out of the plan's claim releases.

  • March 19, 2024

    Cancer Patient Fights Monsanto's Philadelphia Roundup Win

    A cancer patient alleging that he developed his illness after using the weed killer Roundup wants to overturn Bayer AG unit Monsanto's first win in Philadelphia's Roundup mass tort, arguing that the judge's erroneous evidentiary rulings caused him to lose the case.

  • March 20, 2024

    Future Of Judge-Shopping Reform Hazy After Rule Proposal

    The policymaking body for U.S. courts provoked a stir last week when it proposed a rule designed to curb "judge shopping," with observers saying that the policy does address one type of the practice but that it remains to be seen if individual federal district courts will be willing to adopt even that limited reform.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • Opinion

    New Rule 702 Helps Judges Keep Bad Science Out Of Court

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    A court's recent decision to exclude dubious testimony from the plaintiffs' experts in multidistrict litigation over acetaminophen highlights the responsibility that judges have to keep questionable scientific evidence out of courtrooms, particularly under recent amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, says Sherman Joyce at the American Tort Reform Association.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

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    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • Skirting Anti-Kickback Causation Standard Amid Circuit Split

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    Amid the federal circuit court split over the causation standard applicable to False Claims Act cases involving Anti-Kickback Statute violations, which the First Circuit will soon consider in U.S. v. Regeneron, litigators aiming to circumvent the heightened standard should contemplate certain strategies, say Matthew Modafferi and Terence Park at Frier Levitt.

  • 10 Lessons From A Deep Dive Into IP Damages

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    Decisions on challenging an intellectual property expert's opinion can benefit from the in-depth study of court rulings on admissibility grounds, where the findings include the fact that patent cases see the most challenges of any IP area, say Deepa Sundararaman and Cleve Tyler at Berkeley Research.

  • What Shareholder Approval Rule Changes Mean For Cos.

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved proposed rule changes to shareholder requirements by the New York Stock Exchange, an approval that will benefit listed companies in many ways, including by making it easier to raise capital from passive investors, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Expediting Psychedelics Approvals In The EU, UK, Australia

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    Accelerated pathways for regulatory approvals for psychedelic drugs in the European Union, U.K. and Australia is indispensable to facilitate a seamless advancement of treatments from the research environment to the consumer, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, and Ana Dukic and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

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