Life Sciences

  • January 08, 2025

    Biotech Co.'s Facility Failures Lost Investors Money, Suit Says

    The executives and directors of biotechnology company Humacyte Inc. have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit in North Carolina federal court alleging the company concealed that its manufacturing facility failed to comply with certain quality assurance practices, leading to delayed regulatory review for its product candidate.

  • January 08, 2025

    EPA Slams $535M Talc Settlement In Whittaker's Ch. 11

    The U.S. government objected to a $535 million settlement that bankrupt talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels reached regarding talc claims in its New Jersey Chapter 11 case, saying the deal was built on faulty estimates of the company's environmental liabilities.

  • January 08, 2025

    3 Firms Steer Galapagos' Plan To Spin Off New Drug Company

    Belgian biotechnology firm Galapagos NV said Wednesday that it will spin off certain operations into a second company focused on developing innovative medicines with about €2.45 billion ($2.5 billion) in cash to start, while Galapagos in turn focuses on cell therapies, through a deal guided by three law firms.

  • January 08, 2025

    Ex-Marketing Exec Says J&J Unit Dodging Basic Discovery

    An ex-marketing director for Johnson & Johnson's vision unit urged a New Jersey federal judge to order her former employer to produce documents related to its suit alleging she breached a noncompete agreement, arguing its stonewalling of discovery is depriving her of a fair chance to defend herself.

  • January 08, 2025

    Buchanan Ingersoll Adds Frier Levitt Pharmacy Atty In NJ

    Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC added a shareholder this week in its Newark, New Jersey, office from Frier Levitt who specializes in representing various kinds of pharmacies in transactions, litigation, investigations and other matters.

  • January 08, 2025

    FBI Director's Former Chief Of Staff Joins Fenwick

    Weeks after FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that he'll resign at the end of President Joe Biden's term, Fenwick & West LLP said Wednesday that it has hired the FBI director's chief of staff, who joined the team as a white collar defense and investigations partner.

  • January 08, 2025

    Abbott Beats UC Regents' Probiotic Patent Claims

    An Illinois federal judge has found that claims in a pair of patents owned by the University of California related to a baby probiotic were invalid, handing a win to Abbott Laboratories in a suit accusing the company of infringing the patents.

  • January 08, 2025

    Boston Scientific Paying Up To $664M For Bolt Medical

    Boston Scientific Corp. said Wednesday it plans to acquire the remaining stake it does not own in Bolt Medical Inc., the developer of a proprietary laser-based treatment for coronary and peripheral artery disease, for up to $664 million.

  • January 07, 2025

    Obesity Drug Maker Faces Investor Suit Over IPO Disclosures

    Biopharmaceutical company BioAge Labs Inc. is facing a proposed class action alleging investors in its initial public offering were hurt by plummeting share prices after the company unexpectedly hit the brakes on a clinical trial for its lead product candidate.

  • January 07, 2025

    Robo Surgery Co. Gets Billions From Selling Parts, Jury Told

    Surgical Instrument Service accused Intuitive Surgical at the start of a federal trial Tuesday of being a monopolist making billions of dollars by blocking hospitals from extending the life of reusable surgical-robot components, while Intuitive blasted the medical instrument repair company for "trying to misuse antitrust laws to enrich itself."

  • January 07, 2025

    Alcohol Warnings Unlikely To Bring Same Fate Tobacco Faced

    The U.S. surgeon general on Friday recommended that alcohol carry warnings about cancer risks, and attorneys say that while warning labels might be warranted, alcohol is unlikely to become the next tobacco.

  • January 07, 2025

    Amneal Calls Teva's IP Delisting Panic 'Theatrical Distraction'

    The pharmaceutical industry won't fall into "chaos and disruption" if the Federal Circuit doesn't stay an injunction ordering Teva to remove inhaler patents from the Orange Book, and Teva's arguments otherwise are "a mere theatrical distraction" from the weakness of its position, according to Amneal Pharmaceuticals.

  • January 07, 2025

    New USPTO Advisers Include Mattel, Estee Lauder Attys

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday welcomed six additions to its patent and trademark advisory committees, including lead intellectual property attorneys at The Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. and Mattel Inc. 

  • January 07, 2025

    Cannabis Reformers Move To Oust DEA From Pot Hearings

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has worked behind the scenes to undermine an administrative process that will determine whether federal restrictions on marijuana are relaxed, a group of reformers alleged in a new filing submitted to an agency tribunal.

  • January 07, 2025

    Biotech Co. Urges NC Panel To Revive Legal Malpractice Suit

    A biotech company that lost a $22 million libel suit brought by a pharmaceutical executive has asked a North Carolina appeals panel for another shot at legal malpractice claims against its former legal counsel, arguing that a savings provision expands the statute of repose for the voluntarily dismissed claim to be revived.

  • January 06, 2025

    Athira Inks $4M FCA Deal Over Ex-CEO's Research Fraud

    Athira Pharma Inc. has agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations it used falsified academic research papers on neurological disorders like Alzheimer's to secure federal grants from the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

  • January 06, 2025

    Sidley, Wachtell Guide Inari Medical's $4.9B Sale To Stryker

    Medical technology company Stryker Corp., represented by Sidley Austin LLP, announced Monday that it has inked an agreement to acquire device maker Inari Medical Inc., represented by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, in a deal worth about $4.9 billion.

  • January 06, 2025

    High Court Asked To Take Whistleblower Medical Device Row

    A former Minerva Surgical Inc. sales representative who says he was mistreated after raising concerns about the safety of certain medical devices wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his challenge to an arbitration award given to his former employer in whistleblower proceedings.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biotech Trade Secrets Case Gets New Punitive Damages Trial

    A California federal judge has ordered a new punitive damages trial on how much a former Skye Orthobiologics LLC employee owes in a case where he was found to have breached his fiduciary duties by leveraging Skye's proprietary information, after ruling last year there wasn't enough evidence to support an earlier $25 million award.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biotech Co. Revance Faces Suit After Tender Offer Weakens

    Biotechnology company Revance Therapeutics Inc. and two of its executives face a proposed investor class action alleging the company hurt investors after the value of a take-private tender offer was negotiated down following allegations that Revance had breached a distribution deal with another company.

  • January 06, 2025

    DOD Adds WeChat Owner, CATL To Chinese Military Co. List

    The U.S. Department of Defense added dozens of businesses Monday to its list of companies affiliated with the Chinese military, including electric-car battery maker CATL and Tencent Holdings Ltd. — owner of the popular text-messaging app WeChat — prompting Tencent to slam the designation as "clearly a mistake."

  • January 06, 2025

    Labcorp Loses Appeal Of Gene-Testing Patent In $372M Case

    Labcorp, one of the world's largest chains of clinical lab providers, lost its appeal over a patent tied to a $372 million judgment it is facing in the Western District of Texas, after Federal Circuit judges on Monday upheld an administrative patent board ruling against it two years ago.

  • January 06, 2025

    Judge Urged To Sit Out Alopecia IP Row Over Ex-Clerk's Role

    Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has asked a New Jersey federal judge to recuse himself from a case alleging the company's alopecia drug infringes an Incyte patent, saying Incyte's attorneys hired the judge's former law clerk and put him on the case, creating "an indelible appearance of impropriety."

  • January 06, 2025

    Teoxane Outbids Crown With New Revance Therapeutics Bid

    Teoxane SA said Monday it has submitted a proposal to Revance Therapeutics Inc. to acquire the healthcare biotechnology company for $3.60 per share in cash, one-upping Revance's existing agreement to sell itself to skincare company Crown Laboratories Inc. for $3.10 per share in cash. 

  • January 06, 2025

    Girard Sharp Launches Into New Year With New Leadership

    San Francisco-based Girard Sharp has kicked off the new year with a major leadership change, announcing Monday that Daniel C. Girard had stepped down as managing partner of the prominent plaintiffs complex litigation boutique he founded in 1995 and that longtime partner Dena C. Sharp was taking the reins.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • How AstraZeneca Ruling Could Change Dosage Patent Claims

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    If affirmed on appeal, the rationale employed by the Delaware federal court in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca to find "unit dosage"-related patent claims invalid could lead to a significant paradigm shift in how active-ingredient-focused patent applications are drafted and litigated, say Matthew Zapadka and John Schneible at Arnall Golden.

  • Failed W.Va. Patent Challenge Reveals Secret Prior Art's Risks

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    A West Virginia federal court's recent ruling — that references used by a patent challenger to establish an ordinarily skilled artisan's existing knowledge must be published before a patent's filing — may discourage claim construction challenges based on secret prior art and steer drafters away from externally defined terms, says Brianna Potter at Baker Botts.

  • Navigating Decentralized Clinical Trials With FDA's Guidance

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently finalized guidance on conducting decentralized clinical trials, while not legally binding, can serve as a road map for sponsors, investigators and others to ensure trial integrity and participant safety, say attorneys at Phillips Lytle.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • How Patent Landscape Analysis Drives Business Growth

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    Keegan Caldwell at Caldwell Law explores how patent landscape analysis serves as a key driver of sustainable growth — examining how its components, strategic advantages and implementation best practices are reshaping innovation leadership.

  • In Terror Case, DC Circ. Must Weigh Justices' Twitter Ruling

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    When the D.C. Circuit hears oral argument in AstraZeneca UK v. Atchley, how the court interprets the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Twitter v. Taamneh will have a significant impact on future claims brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

  • Marching In On Orange Book Drugs May Have Limited Effect

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    Statistical analysis shows that marching in on Orange Book drug patent holders to require additional licensees would have a relatively minimal impact on drug prices, and should be weighed against the harms it could have on pharmaceutical innovation, say researchers at Competition Dynamics.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

  • Incoming Admin May Shake Up Life Sciences Regulation

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    Though President-elect Donald Trump has not yet articulated policy priorities regarding the life sciences industry, the sector is positioned to see significant changes that could affect everything from drug exclusivity and generic drug approvals, to the availability of over-the-counter drugs, to laboratory-developed tests and digital health, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 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.

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