Deals & Corporate Governance
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March 27, 2024
NY AG, Others Blast Sandoz Deal 'Tax' On Future Settlements
New York's attorney general was one of three objectors Tuesday to a provision in Sandoz's proposed $265 million settlement with a class of drug wholesalers in Pennsylvania federal court that they say will delay any future generic-drug price-fixing litigation deals by taxing agreements over $119.25 million.
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March 26, 2024
FTC Urges Court To Pause Novant's NC Hospital Deal
The Federal Trade Commission is urging a North Carolina federal court to pause Novant Health's $320 million deal for a pair of hospitals, contending the move would give Novant an "eye-popping" share of the hospital market in a Charlotte suburb.
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March 26, 2024
Amazon's Healthcare Push Raises Tough Questions For Attys
Along with toiletries, tech gadgets and groceries, your favorite online mega-retailer now offers prescription drugs, monitoring of chronic health conditions and virtual doctor's visits.
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March 26, 2024
Healthcare Deals This Week: Novo Nordisk, Mirador, And More
From massive mergers and acquisitions, to funding rounds worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the healthcare industry has had a busy past few days.
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March 26, 2024
DOL Urges 4th Circ. To Keep $9M Nurse Classification Ruling
A medical staffing company is trying to circumvent clear error standards simply because it didn't like a federal court's conclusion that the company must pay $9 million in a misclassification suit, the U.S. Department of Labor told the Fourth Circuit.
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March 26, 2024
6 Firms Build $340M SPAC Merger For AI-Driven Medicine Biz
Precision medicine company OmnigenicsAI Corp. on Tuesday announced it and artificial intelligence-enabled preventative medicine company MultiplAI Health Ltd., which it recently agreed to acquire, will go public through a merger with blank-check company APx Acquisition Corp. I in a deal built by six firms, valuing the two businesses at a combined $340 million.
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March 26, 2024
Latham, Cooley Attys 'Cautiously Optimistic' On Biotech IPOs
Attorneys from two law firms that guided the first biotech initial public offering of 2024 have "cautious optimism" about the public market for life sciences companies this year and say that investor dollars, freed up from recent exits in the space, are helping to fuel activity.
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March 25, 2024
PacBio CEO's Words Haunt Patent Invalidity Arguments
A California federal judge concluded Monday that statements made by the chief executive officer of biotech company Pacific Biosciences to investors at an earnings call undermined the company's invalidity arguments in a patent suit it's facing.
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March 25, 2024
Judge Probes If $54M Deal Will Affect Tehum Care Ch. 11 Plan
A Texas bankruptcy judge Monday mulled if approving a settlement for prison health care company Tehum Care Services Inc. will lock in releases for a future Chapter 11 plan at the third day of a trial asking him to confirm the deal or toss the "Texas two-step" bankruptcy.
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March 25, 2024
Paul Weiss-Led AbbVie Inks Up To $212M Deal For Landos Bio
AbbVie Inc., represented by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, said Monday it will pay up to $212.5 million for Cooley LLP-led Landos Biopharma Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for autoimmune diseases.
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March 25, 2024
Vidal Vacates Denials Of Challenges To Neo Wireless IP
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has thrown out Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions not to review whether Neo Wireless patents are invalid in challenges brought by Honda and others.
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March 25, 2024
Novo Nordisk Inks $1.1B Deal For German Pharma Biz
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk A/S said Monday it has signed a deal to acquire Cardior Pharmaceuticals of Germany for just over €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to widen its focus on cardiovascular diseases.
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March 25, 2024
7th Circ. Affirms Co. Can't Get $3.5M Software Deduction
A healthcare company that helps nursing homes buy equipment is not entitled to $3.5 million in tax deductions meant for domestic software production, the Seventh Circuit ruled, saying the company failed to meet the threshold for the break because it didn't actually provide software to customers.
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March 25, 2024
Kirkland Guides Ingersoll Rand On $2.3B ILC Dover Buy
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is representing Ingersoll Rand on a new agreement to buy ILC Dover from private equity firm New Mountain Capital for more than $2.3 billion, part of Ingersoll's plan to bolster its life sciences business, the industrial products company said Monday.
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March 22, 2024
Expert's Sanctions Off Limits In SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Trial
A California federal judge overseeing a "shadow trading" trial starting Monday against a pharmaceutical executive ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission can't introduce banking sanctions evidence against the defendant's mergers and acquisitions expert as long as he doesn't give opinions on securities law.
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March 22, 2024
Pharma Co. Brass Overhyped ALS Drug Efficacy, Suit Says
Executives and directors of neurodegenerative disease drugmaker Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics have been hit with a proposed class action alleging they damaged the company by overstating the effectiveness of its Lou Gehrig's disease drug even after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected its license application.
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March 22, 2024
NJ Appeals Court Shuts Down Fired White Worker's Bias Suit
A New Jersey appeals court backed a life sciences company's win in a former manager's suit claiming she was unlawfully fired for posting statistics about police violence on social media following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, ruling she hadn't shown the company discriminated against white workers.
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March 21, 2024
CymaBay Investor Sues For Books On $4.3B Gilead Merger
A shareholder of liver disease-focused biopharmaceutical company CymaBay Therapeutics Inc. sued the company in Delaware Chancery Court to extract more information over a proposed $4.3 billion merger with Gilead Sciences Inc., saying CymaBay has refused to hand over previously requested documents regarding the valuation analyses without a legitimate excuse.
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March 21, 2024
Avoid Major Extension Of Merger Reach, EU High Court Urged
An important tool for extending European Union antitrust officials' merger scrutiny appears to be in jeopardy after a European Court of Justice advocate general effectively recommended Thursday that the bloc's high court restrict the ability to investigate transactions that don't normally trigger EU thresholds.
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March 21, 2024
3rd Circ. Agrees Investors Have No Case Against Vax Maker
The Third Circuit on Thursday upheld a Pennsylvania federal judge's ruling that a putative class of investors alleging biopharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc. made misleading statements about its ability to quickly produce a COVID-19 vaccine failed to state a claim against the company.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory
Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.
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Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid
As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.
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Revalidation Unlikely To End NIH Tech-Deal Bid Protest Saga
Recent U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions requiring the National Institutes of Health to again rework a $50 billion information technology contract probably won't result in an award for many protesters, and the corrective action will likely be followed by more protests, say James Tucker and Damien Specht at MoFo.
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Colorado Antitrust Reform Carries Broad State Impact
Colorado recently became the latest state to update and expand its antitrust laws, and the new act may significantly affect enforcement and private litigation, particularly when it comes to workers and consumers, says Diane Hazel at Foley & Lardner.
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Parsing Through The FTC's Proposed Health Privacy Updates
The Federal Trade Commission's recently proposed updates to its Health Breach Notification Rule contain subtle but significant changes to key terms that help modernize the agency's health app regulation and provide stakeholders an important opportunity to help shape the future of virtual health care, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Regulating AI: An Overview Of Federal Efforts
The U.S. has been carefully managing a national policy and regulatory ecosystem toward artificial intelligence, but as AI technology continues to expand into our everyday lives, so too has its risks and the need for regulation, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.
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Merger Guidelines Should Provide For Competition Trustees
Following the U.S. antitrust agencies' release of draft merger guidelines, retired U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Susan Braden suggests a court-appointed competition trustee would help ensure U.S. competition without impairing economic prosperity.
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Indivior Ruling May Affect Rebate Wall Litigation
A New Jersey federal court's recent decision in Indivior v. Alvogen, in which a claim that an alleged rebate wall anti-competitively blocked generic competition survived summary judgment, may provide a blueprint for successfully challenging other drug rebating practices, say Peter Herrick and Monsura Sirajee at O'Melveny.
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Merger Guidelines' Broad Tack Ignores Recent Precedent
The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission's new proposed merger guidelines are consistent with the Biden administration's expansive approach to antitrust enforcement, but they fail to grapple meaningfully with much of modern economic precedent and court decisions requiring greater agency rigor in merger analysis, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.
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Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too
While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.
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Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions
As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.
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What's New In The DOJ-FTC Proposed Merger Guidelines
While this week's merger guidelines proposal from the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice initially appears to reflect well-established principles of antitrust law, a closer examination reveals a stark departure from the last 40 years of antitrust enforcement, say attorneys at Skadden.