Life Sciences

  • July 10, 2024

    Roundup Cancer Case Revived By Oregon Appellate Panel

    An Oregon appellate panel on Wednesday revived a lawsuit claiming Bayer AG subsidiary Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup caused an Oregon man's cancer, saying the judge who oversaw the trial that cleared the company wrongly excluded testimony from an expert for the plaintiff.

  • July 10, 2024

    Drug Pricing, Overreach Dominate IP Disclaimer Feedback

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received heated feedback regarding its proposal to make follow-on patents easier to invalidate, with drug pricing advocates applauding it, top technology and pharma companies decrying it, and high-profile officials calling the proposal an overstep of the agency's authority.

  • July 10, 2024

    Medical Imaging Co. Looking To Vacate 'Tainted' Award

    A New York federal court has unsealed medical imaging company Molecular Dynamics Ltd.'s still-pending 2022 petition seeking to vacate an allegedly fraudulent arbitral award favoring its former partner in a project to develop cameras in the field of nuclear medicine, revealing more information about the dispute.

  • July 10, 2024

    ​GOP Bombards Agencies With Demands After Chevron's End

    Republican leaders of major congressional committees Wednesday demanded details from dozens of agencies on policies suddenly shrouded in uncertainty after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives overturned the so-called Chevron doctrine, which for 40 years gave regulators flexibility in rulemaking and advantages in related litigation.

  • July 10, 2024

    Meijer Says Takeda Can't Force Antitrust Suit Into Arbitration

    Meijer argued before a Massachusetts federal court that Takeda waited far too long to try to force the supermarket chain to arbitrate its proposed class action accusing the Japanese pharmaceutical company of conspiring to delay a generic version of its anti-constipation drug Amitiza.

  • July 10, 2024

    Skin Care Tech Co. Says Suit Shows 'Rough' Year, Not Fraud

    Skin care and beauty technology company Cutera Inc. asked a federal judge to toss a shareholder lawsuit that alleged the company exaggerated its financial sustainability and hid compliance issues, saying the company's "rough" year does not establish securities fraud.

  • July 10, 2024

    Buyers Say Teva Had Multipart Scheme To Delay Inhaler Rivals

    Employee benefit funds accusing Teva of orchestrating a decadelong scheme to delay generic competition for its QVAR asthma inhalers told a Massachusetts federal court the drugmaker is trying to end the case by addressing merely one aspect of a multipart scheme.

  • July 10, 2024

    RJ Reynolds Urges Toss Of Menthol Suit Against FDA

    Tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds has come to the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a friend-of-the-court brief, arguing that the court should toss a federal lawsuit against the agency over its purported delays in implementing a ban on menthol cigarettes.

  • July 10, 2024

    Ex-FDA Regulator Joins Chicago Boutique Amin Wasserman

    A former high-level attorney within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is joining Chicago-based boutique Amin Wasserman Gurnani LLP, which specializes in representing food and dietary supplement companies.

  • July 10, 2024

    Longtime Axinn Atty To Chair Polsinelli's Hatch-Waxman Team

    A practice leader from Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP, known in part for his high-profile work on behalf of pharmaceutical clients, is joining Polsinelli PC to chair its Hatch-Waxman and biologics practice, the firm announced on Tuesday.

  • July 10, 2024

    Ex-CEO Convicted In COVID Test Kit Fraud Case

    A former healthcare software executive was found guilty of securities fraud Wednesday by a New Jersey federal jury in the retrial of a case that ended in a hung jury in December.

  • July 09, 2024

    Pharma Co. Fined $16.9M For Fake Scripts, Ex-VP Arrested

    A subsidiary of bankrupt DMK Pharmaceuticals Corp. faces a $16.9 million criminal fine after pleading guilty to conspiring in a scheme to ship drugs using false prescriptions, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday, adding that the subsidiary's former vice president of sales was also arrested.

  • July 09, 2024

    Bard Fights 'Patent Misuse' Ruling In $53M Suit At 9th Circ.

    Bard urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a lower court's finding that its attempt to collect $53 million in licensing payments from a medical-device company was a clear case of "patent misuse," arguing that the parties' licensing agreement allows for Bard to collect payments even after the patents-in-suit expired.

  • July 09, 2024

    South Africa Drops J&J Probe After TB Drug Price Cuts

    South Africa's antitrust office has said it's going to drop its investigation over whether Johnson & Johnson engaged in anticompetitive conduct by filing a patent there for a tuberculosis drug, after the drugmaker agreed to lower the cost of bedaquiline by 40% and allow generic versions of the drug on the market.

  • July 09, 2024

    Fla. Judge Won't Nix Antitrust Claims Against Alcon

    The Florida federal judge presiding over the multidistrict litigation alleging disposable contact lens sellers conspired to fix prices refused Tuesday to let Alcon escape antitrust claims by an online contact lens reseller and sent the suit back to New York.

  • July 09, 2024

    HEC Can't Get Damages Over Injunction In Novartis Feud

    A Delaware federal court on Tuesday shot down HEC Pharm Co.'s bid for damages stemming from a preliminary injunction against it over the launch of a generic version of Novartis Pharmaceuticals' blockbuster multiple sclerosis treatment Gilenya.

  • July 09, 2024

    BCBS Unit Fails To Stop Religious Vaccine Objector Suits

    A Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan subsidiary can't escape claims it treated differently employees who sought accommodations from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, a Michigan federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding it plausible that religious discrimination "was at least a motivating factor" in the way the workers were dealt with.

  • July 09, 2024

    3rd Circ. Rips 2nd Circ. In Asset Freeze Ruling For SEC

    The Third Circuit is standing by a lower court's decision to freeze a private equity executive's assets as he fights insider trading claims brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, criticizing its sister circuit's approach to handling such issues in a precedential ruling Tuesday.

  • July 09, 2024

    NJ Panel Revokes Coverage For Pharma Co. In Fraud Row

    A pharmaceutical company isn't covered for underlying accusations that it was a middleman in a self-dealing scheme orchestrated by its now-deceased board chairman, a New Jersey state appeals court ruled Tuesday, reversing a decision that a capacity exclusion in the company's directors and officers policy didn't apply.

  • July 09, 2024

    Purdue Plans 'High-Speed' Bid For New Ch. 11 Plan

    Purdue Pharma told a New York bankruptcy judge Tuesday that it plans a two-month "high-speed, high-stakes" attempt to replace the Chapter 11 plan shot down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month before unleashing litigation on its former owning family.

  • July 09, 2024

    NJ Jury Begins Deliberating COVID Test Kit Fraud Case

    Jurors began deliberating Tuesday in the retrial of a securities fraud case that ended with a dramatic mistrial after a juror announced in open court last December that he disagreed with the guilty verdict that had just been delivered by the jury forewoman.

  • July 09, 2024

    Terrorism Victims Push To Keep Pharma Suit In DC Circ.

    Terrorism victims warned the D.C. Circuit against sending to a lower court a lawsuit seeking to link pharmaceutical companies to the attacks that injured them, saying a remand could delay the case and frustrate their efforts to collect evidence.

  • July 09, 2024

    FTC Says Drug Middlemen Inflate Costs, Squeeze Pharmacies

    The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that its study of pharmacy benefit managers has shown that six large companies now control 95% of all prescriptions filled in the U.S., allowing them to profit at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.

  • July 09, 2024

    Gov't Missed Merck Vax Potency Problem, 3rd Circ. Told

    Two whistleblowers claiming that Merck & Co. had exaggerated the potency of its mumps vaccine told a Third Circuit panel Tuesday that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's continued purchasing of the vaccine was not proof that the agency knew but didn't care about the alleged deception.

  • July 08, 2024

    Emergent, J&J Reach $50M Deal In COVID Vax Supply Fight

    Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay Emergent BioSolutions $50 million to resolve claims stemming from a now-terminated COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deal, according to a disclosure filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating FDA Supply Rule Leeway For Small Dispensers

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    As the November compliance deadline for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new pharmaceutical distribution supply chain rules draws closer, small dispensers should understand the narrow flexibilities that are available, and the questions to consider before taking advantage of them, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • 6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth

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    Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • 2 Options For Sackler Family After High Court Purdue Ruling

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked Purdue Pharma's plan to shield the family that owns the company from bankruptcy lawsuits, the Sacklers face the choice to either continue litigation, or return to the bargaining table for a settlement that doesn't eliminate creditor claims, says Gregory Germain at Syracuse University.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Fed. Circ. Skinny Label Ruling Guides On Infringement Claims

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Amarin v. Hikma shows generic drug manufacturers must pay close attention to the statements in their abbreviated new drug application labels to put themselves in the best position in defending against an induced infringement claim, say Luke Shannon and Roshan Shrestha at Taft Stettinius.

  • 4 Takeaways From Biotech Patent Invalidity Ruling

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    The recent Patents Court decision in litigation between Advanced Cell Diagnostics and Molecular Instruments offers noteworthy commentary on issues related to experiments done in the ordinary course of business, joint importation, common general knowledge and mindset, and mosaicking for anticipation, say Nessa Khandaker and Darren Jiron at Finnegan.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Calif. Ruling Heightens Medical Product Maker Liability

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    The California Supreme Court's decision in Himes v. Somatics last month articulates a new causation standard for medical product manufacturer liability that may lead to stronger product disclosures nationwide and greater friction between manufacturers and physicians, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Constitutional Protections For Cannabis Companies Are Hazy

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    Cannabis businesses are subject to federal enforcement and tax, but often without the benefit of constitutional protections — and the entanglement of state and federal law and conflicting judicial opinions are creating confusion in the space, says Amber Lengacher at Purple Circle.

  • USPTO Disclaimer Rule Would Complicate Patent Prosecution

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice could lead to a patent owner being unable to enforce a valid patent simply because it is indirectly tied to a patent in which a single claim is found anticipated or obvious in view of the prior art, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

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