Life Sciences

  • 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.

  • March 11, 2025

    Medical Device Co. Seeks Fed. Circ. Redo Over Patent Trial

    A medical device manufacturer is asking the full Federal Circuit to reconsider a panel decision reviving a patent infringement case against it, arguing a lower court judge was fine to allow tardy testimony from a witness who took its side.

Expert Analysis

  • Anticipating Direction Of Cosmetics Regulation Under Trump

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    It is unclear how cosmetics regulation reform from the last few years will fare under President Donald Trump, but the new administration's emphasis on deregulation and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s views on product safety provide some insight, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Drug Pricing Policy Trends To Expect In 2025 And Beyond

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    Though 2025 may bring more of the same in the realm of drug pricing policy, business as usual entails a sustained, high level of legal and policy developments across at least six major areas, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Imagine The Possibilities Of Openly Autistic Lawyering

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    Andi Mazingo at Lumen Law, who was diagnosed with autism about midway through her career, discusses how the legal profession can create inclusive workplaces that empower openly autistic lawyers and enhance innovation, and how neurodivergent attorneys can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with disclosing one’s diagnosis.

  • Top 10 Healthcare And Life Sciences Issues To Watch In 2025

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    Under the new Trump administration, this coming year may benefit some healthcare and life sciences stakeholders, while creating new challenges for others amid an increasingly complex regulatory environment, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Parsing 3rd Circ. Ruling On Cannabis, Employee Private Suits

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    The Third Circuit recently upheld a decision that individuals don't have a private right of action for alleged violations of New Jersey's Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act, but employers should stay informed as the court encouraged the state Legislature to amend the law, say attorneys at Mandelbaum Barrett.

  • 4 Keys To Litigating In An Active Regulatory Environment

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    For companies facing litigation influenced by government regulatory action — a recent trend that a politically charged atmosphere will exacerbate — there are a few principles that can help to align litigation strategy with broader public positioning in the regulatory and oversight context, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Kiromic SEC Order Shows Importance Of Self-Reporting

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently filed settled charges against Kiromic BioPharma illustrate the critical intersection between U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory processes and investor disclosures under the securities laws, and showcase how responding promptly to internal whistleblower reports may reap benefits, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Documentary Filmmaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a documentary filmmaker has allowed me to merge my legal expertise with my passion for storytelling, and has helped me to hone negotiation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important to both endeavors, says Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Litigation Funding Disclosure Debate: Strategy Considerations

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    In the ongoing debate over whether courts should require disclosure of litigation funding, funders and plaintiffs tend to argue against such mandates, but voluntarily disclosing limited details about a funding arrangement can actually confer certain benefits to plaintiffs in some scenarios, say Andrew Stulce and Marc Cavan at Longford Capital.

  • 2025 May Be A Breakout Year For The Cannabis Industry

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    The cannabis industry faced a slow and frustrating 2024, but consumer trends continue to shift in favor of cannabis, and the new administration may provide the catalyst that the industry needs, says Lynn Gefen at TerrAscend.

  • FDA's Red No. 3 Ban Reshapes Food Safety Legal Landscape

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent ban on Red No. 3 represents more than the end of a controversial dye — it signals a shift in regulatory priorities, consumer expectations, intellectual property strategy, compliance considerations and litigation risk, says Dino Haloulos at Foley Mansfield.

  • Scope And Nature Of Judicial Relief Will Affect Loper's Impact

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    The practical result of post-Loper Bright rulings against regulatory actions will depend on the relief courts grant — and there has been controversy in these types of cases over whether the ruling is applied just to the parties or nationwide, and whether the action can be left in place while it's corrected, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • The Implications Of E-Cigarette Cos. Taking Suits To 5th Circ.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. R.J. Reynolds over the definition of an "adversely affected" person under the Tobacco Control Act, and the justices' ruling will have important and potentially wide-ranging implications for forum shopping claims, says Trillium Chang at Zuckerman Spaeder.

  • Series

    Adventure Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Photographing nature everywhere from Siberia to Cuba and Iceland to Rwanda provides me with a constant reminder to refresh, refocus and rethink the legal issues that my clients face, says Richard Birmingham at Davis Wright.

  • What Vinyl Acetate's Prop 65 Listing Means For Cos.

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    California's recent move to add vinyl acetate to the Proposition 65 list of carcinogens, with enforcement starting later this year, will have sweeping compliance and risk implications for businesses in the retail, food and beverage, paint, adhesive, industrial manufacturing, and personal care product industries, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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