Life Sciences

  • September 24, 2024

    NJ Judge Leaves J&J Ch. 11 Venue Change To Texas Judge

    A New Jersey bankruptcy judge on Tuesday declined the U.S. trustee's request to move Johnson & Johnson's latest talc-unit Chapter 11 from Texas to the Garden State, saying the issue could be as ably decided by a Texas court while avoiding a thorny issue of authority.

  • September 23, 2024

    J&J Talc Claims Paused In Latest Spinoff Ch. 11

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Monday froze certain talc personal injury litigation against Johnson & Johnson, saying a three-week administrative stay will give the court time to decide key jurisdictional issues in the Chapter 11 case of Red River Talc LLC, a newly created J&J spinoff and the pharmaceutical and cosmetics giant's latest attempt to settle claims in bankruptcy that its baby powder caused cancer.

  • September 23, 2024

    Mallinckrodt Brass Can't Avoid Investor Suit Over 2nd Ch. 11

    A New Jersey federal judge ruled Monday that senior leaders of drugmaker Mallinckrodt cannot escape a lawsuit brought by shareholders alleging the company tricked them into thinking it had recovered from bankruptcy and would make a $200 million payment to opioid claimants, finding the investors sufficiently pleaded securities law violations.

  • September 23, 2024

    Bio Lab Settles Conn. False-Claims Allegations For $1.73M

    Enzo Biochem Inc. and subsidiary Enzo Clinical Labs Inc. will pay nearly $1.73 million to settle accusations that the companies' former Farmingdale, New York, laboratory billed higher rates to the state of Connecticut's Medicaid coffers than it billed to other payers, the state attorney general announced Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Fired Sotera Exec's Vesting Suit Goes Forward In Del.

    Delaware's Court of Chancery dismissed on Monday some claims in a former Sotera Health Co. executive's suit accusing the lab-testing and sterilization firm of wrongly refusing to grant him severance benefits and equity awards worth millions, while holding other claims for trial.

  • September 23, 2024

    GSK Claims Pfizer Hasn't Proven Misconduct In Vax IP Fight

    GlaxoSmithKline is urging a Delaware federal judge to block Pfizer and BioNTech's claims that it has misused its patents tied to COVID-19 vaccination technology, or that it and a predecessor acted inappropriately when applying for those patents.

  • September 23, 2024

    Fed. Circ. OKs Novartis Loss In Eye Syringe Patent Feud

    The Federal Circuit has backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that more than two dozen claims in a Novartis pre-filled eye injection syringe patent weren't patentable.

  • September 23, 2024

    Amneal Latest Generic EpiPen Maker To Fight Colo. Law

    Amneal Pharmaceuticals has sued Colorado in federal court alleging that a state drug affordability program resulted in unconstitutional takings of its generic epinephrine auto-injectors.

  • September 23, 2024

    Cancer Test Cos. Strike Deal For Partial End To Patent Row

    Natera Inc. and Neogenomics Laboratories Inc. said they reached a confidential yet partial settlement Friday in their dispute covering intellectual property for a Natera DNA test meant to detect cancer.

  • September 23, 2024

    Insurer Freed From Damaged Blood Plasma Suit

    A supplier of blood plasma can't secure coverage for a nearly $820,000 blood plasma shipment declared a total loss because of excessive temperature variation and shipping delays, a Georgia federal court ruled, finding the supplier failed to abide by separate temperature and delay warranties in its policy.

  • September 23, 2024

    J&J Accuses Beasley Allen Of Casting Bogus Talc Ballots

    Johnson & Johnson has accused the Beasley Allen Law Firm of casting about two dozen false ballots against the company's latest talc bankruptcy plan without voters' consent and urged a New Jersey federal court to remove the firm from the plaintiff's steering committee as a consequence.

  • September 23, 2024

    RSV Vaccine Biz Secures $100M For Series B Funding Round

    Biopharmaceutical company Vicebio Ltd. on Monday announced that it secured its Series B funding round after securing $100 million led by science-focused investment firm TCGX.

  • September 23, 2024

    Kratom Co. Gets Claims Trimmed In Addiction False Ad Row

    A California federal judge has tossed four out of six claims from a proposed class action alleging Ashlynn Marketing Group Inc. hid from buyers the addictive qualities of its kratom products, leaving only fraud and Consumer Legal Remedies Act claims.

  • September 20, 2024

    House To Weigh Patent Bill Aimed At Cutting Drug Prices

    The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider a bill soon that has already cleared the Senate and could streamline patent litigation by curbing the number of patents that makers of biologic drugs can assert over biosimilar drugs.

  • September 20, 2024

    ITC Has Been Launching Fewer Section 337 Investigations

    Intellectual property activity at the U.S. International Trade Commission has "decreased somewhat," the agency said in a report Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    Alnylam Seeks To End Inventorship Suit Tied To COVID Vax

    Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which alleges that COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna infringe its patents, has moved in Delaware federal court to dismiss a suit by former collaborator Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. seeking to have its scientists added as inventors on the patents.

  • September 20, 2024

    3rd Circ. Rejects 'Close' Case For Preemption In Fosamax MDL

    A U.S. Food and Drug Administration letter denying changes to the label of Merck's osteoporosis drug Fosamax does not count as a final agency action triggering federal preemption of state law "failure to warn" claims, the Third Circuit ruled Friday in a precedential decision.

  • September 20, 2024

    Del. Justices Uphold Toss Of AmerisourceBergen Syringe Suit

    Delaware's Supreme Court upheld with little comment Friday a lower court dismissal of a nearly 5-year-old shareholder derivative suit accusing AmerisourceBergen Corp. directors of failing to investigate and stop illegal repackaging of cancer drugs.

  • September 20, 2024

    IPO Trio Looks To Raise $536M Combined As Autumn Begins

    Three companies spanning the energy, healthcare and life sciences industries are preparing initial public offerings that could raise $536 million combined in the coming week, guided by six law firms, signaling an upturn in IPOs as autumn begins.

  • September 20, 2024

    DuPont Cos. Can't Escape Cape Fear River PFAS Suit

    A North Carolina federal judge said DuPont and several corporate spin-offs can't escape a lawsuit brought by four Tar Heel State residents who claim the companies knowingly poisoned the Cape Fear River with toxic forever chemicals pollution.

  • September 20, 2024

    Lawmakers Ask USPTO To Fix Patent Calculation Problem

    Federal patent officials need to change standards that could let drug companies hold on to patent rights beyond the time frame they are entitled to, according to federal lawmakers.

  • September 20, 2024

    Plaintiffs Firms Battle Over Proposed $9B Deal In J&J Talc Suit

    Two leading plaintiffs law firms in the multibillion-dollar litigation over Johnson & Johnson's tainted talcum powder are now warring among themselves, with Smith Law Firm PLLC suing Beasley Allen Law Firm for defamation after Beasley Allen accused the former of selling out clients to pay off litigation funders.

  • September 20, 2024

    Ex-Healthcare Exec Can't Sue GC Over Probe Advice

    A former Baxter International treasurer who was fired amid an investigation into improper foreign exchange transactions was correctly blocked from pursuing claims against the healthcare company and its general counsel over advice he received on navigating the probe, an Illinois appellate panel said Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    J&J Makes Third Try At Handling Talc Claims In Bankruptcy

    A Johnson & Johnson talc unit filed for Chapter 11 protection in Texas bankruptcy court Friday, marking the third time the company has tried to deal with liability from alleged asbestos-contaminated talc with a bankruptcy filing.

  • September 20, 2024

    Cardinal Health Pays $1.12B For Integrated Oncology Network

    Ropes & Gray LLP-advised Cardinal Health on Friday announced that it has agreed to buy the physician-led independent community oncology entity Integrated Oncology Network for $1.115 billion in cash, in a deal that Cardinal says builds on its commitment to helping community healthcare providers hold on to their independence.

Expert Analysis

  • Investors Can Aid In The Acceptance Of Psychedelic Medicine

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    Psychedelic medicine is ready to have its breakthrough moment, and although it still faces political, legal and communications challenges, private equity investors can play a significant role in changing the public perception on psychedelics from taboo to acceptance, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, Charlie Panfil at the Daschle Group and Ethan Lutz at FTI Consulting.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: May Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from automobile insurance to securities — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including circuit-specific ascertainability requirements and how to conduct a Daubert analysis prior to class certification.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • Proposed Cannabis Reschedule Sidesteps State Law Effects

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent proposal to move cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act provides certain benefits, but its failure to address how the rescheduling would interact with existing state cannabis laws disappointed industry participants hoping for clarity on this crucial question, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • A Changing Regulatory Landscape For Weight Loss Drugs

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    As drugs originally approved to treat diabetes become increasingly popular for weight loss purposes, federal and state regulators and payors are increasing their focus on how these drugs are prescribed, and industry participants should pay close attention to rapidly evolving compliance requirements, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Opioid Suits Offer Case Study In Abatement Expert Testimony

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    Settlements in the opioid multidistrict litigation provide useful insight into leveraging expert discovery on abatement in public nuisance cases, and would not have been successful without testimony on the costs necessary to lessen the harms of the opioid crisis, says David Burnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In April

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    Four Federal Circuit decisions in April that reversed or vacated underlying rulings provide a number of takeaways, including that obviousness analysis requires a flexible approach, that an invalidity issue of an expired patent can be moot, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Opinion

    USPTO's Proposed Disclaimer Rule Would Harm Inventors

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers will make the patent system less available to inventors and will unfairly favor defendants in litigation, say Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Mitigating Incarceration's Impacts On Foreign Nationals

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    Sentencing arguments that highlighted the disparate impact incarceration would have on a British national recently sentenced for insider training by a New York district court, when compared to similarly situated U.S. citizens, provide an example of the advocacy needed to avoid or mitigate problems unique to noncitizen defendants, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Saying What Needs To Be Said

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    Edward Arnold and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth Shaw examine three recent decisions that delve into the meaning and effect of contractual releases, and demonstrate the importance of ensuring that releases, as written, do what the parties intend.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.

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