Life Sciences

November 13, 2024
Guardant Atty Accuses Natera CEO Of Dishonesty At Trial

A Guardant Health lawyer on Wednesday accused Natera's CEO of being disingenuous when he testified at trial that a Natera ad campaign was aimed at correcting misleading information Guardant promoted about its competing colorectal cancer tests, exclaiming, "It was about money, wasn't it? Can't you just be honest about that?"
November 13, 2024
Damages Limited In AGs' Generic Drug Price-Fixing Case

A Connecticut federal judge has nixed some claims against Sandoz Inc. and other generic-drug makers in a massive antitrust and unfair trade practices case filed by state attorneys general, finding that a handful of the enforcers cannot seek damages on behalf of their allegedly injured citizens.
November 13, 2024
Honey Pot Greenwashes 'Plant-Derived' Products, Suit Says

The Honey Pot Co. faces a proposed false advertising class action filed Tuesday in California federal court by customers who allege its line of organic feminine care products, which includes foam washes, wipes, pads and liners, contain synthetic ingredients, despite being labeled as "plant-derived."
November 13, 2024
Ozempic MDL Plaintiffs Say Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk Hid Risks

Patients accusing Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly & Co. of failing to warn them about the risks associated with Ozempic and other such medications on Wednesday filed a massive master complaint in the sprawling multidistrict litigation centralized in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
November 13, 2024
Alnylam Says It's Not A 'Patent Troll' In Vax IP Row

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has shot back at Moderna's request for about $2.8 million in legal costs it incurred defending a patent suit over its coronavirus vaccine, saying Moderna is wrongly trying to paint it as "a pernicious patent troll."
November 13, 2024
TikTok Asks To Keep NC AG's Addiction Complaint Redacted

TikTok Inc. is asking a North Carolina state court to keep redacted portions of a complaint by the state alleging that it targets youth to make them compulsive and addicted users, saying parts of the complaint include information from confidential documents and trade secrets.
November 13, 2024
Baltimore Wins $266M In McKesson, Cencora Opioid Case

Baltimore has been awarded more than $266 million in damages from drug distributors McKesson and Cencora, which a jury found responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic in the city, the mayor's office announced Tuesday.
November 13, 2024
Biotech Brass Misled Investors About Cancer Drugs, Suit Says

Executives and directors of biotechnology company Agenus Inc. have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit in Massachusetts federal court alleging that the company misled investors about the effectiveness of its mainstay cancer treatments.
November 13, 2024
Trump's Choice Of Matt Gaetz For AG Hints At Cannabis Policy

President-elect Donald Trump's announcement Wednesday that he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one of the relatively few Republican proponents of cannabis legalization, to be the next U.S. attorney general marks an early sign of how his administration will consider marijuana policy.
November 12, 2024
Trump Taps Elon Musk To Head New 'Gov't Efficiency' Dept.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a newly created "Department in Government Efficiency" for his administration come January.
November 12, 2024
Masimo Can't Tie Alleged IP Theft To Apple Profits, Expert Says

An Apple expert witness defended the company Tuesday in a California federal bench trial over Masimo's claim that the tech giant stole pulse oximetry trade secrets for its popular smartwatch, testifying Masimo cannot tie any value to the purported secrets and that Apple's profits can't be attributed to the watch's blood oxygen features.
November 12, 2024
Guardant CEO Says Rival's False Ads Hurt 'Beautiful Baby'

Guardant Health's CEO testified Tuesday in his company's false advertising suit against Natera Inc. that its rival's "misleading" ad campaign hurt Guardant's colorectal cancer test launch, saying he felt like somebody had taken their "beautiful baby" and "slammed its head against the wall."
November 12, 2024
Justices Told Fed. Circ. Overstep Claims Are 'Simply Incorrect'

A unit of pharmaceutical company Alvogen on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a petition from the company whose blockbuster IBS drug it's hoping to copy, saying the "petition's fundamental premise" that the Federal Circuit went beyond its legal boundaries "is simply incorrect."
November 12, 2024
HIV Drug Buyers Want Gilead Product Switch Claims Revived

Insurers and benefit plans are asking the Ninth Circuit to revive a chunk of their antitrust case against Gilead, arguing their claims that Gilead delayed generic competition to its HIV drugs by monopolizing the market should have new life.
November 12, 2024
J&J Says HHS Is Thwarting Transparency Of Drug Discounts

Johnson & Johnson claims the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is thwarting its efforts to crack down on hospitals the company alleges are "reaping immense profits" on reduced-price medications without passing those discounts on to patients, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in D.C. federal court.
November 12, 2024
Elanco Pays $15M SEC Fine To Settle Sales Incentive Claims

Elanco Animal Health Inc. has agreed to pay a $15 million fine to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it deceptively juiced revenues with distributor sales incentives between 2019 and 2020, the regulator announced Tuesday.
November 12, 2024
GOP Reps. Propose Another Bill On TRIPS Waivers

A new bill from Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to force the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to file a report "before the negotiation of any international agreement relating to an intellectual property right."
November 12, 2024
Unsatisfied With $70M UTC Win, Sandoz Appeals To 3rd Circ.

Sandoz Inc. has moved to appeal its already $70 million-plus breach of contract damages win over biopharmaceutical firm United Therapeutics Corp., teeing up a Third Circuit request to ask for more damages and to revive antitrust claims previously tossed by a New Jersey federal court.
November 12, 2024
Feds Can Hold Proceeds During Chinese Syringe Duties Fight

A U.S. Court of International Trade judge has approved a stipulation between the federal government and a Texas importer allowing the government to hold onto duties collected on Chinese syringes while the importer challenges the amount being charged.
November 12, 2024
DOJ Suing To Block UnitedHealth Unit's $3.3B Amedisys Deal

The U.S. Department of Justice and four U.S. states filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block UnitedHealth Group's Optum unit from going through with its planned $3.3 billion purchase of Amedisys Inc., arguing the deal will harm competition in the home health and hospice services.
November 08, 2024
NJ Ethics Board Escapes Contempt Bid In Retaliation Fight

A New Jersey judge Friday denied a former state health official's bid to hold a Garden State ethics agency in contempt over stalled discovery in his wrongful termination suit, ruling there was no basis for the court to conclude there was any type of willful conduct to not comply with a discovery order.
November 08, 2024
Apple Didn't Hire Cercacor CTO To Steal Watch IP, Ex-VP Says

A retired Apple executive defended the tech giant Friday in Masimo's trade secret suit over pulse oximetry technology, testifying in California federal court that Apple didn't hire a Masimo spinoff's chief technology office in order to obtain confidential information for the Apple Watch and never received any such information.
November 08, 2024
5th Time Not The Charm For 'Stale' Dow Implant Check Fight

The Sixth Circuit has again rejected an appeal from South Korean claimants who sought replacement checks from a Dow Corning breast implant settlement fund, finding in claimants' fifth trip to the appeals court that they missed their window to cash their duly disbursed settlement checks.
November 08, 2024
J&J Talc Unit Must Revise Ch. 11 Plan, Insurers Say

A group of Johnson & Johnson insurance carriers urged a Texas judge to reject the Chapter 11 plan disclosure statement for the company's Red River Talc unit as unconfirmable, saying J&J "made it clear that it intends to saddle its insurers with responsibility to pay" for the bankruptcy-related claims.
November 08, 2024
Fed. Circ. Unclear If Teva Inhaler IP Belongs In Orange Book

A trio of Federal Circuit judges took a complex question tied to whether Teva should be able to include inhaler patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book and tried to make it simple: Does owning a patent for a steering wheel mean you claim the whole car?

Editor's Picks

Supreme Court Will Tackle Patent Enablement In Amgen Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review Section 112 of the Patent Act for the second time in the law's history, accepting Amgen's request to consider how much a patent must disclose in order to meet enablement requirements.
A Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To FCA Suits After High Court Snub

The U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to resolve one of the False Claims Act's most consequential controversies leaves circuit courts deeply divided over whistleblower pleading obligations in ways that will reverberate nationwide, attorneys say. Here, Law360 explores each circuit's approach and scenarios that might finally trigger high court intervention.
Inside The Collapse Of A Pioneering Opioid Case For DOJ

The U.S. Department of Justice launched a "terribly flawed" criminal case against a drug distributor and several individuals amid pressure to alleviate Appalachia's opioid crisis, and a newly confirmed U.S. attorney displayed "courage and guts" by ending the case last month, defense counsel told Law360 in an expansive interview.

Expert Analysis

What To Expect Next From Federal Health Tech Regulation

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

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

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.
Key Territory-Split Licensing Lessons For Life Sciences Cos.

Territory-split deals can allow life sciences companies to maximize products' potential across a range of geographic areas, but these deals also present unique challenges requiring highly bespoke structures that can make or break the value of an asset, say attorneys at Covington.
Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.
Justices Must Weigh Reach Of Civil RICO In Cannabis Case

Oral arguments in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn suggest that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court may agree that a truck driver's losing his job after unknowingly ingesting THC and failing a drug test does not merit a racketeering claim — but the court may not buy the other side's theory of the case either, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.
Litigation Strategies In View Of New Double Patenting Rulings

Recent Federal Circuit decisions, including in Allergan v. MSN, raise several issues that patent owners should understand and consider addressing proactively regarding obviousness-type double patenting, at least in their prosecution strategies, say attorneys at Dentons.
Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

Excerpt from Practical Guidance

Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
Series

Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron.
E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.
Opinion

PREVAIL Bill Is Another Misguided Attempt To Restrict PTAB

The decade-long campaign against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board — currently focused on the PREVAIL Act that's slated for markup in the Senate — is not really about procedural issues, and it is not aimed at securing more accurate patentability decisions, says Clear IP's Joseph Matal, former acting director at the USPTO.
Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.
Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.
Series

Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.
How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.