Life Sciences

  • February 24, 2025

    Biotech Minority Investor Sues In Del. To Block Control Moves

    A company control and takeover battle between Aurion Biotech Inc. and a large investor made its second landing in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Monday, in a minority stockholder's direct and derivative suit accusing Alcon Research Inc. and its board designates of multiple fiduciary breaches.

  • February 24, 2025

    Insurer Needn't Cover Hospital's $2.5M Virus Vax Probe Costs

    A Chubb unit has no obligation to pay an Illinois hospital for $2.5 million in legal costs associated with responding to federal and state probes into its COVID-19 vaccine distribution program, a federal court ruled, finding that the policy's $1 million regulatory claims sublimit applies.

  • February 24, 2025

    PBMs To Challenge FTC Case At 8th Circ., But Without Pause

    A Missouri federal judge summarily refused, again, on Monday to temporarily block the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices, letting the case proceed while the pharmacy benefits managers appeal to the Eighth Circuit.

  • February 24, 2025

    Purdue's New Ch. 11 Plan Sidesteps Nonconsensual Releases

    Mediators helping to craft a new settlement in the case of bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP said in their latest update in New York bankruptcy court that the company's revised deal does not contain nonconsensual third-party waivers.

  • February 24, 2025

    Boehringer Ingelheim Wins Illinois Zantac Cancer Retrial

    An Illinois state jury swiftly sided with Boehringer Ingelheim on Monday over two men's claims that taking the company's over-the-counter Zantac for decades contributed to their prostate cancer diagnoses, handing each of the men a trial loss after juries in their previous trials had deadlocked.

  • February 24, 2025

    Skadden, Ropes & Gray Advising On 23andMe Buyout Bid

    The CEO of 23andMe has teamed up with private equity firm New Mountain Capital on an offer to purchase and take the genetic testing company private at an equity value of approximately $74.7 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • February 24, 2025

    Elizabeth Holmes Loses 9th Circ. Appeal Over Theranos Fraud

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday affirmed the criminal fraud convictions of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani along with their respective 11-year and nearly 13-year prison sentences, rejecting arguments that the lower court made multiple evidentiary errors that unfairly swayed jurors.

  • February 24, 2025

    Justices Nix Whistleblower Suit Over Arbitral Vacatur Limits

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a petition that raised questions about the standards under which courts can vacate or enforce arbitral awards, in a case brought by a whistleblower who sought to challenge an arbitral award favoring his former employer.

  • February 24, 2025

    Paul Hastings Adds Boston Co-Chair For New Tech Practice

    The former global vice chair of Latham & Watkins LLP's data and technology transactions practice has moved to Paul Hastings LLP as co-chair of its newly established technology transactions practice, the latter firm announced Monday.

  • February 21, 2025

    Colo. Woman Tells Jury Sterilization Plant Caused Cancer

    A woman claiming medical sterilization company Terumo caused a cancer cluster in her Colorado community took the stand Friday and told a state jury that her lymphoma gave her debilitating fatigue and self-doubt.

  • February 21, 2025

    WebMD Users Secure Class Certification In Video Privacy Suit

    WebMD faces a certified class action accusing the health information site of violating federal law by sharing roughly half a million of its users' video-viewing history with Facebook, after a Georgia federal judge rejected some of the website's arguments against certification as "absurd."

  • February 21, 2025

    MSN Calls Novartis' Entresto Delisting Protest 'Disingenuous'

    Novartis' claim that there's no rush to decide whether a patent covering its blockbuster cardiovascular drug Entresto should be removed from a key drug database is "disingenuous and a complete about-face," MSN Pharmaceuticals has told a Delaware federal judge.  

  • February 21, 2025

    Eli Lilly Has Exclusivity Over Weight Loss Drug, FDA Says

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked a Texas federal court to reject a request for an injunction that would allow compounding pharmacies to produce a lucrative weight loss drug, saying the agency based its decision on sound facts and it was within its authority.

  • February 21, 2025

    Harry Manbeck, Former USPTO Head, Dies At 98

    Former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office leader and chief patent counsel at General Electric Co., Harry F. Manbeck Jr., died Wednesday. He was 98.

  • February 21, 2025

    NFL Alums Accused Of Misusing COVID Outreach Funding

    The National Football League's largest alumni organization has been accused by a biotechnology company of trying to misuse Georgia taxpayer dollars intended for a COVID-19 vaccine education program before unlawfully breaking their contract last year.

  • February 21, 2025

    Pharma Co. Investors Get Final OK For $3M Settlement

    Investors in Colorado pharmaceutical company Ampio have gotten final approval for their $3 million deal resolving claims that its leadership mishandled a clinical trial for the company's sole drug candidate and distributed the drug outside the trial for unapproved use, leading to an internal investigation in which two executives were fired and a disclosure that there was "no clinical pathway forward" for the treatment.

  • February 21, 2025

    Manufacturer Not Covered For Pot Grower Claims, Court Told

    Cincinnati Insurance Co. said it has no duty to defend or indemnify a manufacturer accused of misrepresenting the capabilities of its indoor marijuana growing systems, telling a Michigan federal court Friday that underlying claims brought by a cannabis company do not trigger coverage.

  • February 21, 2025

    UChicago Medical Center Can't Duck Wage Suit

    An Illinois federal judge largely allowed a proposed class action brought by UChicago Medical Center workers seeking to recover unpaid wages for the time spent undergoing mandatory, pre-shift COVID-19 screenings to move forward, rejecting the center's argument that the screenings weren't "integral and indispensable" to employees' job duties.

  • February 21, 2025

    Weight Loss Drug Patient Drops Appeal In Cancer Risk Suit

    Days after arguing her case before a skeptical Third Circuit panel, a woman who alleges she suffered financial harm by buying a weight loss drug that purportedly causes cancer — which she said she has not been diagnosed with — has voluntarily dismissed the case.

  • February 21, 2025

    Veolia Ends One Of Few Remaining Flint Water Suits For $53M

    A water engineering firm on Friday said it will pay $53 million to settle claims from the state of Michigan and thousands of Flint residents who allege the company failed to properly identify corrosion control treatment issues or alert officials to the dangers of the city's water, prolonging the water crisis.

  • February 21, 2025

    Paul Hastings Seeks To End GenapSys Malpractice Action

    Paul Hastings LLP has moved for summary judgment in a malpractice action from GenapSys Inc., saying the case is barred because the genomic sequencing company failed to disclose its possible claim until after confirmation of its bankruptcy plan.

  • February 21, 2025

    NJ High Court Takes Up Pharma Co. Fraud Coverage Row

    The New Jersey Supreme Court will review an appeals court's ruling against indemnification in a case of first impression on the applicability of an exclusion barring directors and officers coverage for wrongful acts "in any way involving" an insured's work for an uninsured entity, the high court announced.

  • February 21, 2025

    WilmerHale Corporate Ace Joins DLA Piper In California

    DLA Piper has added a former WilmerHale attorney to strengthen its corporate practice, including bolstering its service to clients in the life sciences and healthcare industries.

  • February 21, 2025

    NIH Research Cuts Stay On Hold As Judge Mulls Objections

    A Boston federal judge on Friday extended her hold on a Trump administration proposal to slash reimbursements from the National Institutes of Health for research grant costs, a move colleges, hospitals and other institutions have said would wreak havoc on scientific research.

  • February 20, 2025

    DOJ Says Job Protections For ALJs Are Unconstitutional

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it no longer backs long-standing job protections for administrative law judges, saying it has determined that the "multiple layers of removal restrictions" shielding ALJs are unconstitutional because they violate the separation of powers doctrine.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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

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    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.

  • Newly Acquired Information Can Be Key In Drug Label Cases

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    The question of whether federal law preempts state law claims is often central in pharmaceutical labeling cases, like the Fosamax litigation now before the Third Circuit — but parties must also consider whether there is newly acquired information to justify submitting a proposed labeling change in the first place, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Nvidia Case's Potential Impact On Securities Class Actions

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    In Nvidia v. Ohman Fonder, the U.S. Supreme Court could strip lower courts of their long-standing ability and obligation to holistically weigh all relevant facts supporting plaintiffs' allegations of securities fraud, which would have a wide-ranging impact on securities fraud class actions in the U.S., say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Key Healthcare Issues That Hinge On The Election Outcome

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    The 2024 presidential race, while not heavily dominated by healthcare issues compared to past elections, holds significant implications for the direction of healthcare policy in a potential Harris or Trump administration, encompassing issues ranging from Medicare to artificial intelligence, says Miranda Franco at Holland & Knight.

  • Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In September

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    Cases that were reversed or vacated by the Federal Circuit last month provide helpful clarity on collateral estoppel, patent eligibility, construction of claim terms that have different boundaries across different claims, and the role of courts as neutral arbiter, say attorneys at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • How 2 Proposed Bills Could Transform Patent Law

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    The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act and the Prevail Act may come up for vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee after the election, and both offer benefits and challenges for inventors and companies seeking to obtain patents, says Philip Nelson at Knobbe Martens.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Budding Lessons From Landmark Plant Seed Patent Battle

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    The Corteva v. Inari case involving intellectual property rights in genetically modified plants is now proceeding through discovery and potentially to trial, and will raise critical questions that could have a major impact on the agriculture technology industry, say Tate Tischner and Andrew Zappia at Troutman Pepper.

  • The Key To Solving High Drug Costs Is Understanding Causes

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    One-sided views on who or what contributes to the high cost of pharmaceuticals render possible solutions much harder to discover and implement, and a better approach would be to examine history and learn why costs have increased and what legislation has and hasn't helped, says Nancy Linck at NJ Linck Consulting.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

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