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Life Sciences
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May 21, 2024
DC Circ. Says Drugmakers Can Limit Pharmacy Discounts
The D.C. Circuit held Tuesday that a federal drug discount program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies, rejecting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' expansive interpretation of the 340B drug pricing program.
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May 21, 2024
MetLife Workers Tell 3rd Circ. Higher Premiums Give Standing
A group of MetLife Group Inc. retirees insisted to the Third Circuit on Tuesday that they would have had lower health insurance premiums had MetLife not kept millions in pharmacy rebates, and that MetLife's actions gave them standing to sue — or at least to seek more information on how the company should spend the money.
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May 21, 2024
CohnReznick Adds PwC Partner To International Tax Practice
CohnReznick has a new principal in its international tax practice who previously served as a partner at PwC, the firm announced.
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May 21, 2024
SPAC Investor's Suit Changes Came Too Late, Chancery Rules
A shareholder of a special-purpose acquisition company that merged with a now-defunct medical technology company in 2021 waited too long to amend his year-old proposed class action and must defend the case against a motion to dismiss in June, Delaware's Court of Chancery said Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
PE Firms Close Separate Funds With Nearly $1.3B Total In Tow
Winston & Strawn LLP-advised private equity shop Paceline Equity Partners LLC and Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised private equity firm Eir Partners on Tuesday separately announced that they have clinched funds totaling nearly $1.3 billion combined, with the former's fund focusing on corporate debt and real assets and the latter's targeting healthcare technology investments.
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May 21, 2024
Cooley Atty Returns From Deputy GC In-House Role In Boston
Cooley LLP's latest emerging companies and venture capital practice partner, James Schneider, started his career as a sports journalist covering local high school football games and didn't consider shifting careers until after the final whistle of a Thanksgiving Day game while rushing to meet a deadline, he told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023
The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.
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May 21, 2024
The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms
The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.
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May 21, 2024
Paul Hastings' FDA Chair Departs For Arnold & Porter
The chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration practice at Paul Hastings LLP has left for Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP just a few months after joining Paul Hastings, the firm said Tuesday.
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May 20, 2024
Ex-IRS Agent, Five Others Sentenced In COVID Fraud Scheme
A former Internal Revenue Service agent, his brother and four other defendants have pled guilty to participating in a scheme that netted more than $3 million in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic relief loans.
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May 20, 2024
Lab Says GSK Hid Zantac Cancer Risk From Feds For Decades
A Connecticut laboratory claims that GlaxoSmithKline defrauded federal health insurance programs for billions by hiding for 40 years that Zantac decomposes into a carcinogen even when just sitting on the shelf, in a lawsuit filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.
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May 20, 2024
Teladoc Faces Suit Over Mental Health Platform's Losses
Telemedicine giant Teladoc Health Inc. and two of its executives face a proposed investor class action alleging trading prices for Teladoc shares fell after the company disclosed that its flagship mental health counseling platform saw membership and revenue declines despite increased advertising costs.
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May 20, 2024
Ultragenyx Must Face Suit Over Use Of Henrietta Lacks' Cells
The family of the late Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were harvested without her knowledge to create the first immortalized human cell line, can pursue their suit alleging Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical "made a fortune" using her stolen cells to develop gene therapy treatments, a Maryland federal judge ruled Monday.
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May 20, 2024
USPTO Clarifies Means-Plus-Function Claims For Antibodies
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new Appeals Review Panel clarified the use of means-plus-function claiming when patenting antibodies, while continuing to reject claims of a Xencor Inc. patent application related to treating autoimmune diseases.
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May 20, 2024
McKinsey Can't Nix Pregnant Women's Claims In Opioid MDL
A California federal judge has cut some claims from multidistrict litigation seeking to hold McKinsey & Co. Inc. liable for infant neonatal abstinence syndrome caused by pregnant women's use of opioids, trimming fraud and nuisance-based claims, but allowing conspiracy and aiding-and-abetting claims to proceed against the consulting firm.
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May 20, 2024
Judge Tosses Acuitas' COVID Biotech IP Suit
A New Jersey federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit from a maker of a component of a COVID-19 vaccine relating to patent infringement litigation brought by two other companies against Pfizer and BioNTech.
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May 20, 2024
Local Governments Seek Sanctions For PBMs In Opioid MDL
Four municipalities are asking an Ohio federal court overseeing the national opioid litigation to sanction pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts Inc. and OptumRX Inc., saying they've willfully defied the court's order to provide complete responses to discovery requests.
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May 20, 2024
iRhythm Brass Face Suit Over FDA's Heart Monitor Inquiry
Several current and former directors and executives of medical technology company iRhythm are named in a shareholder derivative suit alleging they failed to disclose an inquiry by the Food and Drug Administration that found iRhythm's heavily touted and high-cost real-time heart monitoring device failed to meet the company's claims.
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May 20, 2024
J&J Says Beasley Allen Looking To 'Bias' Vote On $6.5B Plan
Johnson & Johnson's bankrupt talc unit accused the Beasley Allen Law Firm of attempting to intentionally "bias" the vote against its recently announced proposal to pay out $6.5 billion in a prepackaged reorganization plan to resolve claims that its talc-based baby powder causes ovarian cancer.
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May 20, 2024
Latham Hires 2 Skadden Healthcare Partners In DC
Latham & Watkins LLP has picked up two healthcare and life sciences partners from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Monday.
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May 20, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware was full of drama last week, as proposed changes to the state's corporate law statutes raised eyebrows and a professor's friend-of-the-court brief sparked a very unfriendly public exchange. Delaware's court of equity banged the gavel on pipeline and social media disputes, and shareholders filed new suits alleging insider trading, vote bungling, unfair stock buybacks and merger shenanigans. In case you missed any of it, here's the recap of all the top news last week from Delaware's Chancery Court.
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May 20, 2024
Ga. Judge OKs $5M Atty Fees In $41M Acella Thyroid Deal
A Georgia federal judge has signed off on a nearly $41.5 million class action settlement with Acella Pharmaceuticals LLC over faulty thyroid medication, while awarding the class attorneys another $5 million in legal fees courtesy of the pharma company.
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May 20, 2024
Moderna Fends Off Pfizer's MRNA Patent Challenge
Moderna has successfully defended a key patent underpinning its COVID-19 vaccine, after rivals Pfizer and BioNTech attempted to convince the European Patent Office that the IP protections should be nixed.
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May 20, 2024
Shah Ends Novavax Proxy Fight Following Sanofi Deal
Hedge fund Shah Capital Management Inc. told fellow Novavax Inc. shareholders Monday that it is ending its fight to remove certain members of the biotech company's board, citing its favorable view of Novavax's licensing deal with Sanofi earlier this month.
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May 17, 2024
VA Deal Winner Says Protest Not Based On Common Sense
The winner of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mail-order pharmacy deal urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to toss a competitor's protest of the award, saying the protester's challenge was based on an incorrect reading of applicable regulations.
Expert Analysis
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The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting
While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Calif. Verdict Showcases SEC's New 'Shadow Trading' Theory
Last week's insider trading verdict, delivered against biopharmaceutical executive Matthew Panuwat by a California federal jury, signals open season on a new area of regulatory enforcement enabled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's shadow trading theory, say Perrie Weiner and Aaron Goodman at Baker McKenzie.
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Series
Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.
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For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill
A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.
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HHS Opioid Rule Generally Benefits Providers And Patients
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' newly effective rule, the first substantial change to opioid treatment programs and delivery standards in over 20 years, significantly expands access and reduces stigma around certain medications, though the rule is narrow in scope and does have some limitations, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law
A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.
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Opinion
Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea
A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.
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2 Recent Suits Show Resiliency Of Medicare Drug Price Law
Though pharmaceutical companies continue to file lawsuits challenging the Inflation Reduction Act, which enables the federal government to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, recent decisions suggest that the reduced drug prices are likely here to stay, says Jose Vela Jr. at Clark Hill.
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.
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Defense Attys Must Prep For Imminent AI Crime Enforcement
Given recent statements by U.S. Department of Justice officials, white collar practitioners should expect to encounter artificial intelligence in federal criminal enforcement in the near term, even in pending cases, say Jarrod Schaeffer and Scott Glicksman at Abell Eskew.
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Planning For Healthcare-Private Equity Antitrust Enforcement
U.S. antitrust agency developments could mean potential enforcement actions on healthcare-related acquisitions by private equity funds are on the way, and entities operating in this space should follow a series of practice tips, including early assessment of antitrust risks on both the state and federal level, say Ryan Quillian and John Kendrick at Covington.
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Opinion
Why USPTO Should Issue Inherency Guidance Memo
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should issue a new guidance memo in regard to the standard for inherency during the examination process, as the standard is frequently misapplied during prosecution, and consistency of the standard in the USPTO should match that in the federal courts, says Irving Feit at Lucas & Mercanti.
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How Purdue Pharma High Court Case May Change Bankruptcy
The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Purdue Pharma may be the death of most third-party releases in Chapter 11 cases, and depending on the decision’s breadth, could have much more far-reaching effects on the entire bankruptcy system, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O'Connor.
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3 Health Insurance Paths For Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Ahead of potential U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals for psychedelics as insured treatments, attorneys at Husch Blackwell review pathways for these drugs to achieve coverage as treatments for complex mental health conditions.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.