Deals & Corporate Governance
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October 01, 2024
DOJ Joins Employee Antitrust Suit Against UPMC
The U.S. Department of Justice is backing a proposed class action from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers who say the hospital used noncompetes and blacklists to suppress wages, telling a Pennsylvania federal judge that UPMC's motion to dismiss the suit sets an "insurmountable" pre-discovery bar for plaintiffs.
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October 01, 2024
What BioAge's Upsized IPO Tells Us About The Obesity Trend
A $198 million upsized public offering by obesity drug developer BioAge points to strong interest in the obesity market and a pipeline of biotech IPOs heading into the end of the year.
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October 01, 2024
Latham Helps TJC Clinch 2nd Continuation Fund At $2.1B
Latham & Watkins LLP-advised middle-market private equity firm TJC LP on Tuesday announced that it clinched its second continuation fund with $2.1 billion of investor commitments led by Carlyle subsidiary AlpInvest.
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September 30, 2024
Bristol-Myers Beats Celgene Investors' Drug Delay Suit
A New York federal judge on Monday tossed UMB Bank's claims that Bristol-Myers Squibb improperly delayed U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of a cancer treatment to avoid paying shareholders $6.4 billion owed from a 2019 acquisition of Celgene Corp., saying the bank lacked standing to sue.
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September 30, 2024
Medical Device Co. Wins $25M Verdict In Poaching Trial
Medical device company Cynosure has won a $25 million jury award following a weekslong trial in Massachusetts federal court on its claims that a rival business raided its sales and marketing talent and caused the employees to breach their noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements.
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September 30, 2024
J&J Exec Accused Of File Heist Wants Pause Amid DOJ Case
A former competitive strategy director for Johnson & Johnson accused of stealing confidential files as he left the company to work for Pfizer asked a New Jersey federal court to pause the suit after learning he is under criminal investigation.
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September 30, 2024
Steward Health CEO Sues Senate Panel After Contempt Vote
The outgoing CEO of embattled Steward Health Care on Monday sued members of Congress who voted earlier this month to hold him in contempt for defying their subpoena to testify at a hearing into the downfall of the bankrupt hospital chain he heads.
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September 27, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Revive $5.9M CMS Contingency Fee Suit
The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to revive a contractor's $5.9 million dispute over a Medicare recovery audit task order, saying the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reasonably terminated the deal and didn't owe the company any more money.
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September 27, 2024
Pharma Co. Amarin Beats Class Action Over Patent Issues
A New Jersey federal judge has tossed a proposed class action against pharmaceutical company Amarin and its top brass, alleging they misled shareholders about their products and the prospects of related patent litigation, saying the investors have failed to plead any actionable misleading statements or omissions made by the defendants.
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September 26, 2024
2nd Circ. Denies Jury Trial In Abbott Labs Gray Market Case
A man and his wife involved in the sale of gray market diabetes test strips on Tuesday were unable to persuade the Second Circuit to undo the $33.4 million judgment they owe to Abbott Laboratories after a federal judge stripped them of their right to a jury trial.
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September 25, 2024
Novel Labor Clause Ruling May Beg Scrutiny In Court
A controversial demand from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for prospective contractors to recognize union organizing may stretch the limits of the government's required neutrality in contactors' labor disputes, and a ruling supporting it is likely to attract close scrutiny from courts.
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September 25, 2024
Cancer Detection Biz To Go Public Via $694M SPAC Merger
Special purpose acquisition company Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to merge with and take public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company YD Biopharma Ltd. in a deal that gives the combined company an estimated enterprise value of $694 million and was built by three firms.
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September 24, 2024
Biotech RenovaCare Investors Seek OK Of $2M Deal
Biotechnology company RenovaCare Inc. has reached a $2 million deal to end a consolidated proposed class action alleging it pumped its stock prices by using a secret paid promotional campaign, the company's investors have told a New Jersey federal judge.
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September 24, 2024
Mucinex Maker To Bring $145.6M Facility To North Carolina
Health products company Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC plans to invest $145.59 million to open up a production facility in Wilson County, North Carolina, to produce Mucinex, a popular brand of cough medicine, according to a Tuesday announcement by the state's governor's office.
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September 24, 2024
Moderna Execs Hyped Ineffective RSV Vax, Suit Says
Officers and directors of Moderna misled investors about the efficacy of its RSV vaccine, causing share prices to dive when it was revealed in June to have only about a 50% efficacy rate after 18 months, a new shareholder suit alleges.
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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.
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September 20, 2024
Fla. Judge Trims Health Co. Data Breach MDL
The Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation of a health benefits administration company impacted by a data breach dismissed several state consumer law claims but said those who brought lawsuits can sue, saying they've plausibly alleged injuries after their personal information was allegedly stolen by a cybercriminal group.
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September 20, 2024
HCA Presses For NC Attorney General's Merger Review Docs
HCA Healthcare is demanding North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein turn over certain public records pertaining to his office's review of a 2019 hospital merger at the center of a compliance case, saying they aren't privileged or otherwise protected under work-product.
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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.
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September 19, 2024
AndroGel Antitrust Case On Hold Amid Settlement Talk
A Pennsylvania federal judge has agreed to pause a class action against Abbott and other drugmakers over allegedly sham patent cases, saying a settlement between the two sides may be in the works.
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September 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Revives Astellas Patent Axed As Natural Law
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday vacated a lower court's invalidation of an Astellas Pharma overactive bladder medication patent for claiming only a natural law, saying the holding was improper because the generics makers accused of infringement never made that argument.
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September 18, 2024
Organon To Buy Psoriasis Treatment Biz For Up To $1.2B
Women's healthcare-focused company Organon, advised by Covington & Burling LLP, on Wednesday announced it will purchase Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP-led Dermavant, a subsidiary of Roivant that develops and commercializes therapies in immuno-dermatology.
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September 17, 2024
Healthcare Deals This Week: Sanofi, Summit Therapeutics, F2G, More
A trio of IPOs that hit the market on the same day and a handful of funding rounds lead this week's notable deals in the healthcare industry.
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September 17, 2024
Contracting Rules Don't Bar Union Requirement, GAO Says
Government contractors can be mandated to enter into agreements with labor unions to qualify for deals, the U.S. Government Accountability Office ruled Monday in a company's protest of the requirement for a $6.6 billion deal.
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September 17, 2024
Philip Morris To Part With Inhaler Maker In Up To £258M Deal
Philip Morris International is spacing itself from the British inhaler maker it purchased in 2021 through an up to £258 million ($339.6 million) sale that preserves a commercial relationship, amid what the tobacco company called "unwarranted opposition" to its role in developing inhaled therapeutics.
Expert Analysis
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Trends Emerge In High Court's Criminal Law Decisions
In its 2022-2023 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued nine merits decisions in criminal cases covering a wide range of issues, and while each decision is independently important, when viewed together, key trends and takeaways appear that will affect defendants moving forward, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial
Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.
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Negotiating AI-Life Sciences Partnerships To Minimize IP Risk
When life sciences companies and AI companies form partnerships to foster innovation, the parties should align interests as well as mitigate intellectual property risks by strategically identifying and addressing the unique AI-related legal issues, such as training data, AI model and output, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness
Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.
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Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory
Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.
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Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid
As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.
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Revalidation Unlikely To End NIH Tech-Deal Bid Protest Saga
Recent U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions requiring the National Institutes of Health to again rework a $50 billion information technology contract probably won't result in an award for many protesters, and the corrective action will likely be followed by more protests, say James Tucker and Damien Specht at MoFo.
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Colorado Antitrust Reform Carries Broad State Impact
Colorado recently became the latest state to update and expand its antitrust laws, and the new act may significantly affect enforcement and private litigation, particularly when it comes to workers and consumers, says Diane Hazel at Foley & Lardner.
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Parsing Through The FTC's Proposed Health Privacy Updates
The Federal Trade Commission's recently proposed updates to its Health Breach Notification Rule contain subtle but significant changes to key terms that help modernize the agency's health app regulation and provide stakeholders an important opportunity to help shape the future of virtual health care, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Regulating AI: An Overview Of Federal Efforts
The U.S. has been carefully managing a national policy and regulatory ecosystem toward artificial intelligence, but as AI technology continues to expand into our everyday lives, so too has its risks and the need for regulation, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.
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Merger Guidelines Should Provide For Competition Trustees
Following the U.S. antitrust agencies' release of draft merger guidelines, retired U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Susan Braden suggests a court-appointed competition trustee would help ensure U.S. competition without impairing economic prosperity.
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Indivior Ruling May Affect Rebate Wall Litigation
A New Jersey federal court's recent decision in Indivior v. Alvogen, in which a claim that an alleged rebate wall anti-competitively blocked generic competition survived summary judgment, may provide a blueprint for successfully challenging other drug rebating practices, say Peter Herrick and Monsura Sirajee at O'Melveny.
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Merger Guidelines' Broad Tack Ignores Recent Precedent
The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission's new proposed merger guidelines are consistent with the Biden administration's expansive approach to antitrust enforcement, but they fail to grapple meaningfully with much of modern economic precedent and court decisions requiring greater agency rigor in merger analysis, say attorneys at Freshfields.