Digital Health & Technology

  • March 05, 2024

    DLA Piper Adds Merck SVP As New Life Sciences Sector Chair

    An experienced in-house attorney with a longtime passion for life sciences and medicine has left her position as a C-suite executive at biopharmaceutical giant Merck to join DLA Piper as the chair of its life sciences sector.

  • March 04, 2024

    WTO Conference Ends Without COVID IP Waiver Expansion

    The World Trade Organization did not reach an agreement at a conference last week on a proposal to expand a waiver on intellectual property for COVID vaccines to cover tests and treatments, a move welcomed by opponents of the plan.

  • March 04, 2024

    Trial Of Ex-Stimwave CEO Over Medical Device Nears End

    Prosecutors on Monday urged a Manhattan federal jury to convict the former CEO of Stimwave Technologies for hawking a medical device for chronic pain sufferers with a bogus component designed to drive up billings, while defense counsel derided a lack of evidence to support the government's claims.

  • March 04, 2024

    French Spinal Care Co. Can't Get €4.2M Award Enforced

    A Delaware judge has blocked the enforcement of a €4.2 million ($4.56 million) arbitral award issued in a dispute over failed plans for a French medical equipment company to expand into Colombia, ruling that the company misinterpreted an arbitration clause that referred to a nonexistent arbitral forum.

  • March 01, 2024

    Gov't Says AI Patent Gap Between US And China Is Growing

    A report by a U.S. federal agency says that people living in China have been granted more patents than people living in the U.S., and the latest figures suggest an especially widening gap in patents issued over artificial intelligence.

  • March 01, 2024

    LGBTQ+ Org. Seeks To Ward Off Paxton's Documents Demand

    An LGBTQ+ advocacy group has sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his office over a civil investigative demand for documents in connection with a state law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youths, saying the demand violates the organization's and its members' constitutional rights.

  • March 01, 2024

    Cannabis Consulting Co. Says Clinic Owes $101K On Contract

    A laboratory and consulting firm that focuses on the cannabis industry alleged that a Michigan clinic owes the firm more than $100,000 for unpaid services, according to a lawsuit filed in Colorado federal court.

  • March 01, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen a legal battle between confectionary heavyweight Mars Wrigley UK and a frozen food manufacturer, a trademark infringement claim by Abbott Diabetes Care over glucose monitoring meters, Mercedes-Benz Group hit with two commercial fraud disputes, and the Mediterranean Shipping Company tackle a cargo claim by an insurance company. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • February 29, 2024

    Medtronic Expands Its Bladder Device Patent Fight

    Medical device conglomerate Medtronic has opened two more fronts in its fight over a new kind of "neuromodulation solution" for bladder and bowel control issues that's at the center of its ongoing intellectual property dispute with a newer and smaller rival, a recent acquisition of Boston Scientific.

  • February 29, 2024

    UnitedHealth Unit Says Blackcat Group Behind Cyberattack

    A UnitedHealth unit on Thursday announced that the "Blackcat" ransomware group is behind a cyberattack that has taken out its information technology systems and services for the past nine days.

  • February 29, 2024

    Medtronic Says 3 Years Of Tax Returns Under IRS Audit

    Three years of medical device company Medtronic's federal income tax returns are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, the company said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

  • February 28, 2024

    Biotech Co., Ex-Exec And Investor To Pay $5.2M In SEC Suit

    A New York federal judge entered final judgments against medical device company RenovaCare, its controlling shareholder, and its former chief operating officer to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suit accusing them of artificially inflating RenovaCare's stock price, ordering them to pay a total of $5.2 million.

  • February 28, 2024

    Attys Get $750K Fee Award In $6M Med Tech Co. Deal

    Class attorneys for minority shareholders of Autonomous Medical Devices Inc. who secured a $6 million settlement to resolve claims about a purportedly underpriced stock sale to an interest of Oracle founder Larry J. Ellison won court approval of the settlement Wednesday, along with a requested $750,000 fee award.

  • February 28, 2024

    WilmerHale Adds Ex-Medtronic Legal Leader To Its DC Office

    WilmerHale has hired for its Washington, D.C., office an attorney who helped build the global trade legal department at healthcare technology company Medtronic.

  • February 28, 2024

    Dexcom Rival Fights Its Bid To Tweak Glucose Monitor Patent

    A Korean medical tech company has asked a London court to block Dexcom's bid to tweak its diabetes management patent to avoid losing protections should the court rule that it's invalid.

  • February 28, 2024

    NuVasive Can Pierce Co. To Collect From Ex-Rep, Judge Says

    NuVasive Inc. can pierce the corporate veil to collect a $617,000-plus arbitration judgment it won against a company operated by one of its former sales representatives who improperly cut ties with the medical device company and violated his noncompete agreement, a Boston federal judge has ruled. 

  • February 27, 2024

    Last-Minute Settlement Stops 2nd Catheter Trial In Del.

    A second legal fight over patents that cover a type of external catheter for women will not be going before a jury in Wilmington after the two feuding rivals agreed on Tuesday to settle the dispute.

  • February 27, 2024

    10th Circ. Backs FDA E-Cigarettes Marketing Denial

    The Tenth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's denials of two companies' applications to market flavored e-cigarettes, rejecting their argument that the agency secretly planned to reject any applications without long-term studies.

  • February 27, 2024

    Survey Finds Just 4 in 10 Healthcare Orgs. Review AI Guidance

    Only 40% of healthcare professionals surveyed by the Berkeley Research Group say their organizations are reviewing or plan to review regulatory guidance on artificial intelligence, even as they expect rapid growth in AI deployment over the next three years, according to a report released Tuesday.

  • February 26, 2024

    NC Health Data Breach Class Deal Gets Preliminary OK

    A North Carolina state judge has preliminarily approved a settlement resolving a class action against an orthopedic practice over a data breach that compromised sensitive personal information and medical records of current and former patients.

  • February 26, 2024

    UnitedHealth Unit Hits 6th Day Of IT Outage After Cyberattack

    A UnitedHealth Group unit on Monday entered its sixth day of dealing with a cyberattack that breached its information technology systems and services spanning pharmacy claims billing, medical records and payor communications software.

  • February 26, 2024

    NC Hospital's Weak Data Security Led To Breach, Suit Says

    A patient filed a proposed class action in North Carolina's business court alleging a hospital system's inadequate data security resulted in a breach that allowed hackers to access private personal and health information.

  • February 23, 2024

    Seattle Hospital Gets Facebook Browser Tracking Suit Tossed

    A Washington state judge sided with Seattle Children's Hospital on Friday, throwing out a proposed class action accusing the healthcare provider of privacy law violations and agreeing the group of parents hadn't shown how the use of a browser tracking tool on its website disclosed confidential patient information to Facebook.

  • February 23, 2024

    Chamber's Report Bemoans Biden's March-In Idea For Drug IP

    The most powerful business lobbying group in the U.S. said that although the country ranked at the top of its annual International IP Index, the Biden administration's efforts to potentially use patent laws to reduce the price of pharmaceuticals would jeopardize its place down the line.

  • February 23, 2024

    Fla. Doctor Says T-Mobile Let Hacker Steal Her SIM Card

    A Tampa, Florida, doctor has sued T-Mobile for allegedly failing to stop a "SIM swap" hacker from transferring her personal phone account and then doing little to address the identity theft that followed, which involved the hacker trying to steal thousands from her retirement account and using her medical credentials to write more than 700 fraudulent prescriptions.

Expert Analysis

  • SEC Cybersecurity Rule Presents Burden For Health Care Cos.

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    A new rule from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission aims to increase cybersecurity resiliency, but may only force regulated entities — particularly those in the health care space — to face a far more complicated environment with increased strategic and litigation risks, say Bess Hinson and Angad Chopra at Holland & Knight.

  • Comparing US And EU Approaches To Health AI Regulation

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    Victoria Larson and Julia Cotney at Verrill Dana compare current U.S. and EU regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence and machine learning in the healthcare industry and highlight key principles that providers and developers should be aware of.

  • Why Privacy And Trade Secret Law Are On A Collision Course

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    The conflict between the legal regimes of trade secret law and data privacy law is growing as companies increasingly collect and use data about their customers, making it key for organizations to find ways to comply with both laws in order to protect their intellectual property and the privacy of their customer, says Jenny Colgate at Rothwell Figg.

  • Negotiating AI-Life Sciences Partnerships To Minimize IP Risk

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    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.

  • Parsing Through The FTC's Proposed Health Privacy Updates

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    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.

  • Regulating AI: An Overview Of Federal Efforts

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    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.

  • Compliance Takeaways From HHS Information Blocking Rule

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    A recently finalized rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General demonstrates a renewed focus on investigating practices that may interfere with patients' access to their electronic health information, and should encourage renewed compliance efforts across a range of processes, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Life Sci Cos. Should Work With FDA To Shape AI Regulation

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    Due to the rapidly evolving nature of potentially long-term regulatory paradigms for artificial intelligence, drug and biologic manufacturers looking to leverage AI should engage strategically with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure clarity surrounding compliance obligations, say Lowell Zeta and Blake Wilson at Hogan Lovells.

  • BIPA, Meta Pixel Suits Could Reshape Cybersecurity Litigation

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    Businesses and attorneys should watch several pending electronic privacy cases that revolve around disclosure of protected personal information and health data, which may shape how courts handle damages and class actions in the future of cybersecurity litigation, say Kelly Johnson and Melanie Condon at Goldberg Segalla.

  • The Double-Edged Sword Of Using ChatGPT In Health Care

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    While ChatGPT has shown promising potential in health care, one of the key challenges for players in this space is balancing patient privacy and data protection with the benefits of utilizing this technology, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Addressing Legal Issues Raised By AI Use In Health Care

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    With the usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning in health care likely to be governed by a patchwork of state laws for the near future, industry actors should build flexibility into products to meet evolving regulatory concerns, including monetization of patient data and professional licensing questions, say Sara Shanti and Phil Kim at Sheppard Mullin.

  • New Health Data Compliance Considerations For Pa. Lawyers

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    Given the regularity with which attorneys handle private health information, it is important for Pennsylvania firms to understand recent significant amendments to the state's data breach law, which address information not currently covered by federal law, says Mark Mattioli at Post & Schell.

  • Mitigating Risks Of Developing Drugs And Devices With AI

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    As the use of artificial intelligence in drug and medical device development advances, companies should implement five key steps to identify and mitigate areas of potential risk before regulatory frameworks catch up, say attorneys at King & Spalding.