Life Sciences

  • October 28, 2024

    Crown Settles Customer Dispute To Close $924M Revance Buy

    Revance Therapeutics has settled a distribution-related dispute with customer Teoxane SA, potentially clearing the path for its planned $924 million acquisition by skincare company Crown Laboratories. 

  • October 25, 2024

    Inari Wins Bid To Kill Plant Gene Patent At PTAB

    A Massachusetts-based plant breeding startup was able to show that a patent owned by a unit of a DowDuPont spin-off covering a plant gene resistant to weed killers wasn't patentable, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found.

  • October 25, 2024

    Vidal Warned Of 'Heightened' Burden, 'Loophole' In Seed Fight

    Two new petitions in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director say the patent administrative board created "a heightened new standard" in one instance and a trade secrets "loophole" in another in order to protect patents covering purportedly novel corn seeds developed by a unit of DowDuPont spin-off Corteva.

  • October 25, 2024

    NJ Ethics Board Faces Contempt Bid In Retaliation Fight

    Counsel for a New Jersey health official who claimed his firing during the COVID-19 pandemic was retaliatory asked a court to hold the State Ethics Commission in contempt for stalling discovery under the guise that the state health regulator initiated the termination, despite "well documented" evidence that it was the commission and Gov. Phil Murphy.

  • October 25, 2024

    Feds Seek 6½ Years For Ex-Takeda Worker Over Invoice Fraud

    Federal prosecutors in Boston want a former senior Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. employee jailed for 6½ years for the complex scam she pulled off with her boyfriend that raked in millions of dollars through fake invoices, according to a Friday filing.

  • October 25, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Mitchell Law's Jonathan F. Mitchell

    The pantheon of U.S. solicitors general doesn't include many lawyers who've openly challenged the U.S. Supreme Court's authority or sought to undermine its landmark precedents. But there aren't many lawyers like Jonathan F. Mitchell, a crusading conservative who rescued former President Donald Trump's reelection run — and in the process positioned himself to become the government's top oral advocate.

  • October 25, 2024

    Pharmacy Must Pay $39.2M In Conn. Kickback Case

    A defunct compounding pharmacy must pay $39.2 million in damages and penalties for its role in a kickback scheme that made illegal payments to Connecticut state employees and retirees, a state court judge ruled Friday while letting the company's proprietor off the hook.

  • October 25, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen the Competition and Markets Authority take action against a mattress retailer after it was caught pressuring its customers with misleading discounts, Lenovo and Motorola target ZTE Corporation with a patents claim, Lloyds Bank hit by another claim relating to the collapse of Arena Television and U.K. tax authority HMRC sued by the director of an electronics company that evaded millions of pounds in VAT. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • October 24, 2024

    FTC Official Doubts Election Will Deter Antitrust 'New Era'

    The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition director defended the agency's new guidelines and its track record during a wide-ranging discussion at the 34th annual Golden State Institute on Thursday, and he expressed confidence that whichever presidential candidate wins, a new administration won't deter this "new era" of FTC antitrust enforcement actions.

  • October 24, 2024

    Del. Co. Tells 3rd Circ. €4.2M Award Was Properly Denied

    A Delaware investment company wants the Third Circuit to affirm a lower court ruling that refused to enforce an approximately €4.2 million arbitral award issued in a dispute over failed plans for a French medical equipment company to expand into Colombia.

  • October 24, 2024

    IP Forecast: Inhibrx Co-Founder Faces Biotech Secrets Trial

    A Wilmington federal jury next week will hear a trade secrets lawsuit that accuses a biotech executive of helping himself to confidential information about cancer treatment antibodies while being employed as an expert in an unrelated $200 million arbitration proceeding. Here's a spotlight on that case — plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.

  • October 24, 2024

    7th Circ. Doubts Satanic Temple Can Wage Abortion Fight

    A Seventh Circuit panel appeared skeptical Thursday that the Satanic Temple had standing to challenge Indiana's near-complete abortion ban, with questioning turning contentious when one judge pointed out that the religious organization would be blocked from providing abortion drugs through telehealth appointments even without the law. 

  • October 24, 2024

    Sen. Presses US Trade Rep To Take Up Fentanyl Probe

    A Democratic senator from Wisconsin asked the U.S. trade representative on Wednesday to take up a petition urging it to investigate the People's Republic of China's alleged vast illicit fentanyl exports to the United States that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

  • October 24, 2024

    'Will Of The People' Upheld With Ohio Abortion Ban Quashed

    An Ohio state court judge on Thursday permanently blocked the state's "heartbeat law" that prohibited abortion around six weeks of pregnancy, citing a 2023 ballot measure that enshrined the right to an abortion in the state constitution.

  • October 24, 2024

    PBMs Want Separate FTC Hearings Over Insulin Prices

    Caremark Rx LLC, Express Scripts Inc. and OptumRx Inc. are calling for separate proceedings in the Federal Trade Commission's case accusing the pharmacy benefit managers of artificially inflating insulin prices through unfair rebate schemes.

  • October 24, 2024

    Bayer Hit With False-Ad Suit Over Malic Acid In Vitamins

    Bayer is falsely advertising its Flintstones sour gummy vitamins as being free of artificial flavors, a California woman alleged in a proposed class action filed Wednesday in state court, saying the multivitamin supplement meant for children actually gets its sour flavor from synthetic malic acid.

  • October 24, 2024

    ITC Bans Foreign Counterfeit Tourniquets

    The U.S. International Trade Commission banned foreign counterfeits of a tourniquet used by the U.S. military, finding that a broad exclusion order was necessary to protect the domestic manufacturers' intellectual property.

  • October 24, 2024

    Mass. Justices Reject Meta, Google 'Wiretap' Claims

    Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday found that website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics does not violate the state's wiretap law, drawing a sharp dissent from one justice who said the legislature will now need to "correct" the court's mistake.

  • October 23, 2024

    Late Smoker's Spouse Can Argue Survivor's Benefits At Retrial

    The husband of a deceased smoker whose $157 million win against tobacco companies was erased can claim surviving spouse damages under Florida's Wrongful Death Act on retrial even though he was not married to his partner at the time he was diagnosed with lung disease, according to an opinion released Wednesday by a Florida appeals court.

  • October 23, 2024

    NM Pot Cos. Say Border Agents Wrongfully Seized Product

    A group of state-licensed New Mexico cannabis companies allege in a new lawsuit that federal agents have been unlawfully seizing inventory and cash in contravention of a long-held U.S. policy of not interfering with state-regulated marijuana entities.

  • October 23, 2024

    SoClean Says Philips Can't Stand In For Damaged CPAP Users

    SoClean Inc. asked a Pennsylvania federal court to toss Philips RS North America's proposed class-action claims from a multidistrict litigation, arguing that after settling with customers who had to replace their CPAP and BiPAP breathing machines, Philips was really only coming after SoClean on its own behalf.

  • October 23, 2024

    Merck Bets More Than $1B On Yale Cancer Treatment Spinout

    Pharmaceutical giant Merck has purchased New Haven, Connecticut-based Modifi Biosciences Inc. for $30 million upfront, plus potential milestone payments to shareholders totaling up to $1.3 billion, Modifi said Wednesday. 

  • October 23, 2024

    Former Axinn Hatch Waxman Attys Team Up At Polsinelli

    Polsinelli has hired a former Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP partner who spent more than 17 years with that firm litigating Hatch Waxman matters in biomaterials and biological-based pharmaceuticals.

  • October 23, 2024

    Roche CEO Says Novo-Catalent Deal Should Be Blocked

    The CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche injected himself into the controversy surrounding Novo Holdings' planned $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent on Wednesday, stating that he thinks antitrust authorities should block the deal due to its anticompetitive implications.

  • October 22, 2024

    Suit Over Wash. Ban On 'DIY' Rape Evidence Kits Nixed

    A Washington federal judge has tossed a challenge to a state ban on the sale of "DIY" DNA collection kits to sexual assault survivors, rejecting a kit developer's arguments that the ban infringes on its First Amendment rights.

Expert Analysis

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

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    In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • A Look At The PTAB's Assessment Of Prior Art Exceptions

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's approach over the last 10 years to assessing Section 102(b) prior art exceptions reveals a few trends, including that evidence of common ownership may have a higher likelihood of successfully disqualifying prior art under Section 102(b)(2)(C) at the institution stage, say Louis Panzica and David Holman at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

  • How Patent Litigation Is Changing Amid Decline In Filings

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    Marked by a notable decline in case filings and preferred venue shifts, patent litigation has undergone significant changes over the last decade and litigation hot spots have shifted, encouraging a more strategic approach to patent disputes, says Saishruti Mutneja at Winston & Strawn.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Opinion

    FTC's Report Criticizing Drug Middlemen Is Flawed

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    The Federal Trade Commission's July report, which claims that pharmacy benefit managers are inflating drug costs, does not offer a credible analysis of PBMs, and its methodology lacks rigor, says Jay Ezrielev at Elevecon.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • Del. Dispatch: Cautionary Tales Of 2 Earnout Effort Breaches

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery's tendency to interpret earnout provisions precisely as written, highlighted in two September rulings that found buyers breached their shareholder obligations when they failed to make reasonable efforts to hit certain product development milestones, demonstrates the paramount importance of precisely wording these agreements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Takeaways From Novo Nordisk's Fight For Market Exclusivity

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    Generic competitors’ challenge to Novo Nordisk’s patents in hopes of capturing a portion of the rapidly expanding Type 2 diabetes and obesity treatment market highlights the role of abbreviated new drug application litigation, inter partes review and multidistrict litigation in patent defense, says Pedram Sameni at Patexia.

  • Using Primacy And Recency Effects In Opening Statements

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    By understanding and strategically employing the primacy and recency effects in opening statements, attorneys can significantly enhance their persuasive impact, ensuring that their narrative is both compelling and memorable from the outset, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Secret Service Failures Offer Lessons For Private Sector GCs

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    The Secret Service’s problematic response to two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump this summer provides a crash course for general counsel on how not to handle crisis communications, says Keith Nahigian at Nahigian Strategies.

  • Opinion

    Bill Is Key To Protecting US Economy From Patent Piracy

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    It is critical that Congress pass a recently introduced bill that would protect U.S. investors from intellectual property theft by restoring court-ordered injunctions as the default remedy in patent infringement cases to ensure inventors get the justice they deserve, says Andrei Iancu at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Defending AI, Machine Learning Patents In Life Sciences

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    Ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Alice v. CLS Bank, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology remain at risk for Alice challenges, but reviewing recent cases can help life sciences companies avoid common pitfalls and successfully defend their patents, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

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