Life Sciences

  • January 07, 2025

    Robo Surgery Co. Gets Billions From Selling Parts, Jury Told

    Surgical Instrument Service accused Intuitive Surgical at the start of a federal trial Tuesday of being a monopolist making billions of dollars by blocking hospitals from extending the life of reusable surgical-robot components, while Intuitive blasted the medical instrument repair company for "trying to misuse antitrust laws to enrich itself."

  • January 07, 2025

    Alcohol Warnings Unlikely To Bring Same Fate Tobacco Faced

    The U.S. surgeon general on Friday recommended that alcohol carry warnings about cancer risks, and attorneys say that while warning labels might be warranted, alcohol is unlikely to become the next tobacco.

  • January 07, 2025

    Amneal Calls Teva's IP Delisting Panic 'Theatrical Distraction'

    The pharmaceutical industry won't fall into "chaos and disruption" if the Federal Circuit doesn't stay an injunction ordering Teva to remove inhaler patents from the Orange Book, and Teva's arguments otherwise are "a mere theatrical distraction" from the weakness of its position, according to Amneal Pharmaceuticals.

  • January 07, 2025

    New USPTO Advisers Include Mattel, Estee Lauder Attys

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday welcomed six additions to its patent and trademark advisory committees, including lead intellectual property attorneys at The Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. and Mattel Inc. 

  • January 07, 2025

    Cannabis Reformers Move To Oust DEA From Pot Hearings

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has worked behind the scenes to undermine an administrative process that will determine whether federal restrictions on marijuana are relaxed, a group of reformers alleged in a new filing submitted to an agency tribunal.

  • January 07, 2025

    Biotech Co. Urges NC Panel To Revive Legal Malpractice Suit

    A biotech company that lost a $22 million libel suit brought by a pharmaceutical executive has asked a North Carolina appeals panel for another shot at legal malpractice claims against its former legal counsel, arguing that a savings provision expands the statute of repose for the voluntarily dismissed claim to be revived.

  • January 06, 2025

    Athira Inks $4M FCA Deal Over Ex-CEO's Research Fraud

    Athira Pharma Inc. has agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations it used falsified academic research papers on neurological disorders like Alzheimer's to secure federal grants from the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

  • January 06, 2025

    Sidley, Wachtell Guide Inari Medical's $4.9B Sale To Stryker

    Medical technology company Stryker Corp., represented by Sidley Austin LLP, announced Monday that it has inked an agreement to acquire device maker Inari Medical Inc., represented by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, in a deal worth about $4.9 billion.

  • January 06, 2025

    High Court Asked To Take Whistleblower Medical Device Row

    A former Minerva Surgical Inc. sales representative who says he was mistreated after raising concerns about the safety of certain medical devices wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his challenge to an arbitration award given to his former employer in whistleblower proceedings.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biotech Trade Secrets Case Gets New Punitive Damages Trial

    A California federal judge has ordered a new punitive damages trial on how much a former Skye Orthobiologics LLC employee owes in a case where he was found to have breached his fiduciary duties by leveraging Skye's proprietary information, after ruling last year there wasn't enough evidence to support an earlier $25 million award.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biotech Co. Revance Faces Suit After Tender Offer Weakens

    Biotechnology company Revance Therapeutics Inc. and two of its executives face a proposed investor class action alleging the company hurt investors after the value of a take-private tender offer was negotiated down following allegations that Revance had breached a distribution deal with another company.

  • January 06, 2025

    DOD Adds WeChat Owner, CATL To Chinese Military Co. List

    The U.S. Department of Defense added dozens of businesses Monday to its list of companies affiliated with the Chinese military, including electric-car battery maker CATL and Tencent Holdings Ltd. — owner of the popular text-messaging app WeChat — prompting Tencent to slam the designation as "clearly a mistake."

  • January 06, 2025

    Labcorp Loses Appeal Of Gene-Testing Patent In $372M Case

    Labcorp, one of the world's largest chains of clinical lab providers, lost its appeal over a patent tied to a $372 million judgment it is facing in the Western District of Texas, after Federal Circuit judges on Monday upheld an administrative patent board ruling against it two years ago.

  • January 06, 2025

    Judge Urged To Sit Out Alopecia IP Row Over Ex-Clerk's Role

    Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has asked a New Jersey federal judge to recuse himself from a case alleging the company's alopecia drug infringes an Incyte patent, saying Incyte's attorneys hired the judge's former law clerk and put him on the case, creating "an indelible appearance of impropriety."

  • January 06, 2025

    Teoxane Outbids Crown With New Revance Therapeutics Bid

    Teoxane SA said Monday it has submitted a proposal to Revance Therapeutics Inc. to acquire the healthcare biotechnology company for $3.60 per share in cash, one-upping Revance's existing agreement to sell itself to skincare company Crown Laboratories Inc. for $3.10 per share in cash. 

  • January 06, 2025

    Girard Sharp Launches Into New Year With New Leadership

    San Francisco-based Girard Sharp has kicked off the new year with a major leadership change, announcing Monday that Daniel C. Girard had stepped down as managing partner of the prominent plaintiffs complex litigation boutique he founded in 1995 and that longtime partner Dena C. Sharp was taking the reins.

  • January 03, 2025

    Vizgen Loses Antitrust Claims Against 10x In Biotech IP Fight

    A Delaware federal court on Friday dropped Harvard's business partners at 10x Genomics Inc. out of some of the antitrust counterclaims by a rival biotech developer that is targeted in a patent lawsuit set for trial next month.

  • January 03, 2025

    Ex-Locke Lord IP Pros To Build Buchanan Chicago Office

    More than a dozen intellectual property pros from Locke Lord LLP, which officially merged with Troutman Pepper on Wednesday, are moving over to Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, and most of them are going to be part of launching the firm's new office in Chicago.

  • January 03, 2025

    Natera Loses New Trial Bid After Winning $96M Patent Verdict

    A Delaware federal judge denied Natera's bid for a new trial in a case where a jury awarded the DNA test company $96 million in damages after finding rival CareDx stole from one of its patents but didn't infringe a second patent, saying Friday that sufficient evidence backed the verdict.

  • January 03, 2025

    Aetna Says Takeda Inked Deal To Block Generics, Keep Profits

    Takeda Pharmaceuticals struck an anticompetitive deal with Par Pharmaceutical to keep a cheaper, generic version of its anticonstipation drug Amitiza off the market after the drug's compound patent expired, Aetna claimed Friday in a Massachusetts lawsuit, with the insurer alleging it overpaid millions of dollars for the brand name drug.

  • January 03, 2025

    DOJ Wants Oct. Amedisys Trial, UnitedHealth Wants Aug.

    The U.S. Department of Justice sparred with UnitedHealth Group in a Maryland federal court filing Friday over when to hold a trial on the government challenge to the $3.3 billion purchase of home health and hospice services company Amedisys Inc.

  • January 03, 2025

    PBMs 'Wasting' Time in Opioid MDL Discovery Spat: Judge

    An Ohio federal judge overseeing multidistrict opioid litigation on Friday denied pharmacy benefit managers a stay to appeal a discovery order and said he believed the PBMs were "wasting" the court's time.

  • January 03, 2025

    Cancer Drug Co. Revives Bid To Go Public Via Direct Listing

    Brain cancer-focused drug developer NeOnc Technologies Holdings Inc. filed plans on Friday to go public through a direct listing, represented by Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, as it pursues an alternative to an initial public offering after canceling a prior IPO attempt.

  • January 03, 2025

    Pfizer Partner Targets GSK In COVID Vax Patent Suit

    A drug developer that Pfizer and BioNTech partnered with to develop their COVID-19 vaccine has opened up another legal front in a dispute over allegations that the Pfizer vaccine infringes patents issued to U.K. drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline.

  • January 03, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Upholds Cancellation Of TMs On Pink Hip Implants

    The Federal Circuit on Friday said a trademark panel correctly canceled a German medical supplier's trade dress protections for the color pink in a hip joint implant part because the color is functional, citing the company's previous patents and public statements to support that conclusion.

Expert Analysis

  • Service Providers Must Mitigate 'Secondary Target' Risks

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    A lawsuit recently filed in an Illinois federal court against marketing agency Publicis over its work for opioid manufacturers highlights an uptick in litigation against professional service providers hired by clients that engaged in alleged misconduct — so potential targets of such suits should be sure to conduct proper risk analysis and mitigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Health Policy Predictions For Trump's Second Administration

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    As President-elect Donald Trump's nominations for health policy and enforcement heads work their way through the confirmation process, healthcare organizations can look at nominee backgrounds, campaign statements and actions from Trump's previous presidency to predict incoming priorities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • 9th Circ.'s High Bar May Limit Keyword Confusion TM Claims

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    A recent Ninth Circuit ruling that a law firm did not infringe upon a competitor’s trademarks by paying Google to promote its website when users searched for the rival’s name signals that plaintiffs likely can no longer win infringement suits by claiming competitive keyword advertising confuses internet-savvy consumers, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.

  • Trump Patent Policy May Be Headed In Unexpected Direction

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    While commentators have assumed that the patent policy of President-elect Donald Trump's second administration will largely mirror the pro-patent policy of his first, these predictions fail to take into account the likely oversized influence of Elon Musk, says Jorge Contreras at the University of Utah.

  • What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration

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    Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.

  • Racing Patents To The Fed. Circ.: Collateral Estoppel Lessons

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    As more and more parties find themselves in two different forums addressing the same issues and then competing in a race to the Federal Circuit, certain strategies can help despite unanswered questions on when Patent Trial and Appeal Board determinations trigger collateral estoppel, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • How AstraZeneca Ruling Could Change Dosage Patent Claims

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    If affirmed on appeal, the rationale employed by the Delaware federal court in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca to find "unit dosage"-related patent claims invalid could lead to a significant paradigm shift in how active-ingredient-focused patent applications are drafted and litigated, say Matthew Zapadka and John Schneible at Arnall Golden.

  • Failed W.Va. Patent Challenge Reveals Secret Prior Art's Risks

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    A West Virginia federal court's recent ruling — that references used by a patent challenger to establish an ordinarily skilled artisan's existing knowledge must be published before a patent's filing — may discourage claim construction challenges based on secret prior art and steer drafters away from externally defined terms, says Brianna Potter at Baker Botts.

  • Navigating Decentralized Clinical Trials With FDA's Guidance

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently finalized guidance on conducting decentralized clinical trials, while not legally binding, can serve as a road map for sponsors, investigators and others to ensure trial integrity and participant safety, say attorneys at Phillips Lytle.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • How Patent Landscape Analysis Drives Business Growth

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    Keegan Caldwell at Caldwell Law explores how patent landscape analysis serves as a key driver of sustainable growth — examining how its components, strategic advantages and implementation best practices are reshaping innovation leadership.

  • In Terror Case, DC Circ. Must Weigh Justices' Twitter Ruling

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    When the D.C. Circuit hears oral argument in AstraZeneca UK v. Atchley, how the court interprets the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Twitter v. Taamneh will have a significant impact on future claims brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, say attorneys at Lewis Baach.

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