Life Sciences

  • May 21, 2024

    Ex-AUSA Blames Inexperience For Outcome Forfeiture Error

    Former prosecutors who pursued the $1 billion fraud trial against Outcome Health executives said Tuesday they never suspected their asset restraint efforts were an overreach, noting they lacked the expertise to notice potential mistakes themselves.

  • May 21, 2024

    Sens. Challenge Pharma Lobbyist Over Patent Abuse

    U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle took turns at a Tuesday hearing questioning the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbyist over whether patent abuse plays a role in maintaining the high price of prescription drugs.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision

    Author Photo

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

    Author Photo

    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Opinion

    Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation

    Author Photo

    The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

    Author Photo

    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • What's On The Horizon In Attorney General Enforcement

    Author Photo

    A look at recent attorney general actions, especially in the areas of antitrust and artificial intelligence, can help inform businesses on what they should expect in terms of enforcement trends as 10 attorney general races play out in 2024, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases

    Author Photo

    After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Reducing The Risk Of PFAS False Advertising Class Actions

    Author Photo

    A wave of class actions continues to pummel products that allegedly contain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, with plaintiffs challenging advertising that they say misleads consumers by implying an absence of PFAS — but there are steps companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • Opinion

    New Rule 702 Helps Judges Keep Bad Science Out Of Court

    Author Photo

    A court's recent decision to exclude dubious testimony from the plaintiffs' experts in multidistrict litigation over acetaminophen highlights the responsibility that judges have to keep questionable scientific evidence out of courtrooms, particularly under recent amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, says Sherman Joyce at the American Tort Reform Association.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

    Author Photo

    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

    Author Photo

    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • Skirting Anti-Kickback Causation Standard Amid Circuit Split

    Author Photo

    Amid the federal circuit court split over the causation standard applicable to False Claims Act cases involving Anti-Kickback Statute violations, which the First Circuit will soon consider in U.S. v. Regeneron, litigators aiming to circumvent the heightened standard should contemplate certain strategies, say Matthew Modafferi and Terence Park at Frier Levitt.

  • 10 Lessons From A Deep Dive Into IP Damages

    Author Photo

    Decisions on challenging an intellectual property expert's opinion can benefit from the in-depth study of court rulings on admissibility grounds, where the findings include the fact that patent cases see the most challenges of any IP area, say Deepa Sundararaman and Cleve Tyler at Berkeley Research.

  • What Shareholder Approval Rule Changes Mean For Cos.

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved proposed rule changes to shareholder requirements by the New York Stock Exchange, an approval that will benefit listed companies in many ways, including by making it easier to raise capital from passive investors, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

    Author Photo

    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Life Sciences archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!