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Life Sciences

  • August 04, 2025

    Rising Star: Keker's Bailey Heaps

    Bailey Heaps of Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP helped two chemistry professors defeat a lawsuit centering on the commercialization of a scientific breakthrough and won an $80 million verdict in a dispute over a milestone payment, earning him a spot among the life sciences law practitioners under age 40 honored by À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ as Rising Stars.

  • August 04, 2025

    Barnes & Thornburg Adds Leader Of FDA Practices At 2 Firms

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP has hired the former leader of both Husch Blackwell LLP and Michael Best & Friedrich LLP's U.S. Food and Drug Administration-focused practices who brings a perspective to its Washington, D.C., office that includes working at the agency for more than a decade.

  • August 04, 2025

    Healthcare Investor Clinches $1.86B For 5th Credit Fund

    Healthcare investment firm OrbiMed, advised by Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP, on Monday announced that it wrapped its latest fund after securing $1.86 billion of investment commitments, which will be used to partner with healthcare companies across various sectors.

  • August 04, 2025

    Ex-FDA Chief Of Staff Joins Hogan Lovells' Pharma Team

    The former chief of staff at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who most recently was a senior policy adviser there in the commissioner's office, has joined Hogan Lovells' Washington, D.C., team as a partner, the firm announced Monday.

  • August 01, 2025

    Meta Illegally Recorded Flo Users' Data, Calif. Jury Finds

    A California federal jury Friday found Meta Platforms Inc. liable for violating the state's wiretap law by using a data analytics tool to retrieve sensitive health data from users of the popular menstrual tracking app Flo, in what plaintiffs' counsel called "one of the first times" a major tech company has been held accountable for such practices. 

  • August 01, 2025

    Wheeling & Appealing: Midyear Highlights For Every Circuit

    In this special edition of Wheeling & Appealing, we're spotlighting key decisions and developments in every circuit court during the first half of 2025, while also previewing August's most intriguing oral arguments, including a remarkably "fierce" showdown between Edible Arrangements and 1-800-Flowers with millions of dollars in attorney fees on the line.

  • August 01, 2025

    IP Owners Largely Win In Stewart's Newest Discretion Orders

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart dismissed most of the 50 petitions for inter partes review addressed in her latest decisions over discretionary denials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • August 01, 2025

    USPTO Tightens Rules On Patent Challengers' Arguments

    Patent challengers at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board will no longer be able to skirt a requirement that they must identify where all the elements of the patent are found in prior art patents or printed publications, according to a notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • August 01, 2025

    AGs Sue Trump Over 'Onslaught Of Pressure' On Trans Care

    The Trump administration has improperly "weaponized" federal laws against drug misbranding, false claims and female genital mutilation as part of a pressure campaign to undermine state protections for gender-affirming care, a coalition of state attorneys general argued in a new suit Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    En Banc 9th Circ. Backs LA Schools In Vax Mandate Fight

    A majority en banc Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower court's decision upholding Los Angeles Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees, while two partially dissenting judges disagreed with the majority's conclusion that the policy passes constitutional muster.

  • August 01, 2025

    States Urge High Court To Keep NIH Grant Funds Flowing

    A coalition of 16 states pressed the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to reject the Trump administration's push to resume the mass termination of scientific research grants, saying a district judge had authority to pause the cuts.

  • August 01, 2025

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The U.S. Department of Justice abandoned its challenge of a corporate travel management deal, while lawmakers are calling for scrutiny of the agency's recent decision to settle a different case, and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to nix the requirements placed on a pair of oil and gas deals.

  • August 01, 2025

    OptumRx Moves To DQ Motley Rice In Utah Opioid Case

    Pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx has moved to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing the state of Utah in an opioid crisis lawsuit, claiming the firm clearly violated ethical rules by investigating OptumRx on behalf of government entities, then suing OptumRx in a private capacity.

  • August 01, 2025

    J&J Unit's Catheter Rival Scores Injunction After $442M Win

    A California federal judge will block Johnson & Johnson's Biosense Webster from refusing clinical support for its Carto cardio mapping systems from hospitals that use competitors' cardiac catheters, requiring the company to institute nondiscriminatory pricing for its services at hospitals regardless of which products they use.

  • July 31, 2025

    Hospitals Want To Duck Pharmacy Career Match Program Suit

    A professional pharmacy organization and a group of teaching hospitals teed up motions to dismiss Wednesday against proposed class action allegations that they conspired to restrict wages and benefits by funneling new pharmacists through a job-matching program, telling a Maryland federal judge that there's no sign of an agreement.

  • July 31, 2025

    Biotech Co. Beats Investor Suit Over Antifungal Drug Recall

    Biotechnology company Scynexis Inc. has won dismissal, for now, of a proposed investor class action alleging that it triggered a 34% share decline by knowingly misleading investors about manufacturing compliance issues that led to a drug recall, with the court finding the allegations the company should have known and disclosed issues only show "fraud by hindsight."

  • July 31, 2025

    Robotic Surgery Co.'s Antitrust Appeal Backed At 9th Circ.

    Surgical Instrument Service Co. Inc. has received backing at the Ninth Circuit from a trade association and others groups as it looks to revive its case accusing Intuitive Surgical Inc. of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its popular da Vinci surgery robot.

  • July 31, 2025

    18 GOP Sens. Urge Trump To Fill IP Negotiator Post

    Eighteen Republican U.S. senators urged President Donald Trump to appoint someone to the vacant role of chief innovation and intellectual property negotiator of the U.S. Trade Representative in order to work to remove what they called "market-distorting price controls" in the pharmaceutical industry.

  • July 31, 2025

    HHS Plans To Test Rebates In 340B Drug Pricing Program

    The Trump administration on Thursday announced plans for a pilot project that would allow certain drugmakers to abandon upfront discounts in the 340B program and instead require hospitals to apply for rebates, testing an idea that would fundamentally reshape the long-running program.

  • July 31, 2025

    Honeywell Ex-GC Claims Age Bias Led To Firing At 55

    A Honeywell International Inc. former vice president and general counsel accused the Charlotte-based conglomerate of age discrimination, telling a North Carolina federal court that she was fired for turning 55.

  • July 31, 2025

    ITC Ends Dermatology Needle Import Ban After Settlement

    The International Trade Commission has lifted a ban on certain imports of skin treatment devices that infringed patents owned by a South Korean dermatologist's needle business after it settled with a rival.

  • July 31, 2025

    J&J Fired Sales Worker Who Reported Pay Issue, Suit Says

    Johnson & Johnson wrongly credited a former executive sales representative's sales to another worker, leading to lost earned commissions, and then fired him once he complained, the former employee said in a suit in Texas federal court.

  • July 30, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Upend Investors' Class Cert. In J&J Talc Suit

    A split Third Circuit on Wednesday upheld a New Jersey federal judge's class certification order in a Johnson & Johnson investor action alleging the company artificially inflated its stock price by failing to disclose cancer risks associated with its talcum powder products, finding the lower court did not err in concluding that common issues predominate in the suit.

  • July 30, 2025

    Flo Likely To Get Health Privacy Claim Tossed In Meta Case

    The California federal judge overseeing a trial on allegations that Flo Health and Meta Platforms Inc. violated the privacy of millions of women who used Flo's period tracker app said Wednesday he'd likely toss the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act claim, saying the lack of evidence is an "unsurmountable" problem.

  • July 30, 2025

    Illumina To Pay $9.8M To Resolve Cybersecurity Qui Tam Case

    Biotechnology company Illumina Inc. has agreed to pay $9.8 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to put to rest a first-of-its-kind False Claims Act suit alleging the company violated cybersecurity regulations for medical devices, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • J&J's Failed 3rd Try Casts Doubt On Use Of 'Texas Two-Step'

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    A Texas bankruptcy court recently rejected Johnson & Johnson's third attempt to use Chapter 11 to resolve liabilities from allegations of injuries from using talcum powder, suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court's limitations on nondebtor releases, from 2024's Purdue Pharma ruling, may prove difficult to evade, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • Why Attys Should Get Familiar With Quantum Computing

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    Quantum computing is projected to pose significant updates to current practices in cryptography, making the issue relevant to policymakers and the legal profession generally, particularly when it comes to data storage, privacy regulations and pharmaceutical industry market changes, say professors at the University of San Francisco.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

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    If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.

  • Reproductive Health Under Trump So Far, And What's Next

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    Based on priorities stated so far, the Trump administration will likely continue to weaken Biden-era policies that protect reproductive health, with abortion, in vitro fertilization and contraception all being issues to watch closely amid a post-Dobbs shift, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.

  • 10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

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    The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

  • Keys To Handling Digital Investigations In Pharma IP Litigation

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    In the high-stakes realm of pharmaceutical intellectual property litigation, efficient e-discovery and digital investigation workflows are essential to supporting strategic arguments, building defensible cases and proving that the requirements for market entry have been adequately met, says Jerry Lay at FTI Consulting.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing

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    Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.

  • What's Next For Lab Test Regulation Without FDA Authority

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    A recent Texas federal court decision vacating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's final rule that would apply FDA regulations to laboratory-developed tests signals potential positive impacts in the diagnostic space, and could inspire more healthcare entities to litigate against the government, say attorneys at Hooper Lundy.

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • 6 Criteria Can Help Assess Executive Branch Actions

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    With new executive policy changes announced seemingly every day, several questions can help courts, policymakers and businesses determine whether such actions are proper, effective and in keeping with our democratic norms, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

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