Deals & Corporate Governance
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May 05, 2025
Liquidia Fends Off Indication Challenge In UTC Tyvaso Fight
A D.C. federal court has rejected United Therapeutics Corp.'s challenge to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision allowing Liquidia Technologies Inc. to modify a new drug application to include an additional lung disease indication for a drug competing with UTC's blockbuster lung disease drug Tyvaso.
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May 05, 2025
Rite Aid Hits Bankruptcy Less Than A Year After Previous Ch. 11
Drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. reentered bankruptcy Monday less than a year after its earlier reorganization plan was approved, filing for Chapter 11 protection in New Jersey bankruptcy court with more than $1 billion in debt and plans for an asset sale.
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May 05, 2025
Justices Reject Review Of NLRB's COVID-19 Bonus Pay Order
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied review of a shuttered New Jersey nursing home's challenge to the Third Circuit's enforcement of a National Labor Relations Board decision that found the employer unlawfully slashed or ended COVID-19 bonuses for unionized workers.
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May 05, 2025
Novartis, Incyte Settle Drug Royalty Fight On Eve Of Trial
A Manhattan federal judge put off trial on Monday in a five-year quest by Novartis to recover what it says are $500 million in missing royalties from its agreement to commercialize an Incyte compound used to treat blood cancers, with the sides announcing they reached a settlement.
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May 02, 2025
Healthcare Pro Rejoins Brach Eichler In NJ From Saul Ewing
Brach Eichler LLC welcomed back a former partner who had moved to Saul Ewing LLP last year to serve as vice chair of Brach Eichler's healthcare law practice, the firm announced Friday.
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May 02, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Goodwin, Haynes Boone
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Merck buys SpringWorks Therapeutics, Novartis AG acquires Regulus Therapeutics Inc., Sabre Corp. sells its Hospitality Solutions business to private equity shop TPG, and TWG Global and Mubadala Capital team up to bolster their investments.
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April 29, 2025
Acadia Investors Seek Partial Win, Sanction In Healthcare Suit
Investors suing behavioral health care provider Acadia Healthcare Co. have asked a federal judge to find that they relied on certain alleged misrepresentations before investing in the company after previously moving for sanctions over allegations that the company systematically destroyed pertinent records to stymie their understaffing claims.
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April 29, 2025
This Week's Healthcare Earnings: Tariffs Galore
Tariffs were, unsurprisingly, a major theme on investor calls this past week, as around a dozen healthcare companies released their quarterly financials and kicked off the thick of the earnings season for the industry.
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April 29, 2025
Welltower Reports $6.2B In Q1 Deals, Surpassing 2024 Results
Executives of healthcare real estate investment trust Welltower on Tuesday touted the company's work closing more acquisitions during this year's first quarter than it did in all of 2024, ahead of expected economic uncertainty in the year ahead.
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April 29, 2025
Cooley Life Sciences Ace Rejoins Latham In Bay Area
Latham & Watkins LLP has welcomed back an intellectual property attorney who spent the past nine years at Cooley LLP to bolster its healthcare and life sciences practice, including advising clients about licensing and transactional matters.
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April 28, 2025
Baker Donelson Picks Up Longtime HHS OIG Atty In Maryland
Amanda Copsey, a longtime U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General attorney, has joined Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC as a shareholder in its Baltimore office, bringing nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare laws and regulations.
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April 28, 2025
Sanofi Challenges Jurisdiction In Conn. Zantac Lawsuits
Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC on Monday sought to exit nine combined Connecticut lawsuits claiming the heartburn drug ranitidine degraded into a compound that causes cancer, saying it is beyond the state's long-arm statute and that due process guarantees prevent it from being sued in Connecticut.
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April 28, 2025
Sullivan & Cromwell-Led Merck To Buy SpringWorks For $3.9B
Merck KGaA said Monday it has agreed to acquire U.S. biotech company SpringWorks Therapeutics for $3.9 billion, as the German science and technology group aims to grow its cancer drug business and its global presence.
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April 25, 2025
Judge Says FDA Can Take Ozempic Off Shortage List
A Texas federal judge has sided with arguments from Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk A/S not to block the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from moving forward with an administrative decision stopping "unsafe, knockoff versions" of the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drug from flooding the market.
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April 25, 2025
Insulet's $452M Trade Secrets Award Reduced To $59.4M
A $452 million trade secrets jury award for Insulet Corp. has been cut to $59.4 million by a Massachusetts federal judge who said the reduction is necessary to avoid double recovery and to comply with the law, following a trend where courts have reduced large jury awards in trade secret cases.
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April 24, 2025
Latham-Led LLR Clinches 7th Fund With $2.45B Committed
Latham & Watkins LLP-advised LLR Partners on Thursday announced that it wrapped its seventh private equity fund with $2.45 billion in tow.
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April 23, 2025
GoodRx Beats Investor Suit Over Kroger-Linked Biz
GoodRx Holdings Inc. has escaped a proposed shareholder class action alleging it concealed from investors the indispensability of its relationship with Kroger, according to an order signed by a California federal judge who said the suit does not show GoodRx knew Kroger had plans to renegotiate its contracts.
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April 22, 2025
This Week's Payor Earnings: UnitedHealthcare, Elevance
Healthcare payors posted mixed earnings this past week, with UnitedHealthcare signaling a tough quarter full of headwinds, while Elevance fared better despite similar challenges.
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April 22, 2025
Judge Approves Prospect Medical's Pa. Hospitals' ClosureÂ
A Texas bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved Prospect Medical Holdings' request to close two Pennsylvania hospitals after the bankrupt operator was unable to secure another entity to run the hospitals despite support from government and community organizations to keep them open.
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April 22, 2025
Tivity Health Denied Win In Suit Over Nutrisystem Buy
Health program company Tivity Health was largely denied a summary judgment win over investors who sued the company over its troubled $1.3 billion purchase of Nutrisystem, according to an order from a Tennessee federal judge who ruled Tivity's duty to disclose certain information is still debatable.
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April 22, 2025
J&J Ends Trade Secrets Suit Against Now Deceased Ex-Exec
Johnson & Johnson has reached a settlement with the estate of a former executive that it accused of stealing confidential files when he left the company to work for Pfizer, but who died in the middle of the litigation, the parties told a New Jersey federal court.
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April 22, 2025
Trump's Healthcare Order A Mixed Bag For Big Pharma
While Trump's executive order last week is more of a general road map than a clear plan for cutting prices, experts say it signals key policy priorities for the administration — including on a point of serious contention between drug companies and federal regulators.
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April 21, 2025
Sun Pharma Accuses Drugstores Of $10M Refund Scheme
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. told a New Jersey federal court that a group of pharmacies and their operators engaged in a criminal, years-long racketeering scheme that resulted in it paying more than $10 million in refunds for short-dated pharmaceutical products.
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April 18, 2025
PBMs Press 8th Circ. Bid To Pause FTC Case
The nation's "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers are asking the Eighth Circuit to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house insulin price-fixing case against them, saying that their constitutional challenge to the commission's administrative proceeding process should be fully heard before the in-house case moves forward.
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April 17, 2025
Incyte Can Get Novartis' Privileged Info On Drug Royalty Deal
Novartis must produce certain privileged documents to Incyte concerning its understanding of their contract for royalty payments from sales of Incyte's blood cancer drug, unless Novartis agrees its former outside counsel, who negotiated the terms, won't testify about that topic at the upcoming contract breach trial, a New York federal judge said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues
Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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How To Protect Atty-Client Privilege While Using Generative AI
When using generative artificial intelligence tools, attorneys should consider several safeguards to avoid breaches or complications in attorney-client privilege, say Antonious Sadek and Christopher Campbell at DLA Piper.
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How New Lawyers Can Leverage Feedback For Growth
Embracing constructive criticism as a tool for success can help new lawyers accelerate their professional growth and law firms build a culture of continuous improvement, says Katie Aldrich at Fringe Professional Development.
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State Privacy Laws: Not As Comprehensive As You May Think
As more U.S. states enact privacy laws, companies must be aware that these laws vary in scope and content, meaning organizations should take a stringent approach to compliance by considering notice, choice and data security obligations, among other requirements, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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ESG Around The World: Australia
Clive Cachia and Cathy Ma at K&L Gates detail ESG-reporting policies in Australia and explain how the country is starting to introduce mandatory requirements as ESG performance is increasingly seen as a key investment and corporate differentiator in the fight for global capital.
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Address The Data Monopoly, Otherwise Tech Giants Control AI
It is likely that we will experience a severe monopoly on artificial intelligence systems and patents by the largest players in the tech industry, so the way we treat data needs to change, whether through the legislature, the courts or tech companies, says Pranav Katti at Barclay Damon.
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Info Exchanges Must Stay Inside Now-Invisible Antitrust Lines
While the antitrust agencies recently withdrew long-standing enforcement policy statements for being "overly permissive" on information exchanges, we should not assume that all information exchanges are inherently suspect — they are still permissible if carefully constructed and vigorously managed, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.
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Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics
X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.
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Amgen-Horizon Deal May Signal FTC's Return To Bargaining
The Federal Trade Commission's recent settlement of its challenge to Amgen's proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics marks the latest in a string of midlitigation settlements, and may signal that competition regulators are more inclined toward such negotiations following recent litigation losses, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act
While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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FTC Settlements Widen Efforts To Shield Health Data
The Federal Trade Commission's recent enforcement actions aim to send a clear message that companies using tracking technologies should carefully monitor the sharing of sensitive data, particularly in the mental health, substance use disorder treatment and reproductive health care fields, say attorneys at Choate.
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Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.
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HHS Neuromonitoring Advisory May Have Broad Relevance
The Health Department Office of Inspector General's recent advisory opinion rejecting a neuromonitoring service's proposal for a shell arrangement isn't surprising, but it could be a harbinger of more warnings against problematic joint venture arrangements to come, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.