Deals & Corporate Governance
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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.
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April 17, 2025
NC Hospital Operator Can't Escape AG's Merger Suit Yet
A North Carolina Business Court judge rejected HCA Healthcare's bid for a partial win in state Attorney General Jeff Jackson's compliance suit reviewing the company's 2019 purchase of another hospital system, ruling that the purchase agreement's language is too ambiguous to decide the matter without further discovery.
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April 17, 2025
Zenas BioPharma Faces Investor Suit Over Post-IPO Plunge
Autoimmune disease therapeutics company Zenas BioPharma Inc. was hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that its registration statement for its September 2024 initial public offering overstated the amount of time that the company could fund its operations using existing cash and expected net proceeds from the offering.
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April 16, 2025
DexCom Execs Sued For Allegedly Misleading Growth Claims
Executives and directors of glucose monitor manufacturer DexCom Inc. have been hit with a derivative suit alleging that they concealed from investors that DexCom struggled to maintain a sales force that could keep up with growing demand following a Medicare policy expansion.
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April 15, 2025
9th Circ. Told Oregon Hospital Merger Law Flouts Due Process
A hospital trade group urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to block an Oregon law allowing the Oregon Health Authority to review proposed healthcare business consolidations, arguing the law is "unconstitutionally vague" and bestows unlimited power on the agency to block healthcare transactions in the state.
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April 15, 2025
Big Pharma Touts US Investments Amid Tariff Threat
As tariffs loom on the horizon, Big Pharma companies laud their plans to ramp up U.S. manufacturing — even as they're set to eat costs for the foreseeable future.
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April 15, 2025
McGuireWoods Immune From Defamation Case, NC Panel Told
McGuireWoods LLP and a former partner have told a North Carolina state appeals court that they have absolute privilege over allegedly defamatory statements made in connection with an investigation into the former CEO of a managed care organization, arguing that the trial court should have granted them a pretrial win.
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April 15, 2025
Kirkland-Led Linden Wraps $5.4B Healthcare-Focused Fund
Healthcare-focused private equity shop Linden Capital Partners, advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on Tuesday announced that it clinched its sixth fund with $5.4 billion of capital commitments.
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April 11, 2025
sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ To Pull Medical Debt Opinion, May Ax Nonbank Registry
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Friday that it will scrap recent guidance aimed at reining in medical debt collectors and may close out its new national nonbank enforcement registry, extending the agency's pullback from its Biden-era policies.
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April 11, 2025
Dentsply Brass Face Investor Suit Over Alleged Dental Injuries
Executives and directors of dental supply manufacturing company Dentsply Sirona Inc. have been hit with a derivative suit alleging they concealed that a company subsidiary was approving unsuitable patients for dental treatments to inflate sales figures.
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April 11, 2025
NC AG Can't Shield Most Merger Review Docs, Judge Holds
The North Carolina Attorney General's Office can't shield a host of internal records pertaining to its review of a 2019 hospital merger at the center of a compliance case, a state court judge has said, finding "only a few" records constitute protected attorney-client communications or work product.
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April 11, 2025
Aurinia Sues Lotus Alleging Lupus Drug Patent Infringement
Kidney-focused biotech Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Friday launched a lawsuit in New Jersey federal court claiming that Lotus Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s bid to sell a generic form of Aurinia's lupus nephritis treatment Lupkynis infringes a pair of patents.
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April 11, 2025
5th Circ. Revives Unfair Competition Fight Over Arthritis Drug
The Fifth Circuit has revived Zyla Life Sciences LLC's lawsuit seeking to block Texas rival Wells Pharma from selling rheumatoid arthritis drug suppositories that aren't U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved, rejecting Wells Pharma's argument that Zyla's state claims are preempted under federal law and noting that finding otherwise would have "staggering" implications.
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April 11, 2025
Future Pak Goes Public With $255M Theratechnologies Bid
Pharmaceutical manufacturer and packager Future Pak LLC, advised by Honigman LLP, on Friday publicly unveiled its proposal to acquire pharmaceutical company Theratechnologies Inc. for up to $255 million, a move that comes after Future Pak has received "minimal engagement" from the other company.
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April 08, 2025
Iowa Hospital's Decline Gets Close Look In Bankruptcy Case
The former operator of a now-bankrupt Iowa hospital is facing scrutiny over allegations the hospital suffered massive operating losses while paying some $9 million to the operator in fees in the years before its financial collapse.
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April 08, 2025
Healthcare IPOs Take Another Hit Amid Trump Tariff War
Hopes for an improving healthcare public market all but vanished after a sweeping tariffs announcement from Washington set off a wave of market volatility.
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April 08, 2025
Pacira Reaches IP Deal Allowing Generic Painkiller In 2030
Pacira BioSciences has agreed to settle a series of patent infringement lawsuits against Fresenius Kabi and other pharmaceutical companies over Pacira's drug Exparel, a long-acting injectable for managing postsurgical pain.
Expert Analysis
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ESG Around The World: Gulf Cooperation Council
The Gulf Cooperation Council is in the early stages of ESG policy implementation, but recent commitments by both states and corporations — including increases in sustainable finance transactions, environmental commitments, female representation on boards and human rights enforcement — show continuing progress toward broader ESG goals, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Oregon Law Would Compromise Management Service Orgs
If passed, a proposed Oregon law would materially limit physician corporate practice of medicine structures, causing significant disruption to the provision of medicine and hindering professional corporations' ability to focus on the clinical components of their practice, say Christina Bergeron and William Shefelman at Ropes & Gray.
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The Latest Antitrust Areas For In-House Counsel To Watch
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's increasingly aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement means in-house counsel should closely monitor five key compliance issues, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Navigating New Regulations In Healthcare And Other M&A
While notice requirements recently enacted in several states are focused on the healthcare industry for now, this trend could extend to other industries as these requirements are designed to allow regulators to be a step ahead and learn more about a transaction long before it occurs, say Kathleen Premo and Ashley Creech at Epstein Becker.
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New CMS Rule Will Change Nursing Facility Disclosures
A new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services significantly expands disclosure requirements for nursing facilities backed by private equity companies or real estate investment trusts, likely foreshadowing increased oversight that could include more targeted audits, say Janice Davis and Christopher Ronne at Morgan Lewis.
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Healthcare Collabs Can Alleviate Labor, Antitrust Challenges
Two major challenges facing hospitals and health systems include labor shortages and increased antitrust scrutiny at both federal and state levels, but collaborative efforts may help with addressing these difficulties, says Sumaya Noush at McDermott.
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How Biotech Cos. Can Utilize Synthetic Royalty Financing
Synthetic royalty transactions have been on the rise as a funding structure for biotechnology companies, but questions have arisen surrounding how such transactions work, and structuring them correctly requires a nuanced understanding, say Todd Trattner and Ryan Murr at Gibson Dunn.
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How Biotech Deals May Help Competition, Despite FTC View
The Federal Trade Commission's complaint against Sanofi's proposed partnership with Maze Therapeutics highlights increasing skepticism of so-called killer acquisitions, but a closer look reveals potentially legitimate reasons behind why entities might decide to delay or abandon the development of acquired products, say consultants at Analysis Group.
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Notes Of Interest From 5th Circ. Illumina-Grail Merger Ruling
Attorneys at Simpson Thacher consider the Fifth Circuit's recent decision upholding the Federal Trade Commission's challenge of the Illumina merger with Grail, its much-needed boost to the Biden administration's antitrust agenda, and some silver linings the decision offers to merging parties.
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A Potential Proactive Tool For Public-Private Joint Ventures
In the current environment of heightened antitrust enforcement, the National Cooperative Research and Production Act seems tailor-made for the collaborative work among competitors encouraged by the Biden administration's infrastructure and green energy funding legislation, say Jeetander Dulani and Susan Ebner at Stinson.
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Financing Healthcare Deals In Uncertain Markets This Year
As challenges to closing and financing new deals prevail into 2024, lenders in new healthcare transactions are talking about alternative approaches for sponsors to consider, such as private credit alternatives and utilization of junior capital, say attorneys at McDermott.
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A Primer On New Calif. Health Transaction Reporting Rules
New California regulations regarding the reporting of certain transactions involving healthcare entities, which took effect on Jan. 1, address some industry feedback about overly broad requirements but still leave several areas of concern, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.
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In The sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Playbook: Rulemaking Rush Before Election Year
In this quarterly Consumer Financial Protection Bureau activity recap by former bureau personnel, attorneys at McGuireWoods explain the regulator's recent push to finalize new rules about data aggregators, digital payment apps and more before the election-year Congressional Review Act window opens.