Deals & Corporate Governance
-
February 28, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Gibson Dunn, Skadden
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Blackstone acquires Safe Harbor Marinas, National Grid sells its green subsidiary in the U.S. to Brookfield, Apollo Global Management buys Bridge Investment Group Holdings Inc., and Teleflex splits into two publicly traded companies.
-
February 28, 2025
Goodwin, White & Case Build BridgeBio's $949M SPAC Deal
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics, advised by Goodwin Procter LLP, on Friday announced plans to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Helix Acquisition Corp. II, advised by White & Case LLP, in a deal that gives the combined business an implied pro forma enterprise value of $949 million.
-
February 27, 2025
4th Circ. Rips 'Shaky At Best' Drug Price-Fixing Class Action
The Fourth Circuit backed the dismissal of a proposed class action accusing drug companies of conspiring to inflate the price of a drug for Huntington's disease, writing in the opinion that the allegations are "shaky at best," "sparsely pleaded" and "stretch civil RICO liability beyond its limits."
-
February 27, 2025
Lenders Can't Claim Ex-Mylan VP's $4M Insider Trade Penalty
Lenders who said they were owed money by a former Mylan vice president can't call dibs on any of the $4.3 million he was ordered to forfeit as part of his guilty plea to insider trading since they hadn't shown that they had a better claim to the money than the defendant or the government, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled.
-
February 27, 2025
Medical Device Co. Inks €760M Deal, Unveils Separation Plans
Medical device company Teleflex, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, on Thursday announced that it will split into two separate, publicly traded entities, and that it will acquire Biotronik SE & Co.'s vascular intervention business for €760 million ($791.95 million).
-
February 25, 2025
FTC Probing $615M Healthcare Staffing Merger
Talent software and staffing company Aya Healthcare Inc.'s roughly $615 million bid to buy Cross Country Healthcare Inc. and take the staffing and recruitment company private hit a snag last week with a Federal Trade Commission merger probe that prevents the transaction from closing, for now.
-
February 25, 2025
WilmerHale, Cleary Steer $4.1B Thermo Fisher-Solventum Deal
WilmerHale and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP are the principal advisers on a new agreement for Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. to purchase the purification and filtration business of Solventum for $4.1 billion in cash, according to statements from the companies on Tuesday.
-
February 25, 2025
The Psychedelics Industry's Hopes And Worries Over RFK Jr.
Last fall, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called out the "aggressive suppression of psychedelics." Many in the industry hope the new HHS head can build momentum for emerging therapies. Others worry his interest will do more harm than good.
-
February 24, 2025
CVC Sells Stake In India Hospital Chain To KKR For $400M
Private equity shop CVC on Monday announced that it has agreed to sell its majority stake in Indian oncology hospital chain Healthcare Global Enterprises to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP-advised KKR for $400 million.
-
February 24, 2025
Steward Health Risking Patient Lives At Hospitals, Buyer Says
The buyer of eight Steward Health Care hospitals said the bankrupt company is putting patients' lives at risk by failing to provide funds and services it promised, urging a Texas federal judge to compel Steward to comply with contracts it signed as part of its hospital sales.
-
February 24, 2025
Skadden, Ropes & Gray Advising On 23andMe Buyout Bid
The CEO of 23andMe has teamed up with private equity firm New Mountain Capital on an offer to purchase and take the genetic testing company private at an equity value of approximately $74.7 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
-
February 21, 2025
Trump Blocked From Implementing Anti-DEI Orders, For Now
A Maryland federal judge on Friday temporarily barred the Trump administration from implementing the bulk of his executive orders aiming to slash diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the public and private sectors, ruling that the orders are likely unconstitutionally vague and illegally restrict free speech.
-
February 21, 2025
Eli Lilly Has Exclusivity Over Weight Loss Drug, FDA Says
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked a Texas federal court to reject a request for an injunction that would allow compounding pharmacies to produce a lucrative weight loss drug, saying the agency based its decision on sound facts and it was within its authority.
-
February 21, 2025
Bank Says Nostrum's Second Investment Banker Unnecessary
Citizens Bank, a creditor of New Jersey drugmaker Nostrum Laboratories Inc., objected to Nostrum's request to retain another investment banker in its Chapter 11 case, arguing that Raymond James is already serving in that role and that the additional $1 million in retention costs provides no "discernible benefit" to the debtor.
-
February 19, 2025
Olshan-Led Investor Picks Proxy Fight With Healthcare REIT
Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC, guided by Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, said it nominated two candidates to National Health Investors Inc.'s board of directors on Wednesday, arguing that conflicts of interest plague the real estate investment trust's leadership team.
-
February 18, 2025
Novo Nordisk Queues Up $830M Suit Over Disappointing Drug
Novo Nordisk is set to initiate an $830 million arbitration claim in New York accusing Singaporean biopharmaceutical company KBP Biosciences of misleading the Danish drugmaker about the potential of a new hypertension drug it subsequently purchased, according to an order from a Singapore court made public on Tuesday.
-
February 14, 2025
Digital Health Co. Beats Some Claims In SPAC Investor Suit
A New Jersey federal judge has dismissed, with leave to amend, claims in an investor suit against a blank check company that took digital health equipment venture Butterfly Network Inc. public, finding that some of the shares the plaintiffs purchased are not traceable to the registration statement at issue in the suit.
-
February 13, 2025
Mallinckrodt Fails To Halt Airgas' Generic Nitric Oxide Drug
A Delaware federal judge has rejected Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals' attempt to block French industrial gas company Airgas Healthcare from selling a generic version of its inhaled nitric oxide treatment, saying Mallinckrodt didn't show enough evidence that Airgas infringed its patents or that it would suffer irreparable harm.
-
February 13, 2025
Paul Hastings, Cooley Lead Obesity-Focused Aardvark's IPO
Obesity-focused Aardvark Therapeutics Inc. began trading Thursday after pricing a $94 million initial public offering at the bottom of its range, represented by Paul Hastings LLP and underwriters' counsel Cooley LLP, joining a string of biotechnology firms to go public recently.
-
February 12, 2025
Bausch Health Beats Suit Over 'Faking' Financial Stability
Pharmaceutical company Bausch Health Cos. Inc. and its top brass have beaten, for now, a proposed class action accusing them of misleading shareholders about threats to the company's financial stability, with a New Jersey federal judge finding Wednesday that most of the challenged statements in the complaint are inactionable.
-
February 12, 2025
Supply Co. Files Failsafe $387M Suit Amid Threat Of Dismissal
A medical supply procurement company has re-upped claims that a pharmaceutical middleman cut it out of a billion-dollar deal with the U.K. government to sell COVID-19 tests after newly unveiled information threatened to derail the long-running litigation.
-
February 11, 2025
Takeaways From This Week's Healthcare Earnings
A host of pharmaceutical companies posted earnings this past week, with executives touching on near term growth plans and potential cost-cutting measures on calls with investors.
-
February 11, 2025
Research Org Faces Investor Suit Over Customer Cost-Cutting
Clinical research organization Icon PLC has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action in New York federal court, alleging it misled investors about a slowdown in demand the company experienced due to customers implementing drastic cost-reduction measures that involved research and development expenditures.
-
February 11, 2025
Fla. Judge OKs $7M Deal In Health Data Breach Class Action
A Florida federal judge Tuesday granted final approval of a $7 million class action settlement as part of multidistrict litigation over the theft of personal information from millions of U.S. citizens in a health data breach linked to a Russian ransomware group.
-
February 11, 2025
Novartis To Buy US Pharma Biz Anthos For Up To $3.1B
Novartis AG said Tuesday that it plans to buy Anthos Therapeutics Inc. for up to $3.1 billion, allowing the Swiss pharmaceutical heavyweight to return a drug that originated at the company back into its portfolio of cardiovascular therapies.
Expert Analysis
-
Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.
-
Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.
-
AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar
The likely use of publicly available artificial intelligence tools to detect government fraud by combing through large data sets will raise complex questions about a False Claims Act provision that prohibits the filing of claims based on previously disclosed information, say Nick Peterson and Spencer Brooks at Wiley Rein.
-
Beware Privacy Risks In Training AI Models With Health Data
Because data used to train artificial intelligence models may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other regulations, users of these models should conduct proper diligence to avoid costly compliance failures, say Neha Matta and Barbara Bennett at Frost Brown.
-
Unpacking GAO's FY 2023 Bid Protest Report
The U.S. Government Accountability Office's recent bid protest report reflects an increase in sustained protests, illustrating that disappointed offerors may see little reason to refrain from seeking corrective action — but there is more to the story, say Aron Beezley and Patrick Quigley at Bradley Arant.
-
How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners
A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.
-
Earnout Contract Considerations After NC Good Faith Ruling
The North Carolina Supreme Court's recent Value Health Solutions v. Pharmaceutical Research decision, holding the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing did not apply in an earnout dispute related to an asset sale, demonstrates the need for practitioners to pay careful attention to milestone concepts in M&A transactions, says Benjamin Hicks at Wagner Hicks.
-
Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
ESG Around The World: The UK
Following Brexit, the U.K. has adopted a different approach to regulating environmental, social and governance factors from the European Union — an approach that focuses on climate disclosures by U.K.-regulated entities, while steering clear of the more ambitious objectives pursued by the EU, say attorneys at Dechert.
-
Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes
Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.
-
It's Time To Prescribe Frameworks For AI-Driven Health Care
As health care providers begin to adopt artificial intelligence in clinical settings, new legal and regulatory challenges are emerging, with the critical issue being balancing AI's benefits and innovations in health care while ensuring patient safety and provider accountability, say attorneys at Kirkland.
-
Preparing For Higher Health Transaction Standards In Calif.
The California Office of Health Care Affordability's revised draft regulations on the reporting of health care transactions incorporate useful improvements to the regulatory scheme, but also contain provisions that may cause concerns for parties contemplating covered transactions, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.
-
How Ill. Supreme Court Could Shape Statutory Violation Cases
In Fausett v. Walgreens, the Illinois Supreme Court will take up the question of whether a violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement, and any outcome could significantly change the litigation landscape in Illinois, say Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua Zhao at Freeman Mathis.