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Life Sciences

  • October 14, 2025

    Covington, Sidley Guide $700M BioCryst Allergic Disease Deal

    BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. will purchase Astria Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on therapies for allergic and immunologic diseases, in a cash and stock deal worth about $700 million, the companies announced Tuesday.

  • October 14, 2025

    High Court Won't Hear FDA Stem Cell Regulation Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a circuit court holding that a stem cell treatment derived from a patient's own tissue is subject to Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act regulations.

  • October 10, 2025

    Some Cases Advance In Latest Stewart Discretionary Rulings

    Deputy U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart rejected 37 Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions Friday night, but allowed 17 challenges to proceed.

  • October 10, 2025

    Zantac MDL Suits Were Impropely Tossed, 11th Circ. Told

    Consumers urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to revive their claims in a multidistrict litigation alleging that the main ingredient in the heartburn medication Zantac causes cancer, saying the court overseeing the case improperly sided with drugmakers' experts and preempted more claims from coming forward.

  • October 10, 2025

    Federal Worker Unions Press For Immediate Block Of Layoffs

    Unions representing federal workers urged a California federal court Friday to immediately block the Trump administration from laying off workers amid the government shutdown as the administration acknowledged it had begun issuing reduction-in-force notices to thousands of employees.

  • October 10, 2025

    AstraZeneca Strikes 'Most Favored Nation' Price Deal

    Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Friday cut a deal with the Trump administration to reduce drug prices in the United States, agreeing to provide its medications for Medicaid beneficiaries at discount prices.

  • October 10, 2025

    ATyr Pharma Faces Investor Suit Over Failed Drug Trial

    Rare disease biotech aTyr Pharma Inc. and its CEO have been hit with a proposed shareholder class action accusing them of misleading the public about the efficacy of aTyr's lung disease treatment for several months before announcing its trial had not yielded favorable results.

  • October 10, 2025

    Profs Say Apple Used Copyrighted Material For AI Training

    Two neuroscientists have sued Apple in California federal court, claiming it made use of their copyrighted materials to train its artificial intelligence model Apple Intelligence.

  • October 10, 2025

    Covington, Goodwin Guide Bristol Myers' $1.5B Orbital Buy

    Bristol Myers Squibb plans to acquire privately held Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5 billion in cash, aiming to expand its pipeline in cell- and RNA-based therapies for autoimmune diseases, the companies announced Friday.

  • October 10, 2025

    Pharma Co. Escapes Suit Over Ex-CEO's Alleged Misconduct

    Exscientia PLC on Friday won dismissal of a proposed class action related to the termination of its CEO after claims emerged that he participated in inappropriate workplace relationships, with the court finding the investors failed to show that the company's statements about its culture and governance were anything more than puffery.

  • October 10, 2025

    Clinical Trial Co. Settles Severance Fight With Ex-VP

    A clinical research company has agreed to shutter a lawsuit from an ex-executive who claimed his requests for severance went ignored following his resignation, according to a Friday filing in North Carolina federal court.

  • October 10, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen Paddington Bear's creators and Studio Canal sue the company behind Spitting Image, Blackpool Football Club's former owner Owen Oyston bring a fresh claim against the club, and Mishcon de Reya sue a Saudi investment group.

  • October 09, 2025

    Justices Urged To Clarify Patent Validity In Entresto Case

    Generic-drug makers, academics and others are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case involving Novartis' blockbuster cardiovascular drug Entresto, saying the justices must bring consistency to conflicting Federal Circuit precedent on the role of later technology in assessing patent validity.

  • October 09, 2025

    Biotronik Wants Full 9th Circ. Review Of Whistleblower Ruling

    Biotronik Inc. urged the full Ninth Circuit to review a panel ruling that revived a whistleblower suit alleging the company used unlawful compensation tactics to boost heart-device sales, saying it should have been tossed based on prior disclosures in news articles.

  • October 09, 2025

    Pharma Co. Looks To Nix 'Absurd' Award Over Acne Drug

    Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is urging a New York federal court to partially undo an arbitral award issued in a dispute over intellectual property for an acne drug, saying the award, if allowed to stand, could interfere with a medication that's been available in Canada for years.

  • October 09, 2025

    9th Circ. Probes Buyers On HIV Drug Antitrust Claims

    Insurers and health plans told a Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday that a lower court was wrong to toss their claims that Gilead orchestrated a product-hop scheme for its HIV drugs ahead of trial and for not seeing a price drop as evidence of an alleged agreement with Teva to delay generics.

  • October 09, 2025

    NJ Justices Probe Insurer's Role In $12M Settlement Fight

    The New Jersey Supreme Court zeroed in Thursday on how far insurers can go in reserving their rights without taking a definitive position on coverage, as Mist Pharmaceuticals LLC accused Berkley Insurance Co. of stonewalling a $12 million settlement by hiding behind ambiguity in its "capacity exclusion" clause.

  • October 09, 2025

    Mich. Justice Eyes Scope Of Judge-As-Grand-Jury Issue

    Michigan's chief Supreme Court justice on Thursday pondered the real-world implications of retroactively applying a 2022 ruling that judges cannot act as a one-person grand jury to issue indictments, saying the practice seems to have grown more prevalent.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge Axes Cell Analysis Patent In Case Against Parse

    A federal magistrate judge in Delaware has trimmed a suit accusing biotechnology company Parse Biosciences of infringing patents covering a way of detecting target molecules in cell samples, finding one of the patents was invalid.

  • October 09, 2025

    Hemp Co. Asks Del. Court To Defer Ex-Exec's Suit To Australia

    An Australian hemp manufacturer and its U.S. subsidiaries asked a Delaware federal judge Thursday to dismiss or pause a lawsuit filed by a former executive-turned-whistleblower, arguing the case should be deferred under international comity principles.

  • October 09, 2025

    Tivity Health Investors Seek Final OK Of $17M Settlement

    An investor in fitness program administrator Tivity Health Inc. has asked a Nashville federal judge for a final nod for an over $17 million deal ending claims the company misled investors about its financial prospects after its $1.3 billion acquisition of troubled weight-loss meal delivery company Nutrisystem.

  • October 09, 2025

    Pet Owner Keeps State, But Not Fed., Elanco Tick Meds Suit

    Advantix flea-and-tick medication maker Elanco Animal Health Inc. partially ducked a consumer proposed class action by convincing an Indiana federal judge to cut federal antitrust claims, but still must face state law allegations accusing it of paying off PetSmart, Petco and Chewy not to carry generic versions.

  • October 09, 2025

    Patient Asks 4th Circ. To Revive Faulty Ethicon Stapler Suit

    A surgery patient is asking the Fourth Circuit to reinstate his suit against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC over faulty staples used in his procedure, saying the district court was wrong to deny his request to extend an expert deadline after he finally narrowed down the type of stapler used.

  • October 09, 2025

    Ropes, Kirkland Guide $5.2B Novo Nordisk Liver Disease Deal

    Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it will acquire U.S.-based Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion in cash, expanding its portfolio into metabolic liver disease in a deal steered by Ropes & Gray LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. 

  • October 09, 2025

    Munck Wilson Taps Texas Atty To Lead Life Sciences Practice

    Munck Wilson Mandala LLP has chosen a Lone Star State lawyer who joined the firm earlier this year to lead the technology-focused firm's life sciences practice group.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • IRhythm IPR Denial Raises Key PTAB Discretion Questions

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    By giving the passage of time a dispositive role in denying institution of five inter partes review petitions filed by iRhythm Technologies, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has upended the strategic considerations for filing and defending against IPRs, disclosing prior art during prosecution, and engaging in licensing negotiations, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Canadian Suit Offers Disclosure Lesson For US Cannabis Cos.

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    A Canadian class action asserting that Aurora Cannabis failed to warn consumers about the risk of developing cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome may spawn copycat filings in the U.S., and is a cautionary tale for cannabis and hemp industries to prioritize risk disclosure, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.

  • Opinion

    IPR Denial In IRhythm Should Not Set A Blanket Rule

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    Though the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's discretionary denial in iRhythm v. Welch Allyn last month raised concerns that mere knowledge of a patent could bar inter partes review institution, a closer look at the facts and reasoning reveals why this case's holdings should not be reflexively applied to all petitioners, says David McCombs at Haynes Boone.

  • What High Court's Tenn. Trans Care Ruling Means Nationally

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, is fairly limited in scope and closely tailored to the specific language of Tennessee's law, but it may have implications for challenges to similar laws in other states, say attorneys at Hall Render.

  • How Trump's Trade Policies Are Shaping Foreign Investment

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    Five months into the Trump administration, investors are beginning to see the concrete effects of the president’s America First Investment Policy as it presents new opportunities for clearing transactions more quickly, while sustaining risk aversion related to Chinese trade and potentially creating different political risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Opinion

    Subject Matter Eligibility Test Should Return To Preemption

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    Subject matter eligibility has posed challenges for patentees due to courts' arbitrary and confusing reasoning, but adopting a two-part preemption test could align the applicant, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the courts, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Is SEC Moving Away From Parallel Insider Trading Cases?

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's apparent lack of follow-up in four recent criminal cases of insider trading brought by the Justice Department suggests the SEC may be reconsidering the expense and effort of bringing parallel civil charges for insider trading, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms

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    Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Prepping For SEC's Changing Life Sciences Enforcement

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    By proactively addressing several risk areas, companies in the life sciences sector can position themselves to minimize potential exposure under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's return to back-to-basics enforcement focused on insider trading and fraud, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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