Deals & Corporate Governance
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August 12, 2025
Bayer Bets $1.3B On Kumquat Cancer Drug Candidate
Pharmaceutical company Bayer and Kumquat Biosciences Inc., a clinical-stage biotech company, on Tuesday announced that they have entered into an exclusive global license and collaboration agreement under which Kumquat will receive up to $1.3 billion to help develop and commercialize its pancreatic cancer-focused drug candidate.
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August 12, 2025
FTC Skeptical Of 'Partial' Sale For GTCR Merger Fix
The Federal Trade Commission told an Illinois federal court that enforcers are reviewing an offer by private equity firm GTCR BC Holding to sell parts of a medical device coatings company in order to fix concerns raised by the company's planned purchase of Surmodics, but said a full sale is preferable.
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August 12, 2025
Roche Settles Trade Secrets Suit With Stanford And Profs
Subsidiaries of F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG have settled claims with a competing startup founded by Stanford University professors to resolve claims of trade secret theft related to cancer detection technology.
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August 11, 2025
GTCR Says Sale, Market Nix FTC Med Tech Merger Concerns
Private equity firm GTCR BC Holdings urged an Illinois federal judge not to block its planned $627 million purchase of a medical device coatings company, arguing in a brief made public Friday that a planned divestiture fully resolves Federal Trade Commission concerns.
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August 11, 2025
Hospital Groups Back Challenge Of Merger Notice Overhaul
A pair of hospital trade associations threw their support behind a U.S. Chamber of Commerce case challenging the Federal Trade Commission's new premerger filing requirements, telling a Texas federal court the agency was wrong to invoke the hospital industry when justifying the changes.
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August 11, 2025
DOJ Touts Merger, Rental Algorithm Deals, Eyeing More
The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division on Monday touted two recent settlements, in a merger case and in the RealPage algorithmic rent-fixing litigation, as indications that Trump administration enforcers will focus on algorithm-based price-fixing and are willing to "negotiate favorable settlements."
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August 11, 2025
Claims Court Judge Orders VA To Redo Drug Procurement
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs violated the Trade Agreements Act by opting to purchase prostate medication from a company sourcing the drug from India, a non-TAA designation country.
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August 11, 2025
Greystone Issues $64.9M Loan For Penn. Healthcare Portfolio
Greystone has provided a nonrecourse, 24-month bridge loan of more than $64.9 million for a 506-bed, three-property Pennsylvania healthcare portfolio, the commercial real estate finance company announced Monday.
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August 07, 2025
Fed. Circ. Affirms PTAB Ax Of Bone Fusion Device Patents
The Federal Circuit on Thursday upheld Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings that invalidated claims in a pair of Stryker Corp. patents for a surgical implant that a Berkshire Hathaway-owned rival had challenged.
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August 07, 2025
UnitedHealth Selling Home Health Branches In DOJ Deal
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement Thursday resolving its Maryland federal court challenge to UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion acquisition of home health and hospice company Amedisys, with the deal requiring the companies to sell at least 164 locations across 19 states.
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August 06, 2025
Ga. Judges Weigh Birth Defect Ruling in Sterigenics Case
A group of Georgia residents who alleged they were injured by emissions from a Sterigenics sterilization plant urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday to overturn a lower court's grant of partial summary judgment to the company on the issue of whether the plant's emissions caused birth defects.
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August 05, 2025
Novo Nordisk Lodges Suits Over 'Knockoff' Semaglutide Meds
Novo Nordisk said Tuesday it has recently filed more than a dozen lawsuits accusing weight loss companies, med spas and pharmacies of tricking patients into purchasing and using unapproved drugs containing semaglutide, which the Danish pharmaceutical company uses in its blockbuster medicines Wegovy and Ozempic.
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August 05, 2025
Stewart Won't Reconsider Her 1st Settled Expectations Denial
The acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director on Tuesday stood by her first-ever decision that an older patent shouldn't have to face Patent Trial and Appeal Board scrutiny.
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August 04, 2025
GTCR Says Buyer In Place For Potential FTC Divestiture Deal
Private equity firm GTCR BC Holdings told an Illinois federal court it has a signed agreement with a buyer for a deal that should fix the concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission over its planned $627 million purchase of a medical device coatings company.
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August 04, 2025
Investors Say Novo Nordisk Misled Them Over Drug Demand
Novo Nordisk was hit with a proposed securities class action in New Jersey federal court alleging the company misled investors over its revenue outlook for 2025 by allegedly overstating the likelihood patients would switch to its branded diabetes and weight loss drugs.
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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."
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July 30, 2025
ImmunityBio Investors Nab Initial OK On Derivative Suit Deal
A California federal judge has granted initial approval to a deal ending derivative claims that ImmunityBio executives failed to disclose manufacturing deficiencies that doomed the company's lead cancer drug application.
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July 29, 2025
Ocugen Beats Investor Suit Over Financial Controls
Biopharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc. on Tuesday won permanent dismissal from an investor's class action accusing it of concealing weak financial controls that led to it refiling accounting statements for several periods, with a Pennsylvania federal judge determining that Ocugen's stock price recovered from the announcement it had erred in its reports.
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July 29, 2025
This Week's Healthcare Earnings: UnitedHealth, AstraZeneca
A host of companies posted their second-quarter financial results this past week, offering a look into how health systems, payors and pharmaceutical companies fared over the past few months.
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July 29, 2025
Pharma Co. Blasts Adversary For Nudging Judge Assignment
A pharmaceutical solutions group has assailed its opponent's "hurry-up-court" motion nudging the appointment of a new judge after the previous judge overseeing their contract fight retired, saying its adversary "has only itself to blame" for the alleged delays that have put off a final resolution.
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July 28, 2025
Arnold & Porter Opens Seattle Office With K&L Gates Attys
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP announced Monday that it has opened a Seattle office with three former K&L Gates LLP partners, and added a fourth attorney from that firm in New Jersey.
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July 25, 2025
Hospital Giant To Pay $3.5M Over Nurse Training Repayments
HCA Healthcare Inc., a major U.S. hospital operator, has agreed to pay roughly $3.5 million to settle claims that it unlawfully trapped new nurses in agreements requiring them to repay training costs if they left their jobs within two years, according to a trio of state attorneys general.
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July 24, 2025
Medical Device Firm GC's Pay Soars After $202M IPO
The general counsel for medical device company Kestra Medical Technologies Inc., which priced a $202 million initial public offering in March, saw her total compensation soar from just under $500,000 during the 2024 fiscal year to more than $6 million in 2025.
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July 24, 2025
Eli Lilly's Trademark Suit Not 'Abuse Of Process'
A Washington federal judge has tossed out counterclaims by a pair of clinics being sued for trademark infringement by Eli Lilly & Co., saying the acts of filing the suit and making a settlement demand are not in themselves abuse of process.
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July 23, 2025
NJ Fed. Judge Pulls Opinion Flagged With Nonexistent Quotes
A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday withdrew his decision declining to dismiss a securities class action against CorMedix Inc. after an attorney for the biopharmaceutical firm pointed out the opinion contained "a series of errors," including nonexistent quotes and misstated decisions.

3 Firms Advise As Cardinal Health Makes $1.9B Urology Push
Cardinal Health said Tuesday that one of its specialty platforms has agreed to acquire a top urology company known as Solaris Health from Lee Equity Partners and Solaris' physician owners for $1.9 billion, in a deal steered by three law firms.

Gibson Dunn, Wachtell Advise On $1.5B Vision Implant Deal
Global eye care company Alcon announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire STAAR Surgical Co. for approximately $1.5 billion in cash, aiming to broaden its portfolio in the growing surgical vision correction market.

This Week's Healthcare Earnings: J&J, Elevance, Tenet
Earnings season for the second quarter of the year kicked off recently with results from heavy hitters like Johnson & Johnson and Novartis this past week.
Expert Analysis
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Texas Med Spas Must Prepare For 2 New State Laws
Two new laws in Texas — regulating elective intravenous therapy and reforming healthcare noncompetes — mark a pivotal shift in the regulatory framework for medical spas in the state, which must proactively adapt their operations and contractual practices, says Brad Cook at Munsch Hardt.
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Strategies For Cos. Navigating US-Indian Pharma Partnerships
Recent policy adjustments implemented by the U.S. government present both new opportunities and heightened regulatory scrutiny for the Indian life sciences industry, amplifying the importance of collaboration between the Indian and U.S. pharmaceutical sectors, say Bryant Godfrey at Foley Hoag and Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.
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A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year
In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.
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A Look At Trump 2.0 Antitrust Enforcement So Far
The first six months of President Donald Trump's second administration were marked by aggressive antitrust enforcement tempered by traditional structural remedies for mergers, but other unprecedented actions, like the firing of Federal Trade Commission Democrats, will likely stoke heated discussion ahead, says Richard Dagen at Axinn.
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Plan For Increased HSR Info Sharing With Wash. Antitrust Law
Washington's merger notification requirements, effective later this month, combined with the Federal Trade Commission's new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act rules, will result in greater information sharing among state and federal agencies, making it important for merging parties to consider their transaction's potential state antitrust implications early on, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Spinoff Transaction Considerations For Biotech M&A
Amid current market challenges, boards and management teams of biotech companies can consider several strategies for maximizing value should a spinoff opportunity arise, but not without significant advance planning and careful implementation, particularly in cases that might qualify as tax-free, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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How Ore. Law Puts New Confines On Corp. Health Ownership
A newly enacted law in Oregon strengthens the state’s restrictions on corporate ownership of healthcare practices, with new limitations on overlapping control, permissible services, restrictive covenants and more making it necessary for practices to review decades-old physician practice arrangements, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Trump Antitrust Shift Eases Pressure On Private Equity Deals
Enforcement actions and statements by Trump administration antitrust officials forecast a shift away from specifically targeting private equity activity, which should be welcome news to dealmakers, but firms shouldn't expect to escape traditional antitrust scrutiny, says Nathaniel Bronstein at Fried Frank.
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How Trump Administration's Antitrust Agenda Is Playing Out
Under the current antitrust agency leadership, the latest course in merger enforcement, regulatory approach and key sectors shows a marked shift from Biden-era practices and includes a return to remedies and the commitment to remain focused on the bounds of U.S. law, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Why Texas Should Slow Down On Healthcare Merger Bills
More time is needed to study three Texas bills aimed at considering the effects of healthcare consolidation to increase affordability and access to healthcare, which could have the opposite effect, say John Saran and Harshita Rathore at Holland & Knight and Robbie Allen at U.S. Heart and Vascular.
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Navigating The Expanding Frontier Of Premerger Notice Laws
Washington's newly enacted law requiring premerger notification to state enforcers builds upon a growing trend of state scrutiny into transactions in the healthcare sector and beyond, and may inspire other states to enact similar legislation, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Issues To Watch At ABA's Antitrust Spring Meeting
Attorneys at Freshfields consider the future of antitrust law and competition enforcement amid agency leadership changes and other emerging developments likely to dominate discussion at the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week.
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Reviewing Calif. Push To Restrict Private Equity In Healthcare
A recent proposed bill in California aims to broaden the state's existing corporate practice of medicine restrictions, so investors must ensure that there is clear delineation between private equity investment in practice management and physicians' clinical decision-making, say attorneys at Debevoise.