Healthcare Deals This Week: Merck, Sofinnova, Lilly
Merck and Eli Lilly announced billion-dollar transactions set to give them an in on new treatments. Pfizer was victorious after beating out GLP-1 maker Novo Nordisk in a battle for Metsera. Law360 looks at the big deals from the past week.
Doctors, Lawmakers Fight Downcoding, Citing Patient Harm
Healthcare providers are sounding the alarm on automated downcoding, an aggressive cost-saving strategy by health insurers. While health plans say downward coding combats improper upcoding, the issue has the attention of state lawmakers and triggered a lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare.
Feds Look To 'False Certification' FCA Strategy
Prosecutors shifted strategy in a kickback case against a biotech giant. FCA attorneys are closely watching the Regeneron case for clues on how the DOJ will establish causation in a growing number of states implicated by recent circuit court rulings.
Deals & Corporate Governance More
The Federal Trade Commission formally dropped its administrative case challenging GTCR BC Holdings LLC's acquisition of a medical coatings supplier after an Illinois federal judge refused to put the deal on hold.
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not review the Fourth Circuit's decision to back the dismissal of a proposed class action accusing drugmakers of conspiring and inflating the price of a medicati... (more story)
The Federal Trade Commission withdrew its administrative case challenging GTCR BC Holdings LLC's acquisition of a medical coatings supplier to consider whether to drop the case entirely after an Illinois feder... (more story)
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court seemed skeptical Wednesday that the state workers' compensation authorities were using the best guide to calculate pharmacy reimbursements for injured workers' prescription drugs... (more story)
GTCR BC Holdings LLC wants the Federal Trade Commission to rethink its in-house challenge to a medical coatings supplier merger after an Illinois federal judge refused a temporary block and the FTC opted not t... (more story)
Perrigo Company PLC faces a shareholder class action alleging the company and its top brass failed to disclose critical issues with infant formula operations that it purchased from Nestle and caused stock pric... (more story)
Digital Health & Technology More
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has completed a decision-making process and established a new policy under which the agency will share certain Medicaid information with U.S. Immigration and Cu... (more story)
A Pennsylvania federal judge partially quashed part of a U.S. Department of Justice subpoena seeking health records for minors receiving gender-affirming care at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, ruling... (more story)
The high-octane fight between Apple and Masimo over smartwatch patents escalated again last week, when a California federal jury hit Apple with a $634 million infringement verdict and the U.S. International Tr... (more story)
DaVita Inc. has reached a settlement in principle with current and former patients of the healthcare company who alleged in Colorado federal court that it did not adequately protect their personal information,... (more story)
A consumer on Tuesday hit health and wellness wearable tech company Whoop Inc. with a proposed class action in California federal court alleging that its boasting of the blood pressure features of its fitness ... (more story)
The family of a Washington State University student who died by suicide have sued telehealth company Hims & Hers Health Inc. in Washington state court, alleging their son was negligently prescribed an antidepr... (more story)
Policy & Compliance More
The Ninth Circuit affirmed Monday a $7.3 million compensatory sanction and asset-freeze injunction against executives behind the "Success By Health" pyramid scheme, rejecting their argument, among others, that... (more story)
A Massachusetts federal judge should toss a proposed class action accusing a Teamsters healthcare plan of failing to protect plan participants' personal information, the plan argued, seeking dismissal of a sui... (more story)
A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday chided a Trump administration lawyer for continuing to argue that a coalition of states lacks standing to seek to block what it says is the effective defunding of Planne... (more story)
A Christian health system urged a federal court to permanently prohibit Michigan from enforcing a state civil rights law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, arguing the stat... (more story)
Washington's insurance commissioner slapped Regence BlueShield with a $550,000 fine, the state announced Monday, for purportedly violating reporting requirements under a federal law that says health insurers m... (more story)
North Dakota's near-total ban on abortion is back in effect after the state's top court narrowly reversed a lower court decision by failing to reach the supermajority required to declare the law unconstitutional.