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MoFo Life Sciences shares timely legal and business insights and in-depth analyses on trends and the complex technologies at the heart of the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, medical devices, digital health, and AgTech fields.

November 11, 2022 - Agtech, Intellectual Property, Startup, Corporate + Venture Capital
Top Three IP Issues for AgTech Startups
By: Matthew A. Ferry and Edith A. Pierre-Jerome Ph.D.
Innovation, agriculture, and technology took center stage at San Diego’s first AgTech Hackathon. The event took place October 21 – 23 in the city of Escondido, a key farming hub in San Diego County looking to attract agtech startups to the region. The event
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October 28, 2022 - Intellectual Property, Agtech, Regulatory
Germany: Ministry of Health Grants First Glimpse on the Upcoming Cannabis Legalization and Seeks Green Light from the European Commission
By: Robert Grohmann
MoFo research assistant Tim Stripling contributed to this article. In November 2021, in its coalition agreement, the newly elected German Federal Government announced its plans to legalize cannabis for recreational use. Since then, it has been hotly debated by the cannabis industry in Germany
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October 28, 2022 - United States, Healthcare, Regulatory, Digital Health, Biotech
U.S. Government Launches Billion-Dollar Biomedical Agency
By: Tina D. Reynolds
As part of the Biden Administration’s ongoing efforts to spur innovation and research, it has championed the creation of a new sub-agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Authorized by Congress in March 2022, the new
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October 25, 2022 - Medical Devices + Diagnostics
Cybersecurity Expectations Intensify for Medical Device Cos.
By: Kristen J. Mathews
Josephine Garban, Patent Agent in New York and San Diego, contributed to this article. Stacy Cline Amin, Kristen Mathews, and Rachel Park co-authored an article for Law360 that discusses the FBI’s private industry notification reminding medical device companies that cybersecurity has to be front
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October 21, 2022 - Agtech, Financing, Startup
Financing Options for an Early Stage Company in the Alternative Protein Industry
By: Simon Arlington and Michelle Si-Ting Luo
Having a clear picture of financing options is key for early-stage companies and will be relevant to players in the alternative protein industry generally, given the significant amounts of investment that the industry has seen in recent years (a record US $5bn was invested
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October 18, 2022 - FDA, Digital Health, Healthcare
Telehealth Fraud Enforcement: Trends, Predictions, and Best Practices
By: Kate Driscoll
Morrison Foerster's Kate Driscoll joined the American Bar Association Health Law Section "Voices in Health Law" podcast to discuss the latest telehealth enforcement trends. The rise of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in new and adapted forms of fraud, and Kate offers
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October 05, 2022 - Intellectual Property, United States
Sawing Through Patent Term—the Federal Circuit’s Recent Decision In Sawstop
By: Mehran Arjomand and Meghan McLean Poon Ph.D.
Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is additional patent term for U.S. patents to compensate for delay in issuance. The statute (35 U.S.C. § 154(b)) provides three bases for PTA: delayed response by the USPTO (“A delay”), failure to issue a patent within three years (“B delay”),
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October 04, 2022 - FDA, Product Liability + Class Action
Water Is in, White Bread Is Out: “Healthy” Gets a New Look in 2023
By: Claudia M. Vetesi and Lena Gankin
For decades, health-conscious consumers have argued about what it really means for a food to be “healthy.” Is dark chocolate “healthy”? How about breakfast cereal, coffee, or fruit gummies? At the same time, class action litigants have seized on ever-evolving and subjective definitions of “healthy,” pursuing claims
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September 30, 2022 - United States, Healthcare
A Day Late and a Dollar Short: AAG Polite Warns That Corporate Leaders Who Fail to Invest in Compliance “Early and Often” Do So “At Their Own Risk”
By: Nathaniel R. Mendell, Brian R. Michael, Christine Y. Wong, Kate Driscoll and Mitchell E. Feldman
On September 28, 2022, the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) joined the Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG) to offer some stern advice for corporate leaders and
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September 28, 2022 - FDA, COVID-19, Healthcare, Medical Devices + Diagnostics, Regulatory, United States
FDA Updates COVID-19 Test Policy
Brandy Guarda, Regulatory Analyst in Washington, D.C., contributed to the drafting of this post. On September 27, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated its COVID-19 Test Policy Guidance to encourage test developers to pursue full marketing authorization as opposed to Emergency
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