MoFo Life Sciences

June 27, 2019 - United States, Corporate + Venture Capital, Medical Devices + Diagnostics, Biotech, Pharma, Announcements, Blockchain, Privacy + Data Security
Morrison & Foerster Hosts 2nd Annual Blockchain Healthcare Summit
By: Kristen J. Mathews, Spencer D. Klein and Jonathan Bockman
Five Morrison & Foerster attorneys recently participated in the 2nd Annual Blockchain Healthcare Summit in our New York City office, and provided an overview of the current state of the industry, including a discussion of blockchain-enabled applications for compliance, privacy, practitioner credentialing, patient medical
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June 11, 2019 - United States, Biotech, Pharma, Intellectual Property
Patent Term Adjustment: A Post-Supernus Update from the Patent and Trademark Office
By: Karen G Potter
On May 9, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) published a notice in the Federal Register that it is modifying its patent term adjustment (“PTA”) procedures in view of the Federal Circuit’s decision in Supernus Pharmaceuticals v. Iancu .[1] Under the PTO
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June 04, 2019 - AI + Robotics, United States, Biotech, Pharma, Data Analytics
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Real-world applications
With Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) rapidly becoming significant players in multiple areas of science and technology, it came as no surprise to witness a full house for Athena’s program “Taking Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) from Concept to Application,”
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May 24, 2019 - United States, Biotech, Pharma, Regulatory, Intellectual Property
Congress releases bipartisan draft bill to repair the law on patent eligibility
By: Karen G Potter and Jeffrey W. Schmidt
On May 22, 2019, members of Congress made available for public comment a one-page draft of a bill that aims to rewrite the patent eligibility provisions of the Patent Act to address the muddled jurisprudence spawned by the Supreme Court cases of Mayo Collaborative
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May 22, 2019 - Biotech, European Union, Pharma, Regulatory, Intellectual Property
Manufacturing Waiver Weakens SPC Protection in Europe
By: Wolfgang Schönig
On May 14, 2019, the Council of the European Union adopted the amending Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009 , effectively exempting certain manufacturing activities in the EU from the scope of Supplementary Protection Certificates that have not yet been granted (“New SPC Regulation”). The New SPC Regulation will enter
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March 18, 2019 - United States, Corporate + Venture Capital, Biotech, Asia, Financing
An Easier Road to a Hong Kong Listing for Biotech Companies
By: Vivian Yiu, Janet Xiao and Jie Zhou
In June 2017, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (“HKEx”) initiated a holistic review of the Hong Kong listing regime to enhance its overall competitiveness against other major global listing venues, in particular to attract companies from emerging and innovative sectors. During this review, the
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February 05, 2019 - United States, Biotech, Blockchain, Privacy + Data Security
Transforming the U.S. Healthcare Industry with Blockchain Technology
By: Spencer D. Klein, Julie O'Neill and Mary Race
Patients accumulate vast quantities of healthcare data over the course of their lives. Those data are generally housed in centralized servers operated by various unrelated industry participants, including government regulators and payors, insurance carriers, hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately, those repositories rely
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January 26, 2019 - United States, Biotech, Pharma, Regulatory, Intellectual Property
Federal Circuit Corrects USPTO on Reasonable Efforts When Calculating Patent Term Adjustment
The Federal Circuit ruled on January 23, 2019, that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) erred in reducing the term of a patent owned by Supernus Pharmaceuticals by 546 days, during which time the company could not have furthered prosecution of the
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January 08, 2019 - United States, Biotech, Intellectual Property
A New Year's Gift for Patent Applicants?
By: Jonathan Bockman, Christopher Gloria and Karen G Potter
The USPTO rang in the new year by releasing new Examiner Guidance that could potentially benefit patent applicants who have previously encountered difficulty acquiring patents under the Office’s procedures for determining patent subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Supreme Court decisions regarding § 101
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October 30, 2018 - United States, Biotech, CFIUS, Pharma, Regulatory
New CFIUS Pilot Program: What Life Sciences Companies and Investors Need to Know
By: Charles C. Comey, Robert S. Litt and Joseph A. Benkert
As many life sciences companies and investors are aware, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) recently announced a new “pilot program” for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) effective November 10, 2018. The pilot program implements certain provisions of
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