The Debevoise Healthcare & Life Sciences Group employs a highly coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to address transactional, litigation and intellectual property matters for leading healthcare & life sciences companies and for private equity firms investing in the industry. The team provides integrated, cross practice legal advice with efficient and seamless execution covering all aspects of healthcare & life sciences matters, including corporate and M&A, litigation and compliance, FDA/FTC regulatory, intellectual property, including licensing and collaboration agreements, and cyber security & data privacy. This approach offers clients a “one-stop-shop” for healthcare and life sciences across nearly all subsectors and stages of the industry lifecycle. The practice’s lawyers are knowledgeable about the issues faced by companies operating and investing in the sector, which enables the Group to develop comprehensive and commercial strategies and solutions.
The Group draws from a broad array of practices throughout the firm, leveraging its experience in private equity, M&A, finance, capital markets, restructuring, litigation, government and regulatory investigations, tax, intellectual property and antitrust, among others. It is well versed in the increasingly global issues facing healthcare & life sciences clients and is well positioned to address those issues through the sophisticated capabilities of the firm’s offices around the world.
The team handles significant transactions and regulatory and litigation matters in a wide variety of areas for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, financial sponsors, financial advisors and other key players in the industry. The Group’s transactional work includes mergers and acquisitions, financings, securities offerings, licensing, development and commercialization transactions, while its litigation work spans investigations by U.S. government agencies, “bet-the-company” defense work, compliance with U.S. regulatory requirements and defense of intellectual property rights.
The changes contemplated by the Biden administration are sure to have significant implications for every sector of the healthcare & life sciences industry. We will be closely following these developments and providing you with the information you need to stay abreast of coming changes.
7 March 2023 New York Seeks Review and Approval Authority over Certain Healthcare Transactions Last month, Governor Kathleen Hochul released the proposed New York State Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2024, which contained, among other things, a proposal (“Article 45‑A” or the “bill”) that would provide review and approval powers to the State Department of Health (“DOH”) over “material transactions” involving certain healthcare entities. Read more. >
6 March 2023 Risks of Overselling Your AI: The FTC is Watching On February 27, 2023, the FTC released guidance entitled “Keep Your AI Claims in Check” (“AI Claims Blog Post”), reminding companies that false or unsubstantiated claims about a product’s efficacy are core areas of FTC enforcement activity. Read more. >
2 March 2023 Proceed with Caution: Online Tracking Technologies Pose HIPAA Compliance Risks On December 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued guidance to covered entities and their business associates (collectively, “regulated entities”) concerning online tracking technology. The use of tracking technologies on websites and mobile applications has long been a commonplace aspect of the online ecosystem, providing companies with valuable insights into user behaviors as well as opportunities to enhance user experiences. However, healthcare entities’ use of tracking technologies, such as cookies, web beacons and pixels, has recently come under fire: a litany of class-action lawsuits alleging improper disclosure of patient information has been filed against major health systems and hospitals. Read more. >
9 January 2023 Top 15 Healthcare and Life Sciences Issues to Watch in 2023 Throughout 2022, the healthcare industry grappled with public health crises, economic and financial pressures, and a dynamic regulatory environment. We expect 2023 to continue challenging industry stakeholders. Those best positioned to face legal and regulatory headwinds will be, in turn, best positioned to manage risk, reconfigure care delivery models and capitalize on market opportunities. Read more. >
19 August 2022 Dealmaking Implications of California’s New Healthcare Cost Monitoring Law On June 30, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California’s $308 billion state budget, which included, as a budget trailer bill, the California Health Care Quality and Affordability Act (“SB 184” or “the statute”). The statute, among other things, establishes the Office of Health Care Affordability (“OHCA” or “the office”), whose portfolio is to collect and report data that are informative to the legislature and the public regarding healthcare expenditures and cost trends in order to develop data-informed policies and enforceable cost targets. California joins a number of other states, including Massachusetts and Oregon, in the establishment of a healthcare cost commission. Read more. >