Latham Named 2019 Life Sciences Group of the Year
Latham & Watkins once again received Law360’s Life Sciences Practice Group of the Year award for 2019. The annual awards “honor the law firms behind the litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry in the past year.”
In the feature article, Law360 recognized Latham for its outstanding work, remarking that one of the keys to the firm’s “success is bringing together attorneys from an array of practice areas.”
Brian Cuneo, Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Life Sciences and Healthcare Industry Group, noted: “We're able to leverage knowledge across different legal disciplines… and to be able to come together cross-disciplinary is an incredible benefit to our clients."
Latham’s representation of Puma Biotechnology, led by Global Securities Litigation & Professional Liability Chair Andrew Clubok and Global Litigation & Trial Department Chair Michele Johnson, in a securities class action trial was highlighted as one of the “…biggest successes last year.” The trial was the first federal securities class action to reach a verdict in nearly 10 years. The jury delivered a unanimous verdict in Puma’s favor on three of the four alleged misstatements, and awarded less than 5% of claimed damages.
Law360 mentioned the firm’s successful representation of Endo Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiary Par Pharmaceuticals in its case with FDA to prevent the bulk compounding of its drug, Vasopressin. John Manthei, Global Chair of the Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice and co-lead partner, with Phil Perry, on the matter, added: “In this matter, we were able to combine core regulatory expertise and also bring to bear significant litigation expertise to achieve the regulatory objective.”
Outside of Litigation, the firm’s transactional capabilities were honored with recognition for three impressive matters including the firm’s representation of Daiichi Sankyo in its US$6.9 billion strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize a new cancer treatment. Vice Chair of the Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice and lead partner on the matter, Judith Hasko, noted that to her knowledge, “it's the largest clinical stage licensing transaction for an oncology product.”
Law360 also mentioned the firm’s representation of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) on its US$1.5 billion deal with AstraZeneca for the rights to respiratory tract infection drug Synagis led by partners Scott Shean and Steven Chinowsky as well as representing Gossamer Bio on its US$317 million initial public offering led by partners Matthew Bush and Cheston Larson.