Paul Hastings Wins Four LMG Life Sciences Awards

September 16, 2016

Partners Bruce Wexler and Naveen Modi Receive Top Honors

NEW YORK – Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that the firm’s Intellectual Property practice was honored at the 2016 LMG Life Sciences Awards with four different awards.

General Patent Litigator of the Year – New York: Bruce Wexler

Bruce Wexler, partner and co-founder of the Life Sciences Patent Litigation practice, was recognized as “General Patent Litigator of the Year – New York.” This past year, Bruce led three cases to trial, winning one trial on behalf of Merck related to the pharmaceutical company’s drug used in the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, Emend® for Injection. Bruce also represented Eli Lilly in its suit against Sanofi relating to Lilly’s application for FDA approval to sell insulin glargine. The case settled midnight before trial favorably to Lilly. In the third case, for Eisai, the case settled one hour before opening arguments, with a favorable outcome for the client following several successful pre-trial rulings by Judge Stark.
Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year: Naveen Modi

Naveen Modi, partner and global vice chair of the Intellectual Property practice, received the “Post Grant Proceedings Attorney of the Year” award. Having been involved in more than 300 post-grant proceedings, Mr. Modi is one of the foremost experts in challenging and defending patents before the United States Patent and Trademark Office under the America Invents Act. Managing Intellectual Property recently reported that Naveen was involved in more post-grant filings in 2015 than any other individual.

Hatch-Waxman Impact Cases of the Year:
Sanofi-Aventis US LLC et al. v. Eli Lilly & Co.

The firm’s practice was also honored for its work on behalf of Eli Lilly & Co. in Sanofi-Aventis US LLC et al. v. Eli Lilly & Co., where Mr. Wexler led a Paul Hastings team that included David Conca, Nick Tymoczko, ‎Julia Kolibachuk, Simon Kung, and Mi Zhou in litigation regarding the marketing of Basaglar®, an insulin glargine drug product. As noted in public press releases, Lilly will be able to enter the market this year with its insulin glargine product.

Helsinn Healthcare SA et al. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. et al.

LMG also recognized the firm for a win on behalf of Helsinn Healthcare in Helsinn Healthcare SA et al. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. et al., which resolved a long-running patent dispute over Aloxi®, a drug used to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. The team used a novel approach, successfully arguing that Helsinn’s pre-approval activities including a third party marketing and distribution agreement, didn’t make the invention available to the public and accordingly that the on-sale bar wasn’t triggered. The ruling set an important precedent shaping the course of patent law concerning the scope of the on-sale bar under the new America Invents Act (“AIA”). Joseph O’Malley, global chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property practice led the Paul Hastings team on this win, which included Eric Dittmann.

These LMG recognitions follow a steady stream of awards for the Intellectual Property practice. Most recently, Mr. Wexler was named American Lawyer’s Transatlantic Lawyer of the Year: Intellectual Property. Earlier this year, Mr. Modi was named Outstanding IP Litigator of the Year – PTAB at Managing IP’s 2016 North America Awards.

Managing IP also recently recognized Paul Hastings IP practice in its 2016 IP Stars rankings for its work across numerous categories, which included: Bio/life sciences, Patent contentious, and PTAB litigation (USPTO). Intellectual Asset Management has also highlighted Paul Hastings' IP practice and lawyers in its IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals 2016.

Celebrating 10 years as a practice at Paul Hastings, the Life Sciences IP Patent practice is comprised of more than 45 lawyers and scientific advisors, exclusively dedicated to patent litigation on behalf of innovator life sciences companies.

At Paul Hastings, our purpose is clear — to help our clients and people navigate new paths to growth. With a strong presence throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., Paul Hastings is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative global law firms.