Media Mention

Winston & Strawn partner James Hurst, based in the firm's Chicago office, was profiled in the April 17, 2012 American Lawyer article titled "Winston's Hurst Scores for Generics at Supreme Court" and Corporate Counsel's "One for Generics," featured in the June 1, 2012 issue.

The articles discuss Mr. Hurst's win for Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories involving the Hatch-Waxman Act's provisions governing competition between generic and brand-name pharmaceuticals. The issue—whether the Act enables generics to correct branded drug makers' filings with FDA that overstate the scope of the brands' patents, causing FDA to block generic marketing—is vitally important to patients, FDA, and the $300 billion pharmaceutical industry.

In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court reversed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and found that a district court judge was right to conclude in 2009 that Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk must correct information it provided to the Food and Drug Administration about its diabetes drug Prandin. The ruling will make it easier for generic drugs to bring successful counterclaims against brand-name drug companies in Hatch-Waxman Act litigation, which will ultimately help them to get their own drugs on the market. This is the first time that the Supreme Court has ever weighed in on a Hatch-Waxman challenge to a brand-name drug. 

As Corporate Counsel states, "patent experts are abuzz over the ruling."

Mr. Hurst is chair of Winston & Strawn's intellectual property department and routinely serves as the lead trial attorney for major companies in their highest-stakes cases, including patents, age discrimination claims, antitrust, class action, and employment case. In January 2012, Mr. Hurst was named a "Litigator of the Year" finalist by the American Lawyer.