When Your Life Sciences Are on the Line: Life Sciences and Food + Agriculture

MoFo Perspectives Podcast

Morrison Foerster partners Kate Driscoll and Nate Mendell, both former federal prosecutors and members of the firm’s Investigations + White Collar Defense Group, hosted the sixth episode of When Your Life Sciences Are on the Line, where leading practitioners and thought leaders share the insights and advice needed to manage business and legal risk in the life sciences sector. In this episode, Kate and Nate spoke with Anita Choi, a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Life Sciences + Healthcare and Food + Agriculture Groups, about how new developments in food product innovation and the treatment of obesity have gained attention from government enforcers and regulators. They discuss how the economic potential of cell culture technology in food production could attract attention from regulators and enforcers looking for fraudulent practices like misbranding or adulteration and also how the high demand for weight loss drugs has already fueled a black market for counterfeit medications. Kate and Nate cover recent enforcement actions by the U.S. Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration to combat fraud and to protect consumers from dangerous products, and explore how these revolutionary technologies may be targeted for enforcement. On a lighter note, Kate, Nate, and Anita also talk about how life sciences companies can protect their intellectual property as they innovate and enter the market.