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Michael Labson

Mike Labson has been a trusted advisor to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients for over 25 years. He draws on his wide range of regulatory expertise to provide strategic and compliance advice, and address FDA and other health care law issues in litigation, investigations, and transactions.

Mike is the managing partner of the Boston office and co-chairs the firm's global Life Sciences practice. He previously served in a number of firm leadership positions, including as a member of the firm’s Management Committee and Executive Committee and as co-chair of the Diversity Committee.

Mike provides creative and practical solutions to biopharmaceutical clients large and small across critical regulatory areas. He actively advises on:

Clinical trial programs, including study subject recruitment, informed consent, good clinical practice conduct issues, and expanded access.
Regulatory approval strategies, including FDA expedited approval programs, FDA advisory committee preparation, and drug/device and drug/diagnostic approvals.
FDA dispute resolution.
Orphan drug, pediatric, and Hatch-Waxman exclusivity, and generic drug and biosimilar product approval standards.
Product promotion, payer, and scientific exchange communications.
Company post-approval activities, including REMS, pharmacovigilance, required post-marketing studies, and NDA and BLA changes.
Rx-to-OTC drug switches and OTC drug claims.
DEA requirements for controlled substances.

Mike’s pro bono work focuses on criminal justice matters. He is on the Board of the Children’s Law Center and previously served as the Vice Chair of the Children’s Dental Health Project. Mike has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mike is Band 1 in Chambers Global and Chambers USA for Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory and Life Sciences Regulatory/Compliance. He is also recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Washington DC Super Lawyers, and LMG Life Sciences, where he was the Life Sciences Attorney of the Year in 2016.

As one reviewer in Chambers stated, Mike is “a terrific regulatory lawyer and a good business counselor, who can explain things in ways that regular people can understand.”

On May 12, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients” and an accompanying “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces Actions to Put American Patients First by Lowering Drug Prices and Stopping Foreign Free-riding on American Pharmaceutical Innovation

Continue Reading Trump Administration Issues Executive Order on “Most-Favored-Nation” Prescription Drug Pricing

October 29, 2024, Covington Alert

This e-alert is part of a series of e-alerts summarizing publicly available FDA enforcement letters (i.e., warning letters and untitled letters) relating to the advertising and promotion of prescription drugs, medical devices, and biologics.

During the third quarter of 2024 FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) posted the following three untiled letters.

  • Untitled Letter to AbbVie, Inc. re NDA 211765 UBRELVY (ubrogepant) tablets, for oral use (August 29, 2024) (Ubrelvy Untitled Letter)
  • Untitled Letter to Mirati Therapeutics Inc. (a Bristol Myers Squibb Co.) re NDA 216340 KRAZATI™ (adagrasib) tablets, for oral use MA 166 (August 1, 2024) (Krazati Untitled Letter)
  • Untitled Letter to Kaleo, Inc. re NDA 201739 AUVI-Q® (epinephrine injection, USP), for intramuscular or subcutaneous use MA 1021 (July 17, 2024) (Auvi-Q Untitled Letter)

The Office of Product Evaluation and Quality (OPEQ) at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) and the Office of Medical Device and Radiological Health Operations (OMDRHO) in the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) did not post any warning letters relating to the advertising and promotion of medical devices during this period. FDA’s Advertising and Promotional Labeling Branch (APLB) in the Office of Compliance and Biologics Quality (OCBQ) has not posted any enforcement letters since 2018.

This alert merely summarizes the allegations contained in FDA’s letters. It does not contain any analyses, opinions, characterizations, or conclusions by or of Covington & Burling LLP. As a result, the information presented herein does not necessarily reflect the views of Covington & Burling LLP or any of its clients.Continue Reading FDA Advertising and Promotion Enforcement Activities: Update