Lauren Ruth Malakoff

Lauren Ruth Malakoff is an attorney at Walsh Pizzi O'Reilly Falanga LLP, where she focuses her practice on business and commercial litigation, with a notable emphasis on intellectual property matters, including patent litigation. Her firm's intellectual property practice is recognized for assisting patent counsel and clients in preparing patent cases for trial, including those leading to multi-billion dollar settlements for pharmaceutical companies.

Ms. Malakoff's litigation experience demonstrates a balanced practice, with an equal number of appearances on both the plaintiff and defendant sides in patent cases. She served as Counsel in the high-profile pharmaceutical patent dispute Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC v. Halozyme Inc. This case involved patent infringement claims related to Merck's Keytruda SC, which utilizes subcutaneous formulation technology. Recent developments in this litigation include a June 2026 decision from the UK Patents Court that ordered Halozyme to pay indemnity costs after it ceased defending a key European patent, marking a favorable outcome for Merck. Additionally, in May 2026, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued an invalidation ruling on one of Halozyme's core 'MDASE' patents, weakening infringement claims against Keytruda SC. However, in December 2025, a German court granted Halozyme a preliminary injunction preventing Merck from distributing Keytruda SC in Germany based on patent infringement.

Her involvement in Merck v. Halozyme demonstrates experience with proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), as Merck initiated post-grant reviews (PGRs) that led to the invalidation of a Halozyme patent.

Ms. Malakoff earned her J.D., cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2020 and her bachelor's degree, cum laude, from Villanova University in 2015. She is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, as well as before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.