John Hancock Life Insurance Company John Hancock Variable Life Insurance Company and Investors Partner Life Insurance Company v. Abbott Laboratories

AMENDED OPINION **

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

John Hancock Life Insurance Company and two of its subsidiaries (collectively “Hancock”) contracted with Abbott Laboratories (“Abbott”) to join in financing the development of some pharmaceutical compounds. In exchange, Abbott promised to share with Hancock any profits the compounds would generate. It soon became apparent that a number of the compounds had no good prospect of commercial success. Abbott scaled back and delayed its planned investment in the joint project. Arguing that Abbott had failed to uphold its part of the bargain, Hancock stopped…