Welcome to our ninth annual report on US securities class actions filed against publicly traded life sciences companies, which include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and healthcare companies....more
3/31/2025
/ Biotechnology ,
Class Action ,
Clinical Trials ,
FDA Approval ,
Health Care Providers ,
Insider Trading ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation
We are proud to present our seventh annual Securities Litigation Year in Review publication, in which we analyze data for securities class actions filed nationally against publicly traded pharmaceutical, biotechnology,...more
On September 21, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged the CEO, Sheng Fu, and former president, Ming Xu, of Chinese-based technology company Cheetah Mobile Inc. (“Cheetah Mobile” or the...more
9/30/2022
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations
On March 30, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) held an open meeting to consider proposed rules and amendments regarding special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), shell companies, and...more
4/1/2022
/ Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
Investors ,
New Rules ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Reverse Mergers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shell Corporations ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
On December 15, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to Rule 10b5-1 trading plans, as SEC Chairman Gary Gensler first previewed in June in the wake of increased scrutiny of the plans. A Rule...more
Within the last two weeks, a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys have filed derivative lawsuits in U.S. federal court in New York against three separate special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) — Pershing Square Tontine...more
On July 13, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against special purpose acquisition corporation Stable Road Acquisition Company, its sponsor SRC-NI, its CEO Brian Kabot, the SPAC’s proposed...more
7/29/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
CEOs ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Mergers ,
Misleading Statements ,
Misrepresentation ,
Omissions ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Section 17(a) ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Sponsors
Rule 10b5-1 trading plans have faced increased scrutiny since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding public focus on stock sales by executives of public life sciences companies. On June 7, 2021, SEC Chairman...more
In many ways, 2020 was an unprecedented year. In midMarch, the United States abruptly went into lockdown as coronavirus cases began to spike; a national emergency was declared, travel bans and gathering restrictions were...more
4/28/2021
/ Class Action ,
Data Breach ,
Dismissals ,
Duty to Disclose ,
Failure To Disclose ,
False Statements ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investors ,
Misleading Statements ,
Omissions ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Stock Prices
On March 5, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charging AT&T with repeated violations of Section 13 of the Securities...more
3/22/2021
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
AT&T ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investors ,
Non-Public Information ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation FD ,
Section 13 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations
2020 marked an incredible surge in the prevalence of Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”) initial public offerings and business combinations (“deSPAC transactions”). In 2020, there were 248 SPAC IPOs (raising total...more
2/23/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Officers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Division of Corporate Finance ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Target Company
In a May 12, 2020 Keynote Address at the Securities Enforcement Forum West 2020, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Co-Director of Enforcement Steven Peikin discussed the SEC’s COVID-19-related enforcement...more
Recent statements by the Chair and the Directors of the Division of Corporation Finance and the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) highlight the challenges that companies face as they...more
The ongoing global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) raises important considerations for life sciences companies subject to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) disclosure and reporting requirements. As...more