Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (“Robbins Geller”) (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/celgene/) today announced that a class action has been commenced by an institutional investor on behalf of purchasers of Celgene Corporation (“Celgene”) (NASDAQ: CELG) common stock during the period between September 12, 2016 and February 27, 2018 (the “Class Period”). This action was filed in the District of New Jersey and is captioned City of Warren General Employees’ Retirement System v. Celgene Corporation, et al., No. 18-4772.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/celgene/. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.
The complaint charges Celgene and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Celgene is a biotechnology company that specializes in the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Its most successful drug is Revlimid, a drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma (a type of plasma cell cancer). However, Revlimid will lose its patent exclusivity in the coming years, at which point cheaper generics will be able to enter the market. As a result, it was important that the Company develop and successfully commercialize new drugs to diversify and ultimately replace its reliance on revenues from Revlimid sales, with the three most promising replacements being GED-0301, a late-stage developmental treatment for Crohn’s disease, Otezla, a commercial-stage treatment for psoriasis, and Ozanimod, a developmental treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding Celgene’s business and the prospects for its drug products. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose that trials for GED-0301 suffered from fatal design defects, such that GED-0301 had failed to demonstrate meaningful clinical efficacy, and that, as a result, there was an undisclosed risk and high likelihood that Celgene would be unable to develop GED-0301 into a commercially viable treatment for Crohn’s disease. In addition, defendants also failed to disclose that the growth of Otezla sales had dramatically slowed during Celgene’s third fiscal quarter of 2017 and that the clinical and nonclinical pharmacology data in Celgene’s new drug application (“NDA”) for Ozanimod were insufficient to permit a complete review by the FDA, which resulted in the FDA issuing a refusal to file letter to Celgene regarding the NDA. As a result of these false statements and/or omissions, the price of Celgene stock was artificially inflated during the Class Period to over $145 per share.
On October 19, 2017, the Company revealed that it would be abandoning GED-0301, discontinuing ongoing trials, and would record a $1.6 billion impairment charge as a result of the drug’s failure. On October 26, 2017, the Company revealed that certain of its key drugs had badly missed sales expectations for the quarter. Most notably, sales for Otezla – which management had just recently claimed were “going very, very well” – had slowed to only 2% U.S. growth, compared to 41% year-over-year growth in the prior quarter. Then, after the market closed on February 27, 2018, Celgene disclosed that it had received a refusal to file letter from the FDA in connection with the Company’s NDA for Ozanimod. The Company revealed that both the clinical and nonclinical pharmacology sections of its NDA were found deficient by regulators. On this news, the price of Celgene stock dropped 9%, or $8.66 per share, to close at $87.12 per share on February 28, 2018.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Celgene common stock during the Class Period (the “Class”). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.
Robbins Geller is widely recognized as a leading law firm advising and representing U.S. and international investors in securities litigation and portfolio monitoring. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For the third consecutive year, the Firm ranked first in both the total amount recovered for investors and the number of shareholder class action recoveries in ISS's SCAS Top 50 Report. Robbins Geller attorneys have shaped the law in the areas of securities litigation and shareholder rights and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of the Firm’s clients. Robbins Geller not only secures recoveries for defrauded investors, it also implements significant corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.
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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180329006265/en/
Contacts:
Darren Robbins
800-449-4900
or 619-231-1058
djr@rgrdlaw.com
