The U.S. SEC is settling insider trading charges against Nirdosh Jagota, former vice president of global regulatory affairs at Merck & Co. Inc., stemming from Merck’s $1.85 billion acquisition of Pandion Therapeutics Inc. in 2021.
Two separate insider trading tips involving a biopharma acquisition and trial results for Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 antiviral, Paxlovid, allegedly netted millions of dollars in “ill-gotten” trading profits, according to U.S. SEC complaints announced June 29.
While the U.S. is in an IPO drought, going public remains the only lifeline for many small life sciences companies facing a decade of development, R&D costs of $1 billion or more, and a hefty risk of failure, Susan Washer, former CEO of Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., testified in a March 9 hearing before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets.
The SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged a former pharmaceutical executive and his cousin Feb. 23 with the insider trading of Eastman Kodak Co. stock prior to a COVID-19 partnership with the U.S. government to support the launch of Kodak Pharmaceuticals.
A Jan. 27 settlement the U.S. SEC reached with a former vice president at a biotech company serves as a reminder that insider trading rules applies to suppliers as well as the companies involved in an M&A.
Upholding a 2021 jury verdict against a hedge fund adviser accused of making fraudulent statements to drive down Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s stock price, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit shot down Gregory Lemelson’s arguments that his statements related to the company and its lead drug, Promacta (eltrombopag), were opinions protected by the First Amendment and that they were not material.
Viatris Inc.’s chief information officer, Ramkumar Rayapureddy, is facing an SEC insider trading complaint, along with criminal charges brought by the fraud division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Another man, Brian Wong, was charged with illegal trading ahead of Merck & Co. Inc.’s acquisition of Pandion Therapeutics Inc.
Inspectors from the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) have reportedly arrived in Hong Kong to inspect audit records for the Chinese companies listed by the U.S. SEC as being noncompliant with U.S. accounting standards.
Inspectors from the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) have reportedly arrived in Hong Kong to inspect audit records for the Chinese companies listed by the U.S. SEC as being noncompliant with U.S. accounting standards.
For the first time since they’ve had access to U.S. capital, biopharma and med-tech companies based in China and Hong Kong are having to comply with the same accountability standards companies in the U.S. and other countries must follow as a condition of trading on U.S. markets.
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