The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued a provisional list of five U.S.-listed Chinese companies that reportedly failed to submit necessary accounting reports required under Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. The list included three biopharmas: Beigene Ltd., Hutchmed Ltd., and Zai Lab Ltd.
Three U.S.-listed China-based biopharmas were among five companies named this week by the U.S. SEC for reportedly failing to submit necessary accounting reports under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA).
If the U.S. SEC goes forward with amendments it proposed March 9 to enhance and standardize cybersecurity-related disclosures, public biopharma and med-tech companies will have more reporting to do.
John-Michael Havrilla, formerly the director of investor relations at Pavmed, has agreed to pay $160,000 in civil penalties over allegations he used inside knowledge of an impending earnings report to help himself to $80,000 in ill-gained profits, a sure sign the SEC is not ignoring med-tech firms in its pursuit of insider trading charges.
The U.S. SEC reported a settlement Feb. 23 with Baxter International Inc. and its former treasurer, Scott Bohaboy, and former assistant treasurer, Jeffrey Schaible, resolving charges involving years of improper intra-company foreign exchange transactions that resulted in the misstatement of Baxter’s net income.
Citing recent events that highlighted the risks of investing in companies based in China or that have the majority of their operations there, the U.S. SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance is seeking more specific disclosures from those companies about the legal and operational risks of investing in their securities.
A lead clinical trial investigator for Five Prime Therapeutics Inc.’s flagship cancer drug, bemarituzumab, is facing SEC and criminal charges related to insider trading.
With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) imposing stricter regulatory requirements on listing companies, more Chinese companies are likely to decide to list on stock exchanges closer to home.