Investors hit Nektar Therapeutics with a class action after its lead clinical-stage drug failed to achieve results touted by the biopharmaceutical research company.
Lead plaintiff John Mulquin filed the complaint in the Northern District of California after short-seller Plainview LLC published a report in early October stating that Nektar’s trial drug “NKTR-214,” did not work as intended. The report preceded a sharp nine percent drop in Nektar’s share value, according the complaint.
Plainview’s report called Nektar's findings on the cancer drug “an unprecedented level of data opacity,” according to the complaint.
When the class period began in November of 2017, Nektar touted NKTR-214 as a drug capable of using the body’s own immune system to fight various forms of cancer. The complaint alleges that Nektar made false claims about the drug’s efficacy and it failed due to high dosage safety concerns.
“The Plainview report found that NKTR-214 resulted in a ‘stunning’ 0% objective response rate (“ORR”) in the company’s studies,” the class claims. “The misrepresentations and omissions alleged would tend to induce a reasonable investor to misjudge the value of the company’s securities.”
“The market price of Nektar securities declined sharply upon public disclosure of the facts alleged herein to the injury of plaintiff and class members,” the complaint states.
The class is represented by Jennifer Pafiti of Pomerantz LLP in Beverly Hills, CA, Jeremy A. Lieberman, J. Alexander Hood and Jonathan Lindenfeld in New York and Patrick V. Dahlstrom in Chicagom and Corey D. Holzer of Holzer & Holzer LLC.
Read the Top 8
Sign up for the Top 8, a roundup of the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday.
Additional Reads
-
Addiction and the kratom business January 11, 2022 -
Pharma firm likely to duck antitrust suits over HIV drugs January 5, 2022
-
Judge Finds Flaws in Facebook Investor Lawsuit March 18, 2021 -
