NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP (www.pomerantzlaw.com) has filed a class action lawsuit against Biopure Corporation ("Biopure" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:BPUR) on behalf of all those persons or entities who purchased the common stock of Biopure during the period between May 8, 2001 and December 6, 2001, inclusive (the Class Period). The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The Complaint alleges that Biopure, a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of a new class of pharmaceuticals it calls "oxygen therapeutics," and the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing materially false and misleading statements concerning the likely timing of the Company's filing with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") of its Biologic License Application ("BLA") to market Hemopure, Biopure's experimental blood substitute for patients undergoing elective surgery. In particular, defendants led investors to believe that the BLA was on track to be filed by year-end 2001.
As alleged in the Complaint, these statements were materially false and misleading because, by commencement of the Class Period, defendants knew or recklessly ignored the fact that the data collected from the Hemopure trial (which had been completed in August 2000) was significantly deficient and failed to demonstrate that the trial had been conducted in an "adequate and well-controlled" manner. As such, plaintiff asserts that the data lacked reliability, thereby making any application unlikely to be accepted for filing, much less approved, by the FDA. It is further alleged that defendants also knew that the FDA would not allow a BLA to be filed where the data lacked "prima facie" reliability.
On December 6, 2001, the Company announced that it would not file the Hemopure application until mid-2002, contrary to repeated prior assertions that the BLA would be filed in 2001. Biopure blamed the delay on "additional facility and process validation requirements" for its Cambridge, Massachusetts manufacturing plant. Plaintiff asserts that this was merely a pretext for the delay, which in fact was occasioned by the data deficiencies that had arisen during the clinical trial. As a result of the postponement, the price of Biopure stock fell to less than $15 per share, well below the $20 plateau above which the stock traded throughout most of the Class Period.
If you purchased the common stock of Biopure during the Class Period, you have 60 days from today to ask the Court to appoint you as one of the lead plaintiffs for the Class. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, you must meet certain legal requirements. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, to discuss this action or have any questions, please contact Andrew G. Tolan, Esq. of the Pomerantz firm at 888-476-6529 (or (888) 4-POMLAW), toll free, or at agtolan@pomlaw.com by e-mail. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number.
The Pomerantz firm, which has offices in New York and Chicago, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 50 years later, the Pomerantz firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca