NEW YORK, March 1, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- According to Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP (www.pomerantzlaw.com), which has filed a class action lawsuit against Biopure Corporation ("Biopure" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:BPUR) on behalf of all shareholders who purchased the common stock of Biopure during the period between May 8, 2001 and December 6, 2001, inclusive (the "Class Period"), shareholders have until Monday, April 8, 2002 to seek appointment by the Court as one of the lead plaintiffs in this action.
The lawsuit charges that Biopure issued 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.
It is alleged that 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 until Monday April 8, 2002 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.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca