NEW YORK, July 9, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed on July 9, 2002 in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, on behalf of all investors who bought Merck & Co., Inc. ("Merck" or the "Company") (NYSE:MRK) common stock between July 1, 1999 and June 21, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period") against defendants Merck & Co., Inc. and certain of its senior officers and directors.
According to the complaint, Merck overstated revenues by billions of dollars from its subsidiary Merck-Medco Managed Care, L.L.C. by including customer co-payments for prescription drugs in its revenues. During the Class Period, co-payments comprised approximately 10% of Merck's total revenues. The lawsuit claims that Merck violated Generally Accepted Accounting Practices because neither company bills for the co-payments, gets billed for them, or otherwise comes into contact with co-payment money. Patients make co-payments directly to pharmacies when they purchase medicine.
On June 21, 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported on Merck's accounting practices and estimated that Merck and Merck-Medco may have overstated their 2001 revenues by as much as $4.6 billion. On July 8, 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported that Merck's revenues for 1999 and 2000 were overstated by approximately $12.6 billion. According to the complaint Merck admitted that the company had been recording prescription drug co-payments as revenue since it acquired Merck-Medco in 1993.
On June 21, 2002, Merck's stock fell precipitously from its closing price of $52.20 on June 20, 2002 to a closing price of $49.98 on June 21, 2002, its lowest closing price since late 1997. On the heels of the July 8, 2002 revelations, the price of Merck's common stock dipped further and closed at $47.81 per share on the same day.
If you purchased Merck common stock between July 1, 1999 and June 21, 2002, inclusive, you may, no later than August 30, 2002, request the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff.
A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.
If you are a member of the Class, you may move the court no later than August 30, 2002 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the Class.
Wechsler Harwood, has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions involving securities fraud, antitrust and consumer class actions. For more information about Wechsler Harwood Halebian & Feffer LLP, please visit its website at www.whhf.com.
If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:
Wechsler Harwood Halebian & Feffer LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400 or by Email to: David Leifer, Wechsler Harwood Shareholder Relations Department: dleifer@whhf.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.