NEW YORK, Dec. 24, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross LLP is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders who invested in Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Savient" or the "Company"), during the period of December 13, 2007 through October 24, 2008 ("Class Period").
Savient is a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and marketing pharmaceutical products that target unmet medical needs. Complaints that have been filed allege that during the Class Period, Savient made false and misleading statements about two Phase 3 clinical trials of Puricase (pegloticase) termed Gout Outcomes and Urate Therapy, GOUT 1 and GOUT 2. Puricase is used for the treatment of gout, a disease caused by build up of uric acid in the blood resulting in painful swelling of the joints. Specifically, Savient represented that preliminary results of the clinical trials for the drug were "robust" and did not present any adverse safety events, except for the occurrence of non-life threatening "infusion-related" complications. While Savient disclosed that cardiovascular severe adverse events ("SAEs") had been experienced by three patients in those studies, it failed to disclose that five additional cardiovascular SAEs had taken place.
On October 27, 2008, the Company reported final results of its Phase 3 trials for the drug. Although Puricase was considered "effective," the Company disclosed for the first time the five additional cardiovascular SAEs. Immediately after this news, analysts expressed significant concern about the ability of Puricase to be approved by the FDA, and its marketability, given such side effects. In response to these revelations, Savient's stock price fell $8.51, a one day decline of nearly 73.5%.
If you have any questions concerning the Savient Pharmaceutical investigation, please contact Teresa L. Webb at 888.476.6529 (toll free) or tlwebb@pomlaw.com. The Pomerantz Firm, which has offices in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio and the San Francisco Bay area, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, insurance 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 70 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.