NEW YORK, June 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz Grossman Hufford Dahlstrom & Gross LLP has filed a class action lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ("Intuitive" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:ISRG) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Northern District of California, and docketed under 13-CV-002365, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Intuitive between October 19, 2011 and April 18, 2013 both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). This class action seeks to recover damages against the Company and certain of its officers and directors as a result of alleged violations of the federal securities laws pursuant to Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.
If you are a shareholder who purchased Intuitive securities during the Class Period, you have until June 25, 2013 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, x237. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.
Intuitive manufactures robotic surgical systems, most notably the da Vinci Surgical System. The da Vinci Surgical System allows surgery to be performed remotely using robotic manipulators.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants issued a series of materially false and misleading statements highlighting the purported safety and effectiveness of the Company's da Vinci Surgical System, while concomitantly announcing quarter after quarter of record financial results. Sales of Intuitive's robots, priced at $1.5 million each, have helped make Intuitive one of the hottest stocks in health care, growing 61% since the end of February 2010 to a market value of $21.7 billion by March 2013. Due in large part to what the public has recently learned were disreputable and unsafe sales practices, the number of U.S. procedures done with the robots grew to approximately 367,000 in 2012, up from 292,000 in 2011 and 228,000 in 2010. As a result of defendants' efforts to conceal significant safety and efficacy problems with the da Vinci Surgical System – which were exacerbated by the Company's disreputable sales practices – and false statements concerning the Company's business metrics and financial prospects, Intuitive stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a Class Period high of nearly $595 per share in intraday trading by April 18, 2012.
On February 28, 2013, the FDA sent a letter to surgeons participating in the FDA sponsored Medical Product Safety Network ("MedSun"), asking them to provide information about medical complications associated with use of the da Vinci Surgical System. The FDA indicated that the survey was prompted by an "'increase in [the] number of reports'" of "adverse events" involving the da Vinci Surgical System. On this news, the price of Intuitive stock plummeted $$63.55 per share on unusually high trading volume, closing down more than 10% at $509.89 per share on February 28, 2013.
On March 14, 2013, the president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ("ACOG"), Dr. James Breeden, issued a statement contending that, among other things, "[r]obotic surgery is not the only or the best minimally invasive approach for hysterectomy," and "there is no good data proving that robotic hysterectomy is even as good as – let alone better – than existing, and far less costly, minimally invasive alternatives." As reported by Bloomberg the next day, March 15, 2013, "Robotic surgery for hysterectomies doesn't improve outcomes and shouldn't be the first choice for most women, a doctors' group said, sending Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) to its lowest value in almost 14 months," emphasizing that the ACOG, "which represents 56,000 U.S. physicians, said expertise with Intuitive's da Vinci robot system is limited and surgeons learning the new technology may have higher rates of complications." On this news, the price of Intuitive stock, which had closed at $509.33 per share on March 13, 2013, fell $49.89 per share between March 14th and 15th, closing down approximately 10% at $459.44 per share on March 15, 2013.
Finally, on April 18, 2013, CNBC's Investigations, Inc. broadcast an expose on the da Vinci Surgical System consisting of interviews with, among others, doctors, lawyers, and patients who have filed lawsuits against Intuitive claiming they suffered injury while being operated on by surgeons using the da Vinci Surgical System. On this news, the price of Intuitive stock fell $8.62 per share to close at $484.75 per share on April 19, 2013. Since February 27, 2013, the day before the FDA announced its MedSun survey, Intuitive stock has fallen nearly 19% – or $110.25 per share – from its Class Period high on account of the above news, falling from $595 per share to a close of $484.75 per share on April 19, 2013, resulting in market capitalization losses of over $4.4 billion.
The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and San Diego, 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 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. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.