SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 28, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a national investor-rights law firm, alerts investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against iBio, Inc. (NYSE MKT:IBIO) ("iBio" or "the Company). The suit is pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and investors have until December 23, 2014 to move for lead plaintiff.
The complaint covers those investors who purchased iBio shares between October 13, 2014 and October 23, 2014. If your purchases fall in that time period, you are encouraged to contact Hagens Berman Partner Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm's investigation, by calling (510) 725-3000, emailing IBIO@hbsslaw.com or visiting http://hb-securities.com/investigations/IBIO.
The complaint claims that iBio misled investors by wrongfully suggesting the Company's Launch Platform patents and related proprietary technology would be licensed by the makers of the experimental Ebola drug, ZMapp. Yet only days later, when the truth was revealed, the price of iBio's stock plummeted, damaging investors who purchased the shares based on iBio's information.
On October 16, 2014, iBio issued a press release titled "iBio Responds to Inquiries About its Role in Emergency Response to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak," which purported to confirm "the applicability of its issued U.S. iBio Launch platform patents and related proprietary technology to further development and production of antibodies that target the Ebola virus." The release also mentioned that iBio had been working with the drug developer Caliber Biotherapeutics to increase production capacity. iBio further "offered to assist the U.S. government by making its proprietary technology available [to] address the current Ebola virus outbreak."
Just one day later on October 17, 2014, an iBio spokesperson was quoted as saying that manufacture of the ZMapp vaccine would require a license from iBio. Yet on that same day, the U.S. Government announced that it had called on A&M Lab and two others to submit plans to produce ZMapp.
On October 20 and 23, 2014, however, reports were published online revealing that the relationship between iBio and Caliber had nothing to do with Ebola and that it was possible to produce ZMapp without licensing iBio's technology. On these adverse disclosures, iBio's stock fell from $3.21 to $1.59, damaging investors.
"It appears that iBio was attempting to capitalize on the Ebola epidemic, by falsely presenting the nature of their relationship with Caliber, and the possibility of license sales," said Mr. Kathrein. "This sort of conduct amounts to nothing more than a ploy to drive up share prices in the short term."
If you suffered a loss from your investment in iBIO securities purchased on or during the period October 13, 2014 and October 23, 2014, and would like to learn more about this lawsuit and your ability to participate as a lead plaintiff, please contact us for your no-cost evaluation. No class has yet been certified in the above action.
Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding iBio should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at (510) 725-3000 or email iBio@hbsslaw.com.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is an investor-rights class-action law firm with offices in nine cities. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Read the firm's Securities Newsletter at http://www.hb-securities.com/newsletter. The firm's blog is located at www.meaningfuldisclosure.com.
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