BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Sept. 12, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP announced today that it recently filed lawsuits on behalf of shareholders of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., CVS Corporation, Asia Pulp & Paper Company, Ltd. and Clarent Corp. for violations of the federal securities laws.
If you purchased the securities of any of the companies listed below during the respective class periods, you may be a member of the class and have until the date specified to move the court to become the lead plaintiff. For more information on a particular lawsuit and to view the complaint, you may visit our website at www.sbclasslaw.com. To learn more about your rights and interests in these cases and your ability to potentially recoup your losses, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway directly at 888-299-7706 (toll free) or 610-667-7706, fax number 610-667-7056 or by e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com.
AMYLIN PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (Nasdaq:AMLN) (Class Period: 03/31/98 - 07/25/01). Amylin is engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of potential drug candidates for the treatment of metabolic disorders. On July 25, 2001, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") released medical and statistical reviews regarding Amylin's diabetes drug pramlintide acetate (SYMLIN) prior to an FDA Advisory Committee Meeting scheduled for July 26, 2001. This review cited major concerns regarding the safety and lack of efficacy of SYMLIN. The review stated there were major adverse events upon treatment with SYMLIN and an alarming number of patients that had life altering events relating to hypoglycemia (low blood glucose level), including major trauma, accidents and death, many of which apparently were concealed from the safety database, making this database unreliable to the FDA. The complaint alleges that this hypoglycemic side effect was particularly surprising to the FDA and investors, as the Company all along had claimed that one advantage of SYMLIN over insulin was that it did not increase the risk of hypoglycemia. From an efficacy standpoint, the medical review stated that the clinical trials deviated from good medical practice because during the studies a constant insulin dose was maintained in the patient, and therefore, the data provided little insight to which patients, if any, would benefit from SYMLIN or how it should be used. The public announcements made during the Class Period were materially false and misleading when issued in that they falsely portrayed Amylin as a growing, successful, well-managed, law-abiding, well-controlled company, and a leader of its industry, and that it had a highly effective drug, SYMLIN. These public announcements and statements did not make full, complete and timely disclosure of Amylin's fraudulent illegal practices and failed to correct false and misleading statements made prior to July 25, 2001 in that they failed to disclose the following material adverse information: (a) Amylin had been concealing materially negative information from the FDA which would render FDA approval of SYMLIN impossible; (b) the actual study showed that SYMLIN was causing a four-fold increase in hypoglycemia-related events in patients as compared to a placebo; (c) in Type 1 diabetics, SYMLIN was reducing the patients' ability to recognize hypoglycemia; (d) contrary to the Company's repeated statements that SYMLIN had no additional risk for hypoglycemia, SYMLIN was showing that it did create additional risk; (e) the treatment and control arms of the SYMLIN study were manipulated in order to create the appearance of SYMLIN's efficacy, and SYMLIN's purported efficacy was not based on a full battery of applicable statistical analyses/tests, including factoring in the variances in doses; and (f) the results of the SYMLIN study actually favored treatment with insulin alone. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than October 8, 2001.
CVS CORPORATION (NYSE:CVS) (Class Period: 02/06/01 - 06/27/01). The complaint charges CVS and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements regarding its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, CVS issued positive statements concerning its business and operations which failed to disclose, among other things, that the Company was unable to successfully address the national shortage of pharmacists and that this shortage was negatively impacting CVS's business and that the Company's expansion plans would have to be scaled back in light of the difficulties facing the Company. When this information became publicly known on June 27, 2001, the price of CVS common stock dropped sharply, falling from $44.10 per share to $36.51 per share on extremely heavy trading volume. During the Class Period, CVS insiders were able to dispose of shares of their personally-held stock for gross proceeds in excess of $8 million and CVS was able to raise $300 million through the issuance of notes on highly favorable terms. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District ofMassachusetts. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than October 22, 2001.
ASIA PULP & PAPER COMPANY, LTD. (NYSE:PAP) (Class Period: 09/08/98 - 04/04/01). The complaint charges Asia Pulp & Paper and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Asia Pulp & Paper issued press releases and filed financial statements which failed to disclose, among other things, that the Company had entered into two swap contracts involving Indonesian rupiah/US dollar and Japanese yen/US dollar swaps. On April 4, 2001, Asia Pulp & Paper finally disclosed that it was in default of $220 million of swap contracts that had not been disclosed on its financial statements for fiscal years 1997 to 2000. The stunning announcement followed a steady stream of news reports that Asia Pulp & Paper was facing a strong decline in its business and, as a result, was unable to service its debt. During the Class Period, Asia Pulp & Paper was able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in much needed capital through the issuance of bonds and a secondary offering of its American Depositary Shares. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than October 22, 2001.
CLARENT CORP. (Nasdaq:CLRN) (Class Period: 04/20/01 - 08/31/01). The complaint charges Clarent and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on Sept. 4, 2001, Clarent announced in a press release that it had discovered information suggesting that its previously reported revenues for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2001 may have been materially overstated, and that the Company's Board of Directors was forming a special committee to investigate a number of transactions that placed in question the Company's historical financial results. The Company also stated that its first quarter 2001 revenues, as released on April 19, 2001, and its second quarter 2001 revenues, as released on July 19, 2001, will be reduced and the related net losses will increase upon conclusion of the review. In addition, the Company anticipates that its revenues for the second half of fiscal 2001 and for fiscal 2002 will be substantially below previously anticipated levels, and that the related losses will be significantly larger than expected. The Company also announced that several of its officers had been placed on administrative leave. On this news trading halted at $5.37. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than November 4, 2001.
Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP has prosecuted shareholder class actions for over fourteen years and has recovered more than $1 billion for investors. If you are a shareholder in any of the companies listed above and would like to be a lead plaintiff in one of these securities class actions, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway at 888-299-7706.
More information on these and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline can be found at www.primezone.com/ca