BOCA RATON, Fla., April 25, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Florida law firm of Vianale & Vianale LLP announced that it filed a class action lawsuit on April 22, 2003, on behalf of purchasers of the securities of VaxGen, Inc. ("Vaxgen") (Nasdaq:VXGN) between August 6, 2002 and February 26, 2003, inclusive. A copy of the complaint filed in this action is available from the Court, or can be viewed on Vianale & Vianale's website at: http://www.vianalelaw.com
The action (C-03-1801 MHP) is pending in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, against defendants VaxGen, Inc., Lance K. Gordon and Donald P. Francis, M.D.
The complaint charges VaxGen and certain of its officers and directors with issuing materially false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. VaxGen is engaged in the development and commercialization of AIDSVAX, a vaccine designed to prevent HIV infection or disease. During the Class Period, defendants were completing the final stages of AIDSVAX's Phase III clinical trials required to obtain FDA approval to market AIDSVAX as an AIDS vaccine. Throughout the Class Period, defendants make positive statements about the status of the trial and describing their plans to manufacture and market AIDSVAX, causing VaxGen's stock to trade at artificially inflated prices.
On Feb. 26, 2003, however, defendants admitted that the reliability of their earlier reports of higher efficacy rates for non-caucasians were impaired because they had not taken the requisite "penalties" to account for the fact that less than 500 of the 5000 clinical trial participants were non-caucasians, resulting in an extremely small subset of data being analyzed for non-caucasians. As the news that earlier promises that AIDSVAX could prove useful for non-caucasians fell apart, the stock declined further, resulting in a total loss in market cap since Nov. 18, 2002 of approximately 85%.
If you bought the securities of VaxGen between August 6, 2002 and February 26, 2003, you may, no later than May 16, 2003 move the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff, a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members. The Court must determine whether the class member's claim is typical of other class members' claims, and whether the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Vianale & Vianale LLP, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Vianale & Vianale LLP is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts. The Vianale & Vianale Web site (http://www.vianalelaw.com) has more information about the firm.
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:
Kenneth J. Vianale, Esq. Julie Prag Vianale, Esq. 5355 Town Center Road, Suite 801 Boca Raton, Florida 33486 (561) 391-4900 e-mail: info@vianalelaw.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca