PHILADELPHIA, March 10, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (NYSE MKT:HEB) (the "Company"or "Hemispherx"), announced that after more than a week in trial, a federal jury in Atlanta took only an hour to determine there was no merit to a brokerage firm's claim that Hemispherx owed the firm over $6 million for commissions from private sales of stock in 2009.
MidSouth Capital, Inc., sued Hemispherx in 2010 for commissions it claimed it was due under the terms of a 2008 contract which Hemispherx never signed. Investment bank Rodman & Renshaw sold more than $31 million worth of Hemispherx stock in mid-2009. Rodman & Renshaw was promptly paid the commission it was due under the terms of its engagement agreement. MidSouth, whose brokers, Rob Rosenstein and Adam Cabibi, were terminated after they failed to secure a closing on several failed convertible debenture proposals, also demanded payment of a commission on the subsequent Rodman & Renshaw stock sale.
"The verdict confirms that the Company should not have been put through the distraction and expense of this meritless lawsuit," stated Thomas K. Equels, Hemispherx general counsel and trial counsel along with Gregory J. Digel from Holland & Knight in Atlanta, GA. Equels observed, "The Company must defend itself vigorously against any case where the plaintiff seeks over $6 million in damages for work it did not perform. Moreover, because the contract had not been signed by either party, and because Hemispherx sent a contemporaneous letter specifically disagreeing with the terms of the proposed unsigned contract, it was found to be unenforceable by the jury. Furthermore, as to the equitable claims, the overwhelming evidence that Rodman & Renshaw was the sole procuring cause for the May 2009 transactions compelled a jury finding in Hemispherx' favor."
About Hemispherx Biopharma
Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an advanced specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the manufacture and clinical development of new drug entities for treatment of seriously debilitating disorders. Hemispherx's flagship products include Alferon N Injection® and the experimental therapeutics Ampligen® and Alferon® LDO. Ampligen® is an experimental RNA nucleic acid being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Hemispherx's platform technology includes components for potential treatment of various severely debilitating and life threatening diseases. Because both Ampligen® and Alferon® LDO are experimental in nature, they are not designated safe and effective by a regulatory authority for general use and are legally available only through clinical trials. Hemispherx has patents comprising its core intellectual property estate and a fully commercialized product (Alferon N Injection®), approved for sale in the U.S. and Argentina. The Company's Alferon N approval in Argentina includes the use of Alferon N Injection (under the brand name "Naturaferon") for use in any patients who fail or become intolerant to recombinant interferon, including patients with chronic active hepatitis C infection. The Company wholly owns and exclusively operates a GMP certified manufacturing facility in the United States for commercial products. For more information please visit www.hemispherx.net.
Forward-Looking Statements
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "will be, investigative, interim" or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential efficacy for Hemispherx's Ampligen®, or regarding potential future revenues from Ampligen®. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of Management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that Ampligen® will receive regulatory approval or be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding Ampligen® could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including unexpected clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; unexpected manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors described in Hemispherx's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Hemispherx is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Disclosure Notice
Information contained in this news release, other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve risk of competition, changing market conditions, changes in laws and regulations affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The planning, completion, results or submission of clinical trials mentioned in this press release do not imply that any study product will ever be approved commercially for the studied or other treatment indications.