BOCA RATON, Fla., April 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saxena White P.A. has filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit (the “Class Action”) in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland against Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (“Emergent” or the “Company”) (NYSE: EBS) on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Emergent common stock between July 6, 2020 and March 31, 2021, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
If you purchased Emergent common stock during the Class Period and wish to apply to be lead plaintiff, a motion on your behalf must be filed with the Court no later than June 18, 2021. You may contact Lester Hooker (lhooker@saxenawhite.com), an attorney and Director at Saxena White P.A., to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff or your interest in the Class Action. You may also retain counsel of your choice and need not take any action at this time to be a class member.
Emergent is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that develops vaccines and antibody therapeutics for infectious diseases. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Emergent signed deals with Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) and AstraZeneca worth a combined $875 million to provide contract development and manufacturing organization (“CDMO”) services to produce the companies’ COVID-19 vaccine candidates, and received another $628 million from the United States government as a part of Operation Warp Speed, for a total of $1.5 billion in COVID-19 deals.
Following the deals, Emergent’s CEO Robert G. Kramer Sr. stated that the Company was “uniquely prepared to answer the call for [the] COVID-19 pandemic” because of its “proven manufacturing capabilities in place.” Indeed, throughout the Class Period, Defendants repeatedly assured investors of Emergent’s ability and capacity to mass manufacture COVID-19 vaccines at its Bayview manufacturing site in Baltimore, Maryland (“Bayview”). The announced deals sent the Company’s stock soaring – peaking at over $134 per share on August 13, 2020.
As discussed in the Class Action Complaint, however, the Company failed to disclose to investors myriad issues at Bayview that would detrimentally affect its ability to manufacture the vaccine. Investors began to learn the truth on March 31, 2021, after the close of markets, when media reports revealed that employees at Emergent’s Bayview facility “mixed up” ingredients for the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines, contaminating up to 15 million doses of the J&J vaccine. It was further revealed that this was not an isolated incident and part of a history of manufacturing issues at the Company’s plant. Media outlets called the massive contamination a “significant setback and public relations debacle” and highlighted longstanding contamination risks and quality control issues at the Company’s facilities, leading to a string of FDA citations, including a persistent problem with mold, poor disinfection of some plant equipment leading to growth of bacteria, the repeated approval of raw materials that had not been fully tested, and poor employee training.
In response to this news, shares of Emergent’s stock price fell $14.29 per share, or over 15% over the next two trading days, from a close of $92.91 per share on March 31, 2021, to close at $78.62 on April 5, 2021.
You may obtain a copy of the Complaint and inquire about actively joining the Class Action at www.saxenawhite.com.
Saxena White P.A., with offices in Florida, New York, Delaware, and California, is a leading national law firm focused on prosecuting securities class actions and other complex litigation on behalf of injured investors. Currently serving as lead counsel in numerous securities fraud class actions nationwide, Saxena White has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of injured investors.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Lester R. Hooker, Esq.
lhooker@saxenawhite.com
Saxena White P.A.
7777 Glades Road, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33434
Tel: (561) 206-6708
Fax: (561) 394-3382
www.saxenawhite.com