SAN DIEGO, Jan. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Robbins Geller
Rudman & Dowd LLP ("Robbins Geller")
(http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/esperion/) today announced that a
class action has been commenced in the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of purchasers of Esperion
Therapeutics, Inc. ("Esperion") (NASDAQ:ESPR) common stock during
the period between August 18, 2015
and September 28, 2015 (the "Class
Period").
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court
no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this
action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights
or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Darren Robbins of
Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at
djr@rgrdlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can
view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action
online at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/esperion/. Any member
of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff
through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and
remain an absent class member.
The complaint charges Esperion and its Chief Executive Officer
with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Esperion is a pharmaceutical company that focuses on developing and
commercializing oral low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
("LDL-cholesterol") lowering therapies for patients with
hypercholesterolemia. Esperion's lead product candidate is
ETC-1002, a once-daily small molecule designed to lower
LDL-cholesterol levels. According to Esperion, ETC-1002 is
designed to lower LDL-cholesterol while avoiding the side effects
associated with other LDL-cholesterol lowering therapies on the
market.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants
issued false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose
adverse information regarding Esperion's business and prospects,
including that there was no clear path to approval for ETC-1002,
and that the FDA had encouraged the Company to initiate a
cardiovascular outcomes trial ("CVOT") and that completion of a
CVOT could be necessary prior to approval of ETC-1002. As a
result of these false statements and/or omissions, Esperion common
stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class
Period, reaching as high as $82 per
share in intra-day trading.
On August 17, 2015, Esperion
reported to investors material events from an early August 2015 meeting with the FDA regarding the
next phase of the approval process for ETC-1002. The Company
stated that during the meeting it was informed by the FDA that the
Company would not have to complete a CVOT to gain approval of
ETC-1002. Esperion also informed investors that it had a
"'clear regulatory path forward for development and approval of
ETC-1002.'"
Then, a little over a month later, after the market closed on
September 28, 2015, the complaint
alleges that Esperion reversed course about the early August 2015 FDA meeting – stating in a
September 28, 2015 news release that
the FDA had actually "encouraged the Company to initiate a
cardiovascular outcomes trial promptly" and it may be necessary to
have a completed CVOT prior to approval. Investors
immediately recognized the differences in the two characterizations
of the same meeting and reacted accordingly. When the market closed
on September 28, 2015, Esperion stock
was trading at $35.09 per
share. After the market closed, the Company revealed the
truth and the next day Esperion's stock opened at $26.00 per share. By the time the market
digested the truth on September 29,
2015, the price of Esperion stock had fallen almost 50% from
its previous close to $18.33 per
share on unusually high volume.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers
of Esperion common stock during the Class Period (the
"Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller,
which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class
actions including actions involving financial fraud.
Robbins Geller, with 200 lawyers in ten offices, represents U.S.
and international institutional investors in contingency-based
securities and corporate litigation. The firm has obtained
many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history
and was ranked first in both the amount and number of shareholder
class action recoveries in ISS's SCAS Top 50 report for
2014. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/esperion/ for
more information.
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SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP