In the following guest post, the authors revisit the question of whether or not securities class action lawsuits against development-stage biotech companies are likelier to survive a motion to dismiss compared to securities suits against other kinds of companies. As the authors report below, they conclude from their research that the suits against biotech companies are not likelier to survive dismissal motions. The authors of this guest post are: Doug Greene, BakerHostetler, Leader, Securities and Governance Litigation Team; Genevieve York-Erwin, BakerHostetler, Partner; Mike Tomasulo, Baldwin Risk Partners, Managing Partner, Management Liability National Practice Leader: Emily Baxter,  BakerHostetler, Associate; and Alex Karambelas, BakerHostetler, Associate. A version of this article previously was published on the PLUS Blog. I would like to thank the authors for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ article

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Continue Reading Guest Post: Analysis of Biotech Securities Class Action Motion to Dismiss Results, 2005 – 2022

It is now a commonplace observation in the D&O arena that life sciences companies – and in particular small biopharma companies – are frequent targets of securities class action lawsuits. As a result of these observations about claims frequency, biopharma companies often pay more than other kinds of companies for their D&O insurance. But do these companies really face a heightened securities litigation exposure sufficient to warrant these higher rates? The following guest post examines this question. This post was written by Michael Klausner, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Jason Hegland, Executive Director, Stanford Securities Litigation Analytics, and SSLA researchers Carin LeVine, Julia Laurence and Quito Mali Tin-Hung Tsui. I would like to thank the authors for their willingness to allow me to publish their guest article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ guest post.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Do Small Biopharma Firms Really Face Disproportionate Risk from Securities Class Actions?

test tubesAs has been documented on this blog and elsewhere, life sciences companies in general, and developmental stage biotechnology companies in particular, are frequent securities class action litigation targets. But does that really justify the perception of early stage biotech companies as representing a heightened securities litigation risk class for D&O insurers? A recent law firm paper contends that “contrary to popular belief, development stage biotech companies actually have less to fear from federal securities cases that do many other types of corporate defendants that have a far easier time securing insurance coverage.”
Continue Reading Biotech Companies Sued Frequently But Do They Really Represent a Heightened Risk Class?