Those who observe securities class action litigation filing patterns know that life sciences companies are frequent securities litigation targets. Though the number of securities suit filings against life sciences companies fluctuates from year to year, more recently the number of life sciences company filings has stabilized at higher levels, according to the latest annual report from the Sidley law firm. A copy of the law firm’s recent memo, entitled “Securities Class Actions in the Life Sciences Sector: 2025 Annual Survey,” can be found here. A two-page summary of the report can be found here.

According to the report, there were 44 new securities class action lawsuits filed against companies in the life sciences sector in 2025, the same number as in 2024. Though the number of life sciences securities suit filings was the same in 2025 as in 2024, this annual number of filings is significantly higher than in some prior years, and is the highest annual number of filings since 2021, when there were 49 suits filed.

Interestingly, the number of life sciences company filings was at higher levels compared to recent years even though COVID-19-related filings were not a factor in the volume of 2025 litigation filings, by contrast to prior years when the filings related to COVID were a significant factor in the number of life sciences company securities suit filings.

Of the 44 securities lawsuits filed against life sciences companies in 2025, 25 involved companies with products in the pre-approval stage, while 19 involved companies with mature products. The proportion of cases against developmental stage companies is in line with filing patterns in recent years. The majority of the cases against developmental stage companies arise from setbacks the company faced in the final stages of the regulatory approval process.

In addition to the life sciences company securities suit filings in 2025, the report also analyzes rulings and decision in cases against life sciences companies. The statistics show that – as has been the case in recent years – while plaintiffs’ lawyers often are quick to file securities suits against life sciences companies that have experienced setbacks, the reality is that many of these lawsuits prove to be unsuccessful, a pattern that remained in effect in 2025.

In 2025, there were 39 decisions in securities suits involving life sciences companies, at the motion to dismiss stage or at the summary judgment stage. The defendants were successful in over half of these decisions – that is, the defendant life sciences companies prevailed in 23 out of the 39 decisions, representing a success rate of 59%. The success rate in 2024 was also 59%.

As has also been the case in recent years, defendant life sciences companies fared better in pre-approval cases than in cases involving companies with mature products. That is, defendant life sciences companies won dismissal in 67% of the cases involving pre-approval companies (14 out of 21), but only 50% of the mature product cases (9 out of 18). The report suggests that the reason that plaintiffs may struggle to survive the dismissal motion stage in cases against pre-approval companies is because of the challenges plaintiffs face in establishing falsity and scienter in situations where the statements they attack concern inherently unknowable events – the outcome of clinical trials and the FDA approval process.

In addition to prevailing in these trial court rulings more than half of the time, life sciences companies were also successful at the appellate court level. According to the report, defendant life sciences companies won affirmance of dismissal in all three cases in which appellate courts issued rulings.

The report notes that among the trial court rulings in 2025 were various court decisions involving COVID-19-related cases. The report notes that these rulings are continuing so long after the pandemic’s initial outbreak because of the number of cases that were filed as the pandemic evolved, relating to companies whose fortunes prospered at the outset of the pandemic but whose fortunes waned as the pandemic eased. The report notes that the pandemic had unanticipated ripple effects for some life sciences companies. In particular, life sciences companies that experienced positive effects from the pandemic struggled to predict when and to what extent the pandemic’s positive effects would wane.

The report has further, more detailed analyses of the 2025 dismissal motion and summary judgment rulings. The report is quite lengthy, full of interesting information, and merits reading at length and in full.