Skadden secured dismissal of a putative class action alleging securities fraud against Firm client Biogen Inc. and certain of its current and former officers that was filed shortly after the company released revised revenue guidance and its share price fell 22 percent (representing a $20 billion market cap decline). The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants intentionally misled the market regarding revenue projections for the company's multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera. On June 23, Judge Dennis Saylor of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed the complaint, with prejudice, concluding that the plaintiffs' scienter allegations supported, at most, an inference that the defendants' revenue projections were "unduly optimistic" but that their "failure to predict the future does not support a claim for securities fraud."
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates