BALA CYNWYD, Pa., June 18, 2004 – LAWFUEL – The following statement was
issued today by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP:
Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of
all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Vicuron
Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: MICU)(“Vicuron” or the “Company”) from
January 6, 2003 through May 24, 2004, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this
notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please
contact Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP (Marc A. Topaz, Esq. or Stuart L. Berman,
Esq.) toll-free at 1-888-299-7706 or 1-610-667-7706, or via e-mail at
info@sbclasslaw.com.
The complaint charges Vicuron, George F. Horner III, Dov Goldstein, and
Timothy Henkel violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. According to the
complaint, the defendants issued a series of material misrepresentations to
the market between January 6, 2003 and May 24, 2004, about its drug
anidulafungin, thereby artificially inflating the price of Vicuron’s common
stock.
More specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants failed to
disclose or indicate the following: (1) that anidulafungin was unsafe and
ineffective and that the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) would not
approve the drug as-is to treat candidiasis; (2) that anidulafungin failed to
achieve superiority in all clinical measures over fluconazole in the Phase III
trial for esophageal candidiasis; (3) that anidulafungin differed
comparatively with the Company’s claims that better clinical outcomes could be
achieved with anidulafungin in treating candidiasis; (4) that anidulafungin’s
statistically significant higher relapse rate as compared with those
fluconazole raised concerns that anidulafungin was an inferior therapy to
fluconazole and caspofungin acetate for the treatment of esophageal
candidiasis in immunosuppressed patients; (5) that the nature and outcome of
any additional studies was uncertain; and (6) that as a result of the above,
defendants prevented investors and Biosearch shareholders from learning the
extent of the misrepresentations made to them during the Class Period.
On May 24, 2004, Vicuron announced that it received an approvable letter
from the FDA. However, the letter indicated that the Company’s “New Drug
Application” (“NDA”) submission for anidulafungin does not currently support a
labeling claim for the initial treatment of esophageal candidiasis. News of
this shocked the market. Shares of Vicuron fell $8.86, or 40.46 percent, to
close at $13.06, on May 24, 2004.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of class members and is
represented by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, which prosecutes class
actions in both state and federal courts throughout the country. Schiffrin &
Barroway is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has
recovered in excess of a billion dollars on behalf of institutional and high
net worth individual investors. For more information about Schiffrin &
Barroway, or to sign up to participate in this action online, please visit
http://www.sbclasslaw.com.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than
August 16, 2004 move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you
so choose. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of
other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed
lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member’s claim is
typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will
adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more
class members may together serve as “lead plaintiff.” Your ability to share
in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to
serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Schiffrin & Barroway, or other
counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.