NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Pomerantz Grossman Hufford Dahlstrom & Gross LLP has filed a class action lawsuit against ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, District of Massachusetts, and docketed under 13-cv-12544, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of ARIAD between December 12, 2011 and October 8, 2013 both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”). This class action seeks to recover damages against the Company and certain of its officers and directors as a result of alleged violations of the federal securities laws pursuant to Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.
If you are a shareholder who purchased ARIAD securities during the Class Period, you have until December 9, 2013 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants represented that the Company’s leukemia drug Iclusig (ponatinib), based on its clinical data from its pivotal PACE trial of Iclusig, was safe and effective, without serious adverse events such as serious arterial thrombotic and cardiovascular events. Specifically, on December 11, 2011, ARIAD announced preliminary clinical data from the PACE trial, which purportedly yielded “strong clinical evidence of the anti-leukemic activity of ponatinib”. Moreover, the Company touted the “favorable safety and tolerability profile of ponatinib”. Based upon these representations, the Company achieved FDA approval for Iclusig on December 14, 2012. On October 9, 2013, the Company updated the data from its PACE trial, revealing that the drug was shown to cause a higher rate of blood clots and heart-related side effects than previously disclosed. Specifically, the Company disclosed that serious arterial thrombosis occurred in a staggering 11.8% of Iclusig-treated patients, and that 6.2% of the patients had cerebrovascular events.
As a result, the FDA placed a hold on new patient enrollment for Iclusig testing, and the Company advised patients currently receiving the drug to lower their dosage. On this news, ARIAD shares declined $11.31 per share or nearly 66%, to close at $5.83 per share on October 9, 2013.
