February 24, 2014
Bernstein Liebhard LLP today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers (the “Class”) of securities of Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Intercept”) (NASDAQ: ICPT) during the period of January 9, 2014 and January 10, 2014 (the “Class Period”).
The complaint charges Intercept and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Intercept is a pharmaceutical company that has been developing and trying to bring to market new clinical drugs. The Company’s primary drug compound, known as obeticholic acid (“OCA”), is in various phases of clinical development, primarily for the purpose of treating chronic liver diseases, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (“NASH”).
The complaint alleges that on January 9, 2014 and January 10, 2014, Intercept announced that its Phase 2 trial of OCA for the treatment of NASH had been stopped early for efficacy based on an interim analysis that showed that the efficacy endpoint of the trial had been met. As a result of the Company’s announcements, the Company’s stock price skyrocketed from a January 8, 2014 close of $72.39 per share to a January 10, 2014 close of $445.83 per share.
Then, on Friday, January 10, 2014, after the markets closed, the National Institutes of Health’s (“NIH”) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases issued a press release stating that while the efficacy primary endpoint for OCA in the Phase 2 study had already been met, participants in the study who received the drug suffered disproportionate levels of lipid abnormalities. The complaint alleges that, as a result of the NIH’s January 10, 2014 disclosure of OCA’s safety risks, Intercept’s stock price dropped over $81 per share – a decline of 18.2% – from $445.83 to $364.36 per share on Monday, January 13, 2014, and continued to fall on January 14, 2014 to a close of $255.12 per share, as investors continued to digest and react to this negative news.
Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all Class members who invested in Intercept securities during the Class Period. If you invested in Intercept securities as described above, and either lost money on the transaction or still hold the security, you may wish to join in this action to serve as lead plaintiff. In order to do so, you must meet certain requirements set forth in the applicable law and file appropriate papers no later than April 22, 2014.
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 Bernstein Liebhard LLP, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
If you are interested in discussing your rights as an Intercept shareholder and/or have information relating to the matter, please contact Joseph R. Seidman, Jr. at (877) 779-1414 or seidman@bernlieb.com.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP has pursued hundreds of securities, whistleblower law and shareholder rights cases and recovered over $3 billion for its clients. It has been named to The National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” in each of the last eleven years.
You can obtain a copy of the complaint from the clerk of the court for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.