Trends and Hot Topics in Securities Litigation and SEC Enforcement for the Life Sciences Industry

Life sciences and biotech companies are particularly vulnerable to securities class actions due to the variety of event-driven disclosures and the inherently volatile nature of their stock prices. Because of this, over the past several years the biotech and life sciences industries have been the most targeted industries by plaintiffs’ lawyers and a consistent focus of the SEC. Our panel will address the unique securities law disclosure issues facing life sciences companies, particularly with respect to managing risk arising from disclosures of clinical trial results and communications with FDA.

In addition, under the Biden administration the SEC’s leadership has signaled some significant changes in SEC rules and approaches that the Division of Enforcement will be taking, including new insider trading enforcement, rules relating to 10b5-1 trading plans, and a more aggressive approach to settlements. Our panel will examine these developments and the unique impacts that they will likely have on biotech and life sciences companies.

This interactive discussion will center around fact-based hypothetical situations to help our audience navigate these issues beginning at the IPO stage and as they mature through the life cycle.

1 CLE Credit Pending (CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, NJ, NY, PA, TX, VA).