SEC Files Charges Against SciClone And Alpha-1 Biomedicals

- In the first ever trading action involving the misuse of privateinformation about clinical trials of a drug, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed landmark charges involving the stocks of Alpha-1 Biomedicals and SciClone Pharmaceuticals. Two groups of individuals received advance information from the lead doctor and his aide in the clinical trial about the poor performance of thymosin alpha-1, an antihepatitis agent developed by Alpha-1 Biomedica, and licensed to SciClone, according to the SEC. The latter said that those informed avoided losses of $300,000. Charges have been settled with eight out of the 13 people implicated, but some of the remaining five are understood to have offered false alibis.