US class action filed against Sanofi-Aventis

US law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins has announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of an institutional investor in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of French drug major Sanofi-Aventis' publicly-traded stock or American Depository Receipts between February 17, 2006 and June 13, 2007. The complaint charges Sanofi and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Sanofi is the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world. According to the complaint, in 2002, the firm began testing a new drug, Zimulti (rimonabant; trade name Acomplia in Europe), which is designed to fight obesity by reducing appetite. As the first drug of its class, Zimulti was projected to become extremely profitable for Sanofi. The drugmaker submitted its New Drug Application for Zimulti in April 2005 and on June 23, that year it announced that the Food and Drug Administration had accepted it for filing. The complaint alleges that defendants' statements regarding Zimulti were materially false and misleading when made because defendants concealed data concerning Zimulti's propensity to cause depression.

On June 13 this year, the FDA committee met and made a unanimous decision that the drug could not be recommended for approval. After the FDA's decision, Sanofi's securities declined $1.87, or 4.16%, closing at $43.07 on heavy trading volume. The plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Sanofi publicly-traded stock or ADRs during the class period.