PHILADELPHIA - Endo International has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit in which SEB Investment Management AB claimed Endo was overly optimistic about the success of an opioid medication.
In its Aug. 18, 2017, lawsuit, SEB Investment Management said Endo and other defendants made optimistic statements regarding the restructuring of Opana ER in hopes that the Food and Drug Administration would continue its approval of the opioid medication.
According to the dismissal motion filed on April 2 with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the FDA approved Opana ER from 2006 until 2011. However, instead of green-lighting the drug for further approval, the FDA asked Endo to remove Opana ER from the market, resulting in SEB's lawsuit, which alleged that Endo violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933.
Endo Attorney Jeff Hammel
| Latham & Watkins LLP
Endo said in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit that SEB cannot make claims related to the Securities Act in the Eastern Pennsylvania district court because it had already filed a lawsuit against the same defendants with the same claims in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas.
Endo also claimed that SEB did not specify which of its statements allegedly violated the acts. Endo also said SEB could not prove that Endo did not believe there was truth in the statements it made concerning Opana ER.
Also, Endo said in the dismissal motion that “the Exchange Act claims should be dismissed because the amended complaint does not come close to establishing the required ‘strong interference’ of scienter, or fraudulent intent.”
Endo told the court the case against it, Endo Health Solutions Inc. and the other defendants should be dismissed because the plaintiff does not have any facts to back up the claims against them.