... I was really ticked last year when I found out that they kept the FDA denial secret for about 3 months.
Not exactly the quickest enforcement action on record, but today (close to 4 3/4 years after the original FDA rejection) the following appeared in the SEC Digest:
SEC CHARGES ICN PHARMACEUTICALS AND CEO MILAN PANIC WITH FRAUD
The Commission announced that on August 11 it filed a complaint in federal district court in Los Angeles, California against ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ICN), a Southern California-based manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical products, Milan Panic, ICN's President and Chairman of the Board, Nils O. Johannesson, a former Executive Vice-President of Research and Development at ICN, and David C. Watt, ICN's General Counsel. The Commission has charged each defendant with making fraudulent misleading public statements about a new drug application for the treatment of hepatitis C that was submitted by ICN to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Commission's complaint alleges that the defendants did not publicly disclose until February 17, 1995 that the FDA had rejected ICN's drug application for ribavarin on November 28, 1994, and that the defendants issued several public statements in late 1994 and early 1995 which misled the public about the status of ICN's application for FDA approval of ribavarin.
The Commission's complaint charges the defendants with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Commission is seeking to permanently enjoin each of the defendants from violating Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and is seeking an order requiring each of the defendants to pay civil penalties pursuant to Section 21(d)(3) of the Exchange Act. The Commission is also seeking an order barring Panic from serving as an officer or director of a publicly-traded company. [SEC v. ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Milan Panic, Nils O. Johannesson, and David C. Watt, Civil Action No. 99-1016DOC, ANX, C.D. Cal.] (LR-16249)
sec.gov |
