A recently-published report from NERA Economic Consulting provides a mid-year look back at securities class actions and demonstrates the continued focus by the plaintiffs’ securities litigation bar on health care and life science firms, particularly those focused on the development and commercialization of drugs and devices.
The report found that approximately half of all COVID-19-related securities class action suits filed between March and June of 2020 were filed against defendants in the Health Technology and Services and in the Electronic Technology and Technology Services sectors. Looking more broadly, the report found that excluding merger objections, the Health Technology and Services sector accounted for 18% of all filings for the first half of the year.
The report makes clear that pharmaceutical, healthcare, and biotechnology firms will likely continue to face disproportionate rates of securities litigation filings, including filings related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entire report is available at: https://www.nera.com/publications/archive/2020/recent-trends-in-securities-class-action-litigation–h1-2020-upd.html.