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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2019 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (“Reckitt” or the “Company”) (OTCMKT:RBGLY) and certain of its officers, on behalf of shareholders who purchased or otherwise acquired Reckitt American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) during the period between July 28, 2014 and April 9, 2019 (the “Class Period”).
Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm’s site:www.bgandg.com/rbgly.
This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The complaint alleges that before and throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material adverse information. The complaint alleges that Reckitt was involved in a scheme that generated over $3 billion in proceeds enabling opiate abuse among U.S. consumers and mislead investors and the public concerning the health and safety risks of Suboxone Film, its new key opiate product. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Reckitt senior executives planned to switch prescribers from Suboxone Tablets to its Suboxone Film, which had similar active ingredients to Suboxone Tablets, but is dispensed by a thin film placed under the tongue and stored in single-use foil wrappings. In order to prevent generic competition, the company created a marketing campaign to hype the purported safety benefits of Suboxone Film over Suboxone Tablets. The complaint continues to allege that the campaign was fabricating safety concerns of existing treatments, hoping to delay the entry and approval of generics for Suboxone Tablets. As a result, the sales of Suboxone Film grew. From 2010 and 2014, Reckitt revenues from sales of the drug rose to over $840 million annually. As a result of defendants’ false and misleading statements and/or omissions regarding the alleged scheme, Reckitt ADSs traded at artificially inflated prices.
On July 24, 2017, Reckitt revealed with its second quarter 2017 financial results, that it had recorded a £318 million charge related to ongoing U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigations into its former Reckitt Pharma operations. Following this news, Reckitt ADSs price dropped 5%. Then, on February 19, 2018, Reckitt revealed that it had incurred a £296 million charge due to the investigations, and that the investigations now also involved the California Department of Insurance. Following this news Reckitt ADSs price again dropped over 10%. Then on April 9, 2019, the DOJ filed a criminal indictment against Reckitt Pharma (now known as Indivior), specifying a multi-billion-dollar scheme to defraud investors and consumers through Suboxone Film marketing campaign. Following this news, Reckitt ADSs dropped over 6%.