Kuznicki Law PLLC notifies investors that a class action has commenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of shareholders of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. who purchased shares between September 13, 2022 and October 9, 2023.
Akero and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.
The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) approximately 20% of patients enrolled in the SYMMETRY study for the Company’s lead product candidate efruxifermin (“EFX”) had cryptogenic cirrhosis (and did not have definitive nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (“NASH”), a serious liver disease), at baseline; (ii) the cryptogenic cirrhotic patients included in the SYMMETRY study did not have biopsy-proven compensated cirrhosis due to definitive NASH; (iii) the results from the cryptogenic cirrhosis patients were to be excluded from the calculation of the NASH resolution secondary endpoints; (iv) the Company had introduced a confounding factor into the SYMMETRY study’s design, materially influencing the study’s potential results and increasing the risks that the study would fail to meet its primary endpoint; (v) the SYMMETRY study did not align with U.S. Food & Drug Administration guidance for testing a drug in treating NASH cirrhotics because Akero had not ruled out potential causes of each patient’s cirrhosis other than NASH; and (vi) consequently, the Company had materially misrepresented the nature of the SYMMETRY trial, its usefulness in supporting any new drug application, the likelihood that the SYMMETRY trial would be successful as measured by its primary endpoint, and the likelihood that EFX would become a commercial treatment for NASH cirrhotics.
The market finally began to learn the truth on October 10, 2023, pre-market, when the Company disclosed the study’s 36-week results, causing the price of Akero’s stock to fall $30.39 per share on October 10, 2023 and $3.11 per share on October 11, 2023 on higher than average volume – a decline of nearly 70% from the stock’s closing price of $48.54 per share on October 9, 2023.
If you wish to choose counsel to represent you and the class, you must apply to be appointed lead plaintiff and be selected by the Court. The lead plaintiff will direct the litigation and participate in important decisions including whether to accept a settlement for the class in the action. The lead plaintiff will be selected from among applicants claiming the largest loss from investment in the respective securities during the class periods. Members of the class will be represented by the lead plaintiff and counsel chosen by the lead plaintiff. No class has yet been certified in the above action. Appointment as Lead Plaintiff is not required to partake in any recovery.
Shareholders have until June 25, 2024 to request that the court appoint them lead plaintiff.