AstraZeneca stumbled several times during the testing and rollout process for its COVID-19 vaccine and never secured an authorization in the U.S. Upset over investing losses, some AZ shareholders opted to sue the drugmaker but their effort has now been rebuffed.
In a Monday ruling, Judge District Judge Paul Oetken granted AstraZeneca's motion to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit alleging the company made misleading statements during the testing process for the vaccine. In the suit, the plaintiffs highlighted a dosing mix-up in a pivotal trial for the shot, where some participants received half the planned dosage.
After an interim analysis in that trial, AstraZeneca said the shot had met its primary endpoint. But the plaintiffs argued the "announcement immediately began to raise questions among analysts and industry experts" and that AZ's share price fell afterward as a result of "unexplained discrepancies" and "omissions."
After reviewing the case, Judge Oetken said the company didn't have a duty to report "negative facts" about its development program. Instead, he flagged specific instances where such disclosures would be required.
"Plaintiffs have not identified any inaccurate, misleading or incomplete statement relating to AZ1222’s dosing during AstraZeneca and Oxford’s phase 2/3 clinical trials for AZ1222," the judge wrote.
The proposed class action covered the dates from May 21, 2020, to November 20, 2020, before the shot won any authorizations worldwide. In February 2021, the shot won an emergency nod in the U.K. Since then at least two billion doses have been administered around the globe.
Aside from the testing snafu, the vaccine suffered from manufacturing hiccups and concerns over rare blood clots, hurting uptake in certain places where it was authorized.
Monday's decision marks a win for AstraZeneca as it weighs its vaccine future. Last month, CEO Pascal Soriot told Reuters the company may exit the immunization field but that he didn't have any regrets about the COVID-19 project.