Memo to biopharma executives: when talking to shareholders, take care to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
That’s the message delivered this week to Arena Pharmaceuticals after a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that shareholders can proceed with a lawsuit alleging the company deliberately withheld crucial information about a potential problem with a widely anticipated diet drug.
At issue was a series of statements Arena executives made in 2009 about the progress they were making in winning US Food and Drug Administration approval for the Belviq diet pill.
