Pomerantz Achieves Settlement with Emergent BioSolutions

By the Editors

In 2021, biopharma company Emergent BioSolutions was at the center of a scandal that shook investor trust. With a Baltimore facility pre-certified to produce pandemic vaccines, Emergent signed over $1.5 billion in contracts with Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and the U.S. government to produce desperately needed bulk drug substance for COVID-19 vaccines at the height of the pandemic. Emergent’s executives assured investors of their readiness, touting their facility’s ability to manufacture vaccines at commercial scale. But in March 2021, media outlets reported that employees had mixed up ingredients, cross-contaminating millions of dose-equivalents of J&J’s vaccine with AstraZeneca material. These reports also detailed a broader history of quality control issues at the Baltimore plant, including contamination risks and inadequate employee training. After Emergent’s executives denied that cross-contamination occurred, claiming that only one batch of vaccine drug substance was discarded, Emergent’s stock cratered as more batches were destroyed, the government took operational control of the Baltimore facility away from Emergent, and COVID-19 vaccine production was ended. A Congressional investigation revealed that 400 million dose-equivalents out of 500 million produced by Emergent were destroyed.

Pomerantz pursued a securities class action against Emergent, alleging that it misled investors by concealing significant manufacturing issues at its Baltimore facility and misrepresenting the facility’s readiness, and the scope of the problems.

Pomerantz recently secured preliminary approval of a $40 million settlement for defrauded Emergent investors. Led by Pomerantz Partner Matthew L. Tuccillo, the litigation highlights the critical importance of transparency and accountability in the biopharma industry, where investor trust and consumer safety are paramount.