BOSTON, July 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Block Leviton LLP (www.blockleviton.com), a national securities litigation firm, is investigating whether Vaxart, Inc. (“Vaxart”) (NASDAQ: VXRT) and certain of its executives may be liable for securities fraud. If you purchased or acquired shares of Vaxart and have questions about your legal rights or possess information relevant to this matter, please contact Block Leviton attorneys at (617) 398-5600, via email at cases@blockleviton.com, or at https://www.blockleviton.com/cases/vaxart.
In the spring of 2020, Vaxart began development of an COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Vaxart’s shares had been trading around $3.00 per share. On June 26, 2020, Vaxart issued a news release announcing that it had been selected for the federal initiative Operation Warp Speed to quickly develop drugs to combat COVID-19. On this announcement, shares of Vaxart soared, reaching intraday trading prices in excess of $17.00.
The truth was more complex. On July 25, 2020, the New York Times published an article entitled “Corporate Insiders Pocket $1 Billion in Rush for Coronavirus Vaccine.” This article provides that Vaxart’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate was included in a trial on primates that a federal agency organized in conjunction with Operation Warp Speed. However, Vaxart is not among the companies selected to receive significant financial support from Operation Warp Speed. On July 25, 2020, the New York Times published an article entitled “Corporate Insiders Pocket $1 Billion in Rush for Coronavirus Vaccine.” This article quoted Michael R. Caputo, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for public affairs, that the Department “has entered into funding agreements with certain vaccine manufacturers, and we are negotiating with others. Neither is the case with Vaxart.” The New York Times article continued that “[s]ome officials at the [DHHS] have grown concerned about whether companies including Vaxart are trying to inflate their stock prices by exaggerating their roles in Warp Speed . . . . The [DHHS] has relayed those concerns to the” SEC. The New York Times article further provided that Vaxart’s largest shareholder, hedge fund Armistice Capital, obtained newly amended warrants to buy 21 million Vaxart shares and immediately sold them, making an immense $197 million profit while the share price had soared.
On this news, Vaxart shares plummeted, trading as low as $9.16 on July 27, 2020.
If you purchased or acquired shares of Vaxart and have questions about your legal rights or possess information relevant to this matter, please contact Block Leviton attorneys at (617) 398-5600, via email at cases@blockleviton.com, or at https://www.blockleviton.com/cases/vaxart.
Block Leviton LLP is a firm dedicated to representing investors and maintaining the integrity of the country’s financial markets. The firm represents many of the nation’s largest institutional investors as well as individual investors in securities litigation throughout the United States. The firm’s lawyers have recovered billions of dollars for its clients.
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SOURCE: Block Leviton LLP
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